There.is.a.freaking.mouse.in.my.room.
My skin is crawling, my throat is hoarse from shouting and it doesn't help that my carpet is grey, like that mouse.
I'm gonna sound like an ignorant spoilt prat, but yes this is the first time I've seen a mouse.
Comments so far:
"Better get them before they eat your dresses.."
"Yeah..no big deal...once the cold comes more mice will hibernate in your room"
"you look traumatised charissa"
"So you didn't find it cute?"
"hahahahahahahahahahah.......that's kinda funny...............in a non funny kind of way"
"Yeah we had a mouse in our room...we put a mouse trap there and it never came back."
"Yeah you know why.....cuz the freaking mouse is in my room right now!!!"
Nik printed out a notice that says "You have no mice whatsoever" and stuck it onto my door.
I called the mice people. I'm convinced they were sniggering as they took down my details. They are so not coming I assure you.
I gather the general consensus is: Suck it up princess, the plague is nowhere near yet.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Monday, November 28, 2005
The Big Turkey Buffet
This thanksgiving weekend has been the most exhausting weekend i ever had since coming here. Managed to touch the soil of four states in four days. Considering i sleep about 9 hours on any average day, i managed to survive through it with about 4-6 hrs of sleep a day.
Wednesday night: Left Philly to New Jersey with Mike and Claire. Drive took 2.5 hrs. It would normally take less than 1hr. Drove through the most dangerous city in America. Camden, NJ. Didn't get shot. Happy. Visited Claire's family to load up on chinese food. Claire's mum had an indianchineseamerican accent because she was a chinese girl born in india and immigrated to America. interesting. They were hakka. They spoke hakka. I'm half hakka. I had no idea what they were talking about. Feel bad betraying my chinese province. Feeling lasted for 3 minutes.
Drove to Debra's home in holmdel, NJ. Feels good to be back. Went to some mexican restaurant for drinks and to listen to lousy karaoke. Ordered peach magarita. Waitress shouted "BITCH" at me. Took me a few minutes to realise she meant peach. Listen to conversation about people i don't know. Saw deers. Went back. Slept.
Thursday (Thanksgiving day): No snow. Grumpy. Woke up early to watch macy thanksgiving parade. Laughed at performers in their skimpy costumes on a freezing morning. 10:10am. Watch RENT in the movie. Cried a bit because Cary Shields was so hot. Five people in the cinema. Walked out. Ran into the original actress who played Maureen in the broadway version of RENT. Found out she use to date Cary Shields. Told her i needed to pee and excused myself.
Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, stuffing, sweet potato, corn, salad, chocolate banana pie and alot of alcohol. Family gossip. Conversation went into breast implants and other unmentionables. Laughed so much i got high on oxygen. Funniest dinner i ever had. Visited Deb's extended family. First time in a house with 30 Jews. Felt slightly awkward. Family friend asked me if i was jewish. Was stuck in a corner with a towering man talking to me at too close a proximity. Rainshower of spit. Went home. Wash face. Watched Dave the movie. Slept.
Black Friday: Woke up. Still no snow. Was about to get grumpy when i realised today is national shopping day. Sped to the mall. Spend $250 on unnecessay stuff. Went bridesmaid gown shopping with Deb. Shoke my head and made faces at most of the dresses. Made a new friend. I would put his name down except he wouldn't tell it to me. Went to Manhattan. Had chinese food which took 3 minutes to arrive on the table. Watched the worst musical in the world. The sacastic comments shooting between Deb, her mum and I were more entertaining than the off key singing and uncoordinated dancing. Started doing retro dancing in the middle of a slow song. Show over. Told Deb's cousin who was acting in it that it was "Awesome". Felt bad for lying. But there was an awkward pause after she asked me "How was is?" Took the train to connecticut. Went to Dan's house with a forest for a backyard. Met up with Nisha, Justin, Steph and Dan along with Deb. Watched Wet Hot American Summer. A movie about 13 year old's making out in summer camp. Scarred for life. Slept.
