Guilty Pleasure

For all non-Canadians (not that I'm Canadian...) who don't know who the Barenaked Ladies are: they're a Torontonian band with that really big hit in the early 2000s, "One Week." Anyway, "Pollywogs in a Bog" is from their latest kids album (Snack Time) about a tadpole, um, turning into a frog. If this video doesn't make you squee and dance around, I'd say you're a cold, cold-hearted person. Well. Maybe not, but still . . .

If you enjoyed that, I highly recommend "Raisins" from the same album, and check out BNL's "bathroom sessions" on Youtube. And Ed Robertson's supercute to boot! Man. 

Ahem. Okay, okay. Good night!

Malawi?

T'was a cold but successful night of museuming!

Why Wikipedia is awesome:

Happy Sunday!

Fwikki

I went to bed around 6am after a night out, and at 9:45am my mom was already in my room asking to see photos and asking what I'd got for my birthday.

And yes. It looks like I have duck bills...but that's me wearing my dorky anti-teeth-grinding night guard. Why do I share unnecessary information on the Internet? Who knows. Anyway, it was hard to respond to my mom bombarding me with questions. "Who else came last night?" "Fwikki." "Who?" "Fwikzi."

Aaanyway. I need to work and take a nap before I take off for the Lange Nacht der Museen!

Apparently it helps.

Thank you/ありがとう/Vielen Dank/ Merci mille fois for all the wonderful and multilingual birthday messages and presents everyone! I had a superawesome day with a perfect latte macchiato, no homework, and my very own Teddytaur:

My dad doesn't quite get why I'd wanted Teddytaur.

Anywho. My friend suggested an exclusive-ish club for our outing tomorrow, but he reassured me that I'll be fine:

I was 2 in 1998

I'm turning 25 tomorrow. I know that's not very old, but this last year was the first time that I'd felt . . . not superyoung---contributing factors being my first wrinkle and this:

Jean-Michel

My African liquor brings all the girls to the yard.

Or not.

Short Attention Span

I think my attention span has gotten significantly shorter in the last few years. (Just as I wrote that, I opened up a new window to check something else.) I can't seem to concentrate on one thing for a very long time, especially when I'm working on the computer. I usually have at least five windows open at once, and often find myself writing three or more e-mails simultaneously.

Pretty scary. Maybe need to do something about that.

Sharpies

Why Sharpies are awesome.

Happy Sunday!

Dorks are cuter.

A fun night out at the Brauerei! I really like the beer there, but I always wake up the next morning with a weird hangover. Urk. Getting over it slowly.

I think I heard from Maki that dorks were pretty much nerds without intelligence. That made me sad . . . but it's kind of true.

But I think dorks are cuter.

Facebook Family

I've been having a lot of strange dreams lately. Last night, I dreamt that a friend who had graduated from Harvard and whom I respected and believed to be really intelligent turned out to be an avid Sarah Palin supporter. Somehow I must have found this pretty traumatizing because I woke up with tears running down my face.

I'm sure my mom having Facebook wouldn't actually be that big of a deal in real life. Really. But I remember totally flipping out in my dream. Weird.

Nohhhh

Home from school. Going to see my first noh play this evening--in Berlin! Exciting!

Papa Paranoia

I'm skipping school for the first time in 7 months to catch up on some work and errands . . . and to update my blog.

Well. It's a bonus!

My dad gets really paranoid when we go on holidays. The fake security camera part is true. Ha!

Et alors?

Yay! New entires on my five favourite blogs!

Anywho. To make up for my laziness yesterday, here's a comic about Antonio, a slightly creepy older Italian guy that I met in Paris. He used to work at an Italian language centre where I took classes one summer. I didn't really want to hang out with him, but he had a motorcycle.

 I hung out with him that one time, and he called persistently for a while after that, even after I told him that I was already seeing someone. His reaction every time was "Boyfriend? So what?"

Ugh.

Mama vs the Internets

The Internet is a difficult concept to grasp.

Ditched

I had a pathetic dream last night that I was waiting for my friend A to finish eating her curry, and then got ditched. Nothing exciting. I just got ditched. It was a sad dream.

Small Talk

I find that as I get older, I get increasingly anti-social and worse at making conversation. I think I used to be better at making small talk, but either I've become a less interesting person or I've begun to lose interest in humanity.

Michaela Cera

I'm procrastinating, so one more entry!

Sweet diplomacy

I've already been in a few classes with North Korean students, and my parents tell me that they're spies every time.

Well, the candy was good anyway.

Diuretics

Things I learned after coming to Germany.

Oh, I also passed my B2! Yay!

n word

My class is full of non-PC people, and it makes me feel awkward.

Not that it takes much to make me feel awkward.

Tortilla Schmortilla

Today has been a day of accomplishments. I saw the Colour Fields exhibition at the Deutsche Guggenheim with R, found bio deodorant for Z, and made Spanish tortilla for dinner using Juanito's recipe (and successfully!). The sunny, (relatively) warm weather was just the cherry on top. Absolutely fantastic.

Now back to work on that translation.

crayon

He was also not the brightest crayon in the box.

lousy

Ack! I've been lame, lazy, and lousy about updating! I promise I will redeem myself later tonight. eep.

In the meantime, here is Hugh Jackman riding a banana. Enjoy.

Moron

The downside of being in a language school is that I sometimes get stuck in the same class as moronic teenagers. Or at least I think he's 18. God, for his sake, I hope he's 18.

gobbledygook

Despite the fact that I speak Japanese with my parents everyday, my Japanese has been on the decline. My theory is that my parents and I speak some strange gobbledygook intelligible only to us.

Wieners

I asked my mom what she thought I should bring to my friends in Turkey.

M: "Sausages."
N: "Ok. What else?"
M: "Sausages!"
N: "Mmm, and?"
M: "More sausages!"

Don't worry. I'll bring you something else.

Recovering

Had a hugely productive day of shopping with my parents and signing up for a new Deutsch course starting tomorrow despite the cold, from which I am slowly recovering.

I still have a persistent dry cough and general stuffiness, but fortunately no more fever or dizziness. I've learned my lesson. My new year's resolution for 2011 is: take better care of myself on New Year's and on days preceding New Year's. On December 31 this year, I will curl up on my sofa, put in a good movie, stay warm and away from smoke-filled clubs, and drink moderately. I also blame my pathetic immune system on the fact that I've stopped chewing my nails this year. My body let its guard down after I stopped bombarding it with milliards of bacteria and viruses day after day. Hmm. Well, maybe that doesn't make any sense, but it was no fun to be sick. Hurumphnut.

Anyway, we'll see how well I keep that resolution.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2011!

I'm a day late, but I stupidly caught a cold on New Year's so I spent about 15 hours of the first day in bed. I spent my first day of 2011 completely unplugged and Internet-free! I suppose this is good. Plus, my mom has been spoiling me with warm food and fluids so I'm feeling slightly better (ie. I can sit up straight). I think it's time to start getting to work. Phew.

Wishing you all a happy, happy new year!