Carnival Town

My flowers in full bloom

So I went to Maastricht on Saturday, turns out the big parade was on sunday, so too bad i missed that. But, what i did see was a lot of fun. Lots of bands, and the Prince (someone in the city is selected to be prince and/or princess) and what i've gathered, not sure if it's correct, is the prince starts the carnaval by placing a vegetable wreath on a statue. You can go to my picasa website to see the pictures from the Maastricht Carnaval.

Well, tomorrow I'm heading off to Utrecht for the day, and spending the night in Amsterdam to wake up and explore. Also, I made an appointment to get a tattoo in Amsterdam saturday in the afternoon so I'm super excited about that! I checked out a few places in Nijmegen, and actually made an appointment with one, but it turned out they didn't have any available until April, and I would've waited, but I figured since I was planning on going to Amsterdam anyway I'd check and see if they had an appointment available.
Well, today I did another lab rat test, but this one is a little more involved than any others I've done. It takes 9 appointments, 30-1 hr. tests each time. Today's took 2 hours and involved an MRI scan. They didn't mention seeing any tumors or anything, so I assume I'm healthy. But, at the end I get 70 euros (89$), which is very very exciting! Oh, I almost forgot the part where they told me before I did the test, how there was a chance the wire behind my teeth could heat up during the MRI...and that's what the panic button they gave me was for.

On sunday was the 65 commemoration of when the U.S. dropped the bomb on Nijmegen thinking it was Germany. On an elementary school, in the center of the city. I forgot to mark the date on my calendar and so missed the prayer, silent walk, and commemoration. But, on monday, the next day I went and took some pictures of the wreaths placed around the statue of the swing set to remember the bombing. Those pictures I'll post below and also on my picasa account. I hear some people are having difficulties with finding my picasa, so just in case, click here and it will lead you to that website so you can see all my pictures. In the future, there's a link if you scroll down and on the left side of the page there's a few links, one says 'my pictures' if you click on that, it will take you straight there as well.

Not too much else has been going on around here. The weather is dreary, it hasn't rained in a couple of days, but always threatens to.

This is the start of the carnaval in nijmegen, i kid you not, i lost count of how many police vans after counting 20, not cars, vans full of politie shuffled out to patrol the city the friday before carnaval began. Many of the police were undercover, dressed in regular clothes and blended in with everyone else.

All the best!

p.s. title song by Norah Jones

Carnival of Sorts

Just a quick update...I have a break starting this friday lasting till March 1st, it's technically spring break for us, but really it's two weekends and a week of carnaval. Huge parties, and festivities that lead up to Ash Wednesday, where on that wednesday the Dutch eat bread and herrings (fish). I've found out that one of the best and biggest carnavals is in Maastrict, and it kicks off on Saturday. So, I'm planning on heading down there (furthest down south in the netherlands you can get). Maybe go to Den Bosch (they have a pretty big carnaval too) on Monday. It's pretty much isolated to the southern part of the Netherlands since that's the Catholic part of the country.

My tulips are coming along nicely. You can't tell, but the third one is starting to bloom.

I made pop-ups, and boy did they pop.

Goede Nacht!
p.s. title song by R.E.M.

Love Like Winter

Happy Valentines Day!

So, I went to the market today, it was super crowded, probably because it was valentines day, of course it's always pretty crowded, so who knows. Of course the flower shops and stands were all really busy, and there were some people filling heart-shaped balloons with helium (a picture of that below).
I also got some groceries in the center today, found some super glue to fix my poor teapot lid I broke...while drunk. I have a habit of breaking things when I'm not sober, like the 2 cute glasses I bought, actually bought 3 but broke 2, and my ceramic saimin spoon. There sounds like there could be a lesson here somewhere?
But anyway, not long ago I bought some soup that was on sale, and I just glanced at it, and thought the picture was of mushrooms so I bought it. The stupid part is, I know what mushroom is in Dutch (champignon) and could've checked, but just grabbed it...anyway, I brought it home and translated it, it's oxtail soup. Yuck. So, from now on, I'm very careful what I buy and make sure to read it before I buy it.
Also bought a really cute scarf (picture below), they finally got new ones! Or maybe it's just because I've been going to the market on monday afternoon, and this time I went saturday mid-day. I finally got some gebaken bananen met suiker poeder (fried bananas with powdered sugar), I've been wanting to try them every time I go to market, but I haven't had the change, or whatever, but this time I did. Soo worth it.
I typed in 'love' to come up with a name for this post (for Valentines Day) in my itunes, filtered to only look at songs and it came up with 387 items. Wow. So, I picked one of the top 5 I saw, and it seems to fit. Especially since I hear Utah has snow right now, and I'm sure that's where most of the people who're reading this are.
Anyway, here's some pictures of my day so far!

