Alula

I had a frank discussion with a mango tonight. Actually it was a mango that apparently was attempting to be a pear, but it didn't fool me.
So the mango and had a frank discussion to which the mango brought its tricky tough skin, and I brought a small kitchen knife. Knife wins over skin 9 out of 10, and now the mango is happily in my belly and in the fridge waiting for tomorrow's dessert.
May that be a lesson to all of you fruit that attempts to disguise itself as someone else. Eventually the true you will be found out, and it will probably be more delicious than what you were pretending to be anyway.


No really I did have a mango that my dad found in the pear section of the store. It was good for a winter mango, and made me think of warm sunny places, all of which Berkeley really isn't right now, but that's alright because I'll use my imagination.
So where are you imagining yourself this week?

I was going to title the entry "guest booze", but since this is my first entry in months I thought I'd try to sound a little classier...


I have a new apartment. The room I had in the boarding house ended unexpectedly by default of fire. I had nothing to do with it I swear! I was actually eating a very nice turkey dinner with the family at the time a room below mine caught fire. Needless to say I found a new place to live.
It's much more expensive, but I have lots of room. In fact I have my own room, dining room, living room, kitchen and bathroom. And I have furniture. A comfortable mix of my family and new that equates to a mattress on the floor for me, but a pull out bed (cleverly hidden in a chair mwahaha) for guests.
And now I even have guest liquor. No not beer, but cider! And you better appreciate it because the wine country is not friendly to those wishing to obtain cider of the alcoholic persuasion. There are of course other tempting things in my fridge (squee my fridge!), but the cider I'll save special for you when you stop by.

And I'll try to write more, (though I don't think anyones reading anymore).

The very last installment about Tudor age weddings…sigh I’m really going to miss this book. But it ended on a good laugh.
Wedding garments – while the tradition of the white dress is not as old as people may think, getting nice new clothes for your wedding is a well practiced custom. And yes this goes for both men and women. Apparently the custom of giving gifts to guests at the wedding is also quiet old. The English apparently gave gloves (to both men and women), as well as fine ribbons and bells. Now I don’t know about other people, but a pair of nice gloves or a set of ribbons would definitely be something I would enjoy getting at a wedding. Light blue was a common wedding color for the ribbons, especially those worn by the wedding party, because it represented the Virgin Mary but other common colors were white and red. And of course flowers should be everywhere if you can get them. Some things never change ^-^.
Presents to the married couple usually encompassed either money to help them set up their household, or money and/or food that would go towards paying for the party after the wedding. I thought that was actually a great idea, because then you don’t have a new couple going into debt on their wedding day.
Now as for the party after the ceremony there appeared to be some very specific things. There should be good food, dancing, music and jokes, and your family should be there. Depending on what part of society you lived in, you may either have a huge party with almost everyone you know invited, or you could have a very quiet ceremony with just the family. I leave you to guess who did what.
The wedding night was the last thing mentioned in the book, and had the usual amount of fun quirks. They did throw garters/stockings, but imagine it more risqué and reversed. I can just imagine even suggesting throwing my friends stockings at her! And if you hit the bride or groom then you were the next to be married, lol!
And thus ends a fairly brief respite into Tudor wedding ceremonies. I leave you with a lovely word from Samuel Jeake’s diary, in which he described his wedding night as a ‘devirgination’. I just had to roll my eyes and laugh at that one ^_~.


