New Years Anecdotes

It's the start of my last semester, and I'm already looking forward to it ending. Mostly, because the end of this semester brings my first big-girl job, a salary, and summer. Unfortunately, it also brings the end to my extremely casual wardrobe and the beginning of a single lonely life in a large city.
Fortunately for me, a few of my good friends are staying in the area, and hopefully a few more will find jobs in the area as well. Even the single thing might not be completely true anymore. *sigh, happy*
One thing still stands, however. Being in the middle of a complete wardrobe transition sucks. I am down to three pairs of jeans (unheard of!) and now I'm needing to wear nicer pants to school. On the shirts side, I'm somewhere in the middle of lots of black/neutral business-casual tops and U of M t-shirts and sweatshirts. It's an odd combination. I want my jeans back.
School has started pretty well, I'm taking two labs (yes, I'm a masochist I'm aware), a polymers course, two design courses, and a wine tasting class. Fortunately one of the labs is only an A term course and will be done in about 6 weeks, and one of the design courses will then step up as a B term course. So far, they all look interesting but also look like a fair amount of work. Something I'm used to, I guess.
...
I tried sushi for the first time last week, on a date (at least I think it was a date?). The guy I was with seemed fairly knowledgeable about it and I liked it for the most part. Unfortunately, I found out that I'm not a huge fan of crab while attempting to eat my massive California roll. Everything around it was tasty- it was a bit weird getting over the sensation of putting a slab of raw fish in my mouth at first.
This year, I finally made a resolution. I want to get out of Argyle more often. Doesn't matter where, as long as fun or friends or both are involved. So far, I've been keeping up on the promise to myself- going to Becky's for Scrubs/Cribbage night, hanging out at Joe's, and likely wearing out my welcome at Chris' house. Trivia night at the Big 10 is still a weekly thing, and hopefully I'll get the chance to go to more bars across campus and Minneapolis, not just the same ones in stadium village (even though they are fantastic staples).
It's not that I dislike Argyle, it's just that I'm getting tired of going to the same apartment every night and either watching a movie or TV, or playing rockband. As fun as those are, I do feel bad that I'm over there more than I should be.

Splendid Evening

Wicked. was. amazing.
I went out on a 'girl date' with my roommate. We'd been planning on seeing the Broadway production of "Wicked" since this summer, and we got tickets for tonight a few months ago. I've read the book, and was constantly bowled with "how awesome" it is, so needless to say I was really excited to go. It was all that it was talked up to be, and then some.
I absolutely love how it deviated from the book (which was good, but only mediocre in comparison to the musical), especially the way the end was changed for the musical. I definitely like the production's version better, but I've always been a sucker for happy endings.
Prior to the show, we went to McCormick and Schmick's- which was also incredible. Definitely good for the price (about $40/plate + wine). The dessert looked better than tasted, or maybe I was just too full (your waiter brings a tray of all the desserts so you see what they look like- definitely a marketing scheme because they all look fabulously tasty).
Honestly, the only downfall to the night is the fact that it was so cold outside that we ran (hopped) from place to place to stay warm- which gets dangerous in slippery conditions.
le sigh, I hope that I make a point to see more shows while living here. And I hope to one day see one on Broadway.

Juice Beloved

During the last semester, I have created... or developed... an obession with a juice flavor that I have only found in the University cafeterias. It goes by the name of Apple Berry. There is a certain fruity sensation that when it hits, it cannot be replicated unless you take another drink. Its like marijuana for juice lovers. Since my first moment of apple berry-ness, I have had two other flavors of juice from the University cafeterias and these moments in time were due to a deficiency of apple berry juice in the juice fountain.
This morning, at our beautiful Dining Service, I was subjected to a fate far worse than lack of apple berry.
(pause for dramatic effect)
there were no glasses.
OMG! what kind of lame cafeteria does not have glasses?? couldnt the dishwashers see that there were absolutely no glasses next to the beloved apple berry?? I couldn't believe my eyes. In an act of desperation, I grabbed a coffee mug and filled it full of apple berry. I would not be denied!
In order to understand the atrocity of the situation, one must first understand this. The effective volume of a coffee mug is about half that of a juice glass. this is due to the fact that a coffee mug is used to hold hot things, and one cannot drink something that warm quickly enough for it to retain its temperature to warrant a much larger size. Due to this engineering feat, I could only have half a glass of apple berry this morning. Also- genius that I am, i managed to wedge myself in between two tables with people at them so that I could sit with my friends as I ate my hard bagel and cold soggy french toast. Therefore, I was unable to return to the juice machines to refill my coffee mug with apple berry.
This is a sad day.