Anyone need any paraphanelia?
Bike Locks Galore
Celebrating Valentines Day, balloons for everyone!
Oooo, these are dangerous--not sure what they are, Roomboter (butter) somethings (from a bakery). Very creamy, just melt in your mouth, but named butter somethings, you know they can't be good for you, & I feel very guilty afterwards : /My new scarf!
A wall hanging I got for 1 euro...made in Maastricht

Doei!

p.s. title song by A.F.I.

Long Way Home

Me and Alice, before she left back home for Taiwan

I booked my ticket back home!
I'll be back July 16th at 10:35 pm. Unfortunately I couldn't find a ticket for a decent price the same way I came, and had to add another stop. So, I'm flying from Amsterdam to Munich, Munich to Chicago, and then Chicago to Salt Lake. It'll be a long flight, but the layovers are pretty good, and I'm leaving in the afternoon (1:20pm) from Amsterdam, and since it takes 2 hrs to get there, it's a pretty good time for me.
Classes have been going really well for me, I only have three this quarter, and then 3 more added on for next quarter. I changed a few courses around, so now I'm taking: Gender Theories and Equality Policies, The Interaction between Science and Religion, Multiculturalism in North America, Egyptian Religious Texts, American Modernism, and Digital Art and Culture.
I love the Science and Religion course, if I could I'd major in Theology at the U, but they don't offer it, I'm glad I can take that and Egyptian Religion here. It's interesting being here and hearing about the different majors that are available in Europe. You can get a bachelors, or masters in American Studies, also Spanish Studies. You can get a masters in Science and Religion, studying in depth religion combined with whatever branch of Science (physics, biology, etc.) There seem to be a lot more options here.
I've written a little bit about how most people here know at least two languages, many know more. Dutch people know English and Dutch of course, but also some know German and French. It's amazing to me how many languages the average person knows, one of my exchange student friends was telling me how she wants/and needs to learn another language for her masters study. She's Hungarian (her native language) and is very good with English, and knows enough French to get by, but to her this wasn't very much. I tried to remind her that she knows two more languages than most people I know, but I don't think I convinced her. But also, I noticed how a lot of the courses you can take are in different languages. There are classes in Spanish, German, French, English, and Flemish (Belgian-Dutch), and that's not including language courses.
I bought a ticket to go to Brussels, Belgium for March 7th, just for the day. There looks like there's a lot to see in Belgium, I've been before to Brussels, but it's been a while.
Well, I've included a couple of my favorite pixar shorts (I do not own the rights), just for fun!






Tot Zo!

p.s. title song by Bruce Springsteen

Corporate Takeover

Making new friends

I came across this and thought it was pretty funny...enjoy!

Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and of the Great Duchy of Luxembourg, hereby announces that the world is now under her One Holy Reigniness, in this royal bull henceforth known as the "Unam Sanctam Reginam". Her Majesty's Dutch efficiency and rationality however require her to patiently do so piece by piece, and therefore she will modestly start with Great Britain and the United States of America. Both nations will lose sovereignty from October 1st 2007, which will give the Queens future beloved servants time to get whatever holiday they'll miss most out of their system.

1. So say goodbye to your holidays. They will be replaced. August will have five days appointed to be the antepenantepenultimate, the penantepenultimate, the antepenultimate, the penultimate and the ultimate Fourth of July respectively, but in return you Americans may never mention it again. And for Britain: we'll let the whole Guy Fawkes thing slide, all right? We don't know what on earth that one is all about, even though we saw the film with the guy with the mask on.
Christmas will be canceled. I'm sorry, we're left winged liberal atheist bastards, so suck it up. Santa Claus is an overweight alcoholic created by Coca Cola; you will from now on celebrate Sinterklaas, a holiday in which gifts are not abundant, but poetry and humour is. There is just no humor in the Baby Jesus, is there?