Bleh this entry was late because of the crappy internet at the place I'm living in Berkeley. Hopefully that will be fixed today. And now I go off to do orientation things! How terribly....exciting....>_>

I've got a hummingbird outside my window on top of the tree and a juvenile Cooper's Hawk on the fire escape of a neighboring building. Happiness is birds that greet you every morning before work ^-^

But really if you haven’t been married inside a church (or on the porch of a church if you’re following Catholic practises) between the hours of 8am and 12pm, then I’m sorry you’re marriage was not really official. Or it is official (provided you got an ordained minister to preside over it for you, and paid him between 5 and 15s.), but we will frown upon it. Look at us frown! And then we’ll make you do penence in one of the large churchs.
It just got better really, because the court records are full of people who had marriages at like 4am XD. The idea of the time constraint was apparently so that a marriage had to be performed when anyone could come see it. Public witnesses and all. Of course after that early ceremony you could then go spend the rest of the day partying, so really not all that bad in the end for the guests. Overall I don’t think I learned much about wedding ceremonies that I could use today, but I had fun with the exerpts from upset ministers trying to ban the practise of giving rings at weddings. (That’s a Catholic tradition you know…)
You could follow the practise of having the bride walk to the church preceded by musicians and followed by maids carrying bridal cakes and ribbons. Mmmm I wonder if it could be chocolate cake? I better not be carrying that one, or a strawberry cake, or heck why don’t I just carry the ribbons?
I’m off this weekend to go to banding training and then for home to see my aunty who is flying in (and we’re finally going to celebrate my birthday too ^-^), so learning about the dress code of brides and grooms will have to wait until next week.

You know it just isn't the same without the voice...

But yes marriage is the subject for today. One of my best friends is actually getting married. It's kind of like this breach in the old guard to me, because really I didn't think any of us would ever get married. But congrats are indeed necessary and many happy fun filled things await us (especially as I'll be a bride's maid).
I really haven't been to that many marriages before, and I was trying to figure out what I could do to be of use. And what do I come up with? I'm researching the marriage ceremony! (Yes yes I can hear the eye rolling from here ;P. There's a reason Emily said I should be in Ravenclaw).
Needless to say I'm actually have a great time because I've found where they keep the medieval translations on marriages. I finished skimming today a funny book called the Bachelor's Feast, about why men should not get married (the complaint's about women really haven't changed at all!), and then I found a description about the marriage ceremony in England before and after the Reformation. Did you know that it used to be only the woman who got a ring? Or that she's supposed to stand on the left to represent how Eve came from Adam's left rib? I think I liked the part where the ring was blessed during the ceremony and then became a talismen against evil. I think if I ever get married I want my ring to be a talismen. Begone foul fiend by the power of my ring!

That was all I got to today, but hopefully I'll get to the party after and unconvential marriages in Tudor England tomorrow. ^_~

Or the love of libraries.

Either way I'm a happy little nerd. After work today I went to visit the Doe Library. Holding within in them the "Main Stacks" of the Berkeley campus I'd never actually set foot in the Doe before. I've visited the science library in the VLSB, and while I was able to find some nice chairs to sit in, really the design of the library was lacking. I like a library to have nooks and small spaces, winding stair cases and unexpected window seats. The collection at UPS was not of the best but the building was nicely done. The set up at Stirling was appalling really...
But the Doe has possibilities. A huge cavernous building, (half of which is apparently under construction), you need a student ID to actually access any part of the stacks. I noticed as I showed my new card that above the last doorway before the actual shelves began was the message that the collections were not for entertainment purposes. I couldn't help thinking what would I do in a library that wasn't for entertainment?

Wheeeeee!!!!!!!! If you haven't seen the movie already you should!

Full of explosions, strong characters (robots and humans), beautiful visuals, and this amazing sense of nostalgia, Transformers is an amazing movie.
The Decepticons are evil and look it, (especially Starscream, euuuu!). The Autobots are each different in personality, and yet when Optimus Prime spoke it was like being 7 again. A fantastic movie to take a very mature 10 year old to (there's death there, and not just of the robot kind), but the best part of the show is really the inside jokes from the cartoon.
So what are you doing sitting there! Go see this movie!

And now I'm going to try to get to bed with fireworks still going off down the block.
I've forgotten my addiction again as well. I really should just go out and buy one...

Why couldn't I have been born two days later? If I had been then I could have gone to the coolest movie this year on my birthday!
I'm still going, but really most unfair of fate and all.

