So many french fries that I would die of french fry OD before the executioner had a chance.

I seriously love me some french fries. WITH MAYONNAISE.

If hope is the thing with feathers, then.. it's dead and in my cats mouth, at the back door.

:(

What is Dreamwidth? People are talking, but not explaining. Is this the new thing? I suppose I already have too many social networking sites/online personae/whatevers. And I update exactly none of them with any kind of regularity. My blogging needs fiber.

Yesterday I ordered a pair of shoes from Zappos, and after the transaction, a window came up asking me how I wanted to notify my friends on Facebook. What?? I cannot imagine my friends on Facebook or anywhere else are THAT interested in my shoes. Well, some of them might be. But still, I think we are reaching some sort of a critical mass as a culture... too public. Can people be too connected?

I understand my friends in Atlanta are getting snow? Exciting! I think the last time I remember it snowing back home, I was still in elementary school. But that can't be right, can it? Anyway, SNOW. Yay!

Here in Richmond it rains and rains, but may turn to ice/sleet tonight... I went to the grocery store, not out of a media-fueled fear of imminent milk-and-bread shortages, but because Sunday is my usual shopping day. Thankfully it wasn't that bad... slightly crowded but no anarchy.

I want to make Yorkshire pudding... it sounds good. I made chocolate cake again last week, and banana bread this morning. More of a banana cake, because I don't own a loaf pan. Lack of appropriate pan-ware might stall this pudding idea too. I need pans.

Thanks for all the help you guys offered regarding unemployment and insurance info. I have made progress. I think everything will work out fine.

I hope it snows here. I'm well stocked with cocoa and cider.

ETA: ok since I posted this about 30 mins ago--- it has started snowing like crazy. Pretty!

(I hope)

Because I need to distract myself from thinking about dentist woes.

I got this idea from superhappytime
Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given.

These are the 5 topics he assigned to me:

( Read more... )

In my early 20s (aka the late Pleistocene Era) I had the pleasure of working in a "sweetery." Basically this was a bakery, but all we made were rich, decadent, gigantic desserts. I learned some useful skills there, such as good customer service practices as well as how to inhale massive amounts of nitrous oxide by hooking up an industrial-sized whipped cream dispenser directly to the tank (best done while sitting in a sturdy chair, trust me). But what's most important (and relevant to this post) (unless you want to talk about the perils of nitrous abuse) is all of the awesome things I learned about baking.

( Read more... )

I'm going to re-tool my resume today to be more like this one,

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/chi/942873935.html

--that is actually a song by Jefferson Airplane
--I am spending this actual Saturday Afternoon cleaning house (as always, because that's what they're for, right?)
--I just cleaned my keyboard and my phone
--speaking of phones, the 3g iPhone isn't that impressive, I don't feel compelled to upgrade
--I think next I will replace burnt-out light bulbs in the basement
--I am drinking a nice apple lambic so things aren't as dull as they sound!
--the candidates' debate bored me into an early slumber last night (it was helped along by too much of spaghetti carbonara, but still.. zzzz)
--I wish we had some more of this apple lambic but this was the last bottle
--I still have yet to name the kitten
--I think I might go to the store
--Atlanta friends: are you guys really having a hard time finding gas or is that over with now?
--getting back into the swing of posting is hard!

Recently I had a yard sale, which was basically successful although neurosis-inducing. Anyway, towards the end of the sale a woman showed up who knew my downstairs neighbor and parked herself on our steps for a gabfest. The subject turned to cats... Lady had rescued starved and abandoned kittens from the alley blah blah and nursed them back to health blah blah but couldn't blah keep them because of blah.. and would I be interested in taking one? Blah?

I wasn't going to be talked into this until she mentioned that one was a calico.. like my old cat Violet (RIP) and at that point I basically just wanted the lady to shut up, so I could pack up the remnants of the sale and get inside out of the sun. I acquiesced... took her phone number and made plans to come by later and see the cat.

I suffered through a couple afternoons of kitten visiting in this Officially Eccentric Lady's kitchen. She's like the cat lady equivalent of Miss Haversham from Great Expectations, but add that she drinks more than I do and also chain-smokes clove cigarettes. Somehow, possibly through witchery, or a desire once again just to get things over with, I agreed to the adoption and absconded with said feline (both of us gasping for air).

