Pumpkin Panda

Hola, cheese curls! It is time yet again for the long heralded monthly update! Although my proposition to update once a month has lagged behind to the end of the month, I shall try to be quick on the uptake for the remaining months of November and December, in preparation for my 2014 New Year's resolution of updating TWICE a month! Lo, ho! Though hast not heard of such glory!

Dare I say that my trend for being pleasantly surprised at the city of Richmond has continued to the point where I believe this may be a permanent sort of glee (let's not take it as far as "glee," although it has been positive so far). After revolting from the college bar scene, yours truly decided to immerse her Panda self in the artistic ways of Richmond. Sitting in on an arts leadership course with an awesome professor (shameless plug in the event you or anyone you know needs a great interior designer!) has let me gain exposure to the finer side of design and creativity in the city. I explored the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, saw the play To Kill a Mockingbird, and got season tickets for the Richmond Symphony, the first of which was Verdi Requiem. Although I would have enjoyed it more, intermission was not offered that one fine Saturday evening and I was therefore forced to catch myself from falling asleep toward the latter end of the performance, however mesmerizing it had been.

In addition, I have made a new friend! Walter Braxton, truly the definition of a starving artist/misunderstood musician, sat down next to me at Starbucks last Sunday afternoon and started dining on a can of Vienna Sausages. Immediately I knew we would become great friends. After exchanging some pleasantries, I read about him while he was sitting next to me (thanks, Google!), and eventually we agreed to meet again so he could give me some of his music. Walter Braxton is a composer of classical music! I have not yet gotten the chance to go through all of the music yet, but I have heard enough and had enough classical music training on the piano as a wee youth to appreciate the challenge of writing music! Falling into some difficulty recently, Mr. Braxton has not been able to compose and perform/conduct as he has wished. I have even thought about holding a class where he can teach crude laymen and layPanda about classical music, so I can act more distinguished the next time I attend a networking event!

Two former lab homies drove up this past weekend to attend our football game. We got to visit University of Virginia, which is apparently a public university even though all the men wear bow ties like private poodles. Notwithstanding, the football stadium had an interesting layout with part of the stadium cut out and replaced by a grassy knoll for frolicking in dismay when they lose at their homecoming game, as was the case this past weekend. In addition, the weather was absolutely delightful, following a week of dismal frigidity that had me breaking in my new CUggs (Costco Uggs - the adult version!).

Books have been a' galore in the Panda household! Thanks to Amazon and one cent used books with $3.99 shipping, I have been able to accrue a significant number of books that I shall probably not be able to finish anytime soon. After joining the library, I started requesting books and have now a book that I need to finish within the next two weeks. At least that gives me a deadline, although the other books on my shelf have started to get lonely without my prying Panda eyes. With The Economist also vying for my precious time and attention, along with the new Lady Gaga tracks in anticipation for her album release, I have been torn apart deciding what to read/watch/listen. Thank goodness for RapGenius, so I can listen to songs once (or not at all), and understand what "Pirelli" means.

There has also been a secular church dinner group (I am aware that the entire aforementioned phrase was an oxymoron...can oxymorons contain more than two words?) that has also accepted me for dinner each Wednesday. After two free dinners, I feel the need to contribute something, and am finally on a mission to prepare some green tea cheesecake for hungry diners! I have not really been baking after the CHEESECAKE FIASCO! this summer, where I made a different cheesecake every week and had to eat all of them by myself because everyone in lab decided to go on a diet (alright, I admit that I enjoyed every last bite...like I said, FIASCO). Welcome back, cheesecake! You will be a dear companion to the four tubs of Haagen Daz ice cream in my freezer that will eventually end up in my salivating Panda mouth!

I have two co-author manuscripts in the pipeline, one that should be submitted very soon, and the other pending revision from Dr. Zebra (which may never happen, at this pace). I have also started looking at other opportunities to become involved, even if not in the city of Richmond. Should you have consulting opportunities for a PhD Panda, please do contact me!

Happy Halloween, cheese curls! Unfortunately, I did not have enough time this year to create my own cheese curl costume. However, in order to stay warm and be able to stuff pillows into my costume, I have decided to dress up as as pumpkin! Of course, this will be a homemade costume, with an orange t-shirt, permanent marker, and some pillows! These Richmond folk will be blown away by the caliber and creativity of my masquerade, indeed!

Updates soon, my friends! Revvin' the frequency!

Panda Is Sad

Right now the Georgia Tech vs. Clemson homecoming football game is playing, and I can hear the announcer from my open window. It’s also Halloween weekend and most people are dressed up in silly costumes and having a fun time. However, Panda is sitting at home, mourning the departure of a dear friend. 

