Mexico Dude!

First of all, a note to the parents: do not worry, I am fine, I have just been a little too busy lately to post and mail. Actually,that's not true, I am not fine, I am very good, I am in Mexico and it rules (despite a drawback I'll get to later).

Ehm, where shall I start...I'm thinking I'll go for impressionistic today, I really do not feel like a dry and boring account of my visit to Universal Studios, the trip here, what we've done so far.

Impressions then. The strange aethetic of pop culture has stayed with me lately, nickolodeon figures side by side with the terminator, street facades you realise suddenly you've seen in countless movies figuring as countless towns, and the fact that time travel dilemmas are now assumed to be common knowledge. Even here in Mexico: Che is everywhere, but then so are spiderman costumes and Mr. Incredible pinatas.

Two hours after we got to Rosarito, in true Spring Break style, we were already drunk on one dollar beers- some more than others (in true Spring Break style, Jordan threw up within a day in Rosarito)- from Arturo's cafe. So drunk, in fact, that parying didn't appeal to us that much that night, so there was just much listening to loud music, jumping on beds, and sitting in the spa for hours, even after the jets had stopped until the water was cold and we shivered running back to the room only to find out there was no more hot water to shower with. Cold in Mexico, we managed it, and this morning of course Brigid jinxed us by saying "at least it's not raining" when the promised free breakfast turned out to be cancelled, and it rained.

It rained. In Mexico. Sylvia suggested we should go to Africa and make the people there very happy.

Luckily, " at least the sun's not shining" turned out to work too a little later, and we laid by the pool in the sun. Shopping was next and the back streets reminded me of Morocco, but so commercialised, and without the smell. The smell goes, I think, when Subway's and Blockbuster move in, when in some stores you can't even pay with pesos, just with dollars. The smell goes when little kids on the street start selling you chewing gum.

Those little kids make me so sad. Dirty faces, no sense of play in them, no sense of mischief, just pleading eyes. It makes you feel guilty of being so careless and rich, of being able to go to another country just to get drunk(American girls are annoying, on the bus " like, my goal for tonight is to black out", another, in the street "Papa's and Beer is my only reason for being here", sad. The cream of the crop from the mightiest country on earth.), just because you can.

The drawback, then, I need to say something about that because it's lingering in the back of my mind all the time, even when signing at the top of my lungs, even when closing my eyes and enjoying the sun: James had no passport or California ID, just his driver's license, and apparently that's not enough to go to Mexico. Well, not enough to come back: we weren't even checked when we went across the border, but there was a very, very long line of cars waiting on the road to the other side. So, he is not here now, might be wednesday or even tomorrow but is not now, and it sucks.

I do have to say, however, that aside from this ommission the company I'm in could not be better. I'm here with Brigid, Sylvia, Maximo (whose Spanish works wonders) and Jordan, and we're having a blast.

Now, to close off with, a quote: "we really have to get fucked tonight".

Yes Brigid, sure you were talking about getting drunk.

Greetings from Rosarito!

Hedwig

Undie run

Sylvia, Brigid and I are just full of plans.

It's not just that we're having a nice nd of quarter dinner tomorrow night with oreo milkshakes as desert. It's not even that we're planning to celebrate Sinterklaas' half-birthday on the 5th of June. But now, it seems we're going to order panties with "Godverdomme" on the ass on Neighbourhoodies and participate in the undie run at the end of spring quarter.

Oh well. At least it will be warmer then. Maximó sure looked cold ("damn, it's so cold my nipples are hard"), although Willem (and many others) seemed to have imbibed enough alcohol not to care about the freezing wind. Or about wearing the most ridiculous outfits. Or about basically the entire concept of taking off most of your clothes, shout a lot, and run though the streets.

But it was fun! So much fun, to see in any case. There must have been more than 2oo people in their underwear (or in diapers, beerboxes, capes), counting down to midnight and then running down Landfair. And there were certainly about 200 more spectators, hoping to catch a glimpse of a nipple with their digital camera's (Mads had a big grin on his face as he showed us the results), or just marveling at how wonderfully funny crazy customs can be.

Oh, and just in case you were wondering? Pictures should be up soon, as soon as I get them from Brigid, Sylvia and Mads actually (I did not, unfortunately, have my own camera with me, but it's not that good with low light conditions anyway).

Anything else to report aside from undie run? Well, not really, aside from the little fact that...I'm DONE!

