My 26th Birthday!

We recently celebrated my birthday (Dec. 27th, though we tend to spend at least 3 days on birthday stuff in this house) with a few presents, a wonderful meal out, and lots of simple, casual, happy-fun time.

Dan took me to Amor de Brazil, a Brazilian steakhouse. Now, for all my veggie-eating friends... you do NOT want to go to one of these. But, for us meat-a-tarians, it's a little slice of heaven. Served on a big Brazilian sword. By a gaucho. It was wonderful.

As for presents, I got an audible.com account and some ShamWOW's from Dan. (I wanted a ShamWOW soooooo badly... it's hilarious and amazing!!! "You'll say WOW every time!" And we do.) The audible account was so thoughtful, too! I have a lot of books to read for classes in my next (and LAST) semester, and now I can listen to them as audiobooks! Such a clever wonderful boy. :-) And my mom, the generous soul, got me the WHOLE Rosetta Stone set in Japanese! It's a wonderful present, since I can't take any more traditional language classes with my remaining schedule.

So, now I'm 26! It's not a nice, round number like 25, but I suppose it'll do. For a year, at least. Thanks to all those who made this year really special!

Holiday.

Here are some photos from Dan's and my "Christmas / Hanukkah One," celebrated with his sister and parents at our house, and the start of "Christmas Two."

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This is our tiny Wal-Mart special Christmas tree! Dan and I bought this 2 years ago. The tree, ornaments, lights, topper, and garland cost about 35 bucks. Cheap, but we love it.

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The bread-wreath on our front door! It's made of bread. Seriously.

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Some of the festive snacky-ness about the house. Here, you see Hanukkah and Christmas candy, mingling in the same bowl. I call it, "Peace on Earth, good luck on the diet."

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This is a picture of Rags, enjoying one of the MANY kitty presents brought by Dan's mom. This contraption is called the "Mystery Triangle." Honestly. I didn't make that up. That's the name. Anyway, they both love it.

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Rags isn't sure about this one. Oh, and don't think Puck didn't have a blast. I didn't get a picture of it, but he's throwing another toy around. And I think he ate a ribbon. So, yeah. He's enjoying himself, too.

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These are ornaments we all made out of Sculpey clay. It was a fun family project that turned out really well!

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Ta-da! The new, handmade ornaments on the tree, the second batch of presents wrapped and ready, lots of holiday food and fun! Though everyone I know is making the celebration a little smaller this year, I don't know a soul who's not enjoying the season just as much. I send holiday wishes to all and hope the season brings you nothing but joy and happiness!

Merry Lich-mas!

a NEW video!

Here's the NEWEST Roo / Haru video. It took a lot LOT lot of work and we're really proud. :-) If you're not a WoWer... the story behind the movie follows the newest WoW Expansion. There was a lot of interesting lead-up in game, like the ziggarauts and the ghosties and zombies and undead peoples everywhere! We wanted to make a "Call to Arms" video to show our guildies in action, getting ready for the new, exciting content. So, here it is! Watch and enjoy!

Wrath of the Lich King: A Call to Arms.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6ccYp-aP7s&feature=channel

Because cats are funny.

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Puck and Rags.

Rags and Puck.

We love you much,

Though you might suck.

From time to time,

You snuggle close.

But mostly you,

just need a dose.

Of ridillin.

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But we love you anyway, you crazy little bastards. :-)

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I am Lord of the Printer.



Wat? U hav unlmtd txt. lolz, get of hed.



He's a super saver.

You are getting very sleepy....

Does this even need an explanation?

We made VIDEOS!

If you, for whatever reason, haven't seen these already... I have to take a moment to show them off. :-)

Dan and I (aka Haru and Roo, gamer names) have been working together to create mini-movies as a hobby. The footage comes from World of Warcraft, a massive multi-player online game that we often play with many of our dear friends. If you're not familiar with the game, there's more skill to our videos than meets the eye. First, we have to remove all interface bars (abilities, icons, etc.). Second, we have to set up each shot. Third, we have to "act" and / or film each shot, without it being interrupted by the thousands of other players who have no idea what we're doing. Lastly, we have to patch it all together... complete with music and grand scenic shots (which we had to film in an entirely different program). Yeah. It's a lot of work. But it's also a lot of fun! :-) Dan and I are really proud of what we've been able to accomplish thus far, and we plan to do a lot more. Below are the links:

BREWFEST: The Movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvUsnHrEPpU

This is our first film! It's a ten-minute movie telling the story of WoW's "Brewfest." It's an event that is modeled after Octoberfest. The short, midget-looking character is me (Roo) and the taller, tough-looking chick is Dan (Haru). Yes, I know... this makes us online lesbians. But we're comfortable with that, and we don't play in California. So, for now... it's still legal.

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HEADLESS HORSEMAN: A Hallow's End Remix.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFRThZGgzVk

This is our second film, a short music video. It's an homage to WoW's Halloween-based event, called "Hallow's End." During this time, there's a special enemy called "The Headless Horseman," which becomes the star of this short. His voice is remixed, poorly, by me, to become part of the music... but the humor of it makes up for the lack of skill. :-)

All music and programs are given credit at the end of each movie. If you are curious about how we did it, or have any questions... let me know! Enjoy!

OBAMA!

I am so so so so so SOOOOOO SOOoooOOoooOOoo soooo so SO happy. Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States. Finally. FINALLY. I finally have hope for the direction of our country. I can finally not be ashamed of my own nation. FINALLY. I can look ahead with joy, with promise! I was a part of an historic election, and I could not be more proud. Thank you, America, for making the right choice.

