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Meaningless Rant: Sith Squirrels

Posted on September 30th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Meaningless Rants, Squirrels, Star Wars.

It’s been some time since I did a bizarre squirrel post, but it wasn’t for lack of desire.  I needed something good.  And it’s hard to live up to my Jedi Squirrels post, my most popular entry in more than a year of blogging.

Today, I give you: Sith Squirrels.  Though I don’t think this squirrel looks evil enough to be Sith…maybe if they had gotten one of the albino squirrels off the U of M campus to play the part…  Still, it makes me wonder about the story here.  Is the squirrel writhing on the ground in agony a Jedi Squirrel?  Or perhaps a random victim?  A failed Dark Squirrel Apprentice?  Or perhaps is it the Squirrel Sith Lord being killed in its sleep by its apprentice?

 
[Image credit to Lightning Squirrel author Jeff Kipnis]

I couldn’t find much else in the way of Sith Squirrels, but I did find this: Lightning Squirrel.  Apparently, they’re making a comic about a squirel superhero who commands the power of lightning…it seems no one told them that it’s the bad guys who use Force lightning…  Looks like an evil squirrel, though, doesn’t it?  (Gavin, Garth, your opinions don’t count - you think all squirrels are evil.)

12 comments.

Meaningless Rant: Having the Flu

Posted on September 30th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Meaningless Rants.

What is having the flu?

Having the flu is laying in bed for 15 hours without really feeling like you’ve slept.

Having the flu is feeling good about yourself because you lost four pounds this week.

Having the flu is picking clothes off the floor to get dressed in even when you have a closet full of clean clothes.

Having the flu is pondering poetic ways that you can describe the feeling of holding vomit in your hands.

Having the flu is watching three hours of Melrose Place – not because you want to, but because your roommate wants to…and you feel guilty for infecting him with the flu.

Now you know how I’ve spent the last couple days of my life.  Pity me.

2 comments.

USA: NYC: SantaCon 1: Planning

Posted on September 23rd, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Costumes, NYC.

My new roomie recently asked me if I was planning to go to SantaCon this year.  If you, like me, were not born in New York City, you might not know that SantaCon occurs on a day in December when several hundred people dress up as Santa and go out barhopping around Manhattan together for eightteen hours straight.  Check out the SantaCon website or this NYC SantaCon 2006 YouTube video to learn more.

Sounded like fun to me, so I started thinking about it.  My roomie told me that I could be any kind of specialty Santa, too, such as a Hulk Santa or a wizard Santa or a stripper Santa.  Conversely I could also be an elf or a reindeer or a candy cane or whatever struck my fancy.

I pondered it.  “I could be a Jedi Santa,” I said.  He told me I was right on track, so I ran with that line or thinking.  “I could make a red velvet tunic…or something similar but cheaper if I can’t afford red velvet…and I could make the obi and tabbards out of something thick, fuzzy, warm, and Santa-like…”

I suppose I’ll need a red or green lightsaber now, too.  Red would fit the outfit better, but Santa’s not a Sith…

[My initial Santa Jedi costume sketch]

1 comment.

Meaningless Rant: Little Old Chinese Men

Posted on September 23rd, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Meaningless Rants.

An observation from the New York Table Tennis Club…

I don’t know what the Chinese national sport is, but it ought to be either ping pong or badminton.  Chinese people have tried to teach me to play both games, but with my limited eye-hand coordination, I have only managed to pick up the basics of ping pong.  In badminton, the paddle is too far from my hand for my brain to comprehend its location.  (I also feel that a magic wand becomes an extension of my hand much more easily than does a lightsaber.  Ah, the challenges I face in life…)

When waiting for my turn, I sometimes watch the other people that visit the club.  They are almost exclusively Chinese, and range in age from about eight to eighty.  Don’t judge by age, though – a kid half your size is likely to give a talented a player a run for his or her money.

What really fascinates me, though, is not the little Chinese girls that seem to have been bred for ping pong, but the decrepit old Chinese men.  I see them as they shuffle across the floor in pursuit of a stray ball – their feet set wider than their shoulders and stuck out at odd angles; their shoulders hunched over; their arms sticking out awkwardly at their sides.  They bend slowly, as if nursing aching joints, to pick up the little orange ball, and rise once again to make the arduous journey back across the room, where they settle themselves once again in front of a ping pong table.

Ready, the old man sets the ball skipping across the low net to the opposing side.  The ball is quickly returned.  The old man drops his center of gravity, swinging the paddle back and forth with agility and speed.  There’s a spark in his narrowed eyes as he bounces back and forth, his lips compressed in concentration.  The fierce competition goes on for several minutes, until, at last, someone misses, and the little old Chinese man goes shuffling across the room again.

