Here's why my weekend rocked my socks off:

Friday, after school: Hockey. Now, BG didn't win, but it was nice to be there in my two jerseys, and watch my old Spartan darlings skate around a lot. And to watch Jeff Lerg, who is my height and therefore adorable. I've never seen a goalie actually hang on the top bar, but Jeff Lerg can do it.
Saturday: Woke up whenever I felt like it, then headed up to Perrysburg to have a lovely lunch at Poco Piatti. I read a Lemony Snicket book while I ate lamb chops and a cheese and olive plate with pita. And had some hot tea. It was amazing. I felt so at peace there just hanging out and eating my meal and enjoying the service of a handsome waiter.
After lunch, I went to Target to buy some fun things thanks to my parents. I got some pretty new barrettes, some socks (pink! finally!), a bag with cherries on it, some microwaveable dishes for the office, a sealable box for my crackers so they won't go stale, and some more slipper socks, and a couple of candy bars.
I wandered around in Home Depot for a while, thinking about wings, and then went to Michael's. I spent rather a lot of time and actually, while a lot of money really, less than I could have. I bought a bunch of 1 dollar prizes for my class prize bag, and they were really good ones...modeling clay for a dollar? Yo-yos, bouncy balls, little art projects. I really hit the jackpot. I also bought a bunch of stuff to experiment with for my wings, whenever this next sequence of drafts is complete. I bought some different mache style products, including plaster of paris, plaster gauze, some clay-type things. Wire. All kinds of things. I need to get a design together before I can start, though.
Also, I got this extraordinary book called Generation T. Like many, I have a huge selection of old T-shirts, overly stretched out or out of style. The thing is, the majority of my collection is at my parents' house in a giant bag. I called my mom and said, "Great news. Guess what I'll be taking back to BG during break?" I can't wait to get started on some of these projects...there are bun covers. BUN COVERS! Made out of old T-shirt remnants. There are skirts, sassy shirts, legwarmers, arm mitts. All kinds of things. Finally, something new to do with my beloved Walnut shirt, purchased in high school in Colorado at the Walnut Brewery. I wore it so much that the shirt, especially the neck, is all stretched out. But how do you get rid of that?
Anyway, after all this I went home to listen to the hockey game. MSU lost, which is sad, but BG won, which is good. Mixed feelings, you know? I did have a rather fantastic dinner of steak and leftover cheese and olives (after spilling half of it on the floor) and did the edges of a jigsaw puzzle during the game. The whole thing was pretty rad, and then I went back to my TV and watched Brit coms.
Sunday I went to JoAnn fabrics to get some stuff for a not-so-secret project, some things that I hope will be adorable. Then I went to Kroger and got some stuff for reubens, and for an Oscar gathering. Then I took a bath with a French Kiss bubble bar and my honey soap, Lush delights, thank you very much. Then I went and watched the Oscars and had a lovely time praising and panning the dresses and lamenting the many seemingly point-free montages, with the exception of the "Dead people montage," which Carrie and I find very important. Waiting for me at home? The second part of Prime Suspect 6, starring the delight that is Helen Mirren. God save the Queen.
So, as you can see, it was a pretty sweet weekend. Now, I am thrust into the midst of a ridiculously stressful week and am struggling now to stay afloat. So, I am going home to do more jigsaw puzzle and eat a reuben, and everything else can just bloody well wait until tomorrow.

A Brief French Fry Lowdown for Friday

Best fries excruciatingly hot: Wendy's
Best fries hot: McDonald's, old school style
Best fries getting lukewarm: Wendy's
Best fries cold: Burger King (if you have to)
Best fries that require a drink: Arby's curly fries
Best fry-sandwich combination: McDonald's, with Filet-o-fish. Try the fries with tartar sauce. Do it.
Best way to eat ketchup: with pepper and salt mixed in, Wendy's.
Edited to add: Best fries ever: MOM.

Thursday Mish-mash

Point 1: Basketball--MSU WINS!!! HA HA! I have this thing where I can't really watch basketball. I used to be able to, but now it just make sme continuously nervous. It's not like hockey where I can kind of quell the nerves in excitement or observation. It's flat-out nerves. But I actually watched more of this game than usual (and so missed what Veronica Mars had on her arm in prison).
Point 2: Lorelei breaks up with Christopher. Thank the lord. Though the point of that plotline seemed to be that they weren't right for each other, that thus made for a very boring and irritating story arc. But drunk and vulnerable Emily? Priceless.
Point 3: Man of my dreams, February Edition.
The other night I had a dream that illusionist David Copperfield, younger and a little vulnerable but also very rich, took me on a date. We were in some kind of villa-mansion by the seaside, with some great big open window areas on a stone veranda that faced out to the ocean, and we had a picnic at twilight. He gave me a flower. That was pretty much it, really.
Side note: If you go to google image search, and type in posey (not posy, but posey), the first page of images you come up with is really sort of insane. Try it.
Point 4: BGSU vs MSU hockey tomorrow. Woot!
Point 5: I'm kind of excited because I'm going to go up to Target this weekend and get some fun things. I have a little list of little things I want and that will make my life just a little bit easier. It's going to be sweet!

Rings

How's this for heartwarming?
It gives me hope. I lost my high school class ring somewhere along the way. The stone was chipped and they messed up the signature so it was teenytiny, but it was my ring and it had ballet slippers on it. I've often thought of replacing it except that I keep hoping my ring will turn up. What's weird is I have the ring I used to wear on my other hand at the same time, but no class ring. Where is it? Where has it lived out its last several years? I can't even remember exactly when I lost it, and both my mother and I have blitzed my room back home and I've searched my apartment, and it's never turned up.
Actually, I wonder if I ever checked by my sister's bed? I used to sleep in her room during vacations, and I don't think I've never checked her shelves. It's probably not there, but it's interesting how when you think of things like this other ideas pop up.
I have also pondered the thought of getting a college ring. Better late than never?

Ouch

If you're wondering whether I started to slip on the ice in the driveway on Saturday, and plunked my hand down on my car to stop myself from sliding further, and further if said plunking jolted my shoulder and strained some sort of something in there, making my shoulder hurt quite a bit, and if further it was better this morning, but of all things throwing my covers off me made it hurt more, well...
yes.
I'm going to make me some coffee.

Another shady job

Human Tazer. I don't know what it is about me, but static is my life. I shock and am shocked by everything. At night, when I take off my soft bathrobe in the dark, I can see sparks fly. It is only a matter of time before I send someone into cardiac arrest or prevent him or her from stealing my car.

Some Shady Jobs I'd Be Good At

Deep in thought lately, I have been pondering the things that I am genuinely good at and/or that I love to do, and how they might be of use to the world. My favorite skills are not widely applicable, sadly, but there are some potentially shady jobs to which they might apply. For instance:

Shredded paper reassembler.
I love jigsaw puzzles, you know. I think, if the government wanted someone to put shredded paper back together, I'd do a good job.

Public eavesdropper.
I don't mean to hear people all the time. But my "cocktail party effect" hearing doesn't really work. If I hear voices, I fixate. I don't have particularly excellent hearing, but for some reason I seem to hear a lot.

Worst Case Scenario creator.
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. That was my motto all through college. Every time I help at recital, I have a miniature aresenal of supplies, which at times has even included a Break n' Shake ice pack. If I could get money for worrying, I'd be all set.

Busy Tomatoes

If you're wondering whether the tomato I intended to eat on my sandwich today was sprouting from the inside, looking very much like this, the answer is yes. Weird, no?

Why I might not finish The Ruins

Ok, I know this book has gotten a lot of good press in my circle. And it has all the makings of a book that I'd love. But for some reason, I suspect I may not finish it and may not check it out again. Possible reasons:

• I can't get into the main characters. Most of them get drunk or throw up at some point in the book, few of them have anything in common with me, and all of them are, for lack of a better word, bitchy. Common fodder for a piece of "good" contemporary fiction, which explains why I don't read much "good" contemporary fiction. They're all too depressive, and they drink too much. Jeff is the only one I have feelings for or can relate to. I also find the "villain" intriguing, but one can read only so much of a villain's antics.
• Since I knew I wouldn't finish by the book's due date (things have changed since the snow storm, but oh well), I "read ahead." This is a technique I perfected for books in which I want to know what happens, but I don't want to have to rush my reading to find out, and also books that "lose me." I read parts of the end, and then skim back to read parts of the middle. In fact, there was still rather a large chunk of middle, and I found myself saying, sheesh, what on earth happens for a hundred pages? As I skimmed, I saw, not much. I read completely the first hundred pages or so, and was very interested, but I honestly don't feel like I'm missing much not completely reading the rest. If you're not that into the characters, the character development is kind of wasted. In effect, I feel like I've already read the book, and I'm not that anxious to read it again as I would be if it were, say, Harry Potter (with which I commonly skim through the last couple of chapters once I've gotten to the halfway point--but I always go back and read it all properly).
• I have this strange feeling as if I have read this before. In fact, I sort of have. It's called Phantoms, and it's by Dean Koontz, and it interested me all the way through, with a couple of characters I could relate to. In fact, after I put down The Ruins, I pulled Phantoms out again.
• It's winter. In the book it's hot. My brain can't make sense of this. It might as well be another planet.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying this is a bad book. But I'm more of a set-up girl--I like to read the tense stuff, the suspense, and those first inklings that something is wrong, right through to the discovery of the element of terror. But once things get going, so often that suspense disappears in favor of gore. There are genuinely horrific but not gory moments in the part that I didn't "read right," but I don't know...I just didn't feel like I wanted to read this book with my days off. It isn't a horror that leaves you feeling uneasy when the lights are off, which is the kind I like best. I liked parts and ideas in the book, but I just wasn't as into it as I expected to be.
Maybe when it comes out in paperback.

