an allergic reaction, a funeral and a flaming car engine later

I have an apartment to move into this Thursday, research to conduct and TA office hours to schedule. I apologize for sacrificing proper grammar for parallel structure. It looks like living out my vision of myself as a grad student has just been shifted back a few years to a present that's coming a little too quickly.

For the past few days I was in Vancouver for my cousin Venus's very lovely wedding on the beach of Victoria Island. I haven't seen most of my Canadian relatives since my mother had her heart surgery a few years ago, but my cousins and their friends/other cousins are just as wackily entertaining and wonderful as I remember them to be, although it's awkward being the youngest and only person in college. I had a day's layover back home before leaving again. Just yesterday I returned from orientation advisor training, which theoretically qualifies me to indoctrinate freshmen into joining the programs sponsored by APA Student Services  introduce new students to ways they can involve themselves in campus life. Somehow my LA neighborhoods presentation group and I need to fix up our Powerpoint by Sunday as Joyce and I basically had to improvise everything from the photos on her camera and the magic that is Wikipedia. Our group was collectively whacked pretty badly by what I nickname the Great Frying Pan of Doom, i.e. the whims of fate: one person injured herself on vacation in Hawaii and had a horrible allergic reaction to the medication, the second went to her grandfather's funeral and the third was on the way to our training when his car engine mysteriously caught on fire. Aside from these assorted calamities, the training session was quite enjoyable and a nice, temporary reprieve from home, where the water pipe in front of our house just randomly exploded and Dad's stairlift literally fell apart the day I left (they're fixed now, thankfully). Here's to hoping that orientation itself runs more smoothly...

I swear, I'm deducting what I need from my next paycheck to Carbonfund.org as penetance for all of the carbon dioxide emissions from my recent air travel. My mother wants me to quit my current job writing trivia questions, but I'm really torn about sticking with it as I really like the company or possibly adding a third research committment to my schedule. I haven't even started classes, yet I'm feeling behind already with figuring out how to update the CIRCLE (Critical Issues in Race, Class and Leadership Education) curriculum, although I randomly discovered that my dad's ex-roommate is the Rush Limbaugh of the Asian Pacific American community.  I don't even know what else I'm exactly doing outside of classes, which makes scheduling my current committments more difficult - probably some tutoring/mentoring, the career connections program, maybe more admissions volunteering?  I feel like a weak parody of the model minority stereotype I'm supposed to be criticizing, while my fellow TAs (*cough* you know who you are, laleia) are terribly nifty social activist types who actually know what they're doing.  And now I have this random urge to design that "Chairman Mao does not approve of glitter" shirt inspired by the brilliant
azdak to procrastinate against all of the messages piling up in my e-mail.

Really, I can't believe I only have 3 days before I'm really headed back to college.

Anyway, I'm the lucky girl who gets to drive her father to a 6 AM colonoscopy tomorrow, so good night!