The Story of How I Am AMAZING at Shopping

I have these sandals that I wear whenever I'm not at work or whenever I have to walk long distances.  They were over a year old when I moved to Hawaii, and I've given them some serious mileage since then, so they're in pretty bad shape.  In addition, even though they are sandals and supposed to be the airiest things one can have on one's feet, they kind of make my feet stink.  Conclusion:  time for new sandals.

I went to this store at the Ala Moana Center called "Robins," which is a store for sensible shoes as well as shoes for old people.  And I found these sandals that looked amazing.  They had arch support, a shock absorber in the heel, and they looked super sturdy.  The hitch:  they were $84.99...kind of pricey for sandals.  After looking around and finding nothing else, I decided to at least try them on.

They were the absolute most comfortable things that have ever been on my feet.  Heavenly, these shoes were.  So I bought them.  They officially became the most expensive pair of shoes I've ever purchased.

After I went home, I went on the internet to find these shoes, and I found them on Amazon.  And they were totally cheaper!  The pair I bought (Oil Green) were $53.56, with no tax, and free shipping.  Also, because Amazon is amazing, I could pay with miles from my credit card, so I ended up only paying just shy of $25 for them.  Granted, I have to go back to Ala Moana Center and deal with returning the shoes, but I can totally deal with that.

So yeah, I'm patting myself on the back, because I am AMAZING at shopping.

Silver Linings

How I felt when funding got cut for my conference in D.C.

Because...

Now I can go to Boston!!!!!*

I'm so freaking excited!

*The thing that happened was that I was going to Connecticut for an interview, and I was supposed to go to D.C. immediately after on the government's dime, so I didn't book a return trip.  So now I had to book a return trip, and I figured, why not make my way up to Boston for a few days while I'm over there?

Baltimore and Me!

Here is the story of why this song has been stuck in my head for the past three days.

I went to Baltimore this week on perhaps the shortest trip of my life.  I went for a very formal interview at the Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution at Johns Hopkins University (go ahead, be impressed).

Overall impression of the city:  very cool.  Some parts are definitely very reminiscent of Boston.  Unfortunately most of my walking-around was at night, and so I didn't get any great pictures of the parts that were particularly lovely.  There's American history aplenty there, including Fort McHenry, the site where "The Star Spangled Banner" was composed.*  Of course, there are also parts that are very sketchy, but everyone I talked to seemed to say that it was a safe place for anyone with good common sense.  Also, the shuttle driver who brought us to campus was the most excitingly friendly man ever.  He was totally like a cartoon movie bus driver or something.  The sad thing about such a short trip was that I didn't get to try as much of the delicious-looking food as I would have liked, but hopefully I'll be able to go back.

Overall impression of the school:  OH MY GOSH I WANT TO GO THERE SO BADLY!!!!!  I knew I wanted to go there pretty badly when I originally applied, but after visiting and talking with all of the faculty and students, I'm in love with the place.  There is a ton of fascinating research going on, and I know that if I went there, I'd be extremely well-prepared for a career in academia.  Also, their medical school divides its students into four colleges or "houses," and the way it was described, it sounds exactly like Hogwarts.  Additionally, everyone is super friendly, and one of the current students has an a capella group called "The Centrifugues."**  How awesome is that?

Also it's beautiful.  I didn't want to be crazy-tourist and take tons of pictures,
but this is the front of the old hospital.

Other fun things:  I got to see friends!  Laura, the Lawyer of Baltimore, and Bostonian Dave Currently in D.C. met up with me the first night I was there and we had dinner.  There was much nostalgia (brought on in part by crayon-scented cars) and reminiscing and forgetting that I wasn't in Boston and it wasn't last year.  But it was insanely fun (probably because I was exhausted and hilarious scenes from "New Girl" were referenced).

This is not what Laura's face looks like all the time.
If I were more talented, I would Photoshop myself in the middle.

Overall, it was an awesome trip (if for no other reason than I was not in Hawaii).  I think the interviews went really well.  Fingers crossed that I'll be able to say "Good Morning" to Baltimore yet again!


*Forever ingrained in my memory from first grade music class with Mrs. Thomas
**They are a branch from the Med School a capella group, "The Notochords."  Yay for nerdy music puns!

Something Somewhat Optimistic

This is the story of how a tiny little rodent became the answer to a prayer that I hadn't even said yet.

