Project Runway Finale!

I am in shock...

The evil deathspawn also known as Jeffrey Sebelia won Project Runway tonight. Good god, the man has a rat tail!

OK, honestly, I'll admit it... I liked some of his runway designs tonight, but I still think he lacked the tastefulness of Laura's and Uli's collections. (Let's not even talk about Michael Knight's design disaster). But I just can't get over the fact that the majority of his designs look like they should be hanging on the racks in Hot Topic or Wet Seal. Mall fodder, Jeffrey, simply mall fodder.

However, here are a couple of his designs that I thought were cute:

Can you tell I like stripes?

But this thing looked like it came right out of Forever 21:

Snow White gone bad. Yuck.

And seriously, what the hell happened with Michael?

"Oh, me so horny..." (Kickin' up the "2 Live Crew" now)

And because I still (and will always) *heart* Laura, here were my two favorites from her collection:

I'm normally not at all into lace, but I love the legging look under the stiff Victorian material! And I love the shorts with the gauzy wrapped satin jacket.

And not to be forgotten, here is my favorite Uli outfit:

...Which might actually be my favorite design of the entire event. I would totally wear this to a party... although it looks like you can't wear a bra. Now wait a minute... that could be problematic for support reasons. We're not all model AAs, you know. Not that I'm complaining about that, but...

Copland

Here's the kind of sketchy, random stuff that goes down in Tucson all the time:


I took this photo from in front of my apartment complex a few days ago when I arrived home from class at around 3:30pm. The paddy wagon had just driven away, and the cops were taking crime scene pictures of this beat-up old car, which had smashed into a beautiful chain link fence surrounding a small weed-strewn yard in front of a dilapitated house.

My guess is that the car was stolen, it was involved in a high-speed chase (down my street), the car lost control, and it crashed. This is the only explanation I can offer that would involve a paddy wagon and multiple police cars (not all visible in this photo).

Aside from the regular nightly cop helicopter circlings that go on from midnight to 2 a.m., this is standard business in Tucson. You wouldn't believe how many high-speed cop chases I hear on a weekly basis near my apartment.

I know you're jealous.

Culinary Delights

OK, I'm highly annoyed right now. I just spent 30 minutes writing a blog entry about my undying love for St. Andre triple cream cheese and Porto Rico "strudel cake" flavored coffee, and my f***ing internet malfunctioned, booted me out, and everything was erased.

So let me reword it: I love St. Andre triple cream cheese and Porto Rico strudel cake coffee. I am definitely no culinary snob, but I have great appreciation for these two delicacies and thrive on them here in Tucson. Indeed, they are very close to heaven on earth.

First, the St. Andre, according to www.cheesesupply.com:

St. André is a soft, ripened cheese in the tradition of Brie and Camembert. In 1928 a country cheese maker started the St. André Creamery in Villefranche de Rouerque, France, in the middle Pyrénées, a region also known for Roquefort cheese. Fast forward 40-some years and the soft-ripened, triple-cream cheese named St. André made its debut, with a reputation as a blend of the perfect brie mixed with equal parts of thick, sour cream and whipped sweet cream. St. André is made from cow's milk and enriched with pure cream. St. André is also fairly rare. Containing no less than 75% butterfat for every 100 grams of cheese, St. André is commonly agreed to be 50% richer than the average Camembert. This cheese is a favorite for cheese boards!

I commonly set up snack trays like this between classes.

However, word to the wise: butterfat = "butt, er, fat" as in your "butt, is, er, fat." Eat it sparingly, but love it.

Next up, Porto Rico "strudel cake" coffee. I accidentally found the Porto Rico Importing Company on Bleecker Street in NYC's West Village a few years ago and have been addicted ever since. I order coffee from them every semester and have it shipped to AZ. Their flavored coffee is the best, hands down.