Meme I Stole From Steve

If Steve does it, I have to, too. Except afterward I always think of things I should have put down.
Eternally snowbound, the house better be full of:
Novel You've Read: Emmy Keeps a Promise (childhood classic)
Novel You've Never Read: something by Robert Heinlein
Book Series You've Read: Harry Potter
Book Series You've Never Read: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
Autobiography You've Read: The Shape of Love (Gelsey Kirkland)
Autobiography You've Never Read: I have a book on Allegra Kent I haven't gotten to read yet. About time to whip that out.
Nonfiction You've Read: Death Tractates (assuming a poetry book can count here)
Nonfiction You've Never Read: Zombie Survival Guide
Book on Tape You've Heard: Proof
Book on Tape You've Never Heard: The Bible (practical, yes?)
Snow-Themed Movie: The Shining
Non-Snow-Themed Movie: Sleeping Beauty
Movie Sequel: does Batman Begins count?
Movie Remake: Little Women I guess
Movie Trilogy: Lord of the Rings extended edition and/or Star Wars and/or Indiana Jones. Help!
TV Channel: Shoot...WB? For 3 shows? I don't know if it's worth it.
Season Pass on DVR: Supernatural
Cartoon: Pirates of Dark Water (obscure, just the way I like it)
Home Movie: my newborn movie, which has the whole family.
TV Collection on DVD: X-Files
TV Season on DVD: something from Charmed.
Magazine Subscription: Cook's Illustrated
Photograph: Tahquamenon Falls, me and the family
Appetizer: spinach artichoke dip
Entree: pork cutlets and spaghetti
Dessert: fruit bowl, sans melon
Fast Food Item: Filet o' fish
Beer: Framboise Lambic, duh.
Wine: Boone's Farm Sangria
Booze: Um...blueberry schnapps is always a favorite.
Drink (Chaste): milk
Video Game System With Complete Game Collection: um...old-school Nintendo, I guess. Does that come with Wheel of Fortune?
Single Video Game (regardless of platform): Blue Max
Game: sudoku
Board Game: Scrabble
Pet: I miss my cats.
Non-Spouse Family Member to Keep You Company: I can't answer this question. It's too hard.
Writerly Figure to Keep Your Conversational Company: Brenda Hillman
Sports Figure to Keep Your Atheletic Company: John Harkes
Famous Figure to Keep Your Fabulous Company: there are really not that many stars I'd like to spend time in real life with. I'd hang with Hugh Laurie, though.
Historical/Sports/Famous Figure to Keep You Conjugal Company: can it be fictional? If so, Sam or Dean Winchester. If not, Jensen Ackles or Jared Padalecki. I'm snowbound. I can't decide.
Band to Play Every Night: eh...(shrug) My ipod?
Album: Little Earthquakes or You Were Here
Song: Lodestar or Fidelity or Naked as We Came
Piece of Gym Equipment: ballet barre
Exercise You'd Do Every Day: plies
Medicine: Advil if I'm alone, Flonase if the cats come, too.
Sports Team You'd Follow: Spartan hockey (sorry Falcons. I love you too).
Game on Tape You'd Watch: the one where Goalie Chad Alban scored a goal on senior night at MSU.
Pair of Shoes: pointe
Water Brand: Tap
Crime You'd Wish You'd Committed PreSnow: um...indecent exposure?

I heart hockey!

Point the first: The Falcons beat the wolverines on Friday night in hockey! Get into it! The game was incredibly awesome, tense straight through to the end, and the skating was at the same level pretty much the whole game, which is uncharacteristic. (The Falcons, up to this point, had been skating best in the 2nd period, which is just strange...few schools do best then). It was just unbelievable. If you're wondering whether I found the game on the College Network and recorded it so I could watch it again, the answer is yes.
Point the second: Next and last home game is versus Michigan State on Feb 23, which I believe is a Friday. Be ready, people. I want to see you all there. I'll be the one wearing two jerseys (Falcons on top in their home arena of course...but Spartans close to my heart). Go Sparcons! Go Faltans! YES!
Point the third: It is snowing.
Point the fourth: I believe I might be coming down with something. But, as I have no one to kiss on the 14th, that is neither here nor there.
Point the fifth: Giving in to peer pressure, I checked The Ruins out from the library; however, as it is a new fiction book, it is due in one week, and as I am getting essays Wednesday evening, I expect there's no way I can finish. Oh well. At least I'll be right in the middle of it, just like I usually am when I get distracted.
Point the sixth: Thanks to Steve and Liss, I have clean clothes! Yay!
Point the seventh: Upcoming posts: Shady jobs I'd probably be good at.

Diatribe about Snakes

Hello, kids. Tis I, I who have been hiding away where it is warm as much as possible and grading essay after essay. I have one class plus four plus three to do now, then exploratories. Good times.
But tonight, there is hockey, and that is what matters.

Recent TV/Movie notes:
In TV land, I skipped Top Design this week in favor of Medium...that's right, I didn't watch Lost either. Medium is more interesting to me than both of those options. I didn't watch the Superboal either.
Gilmore Girls was kind of hard for me this week; what Lorelai said about seeing her Dad in the hospital sort of hit me in my truth spot with memories. To be honest, I had to stop eating dinner so I could cry for a while. And then Chris comes in and is a total jerk to Lorelai and Luke both, and it just made me dislike him even more.
House was a welcome distraction at 9, but I still feel like there's something amiss on House. There's something nagging at me and I'm not quite sure what it is. It's like I need him to be brought down, not via some angry guy like Tritter, but I want one of his peers to get the better of him and have it stick.
Supernatural has the distinct honor of having predicted my needs. They've had a couple of "mythology" episodes in a row, like the X-Files used to do. And I say, okay, that's great, but frustrating--I need a break. And, on cue, next week's episode looks kind of wacky and awesome. I heart Sam and Dean!

But let's talk about movies. I rented Snakes on a Plane and A Prairie Home Companion last week. Neither was as good as I thought it would be, although PHC did make me laugh out loud. Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep were quite a pair. I'm not a huge fan of people talking all at the same time, though, which is also part of the reason I don't like Made. It's like forcing yourself to live like an autistic child, too much stimulation. Anyway, I do love PHC on the radio, so I liked the elements that gave a shout out to that experience.
Now, here is why Snakes is not something I'll go out of my way to watch again (and believe me, I went into it with no real expectations):
a: Sight effects used over and over. I don't need to see a snake attached to a breast, a penis, and up a woman's skirt. Give me a break. Even in a movie that aims for B-cult status, enough is enough.
b: I read a review that said you can tell the difference between real and cgi snakes but that it doesn't take you out of the movie. Yes to the first, no to the second. I hate bad cgi. The great thing about Jurassic Park was that you couldn't tell--Lost World was a poorer movie because you could. Having the creature "do more" or "move faster" really isn't worth the disaster of losing all sense of reality.
c: even expecting the movie to be a dumb popcorn flick doesn't save it for me. It didn't hit the mark for cult dumb, it was just dumb. It wasn't even funny-dumb, like so many have claimed. I caught myself saying "Oh, please" no less than four times. I shut off the credits saying "meh." That's not fun.
Now I understand people are scared of snakes, and might be creeped out by a film about them on a plane. In fact, I can envision a really great movie based on this idea, a real creep-fest. I can also envision a B-level horror flick, much on the level of Eight Legged Freaks or something. Snakes aimed for between these, I think, meaning to go with the latter but with elements of the former, and therefore ended up basically useless. I don't feel like I need to see it again because I got it all the first time, and even then I wasn't really watching part of it because I was bored. It was so...antiseptic. Trying to appeal to everybody appeals to nobody.
Funniest part of the film experience? Bloopers reel.
And I'm not the only one who feels this way. Rock it, Chuck.

Anyway, that's what's been on my mind. It's not much, but give me a break. It's Friday and all I can see are RUBRICS.

The noise my car made...

...when I got it going this morning sounded suspiciously like, "Aw, come on...are you kidding me?"

Once, back in the MSU days, they cancelled classes because of -30 and below wind chill. We only hit -22 this morning, so it's all on today for BGSU, though most of the grade schools are closed.

And my building has frost inside one of the doors. Good times.

In other news, I did very little of value this weekend in preparation for a week full of grading and merit-file creation.

I'm hungry.

I got things to say.

I've wanted to address several things in the last few days on this blog, get some ideas and commentary out. Now it's been so long I hardly know what to say. Thus, this is likely to be a very opinionated and diatribesque blog.
Take for instance Boston and Aqua Teen. I'm sorry, Boston, if none of you are smart enough to go to an official and say, "This is a cartoon character; has anyone called Adult Swim?" or even able to recognize a Lite Brite, then you can't really complain about terror as a result of your ignorance. Where is the voice during a crisis that can say, "Are we misinterpreting this?" That doesn't mean you have to stop investigating the incident-in-progress for danger. But it does mean someone also has to investigate the mundane possibilities. The network is not required to check its ad strategies with you, nor does the marketing strategy warrant a hoax-of-terror felony charge. This smacks of parents getting super-scared about their children and then punishing them more harshly as a result of their fear, regardless of the actual offense--particularly when said children were not trying to scare anybody. Boston, accept that your assumption was wrong and investigate your response, not a simple ad ploy that was actually pretty clever, considering the nature of the character involved.
It's a damn Lite Brite, Boston.

Here's why I already am highly skeptical of Top Design: I did watch it, but I find modern design to be cold and soulless. I look at the rooms everyone came up with and say to myself, where is my clutter going to go? If I can't get comfortable with a blankie on it, it doesn't belong in my house. I'm chilly enough without your super-mod fabric and shapes all over the place. I might look in on this show now and then, but I'm certainly not making it a priority. It doesn't feel like home to me.
P.S. Congratulations, Ilan, and also to Sam for saving a dish for Marcel on national TV.

Yesterday, I was teaching in the Art building. As I came down one of the stairwells that has both a door to the outside and a door to the inside, someone was SMOKING IN THE DAMN STAIRWELL. He wasn't even right next to the outside door, but close to the inside door. This is illegal. Wildly. PUT ON YOUR COAT AND GET OUT OF MY FACE, JERK.

I think that will be it for today. Some good things have happened too, like several days without grading, a nice reading, and some vindication I can't really talk about because it's confidential, but I just wanted to get some stuff off my chest. Have a great weekend, everyone, and remember, just one month until spring break.

Saturday Lushie

OK, I wish to note for the record that I was just forced to switch my blog to the new system today, which was not my favorite thing ever.

