bugsii

Yesterday, Dan and I celebrated Valentine’s Day.  Dan had made secret reservations at a place called dragonfly neo-v, which is an all vegan gourmet restaurant just a few blocks from our house (which I had been wanting to go to FOREVER).  Before we left, we exchanged gifts.  Dan was his usual lovey-dovey self and got me 2GB of RAM!  Swoon!  No, really, I love my practical husband.  I really did need it and my computer is so much faster now!

Aww. RAM.

I got Dan some iTunes cards.  He was excited about them, even thought it doesn’t show in this picture.

Aww. Ain't he cute?

Knowing that the RAM might not be that romantic, he also had some flowers hidden.  He’s so smart.

Yay, gerber daisies!

Dinner was so delicious and the restaurant was adorable!  I had pistachio-crusted portabellas and macaroni and cheese.  Dan got the vegan pizza.  Plus, we had awesome appetizers and bread with hummus.  We were stuffed, but we still left room for some ice cream at home!

Then this morning, we got up and had breakfast at Northstar.  It was a great weekend!  Now, Dan’s off to Salt Lake City for the week.  Booo.

Today at work, we walked down to the statehouse at lunchtime.  Word on the street was (okay, we got an email) that there were local artists selling their wares in the basement of the statehouse.  I didn’t even know the statehouse had a basement, but when I walked in, I realized that I had never been in the statehouse period.  I blame my grade school teachers (I mean, we went to COSI).  It was actually pretty cool in there. Here are some shots.

The Dome

Below the Dome

A display in the basement

We saw some neat Christmas arts and crafts, but the best part was that there was a glass elevator!  A GLASS ELEVATOR and SECRET TUNNELS!?!  IN COLUMBUS?!?  I need to write a story.

I had big plans today to take pictures of the many places I parked my rear all day.  The only problem is that I forgot all except the first and last one.  But, I’ll do my best anyway.  The first is my living room arm chair and the place I spent from 7-10am reading and reading.  This is my main space for work in the house, which probably should change.  And yes, I always balance my cup on the arm.  It’s only a matter of time until it spills (I know, Mom).

The work chair

The next chair was the one in class.  My advisor was our guest speaker.  She’s awesome. (Just imagine a small and newish classroom with a big table in the middle and nice desk chairs all around).

The next chair was at Brennen’s (coffee shop on campus), where I did work from 4-5:30. (You know, it’s a coffee shop, pretty standard).

(I came home for a brief meal)

And, the final chair of the day was at Barnes and Noble where I did work from 7-10pm. I like B&N, but they need to get about 20 more outlets.  I’m losing power!

B&N

All this sitting doesn’t sound too exciting, but I did get a bunch of work done today and that makes me (temporarily) happy.  I’ll take what I can get.

Even though I have less to read for next week (one class is canceled due to Veteran’s Day), I’m still feeling anxious about getting work done.  Probably because I assigned myself extra work to “get ahead” which I of course couldn’t get to, so now I’m getting nervous about the extra work that doesn’t really need to be done this week (but very soon, and it would feel great to be ahead, but now I just feel nervous because I am behind).  I’m stupid.

So anyway, Thursday after class I went to see bell hooks.  She wrote Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics.  She’s pretty famous and she was inspiring and funny.  The auditorium was standing room only.

Friday, I was at work all day, but at lunch we got to go see a canon fire on the statehouse lawn for Veteran’s Day.  Who doesn’t like to see a good canon every now and then?

And then last night, we finally got to see Where the Wild Things Are (Spoiler alert).  Overall, I thought the movie really sucked you into the world of the wild things, but it was a bizarre, sad world and I was hoping for something a little more joyful out of a children’s book turned movie.  I mean, did Carol really have to rip off Douglas’ arm?  And did KW really have to talk like an angsty teenager?  So weird.  Vicki wrote a really great review about how the movie sucked the joy out of the book.  I agree.  However, I did leave the theater in sort of a trance and I like that because it means that I was really in the world of the movie and, like Coraline, I really wanted to write a story when I left.  Did I?  No, but I was in the mood.  I also loved Max (he was a good little actor) and the music (Dan liked it too, so that probably means it’s actually decent).  I think it’s worth seeing, but not if you want to be uplifted and not with kids (some of it’s downright scary… see arm comment above).

Today at work, we went out for lunch and took the secret tunnels under Columbus to get there.  SECRET TUNNELS!  UNDER COLUMBUS!  It was kinda fun to go to the basement level of the building, follow a few winding tunnels and staircases and find ourselves right across from the statehouse (about two blocks away).  I sort of felt like I was in a children’s book and I liked it.  It makes me want to write a story.

Tonight, Dan and I went to eat at Northstar.  We hadn’t been there in so long and I enjoyed every bite of my Northstar burger.  Then, we went and picked up some groceries and a pumpkin pie blizzard at Dairy Queen.  ‘Tis the season.  When we got home, we watched a movie that also made me want to write a story, Coraline.  It was dazzling and creepy and made me feel creative.  It’s too bad that I’m so tired, or I might think about actually writing that story with creepy things and SECRET TUNNELS.  Maybe tomorrow.  Or maybe yesterday.

Ramseyer

I’ve been riding the bus a lot lately.  I decided not to buy the ridiculous $300+ parking permit for OSU.  To get to campus, I only have to ride one bus, straight down High.  It comes about every ten minutes.  Last year, I would sometimes drive, sometimes ride the bus, but since parking is so terrible on campus, I would have to park pretty far away and walk, so it really didn’t save time (versus riding the bus).  And we all know that I don’t ride my bike anymore… Long story short, I’ve been riding the bus.

