Hairless Panda

So Movember is finally over, and now your little baby panda angel is going to reveal the fruits of her hairy labor!

Okay, so the hair really wasn't that bad. At least I can be grateful that my Asian heritage left (or didn't leave me) with one thing. Although because I didn't handle a razor for so long, I didn't really know how hard to shave to get all the hair off. So I did some slight razor burn on my legs:

Don't mind the marks on my calf; those are just from the REALLY TIGHT H&M pants I bought (apparently European sizing is not as forgiving) and tried to live in over Thanksgiving break in order to stretch them out. Not sure if they got smaller, I got bigger, or my body fat just re-accumulated elsewhere (PLEASE BE BOOBS OR BUTT SO HELP ME GOD).

Also, we have started Thursday TIGHT NIGHTS! Instead of going out to a bar, we have resorted to the 50 cent wings at Chilis in celebration of football season. Obviously I don't care about alcohol or sports, so the great deal in my mouth is really the highlight here. And I even got a chance to take a picture with the VCU mascot, Rodney the Ram! (In my Penn State apparel, nonetheless):

Also, I am currently surviving the woes of being black pump-less (referring to the shoe, not the gasoline, of course). Having the misfortune of my heel discombobulating in the conference elevator while in Atlanta, I had to wear flats and run the risk of being assaulted by the conference fashion police (of course in academia, we have none; I only pretend to make myself feel better). Now in the midst of Christmas shopping season, shouldn't there be so many great deals on free shipping and shoes, especially in the classic and timeless black pump style? But alack! I am doomed to raiding eBay sales without gain...and what is the deal with these so called "peep-toe" shoes? Showing toes of any kind is completely unprofessional, not to mention making "peep"ing sounds with your feet. Leave the peeping to the marshmallows during Easter!

Please, if you can find a classic, black, leather pump, LET ME KNOW! Also, it must be $20 or less...I may be willing to pay for shipping, if they are Jimmy Choo or something. Otherwise, I shall forever remain in the shadows of the department store bargain bin. The joys of finding a shoe sale!

Finally, last Friday was the GRAND ILLUMINATION! Where many Richmonders came outside in the freezing cold in order to watch a Christmas tree light up, and then go to the Governor's mansion to shake ole'  Gov'nah Bob McDonnell's hand for an uncomfortable, extended period of time and be wished a "Merry Christmas" even if you are an Islamic Democrat (Obama). Aside from the awful, awkward political nature of this event, the lights are quite nice to have outside and make the streets look safer and filled with holiday cheer!

And speaking of Obama...MANDELA! The passing of a great man. And it was nice to see President Obama shake Raul Castro's hand. Truly the things that can be accomplished after death and happy to see Mandela's spirit live on, although sad to think that one must die before his dream can be achieved. Rest in peace, Panda Mandela.

Turkey Panda

Happy Thanksgiving, my dear little ones! Thanksgiving is the best holiday, because not only does it cross racial/social/gender/cultural/religious/etc. barriers, everyone gets to put on stretchy pants and eat turkey until they pass out from tryptophan overdose! Although our household opted to go out for dim sum in Chinatown, I still ate until I had minor constipation! Although the aforementioned effect may have also been caused by WAY too small pants from H&M that I have donned for the past three days in hopes that they would stretch out (or I would become slightly smaller). What is up with European sizing? Why can't we just have one size for everyone? I still propose a 3D scanner to automatically scan each person's body, then make the clothing specifically tailored to that body. The future is now!

In other news, I also got a chance to get some shopping in on Black Friday (PANDA FRIDAY!), for EIGHT HOURS. Yes, we were one of those families that went out on Thanksgiving Day (we are Chinese, for God's sake. There is no way we could pass up deals like that). Eight hours is certainly a lot, especially when it is from 10pm to 6am. Dancing in DA CLUH' (that is Panda speak for "the club) is way better than walking around under the fluorescent lights FROM HELL for so long. Obviously all this could be blamed on Cabbage's poor decision making skills, as well as her insatiable lust for material goods. WHAT HAS THE WORLD COME TO!? Even Little Mao was brought along on the trip, although he seemed to love being able to stay up all night. Panda here has still been trying to catch up on sleep lost by that godforsaken night in retail wasteland! It seemed that this year's political and financial circumstances have prompted Americans to stay at home, quivering into their turkey bosoms, filled with stuffing, too scared of the uncertainty associated with Obamacare to spend a little quality time cajoling at their local outlet mall. Nevertheless, apparently internet sales are up by 7%, with more to come on Cyber Monday!