Griping aside, this was a pretty interesting weekend. Yes, I did in fact go to Troy Lush, and I picked a good day because the weather was clear. It was an up-and-down experience--here's the story.

Woke up and got going a bit late, but, well, who cares, it's Saturday. I dressed for cuteness and then went to get gas and a pumpkin spice cappucino from the gas station (because for some reason, I dig those machine cappas). The drive was great; I listened to my birthday mix CD, didn't run into any major traffic, and felt pretty good about life, grinning like a fool.

I hit the first but minor snag when I was on 75 near Detroit; Freeway Closed, it said, M-10 to 375. Use alternate rte. Well, ok, but are you going to give me one? Please? I just stayed on the highway and decided to let God and the highway system angels work it out. This would have been the time to use the talking travel guide my mom got me, if in fact I'd remembered to put it in the car. It transpires, however, that in fact they were going to give me a route, 96 to 94 to 75, a detour which not only worked like a charm but I suspect may have gained me a minute or two in time.

I found the mall with no trouble, and in typical fashion parked as near to where I came in as I could manage, in fact getting lucky when someone left when I was sitting right there (a favor I later returned). I grabbed a map just outside of Macy's and found the Lush, third level, following my nose all the way. I walked in, grabbed a basket, and was immediately called on for it as a person who has obviously been to a Lush before. I whipped out my shopping list, saying, "You don't know the half of it." I think in the course of the ensuing hour and a half I talked to every person in the shop, but made special friends with a few, even chatting about life with a gal named Maggie who I believe is my new best Lush friend. I was given a face mask and moisturizer diagnosis and picked up all the stock that I was running out of. This really couldn't have come at a better time, because my skin is currently in crisis, breaking out but also outrageously dry from wind burn and the cold. They were actually out of both of my usual moisturizers, so I picked out two more to test. I also restocked my supply of bath melts and body butters, and picked up a few new soaps because I'm working through what I already have with gusto. Maggie informed me that she has about ten different soaps.

The bad news is, they're getting rid of Ginger. This is terrible news, so I made sure to get my dusting powder and my soap. I didn't buy the fragrance, because it's pretty pricey. I will make do with the powder and hope I can eke it out until I find something equally awesome.

Eventually, I'd reached my Lush limit, and departed from my friends to get some lunch. This is where things got bad. As I was standing at the court, looking at the food stands, suddenly my stomach turned; or rather, the remainder of my digestive system did. I got a coke and a piece of spinach pie because it was quite late and I thought I should eat, but my heart wasn't in it. I don't know what was happening, but I felt awful. I kept thinking that any minute something unbearable was about to happen, but it didn't. I tried to go to a few stores that interested me, bought a couple of cute things, but really was unable to maximize my experience any further. I sat in the Macy's ladies' room lounge until I felt better, and then got in the car to go home. It was a quiet drive, and actually went pretty fast. By the time I returned home, I felt a little weak, but better.

The remainder of the day was better also. I didn't eat much, but I watched both Pirates of the Carribean movies and took a bath with a Black Pearl bath bomb that my Mum had gotten me for Christmas, and Angel's Delight soap my sister got me for my birthday (p.s. to my sister--I used the Christmas bath bomb last week and it smelled awesome! And there was confetti!) Thus, my house smells nice. If you haven't tried the Black Pearl, it is worth it in so many ways. There's a message inside, it smells great, and it turns the water a silvery color.

So, that was the adventure. It was a good time, despite the few hours of small misery (I blame the three taquitos I had the night before, which for some reason contain jalopenos in small but very obvious dosage. I'd rather not blame the cappucino, though it's possible.). Sunday, it snowed, so I was glad I didn't try to go then.

And now, the obligatory picture of my current Lush stash, old and new thrown together in wild array (note that this does not look like as much because a: stuff is in the basket, and b: I didn't buy as much stuff time, but spent an equivalent amount because of the lotions, etc.):

Happy Birthday, Pearl!

If you are wondering what baby Pearl received for turning one week old, have a look:




That's right, it's a quilt with a string of pearls, with scalloped binding. It came out of the dry cleaners looking lovely, and while I know it matches the colors of a lot of the baby stuff Pearl has, I think it also in a way matches the style her parents might like her to have.
I still have to do a tag for it, and the next time I'm over there I'll stitch it on.
Good times.

Glad Game

In an effort to pretend that I haven't lost all my stored body heat already today and am therefore freezing, indoors, in a sweater, and am so sleepy I'm wondering if hypothermia is possible, here are some things I'm glad about:
1. LUSH Troy, MI is OPEN. I noticed they'd changed the designation from Coming Soon to NEW on the Lush site, and then I called, yes that's right I called, them to see if it could possibly true; two weeks, people, I've been sitting here wondering when it would come, and then I find it's been out there all this time. 14 DAYS! I told the lady she'd made me very happy, and she laughed and said, "We'll be looking for you!"
I have a lovely, happy selection of bath bombs, soap, and shower gel from my mom and sister from birthday and Christmas; supplies, however, are just beginning to dwindle, and I am completely out of face lotion (a disaster if your skin is like mine) and I'd like to buy a mask (which you can only get in shops) and some bath melts (which don't ship well sometimes) to complete my collection. And also some Ginger dusting powder. That's right, I have a list. Get into it. So, the plan is, get as many essays graded as I can Wednesday - Friday, and if the weather is decent Saturday, make the trek up to Troy as a reward for good behavior.
2. My face is the correct color. Yes, over break I discovered that the Classic Ivory Cover Girl shade is in fact a bit too light for my face and is therefore the reason I often look ghostly pale in photos; I'm actually Natural Ivory and am wearing this shade today, and while it's not perfect, it is way closer.
3. New Gilmores and Veronica tonight, and since House is not on (sad), no conflicts.
4. For dinner? I think some spinach and pierogies casserole. Cheesy. Delicious. Hot.
5. 24 more hours of no essays.

An Adventure in Lamb Chops

Sunday is "good eating karma" day. No matter what I seem to do, it always turns out delicious and I have the best meal of the week Sunday night, often a little late.
This time, I decided to thaw out the two lamb chops I had in the fridge. It's been a while since I've had lamb, and I have a long history of looking for it in stores and not finding it. I set out the lamb in the afternoon, and when I started getting peckish around 7:30, I looked for recipes and selected two to blend from a Greek cookbook I have. The lamb, it transpires, was perfectly thawed; the meat was red and soft, and looked fresh (I purchased it at Kroger...I don't often get meat there, but it paid off this time). Here's what I used:
Rosemary
Oregano
Thyme
crushed into a dish; I put two Tbsp. of butter over it and stuck it in the microwave to melt the butter over the spices, then added a few squirts of lemon juice.
I salted and peppered the meat, then basted the chops with the above deliciousness, and put them under the broiler in an unslotted broiling pan. After 3 minutes, I basted again. At seven minutes, I flipped the chops, basted some more...
then received a shock. It seriously sounded like my oven was going to explode...I'm pretty sure there was an inferno of flame in there. I turned off the oven for a minute while I tried to figure out what had happened. The truth is, I have no idea. I did discover, however, that my cookbook, propped open on top of the stove, which was off, was singed and probably about to burst into flame itself. Removed that, restarted the oven/broiler, and everything transpired normally. Rebasted the meat at the next 3 minute mark.
Meanwhile, I sliced a frozen section of formerly fresh sourdough baguette in half and drizzled olive oil over it, put it on a rack, and put it in the oven. At six minutes, I removed the chops and the bread. The bread had a few dark edges, and I didn't hold out much hope since it had been frozen, but then something amazing happened: The bread was perfectly toasted on the outside and soft in the middle. Huh what? PERFECT bread.
I was scared about the chops; I have a tendency to overcook meat, and as I looked at one of the chops (which had curled), it looked a little bit dry. When I cut into it, the cut was a little difficult in spots. The chops had been a little thin, and probably could have used less time. However, the second miraculous thing happened--it turns out the meat, which had a perfect arrangement of fat, was not only juicy, but tasted absolutely delicious with the herbs, butter, and lemon. I haven't made meat that good in months.
So, I ate a lamb chop and some bread, with some mozzarella slices, olives stuffed with feta (thanks to my bro-in-law), a salad, and milk. It was such a nice change from all the junk I've been eating lately out of exhaustion and cravings.
Edited to add: I forgot to mention that part of my basting ingredients were chopped green onions...my bag of onions was looking like it was ready to go off, so I chopped the rest up and put them in the freezer. Consequently, I cried for about two hours.

About the Globes

Helen Mirren: gorgeous; her dress was amazing, in an unusual color but completely complementary to her coloring and figure. She rocks. I also love when two burly men escorted her up the steps. She seemed to think it kind of neat also.
Hugh Laurie: Sadly, and in a slightly ridiculously traditional manner, I missed his award completely in the show, but caught his E! Winner's Circle dealie afterward. I heart him. I believe I've mentioned this.
His costars, Jennifer Morrison and Jesse Spencer: engaged! How sweet is that? They've even made out on tv already, and her character was high. Cute as buttons in real life.
Sacha Baron Cohen: overrated and kind of dumb (don't hate me Steve)
America Ferrara: star of the best show I don't watch regularly. It takes me forever to get into a show, so hopefully it will stay on for a long time. Her speech was darling. I love her energy.

In other TV news, NOTHING is new tonight if you are not an American Idol fan. Help! How can TV be so bad? House is off for several weeks, Gilmore Girls hasn't been new in ages, and Top Chef has been a total pain and I'm considering seriously quitting, especially since Medium is better and is on at the same time. Last week, I watched Medium at 10 and sort of half-watched Top Chef at 11. TV, why are you abandoning me? Supernatural is back, but even so they totally failed to deliver on the cliffhanger from the previous episode, you know, when Sam asks Dean what Dad told him, and Dean looks away? Yeah, turns out Dad didn't tell him squat...at least, nothing he's willing to admit to right now. It seriously sounded like the writers couldn't come up with anything dramatic enough between eps, so they decided just not to say anything. The coming war thing is kind of interesting, but all very vague...vague is one thing, but vague-which-feels-like-writers-block isn't.
Come on, TV. I have one more week of relative freedom before essays come in. Get on it. When I watch Dodgeball twice when it's on FX, even though I own it on dvd, you know you got problems.

getting personal

Do you ever have that thing where you come across a song that doesn't just interest you but hits almost uncomfortably close to you in some way? Even where maybe the whole thing just kind of gets you?
I have this CD Carrie made me for my birthday, and I like many of the songs on it as more than friends, but today I was listening to a Regina Spektor song called "Fidelity" in the car. I learned the chorus and was thinking, gosh, I'd like to have a look at the lyrics so I can pick out the rest. So I brought it in to the office and looked them up and, suddenly,felt the song a whole lot more.
You can sing any song and bring something out of yourself; but sometimes you can sing a song and it already is you. You're already singing exactly what you are.