Dr. Tittens left this morning to return to Germany. After 9 months in the States and only a little more than 2 months knowing me, he managed to have eight people take him out to dinner and the bars last night, and three see him to the airport this morning. Although I have known only him for a little more than 2 months, I have to admit that Dr. Tittens is one of my best friends. I think that has a lot to do with his character; some people just have good overall character and make friends with everybody. Plus a lot to do with this is that we both lived in the same apartment building, so we got to hang out almost every day. 

On a scale from 1 (mild irritation, aka when I run out of Sriracha sauce) to 10 (physical pain/high emotional distress, aka when The Boyf and I “broke up” this summer), I would rank Dr. Titten’s departure as a 7. Usually I am fine with not seeing people for a while because I move a lot, even my best friends. But my friends are all in the US, so even if it’s a few years, we can still keep in touch via Facebook or whatever. This is a really different situation because Dr. Tittens really isn’t in the same field as us (he is a medical doctor and we are in research), and somewhere deep in your heart you know that you will probably never cross paths in life again. I’m sure at some point I’ll be able to visit Germany or whatever country he ends up in, and maybe his kids and my kids can end up being GENERATION II BEST BUDDIES, but for now it seems highly unlikely. I guess I’ll get over it in a few days and hang out with the other best buddies in lab, but it really just won’t be the same without the funny German accent screaming “I know that you are UGLY” to LMFAO. 

I have been trying to console myself, but there is nothing to do. My internet is especially shitty tonight and I can’t even send out an email, The Boyf is away at some Halloween party (no doubt with terrible hair but he is a cowboy so at least the hat will cover it), I finished the last of the ice cream last week already, and to top it all off, there is a cockroach (I say ONE but there are probably more that I am remaining in denial about) in my kitchen that I tried to starve to death last week by not opening the cupboard, but I had to open it tonight to get my Nutella (you KNOW I am eating it right now with a spoon) and the damn bugger crawled right out. Actually, last night I randomly saw a guy with whom I had Chinese class back at Penn State while we were out, so we might end up hanging out tonight if I can pull my wits about me. But really, sitting at home eating Nutella by yourself on a Saturday evening is not the best spirit booster (although still delicious). Even the music on Itunes is starting to get depressing. 

So I decided to write this blog post to make me feel better! I know I haven’t updated for a few weeks, which is usually the case. But now that Dr. Tittens is gone, I have much more time to myself and therefore am back on the productivity scale. Let’s recap!

Previously I had been going on about getting my belly button pierced. Well…I finally did it! BY MYSELF! Holla back HARDCORE PANDA! And as predicted, I knew that no one would believe me. So here is video documentation. For real.

And also, my panda ring came in! I know I’m supposed to wait 6 months before changing the original piercing ring, but then again I DID pierce myself. So it was likely that I put the panda piercing in less than 10 days after the piercing. There was some swelling at the beginning, but luckily I am a HARDY PANDA and my body quickly recovered. Here, my tribute to Dr. Titten! The joke is that he is old enough to be my grandpa. Then when I have kids, he will be the crazy uncle running around, aka Papi Deustch! The ring is SO AMAZING. The bottom part is only partly attached to the head of the panda, so when I walk the bottom JIGGLES! SO. CUTE. 

Exhibit A: Panda on Panda!

Exhibit B: Panda Belly centered

Exhibit C: Panda Belly Jiggled! (the line was from my pants)

Alright, I am back! So I did find something to occupy me after all. Playing music always makes me feel better. Here’s a cover of “Domino”, originally by Jessie J, now by PANDA! It took me forever to figure out why I look retarded in most of my Youtube videos. It’s because I’m look down when I should be looking straight at the screen. Anyway, it should be good now. I wish I had a piano because it would be better for certain songs. But once I move out of here I’ll get a nice upright. 

Also I put in some chicken to cook! I had gotten a bulk pack of chicken two weeks ago and had it in the freezer. So I put some seasoning on it and it’s been cooking for an hour. But forgetful me, I didn’t get up to stir it and the sugar coagulated on the bottom and started to burn the pot. So I resimmered it with more water and now it’s good again. Now I am making rice to go with it. 

Food is done! Bulk packaged and ready to go to lab tomorrow morning. I am feeding cells with another best buddy at 10am, so I’ll have to make the 9am church service...so I should probably stay in tonight. Although I did had a FANTAZMO nap earlier so I feel way better. 

Happy early Halloween! I bought an “Alice in Wonderland’ costume online but don’t think I’ll be wearing it this year, although “the night is still young”. But my REALLY COOL costume is coming on Monday…I don’t want to ruin the surprise by showing you now, so I will try my best to post a picture of it on Monday when I wear it.

Okay little cheese curls! I feel much better now. Thanks for listening to me moping. I’ll get back to work now! And hopefully I’ll get some ice cream tomorrow in case I start feeling sad again.