Saturday: Woke up. Went shopping at nine west factory outlet with the girls. Had no money to buy anything. Took Dan's car to Manhattan. Car sick. Went ice skating in Bryant Park. So many crazy kids. Nominated it as my favourite sport for now. Met Alex. Left to Manhattan chinatown to take chinatown bus back to philly. Walked like for one hour dragging a heavy luggage through chinatown which was bursting with the thanksgiving crowd. Found the freaking bus company. Told me they only go to boston not philly. Refused to tell me which company would bring me to philly. Walked around aimlessly. Finally found a small sign which said "Chinatown bus to philly for $12". Bought ticket. Counterstaff spoke broken english and couldn't tell me where the bus was parked. Walked around somemore. Found bus like 6 blocks away from company. Sped back to philly chinatown. Met Singapore claire, david and other friends. Had good vietnamese food. Got back to campus. Called Mike. Was told that he was only one street away from me in new york chinatown and i should have just called him to pick me up. Went to asian party at marbar. Danced. Drink. Got back at 5:30am. Slept.
Sunday: Woke up at 8:30am. Had 3 hours of sleep. Went to church. Had brunch at RX. Very good. Brought Claire, David and Dennis down to liberty bell and independence hall. Walked down south street to penn landing. Had philly cheesesteak for the 3rd time. Convinced now that i hate it. Chatted on the phone and on msn till 1:30am. Slept
Monday: Woke up at 1:30pm. Missed all three classes. Realise that essay is due tomorrow. Decided to have lunch and blog instead. 4pm now. End of blog entry. Have to start on essay.
Wednesday night: Left Philly to New Jersey with Mike and Claire. Drive took 2.5 hrs. It would normally take less than 1hr. Drove through the most dangerous city in America. Camden, NJ. Didn't get shot. Happy. Visited Claire's family to load up on chinese food. Claire's mum had an indianchineseamerican accent because she was a chinese girl born in india and immigrated to America. interesting. They were hakka. They spoke hakka. I'm half hakka. I had no idea what they were talking about. Feel bad betraying my chinese province. Feeling lasted for 3 minutes.
Drove to Debra's home in holmdel, NJ. Feels good to be back. Went to some mexican restaurant for drinks and to listen to lousy karaoke. Ordered peach magarita. Waitress shouted "BITCH" at me. Took me a few minutes to realise she meant peach. Listen to conversation about people i don't know. Saw deers. Went back. Slept.
Thursday (Thanksgiving day): No snow. Grumpy. Woke up early to watch macy thanksgiving parade. Laughed at performers in their skimpy costumes on a freezing morning. 10:10am. Watch RENT in the movie. Cried a bit because Cary Shields was so hot. Five people in the cinema. Walked out. Ran into the original actress who played Maureen in the broadway version of RENT. Found out she use to date Cary Shields. Told her i needed to pee and excused myself.
Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, stuffing, sweet potato, corn, salad, chocolate banana pie and alot of alcohol. Family gossip. Conversation went into breast implants and other unmentionables. Laughed so much i got high on oxygen. Funniest dinner i ever had. Visited Deb's extended family. First time in a house with 30 Jews. Felt slightly awkward. Family friend asked me if i was jewish. Was stuck in a corner with a towering man talking to me at too close a proximity. Rainshower of spit. Went home. Wash face. Watched Dave the movie. Slept.
Black Friday: Woke up. Still no snow. Was about to get grumpy when i realised today is national shopping day. Sped to the mall. Spend $250 on unnecessay stuff. Went bridesmaid gown shopping with Deb. Shoke my head and made faces at most of the dresses. Made a new friend. I would put his name down except he wouldn't tell it to me. Went to Manhattan. Had chinese food which took 3 minutes to arrive on the table. Watched the worst musical in the world. The sacastic comments shooting between Deb, her mum and I were more entertaining than the off key singing and uncoordinated dancing. Started doing retro dancing in the middle of a slow song. Show over. Told Deb's cousin who was acting in it that it was "Awesome". Felt bad for lying. But there was an awkward pause after she asked me "How was is?" Took the train to connecticut. Went to Dan's house with a forest for a backyard. Met up with Nisha, Justin, Steph and Dan along with Deb. Watched Wet Hot American Summer. A movie about 13 year old's making out in summer camp. Scarred for life. Slept.
