Lan's GLEEful Day of Princesses, Musicals, Battling Beauties and Cupcakes!

I feel like today is a good day for blogging. I completed 4 out of three works for finals. One (and only) test down and one out of four papers done! I'm a little disgruntled about that. It still seems like a lot. I have one more than everybody else, most grad students take three classes. I decided to be academically suicidal and take four. At least I know I definitely passed my history exam with flying colors--or rather one color BLACK because it's on the Black Death and I also wrote in black pen---ahahaha.

I'm excitedly watching behind the scenes of The Princess and the Frog!!! We're gonna go see it as soon as my last final is done on the 15! :) I'm happy that Disney is taking a big step forward, and I'm not just talking about race. Tiana is a very forward thinking and acting princess! She works and has career goals. The actress Anika Rose is the first actress to both do the speaking AND singing voice of the princess. And she has a living and loving family! Though I don't know if she loses them or becomes estranged from them later. I really like that they're making her look like a real person, and "not just a darker colored version of one of the other princesses." Going to let my critical, feminist mind go and be fully optimistic!  Hoping when Baku and I go to Disney World in the summer, there'll be a Princess and the Frog display or show. :)

I think this ties in nicely since before this I was watching Disney's remake of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella starring Brandy--which I LOVE!!! I've seen the old version too with Lesley Ann Warren--I like it too. Both are a staple of my childhood.  

I've been all about the musicals lately. Glee has also been my obsession. Tonight was the last episode of the season I believe. And more than likely my sister and I will go halfsies on the first season dvd that will likely come at an extorsive priced. I love all the covers of 80s songs, current pop songs, and showtunes. It really feeds the theatre geek in me. As much as I hate to admit it, I live vicariously through one of the main characters, Rachel; she's such a mega diva with an attitude--she's getting better. My school didn't have a Glee club or theatre program, but I was very much an academic snob and thus a geek and on the lower end of the social tier. We did a couple "variety" shows (basically a smashing of scenes from movies and plays, and musical numbers), and I totally rocked those out!  The show's music is so infectious and great; I find myself liking songs I didn't like before--I can only listen to the GLEE cast version though. 

So now, I'm devoting the rest of my evening to the awesome battling beauty known as Utena Tenjou! I'm at episode 15 right now...it's an endurance run to get through the rest of the season and the movie...don't think it's going to happen. I can't possibly write on every episode anyway, my focus will be on specific ones, especially in the Student Council story arc--which I find really compelling moreso than the Black Rose. I'm really creeped out by the Souji and the way he creates the duelists. I'm still going to watch as much as I can, and read summaries of the episodes before and decide whether to watch or skip them. I know that's bad--I promise I'll watch them all later! I have to get this paper done by Friday, and its 15-20 pages. I'm hoping it turns out well and can be polished to journal article standards. :)

Lastly, Dustin and I discovered this new cupcake place. It's a small chain called Gigi's Cupcakes.  We saw a sign out front that said "Free Samples." So of course we went in. They have the most amazing gourmet cupcakes ever! Their menu changes everyday, with a set list of flavors and a daily special. I got the daily special which was a white cupcake with pistachio filling, and raspberry icing with chocolate sprinkles! It was AMAZING! Baku got a chocolate, banana cupcake. They're so rich and the icing is piled high--it's enough to induce diabetic shock I'm sure. 

I'm going to have a meltdown and crash when finals are done. I only have three days between my last final and when I go home to visit my family in South Carolina and North Carolina. I've also got to get Dustin a Christmas present too. Sheesh. Okay, now time to cram as much Utena as I can before my brain explodes. Read the four critical articles I'm going to use. Write a detailed outline, citing all the quotes from the queer theorists I'm using...OMG so much work!!!

FINALS! CRAZY ARHRHARAKKJDFHK TIME!

Feeling a little stifled and I have a paper due by 4 PM today, and I'm about three quarters of the way done. I'm just struggling this semester because I've got the burn out. I've been talking to other grad students and glad to know I'm not alone. It's so weird to feel this burning hatred and complete apathy because I've always loved school and learning and writing (both creatively and academically). Writing is always difficult for me because I have crazy perfectionist, editor mind. So I'm blogging to help relieve some of the stress and get the writing flow going.

Dustin - significant other/fellow grad student - I don't know how I got through finals before him! He is a wonderful support and source of encouragement! We have totally different writing and thinking styles. He helps me out when I get frustrated and start second guessing everything I write. He listens patiently and gives suggestions when I read the same paragraph for the fifth time. Plus, he keeps me company and has a lot of faith in me. He said he missed eating breakfast. He works at UPS third shift, so by the time he gets out he's exhausted, goes to bed and sleeps until 1 PM or later. So we vowed to stay up all night and go eat breakfast together. We did and went to McDonald's at 6 AM to get breakfast which was delicious! I really miss him right now even though he's in the next room. He's sleeping early because he has to get up to teach class in the morning.

Lily, my kitty, is my other company keeper. She's sleeping too, though thankfully not on my notes. Even when there's multiple books and piles of notes, she knows exactly which one I'm currently using and lays down on it. She looks so gosh dang cute, I hate moving her and feel guilty for pulling the notes/book out from under her.

Cafe World, this little flash game on facebook does wonders to keep me occupied and for some odd reason focused. I use it as a timing and motivational device. I can write and cook simultaneously. I have to wait a certain amount of time for a dish to be done, and if I don't remove it from the stove in time it will go bad. My writing coincides with the time, and it works better than saying, "I'll write for one hour and play for one hour" which never happens. This system works because I'm cooking/playing at the same time as I'm writing. It's like, "I'll set kabobs to cook. They take one hour to cook. In that one hour, I will write a page then serve the kabobs. Then I set another dish on the stove, say another hour long dish, and the same thing happens." I like to think I have really eccentric means of keeping time and getting through finals.

Music is a big thing to help me feel good and keep calm. I've been really dependent on Celtic Woman and songs from GLEE. I'm obsessed with the new songs from Celtic Woman's new but not yet released album Songs From the Heart. There are official clips of the DVD concert on YouTube. I also listen to GLEE songs on YouTube as well since I don't have all of them on Itunes. I think the songs I keep listening to over and over are, "The Call," "When You Believe," "Ding Dong Merrily on High," "True Colors," "Lean on Me," and "Defying Gravity."