First verse/chorus:
"I never loved nobody fully/Always one foot on the ground/And by protecting my heart truly/I got lost in the sounds/I hear in my mind/All these voices/I hear in my mind/ all these words/I hear in my mind/ all this music/And it breaks my heart..."

The Man of My Dreams: Part 1

I'm beginning what I think might be a regular feature here at Avaciously. Whenever I have a weird dream about a famous man, I'm going to tell you about it. Because I know you'll be interested.

So my most recent reve celebrite involved none other than Karl Urban, aka Eomer from LotR, except that I called him Keith (yes, I know there's a Keith Urban, but this was Karl; I just like the name Keith better, so I made a substitution).
We were all in school, and I wandered into his history class where they were watching a video; I flirted with at least five boys, stroking their hair and making sly comments. I sat down with the teacher, and noticed that she was in the video, in her prior existence as a communist.
After class, evidently (and I say evidently because I'm not sure how we got there), Karl and I went to play a game that was a weird combination of pool and mini-golf. It actually resembled a video game Steve has where you roll around picking up stuff in a giant ball. Anyway, when you hit your ball in our game, it turned into an object, thus making it very difficult to get it to go in the proper direction; mine kept turning into a wicker dress form.
I quickly tired of this game, and so I gave up and we sat down on the grass. I sat in Karl's lap. My friend Michelle was there with some guy (I never saw his face), and we were "chilling" when that Salt n' Pepa classic "Shoop" started playing on the radio. We all started singing our respective boy and girl lines, and laughing. I'm pretty sure a make-out was imminent, but naturally...
I woke up.

This was a pretty long dream at the tail end of a huge festival of dreams, and I actually wrote it down because it seemed funny to me.
Scale of 1 to 10: 8.

Shout out of the week

Today I'd like to send a great big holla to Newman's Marathon, on Main St. two blocks from my house. I've tried to get my gas there as often as possible for several reasons, including

• Two Christmases ago, giving a little box of chocolates to all gas customers as a thank-you.
• Looking at my car when it was being confusing and, not finding anything wrong, not charging me a cent and telling me to bring it back the instant it did something else weird.

to which they added today when

• I went in to pay for my gas and went to get a cappuccino. The machine, the man explained, was new, and not heated up fully yet. I decided to get some regular coffee instead and he didn't charge me for it because he knew I wanted a capp.

These people have always been sweet to me, and you should all buy your gas there. They've gone above and beyond the concept of service.

Catch up: part 3

Carrie, I dub thee "bearer of good tidings."
In the past month, I have received no fewer than two extraordinary text messages from Carrie. One was the title of HP 7. The other, last week, was the stupefying news that a LUSH store is going into the Somerset mall in Troy, MI. I grant you, this is on the opposite side of Detroit, but it is a heckuva lot better than all the way to Chicago or Canada and it is all on I-75.
I need to know the instant it opens. I need to get me some stuff. And not pay shipping.

Catch-up part 2: What Happened to Resolutions?

Time seems to be smashing itself together. I could swear I had resolutions for the new year last year, but unable to find more than a couple of bad habits I wanted to break, I realize I'm remembering formal resolutions of the year before. How sad is that? Looking back at two years of resolutions, I have stopped saying "duh" all the time, and have become more ladylike, and I think I gossip less. I also knit better, though still having difficulty with crocheting, and I watch TV less when I grade. However, I don't exercise as much as I should (now anyway; it was easier in summer), and I still bite my nails.

For this year, I'd like to swear less, especially with a new niece or nephew on the way.
Also, I would like to scowl less. I've realized that I have a bad habit of scowling; the problem is, what I feel is the neutral expression for my face (when I'm not putting in muscular effort) is a slight frown, especially when I'm thinking. The problem is thus that it is easy to slip into a full scowl when I'm miffed. When they say it takes more muscles to frown than to smile, they're wrong; they mean smiling or frowning intentionally. But if your face makes a frown naturally, then you have to put in extra effort. My mom has perfected a look that can best be described as pleasant, and I think I may need to work on that.

Catch-Up: Part 1

Baby's got a whole lotta blogging stored up, so let's get started, shall we?
First, I got tagged for this, so let's see where we stand on:
Five things you don't want to know about me

1. I have a poster of Jonathan Brandis in my bedroom, circa SeaQuest DSV. I think I also have some Teen Beats somewhere with him in them. And an action figure set, complete with Hammerhead shark.

2. While watching the episode of X-Files in which Mulder supposedly shot himself (season 4 finale), I was alone in the house and I actually screamed. Loudly. Since I was always taught not to scream unless it was an emergency, this was a pretty big deal.

3. I hate drugs and drug culture; I mean, I HATE them, and I don't hate much. I'm not talking about Tylenol here, but things that are illegal and/or used for getting high or low or whatever really piss me off. So much that I don't want to talk about it anymore except to say that I once had an enormous crush on a boy; the day I found out he'd started smoking pot, I went off him completely. I could go on all day about cigarettes, too, except that they're legal. I don't hate alcohol, but I have mixed feelings about drunk people. Even when I am one.

4. I have seriously questioned my ability to be a mother based on my inability to deal with throw up. I'm not sure why, since my mother shares the problem and did just fine, but the prospect terrifies me.

5. On New Year's Eve I was....in my apartment in my pajamas doing a puzzle. Sorry, guys.

Where you been?

Hello my darlings. Yes, I've been in sort of a de facto hiding, sewing my little hands to shreds. Why? I dunno. As Captain Kirk once said about the most important reason for climbing a mountain, "because it's there."

First, here's a look at the golden dress. The crinkly satin fabric is shiner than I'd remembered, but I believe the results are fetching, made even better by those black lace mitts I picked up at an antique store. This is one of those rare times when fabric and pattern come together to be amazing, and even though it's meant to be of average difficulty as I remember, I did as well as I could with it and it looks just the way it's supposed to. The hem's a bit less than I could do, but it looks all right from the outside. The crinkle actually works in my favor.







I then turned my attention to a 1931 pattern (that's Vogue Vintage, for those of you keeping track. I know there's a lot of you). Imagine my surprise and slight horror when I noticed that I'd cut pieces for a size 8. In fact, my pattern was all size 8. I'd gotten this pattern ages ago, and on the outside it had size 6 in the list of measurements, which it typically only does if a size 6 is available. However, I looked at it more closely, at the cutting layouts, and determined that in fact there is no size 6. More to the point, I examined previous patterns and determined that this pattern has so little ease that it would probably fit properly, unlike my size 6 skirts with similar lack of ease...they tend to be a little snug late in the day.
Crisis averted. I took in an eighth of an inch more on seam allowances where appropriate though, just to tighten it up a hair.
I tried on the dress on Sunday, and I have to say I was a little distressed. It seemed like it was going to be not so great. The hips fit perfectly, but the waist was almost baggy. this is a belted dress, but even when I tried it with a trial belt it seemed like it would be too big. I resolved not to judge too early, and to just go with it and finish the dress as directed. I was glad I did so, because it came out fine, and when I put it on, I realized that it fit almost perfectly. It's supposed to have a little bit of overhang above the belt, as you can see from the front shot. The back in the closeup looks quite wrinkly and even badly sewn, but it's actually a few other factors: the way the light catches the pleat, and the fact I'm turning around. Also, I didn't have it quite pulled up properly above the belt, and it is just the tiniest bit big in the waist, which always on me shows up in the back because I have such a long back. Certainly, I didn't sew it perfectly, but I spent quite a lot of time examining pictures I took, and have determined it's as it should be. My next plan in relation to this dress is to use some gorgeous velvety fur-type fabric I have in a slightly pink silver and make a cape. I'm doing another dress first, but then I'll do the cape. I'm nervous about that because I haven't worked with such a sumptuous fabric before, at least in this context, but we shall see. I don't know how much longer my energy will hold out but the act of creation is sort of alluring to me right now.























If you're wondering why all the pictures, someone sensible once told me I should make a scrapbook of all my sewing projects, good and bad. I haven't really gotten down to the scrapbooking part of it yet, but I did take pictures of a few older projects and will continue with that track in the hopes of someday logging it all.

All done

So, it's Thursday, I'm hanging out in the office after a whirlwind of portfolio-returning activity, looking forward to heading home soon and spending quality time with my apartment and my sewing machine. Everyone's full of holiday cheer and cards (sorry, people, I don't really do Christmas/holiday cards...the sheer volume of the list of friends I would need to give cards to is daunting to a girl who most of the time can't even be bothered to write a letter. I thank you, however, for your consideration and love in sending me holiday cards). The dress I'm making is almost finished, and I'm looking forward to listening to more of Harry Potter 6 on tape whilst I do the finishing work (hemming being possibly the most boring sewing work in the universe), and de-static the dress, and then take some pictures if the time is right.

