i have done it. i have defended my research and was given the most incredible “congratulations” i have ever been given in my life.
i do not know how to describe the way i feel right now. it is the most amazing sense of accomplishment i have ever had. it has been a very happy halloween. and i get to put the date of october 31st on the final copy i will submit to the college of graduate studies. forever shall halloween be commemorated with this accomplishment.
my fate will be decided between 2-3 pm october 31st. prayers are always welcome. my presentation is designed to be the most amazing event in my committee’s life, but, we’ll see.
G.H.O.S.T. was super fun! since everyone in my group was affiliated with psychology, we spent some time devising evil psychological experiments on the children that happened by. things such as leaving a large bowl full of goodies unattended to see is someone would try to take it…or only giving the obnoxious kids banana flavored candy as a punishment for being so unnecessarily alive so as to teach the brats a lesson.
in reality, we did give banana flavors to the bad apples, but for the most part the short people in attendance suffered no wrath from the psych students.
…although, at the very end a little girl called me a “bitch” because i wouldn’t let her take anymore candy from my bowl after i had already given her a handful (which she didn’t thank me for). i tell you it took more strength then i though i had to restrain myself from grabbing her arm, shaking her, and demanding to know where her parents were. i am pretty sure though that it wasn’t so much my inner control so much as the knowledge that a child that acts like that probably doesn’t belong to parents that are much nicer and it probably wouldn’t be a good thing to pry them away from whatever prime time tv show and/or illegal substance they are self medicating with (possible because their kids suck?) in order to alert them to the fact that their offspring is hellspun and in need of some serious beating.
ahem. i took some great pictures though!
our table: 
my “act like violet would” pose:
my “just take the damn thing” pose: 
the absolutely coolest child’s costume i’ve ever seen: 
the second coolest:
(the eyes light up and dim!)
honorable mention:
winner “best cheap imaginative costume”:
jack skellington (complete with stilts!):
i found him first:
the best group you’d meet at G.H.O.S.T.:
and the worst:
candy donations and posters for the G.H.O.S.T. event on sunday (all gathered and created by yours truly). the posters are 32×22 so don’t be fooled by their small picture here!
our alex de large pumpkin:
there is a fun game in my future.
costume complete. not perfect, but dang, not bad either.
so i took some spooky pictures of the building i work in. wonderfully halloweeny
how can the bad be good? it’s ironic that everything has both qualities.
“I was rub-a-dub-dubing in the bath tub and thought maybe you would like to go snorkeling with me in the ocean again, or maybe in the backyard if the rain continues to fall. Sound good? I was thinking that maybe we could make some fish friends and then we could all have dinner and eat some fish food. And then maybe the dad fish could tell us a story of when he was young and had to swim 10 miles every morning in very cold water to get to school.”
i was playing with my hair today and put it in a side braid. later, when i saw it in a mirror, i had my annual costume ephiphany. i shall be violet baudelaire this year. my hair looked just like hers in the movie. boo boopy doo!
here she is played by the adorable emily browning: 
i will need to alter several patterns to pull this off, but here’s my start-
for the violet/black pettycoat/chemise:
now i need to get some black or blackish violet or blackish green organza for the puffed sleeves and that will be the under clothes.
the corset will be made like this: 
and i’ll try to get a violet/black material. purple laces.
now, the overskirt. i need to use the same organza i am getting for the sleeves.
the overskirt is a bit of a challenge. detail of the real skirt:
absolutely beautiful. i don’t think i could pull that off. ah well. i’ll find something good anyhow!
final touches: ribbon for hair (check), black boots (check), fishnet elbow gloves (no check).
oh…and i think i am going to get a different wedding ring/band. diamonds are an evil business. i think my new ring will be this:
just need to find a matching peridot band.
lastly, friends, rebel angels by libba bray is worth a read.
i don’t know why i thought of this, but i would just like to get it out there that i really think it’s cruel and malicious for people to try to fool vegetarians into eating meat. i remember so many times where someone tried to tell me that the fleshy and/or stringy substance in the food they want me to eat is not meat. oh, here’s a great one: i once had a woman get really pissed at me because i wouldn’t eat her pasta that had bacon in it. she actually yelled at me declaring that bacon isn’t meat. maybe she believed that since bacon is smaller than one cm squared it doesn’t qualify? i don’t know, but what’s the deal really? maybe they believe that vegetarians are silly, but try to think about it from our perspective. would you like it if we tricked you into eating human flesh? there you go.
i would like to redact a very unfortunate mistake that i posted last week. i led you all to believe that i had a certain pez dispenser of a certain hero of mine.
turns out, it was actually his nemesis. the real iorek byrnison is here. in my care now. and here is what he thinks of the pez dispenser named iofur raknison:
coincidentally as it may seem, i “filmed” this battle while listening to the them from psycho.
pretty new fabric with which i mean to make many scarves for people i like: 
gniochi con burro e parmigiano fresco: 
halloween in full swing at my crib:
+ oven @ 350 degrees + 30 minutes=
i wish the camera did it justice, but it’s really nice! i think i’ll make another over winter break!
risotto parmigiano: 
great books: 
me: i feel like pooh run over seven times
him: you just said twice when i got home. how is it possible to be seven now?
me: it’s rush hour.
LOL FREAKING CHICKEN WING LOL!
I could not at any age be content to take my place in a corner by the fireside and simply look on.-Eleanor Roosevelt. she’s awesome.
The physicists say that I am a mathematician, and the mathematicians say that I am a physicist. I am a completely isolated man and though everybody knows me, there are very few people who really know me.-Einstein. i feel your pain, man.