Almost, in any case. For Physics I need to grade all the papers and presentations (everyone has to), which mostly means reading through a big packet of physics gibberish. Luckily it's pretty interesting gibberish. My presentation seemed to go well in any case, that is, if I can trust the guy who came up to me afterwards saying I was one of the few people who seemed to know what they were talking about (just shows how well I can bluff).

It's late, and despite the fact that I'm done, I have to get up early in the morning (waxing. *yikes*). So, to bed with me!

Cheers,

Hedwig

Raining again...

Sunny California? Pshaw. And the forecast in Rosarito for Saturday might be sunny, but with a maximum temperature of 14 degrees...Oh well. I'll stay the eternal optimist and believe that by sunday afternoon, when we will get to Rosarito, it will be not only sunny but warm, too.

Plus, somehow, when you're almost done with the quarter rain doesn't matter that much. Two courses down, one to go! I even already have the grade for my Film and TV class, and guess what? It's an A+!

*does a little jig*

I did the final for Human Genetics this morning, and I think I did ok, I should have at least 200 of the 250 points. For Physics I rounded off my paper yesterday and I have to give my presentation (on supersymmetry, a topic I wouldn't recommend to anyone) tomorrow.

Then, at 1 (or, seeing how presentation sessions always last longer, around 2)....DONE! And that's when the fun starts: we're picking up our tickets at 3, getting our legs and bikini line waxed on thursday morning, having a "yay! Finals are over!" party Thursday night, and on Sunday we leave for the (hopefully) sunny beaches in Mexico.

It's actually a miracle I managed to survive finals so well -so far anyway- since I've been, ahem, a little bit distracted. I don't want to make it a habit to put too many details about such things on this blog, but suffice to say I wouldn't say any more now that I just don't find American guys interesting. 'Cause there's at least one that is :-D

Hm, rumble rumble now, this is a thunderstorm it seems. Hopefully it'll clear up the air and make way for a long stretch of days filled with sunshine (yes, I know, a little on the optimistic side, but I'm having an optimistic period).

Woo...I think I just felt earthquake number two. It still feels strange, the ground shaking beneath you. A little scary too, something entirely out of your control. But cool :-D Brigid felt it too apparently, and is very giddy about it. On a side note, the blogging fever has caught her too.

Alright, so yes, I didn't really have a purpose in typing this post besides procrastinating. Hope you at least enjoyed it a little bit!

Hedwig

A musical interlude

I've been tagged by Jessica with this music quiz...Very different from another entry, then, but I hope you enjoy it anyhow. Also, I'm heavily procrastination. The idea is to tag three more people, so here they are: Sylvia, Sabrine and Joost.

What is the total amount of music files on your computer?
4.19 Gb. I used to have much more, but I have gotten rid of many embarrassing remnants from my musical past before I left for the US.

What was the last CD you bought?
"Attagirl" - Bettie Serveert

What was the last song you listened to before reading this message?
I can't remember before I read the post first, but I can say which song I listened to before starting to write this post: Kings of Convenience - singing softly to me. Seriously, check the kings of convenience out. They rule.

Write down five songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you:
Just five? This is a challenge. Well, ok, but with the disclaimer that this is a random selection and many fantastic songs have been left out.

Ryan Adams - Wonderwall: exactly what covers should be like: respectful of the original, but doing something new with it, so that it's not one of those pointless just-like-the-original-but-with-another-person-singing things. I actually think this version is better than the original, more layered. And, of course, Ryan Adams is a god. Other songs of his worth checking out: "La Cienega Just Smiled", "Monsters", "Wish you were here", "Dear Chicago", "Damn, Sam, I love a woman that rains" and well, I could go on, but you get the point. For another nice (but not as fantastic) reinterpretation of Oasis' anthem, look for Cat Power's "the covers record".