I haven't watched a whole lot of TV lately, because reruns are boring, so instead I will provide a general list of some important TV moments and trivia of the last couple months.
Biggest TV regret: Missing most of the episode of Saturday Night Live on which Hugh Laurie appeared. It was by the grace of God alone that I got to see part of it, including the "protest song."
Second biggest TV regret: Missing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Biggest TV frustration: Lorelai and Christopher. As I have indicated to many, I disapprove strongly of this Gilmore Girls relationship. Christopher, despite being handsome, is boring as hell. I have been known to leave the room when the two of them are on together. The conflicts of this season have been poorly chosen, I think.
Most interesting surprise viewing: The Snow Queen, a strange and artful adaption. imdb.com's current reviewer was rather scathing, but I think the person also sort of missed the point of the style of the adaption. It was sort of like looking in a nickel odeon.
Biggest go-girl moment: The end of Prime Suspect 7. I do heart Helen Mirren.
Spiciest TV-related dream: I admit I had a dream about Ty Pennington last night. (adding to what has been an EXHAUSTING dream month, from falling out of bed because of spiders to the night when I seriously had at least seven dreams, several of which sort of blended together, but AFTER I'd woken up and fallen back asleep. How many times can I need to put in contacts in a dream?).
Most sympathy for disliked person: Melrose, ANTM. Sure, girl is a little annoying. However, she's also smart and can do just about anything. She reminds me a little of me, and a few of my girlfriends felt the same way about themselves--educated woman, many interests and abilities, and a bit of a know-it-all, a bit show-offy. But that's what you're supposed to have in competition, and I for one found it refreshing to have a girl who wasn't vacuous as these girls tend to be. That being said, I'm not sorry Caridee won, because I think she's lovely, and that crazy elephant picture rocked. But I'm hoping for big things for Melrose because she has a wide array of things to do. What worries me is that, because she has so much going for her, people will just assume she can fend for herself and not give her anything. Possibly this fear is unfounded. I hope so.

OK, that's all I can think of right now because it's 5:12 and I want to leave. However, before I do, I have a very important question: Does anyone here love comedian Jim Gaffigan like I do? He's coming to Toledo Feb 9 and I want to go. Sadly, it's the same night as the BG vs. Michigan hockey game here, but it is not the same night as MSU, so that's all right.

Watch out for dummies!

If anyone needs me, I'm in the midst of my workroom sewing away as though nothing else in the world is happening.
This is probably for the best since I passed no fewer than three people driving like idiots on my way in to the office today.
Why is it that people don't remember how 4-way stops work? As in, when the person directly in front of you goes, and there are other people waiting at the stop sign, then you are not next? A neighbor of mine nearly got run over by a truck, and I could have been broadsided myself except that both of us were watching for such shady behavior.

Sorry, kids

Open apology to my BG hangout peeps:
Sorry, guys; this weekend turned out to be unexpectedly crowded with social and event engagements. I have these times when no one wants me and I hide in my house and do crafts, and then suddenly I must erupt from my home in a swish of silks and wool and see everyone I know. I love you, though, and will see you soon.

Banner Day

So, yesterday evening turned out to be unexpectedly full of nice surprises.
I had a pretty short day, actually, which was gratifying and easy. I walked home and, on my way, noted that The Cookie Jar had Raspberry Linzer Roll cookies that day, so I stopped and ordered some. I went home and got my mail, which included:

The Circle Journal, an awesome circulating journal written by some of my family. It's my turn!
A hefty check from Verizon, a refund of my cellphone security deposit! YES!

I went back to get my cookies, and then settled in for the evening. I watched a little tv, started cutting out pattern pieces for a dress while listening to Garrison Keillor, ate more cookies than I should have (delicious shortbready cookies with raspberry swirl), read a little of two books (an old favorite, Primrose Day, which I checked out from the library, and the last Lemony Snicket book, which I bought even though I haven't read the others. It just sounded good. And it is.), watched more TV (ANTM finale and Top Chef and Medium), and generally relaxed before ending the evening by catching up with the journal.
The only thing I haven't gotten to do for a while is have a bath. I believe that's on tonight's agenda, or perhaps tomorrow. I have a sort of cinnamony bubble bar that will go great with some spicy soap my sister got me for my birthday. I also have plans to do a hand spa with some fun products I got from my friend. Let the luxuriating....continue!

And now it's time for word association

Gilmore Girls: WTF?
Vince Vaughn: available
ANTM: season finale!
Body: plus four pounds
Dinner: meatballs (again)
School: no more grading, whoo hoo!
Dreams: scary animals
Fabric: I'm going to make a sweet dress this break!
Sewing machine: stolen from Mom (sorry Mom)
Music: "Mushaboom" best song ever right now (thanks, Carrie)

Meatballs

I was about to get all cranky and whine about how some people, namely Steve, haven't posted much lately, then realized I haven't posted since Tuesday and maybe I should shut up.

Last night I had a delicious dinner. Here's what happened: I was in Meijer on Saturday night (after an abysmal hockey game. I don't want to talk about it.) getting my groceries stocked up. I actually have a fairly full freezer and cupboard right now, but I was out of some essentials (milk, for instance) and some healthier produce. I was passing through frozen foods, looked to my left, and saw...
a giant bag of meatballs.
For some reason, this sounded awesome. Slow cooker, I thought. Meatballs like the ones my Mum made for graduation.
So yesterday between church and attendance at A Christmas Carol I dissolved some beef boullion, threw in some flour and some mushroom soup, and mushrooms, and dumped in 40 meatballs. I stirred 'em up and left them on low, and there they were when I returned home at 5. I made some mashed potatoes and dumped meatballs on them, and ate the lot with some apple salad. So good. I had to reheat the meatballs because my front room is so cold right now that my dinner got cool too fast.
It was great. Then, I took a nap and then watched the new Librarian movie: Return to King Solomon's Mines. It wasn't as good as the first one (and by good I mean the right mixture of derivative, goofy, adventurous, and entertaining), but it was worth watching.

TV in general lately hasn't been much to post about. Everyone is in reruns, you know, and while that was helpful in the "final standoff with essays" week, this week is about me and my needs. This girl needs to be entertained, and if new ANTM is all she gets, girl gonna get sad. This week, looks like new Gilmores, old House (sad), new and last ANTM, new Top Chef, new Medium, and thank-God-because-I-heart-Winchesters, new Supernatural.

Girl also gotta be warm. My morning classroom was probably cold enough to keep potato salad fresh all day. And right now I have the uncomfortable feeling that the heat might have broken in the office building, because I feel the strange sensation of cold air hitting my body. I believe I shall be going home early today. I barely made it out of bed as it was this morning, and I don't see any reason why I shouldn't return there as soon as possible. So soft. So warm. So snuggly.

In which my forehead gets out of control

Once upon a time, Amanda Latrenta stood before her class, ready to introduce the Proposing a Solution assignment. Amanda pointed to a sizable blemish on her forehead and assertively said, "Problem." She paused, waiting for her meaning to become clear before she asked, with a wry and slightly wicked smile, "Solutions?"

I vividly remembered Amanda today, telling me that story when she was a group leader. Today, I had a gigantic whitehead on my forehead; only it's not there now because this morning I absolutely had to get rid of it. So instead I have a gigantic and almost-uncoverable red mark which will almost certainly scar unless I exercise immediate skin emergency procedures.
This was a zit in the full meaning of the word, and I NEVER get them. I get pimples, certainly, most commonly along my jawline or in the nose area, but this was a full on disaster, like I'm about to sprout a horn and magic and become a unicorn. We are not in the days of the Cosby Show when a girl like Vanessa can just put a headband over it, and it was really too low to rock a low-slung bandana, even. As a girl with quite a lot of forehead anyway, this was absolutely unmitigated neon sign territory. And I had to teach three classes today.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go wash my face; even now I can feel my make-up making plans to create a permanent exhibit up there.

Another year older

So, the birthday has come and gone. I received many exciting things and participated in several exciting activities. So, I will sit here on my lunch break and explain a few things to you while I eat my fried chicken and squash casserole.
Some reviews:
Poco Piatti, Levis Commons, a Mediterranean tapas restaurant. I have never been to a tapas restaurant before, but my love of Mediterranean cuisine is well documented, particularly of the Greek and Italian persuasion. Poco Piatti does both of these but throws Lebanese into the mix for good measure. The restaurant is brand new, at least it is a new location, as there is also one in Toledo. Our group on Friday night was quite large, and ordered things throughout the night, and frankly I was impressed with the staff's ability to adapt to the confusion and make sure we all got our dinners.
If you have never been to a tapas restaurant, it works like this: Basically, you order a bunch of appetizer-sized items to eat. I suppose you could just eat what you ordered, but our group sent the items around the table so we got the widest sampling possible. For instance, I had: saganaki kasseri (OOPA!), hommous, Greek salad, half a cabbage roll, several small pieces of thin pizza (one of which was hazelnut, potato, and pesto pizza--almost obscenely delicious), pumpkin gnocchi, calamari, chicken wraps, goat cheese agnolotti, artichoke hearts, and Lord knows what else, and turned down servings of several other dishes that didn't seem to quite go with what I was eating. The menu items are numerous, naturally, and this location also has a few full-sized dinners if you prefer. Best of both worlds, what?
I had to laugh because this young little couple were sitting at a nearby table and they kept looking at ours with wide eyes, possibly wondering how nine people could put away so much dinner. And we really did. There were some leftovers boxes, but we did a lot of damage. As a party, it was wildly successful. But you could also go there with just two people and get your own things or share a few and come in fairly cheaply. In fact, my friend Michelle and I did something similar at Biaggi's for lunch once. We just shared, and were both super full. The nature of our ordering system was also fun...we ordered some things, decided we'd also like to try others, and by the end of the meal were hoping that we hadn't ordered anything else. What a great way to get full.
This was all followed by some delicious German chocolate cake made by Carrie, which was sweet enough but not too sweet, perfectly ending the evening's gourmet adventures.