Due to lab drama (happening all the time anyway) between our lab manager and Dr. Zebra, my meeting time has been scheduled for Monday morning at 6:30am. WHAT THE DONKEY!? Although early morning meetings are actually much appreciated to get them out of the way, I will have barely any time between Sunday evening when I arrive at home and Monday morning to prepare my meeting materials. I'd better get a good night's rest so I can get started ASAP tomorrow...

ACK! I know I promised to update twice this month, and technically I started this post before the end of November. But alack! 'Tis now the first of December! Which means I GET TO SHAVE!!!

Updates on the hair removal very soon...December shall be an advent month of many fantazmo posts! Stay tuned...

Weekend Adventures with Panda and Goat!

Hola Cheese Curls! Today I have some exciting adventures to share with you. Little goat (my roommate) and I have been frolicking around this weekend after an especially depressing week and abrupt Skype meeting with our advisor on Saturday morning. To relieve some stress, we decided to go to DC!

Driving to DC was not too bad, since we went on a Saturday afternoon and came back late at night. The drive was expected to be around 1hr 45min according to Google maps, which was just shy of our actual drive time. However, we did stop at the POTOMAC MILLS (aka Potato Mills) outlet, which was AMAZEBALLS. Seriously, what is the point of going to a real mall or even department store when you could drive an extra 30 minutes and go to the BEST MALL EVER!? Plus, it's an INDOOR outlet mall! I have never seen such a thing. It's nice during the winter, but actually it would be nice to walk around outside during the summer. Plus, the muck of children running around in the food court was slightly unappealing.

Anyway, the trip was a nice departure from our dear, quaint, *ahem* lovely Richmond. We tried to find a hair salon in Chinatown DC for Little Goat to get her hair cut, but apparently the "Chinatown" in DC is not real, as evidenced by a CHINESE website we found afterward (I guess you have to Google in Chinese to get any real information around here...ironic because Google and China hate each other). So we drove about 10 miles away to Falls Church, VA to get dinner. We ended up at a restaurant that had "Hong Kong" in the name but served Szechuan. Again, go figure.

SO HAPPY to find DC Chinatown! Before the disappointment in realizing that it wasn't a real Chinatown, just commercialized for tourists. Bummer.

IMPORTANT UPDATE! So to read more about our roommate adventures, especially in the arena of frugality, check out my and Little Goat's NEW BLOG! You can read it at: www.toomuchpanda.wordpress.com. Depending on the amount of traffic and website availability, we may purchase the domain and turn it into a full fledged website! SUPES EXCITING!

In other news, today I finally (I think) found a church that I want to attend on the regular. I have been church hopping around town and so far all the congregations are measly compared to the ones in Atlanta. Howevs, the church I attended today had a nice sized congregation. I ended up meeting two of the young adult members there, and apparently many people leave Richmond for the summer (if it's any indication of the quality of living here, as already evidenced by the degeneration of my life...sigh) so most churches in the area will cut Sunday School and move their services from 11am to 10am. No wonder everything was out of sync when I was trying to go to church! Hopefully everything around here will beef up come late August/early September and I can start meeting more interesting people. As it stands now, I think I will be coming back again. Phew! It's always difficult to find a congregation. We will see how this one turns out!

So things in lab are okay. The system in academia is so structured and yet inexplicable in a way. There are a lot of politics going on behind closed doors, which is seen much more as a graduate student in the field than someone who "likes" science and just heard about research and says, "Wow, that's cool!". Obviously, it is a VERY cool field, otherwise I wouldn't be wasting 5 years (or more, but hopefully not, inshallah) enslaving myself for minimum wage payment. Truly, according to my advisor it is the "last great apprenticeship of our time." But indeed, "our time" is now "past time", and the educational system must also adjust to fit the needs of a new generation of students. More on that later...but just something to munch on in the back of your brain.

