one more miracle

Things!

THOSE MY CHEMICAL ROMANTICS ARE AT IT AGAIN!!!! I'm really kind of overwhelmed by how much I LOVE this, and how it's completely new and wacky and different and yet still so THOROUGHLY them. This band has changed so, so much since they made Black Parade, and I love that they've landed on this sound that stays true to their roots while blazing ahead into ridiculous, wonderful POST-APOCALYPTIC COMIC BOOK LAND. Did you see their hair?!???? The clothes??? The ray guns and the GRANT MORRISON and the dude in the roller skates and the helmets and the Mikey Way cheekbones?? EVERYTHING IS AMAZING. And the song bit is getting stuck in my head! I NEED THIS ALBUM LIKE OXYGEN. DO IN FACT NEEDS. Come to meeeeeeee musical geniuses of my heaaaaart! Ugh ♥

In OTHER news (I know nothing could possibly be that important!) this week has sort of... vanished without me noticing? I'm at a weird point in my research, one I don't particularly love, but I'm also no longer in crisis mode, so that's nice. (*ruthlessly squashes remaining qualms*) I've been trying to write a paper for my boss - a "research plan" for the next 12 months - and having a reeeeally hard time with it. Hopefully I'll be able to make serious progress tomorrow.

One VERY exciting thing that happened this week is that I FINALLY GOT A SMART PHONE!!! I know I am so behind the curve, but I had this adorable little LG flip phone with Verizon that was solid and functional and reliable and pretty much did everything I needed a PHONE to do. However, when the iPhone 4 came out, I was like ".....oooh. Do want." And started thinking about what my life would be like with a smart phone. Since then there have been more and more occasions where I've been like DAMMIT WHY DO I NOT HAVE A SMART PHONE (the worst of which was getting stupidly lost in Chicago on my way to Stargate Creation Con with musictoyourlips, sigh sigh), and so I finally decided to get one. But I did NOT get the iPhone 4, for various reasons, the biggest being not wanting to switch to AT&T. Instead I got... the DROID INCREDIBLE. And, you know, it is pretty incredible! I'm still learning how to use it, but I'm discovering new features every day, and overcoming frustrations, and pretttty much I love it. I also got this fucking sweet case for it, all red and black and sexay. His name is Bastian, of course! :D



So YAY for finally joining the 21st century, lolol. If anyone has the Incredible or Android in general and has any tips/warnings/apps I should download, please do speak up!

Still completely obsessed with fußball, nothing's changed there! Bayern has been frustrating but I still love them to pieces. The scoreless draw with Werder last week was beyond annoying - we should have played so much better than that. Lucky to come away with a draw, honestly. Then the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE started!!! I have a fantasy team in a league run by friends, and I was so excited to get the ball rolling. I took a couple serious knocks to my fantasy team - found out Drogba is suspended so had to transfer him, and then Berbatov wasn't even on the BENCH for ManUtd (a massive mistake, as they ended up 0-0 against the RANGERS, thanks a lot FERGUSON) but my defense did beautifully (thank you Bayern and Real bbs!) and all in all it was such a fun time to follow all the games on my beyootiful new phone! :D Bayern looked so much better against Roma, at least in the second half, and finally, on an exquisite, jaw dropping goal by our very own Thomas Müller, we broke through and ended with a deserved 2-0 victory. Yay Bayern! \o/ TOMORROW we play against KÖLN, aka Lukas Podolski's team. I hope it won't be super frustrating with Köln just sitting back on their heels. I hope instead it will be exciting and goal-filled and Lukas and Basti will make out hug at some point. Hey, a girl can dream! :D

Tonight was the dedication of a brand new soccer stadium here at UMich, so my roomie and I went to the inaugural men's soccer game! (There was a women's game earlier, but we couldn't make it. We're disappointed because it was a 5-0 trouncing by our girls! Go Michigan!) The game was 0-0 but the experience was so worth it. It was weird being among undergrads and community members and kids and all kinds of different ages, not just grad students! Some undergrads seriously make me want to punch them in the face, but over all it was a really cool experience. Reasonably good energy from the crowd, team is pretty decent, and it was awesome to see soccer up close and personal after watching it on my laptop for these past months. We'll definitely be going back to more games - especially since it's free for students! Go Wolverines!

This weekend I plan to 1) watch soccer, 2) write my paper, and 3) go to the Renaissance Faire with my cousins! Yay!

How are you, my darlings? Have you recovered consciousness after the shock of new MCR amazingness???

Firstly: Joe Mazzello and Martin McCann are the CUTEST. Joe posted an adorable photo of him and Martin in makeup, complete with adorable caption. I commented, and Martin replied, essentially confirming that they have the most adorablest bromance ever! See???

(That's the caption for the photo at the top.) HEE I AM SO CHARMED. They are such total sweethearts. I hope Martin gets more lines to say later on!

LET'S TALK ABOUT TELEVISION!

I was pining all day to watch Justified ep 6, and I finally got to! ( Oh the hearts in my eyes! )

And I finally watched The Pacific episode 6. ( How fucked are you now? )

I also watched half of Glee this morning. Very entertaining! Also: JGROFF. ♥

Today was awesome for a few reasons. I had lunch with Leah, the other first year who got into Jason's lab. We rotated together last summer, and she's such a sweetheart. That was nice. Then I had a meeting with JASON, yay! He officially signed my papers! I'm officially in the lab! I AM SO THRILLED, WHEE. We had a conversation (well, mostly he talked) about Science and plans for my THESIS PROJECT and where he sees it going in the near future and it was all very fascinating, but wow I need to get my head back in the game! I felt kind of like an idiot. BUT. He understands that I haven't been thinking about this for months, so. I'm going to take next week off, do a lot of reading, and then start on MAY THIRD! YAY!

