Comfort food

Comfort food is needed. (Partly because we will only have a handful of 'Lost' episodes after tonight, but mostly because I'm tired, cold, and was rained-on all day.)

Tasty falafel sounds like the thing to do the trick tonight, but you know, it's dang hard to make falafel without chickpeas....

There is ham crackling in the skillet for the omnivore in the household. Quite honestly, when I've hit a low, all I want to do is forgo my veggie ways and eat bacon until I pass out.

I am fairly easy to please as far as fatty, unhealthy foods go, but my favorites always involve potatoes and ridiculous amounts of salt (hence the french fries hovering above).

So: your favorite comfort foods? (Or drinks. Whatever you like.)

Dude of the Month: Damon Albarn

Why:
Because everything he does seems to work out.
So far: revolutionizing pop music; destroying people's ideas of fame by creating a new type of art form; and joining operatic strings with sharp bass-lines to create a sort of post-apocalyptic, Victorian punk album.
Plus, he's said and done ridiculous stuff in his youth and has since had the nerve to apologize.
That's a commendable honesty in our celebrity suffocated, self-important world.

Where to find him: blur; The Good, The Bad, & The Queen; Gorillaz.

Some things I love

Some things I love this week

1. The Dream of Perpetual Motion--An amazing first novel.

2. Picnic at Hanging Rock--A film that ends up as something very different from where it began, and what you expected.

3. The brand new season of 'Doctor Who'--Matt Smith is the definite lonely, frenetic, dazzling, sad, eager, old, bow-tie-wearing Doctor.

4. Food, Inc.--It's just as scary as you thought it was, and then some. Plus a good reminder to consider what we put into our bodies. Which brings us to....

5. Homecooked meals--Making time to cook will never be a bad choice.

6. Everything from the Rodarte clothing line for Target.--Finally, well-made clothes that will last for years!

7. Thrift stores and consignment shops--Respect your wallet. Reinvent old clothes.

8. Field service in the springtime-- Nothing better.


*Photo of Audrey Hepburn by Mark Shaw.

Overdue End-of-the-Year meme

Borrowed from All & Sundry. ;)

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?

Auxiliary pioneered, took a community college course, got my driver's license, got a car, made numerous trips to the library and wasted no one's time but my own, and flirted shamelessly with the pharmacist holding my flu vaccine. ;)

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Stupid question. NEXT!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Yes.

5. What countries did you visit?

Um… Scotland, PA. Does that count?

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

More time.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Last March, that dental surgery was pretty gnarly. I can go without that. Oh, and the root canal in November. Ick.


8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Getting my driver’s license. w00t!!

9. What was your biggest failure?

I don’t like where this is heading, okay?!

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

The flu, in the summertime.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

My new iPod.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

My dog was very well-behaved.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

My birds have just been insane.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Clothes from Target.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

The last Doctor Who! The death of Doctor Ten!!Peroxide-blonde Master!!! Twas awesome.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?

‘Laughing With,’ by Regina Spektor.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
 a) happier or sadder? 
b) thinner or
fatter? 
c) richer or poorer?

A) Happier. B) Fatter, indeed! c) Richer, to a point.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Drawing and such. I think my creative life has taken a major nosedive.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Web-surfing and shopping.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

Skipping, due to complete apathy and a bit of disgust.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?

Does the aforementioned pharmacist count?

22. What was your favorite TV program?

‘Lost’ and ‘Doctor Who’

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

I don’t really plan on that sort of thing happening, you know?

24. What was the best book you read?

‘The Cry of the Sloth,’ by Sam Savage. Although I thoroughly enjoyed YA book ‘Larklight,’ by Philip Reeve.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Department of Eagles, or maybe Elvis Perkins. I also discovered blur and Gorillaz, which both = awesome.

26. What did you want and get?

Several things, actually, which have already been mentioned.

27. What did you want and not get?

A better diet.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

I’ve seen so many, and very few opened in 2009. I really enjoyed ‘Up,’ ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and ‘Star Trek.’ Of old movies that I saw, I loved the BBC 'Crime and Punishment' from 2003, and the RSC production of 'Hamlet' was also good. And I learned to love 'The Third Man.'

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I lay around the house, and I was one-and-twenty, thank you very much.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

More dairy products. Yup.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

I’ve begun to ask myself, ‘Would Audrey Hepburn wear that?’ If the answer is no, then I don’t wear it, either.

32. What kept you sane?

A routine.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Ahem. Thom Yorke, for his brains, vegan ways, and awesome hair. John Simm, for everything else. (Though his brains and awesome hair count, too.)

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

You know, all I hear is blah-blah-blah…

35. Who did you miss?

Um… no one, I guess. My grandmother. My sister, a little.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

I’ve made a couple of good friends. :)

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.
Incidental-music on a TV show should never obscure the dialogue.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

Crashing head-on into the future/It won't even leave a dent
Just walk in like you own it/Remember, it ain't set in cement
~Joe Strummer, ‘Diggin’ the New’

Oh, my Gord, can I go now?!

"Trying to tell me to go away/never did any good"

Hallo, folks. I have taken an unexpected, year-long vacation from the blogosphere, but I am back now, feeling slightly refreshed and very forgetful.

I was going to write a long list of what I've accomplished or what I plan to accomplish over the next few months, but Blogger was being a pain in the kaboose by failing to give me the correct username and password. (Actually, this was mostly just me, but I choose to blame Blogger.) It's sad when you haven't logged into your blog for so long that you forget what account you're using.

So stay tuned to this area, where I'll provide ramblings, book reviews, nonsense, food talk, music, and massive amounts of virtual coffee, streaming caffeine into your eyeballs every time you look at this text.

Trust me, this is gonna be awesome...