Since the last time I updated, The Boyf and Dr. Rey visited us in Richmond, and we all parted for a brief vacation weekend over the Fourth of July holiday. It was refreshing getting away from Richmond (isn't it always), and seeing my family. Hair's wife and son successfully immigrated and arrived in America that weekend, so it was very busy registering them for new social security numbers and enrolling Little Hair for school (he is 8 and so cute!). Hair also celebrated his 35th birthday with a grand feast at our humble Peking Restaurant! And Padre finally enrolled in Medicare since he is now eligible. Life moves so fast!

Although things back in Qville are not so bad, the restaurant has been suffering. It's not really the economy but more of  a changing culture (a new "our time", if you will, in reference to my earlier paragraph). Even though we are the only Chinese restaurant in town, we only provide eat-in or take out. The eating-in part isn't really happening, since our air conditioning doesn't work very well in the summer and the heating doesn't work well in the winter (Hair is really a trooper for being able to handle the temperature fluctuations all year!). I tried to get Wifi, but it's a small town and I doubt many college students (or high school) would want to come and do homework at a Chinese restaurant. The vibe just isn't there. I had talked to Padre about starting delivery service, but our staff is low and we can't afford to hire another person just for delivery, unless it's guaranteed business. On top of that, online reviews are slamming us! I cannot believe how mean people are. There are some Google reviews that are just downright slander, so we will probably have to work on improving our online image. It's been difficult thriving without technology in an era where everyone is online. Since we are small, we are still a cash operated business, which is also tough for customers. Padre is willing to try Square, but again, we don't have Wifi (this may change soon; I am looking at getting a plan for his phone so we can run it directly from there).

Hair celebrates his birthday with Little Hair! Situated in Peking Restaurant...our little restaurant is filled with big memories!

Panda's life is starting to get stressful! With the restaurant business down and the academic environment lackluster, I am trying to find new ways to motivate myself. Hopefully our new blog will perk up my spirits! Also, if any of you Cheese Curls have suggestions, suggest away! I always love hearing from my readers.

Until a happier time...

Panda Likes to Eat

Happy first of August! For those of you who don’t know, the first of August marks the first day that you can use the 40%-off-one-item coupon at the  Nautica outlet! The first of August also marks the eve of the senate vote on whether or not America should raise its debt ceiling. Today was also Coral Diver’s first day of school, and Darling Jabib (my roommate from junior year)’s FIRST KISS to her fiancée! 

First, let me recap yesterday by saying that nothing happened. I had breakfast with an old friend from high school, and it was incredibly nice to talk to someone normal after having to serve egg rolls to drunk ladies from Burger King all summer. Then I got the night off so I could read the rest of chapter 5 for BLOCK 0 (ugh). 

I took the day off today from studying, since I only have chapter 9 left to read. This sets me a day behind schedule on reading, but since I have been answering questions while reading, I think I can still finish the questions by Thursday. And then I have arranged to meet with some other kids in the program the night before the pre-course starts so that we can go over our answers together.

Today, FreishNess and I met up again to go shopping at the outlets (I should be hired as Tanger’s official spokesperson)! Before we met up, you know Padre and I had already perused some stores already (and had lunch at a buffet). We popped into Polo Ralph Lauren for the first time in a few years, and Padre found a suit (jacket + trousers) for $109! I also found a jacket, but it was $45 for essentially a cotton cardigan, so I thought better of it. But Padre probably felt guilty about splurging on himself, so remediated the compulsive buy by compulsively buying mine as well (you know I can’t complain). Since I used to work at Polo, I recognized the cashier and the manager, and got $20 off my purchase from a coupon they offered (I was originally going to use the 20% off coupons from the outlet, but Polo doesn’t accept them anyway)! It was still a good deal after all, although the jacket was a bit pricey, especially after Padre already dishing out $811 this morning to pay my rent (for the apartment in Atlanta, which I STILL haven’t moved into yet). 

Anyway, Padre left after FreishNess arrived, and it was nice shopping with someone my own age (and gender). I can’t believe I’ve been in town all summer, and only this past week I’ve started hanging out with people…I completely forgot what it was to have friends at home! And on Thursday, I am meeting with another friend to have breakfast. I found a recipe for Panda Bread last night and sent it to both Coral Diver and FreishNess. FreishNess has her own baking blog, so maybe I’ll gain some fame for being in a loaf!