Here's to hope! Here's to change! Here's to a new, brighter future!

OOOOOBBBBBAAAAMMMMAAAA!

Portland Vacation Pics!

The Portland Farmer's Market. Yaaay!

Shiny, pretty bell peppers.

A rainbow of tomatoes.

What lovely texture. Gourds are neat.

A plethora of peppers.

I think this is some kind of fruit. I don't remember what it's called. Maybe it's a vegetable. I dunno. It's COOL! I know that much.

Mmmm. Spicy.

Heirloom tomatoes. Don't they look like tiny, pink pumpkins?

Dan and Jessie, as we leave the Farmer's Market.

Jessie and Dan. We're in Jessie's STUPID-BIG hospital. It's like a theme park of medicine, complete with rides! There's a gondola, which Dan called, "The egg of health." It looked like an egg. Of health. Apparently.

A view of the Portland skyline from the Japanese Gardens.

Those are some HUGE koi. I mean, like... almost 2 ft long. Seriously.

Beautiful. I love Portland. :-)

GRE Results.

So... I should be happy with my GRE results. They're not that bad. But I, the ever-perfectionist, is never truly happy. :-)

I got 600 on the math side (a miracle, as I SUCK at math), a 600 on the language side (a disappointment, because I've gotten much MUCH better on practice tests), and an average 5.0 out of 6.0 on the analytical writing (meh).

So... yeah. Like I said, I should be happy. And while I wish I'd done better, I'm proud of myself for getting it done. Dan made a really good point. He said, "The schools that are going to be interested in you are not going to care about your GRE that much. They'll look at your application, see that you've taken it, note that you didn't fail... and that will be about it. The only way it would matter is if you got an absolutely perfect score... and then maybe you'd get a scholarship, but it wouldn't effect a creative writing admission."

Isn't he just so smart? That's why I keep him around. :-)

Current Perspectives.

My current bible.

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The current state of my desk.

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Currently, what keeps me up at night.
(That actually goes for both the kitten and the Diet Dr. Pepper.)

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Dan, my boyfriend, sharing a piece of pizza with me at the Hidden Glen Arts Festival. Mmmmmmmm.... cheesy.

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My boys! That's Puck on the top tier and Rags on the lower tier. Dan is that arm and face, just barely in the picture on the right. It's actually pretty representative of the human-feline household hierarchy.

The GRE approacheth.

Three days.

In just three days, I will battle that epic, standardized demon: The Graduate Record Exam. I've been studying my ass off for it, but there's really only so much that can be done. I definitely have confidence going into it, but you know... that never makes you stop being nervous. Being nervous, feeling that mix of excitement and anxiety, is just an inherent part of anything worthwhile and important.

In my practice exams, on the Verbal side, I've scored as low as 580 and as high as 770. And on the math side... well... my highest was 540, and my lowest was... really low. Anyone who knows me, knows that I'd rather dip my hand in a bucket of acid then do math. My goal, for the real test, is 650 on Verbal, 500 on Math, and score between 5-6 on the Essay section. Worst case scenario, if I bomb it... I can take it again next month. I reeeally don't want to do that, since the thing costs $140.00 and I'm stressed out as it is, but if I need to, I can. It's always good to have a backup. ;-)

Provided my scores don't totally suck, I'll post em as soon as I know.

MFA or authentic sake?

I'm currently in my last year at the University of Kansas and, as many seniors do, I'm looking ahead to the future. As of right now, I'm working on two separate paths: Applying to MFA programs in playwriting, and applying to JET programme.

Both have pros and cons, of course. And both are very different. But the truth is... I'd be extraordinarily happy doing either. So, my method is that of the wide-thrown net. I'll apply to... well, a LOT of places... and we'll see what works. I'm trying to stay loose, stay open, and stay sane!

Below is a list of the Playwriting MFA Programs that I'm thinking of applying to. While I know that several of these are long, long, LOOONG shots... my philosophy is, "If you don't apply, you're signing your own rejection letter."


Playwriting MFA's under consideration, in no particular order:

-- University of Iowa.
-- University of Texas at Austin, Michener Center.
-- New York University, Tisch.
-- University of California, San Diego.
-- Yale University.
-- Brown University.
-- Rutgers University.
-- University of Hawaii at Manoa.
-- Carnegie Mellon University.
-- University of Nevada, Las Vegas.


Goals of the JET Programme, from their website:

"The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme aims to promote grass roots internationalisation at the local level by inviting young overseas graduates to assist in international exchange and foreign language education in local governments, boards of education and elementary, junior and senior high schools throughout Japan. It seeks to foster ties between Japanese citizens (mainly youth) and JET participants at the person-to-person level."


As the process moves forward, I'll try to keep posting. Cross your fingers for me!

Testing... testing...? Is this thing on?

This whole blogging world is very new and frightening to me.

For years, I thought that "good" blogging was only for the "super-interesting" (or those who think of themselves as such), and "bad" blogging was nothing more than a gushing, cherry chapstick flavored torrent of Britney Spears inspired nonsense. But, BUT! I have seen the light! I've discovered, through my own enjoyment and nearly obsessive weekly reading of others' blogs, what blogging is really about. It is not an online diary. It's not a stream of self-righteous, ego driven drivel, either. It's half of a good conversation: my on-going answer to the question, "So, what have you been up to?" To me, that is what blogging is about. Keeping in touch with the people I love, and putting something out into the world that might make a difference. Even if that's only to make someone smile.

Ok. That last line was a little Hallmark moment, but hey. I have to start somewhere. And with that, my new life as a blogger has begun! Enjoy!