Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Tryin' to be honest

After re-reading my previous entry I realize that it sounds hollow and trite, because I've been editing myself again. What an ongoing battle that is, to be honest in your own journal. Unconsciously trying to be PC, upbeat and happy... leaving out key scenes and issues. What a crock! D and I were fighting on and off all weekend, primarily about dinner of all things. Somebody's been slacking on dinner duty after over-cooking a turkey the day before Thanksgiving. I feel no pity for the turkey incident because I've told him again and again, that you have to use a timer when cooking, or else a thermometer, or else check on it constantly. You can't just leave the bird in the oven and watch Star Wars. Anyways, I made spaghetti last night and refused to let him have any until he apoligized for skiving off dinner 4 nights in a row and promised to do right this week, or else have a day-old Starbucks sandwich from the fridge for dinner. My spaghetti is a powerful motivator, and the garlic bread didn't hurt either. :) So that should be all right now.

Everybody at work is sick with the same thing, some kind of virus that resides in the throat. I've been losing my voice for a week now, which was kind of sexy at first but it getting annoying. other symptoms include sinus-y headaches and sore throat. I think that our building is one of those that encourages illness, especially with the heat being turned on. must....drink...tea....

We had a bank-wide conversation about birth control yesterday that was quite enlightening. It turns out that I'm not the only one not on anything at all, but the whole thing was weird in a girls-only kind of way; asking everybody that walked into the back room, "hey, what do you use?" It also turns out that I'm not the only girl that hates the Pill and all the wierd stuff that it does to you.

On a brighter note, I can't wait to see Pride and Prejudice! At first I wasn't looking forward to it because I thought they'd cast Winona Ryder as Elizabeth and I can't stand her, but it's actually Kiera Knightley, who's ok! Makes sense actually because Winona would be far too old by now to play that role. D actually asked me if I'd read that book....I just stared at him. Guess he hasn't seen my favorites list, but honestly. I've read bits of it out to him because it's so funny. This reinforces the vague idea that I had about him zoning out when I talk about books. I couldn't do my blog last night because I've decided to reread the book in preparation for the movie coming out. (And no, I didn't finish it last night.)

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

Brilliant. Best love story ever, really; my favorite. I can't wait to see it! Maybe this weekend or something.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Miscellenia

Whew! We're having big wind storms here, with power outages and everything. Actually most inconvienent; I had devoted the afternoon to washing wool sweaters (long process involving shampoo, towels, etc.) when all the lights went out and the gates to the complex stopped working, trapping my sister and a lot of other people on the wrong sides of the gates.

My period has arrived right on time and I think I've discovered something really weird; I think that muscle relaxers might actually stop periods in their tracks; last night I was like, "hey, where'd it go?" Then it came back with all the pain. As D pointed out, they don't prescibe muscle relaxers for period pains; maybe that's why. Very abnormal. Next time I'll just use pain killers.

We went shopping today for the SA angels and got some really cute Spiderman sheets for the little one. And a blanket to match. D carefully tested all the Tonka trucks but we didn't get one yet.

I have to open at work tomorrow, seven in the morning, so off to bed I go.

Friday, November 25, 2005

The aftermath of it all

Well, that was a weird Thanksgiving. First of all, we didn't eat until 6:30 b/c KK didn't get off of work (Starbucks) until then, and we usually eat around 4:00. So, I brought all of my stuff (pie, bread-rolls, spinach dip, potatoes, and fiance) over to my folks mid-afternoon expecting the usual chaos-- you know, yelling, dropping, burning, three people in the kitchen getting in each other's way, the good china coming out for it's yearly performance...
Instead, all is calm and no-one is cooking. Bird's already in the oven, everything else is either done or can wait until just before dinner, like the gravy. So weird. Well what this does of course is make the after-dinner fights and bickering much more intense because the Thanksgiving equilibrium must be satisfied and all was too calm before. Usually after we eat and have dessert we eat again, and maybe a little more....but eating so late means we just had dinner and wine and dessert the one time. Ah well.