So I've been making ago of it. My main cat, Clover, hates everything about this arrangement and is completely disgusted with me. I can't blame her. Having a kitten again has reminded me what's so incredibly awesome about Clover. She's old, quiet, calm, and very independent. The kitten is a toddler-- unpredictable, tireless, loud. *I* am possibly too old for this. But if it works out, Clover will have a companion and I won't feel so bad that I'm gone most of the time at work. People say cats don't mind that but Clover is bored, trust me. I think once they get used to each other, they'll enjoy the company. IF they get used to it.

I am keeping them isolated for a week or so, along with other suggestions from articles i've read about cat integration. kitten is set up in the back room with necessary supplies and about 50,000 cat toys that came as a dowry from Ms. Haversham. Kitten doesn't have a name yet because I just can't think of one. There's no time- I'm constantly alternating between reassuring and making much of Clover, and tending to the squeaky demands of the kitten.

It's not that I don't completely adore her, but I question my decision to bring here here, i made it on a TOTAL whim and I'm nervous about it now.. maybe one day Clover sneaks in and cannibalizes the kitten. Or even worse, silently resents me from here on out... and attacks me in my sleep...

Last night I enjoyed some fried okra as part of my dinner. Instead of being sliced into thick little okra coins and then battered/fried, these were petite whole okras, battered/fried. Basically you can fry any food and it isn't awful. But yeah, it worked, it was good.

Today I had some pickled okra. i think pickled is my favorite. Again, as with frying, pickling is another sure fire way to make any food good. Beets and even peaches benefit from a good pickling.*

Anyway: Okra. Don't disregard it.

if the sliminess worries you, consider this tip: slice and soak okra in a bowl of heavily salted water for about half an hour and then rinse, rinse, rinse it in a colander. All the gelationus matter and salt will be eliminated.

Tomorrow: we'll talk about the lovely and versatile brussels sprout.

*if you really want your mind blown, try a fried pickle. No lie.

It actually snowed! Snow is so pretty... for the first day at least. When it gets dirty and used-looking, after it's lost its snow-virginity, I'm just over it. I would love to post a picture, but it didn't start sticking 'til after dark.

Wanted to go see No Country for Old Men tonight, but the snowiness- even scant as it is- makes me want to hibernate and mash potatoes and stuff. Maybe go see it tomorrow night. On a theater kick lately. Went to see I am Legend last week. It was cool! But you can't think about it too hard... there were a few plot holes I had to dismiss, but in general, it was good. Corn and weeds all over Manhattan! I have to confess I have always liked Will Smith a lot--I even used to like The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

Being inside all day has been productive; house is clean, even vacuumed.

Ho-hum. I am old, this post lacks action and sass.

This is the first time in years that I didn't carve a pumpkin or plan anything Halloween related. Poo. Just too busy/distracted/whatever. I wasn't even thinking about it til I walked around the neighborhood and saw the pumpkins. Something about the tradition of the lighted gourd and the candy ritual is still meaningful to me... I hope they don't eventually declare it illegal or something.

Oh well: Happy hallows eve to all you'uns... here's some of my preciouses from years past:

Yesterday my dearest ginandtonics informed me that my favorite bar from back home in Atlanta has CLOSED! Gravity Pub, you'll live on in my memories. I have many very fantastic ones that make me happy. Considering that alcohol has a way of making me, uh, not remember much, I am grateful to have so many awesome memories of that place. Made some damn good friends back in East Atlanta. Hope I'll always have them... I miss them.


Weather has finally broken, thank goodness. I can actually turn the AC off and open some windows. It's probably a tease but the next few nights may see temps in the high 30s! Yay! I might need a jacket by Xmas!

I am astounded by these California fires... could we just lose all of coastal southern california? I've already been worrying about my people down in Atlanta, what with the drought and the city apparently on the brink of running out of water, completely. I worry for you, friends! Water rationing is supposed to start this week here in the Richmond area too (I overheard a conversation as to such but have not confirmed).