However, bad news: he did not accept Francisco. Or anyone else, for that matter. I'm... yeah. We (Francisco and I) talked after my meeting with Jason and it was... awkward, and hard. He still hasn't totally decided he's going to Florida, but it's really not looking good. Ugh. :( Not thinking about it not thinking about it. I need to sit with him and have a beer and just talk, I really do.

In lighter news, TONIGHT I WENT SPEED DATING. Lolz. It was mostly hilarious. We only got to talk to like half of the dudes who were there, which kind of sucked because we got a whole slew of nerdy engineer guys who were mostly okay to talk to, but generally not all that attractive. And afterwards we could see all these hot guys wandering around who we didn't get to meet! Lame. There were a few intriguing dudes in there so I checked several yes boxes. We'll see if anything comes of it! *hands* Me and the roomies and our new friend Anna went out for drinks afterward and generally had an awesome girly evening, so it was a win overall. :) I love my roomies SO MUCH oh my goodness. We got so lucky to find each other. ♥

So this is a really long post, and uh, I'm gonna stop. Nighty night!

Today has gotten off on an awful foot. Forgot I had class until literally the minute it started, discovered I have a 2010 estimated tax payment due that needs to be postmarked TODAY (I was so proud of getting my 2009 taxes done!), and the coffee at work was COLD. *pouts* It is, however, a gorgeous day outside (78 degrees and super sunny!) and I endeavored to rescue myself from a miserable day sitting in lab with no experiments to do by asking for a library day to work on my research presentation. I'm not being dishonest in any bad way - I really had no experiments to do, and I really plan on working on that presentation. However, I am at home instead of the library (om nom lunch!) so I can prepare my taxes and walk them to the post office.

There's no real reason you needed to know all of that. It's just the state of me!

OH, one hilarious thing - me and my roommates signed up for graduate student SPEED DATING. Lolz! We have all been moping about our lack of boys lately (and I really, really need to distract myself from Dave), so we figured why not? Should be fun! Anyone have any stories to share from speed dating, any advice?

Let's talk about Justified! The first five episodes, to be precise.

( Spoilery spoilers )

In short: thumbs up! Definitely enjoying and will be watching every week. Because I totally needed more TV.

Off to walk to the post-office in the exquisite sunshine! I think it's funny how some people either don't check the weather or haven't quite adjusted to the fact that it's SUMMER outside today, so they're in jeans and sweatshirts. Oops! I myself am in capris, tshirt and flip-flops. :D

Before I go, a music rec: Airplanes by B.o.B. featuring Hayley Williams. I'm not a rap fan by any means, but this is a really beautiful song with a catchy melodic riff, and the choruses by Hayley are exquisite. Her part has been stuck in my head for a whole day. I'm finally getting to see Paramore on the HCT in August with angel726 and I'm SO excited! :D

I loved this week's Castle SO SO SO MUCH. Ryan and Esposito are the most hilarious, wondrous boyfriends evaaaar. This happened after they sort of (but not really) kicked butt:

Esposito: "You were on FIRE, Ryan."
Ryan: "New nickname: Iceposito!" *manly shoulder thwap*

alksjflkjsd HAHAHA. Booooys. I always loved them in season 1, in all their random 5 seconds of gloriousness, but it seems the show has recognized their asset this season, yay. :D And Castle and Beckett just continue to be made of win and puppies! (And occasional quiet moments of gentle heartbreak!) Such a gleeful show.

And BIG BANG THEORY! One word: EEEEEEEE! \o/

I have made a decision. I will promise to myself to get my huge NSF fellowship application finished by November 2nd, and then I will reward myself with BOONDOCK SAINTS 2!!!!! Motherfucking YAY, you guys. Every time I see my poster on my wall I squeal into my fists. MOAR MACMANUSES!!!

So the new Paramore album came out! :D I didn't have any particular expectations either way, but I liked the preview so I bought it on iTunes, and um. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. ?! It's much, much better than Riot! in my opinion, much more consistent in quality, and you can really tell they're growing up. There are a couple quiet, gorgeous pieces, particularly Misguided Ghosts which has quickly become my favorite. Hayley's obviously been consciously working on her vocals, because in that song she's got an almost delicate quality, which I've never heard her manage before - her voice is usually very throaty and hits words hard, but in this song she's sometimes very nimble and gentle and it's beautiful. I also love the lyrics: "We are just misguided ghosts, traveling endlessly, the ones we trusted the most, pushed us far away, and there's no one road, we should not be the same, but I'm just a ghost." The guitar work is very pretty too. Idk I just love that song!! And then there's several completely solid and catchy slabs of pop-punk - Ignorance is phenomenal, and Playing God is super catchy ("Next time you point a finger I might have to bend it back or break it, break it off. Next time you point a finger, I'll point you to the mirror!"). There really isn't a song on the album I don't like, which is NOT true of either of their other albums. Well done, kids!

Science was VERY strange today, so we'll have to see what the hell is up with that when I redo it. Could have just been a fluke, or I may have to reevaluate my entire perspective on this particular platform, blah.

I ran into Nicholas at the grocery store. Um, AWKWARD. I think he's annoyed with me for breaking up with him, but not directly dealing with it, and idk I'm just uncomfortable. I do know breaking up with him was entirely the right thing though. Sigh. Debbie had boy troubles tonight too. BOYS YOU FAIL. >:(

Girls do not fail though! The four roomies and I sat down and watched a couple Big Bang Theory episodes. It's so relaxing and stress-free and I love that we can all share it. ♥

Now I'm actually going to go to bed at a decent hour, weird! Night loves. ♥