2. We will speak English all the time for you, as a hollow gesture to show our love for you, but especially to feed our superiority complex. But, as you may have noticed, we will gingerly swap between English and American. We will overpronounce our "s", make mistakes all the time, and still feel intellectually superior and all languagy. On sunny days we will say "Aluminum" and on rainy days "Aluminium". Because we don't care, and neither will you, once rule 7 becomes in effect.

3. We, the Queen, were hot when we were younger. Just so you know it.

4. You will employ all that awesome nuclear power in order to get Germany to give the Dutch their bicycles back.

5. Nobody is allowed to use the word "too" anymore. Everybody will say "also" every other sentence. The words "dude", "mate", "buddy" and "bro" will be prohibited also.

6. Beers will be served chilled (not lukewarm or half-frozen) and there must be a head of foam on them two digits thick. They will be served in civilized amounts, so you can at least pretend not to be alcoholics. And you can go visit whores, they will be legal. Stag parties, however, will be punished with jail for life.

7. Marijuana will be legalised. Yes, We, the Queen of the Netherlands, knew you were all waiting for that one.

8. A month after rule 7 is in effect, we expect you all to be in such a state that you shan't notice rules 8, 9 and 10. Rule 8 is that you will pay 60% of taxes and give up organised religion.

9. Your women will start wearing less make up. I mean, really, come on.

10. Gays will not only get the full wedding and adoption rights, they will also have a Gay Pride Festival on the Thames, the Clyde and the Mississippi. Naked. And straight women are required to come and cheer at all the man goodies. And all the men are required to sulk a bit and prod at their own bellies also.

11. New York will be New Amsterdam again, Istanbul will be Constantinople, Tucson will be pronounced "Tuck-Son" and Worcester as "Were-chester".

12. Dutch raves will be held every other weekend to celebrate freedom, the queen, football and DJ Tiesto.

13. You will treat "van" and "de" and "van der" like they ought to be treated: they're prepositions. So no capital letters, and they're skipped in phone book listings, because looking up a Mr. van der Bilt under the V in an English and American phonebook is like trying to look up the direction "At the corner of Main and Capital Street" under the letter A.

14. You will learn to love universal education and health care and efficient trains.

We expect no resistance, since we are the pinnacle of reason and hedonism. We really don't understand why all other nations are so emotional and religious. Oh yes, and did we mention we are not nationalistic at all?

Doei!

p.s. title song by Against All Authority

Adding to the Noise

Hey everyone.
I don't think I mentioned this before, but since it happened today, I thought it'd be worth mentioning. This time I was at school when it happened, and was very surprised that I could still hear it. There's an alarm that sounds in the city the first monday of every month (much like Kaua'i) but instead of a Hurricane alert, it's one operated by the city council as a National (er...rather city) Emergency Alarm. I guess Europe (the Netherlands) history with war and bombings has left them a bit paranoid. My only question is, what happens when the alarm sounds for real? I definitely think exchange students (and new residents!!!!) should know what to do & be aware of the alarm in case of...anything. I have no idea where it actually goes off, but it sounds really super close to Hoogeveldt (the complex i live in) and was harder to hear at the University, but still was audible.
I made a fabulous pasta sauce tonight, so I thought I'd share...
Need: Regular pasta sauce, Tomatoes, Eggplant (good substitute for meat--fills you up), Paprika (Bell Peppers), Onion, Garlic, Oil
You saute garlic and onion in a little oil, add pasta sauce and chopped tomatoes, eggplant (small pieces) and paprika.
Seasonings: basil, salt, pepper, paprika, cheyenne pepper (red hot chili powder would be better--and even better would be chopped red hot peppers).
Add a little red wine and a tad water. Yum.
I had an English Old to New course today, and so discussed starting with the Anglo-Saxons arriving in England and talked about how widespread Celtic, Welsh...etc. were. Anyway, it reminded me of (and I don't think I wrote about this) how when I was at Allie's place for Christmas we watched a Scottish program and to my surprise, Allie's parents had to put subtitles on to understand it. Of course, even with the subtitles I still had difficulty (a lot of slang words, and just plain words I had no idea what they meant).
Well I'm off to go see the Curious Case of Benjamin Button--which, at first I thought was a really bad spoof movie. Turns out, it's a serious movie...we'll see afterwards. I'm not too awfully excited, but I think I need to see for myself to judge. If you haven't seen it, here's the trailer:

I'll let you know.