Tori Amos - Mr. Zebra: my friend Anna told me about this song long ago, and I fell in love with it. Short, sweet, funny, it's the perfect little song. Another song she introduced me to and that I still listen to is Marcy Playground - Sex and Candy. Yeah. I know it's cheating. But hey, you get to know about one more great song.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch Soundtrack - The Origin of Love: and to clarify, no, I don't just love the musical because the main character shares my name, I also think the mythology of it is wonderful, and this can be seen most clearly in this song. Just for a taste, here are the lyrics of the first verse:

When the earth was still flat
And clouds made of fire
And mountains stretched up to the sky
Sometimes higher
Folks roamed the earth like big rolling kegs
They had two sets of arms
They had two sets of legs
They had two faces peering
Out of one giant head
So they could watch all around them
As they talked; while they read
And they never knew nothing of love
It was before the origin of love

Elliott Smith - I didn't understand: Ok, so first off, picking one Elliott Smith was really, really hard, since they're all so wonderful. I ended up choosing this one because the singing on it reminds me of "Because" by the Beatles, especially the a cappela version, which allows me to sneak another fantastic song in here. Also, it shows Elliott Smith's charm perfectly: intricate melodies, harmonious, all while singing "what a fucking joke". Other great songs include "Somebody that I used to know", "Oh well, okay", and "Waltz #2" (and this is really restricting myself).

Gabriel Mann - Artichoke: I think the only thing you need to understand why I love this song is the following excerpt from the lyrics.

My, my, you're just like pie
When I call you on the phone
You say hello and that's the crust
But the filling is yet to come

My, my, you're just like eggs
You're all slimy on the outside but yolky in the middle
Wait a second
That's not right, what I really meant
Is that Iove you in the morning

I actually don't know any other songs by Gabriell Mann, I should go look. Other songs with interesting lyrics are Dresden Dolls - Coin Operated Boy, Smog - Dress sexy at my funeral.

Honorable Mentions: David Byrne - Civilisation ; Badly Drawn Boy - A minor incident ; Beatles - Across the Universe ; Belle & Sebastian - If you find yourself caught in love (or anything else, really) ; Bright Eyes - Nothing gets crossed out (for all Bright Eyes songs: for the patient only, but worth the effort) ; Cat Power - Love to be silly ; Daryll-Ann - Everybody's cool ; Goo goo dolls - acoustic # 3 ; Hooverphonic - Mad about you ; Matthieu Boogaerts - Sens ; Nellie McKay - Toto dies ; Raemonn - Supergirl; Rufus Wainwright: "Instant Pleasure" or "Cigarettes and Chocolate milk" (also did good covers of "the origin of love" and "across the universe") ; Sondre Lerche - On and off again ; The Sheer - Strangelove ; The Thrills - Til' the tide creeps in ; Tal Bachman - she's so high.

Ok, ok, I know, I know, 5 songs, not 30...Well, sorry, I just love music too much, and I can promise you, each and every one of the songs listed above is worth a listen. Definitely. And I could have listed twice as many easily.

On a final note, I would like to link to aurgasm, a blog that introduced me to many wondeful musicians and songs.

Well, Sylvia, Sabrine, Joost: tag, you're it!

First finals, my very first california sunburn, and: the midnight yell

Yet another week gone, I cannot believe how fast it's going. First quarter almost over, which means I'm almost halfway through my stay... Brrr. I'll just focus on the here and now.

Tuesday I finished my first course, the easiest, of course (why can you never be done with the toughest course first? It's evil), my film and TV class, with a paper and a laughably easy quiz. Tuesday night I made dinner for Sylvia and Brigid and me, and we went off to James' to watch Gilmore Girls...and found out that it was an old episode. We studied a little, played spoons (a very populal game, lately, somehow), and blablabla (weekdays really can be boring). Wednesday I took the Physics final, and well, I've never bullshitted so much on a science exam in my entire life. There were mostly "conceptual" questions which showed that apparently, we were actually supposed to have understood all the complicated stuff he'd talked about in class, and even other complicated stuff that we'd been supposed to read about. Oops. Luckily, it was an open book, open notes, open everything exam, and it seems I'm quite good at bullshitting, because I got a 92/114 (+/- 80%).

Wednesday was also when I went to my final capoeira class of the quarter (I'm planning on signing up for it again next quarter), and afterwards found out a marvellous thing:

Ladies and gentleman, I can cook.

Alright, I see you all, shaking your heads, laughing a little, Hedwig cook, yes sure, we can all add some ready-made sauce to pasta, but I would reply, no people, I don't mean that, I actually cooked. As in, made a real dish. To be specific: I made risotto. And ladies and gentlemen, it tasted good, no, heavenly. And I didn't even have a recipe! I just googled "risotto recipe" and deducted the basic ingredients and cooking actions from the first half-dozen I looked at.