Saturday: Woke up. Went shopping at nine west factory outlet with the girls. Had no money to buy anything. Took Dan's car to Manhattan. Car sick. Went ice skating in Bryant Park. So many crazy kids. Nominated it as my favourite sport for now. Met Alex. Left to Manhattan chinatown to take chinatown bus back to philly. Walked like for one hour dragging a heavy luggage through chinatown which was bursting with the thanksgiving crowd. Found the freaking bus company. Told me they only go to boston not philly. Refused to tell me which company would bring me to philly. Walked around aimlessly. Finally found a small sign which said "Chinatown bus to philly for $12". Bought ticket. Counterstaff spoke broken english and couldn't tell me where the bus was parked. Walked around somemore. Found bus like 6 blocks away from company. Sped back to philly chinatown. Met Singapore claire, david and other friends. Had good vietnamese food. Got back to campus. Called Mike. Was told that he was only one street away from me in new york chinatown and i should have just called him to pick me up. Went to asian party at marbar. Danced. Drink. Got back at 5:30am. Slept.
Sunday: Woke up at 8:30am. Had 3 hours of sleep. Went to church. Had brunch at RX. Very good. Brought Claire, David and Dennis down to liberty bell and independence hall. Walked down south street to penn landing. Had philly cheesesteak for the 3rd time. Convinced now that i hate it. Chatted on the phone and on msn till 1:30am. Slept
Monday: Woke up at 1:30pm. Missed all three classes. Realise that essay is due tomorrow. Decided to have lunch and blog instead. 4pm now. End of blog entry. Have to start on essay.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Ewwwww.....
I can feel my arteries tightening as i looked at my plate...for the gazillion time in the last three weeks, i made myself a stack of french toasts fried in bacon fat, strips upon strips of fatty bacon(i have no money to buy the lean heart smart ones) and eggs piled with melted cheese, once again fried in bacon fat. Yellow oil drips slowly from each piece of bread i hold up. Then i wash it down with orange juice just in case. That was for lunch. For breakfast I had bread slapped with lots of peanut butter and jelly.
Yesterday: i had cheese crepes swamped with corn-syrup and preserved strawberries for lunch. For dinner, I had a chocolate cake. A whole chocolate cake swimming in warm chocolate sauce and ice cream.
I think i need to change my diet. Or go to the gym. Or stop eating.
Yesterday: i had cheese crepes swamped with corn-syrup and preserved strawberries for lunch. For dinner, I had a chocolate cake. A whole chocolate cake swimming in warm chocolate sauce and ice cream.
I think i need to change my diet. Or go to the gym. Or stop eating.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Eh...this one is about food again...
Yeah....i kinda didn't do much all weekend except eat....I managed to catch the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra at the Kimmel Center. So beautiful!! Mike and I were totally ghetto tho. We were decked out in our best suits, him in a suit and shirt and me in the only evening dress i brought here, my black tube dress with stockings and boots so I wouldn't die in the cold of -3 deg celsius. We rocked up to the Kimmel Center, went to the ticket counter and said, "Can we use this buy one get one free voucher?" And then we asked for the cheapest tickets. Now if that's not cheap enough, we also doggie bagged Cosi sandwiches, sat at the lobby of a posh hotel and happily spread out our food across the table and munched away. It's like eating macdonald's at the lobby of the hilton. Then we were late for the concert. So we had to wait 34 min till the end of the first movement before being allowed in. But it was amazing. We heard four contemporary pieces by Kellogg (shock shock, he's still alive. That's why I bet none of you have ever heard of him) and symphony No. 4 in B-flat major by Beethoven. Then a fat guy sat in front of me and I ceased to see the orchestra. But besides that, i was blown away by the music.
Anyway back to food. Because I have been eating the whole weekend, and I want to procrastinate finishing up the last two pages of my essay, I shall do a mini food review of some of the restaurants in philly. Philly is known for its restaurants and food. When outside of the campus dining hall at least.
POD
Asian Fusion
I had: Peking Duck and Wasabi-encrusted filet mignon with wasabi mash potatos
It was: Excellent. I'm a huge fan of wasabi so this filet mignon definitely packed a steamy punch. I was amazed at how well the wasabi complimented both the filet and the mash. The taste was smooth and fluid and added to the heartiness of the steak. The peking duck wasn't as mind blowing but it was tender and juicy with a tad too sweet sauce. And the edamame (steam soy beans) was the best I've ever tasted. Moist and salty.
It looked: Funky. Like a space ship. Pictures are in earlier blog entry.
Marathon Grill
Eh...western?
