Things You Always Wanted To Know About Italians, But Never Wanted To Ask


Issue 1.2

In both large cities and small towns, all Italian houses are enclosed by some kind of wall or fence. Usually each community is gated. Italians fastidiously lock up all doors and windows at night. This is due to problems with theft; while in the U.S. many small-town residents leave their front doors unlocked overnight, in Italy thieves and gypsies will migrate even into small towns to steal. It's such a problem that residents must close and lock their downstairs windows when they go upstairs, even if just for a few minutes.

This means that the Italian countryside may be slightly less picturesque than I've imagined, but hey, I'd still do grad school there.

Things You Always Wanted To Know About Italians, But Never Wanted To Ask


Issue 1.1

Italians really do use the Barilla pasta brand. However, Italy does not stock the whole wheat variety. And what is labeled 'Rotini' in the U.S. goes by a different name, 'Fusili,' in Italy; 'Rotini' doesn't actually mean anything.


( Having an Italian roommate is fun! )

I am a lover of truth, a worshipper of freedom, a celebrant at the altar of language and purity and tolerance.


- Stephen Fry

Occasionally at work I'll have to spend a tedious hour or two programming or debugging or making graphs. During these menial tasks I've taken to listening to music (I recommend Grooveshark) or podcasts.

First I ripped my way through Savage Lovecast by Dan Savage, America's best and finest sex- and relationship-advice columnist (column here; podcasts here). It's great and I've learned a lot about how to have polyamorous relationships (with commitment and lots of discussion) and reasons he can't get it up (likely it's no one's fault) and kinks (centaur fetishes, for example) and so on, but I've recently decided to take a break.

I switched to Stephen Fry's podcasts. They aren't as numerous, but by god the man's fantastic. I've been a fan of his for a while, but I just recently stumbled across some Youtube clips of a TV show, QI (Quite Interesting), which he hosts. I wish I lived in the UK just so I could get this on television. Here's a clip well worth two and a half minutes of your life.

Fantastic weekend! Karaoke. Kayaking. Was a nice follow-up to previous weekend of camping.

Life is fantastic.

More soon!

Things Not to Do The Night Before your Wisdom Teeth Extraction


1. Be stressed that my program - which I'd like to run next week to collect data before the subject pool closes for the rest of the year next Friday - still doesn't work.

2. Get dumped. Technically it was mutual and we both feel that he needs to be single and we are much better suited as really good friends, but still. My self esteem. Ow. And, because it's the eve of getting knocked out, I can't even get shitfaced.

3. Call mom who is stressing about divorce. I love talking to my mommy, but it definitely wasn't a relaxing conversation. Just made me angry at him and sorry I can't be home to help out.

4. Get flaked on - again - by the guy who is supposed to put a seatbelt in my car so I don't die when I drive around.

5. Be overall a little bit nervous about the procedure because I've never gone under before and they're basically bringing me to the edge of death and shutting down all neural firings in my brain for an hour and I've seen my brain and I like it just fine and oh god.


Let's just say that my blood pressure was somewhat elevated.


But the procedure went fine, I've finally mostly clotted and am sipping some broth and my chin is still totally numb so I'm dribbling everywhere. Party on!

I now have a sexy ride!

She's a black 1994 Toyota Corolla, and she is my baby. She is just as hardcore as I am. Power windows and locks? Those are for pussies. Sunroof? Pish posh! I have no need of such luxury. (She does, however, have sexy tinted windows.)

She also has quirks. For example, sometimes the radio will randomly decide to increase the volume all on its own until I battle it downwards. It's fun!

As always, of course, it's what's under the hood that counts. ( Read more... )

I intend to take good care of her for the next year I'm here. I expect she may die by the time I leave, but I'm fine with that. If she's still alive, I'll sell her and buy a Grown Up car.






Now that you've met her, you should know that I will be ACCEPTING YOUR VERY OWN NAME IDEAS. Because she is black and sexy, something like Adonishia. It could also be something that humorously reflects what one might presume about the car, like Deathtrap.

So come on, y'all. Name my girl!

1. I get to wear pajamas all day.

2. The high. I'm ridiculously sensitive to whatever mind drugs they put in cold meds so I only take them when I have a pretty bad cold like now. So even though I can't actually get any proper programming or work-related reading done, I'll probably have a good time trying that and then doing whatever. Whee!

3. I can look for weekend entertainment and find cool things like massive pillowfights.

3. I use sick days as an excuse to catch up on things like online car shopping and addressing life's curiosities. Such as, when will I be able to leave my earrings out overnight? How do they make cardboard? What are some good (and bad) ways to get sticky crap off my wall?

4. The ability to test scientific theories you wouldn't otherwise be able. For example, is it better to blow your nose one nostril at a time or both at a time? Additionally, does a hot toddy - 3oz warm water, 1oz whiskey, 1oz honey, and some lemon juice - really improve your symptoms or just make you feel better because you're tipsy?

5. If the only thing I feel like I can eat is ice cream, then I'm getting some fuckin ice cream.

6. It motivates me to buy a car sooner. It would have been so nice to drive to Walgreens instead of pushing myself for a dizzying 20-minute walk.


Blah. Still can't breathe. Except for the awesome stuff, being sick sucks.

I'm finally shopping around for a (used) car! Yeah, being awesome and not having a car til I'm 22. Hah. Anyway, here is my dilemma. I am equally torn between three options. Help!

( Read more... )