So today, as I was seated and reading an article on the bus (efficient, no?), this girl about my age started seizing.  She had been standing and she just fell to the floor and was shaking.  I yelled to the bus driver to call an ambulance, but then she snapped out of it and stood up.  She had no idea what happened and then she said that she was pregnant.  I told her that she was seizing and that I think she should go to the hospital, but she didn’t want the bus driver to call.  She said her brother was waiting for her at Wendy’s (a few stops down) and I told her that she should really have her brother take her to the hospital, but she didn’t seem to agree.  She said she didn’t usually have seizures either.  I think if she would have seen herself seizing, she might have thought differently.

This really freaked me out and it made me sad too.  I know I make fun of the bus because it’s kind of stinky and there are crazy people on there, but it really makes me sad.  There are elderly people, physically handicapped people, mentally handicapped people, and mothers trying to carry groceries, who apparently have no other way to get around.  Where are their families?  I choose to ride the bus and all, but it’s really not that fun.  Especially not when it’s cold or raining, or it doesn’t come on time, or you have to make a transfer (which can take FOREVER), or you need to go somewhere not close to a bus stop.  I only have to walk a few minutes and then ride the bus for about ten minutes, but it can still be kind of stressful.  It makes me want to start a service where I pick up the elderly or people that need groceries and drive them where they need to go.  I can handle the bus a few days a week, but they shouldn’t have to.  It’s just not right.

Speaking of families, I overheard a classmate from England tell someone that he hadn’t been home in two years.  Wow.  Even though I get stressed out having busy weekends, I can’t imagine how much more stressed I would be if I didn’t get to see my family for that long.  I feel kinda lucky today.  Lucky and sad.

We had some complications getting to the airport in Tokyo and somehow ended up in a first class car (that we had to pay for!) on a train to Narita airport.  Regardless, we made it there and we made it home.  Dan was even able to finagle us an earlier flight from Chicago to Columbus.  Now, I love traveling, but it felt really good to get off of the plane where I am once again a literate citizen that can fully navigate roads and menus with the ease of a, well, literate citizen.  You know what also felt good?  Eating oatmeal, sleeping in my double-padded queen-sized bed, and catching up on so much English-language television (our DVR was busting!) that I thought I might die of happiness (ah, Biggest Loser).  Now, off to do other sweet things… like shower in my own bathroom, buy identifiable items at the grocery store and say something other than arrigato (thank you) and sumimasen (sorry/excuse me) to strangers.  Nothing feels better than expanding your vocabulary from three words (I know konichiwa too!) to thousands, all in a single flight over the Pacific.

Oh, and dear Ohio, this weather is lovely.  Thanks for the nice welcome home.

Tonight, I found another reason to love Columbus.  It’s a hot dog place Dan found out about when he was reading some reviews for the top restaurants in Columbus (in various categories).  It’s called Dirty Frank’s and it’s on Fourth St. downtown where all the tall buildings are.  This place has all different types of hot dogs with crazy and not so crazy toppings.  For example, Dan and I both got the “Ohioana” which has corn salsa on it.  And Dan got a second one called the “Classy Lady” that had crushed potato chips and cheese (he really loved that one)!  As my side I got a fried leek, which was amazing, lightly battered and sweet, and Dan said the fries were great.  On my list to get the next time we go (and many more times after that) are the Chicago style, the Beano, the Sriracha Slaw Dog, the Sauerkraut Dog and the Hot Bollywood (with mango chutney!).  You can see the full menu if you go to their website.  Oh, and the best part (for me) is that you can sub a tofurkey dog for a regular dog, so I can eat every single thing there!  And I forgot to mention that they have rootbeer floats made with Jeni’s ice cream!  We didn’t get one, but it’s also on my list.  Who wants to visit?

The Ohioana and fried leek. Yum!

It was a very nice day today.  The morning most definitely felt like September, and I liked it. I had about a million errands to run and it was a perfect day to drive with the windows down, so that’s what I did.

I went to go get my new parking pass though, and found a line of about 100 people.  That was not a good start to the nice morning.  I had to get to a doctor’s appointment, so I left.  Another day.  At the doctor’s appointment, there must have been two Laurens and when they called me in, I was the wrong Lauren, but they went ahead with me anyway.  As a result, I was in and out in 30 minutes.  Unfortunate for the other Lauren, but good for me.  Yay for common names.  Then, I went to pick up free tickets to see Greg Mortenson speak in October.  He wrote the book Three Cups of Tea and I read it a little while ago.  I think all of the incoming freshmen were supposed to read it and then come to this talk.  It should be pretty neat.  After that, I went on a hunt for a bookbag to take to Japan with me and finally found one at Dick’s.  It’s a brown plaid Northface one and it has a laptop sleeve in it.  Hooray!  Then at 2pm, I had the second fitting for my dress for Marcy’s wedding.  The dress had a little train that Marcy wanted hemmed off, so there was some confusion about exactly how to best do that, but we got it all figured out and the dress is really nice.  Then, I dropped off the recycling and mailed a package for Dan.  There was a really crazy lady at the post office that was dressed sort of like a colorful Mary Poppins bag lady who kept yelling “yooo hoooo!” to the post office employees and forgetting what she bought.  It was quite the spectacle.

One more day of work, then two days to prepare for Japan!  “Wooo hooo!” said the other crazy lady (me).

So, yesterday on my walk home from work, this crazy lady stops me and asks if I have a pack of cigarettes she can have.  I tell her that I don’t have a pack of cigarettes (But, if I did and I smoked, I probably wouldn’t give a crazy lady a whole pack!  How greedy!).  Then, without missing a beat, she says, “Well can I just have $5 then?”  I just keep walking, but I’m thinking, does this strategy actually work? It must have at some point or she wouldn’t be doing it, right?  Or else, she’s crazy.  There’s that.