Tot Zo!
p.s. title song by Switchfoot

New Way to Fly

I found out that yesterday was the Queen's birthday. So...

Happy Belated Birthday to Queen Beatrix
of the Nederlands.She was born in 1938.
I guess a lot of people thought she'd abdicate the throne yesterday to her eldest son, Prince Willem-Alexander. In England, everyone knows that when the King/Queen dies, the next in line takes the throne. In the Netherlands, the throne is usually abdicated and passed on once the Queen/King gets older.
The Netherlands has had a Queen since 1890 (there've been 3 Queens), it would be quite a change to switch back and have a King. If you watched the youtube I posted with the comedian talking about Queen's Day, you'll know that Queen's Day doesn't fall on Queen Beatrix's birthday, but on her mother's (former Queen Juliana of the Netherlands), she chose not to change it out of respect for her mother. Since Queen's Day is a national holiday, it would be interesting to see whether or not the date would be changed when the Prince becomes King.
Tonight I learned how to make a variation on the traditional Dutch stomppost.
In one pan you boil potatoes, in the other boil sauerkraut with, we used, pineapple juice (you could also use white wine or apple juice) and raisins. After the potatoes are done, you drain and mash them and add sour cream. Then add the sauerkraut mix and pinneapples. It doesn't really sound all that appealing, but it was really good.
Tomorrow I start classes again, I have two courses, and I'm going to check out a third in case one of the others doesn't work out. Hopefully everything will work out with my courses...I'm booking my ticket next week, and we'll know for sure when I'll be coming back home! 'Till then...

Doei!

p.s. title song by Garth Brooks

Black Magic Woman

The title doesn't really fit here, but it's a good song, and well, you'll get the idea.
So, I had this premonition/deja vu the other day. I've had two since I've been here. I like to think of them as signs that I'm where I'm supposed to be. The first one I had here was just an image of my closet I have in my room. The second one, on wednesday was a conversation with the girl I was showing around the center. And so I knew exactly what I was supposed to say. I've found that if I don't say what it is I do in the premonition (which isn't the right word) then it goes away very quickly. Anyway, for me they're very comforting since, like I said, I tend to think of them as fate in a way. Plus, I've had at least one with every major decision I've made (jobs, moving, school...) and look forward to having them.
Tomorrow I'm meeting with a dutch friend for dinner, she's going to teach me to make a kind of stomppost a very dutch meal. It's with mashed potatoes, leeks or spinanch, and usually a very dutch sausage. But, since I don't eat sausage (and she's teaching me so i can make a dutch meal for my friends who're coming--who're vegetarian)...she's going to teach me another way to make it. A lot of the dutch meals come from what farmers used to eat and so tend to be pretty big portions and very practical meals.
So I'm off to pick up some wine and dessert, hoping I get there in time before the shop closes.

Tot Ziens!

p.s. title song by Fleetwood Mac who're much better than Santana

I Don't Feel Like Dancin'