A nauseating thing about the news coverage of the fires... they make it sound like, oh no it is extra special bad because movie stars are losing their homes. Holy shit, NOT THE MOVIE STARS. ANYTHING but that. :

Eventually when I can think straight I'll post about it all. Right now...too emotional and also my ass hurts from sitting on it in a car all day.

Brief facts:

*ginandtonics was the beautifullest bride ever and *I'm* marrying her next time
*Being around so many of my old friends was so important, and yet quite bittersweet.
*I already miss them terribly
*I love those people so much

This has been a pretty relaxing weekend. Friday night was rather funny: went to this sort of dive-bar on the Southside to see a friend's 70's cover band. They are always really good--at least, I can usually get in the mood to see them play a whole bunch of Steely Dan hits. I've discovered that after the first few beers it's all the same, strobe lights and a dance floor full of badly-aging white people. Cuer-vo Gold... the fiiine Co-lumb-i-an! Make tonight a wonderful thing... This time, though! It was apparently an event-night for some local middle-aged singles/online dating group/excuse for shameless hookups. This woman...blonde, early 40s maybe.. invited herself to our table and proceeded to explain it all while covertly stealing cigarettes. "These women," she gestured around the bar, "are all SLUTS!" and then she pointed out all the different men she and her friends had dated. When Ford and I were leaving she waved and called out, "Have fun with your MARRIAGE!" I couldn't tell if she was just feeling sorry for us, for not being part of the pick-up-pool, or what. It was pretty funny...and it all fit in so well with the 70s theme!



It would be hard to top that, but Saturday we drove to beautiful Culpeper, VA to house-sit for Ford's parents (who are in Montana on vacation, where it is currently snowing! Luckies!). It was nice for us to be out in the country, the early Autumn weather is very, very kick-ass. ( Musing nostalgic about the homestead )

So we left Culpeper today and drove the length of Skyline Drive. Beautiful! The leaves are only just starting to turn, no real show for another 2 weeks, but still a lovely clear day to drive. Had lunch at one of the campground lodges..ate a BBQ sandwich what basically knocked me out ("Thanks, Ribs!" [Dave Chapelle show joke]). Now back in Richmond it feels summertime-hot--yikes! Enough with the hot! We were gonna continue the non-stop action by going out to the mega-mall and looking for a suit for Ford and getting some last minute items for next weekend's road trip to MAINE. But we are too exhausted. Did I mention we are going to MAINE? And ginandtonics 's WEDDING? It's gonna be a good time!!!

Thanks to all who helped me out with fashion advice last weekend. I still have yet to put together an outfit but whatever it will be, it'll be one of those Target dresses, some kind of sheer non-black stockings, and unassuming shoes that match the dress. I am 6' tall and don't even suggest heels, I will never wear them. :)

As promised, I have composed a selection of haiku for the nice friends who offered insight into my predicament.

1. bibliogirl
dresses nice and likes
reading books and riding bikes--
definitely cool

2. wretchmuffin
welcome october
with catholic sunglasses
and fine ghost stories

3. morphogenesis
such southwestern style,
these dreamy wildlife visions--
your photgraphy

4. thisaintnodisco
TCB baby:
dogs and rock and writing.
it IS business time!

5. anodyne19148
our rockstar boyfriend,
bespectacled guitarist.
Oh, Gary Louris!

6. andreamarie
sophisticated,
cooler than a cardigan--
like Audrey Hepburn

7. c_land
Trivial Bingo
Doctor Funk of Tahiti
I miss Christi Land!

Friends, please help me. I am very challenged in this department. I never dress up beyond jeans or cords and t-shirts and sweaters if I can help it, even for work. Exceptions may be funky floral hippie dresses. But! I am attending a friend's wedding in a few weeks and I don't know what to wear or even what is appropriate!

The wedding is at 4:00... in a church...in Maine. What does one wear? Is a black cocktail dress inappropriate? Is it ok to wear black at all? If I do wear black is it ok to wear black tights with a black dress? Ford says I can't.

Also I have been arguing with Ford for 2 days about cowgirl boots. I say one cannot wear flashy cowgirl boots to a WEDDING. I have some cool ones and he thinks I should wear those with my black dress if I wear it (though I am afraid I am not supposed to wear black at all). Anyway, I said he's wrong, that would be tacky and disrespectful to dress so informally.