I mean, check out their flavors: Amaretto, Cappucino, Chocolate, Chocolate Cherry, Chocolate Cinnamon, Chocolate Mint, Chocolate Raspberry, Chocolate Strudel, Cinnamon, Cinnamon Hazelnut, Cinnamon Orange, Coconut, Double Nut Fudge, Egg Nog, Frangelica, Hazelnut, Irish Creme, Mexicali Creme, Macadamia, Maple Walnut, Mint, Orange, Peaches & Creme, Pecan, Praline, Pumpkin Spice, Sambuca, Strudel Cake, Swiss Chocolate Almond, Tiramisu, Toasted Almond, Vanilla Bean, and Vanilla Almond.

That's just insane. And fabulous!!!

And one last note, while we're speaking of flavored drinks, I am also a huge fan of Pyramid's Apricot Heizen beer... plus the orange bottles are refreshingly autumnal this time of year...


Chin chin!!!

Craziness at DV8

My apologies, dear friends, for the total gross-out factor in my last blog entry. It appears as though I made at least two friends sick while they were eating breakfast. I am so sorry.

Now, moving on to last Friday night, which was far more uplifting than dermotological issues... I went out with Anna, Ben, Ingrid, some other astronomy grad students, plus my friend Gerry (who subletted my apt. last Christmas) and two of his old college friends visiting from NYC.

First we hit the outside deck of "No Anchovies!" for several beers and then we moved onto Tucson's finest all-colors night club, DV8, where Ingrid had double-dog-dared Ben to get us a VIP table, which is exactly what he did. Hilariously, our "VIP" area was nothing more than a 2' x 2' formica table right next to the public bar that didn't even come with chairs. However, we did get a "reserved" sign.

I'm not a big fan of "top 40" type music and only recognized one song the entire night. However, it was amusing to watch the large and scantily clad Latina women gyrate about on the dance floor to "Fitty Cent" in their Hot Topic hoochy tops. I even got out there after a couple of beers...

Here is photographic proof of a rather interesting evening:


Ben & Ingrid, debonnaire at the bar, AKA "VIP section"


Ben, Ingrid, me w/very unhip mail-pouch-sized purse, Anna, and Maria Luisa


Shakin' the Booty Train...


It's all fun & games till somebody loses an eye...


Ben & Ingrid again...


I shouldn't include this b/c it shows every facial imperfection & wrinkle on our faces, but here's Anna & me.


And my favorite picture... Ben at the end of the night.

We actually ended the evening stuffing our faces with Diego's tacos, which were absolutely delicious.

With that, I should sign off for the evening...
Adios.

Pimple-Packed Day

A rather boring day today.

Spent most of the day on campus for classes, studying Iraqi Arabic for my test today, researched a bit at the library, and then worked out at the gym. One of the more interesting moments of the day occurred when I ran into my Iraqi Arabic teacher on campus a couple of hours before our exam.

He decided to walk with me to the library because he had numerous questions about how US health insurance worked (there is no such thing as health insurance in Iraq). He showed me his insurance packet, asked me how a co-pay and deductible worked, and then asked if he would get his $500 enrollment back if he didn't go to the doctor during the time he had the insurance. Ahhh, yaaaaa, that would be a big noooo... I'm still not sure he understands that insurance is a business. He also seemed perplexed that the insurance company would pay most of his hospital or doctor care, asking me, "well, if this costs more than my $500 then how do they pay for it?" I tried to let him know it was by bilking everyone else who paid and didn't go to the doctor, but I don't think he really got the whole concept.

However, the "interesting" part of the conversation is when he insisted upon telling me exactly why he was asking these insurance questions..... well, it seems that he needs to see a doctor.

Despite my protests of "oh, please, it's personal, you don't have to tell me," (thinking "please don't say any more, please, oh please...") I was subjected to one of the grosser conversations of my life, and I now must share ... no, it's not hemmorhoids or diarrhea, thank god, but apparently he has a large zit on his nose (which he pointed to and asked me to look at closely) that won't go away. I'm not kidding. I mean, I've noticed that his skin is slightly blemished, but he started telling me about this pimple that bled nightly (probably because he's been picking at it endlessly) and then asked me what the word in English was for "the yellow stuff that comes out."



Honestly, I thought I was going to hurl. So I had to tell him it was "pus" which he wrote down on his paper as "puss" (which is actually even grosser given the other possible pronunciation), and then I cut him off and told him that I didn't want to know any more. Well, I really hope there wasn't any more than that... I mean, that was plenty, but I just couldn't look at the thing anymore and talk about his nightly pimple popping sessions. I told him to call a dermotologist and then got the hell out of dodge.