Now, about Pop 5.
I've never played Cranium before, and I usually say no to Trivial Pursuit. In fact, I'm really not an adventurous game player--always refused to play Pin the Tail on the whatever at birthday parties, preferring to watch or roam around for a few minutes to myself. I'm too competitive, and the stress always gets to me to perform perfectly; I have what could be called a winner's complex. But I let my energies be seduced by my friends (who were kind enough to see through my laziness and maneuver me into playing Pop 5).
It's a version of Cranium in which it's not the word or phrase, it's the manner of its delivery. You have five choices, naturally, including drawing, sculpting, humming, acting out, or tossing letter cubes and coming up with words to guide your team. You have a certain amount of time (before the pop light goes out) to make your team say whatever is on your card.
We played boys vs. girls, which was 3 vs. 4, though I can point out here that one extra person really does not make much difference at that point. We played five rounds, and the girls ultimately came out with the best 3 of 5. Of my great and tragic moments, consider the following:
1. My utter failure to get across Genie in the Bottle through sculpture. I sculpted a bottle with smoke, but the bottle was of poor design. My failure was offset, however, by Paul's equally unfortunate (though well sculpted) Charlie's Angels clue.
2. My massive success in sculpting Hill Street Blues. Maggie proved instrumental to this, helping me earn the respect of my fellow players in the sculpting department.
3. If you heard the words "packet" and "decade" what would you guess? If it was Pop Rocks, in the food and drinks category, you'd be right. Well done, ladies. The gents were particularly confused by our telepathic ability here.
4. How in the name of all that is right in the world do you get across "Please don't squeeze the Charmin?" Even if you could successfully get across toilet paper, or even Charmin, and then squeeze, I can guarantee that no one in my group would have gotten the whole thing. This was perhaps offset by Jane Fonda Workout for the boys.
5. My personal favorite, because it represented a judgment error by the men (the opposing team has to rank the different ways to present clues according to points value), who ranked humming to be worth top number of points for "Star Trek." That was a total gimme for me. Carrie, my fellow sci-fi fan, got that one immediately.
This game strikes me as very instinctive and crafty. I truly enjoyed it, almost as much as I enjoyed rocking the boys' faces off. Girls Rule!
Other particularly satisfying moments were Maggie doing Flashdance, Carrie sculpting Dallas, and Melissa's enthusiastic portrayal of Just Do It. On the boys' side, Paul telepathically guessing leg warmers, Steve's portrayal of Ozzy Osborne, and Nathan's outstanding skill with letters at all times were most impressive.
A good time was had by all, and I was exhausted when we finally finished. This is a game I would most definitely play again.

Wednesday smash-up

Music that has been in my head in the last two days:
"Smack my b***h up..." (just that line)
The African Queen theme music.
Why those two things? I really can't say.

I feel sad today, which is a real bummer considering tomorrow is my birthday. My hope is that my birthday outfit will force me to at least behave in a happy-go-lucky and possibly frivolous manner. I kind of need to be "on" tomorrow in order to enjoy the aging process.

Speaking of which, I can't remember if I mentioned this, but a few weeks ago I actually made someone examine my head to see if I had any grey hairs. The funny thing is I wouldn't care if I did have grey hairs, though I might kick a fuss about it openly, but I at least want to know if they're there. I don't want them to sneak up on me. He said I didn't, but I'm still suspicious. It's awfully difficult to tell, you know, with the blond. Which reminds me, I need to re-dye my streak roots. Maybe that's tonight's project post-presentation.

Presentation? Yeah, forgot to mention that. I'm going and doing a panel or solo presentation at Owens in Toledo tonight, on my dance-poetry thing. I have five pieces, three of which are old and resurrected, one of which is newly choreographed, and one of which I'm going to improv while someone reads it. Should be good times. The only things that ever make me nervous about such things is a: actually remembering the words, and b: being able to speak the poems loudly enough, and with enough breath. Oh, and c: getting hip or back cramps in the middle, as at Christmas Eve services, when I had an enormous knot form in my hip whilst I was dancing. On with the show though, right?

Doesn't it seem weird that I haven't done any television reports lately? I guess I haven't had that much to say lately. There's no Project Runway, and Top Chef just made me irritated last week. "Scandalicious"? I have to say, though, that I enjoy Gail Simmons and I wish she were the host. At least the host wasn't wearing hot pants this week. How obvious can you get? Oh, and Camp Glucose? I don't approve of that name.
Heck, I haven't even watched Supernatural from last week yet.
Let's talk for a sec about Gilmore Girls. A lot of people have complained about the slip in writing since the creator left, and while I can see what they're getting at, my concern is much more plot-related. GG seems to be falling into the set-up trap...where weak plot segments are supposedly meant to sneak by because they build up to an interesting plot component. Certainly, a Christopher-Luke showdown might be interesting, as might Lorelai backing out of this flybynight "marriage." But to be honest, I am not enjoying watching Chris and Lorelai, nor am I enjoying watching Luke be "reborn" as a considerate man. It all rings false and kind of dull. With this show in particular, I am not okay with it being weak for a few weeks because it's going to be awesome eventually. GG doesn't work that way. Even when things go amiss or build up, the show needs to be charming and captivating, and right now it's just uncomfortable, and not in that "oooh, uncomfortable and tense" way, but in that "oh. uncomfortable. look away" kind of way. It has its bright moments, as in Michel insisting on being called Captain (hilarious), but it's stopped being truly quotable, as evidenced by my now too-quiet cell phone not receiving text messages from Steve for half an hour.
Rock my socks off, Gilmore Girls! I command it!

Winter Wheat = Existential Questions

Hi, kids.
So, it's Winter Wheat time, and I've already been to sessions. Isn't that great? Total number of sessions I went to last year whilst in charge? 0. I'll admit, I've been to some that didn't really speak to me, just because they weren't a good fit for my current writing life, but I've also been to some that really helped my mind in some way. Actually, I've walked away with at least a little something from every workshop.
Tonight is a reading by Dan Chaon and David Baker, which will be fun. Currently, I should be doing a bit of work, but naturally I'm not. I'll do a bit in a few minutes; drafts and whatnot. My head feels sort of hot, though, like it's drunk in too much noise and thought. It's better than last night's feeling, which was utterly exhausted. I couldn't even meet friends at a restaurant, not for dinner or for afters. Just too bloody tired. In fact, I almost passed out from lack of sleep and lack of food.
Today, I wonder, why am I a writer? What has made me choose this as the core of my career? Well I remember the time when I was meant to decide direction, in the later portion of college as I prepared to grad school. Why writing, and not dance? Why not something else like Lit, or even science? I am at that point in my writing life when I've been out of grad school for a few years, and I'm wondering what I'm fit for, and how many stories I will be able to tell, how many experiences to convey. I somehow need to know why I've made this choice in order to continue it. Do I deserve to be a writer? Is that what I'm supposed to be? My 28th birthday is less than a week away. Has that 28-year-old, white, single, female entity with brown hair and blue eyes made the right decision?

Happy Due Date to ME

So, I was supposed to be born 28 years ago today. Instead, I made my mother and my doctors wait. I always celebrate a little today anyway, since it represents such a great countdown.
This week is going to be nuts. I'm getting drafts on Tuesday and Winter Wheat starts on Thursday and lasts through Sunday, and somehow all of this has to get finished. Here's the plan: Set the VCR for anything and everything I could possibly wish to watch this week. On Tuesday and Wednesday, plow through a class per day if humanly possible. If I get done with a class and have an hour or two free, I will watch a show or two to relax. Thursday through Sunday I will apply myself to the third class as best I can, an hour here an hour there. I plan to be done by Sunday evening so I can then plow through any remaining TV I might have.
The moral of the story is, don't talk to me about TV this week. I'm working!

Last night, I had a solo dance party with some Lambic and a full moon. Tonight, Monday, is the last free night I'll have for a week. If you need me I'll either be in the tub or in my pajamas under a blanket.

The Cookie Jar

All right. I have a few things to say today.
First, a bit of word-of-mouth advertising.
I was walking home last night and passed a little place on Court St called the Cookie Jar (basically across the street from Spots). I'd seen it before, and I'd also seen other businesses in and out of there before, and for some reason I thought, you know, I could just do with a great cookie right now. So I went in. As I quickly found out, it isn't a bakery where you just go in and pick out what you want or buy one cookie from a selection on a tray. You actually order cookies in sets of 6, 8, 12, and 13 or something like that (or trays of more cookies) and then in 20 minutes or so they are hot and ready for pick up or free BG delivery. Every day they have chocolate chip, peanut butter, and oatmeal cinnamon raisin chip. Then, they have a special cookie, and there's a calendar of what they'll have.
I ordered an 8-set with two of each kind of cookie (10 dollars) and went home for my 20 minutes, then headed back. I received a box and some napkins and took them home, changed into pajamas, and then pulled the box into my lap and opened it. Inside were 8 large, fresh, and hot cookies, two of which (the peanut butter jelly variety) were in muffin cups with some vanilla frosting to drizzle on top.
What can I say? I ate an oatmeal raisin and a PBJ cookie on the spot. They were soft and rich and pretty big. Realistically, one cookie would have been enough, and therefore in my opinion worth the price. They were delicious.
Now, it is 11 o'clock on a Thursday morning, and I am enjoying my second PBJ cookie, warmed for 15 seconds in the microwave, and it is equally delicious. I asked the gal in the shop how business was, and she said it was picking up through word of mouth since they haven't done much advertising yet. So here's my contribution. Great cookies, perfect for events like showers and small parties, even big parties if you cut the cookies up. The Cookie Jar. Court St. November 17? Pumpkin pie cookies. I'm all over that.

So, advertising aside, I am now through my antibiotics cycle, and I do feel better, though I do not in fact feel healthy yet. I was sleepy in a big way yesterday and the day before, and to be honest I still feel sleepy. I really can't wait to be done teaching and conferencing so I can go home and take an actual nap (nap was once again missed yesterday). I am owed a bath since I haven't taken my weekly bath yet this week, so maybe that will be on my post-Supernatural agenda for the evening.