Bad Thanksgiving moment: when I finally sat down and tried to eat, I got my bad scary heatburn feeling and barely touched dinner. No thirds, not even seconds. It was the spread of the year and I couldn't eat it! Bummer. Looking back I think it might've been the coffee. I did drink more coffee than usual. You know what are cool? Words with two double-letters in a row, like coffee. Coffee. Hehehe. I like that. Anyways.

My apple pie that was so beautiful on the outside was for some reason purple (almost black) on the inside. It tasted great, all apples and really flaky crust etc, but the coloration was a little off. It might have been the cast-iron skillet approach that I tried. Only KK was brave enough to ask about it. "Umm, Mara? This is really good, but why are the apples purple? Is that like a new "thing?" At least the bread was great. I'm having some as toast right now. And coffee with leftover whipped cream. (So I don't learn, ok?) And the spinach dip was a huge hit.
My parents have a really old meat thermometer that tells them to cook the bird until it hits 180 degrees. I think I'll get them a more modern one (mine says 165) for Chanukah. They're always puzzled that the breast is a litle dry, but if you cook it to 180 degrees it will dry out, no question. Even if you are following instructions.

I only have to work 4 hours today, it's like a half day because I never had a day off this week except yesterday and they have to pay me for that one so to get only 40 hours they've shaved hours off here and there so I don't have to be at work until 1:45. Sweet. And I'm about 90% sure that Ihave the weekend off too!

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

First and foremost, Harry Potter GOF is a great movie! They took my least-favorite book of the series and turned it into a really good film. Some great lines (that weren't in the book):

Harry: "Hermione, tell Ron that--"
Hermione: "I...am not...an OWL!!" (storms off)

Professor Snape: "Perhaps the best thing would be to let events... unfold, and see what happens."
Professor McGonagall: "You can't use Potter as... as bait! He's a boy, not a piece of meat!"

Is it wrong to find Harry pretty darn attractive now? How old is he anyways? Legal? Not legal? There's a fantastic scene with Harry (naked) in the bath being flirted with by a ghost as he desparately tries to pile bubbles over his, um, unmentionables. Hehehe.

I'm in the middle of making bread and some other things...it's not even noon and my mom and I have been on the phone 3 times. I love Thanksgiving. I have a Kitchen-aid stand mixer and this is the first time I've gotten to use the dough-hook...it's amazing! Absolutely amazing. Fifteen minutes of arduous kneading gone, just like that, and the dough looks better than any I've made by hand. Well, it's off to start the pie! What's Thanksgiving without the apple pie, hmm? It's no Thanksgiving at all by my book!

Update:
The bread is on second rising, separated into farmhouse rolls, and the apple pie is finished. I put a top crust on it even though D and my dad are always for dutch-apple, because there's something so festive about the double-crusted pie. I don't usually photograph my food, but this pie is so pretty! Now to make the spinach dip and prep the potatoes!

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Finally.

Last night I made the mac, and it was wonderful. Creamy smooth sauce, toasty with breadcrumbs and melted cheese... perfect. I just don't know what happened earlier.

D is watching the 3rd Star Wars movie, by which I mean Revenge of the Sith and not the Jedi. I can't describe how incredibly annoying this is. He had all day to watch his stupid movie while I was at work but no...I have to be here, too. And this is after we saw it in the theater last summer. At least we're going to go to Harry Potter IV in a little while with my brother. I've heard such good things about it, and it's my least-favorite of the series anyways, so it doesn't have as much to live up to.

I can't wait until tomorrow, my favorite holiday of the year. Thanksgiving...mmm. I'm making an apple pie, the mashed potatoes, and a spinach and artichoke dip to munch on, but mom and dad are doing everything else. It's going to be fun.

Monday, November 21, 2005

Mac and cheese disaster

What a weird day. Woke up late, late to work. As soon as I get there I discover a huge ghastly stupid thing that I did on Saturday. Accidentally left over $10,000.00 sitting in an unlocked drawer from the end of Saturday shift....unbelievable. Oh, my God. I can't believe that I was the one that found it, that nobody else knew about it. It's the kind of thing that could get me fired, and just by sheer dumb luck, by perfect serendipity it resolved itself. How could I have left it there?! Pure stupidity. My heartrate didn't go back to normal for at least 1/2 an hour...it could have been soo bad. It's like my get-out-of-jail-free card.