Today was pretty non-descript. Needless to say I have recieved Birthday wishes from people who are good friends and family, and they buoyed my day along.
Work was hellish, full of bueacracy and delay and inane attempts to do productive things. Things didn't work, I waited 4 hours for a 20 minute meeting that told me at noon the same thing I was planning to do at 8:30 am...blah blah blah. Ickiness on a new degree. But just when things would get bad I would get a voice message or an email from someone that said "we love you, happy birthday, good thoughts" and really my day got better.
I expect tomorrow to be equally inane. But I have back up work now (and I'm now getting paid for this inaness. Makes things so much better), and then I get to go home to a birthday dinner and fireworks.
And of course we all know what comes on the 4th right?! More than meets the eye!
(Hahahaha, and I bet my grammer on the sentence was wrong...^-^).

I did not pick up a stuffed animal today, but a good friend did gift me with a very nicely wrapped present, one piece of which is a little blue bracelet with little bobbly ends on it. It makes my day happy to wear it.

I hate new things.
Well maybe hate is to strong a word, but they make me uncomfortable. Especially new living situations. I'm definetly one of those people that does NOT thrive on change, and am of course a huge pack rat. Needless to say these inclinations have set up for me to have an intense belief that the best place to be will always be my original home in Napa. It helps that the house is in the middle of the boonies and hence has a minimum of human contact.
Of course what have I now done? I've moved my self to Berkeley. It's a very good idea because I can never get anything done at home, plus the commute is horrendous. I just couldn't be in grad school and live at home. Which is why I am here, in a single room in a boarding house 15 minutes from the UC campus. I really wanted a place of my own, but I can't afford one yet. It's not so bad, and the rent is cheaper then in I had gotten a studio. This will hopefully let me get a one bedroom next year. Ultimately i settled because I was tired of looking at places I either didn't like out right or couldn't afford.
And we'll fix this place up. I already have the first set of many new shelves. And then there will be lamps and maybe even a bean bag chair (my parents had one when I was little and I loved it). Oh and a fan because it's hot and stuffy here. It will get better. But at the moment I'm just considering this my little study hole. It's a place where I can sleep and study and then sleep some more. I hope to become so good at this studying and sleeping routine that I can travel to Napa and take little mini vacations frequently. Because really I dislike people to much to live in a neighborhood in Berkeley and remain sane.

It will get better. And tomorrow I will go to work, and then come back, and then go to work again. Of course I've forgotten some things at home, but I can go get them soon. I really wish I hadn't forgotten my teddy bear though. And yes I know that sounds childish, but really I love sleeping with a stuffed animal. It's a habit that I've become addicted to and now I am missing my teddy bear fix because of my stupid forgetfulness packing skills.
Of course tomorrow is my birthday, and maybe to make myself feel better for working in the middle of a city I dislike on my birthday I'll go out and get a stuffed animal. Maybe...

My most consistent form of exercise on Lana'i is snorkeling, and really that's not exercise because you just float around in the water for hours watching life go by. But I am pretty consistent in getting into the water at least once a day here, sometimes two. And I have been so rewarded for my efforts.
There have been dolphins (squeee! right next to me) and then when we went out in a boat there was a turtle and an eel! Everything you see while you snorkel is through this thin plate of plastic, and it still seems surreal to me. As if I was watching from far away, even though everything was less then 20 feet away. Surreal and magical all wrapped up together.

It's an actual vacation. I brought no work at all, (and actually that was just because I forgot a genetics book on the coffee table at home), and yet why can't I relax? Doing nothing shouldn't be so hard right?
I think I have American work ethic guilt.
Anyways, just a short note to say I'm on Lana'i with my mom being a total beach bum. I'm reading candy floss books all day and trying to not be embarrassed by the very expensive hotel that we're staying at. I'm getting better about it, I think I've just been working with tourists for so long it feels really weird being one.

Got to go, but if you want a postcard send me a line with your address!

