Last night was the first night of coming home from work and not having to think about any school work. Now that I have all this free time, let’s see how I fill it. I get the feeling it’ll be 95% putzing around the house (which I executed beautifully last night) and 5% reading. I ended up reading 5 pages of Freakonomics (very entertaining and amusing) and then falling asleep by 10. I now have three unfinished books by my bed.

Even though I have a “usual” hairlady, for the past three haircuts, I’ve gone to three different people. The first was back in July of last year at a Vietnamese barber shop where the lady gave me a rough cut. Not great, but not devastating either considering I couldn’t really communicate much to her. I like to think my wavy hair is pretty forgiving of most haircuts as long as it’s below shoulder length. The next person was in California this past March. It was a bit shorter, lying just below the shoulder, but I liked it and it grew out nicely. Last night, I went to a guy’s house to get my haircut. The community, if you know who to talk to, is chock full of these at-home businesses. You’ll find full fledged hair salons in someones basement or even spas. So he works during the day at some salon charging $65 a haircut but for his basement run gig, it’s only $18. Nice. Only issue, I’m not sure I like my haircut, and I don’t say that often. Here’s the thing, I can’t see when I’m getting a haircut. After the glasses come off, I only tell whoever’s cutting my hair I want it long enough to tie up and bangs or no bangs. Because of that, I’m generally okay with whatever I end up with. This time though, I feel like he fobified me! He styled my hair stick straight like typical nice Asian hair then gave me a layered cut. All I need is the school girl outfit and I’m set for Halloween. I’m going back to Christina next time. She works with my waves.

The hair person’s advice for hair loss – eat more alkali foods such as seaweed and get more sleep. My doctor also advised me that stress can cause your hair to come out.

Great, the dentist is telling me to chill out or my teeth are going to get worn down to nubs, and now my doctor is telling me to chill out or my hair’s gonna fall out!! I need to move to the Caribbean.

When I first started school two years ago, I was so excited and eager. A year later, I was tired and ready to be done. Now that the last day of class is in two weeks, on October 17th, 1PM (who’s keeping track?), I’m feeling relieved yet wistful. A lot has happened in these two years. I’ve met so many people, made new friends, and gotten a new job. I think back now and as much as I whined and complained about assignments and exams, overall, it’s been a good experience. Life during these two years have been good. Maybe even worth going into debt for it. I can’t believe I said that. When the loans start kicking in in February, I’ll probably be singing a different tune.

So let me whine my final whine. I have been procrastinating on my last assignment for a week now. I barely understand what we’re learning! I’ve gone on Facebook, read blogs online, blogged, and still I just barely figured out (finally after two nights of racking my brain and emailing the professor the stupidest questions — poor lady) gotten some numbers out of Excel Solver. I’m so screwed.

I’ve been in a total funk lately. Don’t care about school, don’t care to shop!!! (not that I can afford it anyway), don’t care for anything except maybe getting in my daily exercise. So there’s that at least.

Back in high school when I watched Oprah pretty regularly, I learned that you should keep a log of things you’re thankful for when you’re feeling particularly ungrateful or dissatisfied with the way your life’s going.  So I’m grateful for:

• my job and the flexible hours.
• the people who are still willing to deal with me and my current state of ass.
• beer (nod to Oktoberfest).
• my ability to pronounce most words properly.

I got these two earrings on Telegraph Rd during my last vacation there this March. I was a little worried the one with the rocks would be too heavy but they’re not. At least not wearing them for 2 minutes. How sick is this though? I like standing in front of the mirror cycling through random earrings and admiring them. And taking photos of me wearing them. My life’s theme song goes something like this: “You’re so vain, you probably think this song is about you…” Ugh, I don’t even like that song. I just like the lyrics. They speak to me.

This is the quintessential trading in one bad habit for another. Instead of coffee, I turn to tea. So instead of Plants vs. Zombies on the computer, I turn to Fire Emblem on the Wii. And it’s terrible. I keep losing a key character and getting “Game Over,” replaying over and over, getting frustrated, turning it off, turning it back on, and over and over. And now I’m back to PvZ tonight, and tomorrow I’m sure I’ll be firing up that Wii again for more of the same madness. Ay caramba!

I haven’t had coffee for almost two weeks now.  Vacation helped break the cycle and I’m trying not to get back in it.  It’s too hot outside to be drinking hot beverages anyway.  And yet… I catch myself nodding off at my desk.

Beside the point: I think my boss is a really nice, amiable guy.  But.  He’s a bit of a bungling idiot.  And I mean that in a nice way if there ever was a nice way to call someone a buffoon.  I sat in his office yesterday where he had no fewer than 30 emails opened.  He was looking for a specific one he’d sent me a few days ago.  Granted half this job is about archiving paper and emails and documents so the task can be somewhat daunting but I tried hinting that wow he had a lot of windows open.  And one of the emails had an attachment and he had 5 Excel files open looking for the attachment even though it was a Word file.  And then in an Excel file, he didn’t know how to unhide a column.  Again, not an expert on all things Microsoft here, but shouldn’t the basics of an operating system be sort of a given in working in the 21st century these days?  I must’ve forgotten to check my common sense at the door yesterday.  Nice as he is, much as I like him, I wanted to snatch the mouse right out of his hand.

• Losing mah hair. If I never cleaned it off the bathroom floor, I would’ve had a plush carpet by now.
• Grinding the teeth. I hope they last.
• Feeling skinnyfat.  Two flights of stairs leaves me out of breath.
• Sitting on the beltway during rush hour. It’s a mental obstacle course in patience.
• Downing way more caffeinated beverages than my body knows how to handle.
• Sitting through such a long boring meeting that I find myself gulping Starbucks and nodding off at the same time.
• Realizing I made a mistake in leaving my prior job(s).

The Star Trek movie was awesome by the way.  Go see it in the theater.

I have been trying to quit my coffee habit (again) this week and have failed miserably. When you just know you’re not going to last through a 3.5-hour class, light roast = more caffeine. When you are too dim to function late in the evening, hazelnut. When you’re resolved not to have another drop of coffee, 4 pints of Lipton, milk, and sugar.

That is my job at work and I’m so good at it I do it at home. I have been hammering away at a 9-10 page paper for the past… entire day. And I just reached page five. The topic is my negotiation skills – why I am a bad negotiator, and what I need to do to fix it.
So far, I have learned:

• Distracting yourself is a great way to resist temptation and boost your willpower.
• It’s also a great way to waste time.
• I want a marshmallow.
• Everybody was in cahoots with the Bush administration to torture people.
• Correction:  It’s not really torture.  They had doctors present.  Or maybe it was torture and those weren’t really doctors.
• It’s shad season in Washington.
• Princess and the Frog!  This year!