All day long I was craving macaroni and cheese, my own. That's one of the problems with being a good cook; you end up with a yen for something homemade and you have to make it yourself. So I went to the store and bought all the stuff, feeling smug about all the silly people who buy box macaroni when it's so easy to make it from scratch. Right. Let me preface this by saying that I've made mac-n-cheese at least one million and a half times, over and over and over again; I could make it in my sleep. I've taught it to my little brother even. But tonight, it all goes to pieces, the sauce "split" into a lumpy curdy mess instead of creamy smoothness. I don't know what happened...I almost cried. D rescued the situation and we went to La Madeleine's instead, but what bad luck! Or bad something! The worst of it is that I'm still craving the mac!

I'll have to try it again tomorrow, I guess!

Sunday, November 20, 2005

I'm back!

Ack! For some crazy reason we had no internet access for the last two days and the phone line is all fuzzy. It gets like this sometimes because we get service with one company but the other company owns the lines at the apartment complex. They get really confused by it sometimes and disconnect our line. I don't know if that's what's happened this time, or if the dogs messed up the wires with the constant running and wrestling and otherwise bad treatment.

The dogs....KK called at 6:30 yesterday evening; is it all right if she leaves the puppy here for a few hours while she's out on a date? "A few hours"... I swear is what she said. Well it's noon the next day and she hasn't come back for the damn dog yet. And because she didn't specify overnight we figured she be back by midnight or so, so we didn't walk her or feed her (the dog) or anything before going to bed, because K does that when she picks her up. So I'm about 90% really pissed off at being treated like a living all-hours un-paid day-care center for her dog and about 10% worried stiff that something happened to her. As soon as I hear from her I can be 100% royally pissed off. I mean, she's got a great deal going here; she leaves the dog with us whenever she's at work and often when she's out, so we watch it (for free) probably 5 or 6 days a week. And we have watched her overnight during things like NIN concerts, but K would clear it with us ahead of time. She has to push just a little too far though, and take advantage of it. What a brat. Sometimes being nice backfires all over the place and leaves you angry. I'm going to go leave another pissy voicemail for her now. (I hope she's ok.)

Well, I'm off to the mall to get some things and to get another angel off the Salvation Army tree. This is such a great idea-- you get to pick out a kid that needs stuff for the holidays and buy it specifically and they tell you all the clothes-sizes etc.; much better than putting toys in the big barrels and hoping they go to someone they'd suit. But the great part is that we're doing this in lieu of buying presents for Mom and Dad, who have all the "stuff" they need and would rather not get more (unless it's maple fudge) so all the money we could spend buying books and sweaters and CDs for my deserving but distinctly un-needy parents is better distributed. Two kids split between D and me and KK should be about right-- they say average of 60-70 dollars per angel. And it is so much easier; what to buy is right on the form. The one I already got, for instance, wants Spiderman sheets and Tonka trucks; much easier than trying to choose a book for an English professor who in reality only reads non-fiction for fun and only really wants the fudge. From scratch though. Not store-bought fudge, no.


UPDATE

K called, she's fine. Just got really really drunk last night. I'm still mad but not as much. The curse of older-sister-hood, I guess.

Friday, November 18, 2005

Updatedness

So, I didn't really get sick, which makes me happy. God bless the power of Advil and Sudafed. By the time I got home on Wednesday, I felt well enough to change the cat box and aquarium and do the dishes. (yay, all.)

My "mail-order" internet fishtank plants arrived yesterday-- so far they are an unqualified success! The fishtank looks like a little underwater jungle (photo coming soon); the fish adore it. They're swimming all over, darting around...look like they're playing games with each other, tag or hide and seek. Even Earl seems happy. I'm going to wait and see if the plants live a week before getting too exited about them though.

I spent the better part of Thursday morning planting the tank, then went to Borders, then to Barnes and Noble (heh) for coffee with Ben. If it hadn't been for the bank meeting last night, it would have been a great day! The meeting got me down, though. We have one teller that's just dead weight. She brings our numbers down...she's so incredibly slow! slow like a sloth...like a really slow, really dim sloth. sloth. Anyways.

I think I messed up tonight...I'm going out to dinner with some friends and can't go see Harry Potter! I don't know if my brother thinks I'm taking him or not...I wonder if he'll go on Saturday instead. Damn. I actually dreamed last night that I was Harry. It was so weird; I took over the Care of Magical Creatures class for Hagrid and it really pissed Hermione off. I really prefer the nights that I don't dream, or don't remember!

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Living with the phlegm

I think I'm getting sick...or is that too optimistic? I am getting sick. My throat is sore, my glands swollen, my head is all fuzzy and foggy. Tonight I shall eat a bowl of chili, take some Nyquil, and go to bed at 8:30. It's the only way to deal with it. Silly girls at the bank, bringing all their viruses and all their bacteria into the bank to infect me...

I ended up working almost 12 hours yesterday. The schedule was 8:00 till 6:15 but Kristin calls me at 6:50am, frantic, because she didn't have her keys...the keys that open the vault, that you can't open the bank without. So I start my day early rushing to the bank with no shower, no breakfast, NO COFFEE. Bad way for Mara to start the day. Then at closing, my co-closer came up "over", so I had to audit her (even though she's my supervisor) and we didn't get out till after 7:00. Seven till seven; how much did that suck? I managed to drag myself to the store to get chili fixins for dinner because a bowl of chili will clear your sinuses and make your eyes water. Work was just so busy yesterday, when I finally settled on the sofa, I felt like I'd just gotten off one of those moving sidewalks at the airport where suddenly everything feels slow. Or like a hamster that got too exited and fell off its wheel. I was so tired that even the idea of writing my blog was tiring.

A special on ground beef in large packages means that I made like 5 pounds of chili last night. My crockpot is full to the brim; that baby will feed us for a week. Mmm, chili. Meanwhile, I'm chain-drinking throat-soothing tea and being easy on myself.

Tomorrow is my day off, but I'm not planning anything till I see how I feel. What I want to do: aquarium maintenance, some serious cookie-baking, Borders. I'll probably just rest instead.

Today was a blessedly slow day at the bank; I'm actually writing this blog from work; something I've never done before. Technically I don't have internet access; one of my friends logged me on. Kind of like stealing cable. Well, I'm out of here now; must go home and sleep.

Monday, November 14, 2005

My new sub-title

I actually found this quote on a greeting card. Not a Hallmark card, but still. I looked online but I can't find out who "Souza" was; why wouldn't they put the whole name on the card? I hate not having the source...too many years of writing papers and referencing.

I'm constantly feeling like I'm waiting for my life to begin, or to begin again...I guess this is a popular emotion, hence the cliches of

"life is not a dress rehearsal"
"happiness is a journey not a destination"
"live each day blah blah blah"

but even if everyone else feels the same way it doesn't dilute my own feeling. I'm always thinking; once I get a better job, once we move, once we get married, once we start a family....then life will really get going. I spend an awful lot of time dreaming about the future, planning for it and yet today was once the future. I distinctly remember thinking at one point about "after I graduate..."; well, that was two years ago now. But this; this is my life too. Right now. These daily walks, dinner, the bank... this is my life. And as long as I'm living I'm not wasting it; it's just a matter of awareness, or purpose. So, I put this quote in my blog where I'll see it every day, to remind me. Because I actually like my life a lot, when I stop to think about it, and in the future I don't want to look back and see a lot of waiting.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

This is just to say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold



William Carlos Williams

Basically one of my favorite poets, and poems, ever.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Unavailable

So, it's 9:30 friday night and I'm on my own; writing my blog with the animals for company. Is this deja vu, or is D working a lot of late nights? Actually I guess last night was the quarterly manager event. And tonight they're having some crisis at the hotel; the phone computer and the front-desk computer are no longer communicating. Are they together? Have they fought? D must stay and play computer-system marriage counselor until the hotel is running smoothly again.

I spent a lot of time today on the aquarium, changing the water, vaccuuming the gravel, changing one filter and scrubbing the walls. We've really let it go to a certain extent re the cleaning. Cats and dogs are so good at telling you what they need; to go out, to eat, to have their litterbox cleaned. A fishtank just gets gently greener as the algae takes over. I ordered a bunch of new plants last night on the internet-- no idea how that's going to go. Live water-plants through mail-order...hmm. Earl seems okay today, his fin is out and he's swimming around but that could just be the shock of the Giant Hand reaching in, removing the classy decorative castle, and cleaning. I'd swim away from that, myself. I'll keep changing the water every other day and scrubbing the tank until we're in the clear again.

Had dinner at Cafe Amore with KK after taking our dogs to the dog park and had a thought-provoking conversation about availability. Guys love her, they all want her, partly because she's really hard to get. I don't mean that she plays hard to get in that obnoxious girly way, just that she's both really busy socially and she's really picky. One of my friends in Vermont was like that; guys just fell for her, always. Anyways, KK's dating this guy but she's a little turned off by his constant availability. We're all attracted to people who are more elusive, why? Is it because having a life is attractive, that it indicates a well-rounded, interesting person? Is it that we like people who have a seal of approval from others in the form of a busy social network, in the way that guys with girlfriends look cuter?

I was at a party last year after a Saturday night waiting tables. I just wanted to relax and have a drink before going home; I didn't know most of the people there. I was just resting in a lawn chair, drinking a beer and playing with the host's dog, chatting a little with him (the host not the dog) and with the guy next to me, who liked to travel. This guy and his friend decide that I'm really cool, that I'm more interesting than the other girls there who are running around, squealing and giggling. They can't figure out why though. I know why. It's because I'm not interested in them. My sweetie is at home fast asleep, and I'll be seeing him soon. I'm not flirting, not trying to be attractive, not trying to maintain their interest. I'm basically completely unavailable to them, which paradoxically is attractive. The funny thing is that if I were single it would never've worked. heh. Human nature is a bitch.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Fish and cookies

I'm a little worried about my aquarium....Earl looks kinda bad off. I hope he doesn't die, because Speeder will be devastated. They're schooling fish and are always together, but now Earl is listing in the near corner and his fins are folded in. They're red wag-tail platy fish, or something like that, and we haven't lost one of those yet. So far the only goners have all been cory cats. Well, tomorrow will be a super-cleaning of the tank. Maybe that will make him feel better. Especially as I've been warned away from going to Borders due to a breakout of the Black Death among the staff there. Thanks for the head-up, Ben! I know where not to spend my day off!

This is my Cathy, guarding the fish from predators. Isn't she protective? Cathy is named for the comic strip and its author. It contains "cat", too, which is convenient. And an "h", in case some herbs come along. And a "y", which is just cheating at Scrabble. I love Scrabble but it turns into a bloodbath at my parents' house, and D can't play because he can't spell anything.



Thank you, America, for giving bankers so many holidays. Who else gets Columbus Day and Veterans Day off with pay, only a month apart? I don't think our commercial customers are expecting the bank to be closed; they'll be mad as hornets when they come by tommorow! hehehe

Today at work, one of the personal bankers pulled me into her office to talk about a "deal". Turns out if I bring her some more of my cookies, she'll give me 5 referrals. Guess I have a new fan...she said she'd give me even more for the recipe. Should I tell her it's the basic Hershey's recipe, with walnuts added? Maybe not. :)

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Mississippi Idiots

Well, my sinuses are better now. Thank goodness.

D and I are watching a special on PBS about the abortion debates, pro-choice and pro-life. It's making me so frickin mad that I keep shouting stuff at the TV. One idiot guy actually referred to a 12-week fetus as a "child". It's not a child, you bastard! It's a fetus. f-e-t-u-s. You can have an opinion about abortion when you grow a uterus you little piece of shit. D says I can't throw anything else at the TV because I could break it. I might have to turn this off. I say to all you stupid shithead religious pro-lifers; if you don't want abortion, don't get one! Leave my rights out of it please. There's a huge difference between personal feelings about stuff and laws. I would not get an abortion myself but that doesn't mean that nobody else gets one either! That's so DUMB! I think I may have to move to Mississippi and open an abortion clinic now. I wonder if ovulating has an effect on my emotional state the way that PMS does.

Best abortion quote from a movie: Dogma.

Bethany: Then - I don't mean to sound ungrateful - but what are you doing hanging around?
Jay: We're here to pick up chicks.
Bethany: Excuse me?
Jay: We figure an abortion clinic is a good place to meet loose women. Why else would they be there unless they like to fuck?

Hehe. Dogma. One of the best movies really. I'm adding that to my movie list in my profile. Okay, I feel better and there's a new show on.

KK and I had lunch together today --Einstein's Bagels--and went shopping at World Market. I love that place, they have so much cool stuff! And it's such a variety; chocolate and wine, throw pillows and candles, dishware and furniture and baskets and statues and imported fancy foods. It's the place you'd go if you just came back from Europe and were craving some type of cookie that they only have in Sweden. It's where Nutella came from back before the grocery stores started stocking it. All I got were some taper candles though, and K picked up lunch. Good girl not spending money!

Tomorrow I go back to work. But Friday is a bank holiday. Thanks, veterans, for everything and for the day off. D is a war veteran. I should thank him personally...I wonder how much "light exercise" he's really up for. Yep, definitely ovulating.

Sinus Heck

Because it's not quite bad enough to be sinus hell; I've been there before. Going to bed with a sinus headache and waking up with it in the morning still. Bleargh. I need this weather to change already. Went on the Long Trek with Alice, thinking that some exercise and fresh air would clear my head. Hehe. Walking when you can't breathe= pretty dumb idea. But my drink was good at least.

D had his Dr's appt this morning to discuss the results of the MRI. (If you're dyslexic like I am, you can type "resluts" for "results" which is really funny! To me anyways. Resluts. Hehehe. What would that be exactly?) Anyways, it turns out that he has not one but three "bulging" discs in his spine, which are also "arthritic". The doctor wants to know what the heck D does for a living to have an injury like that plus the myriad scars and things decorating him. He doesn't know the half of it; sometimes I think D is like a cat with 9 lives- he's gone through so much stuff. Good news though: none of the discs are actually herniated or "exploded" so D probably doesn't need surgery! Yay! He has an appointment with a surgeon to discuss the thing next month though, just to make sure. For now, he's just to continue with the physical therapy and the Celebrex, plus the doctor talked to him about his weight and chlorestorol-- not that he actually tested D's chol. You'd think he would what with everything else. D got the go-ahead for light exercise; walking but no running, etc. I am trying to interest him in yoga but he says it's only interesting when I do it. He's worse than the pets honestly, coming up behind me during Downward Dog. No wonder I try to do it in an empty house. It would do him a lot of good though, like the physical therapy. I may have to make some "arthritic old man" jabs to get him to join me.

Last night I made a chicken chowder with corn and potatoes. It was good, and easy, and it made a ton. I love my crock-pot. It can be tonight's dinner if nothing appears by then. I must take a shower in another futile attempt to clear my head, and call KK to see if she wants to get lunch. I think then I'll try to work on my desk-- it's been awfully abandoned down there in the garage. Staring at me accusingly every time I get out of my car. "I don't belong here! Paint me, finish me, take me upstairs!" Yes, the furniture talks to me. So what? It's not telling me to kill people or something.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

What a nice weekend!

I feel almost like a real grown-up, with the whole weekend off and everything. This might become a regular thing as my boss is thinking about giving all the full-time staff Saturdays off and making the part-timers work it. I don't know how I feel about this yet. If it creates too much discord among the staff it won't be worth it, for me anyways, because it's such a small group. On the other hand, the part-timers are being awfully precious about when they can and can't work and it won't hurt to be a little tougher on them.

Yesterday D and I spent the whole day together; breakfast at Cafe Brazil, a movie, grocery shopping. So nice. Dreamer was a pretty decent movie. I went out last night with some of the girls from the bank, which was fun. They bugged me a little for leaving D at home but the truth is that we both need our "alone time" to relax. Also true that he would not much enjoy going out with them but I didn't say so. One of our old compadres, Selena, turned up which was great; she was one of my favorite co-workers until she was let go and went to another bank. She likes to cook too and we used to discuss and compare food stuff all the time, but not in the overly competitive way that Kristin does.

I made a frittata this morning (sp?) which was really good. Spinach on my half only. The thing is, D and I got into the habit of going out to breakfast any week-end day that we both were off but lately that would be two days in a row. So, I tried to stock up on the bacon and eggs (and coffee, milk, oj, potatoes, etc) neccessary to attempt a home-cooked breakfast. I thought the fritatta would be a good way of having one hot thing instead of the usual eggs hot, bacon already cold, lukewarm toast. Also a way to trick D into having a lot less bacon. :) Now if only he'd eat the spinach! I told him about the curry connection and he said we'll have to try it. I've never made a curry before but it can't be that hard.

Spent today post-frittata reading, picking up the house a (very) little, getting my brownie pan back from Borders. I have the next two days off as the last of my vacation time for the year. I really need to look into our wedding plans or my mom will be pissed, plus it does need to get done. She suggested going on a cruise and being married by the ship captain-- eerily echoing what Ben said! Definitely worth looking into: small, non-traditional, and efficient; wedding and honeymoon in one fell swoop! I love fell swoops. Makes me think of swords and dashing musketeers and Aragorn. Swoop. Hehe. Wedding swoops.

What we've agreed on so far:

As small as we can make it in terms of guests and hoopla.
Chocolate for the cake. Or cupcakes.
Something different.
No big white dress, here-comes-the-bride, etc.

Well, here's to planning. I can't believe some girls like this stuff. Must go now to eat the steak and baked potatoes a la D. Yummy.

Friday, November 04, 2005

Friday

Just one of those days. I didn't sleep at all well last night and today everybody at work was super-annoying. Maybe not such a coincidence after all, come to think of it. On the one hand, Evelyn. She has so little confidence in herself that she asks questions constantly-- questions she knows the answers to already. On a busy day, this is just too much. Just do what you'd do if I wasn't standing next to you, dammit. I'm not a freakin babysitter. On the other hand, Halima. She finds herself 50 dollars short and doesn't do a thing for the next, what, 2 hours except try to find it. The money is gone, girl. It might come back later but meanwhile I've got a line here in the drivethrough and there's one in the lobby too. Work, please. And I got to work between them. In the background is our assistant manager who just chatters on endlessly and doesn't help. Lucky me! My "attitude" got noticed by all and got me nothing but mockery. Watch out for Mara! More sarcastic than usual, even! Like wanting everybody else to just do their damn job is such an attitude problem. If everyone had one we might get more done.

Well thank you, blog-land, for letting me vent that a little. I feel so much better now. D and I had dinner at this nice little Italian place that's really close to our apartment. Our waiter, Jeff, is actually an old co-worker of mine from my waitressing days. (You know, last year.) He's good friends with Cathy and Jason that I ran into a few blogs ago--a real week for run-ins. Although I guess eating where you know someone works doesn't fall under coincidence. They have the best fettuccini alfredo anywhere. ahh.

D was just watching some history-channel show on bombs. It said something like, "when gunpowder was first discovered/ created in the ___th century, people were scared and thought it was a tool of the devil". This is in a very superior tone of voice of course. But who's to say that gunpowder and bombs etc aren't a tool of evil? Were those sailors so wrong? As Eddie Izzard says, guns don't kill people, but the gun helps. I hate the history channel. Which is funny because I love history. Bill Maher has the former president of Ireland on; she seems like a great lady. Ireland is so on my list. Why can't we have a cool woman-prez here? This country is so backwards sometimes.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Random bits

My hand is all better now. The only remaining thing is the dark marks made by the black electrical tape I used to hold the bandage on all yesterday. I look like I've been drawing on the back of my hand, or that I'm into bondage.

Alice and I did the Long Trek today which was nice--we haven't gone in ages. I had a Starbucks and she got lots of acorns. I got back just in tim to get ready for work, which was so boring and lame. I guess that's better than stressful and chaotic, a little. Got two credit cards, nothing else. It turns out that I don't get so much vacation next week as I thought b/c they pro-rated my vacation time from when I was "part time". Like I ever actually worked only 20 hours a week. Oh well. It's still paid time off, which can't be beat. What I really need it a job that is interesting, challenging, pays twice as much but with the same benefits. Who's hiring? Hehe.