I stopped by Goodwill on the way home and bought a Phillies tshirt (my first one! The Boyf will be so proud) and another salmon-colored knee-length jacket. Salmon (the color, not the fish) seems to be in excess in my wardrobe for some reason, but I suppose it does flatter me so that is fine. 

After returning home, I helped out at the restaurant for two hours (it wasn’t busy at all, and thank goodness Padre told Bird Lady not to come in today. She’s so senseless that she never gets the point of anything unless you bluntly yell it in her face). Today was also Hair’s day off, but he usually helps out during the day when it’s busy and just goes home earlier at night. 

When it gets really hot, the air conditioner just doesn’t do justice. Here, a picture of Hair combatting the humid heat in the restaurant (98 degrees with the AC on!). Come visit Peking and give us a tip for working so hard despite the risks of heat stroke!

 

Around 7pm, we both got off work and went to dinner at Applebees, where we had beer, ribs, wings, salad and ice cream on a brownie. So needless to say, today was filled with eating=HAPPINESS.

The real reason why Padre and I have been shopping so much this past week (apart from the coupons) is because Cabbage is returning from China on Wednesday. And because she is a control freak, she likes to micromanage everyone’s finances and tell them what they can and cannot buy (they can buy things for her, they cannot buy anything else). And while my relations with Cabbage are certainly improving, she still has a fickle temper that I’d rather not deal with. So Padre, Hair and I have been spending lots of dough recently in order to stock up for the time that Cabbage towers over the household expenses (hibernation, if you will).

I tried convincing Hair to check out the Panera dumpster after dinner today, but even after drinking an entire pitcher of beer, I could not persuade him to come with me. Maybe I will convince Big K to check out the dumpster in Atlanta to see if we can find anything scrumptious. And I also have a whole mess of new clothing that I need to sport once I reach the city! I invited my Ho-burger and Pedro Cottontail to come to Atlanta, with a disclaimer that they must bring me cheese from Wisconsin (where Ho-burger works) in exchange for free lodging and tickets to a Braves game. 

Tomorrow I am going to get a head start on my reading, and maybe record a cover of Adele’s “Someone Like You” (I-slash-Padre bought her new album today! And The Boyf’s mother and sister were in the checkout right behind us, but I couldn’t make contact for fear of Padre having an aneurism). The other day Doctor Professor submitted an article to Biomaterials for publication, and I’m listed as fourth (or third, I forget) author! It is my first authorship on a paper, even though it’s minor. I don’t even really think I deserve it, since I only contributed a small part to the entire project, but I am really grateful that Doctor Professor remembered me. I guess it’s been a long journey since my days of being grilled in Doctor Professor’s office to my first publication…

Good night!  I’m so pooped for some reason; it must be all those jackets just waiting for me to wear them that my constantly having to assuage their fears is extremely exhausting!

Popular Panda

Not too much occurred yesterday besides shopping, working, packing and reading stuff for BLOCK 0. Actually, it was just late and I didn’t feel like writing a blog post.

HOWEVER, today was all sorts of merriment!

The day started off (as usual) with a trip to the outlets, where we greeted each sales associate by name and social security number. Then we proceeded to list off the entire clearance stock, and chose a few things to purchase with an unlimited amount of printed email 20% off coupons (had to print the coupons ghetto-style at the library because our printer at home is way too complicated even for a PhD candidate like me to figure out).

On our way out of Bath and Body works, I saw an old friend from high school and we hugged it out and later planned on a breakfast date on Thursday. At American Eagle, I saw another classmate and we caught up over the 30 seconds it took to ring up my $8.99 dress. Padre decided to buy another pair of flip flops from Kenneth Cole. Although the sales lady has figuratively become my blood relative over the past few days, she seemed a bit miffed by our constant haggling for $3 sandals (we officially have four of the SAME pair). Finally, a last mad dash to Calvin Klein resulted in two new zip-up sweaters for me (I count them as jackets) and a pair of ankle length pants. Not a bad haul, and Padre was feeling especially generous after a busy Friday night’s business at the restaurant the night before.

