Tuesday, March 31, 2009

She had dreams from the grave.

A few days ago I used Poe's poem "To Helen" as a not-good example of a myth poem.
Then, I almost used him again as a not-good example of simile.
Then, I had a dream in which my brother-in-law's cat--named Poe--was hissing at me and attacking me. Coincidence?

Monday, March 30, 2009

This weekend...

I made curry.
I did my taxes.
I watched the Spartans earn their Final Four spot. Spartans, what is your profession?

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Go STATE! Elite 8!

As the seconds dwindled to nil, with MSU on top, I did the following:
1. Drained my soda bottle.
2. Said "YEAH" in as fierce a voice as I could muster (that one you say through your teeth and it sounds more like YEE-UH!)
3. Hit myself on the head with the empty bottle.
I'm not proud of it, but it's what happened.

Monday, March 23, 2009

What Say You, Magic 8?

Evidently, BG hockey is saved for another year, which I predicted, silently, but still fretted over.
The Alaskan Mount Redoubt erupted, as predicted.
The Mars Rovers are still in action, as not predicted.
Campus lawnmowers are spitting out massive amounts of grass and whatnot into the air, which I predict will give me a sinus headache and make my eyes itch.
I have no idea what I will have for dinner. Predictions?

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Dancey-pants.

What up, Gs?
Just got back from home home, the wilds of Michigan. And when I say wilds, I mostly mean floodedness. Poor backyard and driveways. So muddy.
On my spring vacation, I hung out with my folks, ate too much, went shopping with my Mum, tried to solve a computer problem with my Dad, and slept kind of a lot.
Also, I took two tap classes, with Mr. Mark, who taught me tap, jazz, and modern in my college years.
I can't take tap here in BG...or rather I could, but I would either have to pay a lot or take an intermediate (at best) adult class. And there's no place for me to tap dance just on my own. So, when I was going to spend a week at home, I jumped at the chance. I haven't tapped in several years, so I went to the adult intermediate with some trepidation. I was wearing my split-sole flats, which turned out not to go so well, because even though I jammed my legwarmers in there, they still fell off my heels. I was making okay sounds, but it wasn't as good as I can do, and I kept having to stop to fix them. Mr. Mark said I should come to the senior (high school) class, which is the top level class. So, my Dad helped me get the taps back on my old heels (which are really in disastrous shape), and on my merry way I went.
It was a little bit like waking up, actually. My last year of tap I danced in flats, but I'd danced in heels for ages before that, so it was completely comfortable. My sounds still weren't great, and there were a few new exercises to learn, but I think I kept up pretty well. We also did the big finale tap number twice, and while I had some trouble breathing afterward, I made it, and did a better job than most of the girls. That might be an unfair comparison, since I've known the dance longer than all of them have been alive.
And now that I put that in black and white...ouch. It's true, though. I started doing 42nd Street when I was 11 or 12, which was about 18-19 years ago, and they are all in high school.
Anyway, I had a great time, and was glad I hadn't lost too much flair and speed. I also had the chance to lunch with my dance teacher Miss Assiff, who taught me for my entire time at the studio. It was definitely like getting in touch with my dancing roots.

In other news, so far I have bought 3 more songs from iTunes: Metallica's "Enter Sandman," Cake's "Short Skirt Long Jacket" and "Gone Gone Gone" from the new Robert Plant/Alison Krauss album, which I heard on the radio on my way back to BG. I actually made a little list in the car while I was traveling, since I could look in on a variety of radio stations.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Hockey Emergency

I was going to post about something completely different but that's going to have to wait.
Rumors are swirling that the BGSU hockey program is possibly on the chopping block. As a result of the budget shortfall, they might consider doing away with the team. Even my casual acquaintances will know what a blow this would be to me personally, let alone the guys and the school. I don't know how true these rumors are, or where they came from, but a few papers have reported on them, and while there are have been some denials, others have said that a number of scenarios are up for grabs. And that makes me very nervous indeed. My ability to deal with fall and winter will be severely hampered without hockey. I came to BGSU partly because there was CCHA hockey to be had. Ron Mason coached here, for heaven's sake. The Silver Fox!

There is a Facebook group called Save BGSU Hockey and, despite the uncertainty about all of this, I have joined. You should, too.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Faux Foodie

Hey, y'all.
Thanks for the music suggestions. I am exploring some artists and employing youtube and Amazon to sample. For some reason, I am really hemming over these 9 dollars, like I have to get blow-my-mind songs.

Things are a little rocky in avacious land, but I wanted to share a couple of cool things food-related.
First, I made a pretty great "appetizer" (read, could be appetizer, but currently being eaten as lunch) the other day. Brown some ground sage sausage, remove from pan. Stir fry bag of frozen stir fry veg, or other veg of choice, being sure to cut up larger chunks. Add sausage back in and season to taste. Meanwhile, brown some mini-pastry shells in the oven, then fill with sausage mix and top with a bit of mozzarella or other enjoyable cheese (0ne could also mix the cheese into the sausage mix and get it a little melty), put in the oven for a bit longer, and enjoy your tres fab deliciousness.
I also utilized my much-loved subscription of Cook's Illustrated the other day to make their creamless creamy tomato soup. I won't tell you the secret ingredient here, but it worked out pretty awesome. I also bought a cheap immersion blender (on sale for 20 bucks) so I wouldn't have to do it in my big blender, which is missing its handle and thus is a bit awkward. I struggled with the suction of the immersion blender, but in the end it worked out pretty well. I made it a bit too salty, but am enjoying it, especially since it's made with canned tomatoes. Their recipe uses chicken broth, but you could probably do the same with vegetable broth if you wanted to go vegan. It was all pretty easy except that for some reason I suck at cooking onion and garlic--the garlic always gets too brown. Anyone have suggestions for this?