i woke up around 7 this morning to clean my previously abandoned fish tank and to repot my plants. the repotting was successful, the cleaning of the tank was successful…. but what followed… oh the horror.

i set up a little hose from my sink to fill my tank with water– but at about 3/4ths filled, i heard a creak. the stand was buckling under the weight of the water. suddenly, i was in a mad rush to empty the tank while trying to keep it stable so that the whole thing wouldn’t smash and spill 30+ gallons of water all over the apartment.

the tank is safe now, but the stand is a mangled mess of steel and wheels. i nearly had a heart attack during the whole ordeal. i’ll have to pick up a new stand for the tank– something much sturdier– and mebbe even a little prettier.

after the exam, after the mid-morning tennis, after the oh-so-riveting lecture on the joys of immunohistochemistry, and after the mad rush to buy groceries and clean the house, a few of the kids from the class came over for dinner, drinks, and sex in the city. we mixed pretty pink cosmopolitans (mmm…lime!) and ate thai food(thank you, susan!) and slices of brownie cheesecake topped with pink candies and pink candles (happy birthday, cat!).

my jujubes are ripening! woo hoo! i’m gonna have to keep an eye on them so i can pick them asap.

the basil is infested with little bugs. gotta spray with the homemade pesticide i’ve been brewing.

all the strange bugs are attracted to my lemon tree, but the wasp hasn’t been around for a couple days. whee!

it’s day 2 of the back-to-school-bonanza and so far, i’ve managed to get to the courts a little and study a little, and pack lunchy. we’ll see how long i can keep this up. my back is aching from sitting in lecture all day, and my neck is stiff and unhappy. the exercise hasn’t helped yet…perhaps i need a neck-specific stretching sport.

since i’ve been gone, bugs have invaded my plants. wormy wormy in my basil, wierdo-wasp in my tomatoes, and huge scary wasp [see photo] hanging out on my tree. apparently with a fat ol’ brown caterpiller. eew. there are a few other tiny flying things, but i’m not sure which are beneficial, and which are pests. unfortunately, wasps are supposed to be good for your garden– they eat the bad bugs. they also freak me out. i might need a high powered hose to water my plants without opening the screen door. ha!

my summer is winding down… and i’m not done playing yet! the weather is still beautiful. there’s no reason to be inside all day. but… the good thing is that i get to go shopping to get ready for school. my fridge is stocked with food and hopes that i’ll maintain good habits until at least december.

and now an update from the garden:

my lemon tree has new blossoms! so pretty. i’ll take photos as soon as i let go of my fear of the giant wasp that is stalking my balcony.

also… my watermelon plant is growing nicely. the vines are getting longer and heavier, so that they’re hanging down over the pot and then snakeing back up at the ends with a little twirly-twirl. oooh.

the flowers of my strawberry blossoms are falling off, and i’m hopeing it’s because my strawberries are growing. there’s a few little green ones that i have hope for… as long as no scary pests come after them.

my teeny tiny tomato garden is looking fuller and prettier every day. i’m wondering if i need a trellis for them to climb… or if i just let them run wild like my watermelon babies.

two days ago, i came home from shopping to find a blue screen. my laptop refused to boot. after 700 attempts to reset the computer and an anguished call to dell, i dropped my computer with the IT department at school and let it stay the night. i’d been fearing the worst (a bad hard drive), but when i called in today, the tech guy said it was all fixed and happy. hooray!

analiza and i spent yesterday making apple blossom scented candles. they turned out quite nicely… especially our pink and purple striped votives. i’m quite partial to my little white one with purple flowers from analiza’s yard.

i am now the proud owner of a lemon tree, a jujubee tree, and some big plastic pots. too bad i went a little water-happy and just read that these babies don’t need a lot of water… just sun, sun sun. there’s already fruit ripening on the trees– i can’t wait to try them!

since i have few vacation plans, and no work to be done… i’ve been wasting my summer away watching movies [with an unlimited movie pass from blockbuster], backing up files on my computer, and sending little pieces of artwork around the world. it’s fun. ryan and i ran off to see farenheight 9/11 and saved at the theatres in pasadena before he had to move out of his apartment…. but now that he’s working and moving in all the time, i’m stuck at home alone watching sex and the city. i think i might use my movie pass to catch up on all the foreign flicks i want to watch that no one else will watch with me… and mebbe some cartoons.

on the 4th of july, we decided to attempt to make garlic noodles a la crustacean. they turned out a little too salty, but otherwise quite close to the restaurant style. we picked up giant king crab legs to go with the noodles… and suprisingly, couldn’t finish them all. it was more crab than i’ve seen in a long, long time. the good food had a price, though. i am now nauseated by the smell of garlic. eeeew.

my first attempt with my new ice cream maker was a failure. i think i was too impatient, so the strawberries weren’t soft enough, and the bowl wasn’t cold enough. so… i ended up with strawberry soup… and then strawberry ice. we’ll try again tomorrow… perhaps chocolate ice cream. or… rocky road!

after avoiding the courts for weeks and weeks, i finally came back and am playing worse than ever. the coach set up a match for me when i got to the club. after a long warmup, i beat the girl 6-4. it was a terrible set, though. i was just pushing balls and missing serves and trying to keep from passing out in the unbearable heat. after a while the ball turned into a little yellow blur, and i turned into a sweaty, limping blob. yup, the ankle is still being mean to me. oh well. perhaps tomorrow will be a better day.

i was up until 4:30am last night agitated because of my swollen ankle. i finally got to sleep, and 4 hours later, i woke up with a much smaller ankle. since i’m anxious to get it all healed up so i can play again, i’m loafing around my apartment and fiddling with pictures from my vacation. i put 4 new ones up on my site today… and i’ll put the other million up gradually.

but now, i’m bored.