For extra fun, click here... the Acne Be Gone game!

So there you have it... my action-packed, pimple-popping day. Cheers!!!

Lack of Sleep

Just so you know, I had a rather clever idea for the blog tonight, but I'm too tired to pursue the thought.

I was up way too late last night at the concert, then the f**ing zipper bird woke me up at 5:56 am (yesterday it happened at 5:55 am). He appears to be the plague of early morning October, judging from last year's entry from exactly the same time period. Then, just as I shoved earplugs into my head and dozed off, Miguel's mother called to chat at the quality hour of 6:22 am. (She's visiting the East Coast right now from Ecuador and calls me periodically to say hello, but usually at a more reasonable time). After that, I just tossed and turned and could never really fall back to sleep.

Therefore, I'm feeling a wee bit tired right now, and I have an Iraqi Arabic exam tomorrow that I need to study for, and tonight is my big TV night with "Lost" and... drum roll... the two-hour FINALE of "Project Runway"!! I'm really on pins and needles... Lau-ra, Lau-ra, Lau-ra!!!


Thank you very much...

Now time to study for a bit and try to keep my eyes open...

A Night of Noise

Tonight was a bit of a pisser.

I'd intended for weeks to go see the Mosquitos (a NY-Brazilian band) who were actually playing in Tucson tonight, along with their opening band, Oppenheimer, who I also really like. However, at the last minute, every single person who told me they were planning to go with me decided to bail. OK, for the record, I fucking hate bailers.

So, I resigned to go alone... that is until Jordy and Katie called as I was in my final stages of debate (is it too weird to go to a concert alone? yes, no, yes, no) and invited me to a different concert at a different venue. Figuring the night was a bit of a wash anyway, I decided to change plans (after all, I have seen the Mosquitos in concert before).

The band du jour at this new venue was called "Subtle," and I can tell you they were anything but.



I give them serious props for creative, umm, "props" (seriously, the singer had about a zillion different props he used throughout the concert, like fake teeth, silly putty eggs, paper scrolls, a mirror, and many other random items) and general artisticness, but at a musical level, I just failed to appreciate them. Imagine one keyboardist repetitively playing drum chords over and over (generally leading the group) while the rest of the band each did their own thing, including a saxophone, a cello, a guitarist/drummer, a flute, and a gay Hispanic rapper with a very high-pitched nasal voice. At first it was intriguing, but by the third song, I was ready to seal my ears with cement. There was simply no melody, just noise, with the gay nasal rapper chanting rapid-fire lyrics that no one could understand on top of the general cacophony.

I suppose it could be considered art, and if I understood the lyrics, I think they were making some sort of social commentary, but it was lost on me. Katie too. Jordy enjoyed it though. In fact, he seems a bit disappointed in my lack of rock-n-roll appreciation, at one point asking me, "what do you like about music?" after I declared that I loathed Bruce Springstein and Bob Dylan's voices and generally wished to do away with the electric guitar except for minor accompaniment and muted background sound.

I pointed out that I do, in fact, have nearly 190 bands that I enjoy on my MySpace account, although none of them could really be labeled "rock."

Just to show that I do appreciate music, albeit not of the ilk seen this evening, here is one of my favorite new finds, a Swedish duo called Le Sport (who sadly just broke up last month)... perhaps they could be considered the antithesis of rock-n-roll:



Korg out!!!

Saturday's Wild Party

It appears I got some sh*t from one of my old grad school friends (who thought they would be clever by remaining "anonymous") because I didn't post any photos of the most awesome party ever* last Saturday night.

This would be because yours truly forgot to bring her digital camera, or any camera at all, for that matter. However, lucky for me, a girl in my department sent her photos out on-line today, and she did a fairly good job of getting a feel for the whole scene. So I hope this sates your curiosity about the evening... and brings back many a fond memory.

Since I'm scared to death someone from the department might find this blog one day, I'm not commenting much about the pics, but if you have questions or would like make a snarky remark about anything below, please feel free to e-mail me!


