December 08, 2003:
Interested in Goodspeed’s take on “lifestyle centers,” specifically the one in Rochester Hills which is close to where my family lives. Calling it “pedestrian oriented urbanism” is somewhat of a stretch if you’re liable to get run over if you cross the street, but who knows? maybe the traffic flow has been improved from when I was last over in that area. The old mall wasn’t much to write home about, it’s true; I’m willing to accept the premise that this might be the new trend in development, though I resent, just for the sheer hell of the fun of being a snobby little Ann Arbor liberal, the stubby music hydrants stuck everywhere… One of the things I like about Ann Arbor, though, is that there’s usually something to do for free. Yeah, we’re broke as churchmice around here, but the hardships, such as they are, of lentils and rice for dinner are tempered by, say, the M-Flicks movie we went to go see the other day, or the CJS noon lectures… The “village calendar” for the Rochester Hills mall lists a grand total of one event for December. If the best I could do for entertainment around here was to go to Bath and Body Works and sample the new Christmas lotions, I’d probably be more depressed than I am!…
In all seriousness, I suppose this is what annoys me about Ann Arbor is Overrated; sure, once in a while there’s a point or two for everybody to sit around and poke at (booo! to the Old Fourth Ward! boooo! to pampered freshman Daily writers! boooo! to the gluten-free marshmallows!) but dear good Lord, I lived in Rochester Hills for four months and that was enough for me. (Though I can’t pretend I don’t miss driving around with my mom and having our jaws drop due to the sizes of the houses. When I came back from Japan, it was like moving to a city of castles.) Yeah, someday we want to move out West, which is where my extended family is from, but in the meantime Ann Arbor beats Rochester Hills or my dear husband’s hometown of Concord… (and gosh, this suburban girl really was amazed to meet a guy who lived in the middle of a cornfield!)
Liana | 3 comments
November 15, 2003:
Gosh, I didn’t know Ann Coulter went to Michigan.
If not for the rise of Wolverine Access, maybe she could have been our next CRISP lady…
Liana | no comments
August 15, 2003:
Power’s back up!
We had a good time roughing it, as it were, cooking Indian food with Eric and Sarah, sitting out on the porch and commiserating with my poor Mom who had no water, reading some old books and sleeping a lot. Just glad we had water and a gas stove.
I was at Cafe Ambrosia when the power went out - playing Fallout on my laptop, of all things. While walking to the RO, I watched Ann Arbor shut down - it was pretty creepy.
And now here we are, graced with the presence of not two, not three, but four cats for the week. Charlie’s hiding out under the bed, Maggie and Harume sit by the windows - prime territory - and Ash stays pretty close to Brian. Here’s to two of our favorite people having a great time on their vacation, and here’s to their cats being in safe hands.
Liana | one comment
August 04, 2003:
OK, I’m going to play Ann Arbor Sucks for a minute here.
Brian and I have long been amused at this god-awful ugly statue posted on the route I took from my Psych class to the Sociology class last semester - until it was stolen, that is. It was a bust - head, really, as “bust” implies some sort of neck and shoulders - of this guy that looked like it was made with a lump of mud and an axe, so it provided much merriment in its time.
Luckily, the hilarity doesn’t end with the theft: the Ann Arbor News is on the case. Some highlights from the article:
Good old Ann Arbor. I’m going to miss it when we move to frigging Seattle.
UPDATE! The bust has been recovered. Now we can all rest easy knowing that it’s not being used to bash in any more windows. Thanks to Cat for the notification ^_^
In other news, we received a beautiful piece of Art on a Stick for the wedding shower.
Our cats think it’s the greatest thing ever.
Liana | 3 comments
July 16, 2003:
Nothing quite like sitting on the couches at Cafe Ambrosia and watching some prime specimens of Art on a Stick flutter by.
Unless you get to point at silly hats, too, that’s almost as fun.
Liana | one comment
April 11, 2003:
April isn’t halfway done; I look forwards to May and Mei and me and mine, and I suppose I spent this semester waiting for the next big thing to happen. The realization that I’m going to miss my roommates comes as an absolute shock. I guess I’ve changed since high school, as back then I would have probably slit my throat after two weeks.
Crisis Wolverine is awfully cool, it’s an old-school (low-budget) RPG that takes place here on campus, so you run your little RPG characters all around and think “hey, I used to live here… here’s where I play piano… here’s where Brian works… we usually meet up right here after work… hey, look at all the annoying people on the Diag!” Any game that starts with a trip to Mejiers and lets you order “super-vegan” at Panchero’s is pretty much all right, as far as I’m concerned.
