thanksgiving

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

Friday night I had a few friends over for dinner. It was supposed to be a potluck, but … didn’t really turn out that way. One guy brought over some dumplings, one brought some small desserts, another brought wine, and the last brought nothing. So we were a bit scarce on food. I think it turned out okay. Mashed potatoes and baked beans were yummy – thank you, City Shop! No turkey. Roasted duck instead. Overall a fun night.

And … now on to Christmas! Oh wait, graduate school applications first!

yams yum

I’m in the middle of midterms. Oh my gosh. My to-do list is two pages long right now. Must work on graduate school stuff. Thanksgiving is Thursday. Today I bought some yams. Cheap as heck. 5 kuai for a bag about 2.5 pounds. That’s less than a buck for around 8 good-sized yams! Don’t they look delish? Yeah, they’re a bit iffy-looking. Taste alright though.

hiatus, oh yes

I got back from a field trip to Hangzhou about … four hours ago. And I’m exhausted but there’s oh so much to do. It’s too late to change my work schedule, so for now it’ll have to do. But in addition to that, midterms are coming up. Visa stuff. Then Thanksgiving. Essays. Portfolio. Applications. Stuff on top of stuff. I have so many stories and photos to share, but that’ll all have to wait. I still haven’t uploaded all of my Expo pictures, so whatever. No serious blog posts for a while, just simple “I am alive” kind of posts for the next month.

sirens

I don’t know how many people know this about me, but I don’t do well with loud noises. If someone drops a book with a thud, I will probably jump or squeak, even if I’m expecting it. I also don’t deal well with shouting or fire alarms, but sirens are the worst. The thing with sirens though is that the ambulance or police car drives away and then it’s okay again. Not so today. For over the past hour I’ve been hearing the continuous sound of sirens, some close by and some further away. Ambulance after ambulance. So I’m sitting in my apartment crying and finding it hard to stop.

A few blocks north of my apartment, a tall apartment building caught fire and apparently it’s a big fire. I think my apartment is on the route they’re taking from the fire to the hospital. There are reports of people trapped, but I don’t know all the details. It’s not under control yet. I’ve been reading an online forum here that’s been posting updates. It doesn’t look good.

gfw, what now?

The Expo is over and done with. I was hoping that the Great Firewall would be relaxed a bit with that event concluded, but not so. Instead, sites I had access to last week now seem to be blocked. Then again, the Asian Games have started in Guangzhou so maybe that’s why. I heard that when the Olympics were held in Beijing, a whole buncha sites were blocked but were later unblocked … so here’s hoping. For example, this blog. I can no longer see my own blog. Thankfully I set it up so I can post via e-mail because the GFW’s position on blogs is constantly changing. But IMDB, which had been blocked back in January but reopened a few weeks after, now seems to be blocked once again. Nothing serious, just a bit annoying.

In other completely unrelated news, I’m busy. Busy busy busy me. School, work, family, graduate school. Busy busy busy. Oh well. Better busy than dead.

tortillas

Bow before me, mere mortals. For I have created tortillas. Sure they’re a bit funny shaped. And they’re chunkier than the ones from the store … but whatever! No butter, eggs, or milk were used in the making of these tortillas. Thereby, they’re cheap and easy. I’ve also made pancakes (the vegan variety) a few times. Since I have no measuring cup and I haven’t figured out the conversions, it was pretty much a slapdash affair. I’m glad the tortillas and pancakes turned out vaguely enough like tortillas and pancakes. It all tastes alright. So congratulate me already!