This is my Quran Studies/Islamic Law professor at the bottom left (only one year older than me), my Iraqi Arabic teacher in the yellow, and Lindsey in the grey tank. I have no idea who the handsome fellows in the back are.


My Quran professor and his wife, my Arabic class TA, two Turkish students, and the former director of our department, Dr. B.


The girl who sent the pictures and our Turkish PhD student... both are pretty cool.


More Turks and Persians...


A. and S. --- drinking too much, along with me.


Jordy & E. -- the cutting edge in hipsterism.


Regaling my audience with colorful stories... with Katie, Dr. B., and our Arabic Dept. director (and her husband's leg).

Also, please note I am wearing a silk tank top in October. Yes, Arizona has its benefits.

Time to study now. Laters.

(* = mild sarcasm)

Fun with Photo Editing

I went to a party for my university department last night and drank too much, causing me to sleep in this morning, then loaf around most of the day, reading for class tomorrow while drinking copious amounts of coffee. Although our department events are generally lame, it was actually pretty fun last night (possibly due to my numerous glasses of wine?)...

Yesterday, I didn't do much of anything except household chores like laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping. I also stopped for a couple of kitchen items at Ross, where I discovered half the population of Sonora, Mexico apparently loves to shop.

In addition, I spent a good portion of my day fooling around on my computer's photo editor. My department is selling notecards at a university street fair coming up soon, and they put out a call for photos we have taken during our Middle East travels. Unfortunately, almost all of my photos are non-digital and currently in storage on the East Coast, but I had scanned a few pictures I'd taken in Yemen into my computer a few years ago, and I also had a couple of good ones from Kuwait that I took last year with my digital camera.

Anyway, I had a good time playing around with the photo editor (making me wish, yet again, that I had gone into a more creative career field as I had originally planned... sigh... like architecture, interior design, or graphic art). But, alas, I guess then I wouldn't have been able to travel to these cool places...

YEMEN PICTURES

Decrepit truck parked on a street in old Sana'a...


Graffiti on a wall behind qat dealers...

(I can't read all of it, but one line says "against qat")

The old city of Sana'a...


Typical Yemeni truck...


On the outskirts of Sana'a, this is a historic place called Wadi Dahar...


Sign outside a local bookstore, called "The Tunis Library"...


A poor Yemeni woman selling bread & a type of lettuce...


KUWAIT PICTURES

City skyline from a Kuwaiti rooftop...


The Kuwait Towers...


And that's it for now. I'm going to work on photoshopping some of the "people" pictures I took and will share them later, but for now, I need to get cracking on my Arabic homework.

Ma'a Salaama!!

The Old Lady 'Do

Just a brief note to say that I just returned from a haircut. I go to Jim at Cost Cutters, which costs me exactly $12.95, not including tip. You might think this is a dangerous move on my part, and I would probably concur in any normal circumstance, but Jim is really an excellent stylist, referred to me by my economics professor last year, who had the cutest haircut.

Despite Jim's affordable coiffure talents, I really hate that he insists on blow-drying and curling my hair with a round brush after a cut. First of all, my hair is like two inches long all over right now and doesn't need to be blow dried. Secondly, I have very thick hair that responds aggressively to blow drying and brushing (think mushroom effect).

The end result is not pretty. In fact, right now I look exactly like freaking Estelle Getty on Golden Girls...


I think it's time to go get a beer...

Life in a College Apartment Complex

I have a sexaholic neighbor next door.

She's a blonde, rather generic-looking student who moved in over the summer and lives across the hall from me. Despite the fact that she lives in an exquisitely tiny studio apartment, her boyfriend appears to have moved in with her. This boyfriend has a full-bore mohawk (think London 1980), multiple piercings, lots of tattoos, and smokes occasionally in the hallway outside my apartment. He's actually fairly pleasant, making eye contact and saying hello, but for whatever reason, the two of them do not seem to want to close their blinds tightly at night, and try as I might not to look after parking my bike near their window, I always see various flesh-toned body parts lying entwined on her bed through the gaps in the window covering.