Back at the restaurant by 11am, first Burger King sandwiches were purchased for Hair and the restaurant worker that worked valiantly  through dinner rush, despite the dimwittedness of the hired help (to whom I shall now refer as “Bird Lady” due to her screeching speech). I opted out of breakfast and emptied out the tip jar instead, ran to the grocery store next door, bought potato (and sweet potato! Yum) chips for Hair, soy milk (they were out of Light Vanilla so I had to buy Light Original, which was actually much better than I had anticipated) and two 6-packs of cup-o-noodles for the local food drive. My good deed of the day! 

The local video rental store is closing and today was the last day. All the remaining movies were only $0.95! Padre bought one movie and one CD ($1.50), both of which were not noteworthy but at least cheap. I took the car home to do some reading for BLOCK 0 and passed a yard sale, but decided against informing Padre about it since he had already made too many impulse buys and it was still before noon (I did tell him later about it, but it was over). 

After starting to read more for BLOCK 0 once on the couch at home, I decided to make the most of my time spent sitting on my butt and instead sat on my butt outside in the sun, in my bikini. It was fantastic! I now have a red chest and stomach, which will surely turn into a beautiful tan after excruciating pain and skin peeling! This only justifies my reason for tanning again tomorrow!

After reading the required parts of Chapter 3 (only 4, 5, and 7 to go! And I am writing down parts of answers and bookmarkers for each required question, so it won’t take as long to do the questions afterwards), I went to the restaurant to get $$$ to get gas for the car and have soup before work (Padre is in what I like to call his “soup phase,” where he makes extensive amounts of soup every day in the Crock Pot, and expects everyone to contribute to finishing the pot – forgetting that we also have a restaurant that has an unlimited supply of food). On the way home to get soup, I passed a yard giving away some free items! Padre and I soon went back and snatched a large microwave and water boiler (the things that boil 10 cups of water). There was a George Foreman grill but Padre didn’t seem interested. If it’s still there in the morning, I’m going to take it! Even though we got a lot of great deals today, the free microwave and water boiler were probably the best deal. I am beginning to like more and more the small-town lifestyle!

The restaurant wasn’t very busy tonight, and Bird Lady was much more helpful (I suppose she just freezes when it gets too busy, which is not very helpful). We are going to start a new “white” girl on Monday (this took Padre much convincing) that will hopefully be better than Bird Lady, and who won’t sound like a bird, either. 

In succession but apart from each other and not intended, I saw another four classmates from high school in the time period between 7:40 to 8:00pm. Two kids came in together and I almost didn’t recognize the one kid even though we went to college together (new hair, new piercing, clothing?). Then the former prom king (I was queen!) came in. Then Catman and his girlfriend came in (personal friend of The Boyf and professional poker player). THEN the mother of a girl I used to attend church with came in and asked me about housing at Penn State, where her daughter is staying. SO MANY PEOPLE TO TALK TO!

Even though most people who are back home tonight are probably out at the bars, I went on Facebook and updated my status about seeing so many people from high school. THEN another high school friend contacted me, and I now have a breakfast date in the morning! It was nice seeing people that I haven’t seen in a while, but also kind of weird. It’s that weird transition phase between college student and professional. So some people are still in school (me), some people are working, and some people are looking for jobs/schools.

Oy vey. 

WHERE DID MY CHILDHOOD GO!? minorpanicattackMINORPANICATTACKminorpanicattackMINORPANICATTACKminorpanicattak

Okay, I’m fine. But anyway…

It’ll be nice to be in Atlanta next Saturday.

Panda Enjoys A Day Off

Now that things are finally (or at least starting to be) in place, my stress levels are down 90%. Padre has also been on a shopping high, of which I completely approve. Although I no longer need to run off my frustration, I felt like it would still be healthier if I got in at least a tad bit of exercise, especially since I woke up at a decent hour (9:45am is decent for summer). Two laps in the park later, I took a shower and ended up at the restaurant for a very short 2 hour shift.

Yesterday Padre and Hair went to Bass in hopes of getting a pair of flip flops for Hair that Padre had already purchased previously over the weekend. However, the Bass outlet didn’t open until 9:30am, so we headed toward the other outlet center that opened at 9:00am. Per my suggestion, we ended up at Kenneth Cole, where we used a 20% off coupon + $10 off text coupon to buy the SAME pair of flip flops for a whopping $3.79.