PLEASE suggest anything I should wear, where I can shop, and if you think i need therapy for being so retarded about clothes. I'm REALLY retarded about fashion...it's almost pathological.

Thanks in advance. I will compose a haiku especially for anyone who offers any advice.

I like to keep memory boxes. Nothing fancy, I just use old shoeboxes. I've been doing it for about, oh gosh..the past 10 or 12 years? When I started it I kind of dumped a bunch of ticket stubs, photobooth snapshots, junk jewelry, and postcards into one. Things that had been cluttering up my purse/dresser/whatever. Things that were sentimental or nifty and most of all pretty little..that I didn't need on constant display but didn't want to part with.

And so the whole archiving began. After that... I started a box for letters and postcards (back in the day before e-mail when if someone lived in Seattle and you in Georgia, well, you wrote letters [cause phone talking was more expensive then, too]). Then gradually boxes started filling up, birthday cards, mardi gras beads, airline ticketstubs, matchbook covers and wine corks to denote particular occasions...a bunch of those old Jack Chick religious comics I'd find on MARTA.



Anyway, Jump to now and I have about 7 of these boxes. It's cool to go through them.. I really don't do so often, just when I've received some birthday cards, postcards or actual handwritten personal mail that I want to add. One of my boxes is weird and maybe morbid, I dunno. After I had to have my ancient cat Violet put to sleep, I found a neat old Tiffany's box and put a tiny piece of fur in it that had been in her cat-brush. I guess my question to you is, how crazy am I seeming to you right now?

Anyway. It's just funny. I don't get into scrapbooking or even keeping photo albums.. I kind of really like my boxes. So much weird stuff in there. Found some pictures of me from 1997.. how different I looked. Even found a picture of me from the early 90s with the most hideous, giant, ugly owlish, black plastic eyeglasses EVER. I almost cried for the shame of the hideousness. Sadly, the rest of me (including lower-back length red hair) looked pretty good. But I will never post it.

I even have a postcard Ford sent me from when we first stared hanging out (1999)... he'd had to go work in California for 3 months and he actually WROTE me a letter and a postcard during that time. This is monumental because the man DOES NOT communicate well, especially in writing. I have the postcard but of the letter I only have the envelope. I don't for the life of me know what happened to the letter. I probably read it to death during those 3 months.

I don't know, these boxes are either cool or I am just a bag lady in training.

“First of all, love is a joint experience between two persons — but the fact that it is a joint experience does not mean that it is a similar experience to the two people involved. There are the lover and the beloved, but these two come from different countries. Often the beloved is only a stimulus for all the stored-up love which had lain quiet within the lover for a long time hitherto. And somehow every lover knows this. He feels in his soul that his love is a solitary thing. He comes to know a new, strange loneliness and it is this knowledge which makes him suffer. So there is only one thing for the lover to do. He must house his love within himself as best he can; he must create for himself a whole new inward world — a world intense and strange, complete in himself. Let it be added here that this lover about whom we speak need not necessarily be a young man saving for a wedding ring — this lover can be man, woman, child, or indeed any human creature on this earth.

Now, the beloved can also be of any description. The most outlandish people can be the stimulus for love. A man may be a doddering great-grandfather and still love only a strange girl he saw in the streets of Cheehaw one afternoon two decades past. The preacher may love a fallen woman. The beloved may be treacherous, greasy-headed, and given to evil habits. Yes, and the lover may see this as clearly as anyone else — but that does not affect the evolution of his love one whit. A most mediocre person can be the object of a love which is wild, extravagant, and beautiful as the poison lilies of the swamp. A good man may be the stimulus for a love both violent and debased, or a jabbering madman may bring about in the soul of someone a tender and simple idyll. Therefore, the value and quality of any love is determined solely by the lover himself.

It is for this reason that most of us would rather love than be loved. Almost everyone wants to be the lover. And the curt truth is that, in a deep secret way, the state of being beloved is intolerable to many. The beloved fears and hates the lover, and with the best of reasons. For the lover is forever trying to strip bare his beloved. The lover craves any possible relation with the beloved, even if this experience can cause him only pain.”

~Carson McCullers, The Ballad of the Sad Cafe