It's no secret that I'm incredibly lonely here.  I don't really have friends here yet, and I just found out my roommate is moving out* so I'm about to get even lonelier.  One of the things I hate most about Hawaii is that it's so far west of and so many hours behind everyone I know that by the time I get home from work in the evenings, everyone I could possibly want to talk to is asleep already.

Tonight, after signing off Gchat with some friends and reading some scriptures for the night, I get a call from my former roommate Lindsay, who lives in Charlestown.  I wasn't too shocked to get the call, as she's usually a late-night type of gal, but in her call she said she had been asleep, and had been woken up by the sound of a mouse in her trash can.  Apparently the Charlestown apartment is infested with mice, much more severely than last fall.**  As all of the other roommates were asleep, she tried to figure out who might still be awake whom she could call for mouse advice.  So she called me.

I offered a few suggestions:  some humane (move the trash can into the laundry room and deal with it in the morning), some not (put it outside and let it freeze to death; put it in the bathtub and throw a lit match in there).  I have no idea what she ended up doing, but while we were talking, I realized that it was only moments before she called me that I was lamenting my lack of human conversation.  It's definitely one of those General Conference spiritual prompting stories, but instead of a still small voice, it was a squeak and a rustle in the bottom of a trash can.

I guess I have something to be thankful for in my prayers tonight.

*She's graciously still going to pay half of the rent, thank goodness.

**Still better than roaches.

Social Pet Peeves

One or more of these things happened today.

• When people are like, "you should have hung out with us this weekend," I'm like, "well, you should have invited me this weekend."
• And then when people are like, "well, we'll totally invite you next time."  You know what saying that is not the same as?  Actually inviting me next time.
• When I'm scoffing about the aforementioned things and some guy asks why I'm scoffing and I'm about to explain them in my own very articulate way, and then mid-sentence he turns to talk to some bouncy hair in a tight skirt and it's like I never existed in the first place.

Boy am I sick of the Honolulu social scene.

My Music: 2013(1)

I haven't listened to a lot of music on the iTunes lately as I've been out of town and also marathoning my new(ish) Taylor Swift CD, so it hasn't changed much, but here's my Top 25:

1. "Poison and Wine" (The Civil Wars)
2. "Hold On" (Mary Beth Maziarz)
3. "C'est la Mort" (The Civil Wars)
4. "Thursday (at Olympic Studios)" (Asobi Seksu)
5. "Shake It Out" (Florence + The Machine)
6. "Falling" (The Civil Wars)
7. "I Want You Back" (The Civil Wars)
8. "The Call (Live in London)" (Regina Spektor)
9. "Elsewhere" (Sarah McLachlan)
10. "21 Guns" (OBC of American Idiot)
11. "Snow Day" (Jeremy Messersmith)
12. "Organ Donor" (Jeremy Messersmith)
13. "Gravity" (Sara Bareilles)
14. "Homeward Bound" (BYU Singers and BYU Concert Choir)
15. "Falling Slowly" (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova)
16. "Scientists" (Jeremy Messersmith)
17. "Cathedrals" (Jump, Little Children)
18. "promise Me This" (Pancho's Lament)
19. "How" (Regina Spektor)*
20. "Mother Mother" (Tracy Bonham)
21. "Dance Me to the End of Love" (The Civil Wars)
22. "Across the Universe" (Fiona Apple)
23. "My Love" (Irie Love)
24. "Toussaint Grey, First In Life and Death" (Jeremy Messersmith)
25. "Skeleton Song" (Kate Nash)

*I just downloaded this song yesterday.  Impressive or pathetic?

I have a plan!

No.  This is not my plan.

Whenever I tell people I'm only in Hawaii for a year (5 months, 11 days left!) they often ask where I'm going afterwards.  I usually say, "a PhD program (hopefully)," but here's the thing:  I'm leaving Hawaii in the middle of June, and school doesn't start until late August.  What am I doing in the meantime? 

I'm going back to Boston!!!

This was always a possibility floating around in my mind, but now I've officially decided to do it.  Here's why:

1. Lots of people just move to Boston for a couple of months because it's that awesome.  I could be one of those people.
2. My Massachusetts Learner's Permit is still valid for another year.  With hope (and probably luck, and also Ryan Davis' car) I will learn to drive and get a license.
3. I still have stuff there.  Like a desk that my Townie replacement is currently using that I want back when I have a more permanent place to be.  If I get a driver's license, I can load that stuff up in a van and drive it to wherever I end up going to grad school (unless I end up going to BU, in which case I will drive it down the road somewhere).

I'm really glad to have a plan.  And I'm really glad that plan involves (at least) one more summer in Boston.