Not surprisingly, Padre and I returned again to get two more pairs of flip flops. We got a nice jacket at Calvin Klein (too big for me, to my dismay, so Padre will give it to a family friend) and a pair of khakis at Nautica. Summer sales are truly incredible right now – I suppose everyone just got used to the sales during the recession and they haven’t gone away. So tomorrow, we shall go back AGAIN! And I’ll update you on more of the hauls as we return.

Upon my return, I had a bite to eat and then returned home to study the dreaded BLOCK 0. As of now, I have gotten through 58/230ish pages of reading, not counting any problem sets. I am hoping to get through all of the reading by next Monday, and the problems completed by next Thursday. Online quizzes should be done by Saturday when I leave. And that should leave me enough time to get settled in my new Hotlanta apartment.

News from The Khan suggests that I and a colleague turn in a manuscript for journal publication…which means more formatting (blech). So if I get ahead of my reading schedule tomorrow (it’s Friday and the restaurant will be busy so this probably won’t happen until the weekend), I will work on that. Goal is to have it reformatted by Monday as well. 

Big K’s ticket as also booked, thanks to my credit card and Padre’s reimbursement (credit for me, less hassle for Padre, free ticket for Big K – everyone wins). On August 9, Padre leaves and Big K arrives in Atlanta! I’ll most likely be frantically trying to finish BLOCK 0 before the precourse starts on the 10^th. 

The Boyf has finally decided to update his LinkedIn account, which I suggested to him to do approximately two years ago. We are now having the BATTLE OF LINKEDIN, where we race to see who has more LinkedIn contacts (I do) and who will be more successful (I will) and who is more good looking (this doesn’t really relate but I am). 

Dumplings for dinner! Also, today I had two bottles of honey water…a new discovery, thanks to Hair! Basically just dump honey from the Costco-sized jar into a cold water bottle, shake and enjoy! Refreshing and diabetes inducing, this is just the right drink for summer! Try it with a shot of insulin today!

Panda Makes Progress

 El Khemdullilah! Today I finally booked tickets to Hotlanta, and spared myself another heart attack inducing jog around the development. The day was filled with stress relievers, starting at 9am with a trip to the outlets.

I NOW HAVE SHOES! Not that I didn’t before, but you know women…Anyway, I am now a proud owner of two Kenneth Cole flats. One is beautiful, the other is eh…but both were on sale and Padre paid, so it’s all good. I’ve been surviving off measly tips at the restaurant (I made ONE dollar today), and it isn’t pretty. I’m used to not working for money; I think it’s only right when it’s your family. But it’s been more than a month, and I just couldn’t resist a good bargain with Padre paying. It’s tough being an indentured servant to your own father, you know.

It wasn’t too busy at the restaurant, but I didn’t get any reading done for BLOCK 0 since I would just fall asleep every time I sat down (I’m sleeping in tomorrow for cereals). Somehow I missed one final assignment stemming from my trip to India earlier in the summer, so I did that and sent it in after work (no internet at the restaurant!? Next thing you know someone will be calling in about our shrimp fried rice!) I mailed my proof of citizenship, sent my transcript last night, closed my grandmother’s bank account, and booked tickets to HOTLANTA! for next Saturday. Padre is going down with me to go furniture shopping and entice some (very) distant relatives (or just trick them into thinking they are our relatives) into letting us borrow their car for the day. The precourse for BLOCK 0 class starts the day after he leaves, so I’ll be able to be at peace with my frustrating homework.

As an added bonus, I gave myself a ghetto French manicure with clear tape (I know you know so don’t play games)! I’m also out of clear nail polish so I had to use the matte clear, and it makes my nails look weird and creepy since it’s not on evenly.  But hey, it’s ghetto! And I’m a panda! And we are finally making some

progress.

Going to bed! Sleeping in tomorrow, reading Chapter 2 and answering problems for BLOCK 0, helping out at the restaurant, maybe going back to the outlets to try and get Padre a good bargain for the 3^rd pair of the SAME flip-flops he keeps buying, and perhaps calling Qwest under the alias of my grandmother and trying to cancel service (nah…I’ll save that for Friday). I’d better go before I fall aslee….

ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……