It's been making me feel a lot like Gladys Kravitz.

Making matters worse, I was working on my computer two nights ago when very vocal, female moans began drowning out the music I was playing.



Although my friend Shauna (who lives on the other side of this girl) had informed me that she could hear them through her wall on a nightly basis, I had never been bothered. Suddenly, I looked up from my monitor and turned down my music momentarily to confirm that I was -- yes, I was -- actually hearing orgasmic howling reverberating through our entire apartment complex's courtyard. I then went to my open window to stare into the dark and empty courtyard (filled only with the sounds of a woman's passion) to confirm that -- yes indeed -- they were making as much noise as I believed they might have been making.

Affirmative...

... it's not just my imagination.

So I immediately turned up my music...

... and pretended I was not privy to the porn scene going on next door.

After all, I was reading a thrilling on-line article about the economics of Middle Eastern satellite TV.

In other noisy news, the back door to my apartment complex, which is also next to my apartment, has a broken spring, causing the heavy metal door to slam at a maximum velocity of approximately 60 mph every time someone uses it to get to or from their car. I was literally shaken awake at 6:24am today when some disrepectful asshat in my complex let the door swing shut at full speed while en route to god knows where at that hour.

If I hadn't have been so tired, I would have run outside and screamed at the perpetrator...


Ahhh, my lovely college digs.

Lost -- In More Ways Than One

I'm pretty excited b/c tonight is the season premiere of Lost!

My two favorite misfit characters, Hurley & Locke...

At least these drawings are better than the Macgyver one. See more drawings here...

I've been trying to catch up on about six months of Spoiler Fix Lost entries (a website that gives you behind-the-scenes info on what to expect this season), in addition to actually doing some legitimate school reading this afternoon/evening.

I'm heading over to Jordy's for the Lost viewing (it's definitely a show in which more than one discerning eye is needed) and then going to Shauna's for the reunion episode of Project Runway, where the preview made it look as though Keith the Cheater is going to get angry at everyone, including Tim Gunn.

Between tonight's blog entry and yesterday's, I think you must all believe me to be a sad, soon-to-be-cellulite-ridden TV addict and blossoming couch potato. However, I assure you that yesterday's fall from grace (150 minutes of white trash TV) was most definitely an anomaly.


Gimme more Pringles, Ma!!!!!!

To be honest, after talking with my grad advisor today, I need to get my sh*t figured out (ie: deciding on a thesis topic, picking an advisory committee) and moreover, I need to start job hunting. Although the place that hired me this summer wants me to come back again for good next year, I'm uncertain I want to work there. It reminds me too much of the life I left behind to come back to grad school in the first place! However, I must say that I am not at all looking forward to typing up cover letters and going through all the crappy shennanigans it takes to get employment these days. Bah humbug!

Especially when I know this is my future...


Anyway, I have to run now... it's less than an hour till Lost, and I don't want to be late!

On Becoming White Trash...

I have an admission to make... I spent a full hour of my day today watching Maury Povich.

And it wasn't just Maury Povich... it was the "Top 10 DNA Results Episodes" special.

With stories like this...

... featuring the dumbest man alive.

The truth is, I initially intended to watch it only while making my lunch (Trader Joe's coconut curry wraps heated in my toaster oven with some steamed corn warmed in the microwave... I refuse to use my stove in any way, shape, or form), but then I kind of got sucked in. I know, it's terrible.

However, what's worse is that I also watched "Dancing With the Stars" tonight -- the entire 90 minutes -- and despite Mario Lopez's piping hot looks & performance...

... I actually voted for Jerry Springer using a 1-800 number on my cell phone.

I fear I am becoming white trash. Please help me.

Speaking of, this South Park clip is hilarrrrious...


Bye y'all.

Japanese Macaque Snow Monkeys

Miguel and I are both big fans of monkeys.

I'm not sure why I am, since I was nearly mauled by a pack of them in India several years ago. I was also attacked by an organ grinder monkey in Spain in 2000, when its owner put it on my shoulder inside a small convenience store because I thought it was cute, and then the thing started freaking out and pulling my hair and then climbed onto my head and started screeching at the top of its lungs. It took its owner about a full minute (translated into "felt like" time of about an hour) to remove it from my head, where it was clinging on for dear life as I was in a full-on state of sheer panic.