I had: Filet Mignon with blue cheese sauce, grilled vegetables and mash. Had a taste of chicken penne, tuscany chicken soup and chocolate pudding.
It was: Very disappointing. I heard pretty good things about Mar Grill before so I was pretty surprised that the food tasted so bland I might as well carried my meal in the dining hall. The filet mignon was so small it might as well been french. I had a tough time trying to find it. I finally found it under ONE slice of grilled pepper. Which isn't saying much. The blue cheese sauce which resided inside my grilled veggie was definitely not the sauce for the steak. The combination was so disconcerting that I had to scrap the sauce off and just eat the steak plain. Tho' i asked for the steak to be medium done, it came out rarer than i expected. The mash was too hard and the veggies were just lacklustre. The soup tasted so bad I'm not suprised if its a combination of msg and dried chicken. The only redemming factor of the meal was that slither of brownie I had. But i've forgotten how it tasted, so it wasn't that good.
It looked: The lighting was terrible and the acoustics of the space made normal dining chatter from other tables sound louder than it should. And also, too cramp.
Buddakan
Asian-Fusion
I had: Chocolate Bento Box and dessert wine
It was: Heavenly. If it's Stephen Starr restaurant (also owner of POD), it has to be good. The bento box consists of six petite and delightful chocolate desserts: chocolate sorbet with hazelnut and crystalized ginger, chocolate panna cotta, cocoa-dusted almonds, chocolate cake covered with warn chocolate sauce and seseme seeds, ginger chocolate biscotti with chocolate pudding and mocha something (I can't remember cuz' I don't take coffee). It was chocolate overload but so orgasmic. Each small dish of chocolate complimented the other. It was obvious that they didn't just use some corn syrup laden chocolate but actual pure dark high qualtity cocoa. The chocolate cake was my favourite. Totally comfort food that just transcends class. And they go so well with the dessert wine.
It looked: Besides the fact that I was reclining on the black and white photograph of a woman's face and the lamp in the middle of table made conversation slightly awkward, the surroundings were very surreal. I'm slightly cynical of restaurants that embark on this trend of making Buddha the theme of the restaurant (e.g Tao in NYC, Indochine in Singapore, Chocolate buddha in Melbourne), this one did looks similar to the rest. It was ostentatious enough without giving me a headache, but zen enough to make the huge golden statue of the Buddha look good.
HuoChieTao
Vietnamese Thai
I had: Grilled lemongrass pork and chicken on broken rice, ice rainbow, a bit of glass noodles in tom yam soup and some make-your-own rice roll thingie
It was: It has to be the best Vietnamese food you can get in philly. The broken rice was fragrant and fluffy, the meats were well marinated in the lemongrass and tasted oh so juicy. The tom yam was definitely authentic enough to be considered Thai (unlike pattaya grill where you get soy sauce in water and thai singha where you get water). The ice rainbow which is basically alot of beans in coconut milk was too coconutty for my liking, but decent. Best part: It was very very reasonably prized. $5.50 got me my massive plate of rice and meat.
It looked: Come on, it costs $5.50, expect sketchy surroundings, grotty dishes and odd blue lamps sticking out of nowhere. Very faux luxury.
Bacca
Italian
I had: Salad, bruschetta, salami pizza, pasta with shrimp, spinach and sundried in cream sauce, and spaghetti bolognese
It was: Hearty. I wouldn't consider it fine dining Italian food, but it was more family portion (meaning massive), kids friendly with decent slightly better than fast food quality food. The cream-based pasta was too coyingly creamy and bland. The bolognese was well...decent.
It looked: Very quaint. I loved the decoration. They had picture frames of old newspaper clippings from the 50s, profiles of Miss Italy and various other interesting photos and pictures like ancient deoderant ads and pictures of the Pope. Very Serendipity meets Applebee kind of setting. Cute would be a good word to summarise it.
Anyway back to food. Because I have been eating the whole weekend, and I want to procrastinate finishing up the last two pages of my essay, I shall do a mini food review of some of the restaurants in philly. Philly is known for its restaurants and food. When outside of the campus dining hall at least.
