Blurbs From Eunee's Mind (and Life)

I have become a cat person. For some of my friends that statement alone will be hilarious considering I have a dog at home in Southern California that I adore and have always had dogs for pets. I've always been partial to dogs for that reason, and also because I thought I was allergic to cats. BUT, I guess there's always a turning point, eh? Now I have a cat, thanks to my boyfriend Alex, and I adore her too! How could I not?!? Do you see her little face in this picture? She has become my little baby, and I'm not allergic to her - go figure! She has quite a personality and is definitely a princess-type. Ha ha ha ha! Having her has made me understand where statements such as "curiosity killed the cat" and "satisfaction brought it back" have come about! [This picture was taken of her after she crawled into the empty Christmas tree box; she climbs into every nook and cranny, bag and box!] Alex teases me by saying she's just like me and my own curiosity.

I sure have respect for teachers and professors. I always knew that it was a lot of work and had utmost respect for my teacher friends. But this semester, that understanding has risen to a whole new level! I am doing a teaching practicum where I am teaching Masters students. And of course I'm not doing anything matter of fact like research methods....Nooo.... I'm teaching Policy. It can be somewhat abstract for the students and I'm not very good at filling up material for two hours. I always seem to fall short of my 2 to 2.5 hours obligation. Today I was supposed to teach for 2 hours, sans le professeur, but ended it at 1.5, which I'm sure the students didn't mind; it is, after all, the week of Thanksgiving. :D Nonetheless, I feel like it's quite a challenge. The topic tonight was politics and ideology with respect to social welfare policy. While it is definitely interesting for me, I'm not sure I conveyed that interest to the students. Ho hum. I guess tha

Inevitably, much to my protest, autumn has returned to Long Island. Of course I'm not foolish enough to believe that if I protest, God will delay the coming of autumn for just a while longer. Still, for about a month I have grumbled against the onset of autumn. Then I went to Bear Mountain which is towards the middle of New York state (I guess....or perhaps it qualifies as upstate New York) with my mom and my boyfriend; there I was reminded that autumn is something beautiful despite all my grumblings. I think God made all the colors so beautiful in autumn because the overcast skies and browning of the ground can become quite dreary. So here I'm sharing with you a photo that makes for a bright smile on such an autumn day. Protest as I may, we are quite in the middle of autumn here on the island, and cold winds signal the approach of winter. Most trees have shed their beautiful yellow, orange, amber, red, brown, and deep pink colors; they now stand naked, bracing for the wint

Okay, I meant the movie not the actual capitalism. I don't know if it's still out in the theatres but I thoroughly recommend that people go and see it. I know a lot of people do not like Michael Moore and the messages in his movies, but I think that if you want to appropriately argue against him you should at least see his movies to see what exactly they're about. Hearsay doesn't sum it up. As for me, I like his movies but I hadn't watched them until this year. So I'm catching up: Sicko, Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11. I still need to see Roger and Me.

I know that's a funny title for a blog entry, but seriously, I had a successful summer. Now what constitutes a successful summer? I think a successful summer is enjoying the weather, having fun, and accomplishing what goals one needs to in the 3 months before school starts (obviously the school starts bit doesn't apply to those who are not in school). But I'm sure we all have goals we want to accomplish over the summer months. What were my goals aside from enjoying the summer, which might for all intents and purposes might be my last "relaxing" summer for a long time? Studying for comprehensive examinations. I didn't study as hard as I had intended, but I did study. And anxiety rose as the day of the exam drew near. Of course the actual date of the examination was at the very end of my summer so I didn't have much time to just relax. But in any event, I took my exam on August 20th and found out my results a week later. While my results were highly satisfac

These days I've been finding myself at Barnes and Noble A LOT! No, this is not a paid advertisement for the place nor is it even a voluntary one. I just like the smell of new books and the quiet atmosphere, as well as occasional wafts of coffee; in fact, I prefer it a lot more over Starbucks. So I'm here again and really not able to concentrate on my research paper that I've been working on for the past 2 days.... And as is most likely to happen, my eyes started to wander. They finally found these two women - friends or family, who knows - laughing hysterically. One was laughing so hard she was wiping her eyes with a tissue. And it brought a smile to my face as I thought about how just last night I was doing the same thing with a friend on our way out of the store to go home. She was sharing this funny book with me, so we lingered at a table browsing through this book; and of course subsequently, we started laughing. And as I watch these two women flip through books togethe

I think Spring has put me on hold long enough. I have been in cold weather for far too long. I don't know what I was thinking when I applied to graduate school here on Long Island, but I guess I just didn't think far enough. I felt like I could handle this cold-weather thing; I mean, it was a new experience, so why not? Ha ha ha ha. How silly of me. Here's a picture of our last snowstorm: It is nearing the end of March and we still have weather in the 40s. I must remind you: I'm from Southern California where low 40s is rare and that's usually our winter. And if I really want to think about what I've been used to my entire life, I'm from Sub-Saharan Africa where I really don't think it ever got to the low 40s in my entire 11 years there! It does reach 50 on an odd day or two here, where I can't believe I'm saying it's "warm"! But it sure doesn't beat that warm ray of sunshine and at least 60-degree temps.... I'm definitely n

In the past few months I have been stretched in ways I never knew I could be stretched. And I have been stressed in ways I never realized I could be either. And when I'm stressed, I have stomach problems. Needless to say, I've been having lots of stomach problems this month. I must transfer all my stress and tension into my neck, shoulders, and stomach - not that you really wanted to know this, but I think they are common stress symptoms for people out there. So I'm convinced it's not TMI (too much information). :) I've also been having a lot of "woe is me" attitude, in the sense of second-guessing myself, not knowing how I'm going to handle everything that's overwhelming, and just wanting to escape it all. My friend Monicca told me it was the ostrich syndrome. She was referring to one aspect of my life, but little does she know it was how I was feeling about almost all aspects of my life, save one. BUT, although I may have been down, I am certainl

I know there are times when you don't want to see a movie that makes you think. Like this weekend I'll probably watch "Night at the Museum" because I want to laugh. I've been reading and thinking a lot so I'd rather do without the thinking bit this weekend. BUT, if you have a hankering for a good movie that's not very long and just really well done, that just leaves you thinking, I recommend watching "The Syrian Bride". I had heard some things about the area this movie was shot in, but this movie really provoked me into thinking about how policies and politics never take into consideration the people they affect. Not only does this movie make me think about that, but the movie takes you through so much as a viewer and then makes you realize that everything in the movie happens in ONE day. So watch it! And then tell me what you think of it!

I meant to do a separate Christmas and New Year blog, but I'm going to combine them considering Christmas seems long gone and 2009 has just begun. I'll divvy up this blog into two parts: old and new. Old = Christmas 2008, and new = 2009/New Years). The beautiful Christmas tree picture here was my favorite Christmas tree this year because it was decorated by someone very special to me. (I hope you don't mind that I used it on my blog, sweets. Hee hee.) :^] OLD Christmas 2008 was spent traveling after being sick on Christmas Eve - not the most fun way to spend the holidays. And I am convinced that Christmas 2009 will be spent with the company of loved ones (or at least a loved one) because I don't want to spend it on my sofa in New York, curled up with a blanket and sick. But then again, it gave me time to think about what the year has been like for me. I have had a whirlwind of a 2008 with plenty of ups and many more downs. Still, I have life and I have love; and albeit