Despite this, I still think all simian creatures are fun to look at, even if they can be mean little buggers.

Anyway, talking on the phone with Miguel this evening, he told me I should do a Google search for "Japanese Macaque Snow Monkeys," which he read about recently in National Geographic. So I did. Then he asked me to look at the pictures of them playing in the thermal pools in northern Japan. So I did... and I must say they are honestly some of the cutest little characters I've seen in a while...

Here they are:








I found these images rather calming after reading about the Amish schoolhouse massacre today. I mean, WTF is going on? Amish people are getting attacked now?

As for other unsavory news, I must admit that I am loving the Foley-teen boy improper relationship scandal. Gawker is renaming the :) smiley face emoticon "the Foley." I love it!

On that note... off to bed now... sweet dreams!!!

General Weekend Tomfoolery

Hmmmpphhh... the weekend is over.

Although I didn't get to Seattle as I'd planned, I still had a pretty good time here in Tucson, as unbelievable as that sounds to my own ears.

I actually did quite a bit of research at the library on Friday afternoon, worked out for a while on the elliptical at the gym, and then had a tasty Mexican dinner and amusing conversation later in the evening with my friend Jordy (from my department) & his fiance, Katie, who just moved here from Michigan and has started working as an ICU nurse. Despite my personal aversion to all things medical, I do enjoy a hospital story or two, and she had a few interesting tales to tell... you know, drug addicts, organ transplants, and bedpan/vomit anecdotes.

Speaking of bedpans, check this website out... it's bedpan artwork!!

Here's my favorite creation:

With a note from le artiste:

While the artist must stress that he isn't actually calling for the assasination of Oprah Winfrey, considering the world's current condition and the loss of so many innocents, he wouldn't really lose any sleep if it happened.

The inscription on this bedpan reads:

"Although at first glance it seems as if Oprah Winfrey is quite the philanthropist, she promotes a lifestyle of constant and pointless suburban consumption, which when practiced by soccer moms en masse, leads to enormous gaps between the rich and poor, killing many. Oprah must die so that many more can live."

And if you've seen the South Park episode with Oprah's minge, you'd agree.

On Saturday, I actually rallied myself to start my homework early, finishing my Arabic assignments before 2pm and doing a bit of reading for my Quran class. In the late afternoon, I took a jog -- something I rarely do (even though I actually ran cross country in high school) because I started getting terrible shin splints about 10 years ago.

However, for whatever reason, a run sounded good... so I ran over to campus, where I had no idea a football game was starting in an hour. So I encountered about a bazillion fans (many of whom appeared to be rednecks) drinking beer out of campers, trailers, and tents on our main quad on campus...


This was the scene I ran smack into.

I also came across our marching band practicing in the area, leading me to discover that Jordy & Katie hadn't been kidding the night before, when they told me that our band is doing a "Radiohead" themed show. (May I remind you that, in comparison, my high school marching band did a "Miami Sound Machine" theme in 1988?) So I turned my MP3 player off and stood and watched the pre-game show for a bit. I must admit to being secretly impressed when the entire band stopped playing for a second and started singing "Karma Police" in unison...

Here's the real song for anyone interested (minus Jenn, who has publicly announced her derision for Radiohead -- all because of some lame ex-boyfriend)...

"This is what you get, this is what you get
This is what you get, when you mess with us"

He might have kooky eyes... but ahhh, the voice of Thom Yorke.

Anyway, on Saturday night I went to a birthday dinner party for a girl I went camping with last month, and then a bunch of us went dancing. I drank too much, fell asleep at three am, and awoke very parched.

Aside from swimming and doing a bit more homework, I spent most of my day today curled up in bed drinking coffee in my pajamas and reading "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri, which is a great book with wonderful characters...


It's so well written, I just can't put it down.

I also rented a bunch of old videos ("Jezebel" with Bette Davis, "Midnight Express," "The Chocolate War," and some Japanese film) from the school library this evening and plan to pop one in the VCR right about now.

Toodles.