Les vacances chez moi

This week, we find ourselves enjoying the cool post-thunderstorm breeze that rolls through the lush spring-green branches of the ash trees that throw patches of shade on the manicured lawns of a suburban New Jersey neighborhood. Birdsong mingles with the sound of the airplanes screeching overhead and the rumbling traffic on the highways, about 200 meters and 1400 meters away respectively. On our quarter of an acre square of this paradise, the flowers wear the fresh vestments of spring. Wildlife is diverse and plentiful on the dandelion-speckled patch of lawn, mainly due to the unique non-pesticide flavor of the plant life that we strive for here chez moi. Though furry friends, be warned, come summertime, the lord of the manor has been known to pelt bricks at or drown those who trespass into the vegetable gardens.

What has been going on inside?

A grueling Friday (June 29th) of packing until 5am culminated with my departure from Cornell on Saturday with much assistance from some very very kind and dedicated friends (you know who you are) and many a sad farewell. I spent the first hour or so of the drive boring my father to death with a lengthy summary of the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine, complete with an in-depth analysis of the clichéd storyline, so as to clearly communicate how dreadful the film was. Rest assured he will not be watching that movie anytime soon. We also managed to discuss P.G. Wodehouse and Ogden Nash somehow. The evening concluded as I stumbled brain-dead into the bathroom to brush my teeth and promptly put hand-soap on my toothbrush. A sign to get some shut-eye if ever I saw one.


Sunday morning I am lovingly pummeled awake by a cherubic little sister who informed me disdainfully that it was 1 o’clock and to get up already. Only the strongest sisterly love kept me from blaming her for my poor night’s sleep in the spare room (see picture above of me putting on my penguin slippers), to which I was banished due to the uninhabitable state of our bedroom . Granted it was AP week, but let’s just say she gets low marks in tidiness, sanitation, and general domestic finesse (i.e. she had to sleep in the top bunk otherwise known as my bed due to the unsavory landscape of her own bunk). Mass in the evening is a shoddy affair due to a combination of our pastor’s exhaustion from dealing with the church carnival and the unpopular but zealous gospel choir. The deacon gives a simplistic but positive sermon about how “there are many types of love” (one of which is loving our parents, another example is loving a cold beer on a hot afternoon) but Fr. D kills the mood by reflecting on “this tear-stained world” during the prayers.

Monday: Sleeping and catching up on my favorite BBC shows online.


Tuesday was more exciting as I accompanied my mother to a lecture at Rutgers by none other than the infamous Phil Zimbardo speaking about the Psychology of Evil. Oh mother-daughter bonding! The event was in my dad’s building and his normal lecture hall so he ended up tagging along. Good thing he did as he was the one who finally managed to get ole Dr. Z’s powerpoint presentation to work (see picture above). The ‘Discovering Psychology’ creator’s lecture was interesting. Unfortunately, he spent too long discussing evil that he did not have time to give us the full scoop on his new interest: heroism. So we got a heavy dose of depressing and not quite an adequate dose of uplifting. The outing did however give me a change to debut the green sweater I stole from Mariana’s dump and run pile on Friday night. It went over very well especially with my matching socks. On the way home we stopped by to purchase me a new ipod (RIP old ipod where ever you are). The down side, I am the one who has to cough up the greenbacks this time. The up side, it can be purple!



Wednesday and Thursday were occupied with preparations for LA: packing, some minimal shopping for a GRE study book, car repairs, finalizing things with internship providers, trying to finalize things with the hell that is Career Services. Luckily managed to see a few great pals (Emily and Sumona) before hitting the road Friday.

Also saw Star Trek. Am not personally a huge fan of the movie but it had its really great moments. It also had its rather awful moments--- namely several lame plot points and the clichéd opening, though it did give me a fantastic opportunity to heckle Jennifer Morrison. Thoroughly enjoyed a lot of the winks to those familiar with the original series especially the classic red shirt whose parachute malfunctions. Right Abrams, it ‘malfunctioned.’

Best parts: hands-down Karl Urban as McCoy (I don’t think people appreciate how spot on he was. The guy must have put some serious serious work into that role) and Pegg as Scotty. Who cares about Pine and Quinto with either of those guys in the scene? Not me!
Side Note: I also really enjoyed mocking the Transformers trailer. “Megatron wants what’s in my mind!” Does he now LeBeouf? Really? Or “They’re symbols, they must mean something.” No way! Glad you’re there to state the obvious! Gosh, where would we be without you? (In a better movie maybe?)

Friday: driving to visit the grandparents in PA