So, the summer lineup at the Michigan Theater is beautiful, with its promised assortment of silent films and classic films. (Seven Samurai on the big screen – who’s with me?) Between that, the CJS summer series and whatever’s happening at Madstone Theaters, I think I’m going to enjoy my summer very much. Well, that was already a given. Thank goodness for a guy who will put up with my fascination with silly silent movies, among other useless and quirky things…
Brian pointed out our new apartment to me the other day. It’s got a little patio. Is it terrible to go into raptures over the cunning little patio? We’ve got furniture lined up here and there, we’ve got stuff from all over that needs to get moved in, and here’s to hoping we’ll have a second cat, too.
Paul told me today there’s a JCMU student reunion planned this summer. I’m very excited about it, as I’ve actually missed everyone much more than I thought I would. Can’t wait to see everyone again now…
Spring, I think, is finally here; I sit at Café Ambrosia and study and watch construction on the building across the road. “You know what’s going to be in there?” one of the owners excitedly told Brian the other day. “Business students!” And they’ll be thirsty, no doubt; as long as I can sit on the couch with iced tea with enough sugar added to it to make it properly Southern I’ll be happy.
Liana | 2 comments
March 19, 2003:
So, it occured to me as I was referring to my friends as “the guys” that pretty soon that won’t be so accurate anymore. Since I came to Ann Arbor and started hanging out with Brian my close friends have all been guys; living with my current roommates has reminded me of why that is, though I must admit I’ve grown very fond of them in a different sort of way. I’m just a geek, I guess – I look at the girls drinking straight from Friday evening until about Sunday morning and I think it’s much more fun to watch someone play video games and listen to computer talk while reading the new Mad Peeps Post or some obscure comic book. Better yet if you have a cat curled up on your lap and goofy music playing; better still if you can make a batch of cookies without everyone feeling guilty about eating them. It’s always been “the guys” too–various configurations of guys, pick up one here (hi John!), lose one there. (Andy? Andy who?) And then every so often Meghan or Leslie will visit, or some female friend of one of the guys will accompany us to the movies, and I won’t be quite so alone in my feminine geekiness as they’re usually much the same way. But they’re not around enough, and Brian’s been the only one with a steady girlfriend in the past three, four years, which has led to some rough spots for me.
So there are some upheaveals around the corner; this summer Nathan moves out to Charlevoix and Meghan and Jason move in from Lansing and Jackson, respectively. Eric has a friend named Sarah who we’re all quite fond of; she’s been spending Fridays with us too as of late, much to the delight of Maggie who’s fallen in love with her handbag. (I’ll take pictures next time.) So that makes me, Brian, Meghan, Jason, Eric and Sarah. The rest of you are, of course, welcome to visit at anytime; I just mean this’ll be my core group, the people who get called up for watching stupid movies or sampling my cooking or hanging out on a summer Friday. I can’t wait. I haven’t spent nearly enough time with Meghan or Jason and I’d really like to get to know Sarah better. Oh, heck – really I’m just glad not to be the only girl for once. ^_^
Liana | 4 comments
March 14, 2003:
5:00: the weather has drastically improved; we have two guys out by the Cube with lacrosse sticks and a ball trying to hit the holes on the top sides of the Cube, two other guys tossing a frisbee back and forth (one of them on his cellphone), one guy sitting on one of the concrete blocks, his cape draped dramatically around the sides of the block, back turned to the decidedly non-goth scene behind him.
8:00: Javanese dance exhibition, suggested by John. I think the rest of us were expecting something in the basement of East Quad, but no; it was at Rackham and it was beautiful. Awesome costumes. Thanks John ^_^
10:00: Natalie is preparing for the Friday trip to the bars; somehow a discussion about guys’ eyes turns into an invitation to some bar for St. Patrick’s Day at–get this–7:00 AM. Your eyes are green, she says, so you’ve got to go. I’m dubious; this is 7:00 AM on a Monday we’re talking about. But then the trump card she plays a CD of Irish drinking songs and sings along. They’ll have live music there, a band and everything, she says. What can I say? I’m tempted. Come on, you know you want to go, she says. I might…I might.
11:00: Tired, and I keep hearing high-pitched noises. Natalie,you hear that? I ask. Hear what? she answers. Lori, you hear it? I ask. Nope, she answers. I guess I’d better go to bed, I say. Don’t mean it, of course.
Liana | 3 comments
March 04, 2003:
So, I wake up at about 7:30 or so – slept in – and my apartment-mate is also up. We’re going to call her “Natalie” …
Me: *bright-eyed, bushy tailed, probably annoying as all hell so early in the morning* Good morning, how’d the drug deal go last night?