Actually, risotto is the perfect dish for me. I'm such a restless cook, I just have to stir something all the time, even if it's just pasta, and if I have something in the oven I just have to check up on it every 5 minutes (well, actually, I put the kitchen timer on 5 minutes telling myself I can't check before it goes off, or else I'd check even more often), so a dish where you have to add new broth all the time and stir a lot, yep, I'm in for it.

Because the weather was so marvelously nice on Wednesday, and because it was the last day of classes, I'd invited everyone to come study on the beach on Thursday...and of course, when James and I arrived at the beach (Sylvia, Brigid and Maximo were cutomairily late), there were clouds, a cold wind was blowing, and the whole beach experience was just not as I'd imagined it to be. But of course, just when you start to despair, the sun decided to come take a peek, lying on the beach turns out to be quite nice, and lo! playing basketball with Martin and Sylvia proves that I'm not actually all that bad at putting balls through a net either! (alright, so I'm not exactly good...but at least I don't suck any more).

Anyhow, as usual, the sun only needed about an hour to make sure my head looks like a traffic light right now, but as it is raining again now (no worries, not as much as it did before) I kind of like the burn, it reminds me that the sun did shine, albeit only for a little while.

Of course, not much studying had been done at the beach. Did I spend the evening studying, then? Well...not exactly. First, I went to Ultimate Improv' again (funny, but not as much as the first time) with James, and it was only after twelve that I finally started on my Physics paper. But: I set myself a goal, and I reached it: by two thirty I had a thousand words. That means, one more thousand tomorrow, one more thousand sunday, and I'll be done!

By the way, to all those people I complained to last semester that I had lost the ability to sleep in? It's back. Big time. As I was reminded of yet again at 02:09 this afternoon, when I finally woke up. Woke up. This is 2 pm that I'm talking about. And I did not wake up a single time in between.

I guess that just means my biological clock has given up on me. Oh well. We'll make friends again when I'm at my eight-to-five job this summer.

Luckily, all I really had to do today was a genetics review at 3, which turned out to be profoundly useless (I left halfway). Sylvia and Theresa made a wonderful, lengthy dinner (beets and bratkartoffeln), and we watched Don Juan DeMarco, still the most effective manipulative romantic comedy in existence on this earth. It was made even better by Sylvia's reactions, little yells and "ow"'s and sighs over Johnny Depp's beauty.

Finally, I'd like to tell you about a little bit of UCLA lore, or should I say customs. During finals week, at midnight, when tired and crazy from cramming...people yell. Loudly. Lengthily. And in a long wave you could probably follow across Westwood. There is an addition, too: apparently, in the Wednesday of finals week, so next Wednesday, people run down the streets in their underwear to celebrate. Four words: this I gotta see.

A -not yet yelling- sunburned Hedwig bids you goodbye.

Palm Springs (at last)

I don't know why I didn't write this up earlier. It's not like I did so much this weekend, but I felt a bit groggy. It's ok now though, so finally: how was palm springs?

Well, to be able to say that, we first have to get to Palm Springs. And as it turns out, that's not the easiest thing on friday afternoon. It took James and me about four and a half hours, and the rest (who first had to drop Jordan off at Union Station) two hours just to get out of LA, and almost six hours in total. Needless to say, our golfing plan fell through: after all, it's nice if you can actually see the ball. What then? Food, apparently, despite the rations we took with us in the car (brownies, lollipops, sandwiches, and the other car had donuts too), at Applebee's with a big group of people who just seemed to pop out of thin air.

After this we went to a castle-like structure containing, amongst other things, "Dance Dance Revolution". Now, for those of you who have never seen one (as there are, according to Sylvia, only 3 in the entire Netherlands, you might not have) it a contraption with a screen in front of your face and four arrows at your feet. The idea is that bad dance music plays, arrows comme up the screen from the bottom, and when they reach the top you have to step on the appropriate arrow(s). It sound silly. It is, however, incredibly fun, and very impressive when you can do it well (one of the guys there was amazing).

We also played various other games such as air hockey (2:1 loss for me, alas), skeeball (Brigid seemed to like that a lot), and we did a go-kart race (don't believe anything Brigid and Maximo say, James and I won. That it, he drove, I yelled "go go go!"). We had a fantastic time, but then we got out to the parking lot...and found that both of Maximo's car windows had been smashed in. For no reason, apparently, since nothing had been taken.

Needless to say, this put a damper on the euphoria. We decided to go home, but of course driving on the freeway without windows is not very pleasant. Luckily we found and open supermarket, and managed to improvise something:


Maximo showed his MacGyver side

This wonderful contraption managed to shield us from the wind. It also, unfortunately, made an extreme amount of noise, but it turns out Queen can overshout anything if it's turned on loud enough. So there we went, some asleep and some awake, "The show must go on" blasting, providing a very surreal end to a trip that was, despite the bummer ending, pretty great.

Random link of the day (well, not entirely random if you know about my infatuation with everything Dave Eggers is even remotely connected to).

And now, for something completely different....and update on my tumultuous relationship with physics. As you all know, physics and I have our ups and downs. Oh, we'll probably be together for a while yet, but that doesn't mean ours can be called a stable relationship. Sometimes, for example, it saps my self-esteem, makes me doubt myself, makes me erupt in fits of passionate anger. But then there are the other times, when it suddenly decides to open up to me, when it shows me one of its beautiful sides, when it offers glimpses of insight to come, and everything suddenly seems alright.

We're in an up phase now. On Friday I finally solved a problem I'd been stuck on for almost a week, attended an incredibly interesting lecture that showed once more the beauty of local gauge symmetry (you have no idea what I'm talking about, but that's ok. Suffice to say that it's a theory that makes so much sense and is so beautiful once you get it...something I think I might in a couple of years), and today we had yet another fascinating lecture, this time by a guest teacher on neutrino mixings. That last lecture was mostly interesting because it shows how inventive experimenters have to be and have been, and to what strange results it leads.

To round off, yet another completely different thing, I need your opinion. I have discovered a wonderful site, www.neighbourhoodies.com , where you can make you own personalised hoodies, T-shirts, bags etc. I've decided on a bag, but not yet on the texts. Some of the options I am considering are:

• I talk to strangers
• Poo Poo Occurs
• Short Chicks Rock
• Wake up, Donnie
• Cellar Door
• Some Physics formula, NOT E=mc2, but maybe the Dirac equation or something
• Something Else (that's where you come in)

Of course, I told Brigid about the idea and she immediately came up with a brilliant idea, namely to get a "Godverdomme" bag...Anyhow, let me know which option you prefer, or if you have any ideas!

Cheers,

Hedwig

P.S. Brilliant phrase of the day (or actually of yesterday): "The end is extremely fucking nigh"

Me = movie geek

I just spent 30 dollars which I probably won't get anything for in return. And I'm happy I did.

Let me explain. You probably all know I'm a movie geek. Big time. And what you might now is that every day I go to several movie websites to read up on news, analyses, and mostly reviews. Well, one of my favorite sites is the one on which MaryAnn Johansen writes her reviews, www.flickfilosopher.com.

Some exerpts to show you what I mean. From her most recent review:

Hostage [...] is like a petulant teenager who wants to be seen as all grownup and mature and demands to be treated as such but then goes and gets roaring drunk on cheap beer, vomits all over the yard, and crashes Dad's car into a lamppost in the high school parking lot.

On the Spongebob Squarepants movie: I've heard tell that there are some grownups who don't get why other grownups might want to watch a cartoon. I guess those grownups have forgotten how good it feels when you're braying like a hyena for 90 minutes straight. Maybe if we told them, I dunno, that nonstop laughter is good for the abs or something, they might see the value in it.

And I have to make the following quote, on The Wedding Date, as long as it is, because I just can't even decide what's the funniest part, and in fact I recommend reading the entire review if you feel like laughing:

Hooray! Now all those women who had their sense of sexuality perverted by the "fairy tale" of Pretty Woman have the perfect twisted fantasy movie cure for their messed-up love lives: Don't wait anymore for a man to come along and purchase you -- buy him instead!

Six thousand bucks for a weekend, sex not included.

It's "romantic," see? It's "charming" and "funny" and "sweet," too, get it? Oh, and it's "warm" and "sentimental," because, c'mon, what modern gal hasn't hired a whore to accompany her to a family function? Hilarious! Delightful! The feel-good date movie of the year!

*thump* *thump* *thump*

I'm just banging my head against the wall for a while, because it's less painful than contemplating the image of 21st-century womanhood depicted in this agonizing movie.

*thump* *thump* *thump*

Can I ask: Who the hell let Debra Messing (Along Came Polly, Hollywood Ending) loose, and can we consider that a capital offense? Her character here is barely distinguishable from the one she plays in the awful gayface sitcom in which she stars. Her Kat Ellis is a nightmarish golem-creature constructed, Frankenstein-monster style, from the worst stereotypes of modern femininity: she's insecure, indecisive, spineless, unbelievably uptight (I'm guessing from her reaction to the male anatomy that she has never seen a penis before), and refuses to take responsibility for her own behavior. Idn't that just iwcky-poo adorwable?

By now I'm sure you either understand why I absolutely love this reviewer. Or maybe you don't know me, but those two seem to be the only options. Anyhow, she's just started an initiative to try and make a living out of writing reviews, with the added bonus that she'd be updating every day of the week. The goal is to get 1000 people to donate 30 dollars to make this possible, and I've decided to be one of the first ones.

I mean, there's no denying that 30 bucks is still quite a bit of money for me. But I figured, I did spend the same amount on Amazon earlier for 3 books, and I've only finished one of them until now. If I'm willing to spend it on books, why not on another form of entertainment? Granted, it's entertainment I might as well get for free, but then I would also just download every movie I wanted to see without ever buying a DVD...And not spend a ridiculous amount on money on them as I do (this stay in the US is good for me...I can drool over the cheap DVD's they have here, but because of the regional code thing I can manage to not give in and buy them).

There is another reason, and I'm not talking about having my name in the hall of fame. I very much like the idea of being able to make a living by running a website. Jeph from Questionable Content does it by selling T-shirts, but this looks like a good way too. If it's starts becoming common, website makers will probably become a lot more invested in the quality of their writing and the regularity of their updates. And who knows, maybe some day I'll be able to make a living by keeping up a website -yes, I know, "keep dreaming"...I intend to!

In conclusion...There are few things I dislike more than someone who tries to convince others to their cause (if you're dutch, you can read my comment on Sylvia's latest blog entry for more details), so don't worry, I'm not suggesting you do the same thing as I did. But if you're ever bored, I recommend checking out her website.

On a sidenote, Gilmore Girls really rules. It's on right now, and any show that mentions making love to a cup of coffee is worth watching by my rules. Plus, tonight's episode has a Tarantino party, including a nod to Travolta's dance with Uma.

One last thing about movies (I promise! for today, of course). Closer is the two dollar movie this week, and I went to see it yesterday. Boy, how depressing can a movie be? I can't even point out exactly what was so depressing about it. After all, one of the two relationships (or one of the four, depending how you count) works out in the end, right? But these people are just so ugly. I mean internally, of course, because the actors playing them are georgous, all four of them, incredibly beautiful and what's coming out of their mouthes is so in contrast with that...Oh, I'm not talking about the sexual part of what they said, I can handle my share of crudeness, but the hateful things they threw at each other were exhausting after a while.

Ok, finally, I'll release you from the movie talk! Do I have anything else to say...Well, oh, but no, documentaries are movies too...Well then, what have I done this week? Not much really, seeing how it's finals week and all that. I had sushi for the first time, two light allergic reactions (not to the sushi...to diddy reese cookies, unfortunately), and saw a really good Queen cover band, with a singer that had the Freddy Mercury look, including wifebeater, sunglasses and mustache, down. Didn't sing too bad either.

Ooh, and, of course, I made brownies, because tomorrow...It's road trip time! We're going to Palm Springs, 7 or 8 of us, I'm not quite sure, and I think it'll be great. And exactly how great, well, you'll get to know about that in the next post!

Hedwig

A frat party, an improv show, and finally...a celeb!

Yes, I know, I've been neglecting you. It's cruel, leaving you hanging with an open end like that, leaving you guessing and wondering what went on. It's callous of me to be so inconsiderate: 4 whole days and no update! I repent, I do, and so, a long account for today.

First of all, the frat party I got so dressed up for (I saw Ella on the street, and she seriously did not recognise me). Was it worth it, you ask, was it all frat parties are cranked up to be? Well...that depends on what you expect. The evening started promising enough: the party was in Santa Monica, and we were driven there in...real yellow school busses! Seriously, they would not be a good idea to implement in the Netherlands, normal Dutch people would most definitely bump their heads. In the bus, we came to realize two things. One, people were already wasted going to the party. Two: Americans are very, very loud when drunk, and think they're very funny.

One other observation came to join the previous two when we arrived at the club, which looked curiously empty because it was too big for the number of people there. Three: even when they're adults, or should be, Americans still dance in sex-simulating ways, you know, like fifteen year old high schoolers think is cool to do. The thing is, that kind of dancing is disturbing enough when it's teenagers, but when it's skinny sluttily dressed girls with older, 0ften long-haired, sleazy-looking guys, it's ten times worse. You feel sorry for the girls, really, waking up in the morning not just with a terrible hangover, but also with the realizationg that, shit, did I actually do that?

Sylvia, Bridig and I weren't drunk, not even really tipsy (we'd had one or two drinks each, something like that), and being a sober observer was...interesting. But not for two long. At one point, we actually sat down, told each other we'd just each pick one guy to hit on...and stayed silent for a long, long time. Oh, there were a couple of cute guys, but they either had their tongue down a very skinny skanky girl with perfect hair, or were surrounded by a swarm of them.

Sylvia made the remark on her blog that it's annoying how at these parties, everyone categorize girls and boys so strictly. To girls, other girls are competition, and guys are the goal, and vice versa for the guys. It's depressing, really, to be reduced to the equation of your genitals and outer appearance. I'm glad that at house parties, you can actually just have good conversations sometimes, with girls ánd guys, and yes, sometimes there's an ulterior purpose involved there too, you can't just shut of hormones after all, but at least there "hooking up" isn't the only goal, just a possible side advantage.

Conclusion: no more frat parties for me. Oh, it was nice, I'm glad I went and had that experience, but once was enough.

This time, after getting only about 4 hours of sleep in the night from Thursday to Friday, I did the wise thing: I did go to my classes on Friday, but I took a nap in the afternoon. Sylvia, Maria and some other people went clubbing on Friday night, and actually it was very convenient: not being 21 yet, it gave me a very good excuse to spend the evening on the couch, watching Tv, drinking some of the leftover wine from my party. Boring? Yes, but boring can be wonderful sometimes.

Saturday I spent the day as a true lazy pig. I think I saw three movies that day, managed, somehow, to do some reading during (I am done with all my reading for Film and TV this quarter, and only have ten pages to go until the end of my Genetics book), played some stupid games on my laptop, chatted quite elaborately with my dad and Birgit...

At night, I met up with a big group of people at the gypsy café. Most of them ate there, but seeing how it's a café where people smoke hooka (is that spelled this way?), i.e. flavored tobacco smoked with a water pipe, I didn't think it was such a great idea for me to soend a lot of time there. We went to "Ultimate Improv" a small improvisational comedy club (I think the room fit about 30 people) to watch their show. It was very funny, a bit too much acting for my taste, but amuzing. They weren't as good as the people from Boom Chicago (who obviously have had more experience), but it was interesting being much closer to them, much more like you were really involved in the show and not just watching it.

There was a party on Midvale, we heard, and that's where we went next. It was loud and strange, and soon got broken up by the cops because two guys were stupid enough to smoke pot outside. I actually felt sorry for them, despite their stupidity: the cops, big and broad-shouldered and with those huge flashlights, put handcuffs on them and lectured to them while they had to face the wall, and I think they actually got taken to the station.

We moved to Maximó's, and I actually had my first encounter with a burly American policeman: James and I went to my apartment to get the leftover alcohol, and while we'd been careful enough in that James (who's 21) was carrying the alcohol and I only had the grenadine, apparently if you carry alcohol around it doesn't just have to be closed: it needs to still be sealed. We got off with a warning though.

I ended up staying at Maximó's until four thirty, just talking (mostly about religion), watching part of "Waking Life", walking to Subway's in the middle somewhere to try my first sub. I just can't get used to the fact that bread used for sandwiches here is soft, not crispy. I miss ciabatta's and baguette bread.

This morning I met Claire, a physics classmate, at Starbucks to work on a physics problem. A set of problems, a really special set of problems: the teacher predicted that it would take us about two weeks to do it, but if we managed it we'd get full credit on the final. A challenge, then, that we gladly took. We worked on it for almost four hours in total, I think, and I think we finished more than half of it. Woo!

Now, a small explanation about the why of our location: we chose Starbucks partly because of the big tables and the fact that they let you sit there forever with one cup of coffee, but also because the Starbucks is right next to the theater where Robots was to premiere that afternoon. The result: my first celebrity sighting, and not just of any celebrity, no no, I got to witness (from a certain distance, true) the gorgeousness that is Ewan McGregor. Woo. Another LA experience I can cross of my list. Oh, true, it would be nice to see a celeb in the wild too, but for now I'm satisfied. As to Sylvia, she got an opportunity to show Brigid and Maximo the correct opportunity to say Godverdomme: Maria called her to say that on Thursday, Orlando Bloom and Colin Farrell had been in the same club as them. So close, and yet so far away...

The phone call came when we were driving to the LA Convention Center, where Jordan and Tristan were set to graduate from their five-day learn-to-love-yourself, face-your-fears, new-agey "mastery in Transformational Training" course. We didn't quite know what to expect, speculated about brainwashing cults and virgin sacrifices. It turned out to be mostly much crying and even more hugging, but luckily our friends had not changed so much that we didn't recognise them any more.

Alright then, you're all up to speed again. Weekends are nice...they help you face the thought of another dreadfully draining week.

Goodnight unto you all!

Hedwig

Getting ready for the frat party!

with thanks to Sylvia for the shirt & to Lisa for the sweater & fab eye make-up

Dude! Mexico!

Yep, the trip is booked. 210 dollars for 4 nights in Rosarito, plus bus fare and access to several parties. I'll be sharing a room with Sylvia and Brigid, spend my days sleeping on the beach or by the pool, my nights partying (and mostly observing crazy drunk American students party), and basically living one of the most typically American experiences. Woo! We're leaving on the 26th.

And now, for something completely different...I love my blender! Favorite concoctions so far (but I've tried many more): orange juice with pomelo, and banana/chocolote/yoghurt. Tonight, I bought strawberries, and because I did not have enough money left for ice cream, an In-N-Out vanilla milkshake, I'm curious how that will turn out.

Then...Actually, this is the reason I haven't been updating much: there's just not so much to tell. I mean, I'm not out going to interesting photo shoots (for the dutch speaking: http://sylinla.blogspot.com ), to premieres (as Benson and Don did), to anything interesting really. Not that I'm not having fun. On Sunday I watched the Oscars at Brigid's, on Tuesday I watched Gilmore Girls at Bensons (and spent the rest of the night agonizing over physics homework), yesterday night I watched reality TV (I'm not a big fan, but my housemates are) with my housemates and had leftover wine and chips from my party. But it's all in the routine, all in the standard way of things, and thus, not very interesting. It's also because finals are approaching (I have one on the 15th already, a second on the 16th). Tonight might be: if everything works out, I'm going to my first real frat party.

Well, one thing before I close of then. I'm afraid it's just another "those crazy americans" thing, or "those odd americans" as I'd rather phrase it. It's just a thing I've noticed: Americans are very much aware of someone's race. Now, by that I don't mean racist, not at all. But they seem to consider it to be a vital part of someone. An example: I had to write a paper about an ad in the beginning of the quarter, and I brought my ad to the professor to ask if she had any suggestions. One of the first things she said was: "well, you should probably discuss why she'd black." I'd noticed she was black, probably, but it hadn't really occured to me as something significant. Another example: Sylvia was telling us about the supercute guy she'd met at the photoshoot, about how gorgeous he looked without a shirt and about his amazing smile. Then she showed us a picture. Now, I agreed with her on the torso, that's the first thing I noticed, first thing I gave a thought anyhow. But Lisa took one look at the picture and yelled, "Oh, he's BLACK." Now, let me be extremely clear about this, far be it from me to accuse Lisa of being racist, I know she's not, not at all. It's just that apparently, here, when you talk about someone you mention they're ethnicity, or something. Oh, I know it's not so straightforward, it's also that when a white girl mentions she thought a guy was cute, it's assumed that the guy was white and that if he wasn't, she'd say so. But still...

I know that I'd not really qualified to say anything about this. I know much too little about the history, the background etc. Race was a big issue here, and I realise it still is a big issue. It's just that it surprises me, it's something I don't have much affinity with. Oh, I won't say there aren't race issues in the Netherlands as well, they just tend to center around Arabs (and especially Moroccans) instead of around black people, and seeing how that kind of racism is new rather than old, growing rather then going away...I guess I don't even have anything meaningful to say on the issue, but the racial awareness here is just something I've noticed and thought I'd report, for lack of something more interesting.

Reactions and thoughts are welcome!

Hedwig