Speaking of TV, did anyone watch Ghosthunters Live on Halloween? I did, or at least I started to. I had to teach on Wednesday, so I couldn't stay up for all of it, but even so as I watched the first two hours I kept falling asleep due to illness and Triaminic, and finally gave up and set the recorder for the last hour. The fellas were out at the Stanley Hotel, inspiration for The Shining. I did see several interesting personal experiences in what I did catch, and I gather next week is the reveal for the investigation. It was a very great idea and I wished it had been a weekend so I could watch the whole thing as it was going on. I don't think they caught any apparitions or anything, but it still was fun to watch.
I have something to say to ye of my friends who are Lost fans: Quit knocking the polar bear. So many of you are so caught up in the conspiracies and the characters, and you forget that the original premise was spooky island with mysterious black object and creatures. That is what attracted me in the first place, and every time we look get a look at either of these entities, I am all on board with it.
And now a few words about Top Chef; first, isn't it funny how they replaced one limp, glassy-eyed host with another limp, glassy-eyed host? They selected someone who would traipse about wearing short shorts (inappropriate much?) but she still has the same bored tone and languid diction. She doesn't sound excited to be doing what she's doing. The female judge has far more vigor and spice, and I wish she could be the host.
On the positive side, don't you love Betty? She's just the sweetest thing. When I say that, I don't mean she can't take care of herself, but you can tell she genuinely loves cooking, loves people, loves to sell food, and doesn't care what kind of food she's making. I'd hire her to be my personal chef because I think she'd always be positive about the food she was making and she'd be nice to me. I hope my Betty bubble never bursts.
And don't you always feel apprehensive about those "regular folks" food challenges? You know about half the chefs are doing to say something dumb or insulting about their customers. I hated especially hearing at least two of them say something to the effect of, I came here to make fine cuisine. Uh, have you watched ANY of the previous season? Did you not learn the lessons they learned and therefore know what might be coming? Last season they went to a gas station, for pete's sake. Get into it! Do your job.
I will be watching Sam and Ilan with interest. Next week sounds scandalous, which I hate...I want to see them live or die by the knife, and not by their stupid cheating. Reality TV lives for scandal like this, but in shows like Top Chef, it really takes away from the point of the experiences. You don't want to have a bad taste in your mouth with a cooking show.

I guess that's it for now. My brain still isn't quite all together.

Hot Lips

If you're wondering how awesome I looked at a recent Halloween party, or, on a related note, how I look as a curly-haired blonde, well...here.











Somehow, I had amazing foresight this year. The theme was the 70s, and my original idea was to go as Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest (the movie, naturally). So I was prepared to go and find a nurse uniform, old school, and do my hair in rolls as I learned while they were trying to design my Evita wench hair
back in the day (p.s. later designed it my self).
But here's what happened: Friday, I had to take my car to Findlay to get looked at and fixed (let's address the cost of that later), and I planned to do a little shopping afterward for my costume. There just happened to be a Kohl's nearby and, as I was talking to my mother on the phone (about the cost of repairs), I decided that maybe the better part of valor this year might be something simpler, something warmer, something like Major Margaret Houlihan of the 4077 M*A*S*H. I hadn't planned anything wig-related, but something told me--yes.
Then, inside Kohl's, I found the perfect pants and sweater. I mean perfect...they give the aura of Hot Lips's customary outfit, but they are also wearable clothing for the future. I went into Meijer and found a wig, and then I was on my merry way. I'd looked for dog tags, and planned to maybe go to Claire's once back in BG, but then I thought, eh, I can make some with tin foil and posterboard. I got home, ate some lunch, and went to school. And that's when it happened.
I started to feel like hell.
I was developing a massive cold. Suddenly, my purchases felt a lot wiser. I hadn't wasted money on anything I'd never get to wear. I had bought stuff that I could wear any old time, just in case I didn't get to go to the party at all.
By the time the party came around, I was feeling better, so I suited up, including a hat that I just magically had, and was off. One of my hosts was dressed as Hawkeye, and so I had some company and everyone knew who I was right away (p.s. he had dogtags...from Claire's). The costume was slightly sexy, but also warm...I think it's the first genuinely warm Halloween costume I've had since I've been here. I wasn't showing any skin at all, in fact, which suited my mood. And, I got a chance to test out blond. Good times.
Today...going to the doctor. That's right, for once I'm giving in and seeing if there are any drugs out there for me.

Culinary Masterpiece...Eventually

This weekend I attempted to make a roast for the first time, specifically a ribeye roast. It was basically the last non-round roast left at Meijer, and it was two pounds. So I did my little calculations for time to roast and how to get the Yorkshire pudding together (oh yes, it was all out cookery), made a cake, and planned the exact moment to get the roast in the oven. I was about five minutes past that, but still figured I'd be in good form.
By the time my guest had arrived and I was ready to get the thing cut up (having measured the temp with an instant read thermometer and planning for five extra degrees of post-oven, foil-covered cooking), it was still pink in the middle. Doh! Back in the oven for another ten minutes cut up in slices. I was a little bit appalled. Here I'd planned to have everything all set up and ready to eat at 6:10, and it took at least another twenty minutes on top of that. I was sad. I was frazzled. It was noticeable.
Just once I'd like to get a perfect meal ready on time. Is that too much to ask? Just once I'd like to be an attentive and smooth hostess ready to just hold a conversation and see to my guest's needs.
The roast tasted fine, so that was good. And the pudding, while a bit dark on the bottom and crispier around the edges than I'd like, also tasted fine, particularly with gravy on top. The roast, as small as it was, didn't have a lot of drippings, but I managed with what I got and a boullion cube. Truth be told, the gravy was made in haste and wasn't my best work, but it was all right.
The fresh green beans turned out perfectly, despite their rather hasty and distracted preparation and cooking.
And the cake? Oh, we ate far too much of the rest to eat cake. I had a piece later. It was good.
So, what I've learned is that the roast should be started at least twenty minutes in advance of the time I think it should, and then I can keep it warm until it's actually required. Possibly this plan will lead to tough meat, but as long as I check it frequently it should be fine.
I'm thanking goodness I decided not to roast a small chicken, was was my original plan.

Wednesday TV rocks.

So, I know you are all dying to know what I thought about PR last night, and here is a rundown of my responses:
Tim Gunn all verklempt? Priceless. I love you, Tim Gunn; you are beyond humanly possible in nobility and class.
The resolution of the Jeffrey concerns? Warm and fuzzy, just the way I likes it. As I mentioned earlier, when we found out four designers were going to Fashion Week, these four all have flashes of brilliance and entirely different tastes, and I was more than gratified that they all seemed content to be there with each other. The proposed compromise to the budget problem and the resolution of the investigation made me feel happy for them all. I could not have been more delighted if I were sozzled.
I was disappointed that Michael's collection seemed straight out of the Frederick's of Hollywood clothing section (yes, in fact they do sell clothing). Actually, there's another catalog they resembled even more, but I can't remember it. It has a similar flavor, but less of a rep. Certainly that's a style, and sometimes even a popular one, but I don't think it was his best work. I have a theory: Sometimes with young poets, I see the most creative work come out of exercises and projects with restrictions. It helps them seek their own style even as they strive to meet constraints. I think that's where Michael is, sort of finding his way still and how it might fit into reality of clothing. Note that the looks he showed in his audition portfolio (I noted this before Nina even said anything) were very similar, yet the looks on the show were crafty and innovative. Right now, Michael performs best when given rules to deal with. As he develops, he'll hopefully come into his own inner innovator.
Major props to Uil. I LOVE that little bone belt thing at the top of several of her dresses. My friend Amanda and I are in agreement that a different order to the collection on the runway might have softened that jarring neutral-to-print moment. But, I think the amount of applause she received during the showing is a good indication of its potential; I love that they included Nina saying she'd already had questions about getting in touch with Uli.
I am in love with Laura's collection. I would wear any of those dresses, and I am drooling over that low-cut one with the black lace cups and the little moue it made at the cleavage. Do you know how hard that is? It was exquisite. Not rangy, certainly, but Chloe won last year with a similar contingent. Fern Mallis didn't care that it didn't have range, either. I want Laura fashion. I want her to design red carpet dresses as long as she desires to do so.
I am still mad that Jeffrey was mean to Angela's mom. Likewise, I did not find his collection personally pleasing (or rather, like it made me want to wear the clothes). However, I am not upset that he won, because it was a collection with a point of view and with range, and I can absolutely see the woman (or girl, really) who would lean in that direction. I've already heard many comments lusting after the zipper dress. My favorite was actually the short navy blue dress, even though it didn't quite match up with the rest of the collection; actually, I didn't find Jeffrey's collection to be as cohesive as some pointed it out as being; the point of view was consistent, but the outfits sort of ranged to different degrees off that line (eg. that short wispy babydoll thing that looked like she put on an apron and called it quits).
In any case, I am left with the same feeling in which I started the show (post-results of investigation): Pleased for the designers, pleased for me, and excited about all of their potential career moves. It feels, as Tim Gunn so aptly said, that everyone is a winner!

Now, Top Chef has begun. It looks like it will be a snipy sort of season, which I hate, but the mere inclusion of Harold Dieterle as guest judge alone made me want to watch. He looks like he's been living well. I did enjoy that gal who made frog legs southern Sunday style. That's the way to eat! I also felt like the second group's mystery box ingredients were weirder than the first group's. I've been wondering if they felt the same way.
Ghosthunters was ok, but not as exciting as last week. Lost...I know a lot of people have dissed it, but I loved the polar bear. Any episode with monsters is okay by me. As far as ANTM goes...well, I'm sad to see AJ go, because her walk is killer.

I'm looking for a Wednesday tv anonymous group. Any takers? Things have gotten out of hand.

My skin has had it with fall.

Bleh. My skin looks old. As fall creeps through this year and the air dries while the temperature drops, my skin has put forth its protest with shadows under my eyes, mysterious tiny blotches, and dryness no matter how consistently I use my quality lotion. It's not cool. It also doesn't help that my allergies have peaked, as they do every year in September/October. Also my birthday is coming, and I fear I'm finally starting to look my age, rather than the several-years-younger thing I had going on for ages.
To combat such issues, I took a weekend and did a lot of nice stuff for me. On Friday, as noted, I went to the hockey game after the baseball game (TIGERS WIN! WOOT!. It ended up that I arrived right as the second period was going to begin, which was pretty perfect. I also went to the game Sunday and...well, this needs some explanation.
I'm trying to get a chapbook manuscript prepared for a competition. I don't do well in competition, but I wanted to send my demon poems. The only problem is that I didn't yet have enough, and while I've been picking away at it for a month, I needed about five more pages. I spent much of the weekend writing and revising poems! Do you know how long its been since I did that? It rocked my socks off.
One of my favorite demon poems to date was written at a hockey game. For some reason, that combination of being on my own with crowd background noise, the ability to look up and let my mind drift even while focusing on the puck, and sitting sideways on a bleacher, all while bundled into sweater and jersey, really makes my brain put out good work. And sure enough. I took my book to the game Friday but didn't do much. Sunday, though, proved to be most profitable, and I turned out exactly what I wanted to...the pack of poems needed another sort of imagistic poem full of figurative language and metaphor, something just a little spacey, and that's exactly what I wrote! How cool is that?
I have enough pages now to finish the chapbook up, but a couple of them aren't as strong as I'd like, so I'm going to try to write one or two more as well. It is awesome!
Then, of course, I took a bath on Sunday. That pretty much sealed the deal.
Weekends off rule!