It's amazingly quiet here in the apartment tonight. D is still at work, the dogs are both asleep. How can I keep them this way? Cathy (my cat) is cuddling up next to me because she's cold. She's one of those cats that love belly scratches. I should really start dinner but that involves finding out if the fish I bought 2 days ago just before caterpillar incident is still fresh and cookable. Ick. I hate those kind of investigations. I was going to cook it last night but by the time I got home D had dinner made already. My sweetie.

Well, must check fish and start dinner now.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Sucky-update

Well, my hand is almost normal again now. Just an oval of angry red marks and some tenderness, but not much pain. D has declared war on all puss caterpillars and has fine-combed our patio looking for stowaways. He's one of those men that can't stand to see his honey in pain. He knows what to do for bad periods, for migraines, for the flu, but for venomous caterpillars there is no cure but to KILL THEM ALL for making me hurt. Poor guy. It's hard on him.

This whole poison-caterpillar thing grabbed all of my attention earlier so I didn't think about everything else. I ran into some old co-workers Cathy and Jason from the restaurant yesterday, at Central Market. It made me realize that I actually miss people from that job. When I "quit" (got fired) I never went back so I guess I cut a lot of ties. I used to play poker with them before I started at the bank. C and J are a cute couple first because they're both the type of person that you can't imagine staying with anyone for more than 2 days but they've been with each other for awhile now. Second b/c they're both so short that hugging either one leaves me staring over their heads. I'm not a "huggy" type person anyways. Cathy just always grabs me. She's one of the only girls I know that looks better as a highlighted-blonde. It just matches her somehow. Not that she's dumb--she's not--just, well, blonde. Anyways, they told me that Keith my old manager quit in a fury last week. I need to talk to him b/c I have his books that he lent me. So. She will call me with his number so that I can call him to see if he wants them back.

This is why I don't like to borrow stuff.

But I would like to see Keith again. We got on well. And etc.

Where was I? Oh yes. Yesterday I was culinarily inspired after reading the book (see prev. post) but instead of buying ox I got a pumpkin. I had the seeds toasting and the hull baking, plus black-bean soup when the caterpillar fiasco occured. It was all I could do to get it all off the heat. Pumpkin seeds are good for the prostate. I don't have one of those so I made them for D who does. (I assume. I haven't seen it b/c it's internal. Right?)

Ah, stream of consciousness. Works best when I'm tired. Didn't sleep much last night even with all the drugs due to the pain. I'm watching Ellen Degeneres stand-up now. She's so funny. Signing off now to watch Ellen and go to bed.

Suckyness to the extreme degree

Yesterday evening I was stung by a PUSS CATERPILLAR, also known as a "wooly slug". Have you ever heard of this? I remember KK briefly mentioning that her bf/roomie was bitten by something fluffy earlier this summer.

This was some of the WORST pain-- absolutely agonizing-- that I've ever been in, period. It ranks up there with my worst migraines and the Paris/ food poisioning incident. It started off just feeling like a wasp sting (localized) on my hand and within half an hour my whole arm was burning and aching and I was so restless and anxiety-ridden that I had to pace the apartment. D suggested a walk, so we went out and walked for a long time.
The websites I visited mentioned that symptoms vary according to victim, from mild stinging to severe pain. Gee, I guess I know where I fall on that spectrum. It makes sense I guess, I'm super-sensitive to all chemicals. It's why one drink makes me tipsy, why fabric softener gives me a headache and bleach, migraines; why a case of poison ivy landed me in the ER. Of COURSE I'll have the worst possible reaction to a freakin caterpillar. Well, not the worst. I guess it didn't kill me.

It was so unfair-- what kind of bad karma makes for this kind of thing? I was just minding my business. It's so random. D said it's not karma, shit just happens sometimes. He went out to the balcony and karmaized the little beast into squishy pieces for me. I took half of one of his codeines (mmm, Vicodin) and two benedryls but they didn't do a damn thing except help me finally get to sleep. I had to sleep on the futon b/c of all the thrashing and moaning--didn't want to keep my honey awake. I was in the middle of making a nice dinner for us when all this happened and he ended up eating some hot-pockets from the freezer that my little brother left here. I don't remember eating anything.

My hand still hurts pretty badly, and it looks really funky-- a big red blotch with this pattern of smaller, redder spots in it. I've got to go to work so I can't take any medicine now.