Two out of three ain't bad.

So in case you're wondering what's going on, I have now entered Kate's Summer of Suckiness(TM). What that means is: I have 19 hours of class a week (16 hours of which is at night Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday), I am still trying to work, because you know, I need to eat (um, and drink), I'll probably miss trivia most Mondays (because, you know, the class thing), and I have to DRIVE to class every Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday. (This is a big deal. I don't like driving all that much. Especially because I have to pay for gas. And double-especially I don't like driving in Seattle rush hour at 5 pm. [I have to drive because it's kind of far away, and bussing would be pretty inconvenient. I may try it though. We'll see.])

BUT. Two of my classes are some of the best classes I've ever taken. For one of them, the reasons are pretty obvious: it's a cooking lab. Every Wednesday, we meet in a UW cafeteria and cook...and then EAT. Today we were cooking legumes and grains - my "lab partner" and I made chocolate pudding (we made it from a mix, and we were comparing it with another group's homemade pudding), wild rice pilaf, and wheatberry tabbouleh. Highlights from the eating period included baked 3-cheese polenta with tomato-basil sauce and a lentil-veggie tostada that other groups made. There are no tests in this class - we fill out lab reports (which involve evaluating taste and texture of various foods) and we're graded on participation. Awesome.

The other class is the second half of anatomy and physiology. It's about as different from the cooking lab as you can get - it's a whole quarter condensed into 8 weeks, 2 classes and labs a week, and approximately an exam a week, too. Lots of stuff to learn. But the professor is awesome. She's young, and she has tattoos (not like this is on my good-professor-requirement list or anything), but more importantly she knows her stuff. Case in point, I hung around for an extra 20 minutes tonight because she was telling us interesting things about sickle-cell anemia and Pelger-Huet. Twenty extra minutes! I must really like her.

And my third class...well, it's only met once, but let's just say that I wasn't impressed. And it's microbiology! You'd think I'd like that. I'll withhold judgment until after tomorrow night, but I don't think I'll be staying any extra minutes for THIS professor to explain anything.

Of course, by that I mean she doesn't have any tattoos.

I won!

So, remember how I was super-excited about the trivia trophy? Because I didn't have a childhood of sports accomplishments?

Well, imagine my joy when I beat my entire (7 person) mini-golf team tonight. (Yeah, I'm on a mini-golf team, aren't you?) AND I got a hole-in-one, for which I won a free beer. Free beer! Are there two better words in the English language?

Sad, but true.

1. I didn't have internet for a whopping 34 hours (the cable guy tells me it was due to an overextended signal) and I was going through withdrawal. Granted, some of this was due to work-related stress. But I also didn't know what to do with myself. How would I know what the weather is going to be like? And what bus do I take? And what happened in the world today?

2. I got an A in my anatomy class. (This is not the sad part.) But I was upset about my A - a 94. As I told some of my friends, "I got an A, but not the highest A." Yes, I got the second-highest grade in the class (the highest was a 98). And yes, I was upset about it. (In my defense, the reason I didn't get the highest grade was my performance on the last 2 exams, both of which I didn't study for AT ALL [one was the day after my reunion weekend and one was the day after I got back from Arizona].)

3. I absolutely LOVE the new Laguna Beach show. And, even worse, I got a little teary-eyed at the end of tonight's show.

So...now you have to tell me something embarrassing, so I don't feel bad.

Quick update.

Welcome back! Not you, me. I was in Arizona for my cousin's bar mitzvah and also the Grand Canyon, and I'll post about that soon. (With pictures!)

This past week, I've: hiked 6 miles into/out of the Grand Canyon, seen a sunrise AND a sunset, intentionally woken up before 5 am on THREE separate occasions, spent 16 hours at KEXP (over a period of 28 hours), and taken a final exam.

Unrelated, but: THIS SHIRT IS SO AWESOME.

Finally, I have to admit that I am also developing quite the (girl-) crush on DJ Michelle Myers. I'm listening to her show on KEXP right now, and it's great. (I had no idea how much I loved Prince's "Gett Off" until hearing it just now. I am bopping around in my chair.) And apparently, around 9:30 during her Friday night show every week, she'll play a Ladies' Slow Dance Request. Tonight it's Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On," and really, can it get any better than that?

AHHHH! Following "Let's Get It On" is Massive Attack's "Protection," which is one of the best songs ever in the history of the world and pretty much makes me cry every time I hear it (both for aesthetic reasons and because it takes me back to this time in my life that was both amazing and really, really frustrating/sad/uncertain).

Make this dessert for the name alone.

We had some people over for dinner tonight, and we ate some fantastic food, if I do say so myself.

So first, there was some Essential Bakery rosemary ciabatta with homemade tomato-garlic-basil topping. And then there was this delicious orzo salad (seriously, it doesn't look like much from the recipe, but it is SO good) and asparagus and 3 different types of grilled steak (rib eye [the winner], top sirloin, and prime rib - Nate went a little nuts at the farmer's market last weekend, which is why we had the steak taste-test format).

And for dessert! I made beeramisu. Yes, beeramisu. It was worth making just for the name, even if it was gross, but it turned out to be delicious. I think the porter cuts the sweetness and richness of the cream/mascarpone mixture much better than the traditional brandy. Plus, you get to say, "For dessert, I made beeramisu!"

(I won't) Walk like an Egyptian.

So Japan was one thing - there are lots of people from his company there.

But I just found out that Nate gets to go to EGYPT for a week in June. Egypt!

I hate him and his stupid computer job.