twits

If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face... A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.

from Roald Dahl's Twits

apple tree

In addition to being fairly productive with school work, I've had a bit 'o fun this weekend, too. For lunch on Saturday, I went with Alison and her family to a narrow, barely there restaurant in Chinatown for authentic dumplings at dirt-cheap prices (at least by US standards - 5 for $1). After ordering an assortment of boiled and fried pork dumplings, bready pancakes with chives, and warm soy milk, we wedged ourselves into a corner at the back on and amongst the six bar stools, the locals, and the production line. So yummy; I can hardly wait to go back. From there we visited a Chinese bakery for traditional egg custards. Alsion and I split a strawberry one, and her mom tried a melon one. Aside from being unnaturally lime green and hot pink in color, they were pretty good. Together we wandered through Chinatown, and then I trekked on to Soho for some shopping. After browsing through some little boutiques, I ended up in H&M where I bought a shirt dress and soft pink sweater that was on clearance for $9.90. A stop at K-Mart (for tissues to combat runny noses because of the cold) and another at Dunkin' Donuts (for hot chocolate also to combat the cold), I made my way back home to do reading, work on papers, and attempt an early bedtime.

Saturday morning I met Alison and Jenn at 7:30. That's right - 7:30 AM. Hence the early bedtime the night before. We headed down to Studio 54 in hopes of getting $26 Rush tickets to The Apple Tree, starring Kristin Chenoweth. Luckily, we not only beat the rush, we were the only ones there. We got to stand, shivering, in line with ourselves for the next two hours! We did make a quick run to Bagel and Bean around the corner to grab breakfast, and after about an hour and forty-five minutes the security guard let us in to stand in the lobby.

The saga continued later that night when we met at 7:15 for the 8:00 show, only to discover that the subway had inexplicably stopped working. We run-walk-run-walked all the way to 94th from 120th before we managed to get away from the crowd and catch a cab. (So much for looking good.) We only missed the first number. And from then on, the night was great. What a wonderful, hilarious, creative show! Check it out here - http://www.roundabouttheatre.org/ Afterwards, we decided we deserved a margarita for our harriedness, so we went to Chevy's just down the street. Mmm-mmm good. (And by the way, Jenn and I didn't plan to match!)

And today has been a day of aerobics, errands, cleaning, e-mailing, reading, and doing more school work. That's it in a nutshell!

chinese new year

Happy Chinese New Year!

Sunday was the first day of the Lunar New Year festivities. Pigs everywhere are snortin' and celebratin'! (And I'm celebrating that next year I'll have a week off for Chinese New Year!)

Piglet Years are:1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019

Piggy personality traits are: Intellectually curious, honest and tolerant.

People born in the Year of the Pig are known for loyalty and their ability to make lifetime friends.

e-cards

I just recieved a beautiful e-card from my college friend Tabitha. She had such encouraging words concerning my plans for next fall! I think everyone out there knows by now that I have decided to return to Concordia in Shanghai, China, to teach first and second grade for the next three school years. Here's what Tabitha and her card had to say:

(With Nichole Nordeman's "Legacy" playing in the background...)
You make a difference.
And you're appreciated.
Thanking God for the special person you are.

Let your light shine...
That they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16 NIV

We all need encouraging words like that. Thanks, Tab! And thank you all for your prayers as I made my decision and now as I prepare to go back.

--------------

After posting the above, I received another e-card from a Sarah, a friend and coworker from China. It was very touching, too! Sarah said:

Because of you, my laughter is a little louder...
my load a little lighter...
And my love for the Lord a little deeper.
Thank you, sweet friend.

"Your love has given me great joy and encouragement..." Philemon 1:7

Thank you, Sarah! And I can't wait to see you again on the other side of the world!

valentines

I hope cupid had a coat to wear today! He certainly needed it for visiting New York! We had our first true winter storm, starting last night and continuing throughout the day today. We had snow, sleet, ice, and more snow. The official measure was two inches in Central Park, but it certainly felt deeper than that as I slogged around town, trudging through the massive piles on street corners. Oooh, and the wind was blowing, too. The ice pellets felt pretty sharp in my face, and at one point I was literally blown down the street! But I had to go out in it. I had to visit the elementary school to work on my research project (due March 14!!! Ahhh!!!), and I had to go to a bakery to pick up cupcakes for our Valentine's shin-dig.

A few of us gathered to order dinner from a Chinese delivery place and to watch American Idol. And then I met with a few others in Jenn's room for chocolate-covered fortune cookies, cupcakes, candies, truffles, cheese and crackers, and pink drinks. We had a great time chatting and reminiscing about middle school. Not a bad Valentines Day, especially when you throw in the fact that my professor cancelled my science class tonight because of the weather! Yay!

Oh yeah. AND MY SISTER IS COMING TO VISIT TOMORROW! YAY!

today in NY

Today a state senator from Brooklyn said he plans to introduce legislation that would ban people from using an MP3 player, cell phone, Blackberry or any other electronic device while crossing the street in New York City. Sen. Carl Kruger is proposing the ban in response to two recent pedestrian deaths in his district, including a 23-year-old man who was struck and killed last month while listening to his iPod and crossing the street.

stop the madness

Seriously. Stop it! If I were a person who swore, I would have cursed up quite a storm this morning. And if I had a gun, I might have used it! I'm entirely fed up with the person who lives somewhere in my neighborhood and who visits the supermarket across the street at 6:20 every morning and who ties their big black dog to the bus stop shelter and who allows said dog to bark incessantly - a deep "woof"-ing-wheezing bark that reverberates off the buildings on both sides of the street - and who apparently is a leisurely shopper because the dog keeps barking (EVERY MORNING) for fifteen to twenty minutes nonstop! Argh! Not a nice thing to be awakened by or to be kept awake by. I can sleep through fire truck sirens, delivery truck backup signals, kneeling bus whooshing sounds, and even noisy inebriated college students. But that darn dog! And its owner!

Also about dogs, I went to Barnes and Nobel this afternoon to do some reading and have some coffee. I thought the coffee would help me warm up, since it's only about 9 degrees today, but it was even cold inside the store! Anyway, I accomplished my reading - a very interesting article for a course called "The Teacher" (I'll post some excerpts later), and then I spent time wandering around the kids section. I discovered a book I'd never seen before, copyright 2006, and its title made me laugh out loud! Hehe! Here's a picture for you: