The Travel Journal. Warning: Extremely Long Text Ahead

Ok. So my travel journal turns out to be huge...I seem to have written kind of a lot. So what I'm going to do is pare down a little. And put it in small print. Please disregard any confusing changes in verb tense, and if this is still too long...well, suck it up, I guess. If anyone wants the full experience of the journal, let me know.

5/7-8 Toledo-Detroit-London-Kew Gardens
I was ready to go when Babs picked me up, and made it through Toledo security in no time. The flight to Detroit was uneventful, and I sat around until my London flight reading a Dick Francis novel.
Now, the planes have changed since Italy 2001—for one thing, every seat has its own monitor, which turns out to have a wide variety of movies and games. Sweet! This will be especially handy on the way back when it’s a day flight.
About seats. The plane is like so:
xx xxxx xx
I am in the left side of the bank of four, and the seats to my left are full, and the far right two are full, and there’s a cute college guy (who turned out to be from Muskegon) by the name of Brian at the other end of my four. We waited and waited for our seatmates, and they never came. So we had four seats to stretch out in. I joked that maybe we were a couple on honeymoon, and we knew we’d be mad at each other so we bought four seats. I also joked that I liked to snuggle, so if I accidentally rolled over 2 seats, he’d just have to deal with it. It was very entertaining. I know I’ll never get that lucky again (No, not like that!)!
Watched The Fugitive, tried to sleep, watched Finding Nemo, played Bejeweled. Ate chicken and rice with a bit of salad and some cheese, and cranapple juice. Didn’t have breakfast—just wasn’t hungry. Also, Babs gave me some cookies, and I ate some of those throughout the trip. Landed in good order, had to climb downstairs because the jet thingy wasn’t working. The immigration official I had was a jerk to me, particularly on the point of whether I had friends or family here. She actually asked me how “I planned to get by.” Come on, lady, I’m an American tourist. Surely thousands come in without even having travel arrangements and hotels. She inspected my money. I hadn’t written down my hotel’s address on my immigration card because I wasn’t sure, but then she made me anyway. There’s this big sign about not bullying customs officials—but what happens when they bully you?
Anyway. Was reunited with my slightly squashed suitcase and got into London via the Gatwick Express and then bought a 7-day Travelcard to get me to the Bayswater Station via the Tube I got to my hotel at noon and was able to check in at the Kensington Gardens Hotel.
My room is very nice. I’m actually now a little paranoid about the room rate (note--no problems were had. It was a good deal for a good are of London, I believe).
Almost immediately after I got here, I went to get a phone at a T-Mobile down the street. The helpful guy, Chris, sold me a £25 phone—10 for the phone, 15 for the time on it. I also ordered an international bundle. The only problem is, I had to pay cash because their card reader won’t read my VISA because it doesn’t have a chip. I don’t know now how often this will be a problem and am worried about shopping and ATMs.
Note: Tell Carrie that the shop was playing “Mushaboom” by Feist, one of my favorite songs, which she introduced me to.
Anyway, I called Mom while I was headed out to Kew, then made her call me back to make sure it all worked. By the time I was done talking, I was at Kew Gardens.
Kew is lovely. The day was partly cloudy but occasionally sunny and also windy. I was glad I had my coat and a little sad that I wasn’t wearing long socks under my back-slit long skirt. I took some nice pictures, including of the Palm House, my favorite—misty, hot, and loaded with palms in an old conservatory building. Also saw the Princess of Wales Conservatory, the Temperate House, the Lilacs, and tons of other places. They have the most beautiful old trees. Huge, full of personality. Like Ents.
I started to get cold when the sun began to go away, so took a trip through the gift shop—they had a sign about problems with ccs so I didn’t buy much, just some postcards. Bit of a shame, because they had neat things. Came back on the Tube, then stopped at Tesco Express for a sandwich—ham, cheese, and pickle—apple slices with honey yogurt dip, and a Dr. Pepper (hooray!). Had dinner in my room.
At this point, I was exhausted, so I decided to watch TV (US crime shows :) and doze a bit, eventually having a hot shower and going to sleep.
The news is full of a story about Maddy—a little girl missing now for five days. Prayers with her and her family.
5/9 National Gallery--British Museum--Victoria & Albert Museum
Current time: 6:50 pm. Location: The Prince Alfred. Eating: A giant burger. But I get ahead of myself.
I rolled out of bed around 9:10, I think, and set about getting ready for the day. Note: scarves are very big in London, so I was glad I'd brought a few, including my pashmina.
After a brief stop at T-Mobile to fix my charger, I set off to the National Gallery. My Travelcard has made things very easy, and the subway is similar to Chicago—look, I’m calling it the subway in rebellion against my Brit slang all of a sudden. Anyway. I think I saw everything free in the National Gallery. My favorites were a picture called “Portrait of a Lady in Yellow” by Baldovinetti, and “A Grotesque Old Woman” by Massys—also enjoyed the Seurat, Degas, Monet, etc. in the basement, and lots of other neat stuff.
I was making good time—I’m a browser not a studier with art—and headed off to the British Museum, getting there by 1. Bought a map. Priority list: Greece, Italy, and Egypt, and that’s actually about all I saw. I saw just what I wanted, though, plus some Assyrian stuff and the Sutton Hoo ship burial stuff. Made a stop for gifts. Now here’s where things diverged from my previous plan. I was supposed to go to the British Library and forgot. I just didn’t look at my list. How dumb! I thought, gosh the V & A is open late tonight, I could take the Tube back and then walk across the gardens for a meal (also, bear in mind, I’d had cookies, and a water at the Museum. That’s it. May not have been operating at top form). So, I did get back to the V & A. It turns out, though, they changed their late night to Friday. I had just the right amount of time to tour the Fashion exhibit, then take a peek at Indian textiles. I truly enjoyed the fashion—it was a nice difference from the other museum stuff I’d seen, though that was nice, too. How can you go wrong with marble from Temples and scads of mummies? Just add to that frocks and rugs. I may need to go back to the V & A. Not sure.
Anyway, it was pouring when I went in to the V & A but ok when I got out, so I did indeed walk across the west end of Kensington Gardens back to the area of my hotel. I am now doing some damage to a Blackthorn dry cider from the tap, and a ribeye steakburger with mozzarella, and chips—by which I mean fries.
And it is here that I remembered the Library. I notice, though, that it is in a position such that it would add nicely to the Mme Tussaud’s and London Zoo day tomorrow. I think. I’m hoping it doesn’t rain. If it does, some days have to switch around. Unless I just decide to soldier on, which is possible.
Have I mentioned how much I love you? (NOTE: I was tipsy by this point)
Some thoughts on the value of the pound: OK, so over $2 per £ is steep. But I sort of think the GBP is a better system just now. It may not go very far, but it is more psychologically helpful. A burger for £6.99 is reasonable. But that’s $14. They should be closer, but from our side.
Oh—I was officially flirted with at the National Gallery. Yes, he was an old guy, but he said, “Oh, good afternoon, my beauty.” or something like that. It was funny.
And, I told the barman he was my new best friend, when he brought my sandwich.
5/10 Madame Tussaud's--London Zoo--British Library
Began my day late again, by half an hour. Oh well. Put on jeans and long socks, polo over long-sleeve collared shirt, arm gauntlets, and bun covers to match, with coat. Was later very glad for the gauntlets, because it was cold today, and rained. It was all right to start, as I headed out munching a croissant and drinking fresh OJ from a shop (missed breakfast again). Took the Tube (almost called it the El) to Edgware and walked the rest of the way to Baker St and Madame Tussaud’s. I arrived at such a time as to be just in the first ½ of the morning’s rush. I was able to buy my ticket with some American dollar travellers cheques, which was exciting. So, first thing in the wax museum are all the Hollywood stars. I watched someone bump into Patrick Stewart and promptly took my picture with him, as well as pics of Indy, Steven Spielberg, Sean Connery, Capt. Sparrow, Alfred Hitchcock, QE1, Bill Shakespeare, and Pavarotti. Enjoyed the Chamber of Horrors. Didn’t see any Ripper stuff, but did enjoy the Spirit of London ride dealie. Didn’t buy my photo from the ride. Bought a London Underground lunchbox purse with marshmallows, and some cards, and had a bit of a chat with Iain the cashier. He’s going to look me up if he’s ever in Mich-i-gan. Except he doesn’t know my name.
Set off to walk to Regent’s Park and across to the zoo. (I was paranoid about needing to use my map to get to the park, but actually headed off in the proper direction regardless.) It was cold by this time, but I happily entered the zoo and traipsed about, even when it started POURING. At least that hurried the kids groups so things weren’t crowded, and if I got soaked to my pant legs from splash ups, oh well. Favorites: listening to the English kids, including one rendition of See Saw, Margery Daw, which I’ve never heard from a child before (some of the kids seem quite bratty, though); giraffes up close from their inside, quiet enclosure, eyelashes and all; a serval; staring into the eyes of the big cats; some of the largest pelicans I’ve ever seen; and a butterfly house, where they’re just flying around you. You have to check for stowaways when you leave. They also have a few habitats where the animals can move around you if they so choose, like bitterns and small monkeys.
It was still pouring when I left, walking across the windy park to the Baker St station. I took the Tube to King’s Cross because I had the perfect amount of time for the Library exhibits. I saw the Magna Carta and Shakespeare’s first folio! Also some beautiful sacred texts, the first ever libretto to Handel’s Messiah, some notebooks and notes by Da Vinci and Newton, the original Alice in Wonderland, etc. Also the many feet tall glass-enclosed King’s Library. I didn’t take a picture of that as it was in a public area of the library, and I thought I could find a postcard, but couldn’t. I did find lots of other stuff in the gift shop for...gifts, and verified that they could take my sort of credit card. Only the card was declined. TWICE. I had to use the family card. In a semi-panic, I tested the card when I got back to Bayswater at an ATM and got my £20. I have no idea what that was about. It happened once before, ages ago, in the States.
I dropped off my shopping (who knew the British Library would have the best shop so far?) and went to Whiteley’s Marks & Spencer for food. At last—a grocery, but with lots of other food, readymade, including a lot of food you can eat cold. I settled on olives and feta with pita, feta and spinach pasties, some cocktail sausages, and an apricot sponge roll cake. With a pint of milk. Sat around the hotel room reading, eating, watching TV, and talking to Mom. I’m watching CSI.
Political note:
Today is the day Tony Blair announced he was stepping down in July. In light of seeing political figures together at Tussaud’s, and the Christianity-Judaism-Islam Sacred Texts at the Library, it really makes one think about the state of the world and people’s ability or lack thereof to cooperate. Also, France just elected a new president, one who has already expressed friendship to the US. What a strange, fascinating time.
5/11 Tower of London--St. Paul's--Covent Garden--Piccadilly Circus--Natural History Museum
My feet are so sore. And my hips. I got up at 8ish, dressed, stopped for a quick croissant and juice at the continental breakfast dealie, and got on the train to the Tower of London. No lines for tickets, not very crowded inside. All this was great because I could zip through without waiting for people in front of me. Suspect it will be different at Westminster tomorrow. Actually, it was very nice at the Tower—my favorite place so far. I love those old, old buildings; even though the Tower was rebuilt and remodeled several times, it feels old, and all the armor and historical events contribute to that feeling. Plus the ghosts. I forgot to look up where it’s said Anne Boelyn walks. The Beauchamp Tower was under construction, so I couldn’t do that one. I kept slipping ahead of and amidst an Asian tour group in the Jewel House. There is a moving sidewalk on either side of the jewels themselves, which is sort of funny. I gather the lines are huge in peak season, because they had those corral things like at amusement parks, some with video.
Poor little princes.
We had some sun and some drizzle both at the Tower—it was good to see the sun, at least for a bit.
After the Tower, I walked to St. Paul’s and again got in with no line. Saw John Donne and William Blake memorial, Duke of Wellington and Lord Admiral Nelson, of course. All kinds. Did not go up into the dome—not really in the mood for stairs—but did pause a bit to look up.
After St. Paul’s I did some shopping, but my heart wasn’t in it much. Covent Garden Market was nice and contained, and there were sopranos somewhere singing the Flower Duet, but Piccadilly was chaotic and walking around was exhausting. The Burlington Arcade was quite nice, though, with some high end shops nearby. Despite this, the vast majority of stuff bought today was in the Tower of London gift shop. Who knew?
Anyway. I gave up on shopping at 4 and decided to go to the Natural History Museum and see what looked best to me. I started with dinosaurs, moved to mammals, then the rest of the animals, then a minerals exhibit, then an exhibit on the earth and its treasures. It’s not a gigantic museum; or, it is sort of big, but when you are used to Chicago’s Field, it seems much less demanding. Thank goodness. I saw everything I wanted to see in around an hour and a half. For free (well, donation). Carrying shopping.
I got back to my area and again went to the M & S for a pint of milk, an egg and cress sandwich, and a banana. I also finished off the pasties, and will likely finish off the pita and olives/feta tomorrow. I’m craving produce, so maybe I’ll get some fruits and veggies tomorrow. So basically, food cost £1.71 today. 3 bucks.
Also, I almost got gypped £10 today at Thomas Cook’s. I put the money away, then habitually reached into my bag to count it, and came up short. I went to tell the lady, and she immediately said, “Oh dear, you’re absolutely right, I forgot. I’m so sorry.” I was glad she didn’t ask for proof, but still. Weird.
5/12 Westminster Abbey--London Aquarium--Harrod's
I’m watching this crazy show called Eurovision Song Contest. Right now, there’s some electric cello going on and there’s a guy in a bubble. The announcer for TV, who is pretty snarky, just said, “God, I hope he’s wearing something” and “You don’t see this every day, a man swallowing a fluorescent tube.” And “You spend all your life in a plastic bubble and the first thing you do when you get out is shove a fluorescent tube down your throat.” He’s kind of stream of consciousness, with a comment every 10-15 seconds, never very long, but usually pretty damn funny.
Also, I’m eating part of an apricot jam sponge roll. This is London. Get into it. I do like the electric cello. (edited to add: Serbia won).
OK. An account of my slightly surprising day. I set the alarm to 8:30 (haha) and got up between 8:45 and 9. I had laid out all my clothes, so I was ready around 9:30, stopped briefly next door to pick up my daily croissant, and ate it on the way to the Tube station. The Circle line and much of the District line are out this weekend for service, so I had to do a weird combination of trains and it took forever to get to Westminster. But there was Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, and the Abbey. I went all the way around before finally finding the entrance, but that was fine. I wasn’t as early as I would have liked, but it turned out not to matter. I got momentarily stalled in some bottlenecks, but nevertheless made it round in an hour. Saw the Poet’s Corner, of course. The ceiling in the Chapter House was amazing. When I came out at the end of the walk, I paused a few moments to look up, and felt teary. I felt that way in St. Paul’s as well. So much work and craftsmanship and love goes into these Houses of God. It’s amazing that as soon as we’re outside the doors again, we so quickly forget that silence, that salve.
Forgot to mention that there was some dancing going on in front of the Abbey. Have no idea what was going on, but there was a man with a horse head. Sarah would know.
Anyway, I was in the Aquarium by 11:30, though that involved going through a maze of unmarked corridors because I went in on the wrong side of County Hall. And—I was through there in an hour as well. Couldn’t believe it. These British museums have tanks and exhibits with space, or space and readings, or space and a TV display between them. Definitely not what I’m used to. Anyway, they had some beautiful octopi and upside-down jellyfish—I don’t remember seeing these before but I saw some in the zoo the other day. The tanks at the Aquarium were often chest high and open, which is strange. In America, people would throw things in them. The aquarium also has several robotic fish, which move by undulating the way real fish do. The outside body design is still a little clunky materials-wise (though if I didn’t have my glasses on I wouldn’t be able to tell), but the movement is spot on.
Anyway. When I was done, I grabbed a Coke for “lunch” and began my walk toward Buckingham, just to see the outside and take a picture or two. Then, walked past St. James Park, and on and on. And on. The plan was to visit the South Ken., Chelsea, and Notting Hill shops I had on my list to buy some last presents and see if I could find anything cute for the Pea. Went to Harrod’s and bought a lavender bag to put most of my shopping in when I go back. It will be my new carry-on. I hope everything fits. You’re only allowed to take the equivalent of 1 carry-on through security at Gatwick.
It was pouring when I got out of Harrod’s, but I soldiered on to the last shop, in Notting Hill. Then I walked back to Bayswater. I navigated pretty well today. Lots of map-reading and checking, but most of the time I’d made the right direction choice. It was a long walk, and I went through many shopping neighborhoods. I wonder how people decide which shops they want to go to around here. How do they find their favorites? I have guidebooks, but you could see people who obviously were in those neighborhoods a lot, and people who had come to shop for the day in the areas. It’s just odd.
I stopped at M & S as usual. That’s getting to be my favorite part of the day. It has some clothes, and then a grocery—like a very small Meijer. I’m sure the big M & S has much more stuff, but this is enough if you are just looking for dinner. They have all these pre-fab meals—healthier ones than in the US, but they go in the oven and the microwave. You can even get a packet of veg, assorted, all prepared, in the produce refrigerated section—but there’s a regular produce section, too. I don’t know, it’s just entertaining to me. I’ve had a variety of sandwiches here. Tonight was roast beef and horseradish, but they have an entire section of sandwiches, like the section in our campus convenience store on steroids. Egg and cress is tame compared to salmon and cream cheese, avocado and chicken salad, all kinds of things. It’s a tough choice. I’ve gone for “plain” sandwiches mostly, because I want to keep my stomach healthy. I have the mini-fridge in my room, and because I finished up the olives/feta and pita today, saved half of my sandwich for tomorrow’s trip to Windsor. Might have lunch for a change!
5/13 Windsor--V&A Round Two--Science Museum
Today, my niece was born. Happy birthday, Ruth! (I have omitted a great deal of baby babble. But it's in the journal.
Today I went to Windsor from Paddington Station. I bought a ticket easily―£7.70—The ticket was very open for time, but didn’t say anything about which train, nor was Windsor listed on the trains’ boards. I asked, and it turns out you take the 10:42 Hereford Train and change at Slough. (Mom, the map you got me came up trumps here and on Monday, because I could figure out where I was and which stops to pay attention to). There’s a Windsor train from there that leaves often and takes 6 minutes, thus I was shortly in Windsor. The station emerges in Royal Station shops and cafes, and I got a coffee and some juice to drink with half a sandwich later. I went up and got my ticket and went through security (bag checks are common at museums), and trucked on into the castle grounds. In the rain. It wasn’t terribly crowded. Just some people, enough to make it social. Windsor Castle is huge, it almost looks fake because it’s in such good shape, but of course it’s a living castle. The gardens by the moat are lovely. Had to wait a few minutes to get in to the State Apartments and Queen Mary’s Doll House, because of the Doll House—there’s a darkened path around it and you go single file. But it was my favorite thing. I love those elaborate doll houses, like Queen Mary’s, and like the Fairy House in Chicago’s Field. QM’s has the most lovely ballroom, and even little maids’ quarters. There were also some big French dolls (not for the doll house) with a HUGE trousseau in an adjoining display. So beautiful, little gloves with bees on, little shoes, gowns, and furs. From there, into the gallery, with Da Vinci drawings, and royal weddings pictures. From there, into the State Apartments. My favorites were the Queen’s Drawing Room, and the Ballroom. They both had these amazing tables or desks, and lovely wallpaper—that colored, velvety looking stuff. Once again, I got sort of stirred up by the grandeur. Windsor is truly lovely. There are also lots of rooms with armor and swords and pistols and such in displays. There was a lovely sword of some sort with a blackish top and blue jewels set in in a striking but not overly opulent design. That’s the sword I would have.
It was POURING when I got out, but I took some pictures, then went down and back into the shops outside the Castle, ate my lunch, did a bit of window shopping, and then decided I might as well go on back and pop back into the V & A. The trip back to London was uneventful, and I was in the V & A pretty “quick." I walked around the V & A. That museum is kind of confusing. I didn’t take another map, but there are signs everywhere...but the signs don’t always make sense, lots of galleries have multiple entrances, some of which are closed, or look closed. I did see plenty of pretty things, like furniture, and a lot of old and ancient fabrics. The plaster casts. A Bernini sculpture. The jewelry gallery was closed for real, as were a few others.
Anyway, I wandered around there for an hour and a half or so, and then had time left over to go to the Science Museum, which closes at 6. I got the map and then picked what I wanted to see most. The spy tech thing costs £8 and seemed mostly for kids, which is a shame. But I walked about Energy Hall and some technology galleries, and learned about space and space missions a little. I put a nut on a bolt with some space gloves on. Took a picture of some planes and cars. Saw the DNA model by Crick & Watson. Saw the Apollo 10 capsule. But of course then they were closing up. In the Bayswater area, I had trouble finding food on a Sunday, but went to Tesco Express and picked up some tomato basil pasta salad, an apple, a roll, some cheese, and a Dr. Pepper. Now, I have been watching TV and while I don’t get itv 2, which has Supernatural, I am watching Nick and Simon’s Perfect Night In—Nick Frost and Simon Pegg doing a clips shop and being funny. They had an X-Files clip on a bit ago! And lots of unfamiliar BBC shows with familiar faces.
I feel all nervy. I have felt that way all day, long before I heard from Mum. I did have a strong coffee this morning, but the feeling kept popping up today; I thought it was related to getting damp at Windsor, then getting a chill a couple of times and being a bit too hot at others. I felt icky in my throat this morning; London air is not good in my throat. Come to that, nor is London Rain—Heather Nova, I love your song, but I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.
5/14 Bath
Had kind of a rough night. Could NOT fall asleep—excitement, nerves, and possibly caffeine all rolled into one restless package. I relaxed a little after the baby call, but still had trouble getting and staying asleep, and getting comfortable. Imagine my irritation when, at 9 am this morning, the alarm went off and...I was finally comfortable and didn’t want to get up!
Well, I’m on the Bath train. Got up, changed my last travellers cheques and got £93.60, then promptly spent 47 on my Bath roundtrip fare. Ouch. Tonight I face the arduous job of packing everything into my 2 bags, including my new lavender Kipling bag. I think I could have gotten something cheaper if I’d gone to the travel store in Whiteleys, but I guess buying a bag at Harrod’s is a worthy experience.
Some thoughts on English sizes—smallest size in women’s generally found: 8. Smallest underwear size found: 8. Smallest bra size—32 A. Yikes. Something about this makes no sense. I tried on a size 8 skirt at the Kew sale shop in Whiteley’s and it was too big, of course—not by much, but enough to tell me I’m certainly a size smaller. Yet when I was poking around in Marks & Spencer I didn’t see any 6s.
I had a chat with the Lush girl about this, and she was very thin also, and shorter than I am. She said she has trouble finding clothes, but then when she was in the states, she also had trouble. I wonder if they have juniors here—if not, she wouldn’t know to look in the young ladies’ clothes, or in stores like Wet Seal. Our country caters to the thin. She mentioned that Britain is also having an obesity epidemic, which surprised me, because I haven’t seen many truly obese people, I don’t think. Or maybe I just don’t notice because I’m so used to it. But somehow I don’t think that’s it.
Anyway, lots of those meals in M & S are encouraging people to Eat Right and offering big convenience via the aforementioned pre-fab meals and the benefits of health. In other words, it’s just as easy to buy one of those nice meals as it is a pizza. I do wonder what the fat comparisons are with those meals. I haven’t really checked. I do think I saw a sandwich or something marked Weight Watchers the other day.
(edited to add: this is really an important distinction. The Eat Right campaign is huge, and targeted to everyone. If you’re in a US grocery store, you see healthy food, but no believable and classy campaign encouraging you to take part in a change. We’re all so henpecked to eat properly by the gov’t bodies, but not in a way that actually lets us easily change habits, and not with the cooperation of the food industry. In London, it seemed extremely easy. The whole time I was there, I saw one Weight Watchers commercial, and again it wasn’t packaged in an insipid way. It simply was there, and easy. The US just makes everything so complicated, and there are so many mixed and double messages. I think England has it down better. I wonder if it’s working.)
I am suddenly very sleepy on this train. It’s noon. 7 am Ohio time.
OK. It’s 5:30 pm. I’ve just gotten back on the train back to London Paddington. I spent the time from Bath to Chippenham talking to a young man in college who asked me to wake him if he fell asleep before his stop—he’d just had a Clinical Psychology exam. I told him I wasn’t much better off because of my niece’s birth, and he’s an uncle, so he understood. We spent the time touching briefly on topics like the British exams and school system—he’ll be mailed the questions for his final exam. Weird! They’d never risk that in the states. We also talked about psychology and literature a bit. In his English lit course, they read Shakespeare and Atwood, which seems awfully comprehensive. Anyway, it was a nice way to spend some time, but now he’s gone and I’ll be in London in an hour, and there’s a zine with an article on the LotR musical.
So—Bath. I touched down and looked at a map, set off...and promptly got lost. The problem is I didn’t look at the scale of the map, and so went further than I should have in the twisty town. I guess. Anyway, after wandering back down I hit the right pedestrian signs and found my way to the Assembly Rooms and Costume Museum. The Assembly Rooms were largely closed for refurbishment, just the Octagonal Room open. The Costume Museum was very interesting. I didn’t use my audioguide much, except to learn about ladies’ pockets, worn under overskirts and reached through slits. I took a couple of pictures. They also had a display of things from Rudolf Nureyev’s collection of costumes and textiles and such, including his Romeo shirt of red satin.
By the end of the exhibit, the beginnings of a massive group of French kids was taking over, and I didn’t linger. Instead I got back on the pavement and windowshopped my way to the Roman Baths, and got in there on my combined ticket, and set about exploring. I used more of my audioguide this time, to illuminate some interesting areas and figures and whatnot. Imagine it being the fashion to go to a communal bath house where there’s a natural hot spring bubbling up with green, steamy water, and be pampered and still in the dark, intoxicating rooms. The fashion, not just a fun time. Wild. Anyway, I went through and still had some time left before the time I meant to get a train. I went to the Abbey and walked around for a bit. I always love those old choir lofts. For some reason that’s my favorite. I also did just a touch of shopping, stopping at Monsoon to get my niece an outfit.
Around 5:15 I got on the train back to London, and it was a bit delayed, but I was in London around 7. I’d planned to have a little feast, and even buy a beer or some wine at M & S, but then didn’t—instead I got milk, with a roast chicken breast, a roll, and a banana. I left half a roll and the banana for breakfast, and ate the remainder of my sponge roll for dessert. I watched a bit of telly and dozed, then decided I’d better pack. Which is good, because it turned out to be much harder than I thought. I have to check two bags and carry on my tote bag. Customs is going to be a nightmare.
5/15...-16 Home...and Home
An observation about England—it’s much more successfully multi-cultured. I saw a program in which the “English” Britain was feeling disenfranchised, but at the same time as I look about the airport, there are many cultures represented, at all levels of power. That’s really the difference, I think. I like it.
Anyway, got up, dressed, and all ready to go, then ate my little breakfast, got my invoice downstairs (having already paid for my room a few days ago), and set off. Got to Victoria, got ticket for the Gatwick Express, and then got to Gatwick. Checked in and went through customs questions and checked my bags. Please, please, please God look after my luggage. I’m freaked about the contents of the lavender bag. Went through the first security very uneventfully, bought some strawberry champagne extra jam and some cocoa at the shops, then headed to my gate. Then things got interesting. Security again. My boarding pass got torn in 2 by the check person at my gate, which means I got searched. I had a brief body search, and then they went through my bag—I’d unpacked into 2 because I thought I was done with security, and before boarding had to hastily shove everything into the one bag again, so it was difficult for them to unpack and repack. And funny. Crammed all but the Underground lunch tin purse back into the bag and climbed aboard.
I have confirmed that customs happen in Detroit, and that I claim my bags and then put them on a transfer belt when I’m through with customs.
I’m in 27-G and once again, there are 2 seats open in my four set. This whole plane, in fact, is very uncrowded. There are lots of open seats, and everyone has sort of spread out. Weird! It’s like we’re a private party!
Meal: Chicken tomato basil; couscous and green beans, cold; roll, risotto, cheese, and some cake and cream with raspberries. This is the most delicious airline meal I’ve ever had! It tasted like a restaurant, I think. I actually want to make this couscous and beans thing at home.
Now I’m watching Pan’s Labyrinth and sometimes I take a little break during torture and battery. You know, gore that is non-fantastical in nature. That I don’t want to watch on a plane or otherwise.
Ok, after Pan I needed something more lighthearted, so I watched Beauty and the Beast. I dropped off a bit, during “Be Our Guest” of all things, including one huge jerk awake. Then I watched Toy Story 2. I was not at all into the scenes of luggage being thrown around. Then, I played a game of mahjongg and then started some Broadway. Think I’ll work on customs in a few pages and then do some sudoku or something.
Important breaking news: This aircraft has a Depeche Mode channel in the music section! Get into it!
I’m thirsty.
So I did my customs form and then worked on my sudoku/logic book for a while. There were storms over Detroit, so we slowed up a bit—the storms were gone, but congestion was heavy—and then we ended up landing early because of turbulence.
Oh—I forgot to mention that we had a “light snack” of a tomato and cheese roll and some truly delicious Belgian coffee ice cream.
Anyway, we landed. Safely. You know, there was an extremely cute one-year-old baby boy on the flight with his Mom, and the baby didn’t cry—not once. He made some whines once in a while, but they were always short-lived, and he slept a lot. He seemed more interested in the flight, takeoff, landing, plane and all.
Ok, so back to this. Landed, whizzed through customs with no questions, resisted the temptation to check for damage in luggage, then went through more security. This is where customs karma bit me—I had bought the jam without any thought, forgetting that it’s large, and it’s jam. And it was confiscated. They offered to help me check it, but of course I’d checked 2 bags already, and they were already long gone.
Good feeling gone.
So, I walked away, and started crying. I’ve finally stopped, mostly, and am now waiting at my gate. I’m absurdly early, and there are vast amounts of clouds in the air indicating more storms, and the flight ahead of mine is already delayed. I just want to land and check my luggage.
(later) I am in the middle of a gate nightmare for the staff. This weather is wreaking havoc on the scheduling. Everyone’s gates keep changing as a result of storms and delays. It’s crazy! Quebec just got cancelled, Memphis got bumped ahead of Toledo. This is nuts.

“Quelle night” as Holly Golightly might say.
It is now 5/16. In a throwback to PEI’s “vacation that wouldn’t die” events, last night at 10:20 my flight was cancelled. They strung us along until the very last minute, which was irritating. They ended up cancelling, I think because they couldn’t get us on the ground by 11 when the crew had to be off.
Anyway, they had us get in lines for our “options” and I waited 15 minutes in line thinking I could get my luggage and drive, because they said driving was an option, and made it seem like it was, in addition to a free hotel (driving would be at our own expense, which is ludicrous). But by the time I got to the counter, I learned that all the car rental places would be CLOSED, and I’d have to wait 2-3 bloody hours for my bags. ZUT!
I was kind of rude to them because I was furious about being misled, and exhausted, and then of course I cried as the guy processed my 9 am flight for the next morning and my vouchers for hotel and meal. A shuttle picked scads of us up and took us to a Best Western. I had a huge room, two beds and a kitchenette, but it was a little scary. I don’t know what it was, it was just a feeling. I couldn’t make a call at first, even with my cc from my room because I was on a voucher, so I had to buy a $5 phone card, and finally got ahold of Babs (my ride) and my parents’ answering machine. I washed up and Mom called. When I say washed up, I mean I rinsed my mouth out and washed my face. All of my toiletries are in my luggage, which I don’t usually do. I only have my makeup.
Ok, boarded my plane, got going, landed largely without incident. The guy next to me was eating sushi before takeoff. Weird. He was nice though. Australian, I think.
I saw Babs as soon as I got in, and got my bags with little delay. Babs even brought me a little food for breakfast, which was nice; I hadn’t had any.
Got home, noticed no luggage damage, changed, and went straight back out.
The world has gone cuckoo bananas, as Lisa would say, in my absence.
Trip—over.

London

Don't you worry, kids. I am back from the wilds of London, England and the Detroit airport, and I am safe and sound.

Many, many things have happened in the past nine days, and I am working on a series of posts, so just sit tight until I can get with the program. Brain not working so good, especially since stamps seem to have gone up 2 cents in my absence and the post office thinks one of my apartments is vacant, which leads to a missing gas bill.

In the meantime, here is a brief selection of pictures from my London 2007 vacation.




(left) Bill and I do some heavy thinking.

(right) The Tower of London. They let me out with my head still attached.



(left) Windsor Castle garden-on-a-slope.

And, just so you know I'm not vain (WHY is my left eye always higher than my right in pictures? Is it that way in real life? Do I just raise my eyebrow too much? My face looks old.), here is a picture of me after a night's delay in Detroit, "sleeping" in a hotel after my forty-minute flight was cancelled.

Warning:Information About My Bosom Ahead

I know not everyone enjoys Victoria's Secret, and I used to have trouble shopping there, too. I had a complex, as I've mentioned before, and was irritated by the sometimes smug expression on the assistants' faces. Then, when I went up a bra size to a 34B, I found a lot more bras that fit me and everything was good.
This week I went to redeem a coupon for 10 bucks off an Angels bra. Since my favorite bra ever is the Angels lined demi with lace, I thought I could just get one of the new colors and have done with it. Sadly, my bra size is also the most common, and the pickings were kind of slim at this point. I actually like the new colors in other styles with the little cut out or embroidery patterns, and decided to try one of these, as well as the wireless. The wireless puckered in the cup in a strange place, and the other puckered under the arms. The girl said, "Oh, well, that usually happens if you're a lower band size. You're probably a 32B. " Great. So we (barely) find a few of those, and I tried them, and the first was snug. "Well, probably you're just used to the 34," said my assistant, and she's probably right, but the other was downright tight. I told her so, and she made no comment. And, in fact, the 32B still puckered strangely under the arms...which was clearly a fault of the bra's make, not my band size, since in fact the band fit perfectly in all but a small area at the top, exactly where the embroidery is.
Now, it is at this point that I realize, for the first time in VS, I am being greased. This girl is trying her hardest to sell a bra, and is not being fully honest with me. It was very irksome, especially since I am fully aware that band and cup size go up and down for a lot of reasons, and I can often wear anything from a 32B to a 34A to a 34B depending on the bra size. But aside from this, the girl just did not seem to be as aware as the assistants I usually have, but was also being ostensibly more persuasive. I didn't enjoy it.
All of this did not solve the problem I was having, which is that the store was out of most things that would fit me. The result, after 30-45 minutes? I bought a green Angels lined demi with lace...exactly the bra I had gone in there for, just in a color I wasn't anticipating. I love buying underwear, but this is the first time since my size went up that I have been very frustrated finding something that was comfortable. I am becoming that person who gets one type of bra because I can't be bothered looking at other things. It's not a good sign, because you know they'll just end up scrapping that bra.
The upside is that I got a free pair of undies and also bought a very cute pair to go with my new bra. It will match a few others I have, but I always like to have one super-matched set for special occasions.
New underpants rock!

"Trees and flowers await your love."

Do you love engrish.com? If not, you should. I'm not a big fan of the mocking part of it that sometimes crops up (ie, in the title), but the gathering of hilarious English makes me smile.

So, it's been pouring like water is going out of style today, and my Service Engine Soon light was on for the first time ever. The second question in my Saturn book regarding this problem is "Have you just driven through a big puddle?" Since the whole town has been a giant puddle, I've decided not to worry about this unless it stays on after I've driven the car a couple of times. Probably, the electrical system is just damp. Like everything else.

The secondary problem is that, while it has for the time being stopped raining, we are now under a tornado watch with potential storms moving in. Y'all know how unfond of stormy situations I am. If you aren't familiar, have we met? The work I have to do today is essentially finished, but I do have a reading to get to tonight, and some socializing out on the town later. Fingers crossed that whatever is going to happen is out of its system before I need to actually be outside. Otherwise, you know where I'll be: On my bed, where nothing bad can get me, under a blankie. That's right, I said blankie.

in which I waste time before I teach at 11:30

I just had (part of) the most disappointing cup of chai ever. I got it at Panera, and I drank some of it with no trouble, but then, I felt something I shouldn't...the milk, it transpires, had separated out. GROSS!
Now, I don't know exactly how chai is made, but I have never had a cuppa do this, and I have no idea what happened.
Happily, this is the only thing that has marred a morning that is beautiful outside, when I'm wearing a nice outfit and had a lovely and blemish-free Fresh Apple Pastry, also from Panera.
Guess I'll stick to Hazelnut coffee from now on, with five sugars and cream.
So. How you been? Things have been pretty hectic here, but I'm finally getting some free time for a couple of important projects, and of course treating myself to a bubble bath here or a nice breakfast there. I'm wearing my sweet red heels today, which almost cover the sunburn I got at the ballgames this weekend. Yeah...who ever puts sunscreen on their feet? Not me. I also appear to have missed that part of my back where my shirt rides up and my pants ride down. That's going to leave some interesting lines. No matter what I do, I can't ever seem to color, whether tan or burn, without odd streaks or spots. And April-May is the worst...the sunshine is so deceptive. I heard someone talking about not wanting weird lines because they were going to a wedding; I laughed out loud. Because really, who cares? Who cares, two weird girls at the game who were an absurd color of brown (as in, a strange color no human, no matter what race, should be) and then were checking their lines, which honest-to-goodness looked orange, or like that raw sienna crayon color? Guess what? Your skin will look like your leather shoes in about ten years. Have fun at your reunion.
Speaking of which, I have one coming up. Scary! Okay, I'm lying about that, it's not scary, except that the last ten years seem to have gone awfully quickly. I'm actually looking forward to seeing people and what they've been up to all this time. While I've been so busy becoming a published poet. Which is the spin I'll give it.
Well, it's birthday o'clock, which means it's time to get ready to go.

Wednesday. For no reason.

Right, so I know it's been a while, but I wanted to leave my Spartans up top for as long as possible.
In personal news, since talking about real news is a very mixed bag indeed, I bought some shoes yesterday. These and these.
This morning, I tried to drive to school, but I was running late and there were no spots in either lot I park in, which is nuts, and so I drove back home and walked to school. In my Skechers. So far, things are looking pretty good.
It's all just as well because I when I was driving I saw two people basically run stop signs and two people grossly ignore the stop line at intersections.

GO GREEN! GO WHITE!

NCAA HOCKEY CHAMPIONS 2007!

If you don't think that's unbelievably awesome, I can't help you.

The game was crazy. And by crazy I mean super-close. No one expected State to get that far, except us faithful Spartans who know the grit the team embodies. ESPN always calls them a "lunchbucket" team, which I love, because it exactly captures the patience and hard work they were throwing around last night. At one point, they were talking about one of Jeff Lerg's saves, and one announcer said, "It wasn't pretty to look at; it's not an oil painting. But he got the job done." A lot of what the Spartans threw down was pretty, some of it wasn't, but they also just played the game. It was physical (some of the pics on State's website show the loft after a few of the hits), it was tense, and if I shed a little tear as the last seconds ticked down, it was in appreciation of my all-time favorite hockey team looking like a National Championship team...

which they are.

Ladies, Insects, Requiems, and Emcees

Things I did that were not grading this weekend:

Baby shower! Much fun was had with a house full of girls and not a few babies. There's actually a picture of the mothers, babies, and pregnant lady that is too adorable for words.

Requiem! My church's choir sang Faure's Requiem during the 11 o'clock service Sunday. It was awesome fun. I really enjoyed hearing it, even if there was a little child on the opposite side of the congregation who we could hear talking through the whole thing. If your child is a chatterbox, there is a nursery, people! This Requiem is a big undertaking, and I'm pretty sure they were trying to record it.

Cabaret! While it seemed odd to attend Cabaret on a Sunday, I went ahead and did it anyway; after all, it's not really about the debauchery so much as it is the social clime and scary trends that were being largely ignored at the time. Highlights: former student as the emcee (a little weird to see his naked butt towards the end, but eh...it's the theater), a very lively Frenchie with the best sassy smile of the crowd, a rather dynamic lift that reminded me of the good old days, and the really interesting set choices. Drawbacks: I forget how loooooong the first act it (it is nearly two hours, and the second act, about 30-45 minutes. Ouch.)

Had a close brush with an indoor centipede!
Have I mentioned lately how much I hate them? I'm not ascared of much, but whenever I even look at one of these, it gives me a creepy feeling inside and makes me shudder. Even if it's in a picture. And if they're running, that's one hundred times worse. Bleh! So, when I was grading on Sunday night and looked down at my leg briefly, imagine my horror to find one ON ME! AHHHHH! I had a blanket on my lap, and there it was crawling up me. EW EW EW! I flicked it off me and then had to move my bag because it was probably going to crawl in there. Shudder. I feel so sorry for the three papers I was reading immediately following this incident because I'm pretty sure my comments will make no sense. Such was my distress.

Today, there are storms evidently rolling in, which will do no good for my centipede-jangled nerves.

Week in review

Funniest thing I've seen this week: Monty the cat pulling a balloon around by its string.
Funniest thing I've heard this week: There was a bird loose in my home-home, evidently. My parents had to chase it out.
Awesomest thing I've heard this week: Bath Boys' b-ball won the Class C state championships! Woot! I saw them almost win a year or two after I'd graduated, and I'm glad to hear they're still rocking out.
Saddest thing I've heard this week: The sound of blowing my nose, over and over and over and over...
Most energetic thing I've done this week: Tried to go have a dance workout in the rec; unfortunately, since it's dance marathon this weekend, all the studio spaces were full of setup, and half the courts, so I had a slightly nervy, quick workout in the squash court with windows after the flaggers (also displaced, I believe) were finished. Turns out my body is not really very in shape just now, and my arches, encased in pointe shoes for the first time in many months, were very cranky. It's not too late, though, and I have hopes--I felt better as the time went on, though the jello quotient of my legs was too high. Also learned that I do not like the rec when it's full.
Most tears shed this week: I admit it, I cried during Supernatural. Even though part of it was very sexy. It was a roller coaster.
Thing most looked forward to tomorrow: Getting groceries. I have no milk, bread, or Dr. Pepper, my three staples. Things are desperate!

If you're wondering...

...whether prom was a success, the answer is yes.
...how many people were there, the answer is I don't know, because they gave us more wristbands than the envelope said.
...if I now have the worst backache evah, the answer is yep.
...whether I got poems sent in the mail today, oh yeah, baby.
...if I'm getting essays today, which will be read while I am wearing jammies, yup.
...if I'm trying with all my heart to enjoy the last 23 minutes of this week's existence without essays, Oh my goodness, yes.
...if I'm super-geeked that MSU won an at-large bid to the NCAA playoffs for hockey, WHOO HOO!
...if I'm likewise super-geeked that both MSU and BG are in the second-round of the women's basketball NCAA tourney, yupyup! (although I am irritated that espn lists BG as BGU instead of BGSU. Duh, ESPN. You can spell out Delaware St but not add the correct letter to our Univ acronym?)
...whether it's time to teach...sadly, yes.

Slainte!

All right,
I know I haven't been blogging much lately, but I've been having an attack of the my-life-isn't-that-interesting-and-I'm-slightly-ashamed-I-haven't-been-doing-more anxiety.
I've been trying for three weeks now to get poems sent out, and at this point I've still only mostly decided what I'm going to send, which leaves the printing of many poems, the addressing of envelopes, the printing of cover letters, and the...
GAH...attacking of the fricking fruit fly/ies that has/ve taken over my office!
Ok...sorry. I don't know where these things came from, but they are aggravating.
Anyway, I have a lot to do and I haven't felt like doing really anything.
Tomorrow is Spring Harvest, a day of writing workshops from 10 to 4, and then Spring Harvest Prom from 9 to 1. We got some funding so the event is free, and open to all BGSU folks and guests, and we're hoping for a good turn out. We were unable to get a cash bar, but I'm well known for dancing so hard people think I'm drunk when I'm completely sober. I will be dressed in a fancy, backless blue dress (you know the one I mean) and look forward to partying like an Irish lass, involving much kicking up of the heels and getting fantastically sweaty.
Cheers.

Some tasks I accomplished on Spring Break:
Finished essays
Finished my new puzzle
Finished The Austere Academy
Reread Desert Eden (there's no graphic here; take my word for it it's steamy)
Did laundry
Got my hair cut
Got my car looked at
Visited a dance teacher's new studio
Watched old recital videos (ps I was in sweet shape when I was a senior in high school. I will look back on that year as the very best for my body, I think...not too skinny, nicely proportioned for a thin dance girl, healthy face. And I was good.)
Looked at pictures from the early 90s
Ate my mother's cooking
Watched The Prestige and The Illusionist
Watched the Spartans win a playoff hockey game from ONE ROW BEHIND THE BENCH. (If you're asking whether I enjoyed it, the answer is...yes. I have seldom, if ever, enjoyed seats more. Thanks, Mom.)

Some tasks I did not accomplish on Spring Break:
Getting work sent on to magazines (I did however collect magazine info)
Putting away my laundry
Watching Little Miss Sunshine and Marie Antoinette
Planning for my wings
Washing of quilt fabric
Really and truly relaxing. I tried so hard, so hard to just rest and not worry about anything coming up this week. But that's so difficult for me and, while I came close, I just didn't make it all the way. I did, however, take a nice bath last night that made me deliciously sleepy. To be honest, I kind of can't wait to make it back to bed.

Amazing Race--How I'd Fare

So, even though I don't watch the show, I thought it might be fun to speculate about how I might do on the Amazing Race if I were teamed up with a few different people of my circle. So here's a list, complete with how we would place or manage if we were to take on the Race.
Paired with:

• my sister--poorly. She's with child. If she weren't with child, probably we'd make it to third place, easily finding the sixpence buried in English soil by Stonehenge, but would walk off in a huff of irritation after trying to get directions from blondes in Malibu.
• Steve--heartbreakingly eliminated in 3rd to last place after squandering time trying to get clever with the igloo in Siberia, and then wandering off to see what Dostoevsky had been going on about. Curiously, I would not have this problem with Liss.
• Michelle--we're going all the way to the top, baby. Michelle and I can do no wrong; witness the near-disaster while driving with stuck windshield wipers in Lincoln, NE. We would be forced to use our wiles quite a bit on unprepared gentlemen in Botswana, but it would pay off when passing the once-dating-but-now-can't-bother-to-say-five-words-to-each-other team.
• Carrie--we'd rock hard in the make-clothes-out-of-leaves segment, but be toppled by the thirty-years married couple in the luge in the Alps. 4th place.
• Krissy--we'd come in second-to- last, failing to advance past the Andean lug-it-up-a-mountain challenge due to our complete inability to focus on tasks whilst talking in full flood.
• Patrick--5th place, I think. We'd breeze through the ancient Egyptian musical clue, but meet our doom in the ford-the-Colorado-River challenge when I am inexplicably kicked by a mule.
• Jelena--7th place; we'd get along fine up until we were required to find our next clue in the mud of Vulcano, Italy.
• Lisa--I'd totally coast on Lisa's good humor until 2nd place, where we'd lose because neither of us could bear to see the disappointment on the cute-twin-sister-and-brother team who need the money to go to college and jointly find the cure for cancer.
• Nate H--dead last, we wouldn't even leave the parking lot, and we wouldn't be speaking to each other. He knows why.
• Karin--8th place. We'd do great until we got to Tahiti and Karin utterly refuses to wear shorts.
• Elisa--we'd make it to a healthy 6th place, but be eliminated when a: I can't stop stopping in Lush stores everywhere we go and b: in Brazil, Elisa can't stop stopping to take pictures of cute bugs.

So there it is. I could go on forever. Where would you place?

Oh no! Pre-spring break is ruining my brain!

I was all set to write a quickie post with my five favorites of things, like stand-up comedians and lines from Supernatural. And then I realized that no one is interested in any of those things and I really couldn't think of five of anything else that I like, and now I don't have a single interesting thing to write about. Is it possible to have blog writers block? Because that seems very counterintuitive. It's also raining today and it's making me wicked sleepy even though I could probably come up with a million things I should be doing, like grading essays and preparing more stuff for class the week we get back from break, and sending emails and working on lists and calendars and posters and press releases for Spring Harvest Prom and on my flyer for the workshop I'm doing.
I want to go home.

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.