POD
Asian Fusion
I had: Peking Duck and Wasabi-encrusted filet mignon with wasabi mash potatos
It was: Excellent. I'm a huge fan of wasabi so this filet mignon definitely packed a steamy punch. I was amazed at how well the wasabi complimented both the filet and the mash. The taste was smooth and fluid and added to the heartiness of the steak. The peking duck wasn't as mind blowing but it was tender and juicy with a tad too sweet sauce. And the edamame (steam soy beans) was the best I've ever tasted. Moist and salty.
It looked: Funky. Like a space ship. Pictures are in earlier blog entry.
Marathon Grill
Eh...western?
I had: Filet Mignon with blue cheese sauce, grilled vegetables and mash. Had a taste of chicken penne, tuscany chicken soup and chocolate pudding.
It was: Very disappointing. I heard pretty good things about Mar Grill before so I was pretty surprised that the food tasted so bland I might as well carried my meal in the dining hall. The filet mignon was so small it might as well been french. I had a tough time trying to find it. I finally found it under ONE slice of grilled pepper. Which isn't saying much. The blue cheese sauce which resided inside my grilled veggie was definitely not the sauce for the steak. The combination was so disconcerting that I had to scrap the sauce off and just eat the steak plain. Tho' i asked for the steak to be medium done, it came out rarer than i expected. The mash was too hard and the veggies were just lacklustre. The soup tasted so bad I'm not suprised if its a combination of msg and dried chicken. The only redemming factor of the meal was that slither of brownie I had. But i've forgotten how it tasted, so it wasn't that good.
It looked: The lighting was terrible and the acoustics of the space made normal dining chatter from other tables sound louder than it should. And also, too cramp.
Buddakan
Asian-Fusion
I had: Chocolate Bento Box and dessert wine
It was: Heavenly. If it's Stephen Starr restaurant (also owner of POD), it has to be good. The bento box consists of six petite and delightful chocolate desserts: chocolate sorbet with hazelnut and crystalized ginger, chocolate panna cotta, cocoa-dusted almonds, chocolate cake covered with warn chocolate sauce and seseme seeds, ginger chocolate biscotti with chocolate pudding and mocha something (I can't remember cuz' I don't take coffee). It was chocolate overload but so orgasmic. Each small dish of chocolate complimented the other. It was obvious that they didn't just use some corn syrup laden chocolate but actual pure dark high qualtity cocoa. The chocolate cake was my favourite. Totally comfort food that just transcends class. And they go so well with the dessert wine.
It looked: Besides the fact that I was reclining on the black and white photograph of a woman's face and the lamp in the middle of table made conversation slightly awkward, the surroundings were very surreal. I'm slightly cynical of restaurants that embark on this trend of making Buddha the theme of the restaurant (e.g Tao in NYC, Indochine in Singapore, Chocolate buddha in Melbourne), this one did looks similar to the rest. It was ostentatious enough without giving me a headache, but zen enough to make the huge golden statue of the Buddha look good.
HuoChieTao
Vietnamese Thai
I had: Grilled lemongrass pork and chicken on broken rice, ice rainbow, a bit of glass noodles in tom yam soup and some make-your-own rice roll thingie
It was: It has to be the best Vietnamese food you can get in philly. The broken rice was fragrant and fluffy, the meats were well marinated in the lemongrass and tasted oh so juicy. The tom yam was definitely authentic enough to be considered Thai (unlike pattaya grill where you get soy sauce in water and thai singha where you get water). The ice rainbow which is basically alot of beans in coconut milk was too coconutty for my liking, but decent. Best part: It was very very reasonably prized. $5.50 got me my massive plate of rice and meat.
It looked: Come on, it costs $5.50, expect sketchy surroundings, grotty dishes and odd blue lamps sticking out of nowhere. Very faux luxury.
Bacca
Italian
I had: Salad, bruschetta, salami pizza, pasta with shrimp, spinach and sundried in cream sauce, and spaghetti bolognese
It was: Hearty. I wouldn't consider it fine dining Italian food, but it was more family portion (meaning massive), kids friendly with decent slightly better than fast food quality food. The cream-based pasta was too coyingly creamy and bland. The bolognese was well...decent.
It looked: Very quaint. I loved the decoration. They had picture frames of old newspaper clippings from the 50s, profiles of Miss Italy and various other interesting photos and pictures like ancient deoderant ads and pictures of the Pope. Very Serendipity meets Applebee kind of setting. Cute would be a good word to summarise it.
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