Natalie: *looks like she’d rather be dead* mmwrumph. … I drank way too much wine last night.
Me: Ah, I see.
Natalie: Hey… What time are you going to class?
Me: 11:30.
Natalie: Are you still going to be here at 9:30?
Me: Um, probably. What’s up?
Natalie: Well, can you check on me at 9:30 and see if I’m still kicking?
Me: Sure.
Natalie: Oh, thank you! Oh, and if I don’t want to move or whatever, tell me ‘you HAVE to go to class. You HAVE TO GO TO CLASS.’
Me: OK.
Natalie: OK, thanks.
And yesterday in the Union (we’ll call this apartment-mate Renee):
Renee: Hey Liana, what’s up?
Me: Not much, I’m just waiting for Brian. We’ve got a date tonight.
Renee: Oh, that’s good! What are you doing?
Me: Well, we’re going to Blimpie Burgers and then we’re going to the grad library.
Renee: Well, that sounds like fun. What’s at the grad library?
Me: Um… Books, mostly. We go and read books.
Renee: Oh. Well, that sounds good…
Me: So what are you up to?
Renee: Oh, just studying…
Me: Whatcha studying?
Renee: Accounting.
Me: Oh. Well… Enjoy your accounting!
Renee: Enjoy your books!
I’ve been invited to the predrinking and bar-hopping this weekend. Part of me considers the offer awfully tempting. Part of me would like to actually enjoy my Friday evening. ^_^
Liana | 3 comments
March 02, 2003:
I’m guessing there are some Michigan students out there who aren’t going to be outdone by Harvard students; it would account for the snow sculpture currently gracing the front of my apartment complex. It’s not nine feet tall–it’s a rather charming two or three feet, actually––but it does boast strategically placed bits of greenery.
So–back in Ann Arbor, obviously. One more day of break. Saw “Escape from La Mancha” with Brian and Nathan tonight, which means I’m rather in the mood to read the book again, and of course I -would- have just left my house where most of my books are. So in my future I see my last night to stay up late, my last morning where I can sleep in, some homework and a trip to the library. Not a bad life.
Liana | 3 comments
January 06, 2003:
Japanese Society and Culture. This was my first class of the day; regrettably, the instructor failed to appear, so I have yet to find out if it’s going to be as interesting as I think it’ll be.
Introductory Oceanography. I’ll try not to complain about this one too much, as the instructor seems moderately engaging and the course itself is, after all, saving me from having to take Econ again.
Classics and Cinema: here we have my purely useless class, a course about how movies have portrayed ancient Rome. It’s not my first choice for the “fun, useless class” category, but I can’t take Intro to Middle Egyptian II without taking I first, so there you go.
Rewriting Identities in Modern Japan. Modern Japanese fiction, more or less. Not something I know much about–yet.
As much fun as I had at JCMU, it’s nice to be studying more than one thing!…
Liana | no comments
January 02, 2003:
So last I left off we had a new year’s party coming up; needless to say I did my duty as best as I could to ensure all my friends had their share of good luck via a hearty dish of hopping john. Every black-eyed pea eaten ensures one day of good luck for the next year, and hopefully that magically carries over to the rice and cornbread somehow, otherwise Leslie is in trouble for the new year. ^_^
Saw my boss for the first time since I left, start working again week after next. Saw Brian’s boss, too. Both sets of bosses read my diaries of Japan, which is a much weirder feeling to be encountering back home than I thought it would be when I lived back in Japan.
We–that is, me, Brian, Eric and Nathan–went out to see Gangs of New York, and lately I’ve also seen Secretary, Catch Me If You Can, the LoTR animated movie and Hedwig and the Angry Inch with various configurations of friends. After watching one too many movies with JCMU students who just won’t shut up it’s nice to be back in the company of people who take these things seriously.
Brian obsesses over Metroid Prime, Nathan obsesses over Animal Crossing and Eric obsesses over Natural Selection. I talk baby-talk to Maggie the cat as she licks the potatoes I’m trying to chop up.
In the morning I sit on my bed and read things online and play Warcraft. In the afternoon I curl up in a big chair right next to the fireplace in the Union study room and read for hours. Thought it might be nice to wander around somewhere, but then the snow started up and it seemed much more pleasant to sit and watch the fire and the windows and pay half the attention to my books that I meant to. Classes start on the sixth, and until then I spend my evenings with the guys, with some music, reading the books and comics I missed while I was gone.