0 comments.

USA: NYC: Six Flags Great Adventure

Posted on September 17th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, NYC, USA.

It was one of my defining moments.  My friend told me she could get Great Adventure tickets for $20.  I thought about that.  A great adventure…  I’m thinking Egypt…I’m thinking Tunisa…I’m thinking of climbing Mt. Kilimonjaro and going on Safari in South Africa…

Friend: “Do you even know what I’m talking about?”
Anna: “No, but I’m imagining a worldly excursion…”
Friend: “You can’t get tickets to that for $20.”
Anna: “I was thinking maybe a raffle ticket, and one lucky winner -”
Friend: “No.”
Anna: “…oh…”
Friend: “It’s an amusement park.”
Anna: “Cool!”

[The childhood obsession with cable cars never seems to fade…]

So we made plans to hit up Great Adventure, which is technically in New Jersey, and not New York…but Jersey is simply the place where we put all the things we don’t have room for in NYC.

[Oh, Funnel cake…you were a nutritious and delicious dinner.]

I have my roller coast obsession to deal with.  They have some great ones, and some disappointing ones.  They had the Kingda Ka, same as Cedar Point’s Top Thrill Dragster, but I just can’t go on that unless someone’s holding my hand.  (It goes from 0 to 128mph in 3.5 seconds.  In all my life, I have never screamed the way I did on that ride.)

[The Medusa at Six Flags Great Adventure]

That said, I absolutely loved the Medusa, a floorless roller coaster that flips riders upsidedown seven glorious times.  Fun, fun!  I also enjoyed the Superman ride, where you lay flat on your stomach for the duration of the ride.  It’s strange to stare at the grass as you climb up the first hill.

[Myself, at the entrance to the Superman ride]

It was a fun day, and well worth $20…but the regular price is $60, and to be honest, I would never pay $60 for that.  The lines are so long…in a full day, we got on no more than 10 rides.  (Althought the Spongebob Squarepants 3D ride, once it finally got working, did not disappoint!)

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Star Wars: Mara Jade Costume (part 1)

Posted on September 13th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Costumes, Mara Jade, Star Wars.

I have a habit, when I have free time, of hanging around the house and playing dress-up, which I was never really interested in doing as a little girl.  But hey, now my clothes are so much more fun!

My $26 sleeveless leather shirt finally came - I’m quite happy about that.  Along with my $31 leather pants, they bring a large portion of my Mara Jade costume together - I can’t wait for Halloween!  I’ll be wearing my knee-high leather space boots, of course, and carrying my Anakin lightsaber, which Mara eventually ends up with.  The red hair and green eyes are already taken care of - now all I need is a leather belt with thigh holster (I may make it, I may buy it off e-Bay) and a lightsaber clip (gonna check Radio Shack before I shell out for the Covertec clip.)  I will post pictures once everything comes together.

Also, rather randomly, I had to try on a corset with the leather pants…  I got a ride back to Brooklyn the other week when I got my leather pants, and somehow corsets came up…it’s Ren Fest time…and somehow the need to wear the leather pants with a corset.  It’s a bit tight to wear to a martial arts class, but here’s the look.

And then…no reason really…I guess this is the beginnings of a pirate costume.  You never know when you’ll need to dress up as a pirate.

4 comments.

Movies: Indiana Jones: Small Joys

Posted on September 13th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

My new roommie said he had a gift for me the other day.  He said he kept forgetting to bring it home, but that I would love it.  Then, last night, as I stumbled in, I saw, on the sole clear corner of my 12 sq. ft. desktop, this:

 
[Indy4 Media Kit]

An Indiana Jones 4 Media Kit.  Aimed at children, perhaps, but who cares?  It occupied me for the better part of an hour, as it detailed information about Indy artifacts, locations, and trivia.  The Trivia quiz I did quite well on, though I faltered on some of the Temple of Doom stuff, cause I watch that one less.  It’s not as good, and the Indy Girl is too annoying.

[Steven Spielberg, Karen Allen, Harrison Ford]

I rant about Indy Girls a lot.  Marion Ravenwood, in Raiders of the Lost Ark, was excellent.  I totally approve of her.  If I can’t have Indiana Jones, then I can accept her taking him.  But only her.  So I was delighted to find out today that Karen Allen returns to play the role of Marion Ravenwood in the now titled Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

[Harrison Ford’s back in the Hat again - I WANT that hat, btw.  I think I’m size 7 1/8 / Medium, if you’re shopping.)