I'm visiting my brother in WA, and yes it is raining here. Actually the first day and a half it was beautiful and warm.
My brother is doing well, and it's amazing to see him. I've missed him like crazy. But I'm not going to write about that, I'm going to write about dishes.
I've bought bowls, which is ridiculou because really I don't have my own kitchen. But they're very pretty bowls and I'm happy that I now have four new bowls from Uwajimaya. I guess I'll have to get a little table to sit next to my fridge so they can have a place to live.

Or maybe just school sucks. My derm doc said a really funny and truthful thing. He told me that as I head towards my PhD I'll actually be shutting more doors of opportunity then I will be opening. All in the pursuit of finding my niche in academia. Unhappy thing to hear from a double major in IPE and Bio who wishes she had the language skills to also have majored in art history or classics.
Don't get me wrong, I am super excited about getting to focus on bio, and getting one step closer to getting my own museum (Yes mine! All Mine! I'm selfish and proud of it! And it will have zooper cool things in it @_@)! But I guess I'll have to put aside my love of history and art and classics (and probably anything else) for a little while longer. Thank goodness for podcasts (History By Bob rocks my Sundays!), and I'll just have to squeeze dance and taichi and stuff in anyways. I'm allowed one phys ed class at Berkeley as a grad student and I intend to take it!
And in other horrors of growing up, I'm just paid my first real rent check. Now I know I know. I've lived in like 6 different places, from the tops of volcanoes to ghost towns (and Scotland! oooh have to go back some day), but most of these places I either lived in school housing or my internship covered the fees. I got to live amazing places and worked long hours but it was all worth it. And now I've put down money to live 15 minutes from UC in essentially a boarding house. It will be very good for my budget (because Berkeley is hurting in how expensive anything is), but still it's Berkeley and a city (I do best living in towns of 10), and I don't like people. And then it's also all gray and sad there with the fog. I can never live anywhere warm :(. Plus it's also a boarding house and I still can't tack things to the walls. I have this beautiful Cindy art and refuse to use sticky tack on it. I am mounting them and I will figure out some where in my room for Subaru and everyone Cindychan! They will have proper homes!

But in happier news I have a very close vacation/retreat site away from the city, aaaaaannnnndddd I have pictures of the Blue Moon from here, so anyone who didn't get to see it let me know and I'll send you a picture. (They're fuzzy, but it's there ^_^).

I should be in bed since I have work tomorrow, but I wanted to let everyone know that you should go outside tomorrow night (the 31st) and enjoy the Blue Moon!
Yeah for a Blue Moon!

I read the book, and the first thing I wanted was my own demon. It would be fantastic to not be considered crazy when I talk to myself.

I got up early to see the parents off to work. It's my week off after Cal Day, I should be lazy, I've been lazy, but no my laziness has failed. I made the mistake of looking at the calender and realizing that I'm going into the field in a week, so at 7am I'm getting out my tent. It's now hanging outside to air. There was still Montana in there >_>. And I can't get back to sleep! Arrggghhh! I feel all productive!
I hate vacations where I feel productive. I want to be lazy!

I'm sorry if I've been gone for a while and haven't been good and responded to anyones emails or things...but I've been busy getting into GRAD SCHOOL AT UC BERKELEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm stuck somewhere between being happy for myself, embarrassed by the attention, and gut wrenching fear of the next 4-5 years of work @_@.





Oh and I can now prep mammals, birds, reptiles, and I made my very first taxidermy mount. It's a cute little Burrowing Owl who is now stuck in a look of as Emily put it "It looks pissed off. As in I will eat you pissed off..."

Lesson to self - clothes shopping with friends can lead to interesting and useless purchases. I am now the proud(?) owner of a dark burgendy strapless short dress (goes down to midthigh) with black lace around the waist and tafata under the skirt. It's so '80s knock off it's almost painful to look at. I'll save it for dress up, or a horrible theme party I guess.