Important October Details

First, a question: Does anyone know who the character Edith Ann is? Think 70s here.

Second, some thoughts about cheese; I've discovered the most magnificent cheese, and it is Sage Derby. If you enjoy cheese and like something a little unusual, and if you enjoy sage, you should eat this cheese immediately. I got it at Stimmel's Market.

Third, my car is being sad. Wednesday night it almost didn't start at all, and twice yesterday it quit when I tried to put it into reverse right after starting it. Baby, don't play that game with me. I love you and want you to be happy. But I need to get places, you know what I'm saying?

Fourth, Project Runway: I can't talk about it. It's too much to process. All my BG PR peeps were in a tizzy with me.

Fifth, I now, officially, watch too much TV.

Sixth, tonight I have to make a decision: watch Tigers or go to the hockey game? Can I do both? Would I be able to watch the Tiger game anyway? Would it make me too nervous? Should I bring some knitting to the game so as not to get nervous about that? Or write a poem, like I did "Blue Birth Demon," which got published? I don't know! I love it on Fridays when this is all I have to think about!

Wednesday:DND

Ok, Ok, maybe Do Not Disturb is excessive. I would certainly answer the phone or the door, and I wouldn't be upset about it.
But I gotta say, TV is heating up big time tonight. Witness...
8 pm: America's Next Top Model. (It's true that I abhor the teenaged dramas of these girls, but I love watching the photo shoots and seeing the results. I just mute the drama-in-the-house parts).
9 pm: Lost. (Stupid Steve. You are responsible for this desire to watch.)
10 pm: Project Runway. (Obviously the highlight of the evening. There is some drama afoot here, I know, but I love the episode where Tim visits everyone at their homes, and I look forward to seeing what everyone is up to).
11 pm: Ghosthunters. (PREMIERES TONIGHT! Oh yeah, baby. Actually, the show is at 9, but Sci-Fi takes massive pity on me by reshowing the ep at 11. Bless you.)
And, on top of all of this, game two of the Tigers vs. A's showdown. Tigers up 1 game, and as an obsessive Tiger fan of yesteryear (how many of you had a mini-Tiger shrine in her bedroom? How may of you dressed in a Tiger t-shirt and leggings and cap every time a game was on? How many of you carried a portable radio around the yard no matter what when there was a game on? How many of you fell blissfully into dozing from the 4th to the 7th innings on Saturday afternoons, tummy full of Faygo creme soda or Coke float? How many of you got as close to the TV as possible and stayed as quiet as possible during late night games so parents wouldn't tell you to go to bed?)
It's all good in the house.
Also, this weekend I planted mums.
Also, I ate a lot at home. One of my requests was oven-fried chicken, and oven-fried chicken I got and ate a huge amount of. My Mom rocks. Meanwhile, my Dad and I examined mysterious holes in the lawn out by the lake, holes that don't really go anywhere but are also not hidden as squirrel holes tend to be. It's quite unusual, but as Dad said, might be good for the lawn, aerating it and such.
Ah, home.
And now it's time to teach.

P.S.

By the way, I had another of those shining moments of recognition on Saturday. I was watching Harry Potter 4 and eyeing Mr. Crouch for the first time with that "where I have I seen him before" feeling. I was concentrating on the voice and the eyebrows, but just couldn't manage it. Then, later, I had my answer. Vicar of Dibley. Roger Lloyd Pack plays Owen. It was nice that Vicar of Dibley was on no more than an hour after I'd had that question to begin with. Didn't even have to wait until I had computer access. It was sweet.

Is it true...

...that I bought no fewer than two sets of pajama pants at Victoria's Secret for my new habit of changing into lounge pants when I get home? Yes.
...that I searched in every store I frequent, and some that I don't, checked every sales rack in reach, looking for the perfect black pants before deciding that, on balance, it was better just t0 pay full price for a nice pair at Express? Yes (after wasting 2 and a half hours. And they're a little bit big, but I think they'll be okay. I'm kind of between sizes at Express, but I really wanted a nice pair of pants).
...that I went to the Orange and White hockey game on Sunday and had a marvelous time? Yes. I have a student on the team, for the first time ever, which kind of rocks. And BGSU does not play MSU until February, so I have lots of Falcons-cheering time in between. Hockey season has begun!
...that I took an absurdly sparkly bath on Saturday? Yes.
...that a pickup truck flipped over in front of my house on Saturday night? Yes.
...that the truck flipped over while I was in the bath? Yes.
As far as I know, the truck driver lived. My neighbor was convinced he was dead, but after the crowd dispersed and the tow truck was getting ready to collect the truck, I asked an officer, who was very nice to me, and he said the guy was talking a little as they got him on a stretcher and into the rescue vehicle. They definitely had to pry off the top of the cab and the windshield to get him out. It was very scary. I haven't found anything in the news about it, so I guess he's all right.

A few bits and pieces

Yesterday the issue of Backwards City Review that I'm in came to me! Hooray! The poems look great, and I felt proud reading them. My professor Larissa Szporluk is in there, and also my friend Dan Rzicznek, which is sweet. Their poems are also awesome.
My Dad is pretty cool, too.

About Project Runway this week:
I know a lot of people have felt that the producers and judges wussed out.
I feel differently. My problem with reality shows so often is the lack of poetic justice. Witness the extremely irritating character of Monique on Top Model, who failed the day's challenge, has a huge attitude problem, and didn't take a good picture this week, but still believes she is the queen of the house. I can't watch this show while she's on it because her brattiness ruins it, and I fear it will be forever before she is axed. (I can't say this is true for sure, I just worry). So, on PR when it came to three designers I frequently enjoy and one that I respect for designing, I feel great that the decision made favored my own indecision.
Not only this, but the prospect of four collections is extra exciting to me because I love the final runway show. Furthermore (as if you needed another reason), I felt such a friendly vibe-- all the designers hugged after they all made it. No one was sad or angry. They all are so different, and as much as they have sometimes criticized each other, I think this group has generally done so from a design standpoint, and haven't been mean about it (even Jeffrey, whose character is frankly cantakerous, has softened his criticisms on these designers). I may be wrong, but the feeling after the show seemed so positive and excited to me. It makes me really anticipate Olympus Fashion Week with all attention forward. The reunion show may dampen my spirits a little, but let it just be said now that on October 18 I will be riveted to that screen.

In other TV news:
House? Hilarious. "You can't stop our love!"
Supernatural? Complicated, but oh do I heart Dean in scrub pants and t-shirt.
Gilmore Girls? GAH! ON AT THE SAME DARN TIME AS HOUSE NOW! WTF? VCR definitely in overdrive henceforth. I choose to record GG because I can watch it later in the evening in my jammies, with some ice cream and wet hair, and it goes over pretty well.

Ok, go away. I need to write some poems.

Pinstripes

I was starting with some allergies or cold-related nonsense last week, possibly related to some seriously cold and wet socks last Tuesday, so I decided to spend most of the weekend alone, ensconced in my house. I slept a great deal of Thursday and Friday, and took a nice walk to the park with a pastry and coffee. By Friday evening, I was ready to get busy on a project. So, I went and checked out the unabridged The Hobbit on audiotape as well as a PG Wodehouse (Jeeves and Wooster, don't you know), and headed over to my workroom (which, as it turns out, is quite a bit warmer than my own apartment...good news if you are at all familiar with my heating bills. I will not need to turn up the heat so high when I am working and need to have my arms free from blankets).
I digress. For quite some time I've had some dark navy blue fabric with cream pinstripes. It's a suiting fabric, very simple, with a very slight sheen to it. The plan had been to make a suit, and I even had a pattern including a lined jacket and simple skirt. With the high number of other projects I've had, however, and the timing (I can't, for instance, see myself working on a full suit in July), I hadn't gotten to it. Also, jackets are hard, and I'd had variable luck with previous ones. This weekend, though, I decided it was time.
I discovered as I got the fabric out of the closet (did I mention how delighted I am with my new crafts arrangement?), that I didn't have any lining fabric in the correct color. I must have used whatever I bought for something else. I did not feel like going all the way out to the fabric store (did I mention I was wearing pajama bottoms?). I did uncover, though, a lovely cream satiny fabric with grey ochre and blue flowers on it, and was pleasantly surprised to notice that, not only would it be suitable for the lining, but it would look professional and as though that had been the intended pairing all along. I had bought this fabric for a nightgown. I often buy a few yards of this silky stuff (really like a very thin and light satin on the outside), in whatever pretty pattern I can find in the clearance. It's not a very ironable fabric because it doesn't hold much of a fold, but it's not overly difficult to sew and it has a lot of applications. Now I'm excited because I've found one more potential use and will not have to hold myself in check when I find prints I like.
With this discovery, I launched full on to make my suit. I started with the jacket, and truth be told it was indeed a tough task, mainly because I was being very careful with it. Actually, the creation of the lapels (typically very difficult for me) was much easier than previous projects! I was excited about that, and about how it all came together, even more so because this all went down while I was listening to a story perfect for sewing to (I'd never read The Hobbit). As I stitched in the lining, I grew happier and happier with my fabric choice and, although I didn't do the best job with attaching the sleeve part of the lining, from the outside it looked great, and I know it will "ride up with wear." The skirt went pretty well; I didn't do the best job on the hem, so I may take it out when I have some time and redo it (the fabric has the slightest bit of stretch to it, and I found that the hem is tugged just a bit too far to the left, creating the smallest of bends in the pinstripes). I even had a little time last night before I quit to cover some buttons with scraps of fabric and stitch them onto the jacket, and make a little tie belt with the leftover silky.
The result, I must say, is very professional, and I am very excited that it all went so well. No major disasters at all. It was a great way to spend a quiet weekend at home. I'm most delighted about the lining discovery and above I have included a picture (ignore how bad I look! it was late!) so you can see what I mean.