I suppose I’ve got some resolutions, but I’m not quite sure if I want to accept them yet. Been in an odd mood lately–not a bad mood at all, just an odd mood–and I think being busy will help snap me out of it. Maybe I’ll decide on resolutions next month…
Liana | no comments
December 31, 2002:
New Year’s party starts, for me, at 2:00, and I’ll have a few hours to fuss over everything before anyone else even starts contemplating getting to work. That’s just me. I get to do the cooking, which involves black-eyed peas, cornbread and chocolate chip cookies, though not collard greens, I’m afraid. We’ll have a bunch of cool people, though not everyone I wanted (hi Cat ^_^) and since it’s been so long since I’ve been a part of such a cool party I’m dying to get started. I saw Meghan and Jason the other day, but it wasn’t enough, and I can’t wait to see Leslie again. Who else do we have coming? Not everyone I want to see, that’s for sure, but enough to make me pretty happy.
I sit here and kill time; wished Kyle at JCMU a happy new year’s earlier, and it’s funny to be on the opposite end of the time zone confusion. When I was in Japan, how did it feel for everyone at home talking to me to have the whole day ahead of them, a day I had already filled and finished? Lonely again, but it’s a good kind of lonely. In an hour I’ll be at the opposite end of the spectrum, so I enjoy my quiet times and my jazz.
New fact about my sublet: the door to my room tends to lock itself. Yesterday I got back late and my door was locked–that’s weird, I thought, before unlocking it and not giving it another thought. Then this morning I left to go get breakfast, and when I got back to my room I was locked out. The housing people said “well, come on down to East University and we’ll get you another key.” Considering my coat, purse and shoes were all locked in my room at the time, that wasn’t a very tempting offer, and my roommate opened the door with a credit card. That’s not a skill I’ve mastered yet, so now along with my uncharasterically trendy New Year’s outfit, I wear my little neko-udon keychain on a belt loop.
Guess I’ll go find some souvenirs to show off to people tonight… a bento box, some of my books written in Japanese, the Rhymesters CD, all of my pictures. Happy New Year, everyone. Post a comment or something if I won’t be seeing you and I’ll serve cookies in your honor, or something. ^_^
Liana | one comment
December 30, 2002:
I’ve been back in Ann Arbor since Friday, got all moved in to my new sublet. I’m in a nice-sized apartment with three other girls–one roommate and two girls living in the other room–and I have the bottom half of a bunkbed and a couple of shelves. It’s quite cozy to just chill on my bed with my laptop (all set up with wireless internet, even!) and read or play Warcraft III or whatever. Got some Dixieland jazz going, got some new books, some new Bath and Body Works lotion (laurel berry garland), got green tea and chocolate soymilk and my favorite brand of salsa. Got a lot of the things I didn’t bother taking to Japan that have been with me for a while–my mom’s flower drawings, some beloved books and pictures, all my jewelry. Would you believe I only took two necklaces and four pairs of earrings to Japan with me? It was a lot less fussy that way, but I regretted it about two weeks after I got there… In any case, I’m home. It’s great. I love this city, I love the energy and the quirkiness and the quiet days when there aren’t any students around. I love reading the New York Times at the UGLi, practicing piano at the Union, wandering around looking at all the fliers. I’m eagerly awaiting the start of classes, knowing full well I’m going to get creamed this semester, hah. So glad to be back.
Since I’ve been back home I’ve been dreaming about being in Japan every few nights. I remember my dreams so seldom that this is fairly disconcerting. Most of the time I’m lost in a city or a department store, walking up stairs, down stairs, trying to find my way through a crowd of people. Sometimes the people I interact with never existed in reality and sometimes they’re my friends at JCMU, so similar to how I remember them that I wake up and am honestly freaked out, wondering where exactly I am and if I’m over here in Michigan how I can be seeing people currently in Japan so clearly.
Liana | one comment
December 28, 2002:
I’m really liking this CD I got for Paul in Japan and subsequently stole, primarily due to its goofiness. Anything with a group called the Super Dairy Canines is OK in my book. Brian thinks I’m silly, though…
Back to Ann Arbor, moved into my new sublet this morning. It’s adorable and clean, comes with three roommates and a lot of space. Not bad for $300 a month! I met one of the roommates and she seems nice, and the girl I’ll be sharing a room with has a Harry Potter calendar, which is a good sign. Brian reports that my roommates said they spend a lot of time studying, which is good because I’ve been redoing my schedule and I’ll be spending a lot of time studying as well. All of my classes look quite interesting, with the possible exception of Oceanography, it’s just that there’s a lot of them and they take up a lot of time. That’s cool with me, mind you. I’m only going to be a student so much longer, might as well do all the ridiculous stuff now.
Liana | no comments
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