Cecilie's Goodbye Party

So, orientation started this week. I decided not to sign up again, but everyone's invited to all the parties...the fun parts anyway, I've already sat through the welcome speeches and all that, plus this way I don't have to pay!
Today is the day that everyone who's still left leaves to go back home : (
I met with Kata today and had a goodbye lunch and coffee, and I'm going to a movie tonight with Bart to say goodbye. And of course there's a party tonight...not sure where yet.
Keisha's friend (Rebecca) came into town on tuesday, we met wednesday and I showed her around the center, got refills for her international phone, pretty basic stuff so at least now she doesn't feel quite as lost as I know I did when I first got here. Later on, I fixed dinner since she didn't have groceries or fridge space or anything then.
Fall semester there were a TON of peope from Spain, this semester, there seems to be a lot of Americans, and Greeks. When I first walked in pieckens (bar in my complex) on tuesday night, it looked nothing like I'm used to it looking. Most people were all in groups and sitting down. Piecken's mostly is a dancing bar, there are places to sit, but hardly anyone ever does. It was kind of a flashback to how we all were when we first got here too.
They were all divided into their groups a few hours before, and so of course mostly stuck with those people. Later on though all the people who're staying a year showed up and people started to mingle more. I'm kind of disappointed that all the Americans didn't seem to mingle much at all. Hopefully they will later on. For orientation everyone's going to amsterdam on saturday. I talked to some mentors and they offered to let me come along for 20 euros, but I checked train prices and it would be cheaper to just go straight there. Plus, they're stopping at the water dam first, and I've already been there.
So, I'm thinking I'll just meet up with everyone when they get to amsterdam, and spend some the morning on my own checking everything out. I didn't get very long the first time I was there, and of course it's harder to explore a city with a big group. The only problem is I don't have much money, so I probably won't go to any museums or anything like that this time, just get to know the city a little bit. Sam and Jace when they visit want to go to amsterdam, so i figure we'll probably do the anne frank house and all of that when they're here.
I met with my coordinator today to let her know what courses I'm taking this semseter. I still need to go around and get signatures from all my professors saying I finished the courses from last semester...so...the paperwork and stress begins again. But! I'm really looking forward to my courses this semester, I think I can actually get some credit for most of them too.
Oh, another of my flatmates is moving out pretty soon (he's been here 6 years), so we should be getting a new person pretty quick here. I'm kind of hoping it's another exchange student, that would be kind of fun! It sounds like a lot of people like in Hoogeveldt this time, (since there's a lot of Americans, and they're mostly all ISEP students too)...last semester most people were in Lent, so that'll be a fun change of pace!
For a laugh check this out...it's the British comedian John Fealey talking about 'Holland'. Mostly about Albert Heijn (a grocery store).

here's the initials he's talking about:
And I dunno what he's talking about, I hardly ever see the sun here, I was excited to see it in England!

This one is about Koninginnedag (Queensday), same comedian:

Tot Zo!