(By the way, what do you folks think of the new color scheme?)

Goodbye, March '09.....

Well. It's been quite a month. The story so far....
I decided to aux. pioneer for the first time in March. But I was derailed two weeks in by suddenly needing oral surgery. (I feel the need to complain now....: both wisdom teeth were cut out, with no epinephrine so it took longer to heal, and I looked like a chipmunk for days.)

After that nightmare, I managed to get back out in service (and try to get my time in), and then my grandmother was admitted to the hospital twice in one week. It was hard to tell how she would do, since there were good days and bad days, but she was pretty bad by the time I got here on Tuesday. She died last night, and thankfully it was expected by then and a lot of family and friends were able to be there. I spent all day in the hospital with family, waiting, and calling people to tell them what was going on.

Let's just say... not the best week of my life so far.

So now there are funeral arrangements, the family divvying up Nan's jewelry, keeping Pa company, trying to find photos for the viewing.

I'm so tired now in so many different ways. Wired and sleepy and hungry, at once.
I'm going home tonight, to sleep in my own bed. That'll help, anyway.

Hope you all are well, and that you had a better month. :)

"Refill my prescription/To whatever that thing is"

An update on my life this week.

1) Auxilary pioneering for the first time this month. I'm excited!

2) Office schedule is insane. Also, there's a deaf woman coming in soon, and I'm hoping I know enough business related ASL to help. So that's exciting.

3) Oh, Gord. 3. Number 3 would mean me having to mention my impacted wisdom tooth, the liquid diet, the antibiotics, pioneering while in pain, the oral surgeon, and all these wonderful things.
So I will skip number 3.
Sort of.

I will be thankful for the things I have already, like... the side of my face that doesn't hurt.
That's all for now, people. Back to work for me.

(Also, I just spent 10 minutes trying to find a song lyric involving teeth, for the title, but I couldn't. Bah.)

'Learn to lose/It's easier that way'

For the last ten years, there's been a large place in my brain occupied by the band Barenaked Ladies. I bought one of their CDs when I was 11. I liked their humor; they were accessible; they were nice guys.

It wasn't very long before I really noticed the tension in their music. There was an undertone of despair in every song, barely hidden by quirky word choices and interesting musical arrangements.

Never mind the humor; the songs written by Steven Page really told the truth of the world through his eyes, through all our worst bouts of depression and misery.
One of their first songs, 'Brian Wilson,' is the narrator deciding that he's ended up like the damaged pop star (So I'm lying here, just staring at the ceiling tiles/and I'm thinking about what to think about/Just listening and relistening to Smiley Smile/and I'm wondering if this is some kind of creative drought).

'Wrap Your Arms Around Me' is seemingly a tale of domestic abuse (Do you believe that we are all innately good/Do you think that you would love me until tomorrow if you could).

'Everything Old is New Again' is a pros-cons argument of simply living (Learn to lose, it's easier that way/We've paid our dues, but we can't make life pay/All across the world, people going mad/In their mother's cars, the kids are feeling sad).

There are songs about cowards and egomaniacs, the ones holding onto the edge and wondering when to let go.
I grew up with the people in the songs, and the people writing them. There was familiarity in Steve Page's voice, and something I soon recognized in myself.
I found out today that after a rough year (can you say 'mid-life crisis'?), Steven Page is quitting the band to pursue other goals.
I wish him the best, and hope he gets back on his feet. I'm worried about the band's new directions; I hope they don't try to replace the missing element, and that they will simply work on their own terms.

But it's been a good 20 years of music. A good ten years for me, while I grew up with them. I can't pretend that they didn't shape my outlook on the world. Especially Steve Page.

Barenaked Ladies - Brian Wilson

Think warm... think warm....

I'm becoming a nasty, irritable, often-mean person, and I think I've discovered the cause.
This office is freezing.
It must be frying the 'nice' brain cells, because all I can do now is gripe and whine. The air conditioning was on last Friday. Let me state that again.
THE AC WAS ON while it was 32 degrees outside.
I can adjust the heat, yes, but it doesn't matter; the lobby is situated in the exact wrong place to receive any heat, while the people who don't want hot air get too much.
Arrrggghh.
I'm going to start wearing my winter parka here at my desk, and see if anything changes.
On a lighter note, something that makes me happy and forget all about the sub-zero temps: a music video that reinforces two things:
Yeah, I do kind of love the 80s.... and I have a weakness for skinny guys with insane hair.



Also: I'm starting to think this is a wheat allergy, not a soy allergy. I'd like someone to just give me a list of what I can and can not eat. That would be great.

"Saving my appetite 'cause I'm waiting for the dinner bell to do the bell thing"

Day... um... 4 of my soy-free life. I've gone off of all soy products to test whether or not I have an allergy. So far, I've still been having some symptoms, but my skin seems to be recovering. Perhaps I have been having a soy allergy after all, and perhaps it's clearing up....

The worst part (besides no Silk... and no miso... and no Kashi cereal... and no....) is shopping. I was standing in the grocery store's vegetarian/organic section, staring at the shelves in dismay, as imaginary red stickers labeled "NO!" were stamped on everything. Gahh. Grocery shopping nightmare.

I bought some Rice Dream (I will try to love it), but couldn't find any rice "yogurt." (A specialty product, methinks.) I finally found a vegan, soy-free veggie burger, but the fat content has scared me out of using it so far. At least I've gone back to eating fish, so I have another option for protein.

Anyone have any suggestions? I've been reading up on soy-free vegan blogs and such, but I need more help with finding food to take with me to work, out in service, etc.

So, since you've lasted through that rant, here's a music video. You've earned it. (I'm trying to ignore the fact that it takes place in a grocery store. Just the sight of shelves makes me go barmy anymore....)