And Crystal Skull…that likely means we’re going down to the Yucatan Penninsula to visit Mayan ruins…and I think we all know how happy that makes Anna.  (Maybe I missed my calling as an archaeologist?  Hmm…  There’s still my PhD to do.  And then I could be a university professor and teach archaeology, and I have some adventures on the side?)

1 comment.

USA: NYC: Thoughts on 9/11

Posted on September 12th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

I really forgot.

How can you forget when you live in NYC?  I don’t know.  No one mentioned it at work.  They didn’t make an announcement in the elementary school where I teach.  And my students, perhaps they were too young to understand.

It was about 10pm when we have a moment of silence at the end of our NY Jedi class, just before bowing out.  But it didn’t really connect.  It’s so big, and now, almost surreal.

And then, outside, a friend asked for a moment.  As we gazed upon the Towers of Light that spanned from ground to cloud in downtown Manhattan, he asked for a moment of silence to honor a friend who had died at 9/11.  A firefighter, who ran in to save lives…and gave up his own.

It was real.

It made me think about how they say New York came together in light of the tragedy.  New Yorkers have a horrible reputation across the country.  They’re known as hard, cold, bitter people who wouldn’t have the time of day for a dying man.

Here is one experience of what New Yorkers are to me:

I bought a table off Craig’s List and went to the Upper West Side in Manhattan to pick it up.  The man I bought it from said he was leaving New York because he couldn’t stand being around so many mean people anymore.  Then he went down the hall to borrow a cart from a friendly neighbor, and personally helped me get the table to the subway station and down onto my platform.  At my transfer, a man saw me struggling with the table and helped me carry it to my next platform.  Then, at my home station, a couple stopped and asked if I needed help.  I felt guilty, but gratefully accepted, as the man took one end.  Then a family approached me and offered help.  I insisted I was fine, but the father insisted and took the other end.  The men of the two families carried my new table up the stairs, and then up the hill, all the way to my apartment.  They shrugged off my profuse thanks and left only when I assured them that my roommate was home and would help me get the table upstairs.

These things happen all the time in New York.  People going out of their way to help perfect strangers.

And I started to think, maybe it’s because of 9/11 that New Yorkers are so great.  Maybe it brought them together, and has held them together.

And I like to think that those who gave their lives up that day would be proud to see the impact they made.  Because of the heroic sacrifice they made, New Yorkers are now willing to make little sacrifices each day.  Six years later, New York is full of heroes. 

It makes me want to be a hero, in any little way that I can.

1 comment.

USA: NYC: All-You-Can-Drink Floating Bar

Posted on September 11th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, NYC, USA.

[The Ventura - my floating bar]

After an exhausting seven-week summer program, one of my classmates, whom I now call Mr. New York, shared information about sailing tours in the New York Harbor.  The special thing about these trips about the Ventura, a historic 65-foot sailboat (and not a governor), is that they’re run by a Manhattan bar called dba, and they offer you all-you-can-drink win, beer, and champagne.

[Myself with Mr. New York - this man knows EVERYTHING in the City]

A few of us took Mr. New York up on this offer: $40 for a three-hour sunset sailing tour in the New York Harbor.  At 7:00pm, we found our way to the docks near the World Trade Center site in the Lower West Side of Manhattan.  I came armed with a large party tray of fruits and cheeses…mmm…

[Lady Liberty at sunset - my first time to see her since moving to NYC]

We went right past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island as the sun sank down, and then it was out under a brightly lit Verrazano Bridge, and then turned around and headed back up, enjoying seeing the stars, which can’t really be seen in the city due to light pollution.  We got in around 10:30pm, and it would have been the perfect hour to start drinking, but I think we just went home…  Oh well.

[From underneath the Verrazano Bridge - my apologies for the quality, but the darned boat kept moving]

0 comments.

USA: NYC: Star Wars in the City

Posted on September 9th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, NYC, Star Wars.

[Myself with Darth Maul]

It’s all the little things that make me happy, like seeing Darth Maul stride into the room with a hot pink rolling suitcase in tow.  I’m also thrilled when I find one of the City’s scattered R2D2 mailboxes.  (I also found the R2D2 trash can at a local Japanese toy store!)

[The R2D2 mailbox at Times Square]

My most recent, and perhaps most peculiar, discovery, however, was Darth Vader at the New York Renaissance Festival up in Tuxedo, NY.  I admit that it doesn’t quite qualify as “Star Wars in the City,” but I think he was from the City, so I’ll let it slide.

    
[Look closely: it’s Darth Vader with a flask of beer]

Darth Vader stood out there in 90* weather, the sun scorching down on his full costume as he battled with Obi-wan Kenobi around the festival.  A tube, which snaked out from under his helmet, enabled him to honor the Ren Fest tradition of inebriation.  Brilliant.

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