p.s. title song by Scissor Sisters

World Spins Madly On

A section of my university's library during finals week.
Wow, it's been a while since I last wrote. There's a lot to tell, hopefully I can remember it all. I haven't even mentioned my Berlin trip much. Well...pictures are up on picasa for those of you who'd like to take a look. A few explanations I'm sure are needed...there are a few pictures with bears. Bears are Berlin's mascot of sorts, and these colorful bears are all around the city. I'm thinking they might be reminents from the Olympics in Berlin, since Utah had all those painted, what were they, buffalo? around the city when we hosted. I think there's still a few up at the museum across from the capital. But, anyway, I think that might be why they were all around the city.
The coolest part of the trip was the Berlin Wall. We (Kata and I) went to the East Side Gallery, which is the longest stretch of the Berlin Wall that is protected by the government and cannot be torn down. Of course they've cut some sections out of it so people can get from one side to the other (it's next to a river, and where ports are). I was very disappointed, although not suprised to see much graffiti and stupid tourists who've written their name on the wall. One that particularly caught my eye was a tag that was blacked out, and written over it was 'gay'. When the Berlin Wall is a testiment to everything horrible that happened in WWII, and knowing that many people who were homosexual were killed for being gay, it's disgusting to see that crap on the Wall. It's too bad people are so ignornant. But, in fall of this year, the artists who orginally painted the Wall, are coming back to repaint. Only a couple of the original artwork are still visible under the rest of the tagging and graffiti. It was interesting to see just small segments of the Wall still standing around neighborhoods, and around the city. Oh! When I was at the East Side Gallery, there were some construction men who were drilling pieces of the Wall out and placing them by this gate that connected both sides together (they were on the East, we were on the West)...so I took a few pieces. I think they were probably going to sell the pieces to touristy shops (since a lot of places you could buy pieces...and actually i did that a day before we went to the East Side Gallery), but Kata was convinced they put them there so people could take them (otherwise, why put them by a gate that people can take them??) So we did.
We also saw the Holocaust Memorial, the Brandenburger Gate, the Reichstag (Parliament building) where we went inside and climbed up the glass dome on top of the building--great view--we made it just 30 mins before sundown. And of course Checkpoint Charlie, where I got my favorite souvenir. I got stamps in my passport of all the historical borders of Germany at the time of WWII. So, I have 15 stamps total, from the Soviet Union, Germany (DDR), the U.S., and France. All from different checkpoints in the country.
Also saw where Hitler's bunker used to be, just a parking lot now, but it does have a marker (quite a big one) explaining what it was (and actually wasn't anywhere close to the Holocaust Memorial), went inside the Dome Cathedral and down into the crypt. Very creepy place, a lot of caskets with crowns on top, a lot of royalty. Saw the Charlottenburg Palace, and lots lots more.
The first day it seemed like we went to so many places, and we couldn't imagine having to use 3 days to see all of Berlin, but, the last day we were still running around trying to see all we could, and ended up even missing some because of closing time.
Berlin was by far the most graffitied place I've been, the streets were the most trashed. That, plus they don't put salt or powder down for the sidewalks, but instead put down gravel, so they were very icy, and made us realize how good we had it in nijmegen. I'm sure mostly it has to do with the netherlands having a huge population of people biking and the streets have to be cleaned, but, nijmegen is very good about keeping the city clean and safe.
The trip was great! There was so much history in one place, it would've taken a very long time to see it all. I had wondered why, when Allie had told me it was one of her favorite cities and she'd been there 4 or 5 times why she'd go back so many times. And, we didn't even go in any museums, in fact, the only places we actually spent some time in was the Dome Cathedral and the Reichstag. The rest of the time we were running around madly trying to get from one place to another.
All of my close friends, except for one (living in lent--not convenient) have left back to their home countries. I plan to go to the parties and get togethers & of course the excursions the international office have for the newcomers next week. But, Anna's dutch mentor (with this get in touch with the dutch organization she did) has kind of adopted me as her own and has offered to teach me how to cook dutch foods, and to show me some pretty cool places that I haven't been before. So, I've lost some, but gained some too. I'm all registered for my courses, and am very glad that none of them conflict. I'll be taking, Conflict?Contrast?Contact?The Interaction of Science and Religion, Egyptian Religious Texts, Multiculturalism in North America, American Modernism, Greek Ancient History, and Gender Theories and Practices. The bad news is I have at least one course per day every week. The good news is two of them are quarter classes. One starts in Feb and ends in April, and another begins in April and ends in June. I'm very happy with them all, they sound very interesting, and I think I can make a good case for getting credit for all back home.
Oh, I almost forgot. I missed one of my finals. There was a lot of miscommunication and confusion...at first I thought the test was on friday, but a friend told me tuesday night that it was actually on wednesday. So, I studied like mad, and we were going to meet to go together, but I didn't see her, sent an sms, but didn't get a reply. I went to our classroom and no one was there, went to the secretary's office and she wasn't in. I checked online to make sure I was in the right place, and it turns out I wasn't...I ran across campus and the door to the testing room was locked. Long story short, I missed the final, but luckily the professor is letting me retake it for spring semester. Thankfully! I passed two of my courses, am still waiting to hear from two, and missed the last.
I think I've mentioned, or maybe not, two of my friends from back home are coming to visit me in March! They're going to go to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day, and I'm considering joining them. The only problem of course is money, everything will be much more expensive during that time, plus, Ireland is the most expensive place I've ever been. I payed 8.50 (11$) for a small, personal pizza and a soda (which was the average price).
Something scary happened to one of my friends a few nights ago. She was walking to a club from the train, or something like that, and noticed a guy was following her. I guess he tried to attack her, so she slapped him, but it didn't work well enough, so she just kept on hitting him and managed to chase him off. She said he was running when it was all over. She's a tough girl, obviously can take care of herself, but still pretty scary.
I've recently acquired some exciting new toys! I got a tea warming thing, that has a candle underneath, it works pretty good in keeping my new tea kettle warm. I also got a cute little tea bag dish shaped like a tea kettle with pictures of berries on it that says vruchtenthee (fruit tea). Oh! I also found lychees here! I was very excited about that! And got some hungarian and dutch traditional recipes I'm excited to try out. Anna left me some hungarian paprika seasoning (very very good & spicy stuff).
If any of you are interested, I discovered a couple of dutch artists I like, Anouk...and De Staat. Anouk is a pop/folk artist, and De Staat is more of the rock influence. Both sing in english. I know De Staat is pretty popular here, I'm not sure about Anouk, but they're both worth looking into.
I also discovered The Weepies, and really like their style of music. Here's a music video of the title song by the Weepies, it's not the original, but for the 'Across the Universe' movie, but I like the ending better in this one:

Congrats to all of you who managed to read this far! Well, I'm off to go get groceries with my lab rat money and get a new lid for my tea pot since I broke it.

Doei!
p.s. title song by The Weepies