new graphics tablet!

Well, one can’t be thrifty all the time. I purchased a wacom bamboo graphics tablet for my Chinese research; I have a handwriting recognition program where I can input unknown characters through a graphics tablet to look them up in a dictionary. But happily, this means that I also can use said tablet for occasional scribblage, which is nice. The pen tool gets some getting used to.

But here, some shaky first efforts:

I also drew a face for this dancer, though it looked a bit odd in proportion to the rest of the body, so I thought the overall figure looked best without a face, as above.

This year, I just might draw my Xmas card on the tablet. Hooray another procrastinatory tool.

the cheap life

In view of these lean times, I have been trying to modify my spending. I went to the local 99 cent store yesterday and nearly fainted with joy. I had gone for one pack of flashcards…and left instead with 6 multicolored packs of flashcards, raisins, a notebook, sour straws, and 3 cups of organic vegetarian chili. Organic vegetarian chili! A hefty $2.50 at Whole Foods, but a negligible 99.9999 cents here. I didn’t touch the meats…the knock offs of spam (“luncheon meat”) were especially questionable. But you can’t go wrong with Health Valley organic chili and split pea soup.

I guess being thrifty at the 99 cent store doesn’t really work if one ends up spending more than was intended. But the frenzied spending was substantially more pleasurable than agonizing over the purchase of a $5 thimbleful of cheese at WF (or even Ralphs for that matter) for 15 minutes.

Aside from day to day expenses, I’ve also adjusted my banking and investing; I’ve decided to delay contributing to my retirement IRA for this year until I see what the stock market decides to do. I have contacted a credit union to discuss my options. By the way, this is a fabulous explanation of the subprime crisis.

It’s frustrating that so much of the financial advice out there really does not apply to grad students; no one is setting up nice little 401ks or 403bs for us. And we basically loose half a million dollars in delaying retirement savings for, I think, 5 years. I created my own retirement account before starting grad school, and have been trying to add to it, but ultimately, it’s only a half measure. I can only hope that the big bucks I’ll make as a professor will make up the difference. Ho ho.

In the meantime: 99 cent stores, no car (love pubtrans!), shopping Gap sales only, limiting eating out to once or twice a week, packed lunches, no movies, and save save save. In the words of the immortal Sandra Tsing Loh, a true “dumpie”–downwardly mobile professional.

To tell the truth, it’s actually a bit fun. I’ve taken to tabulating the numbers of bus rides I take, so that I might have a moment of financial triumph at the end of the term when I realize how much money I’ve saved by using a bus pass. And using the heck out of it–lately I’ve been up to 6 rides a day! Moreover, this is a fun–and deceptively productive–activity to do during lectures.

Someday, I will be a crazy miserly recluse, who saws off her own gangrenous foot rather than go to the free clinic and risk the cost of antibiotics.

Name my nephew!

Not my nephew exactly, but my cousin’s baby; she and her husband asked me to pick out an English first name for their son (who will arrive in mid-October up in Nor Cal).

So! I need as many suggestions as possible.

Limitations: name must be easy for Mandarin speakers to pronounce, as the baby’s mom, dad, and paternal grandparents do not speak English. Therefore it should not end with a consonant, and if possible, it should not have F, L, R, or V sounds. (worst possible name I can think of: Roland)

My mother impressed upon me the importance of picking out an auspicious name, with strong, prosperous connotations. So the name’s meaning should have something to do with wealth, intelligence, strength, good luck, etc.

Woohoo I’m excited!

Silly excerpts from past days of angsty hand-wringing

I found my old journal entries on my computer, amidst an unseasonal organizational binge, and present some excerpts for your enjoyment and mockery:

________________________________________

9 December 2004
7:47 PST (en route from Ireland to California)

First, a note about the appalling state of airline food. I know it’s developed quite a reputation over the many years, and I like to give things the benefit of the doubt, but by gum, how it did suck today. A gigantic roll, a sliver of ham, a sheet of dehydrated lettuce, with mustard—mustard! As the only condiment. Not even a smidgen of mayonnaise. And to top it off—an Atkins (only 3 net carbs!) bar as dessert. Vile abomination.

Anyway, I know now as I knew then that I would enjoy Ireland the most after I had left it; that is, I gritted my teeth and “had a cultural experience” with the knowledge that it would be far more fun to remember it later. In the case of Ireland, the Cultural Experience ® involved a lot of crappy weather, grumpy Irish, grumpy sheep, expensive food and inefficient public transportation. And many, many smokers and drunks. God, Europe is really not my cup of tea at all. Always an American at heart…I like the inexpensive “ethnic” food, cheap and efficient transportation, and the general antipathy towards smokers and public drunkenness and urination in these United States of America. Is there anything that we can learn from Ireland, however? Let us ponder the hypothetical fruits of cross-cultural comparison. And the answer is a clear, resounding NO. To the 3rd or 4th or 5th generation Irish-Americans, I bid thee, stop yearning for a place that does not exist.

Still, I am glad to have the experience under my belt. Character is not formed in peace and quiet and apparently not in the United States, either.

_________________________________________

22 March 2005 10:33 PM Tuesday
Lord 110

Just watched Ghost World. Depressing, depressing movie. But have come to the realization that Steve Buscemi is a sexy bastard. He is what Kelly would call “ugly hot.” I think his grossness/pathetic factor increases his hotness factor. You would think it would be an inverse function but it’s not. I was never any good at math anyhow.

_________________________________________

I was rather obnoxious as an undergraduate, no? And how much I was bored by my FSP while I was there, and yet so nostalgic about it now…interesting how things develop. I love me some cultural chauvinism. How young and foolish was I? I may click through a few old entries for further mockage in a few days’ time.

Crafty question

I have finished shoving most of my earthly belongings into the new bedroom (pictures up soon!) and am pretty pleased with the arrangement of furniture, and how surprisingly neat everything looks, despite the usual chaos of moving. I anticipate being very productive in this room, as I have evicted my television, and the HD-TiVo-Guitar Hero-Wii-plasma screen tv getup in the living room is far too complicated for my poor humanities brain to handle.

My only problem is that my work desk faces the window, and in the afternoon, the window floods the room with eye-piercing sunshine. I tend to do a lot of work in the afternoon (truly: a lot of time wasting on facebook), and although there are blinds, there are still blinding slits of light that still slide through. So I have decided that I must have curtains.

There are some cutesy things on the target and urban outfitter websites, but they tend to be either too sheer to fend off the afternoon sun or way too hideously stiff/faux rococo for my tastes. Or too expensive. Therefore I am contemplating the construction of my own curtains. My question is: how would I go about accomplishing such a task? My sewing skills are decent if rusty, having worked at the college costume shop sewing corsets and lace for 2 years. But I am not sure about where I can find the supplies and if I wouldn’t be better off just spending $40 on some beige curtain kit at target. 

I have 2 weeks, so time is not really an issue (I think). Any crafties out there? help!