22 March 2008

rice is nice

did you know that you can have dessert for breakfast? i did, especially when you call it something foofy like "baked french toast" and make it with challah bread, banana and kahlua. sounds really fancy even though it's just an assembly process. throw in some eggs, milk, liquor left over from when tim and mary came over, cinnamon and nutmeg (of course), sprinkle with chopped banana and a bit of sugar. butter up a baking dish and throw it in the oven until it's done. when it's this simple and idiot-proof, even i can operate in the kitchen. see? i CAN make f-u-d and make it edible!

the thing i've figured out is this: i can't make just normal stuff like chicken or casserole or what have you. you want a lamb brisket with pears and cream? i'm your girl. how about a thai curry pizza? no problemo. caesar asparagus soup? fuhgeddaboutit. maybe i'm just a fancy person that goes into a fancy trance when i really want french toast. if you ask me to make a simple chicken breast? you might want to check it first so that you don't die during dinner. the one very basic thing i can cook with ease is rice. in just about any form of preparation, i seem to slide by this land mine effortlessly.

from what i've learned after talking to people who can actually cook, cooking rice is a sort of art form. over and over again, i've heard tales from people that they just can't make it turn out quite the way they like it no matter what they try. kris and i once decided that it's a magical equation when rice is involved. the better you are around the kitchen, the more difficult it is for you to make perfect rice on the fly. as you learn to cook, your rice skills go down in reactionary fashion. conversely, people like me can do a beautifully crispy light brown top on a persian rice almost by accident. the laws of physics do not apply in my kitchen. it was only a few nights ago that i threw some rice into a soup as a thickener. a few stirs later it was already at the perfect consistency. ta-dah!

maybe what i'm really good at is accessorizing. i DO have fabulous scarves. my office supplies are to die for, and let's not even go there about my cool socks. dressing up respectably for a job interview is a complete nightmare. throwing on plaids and stripes doesn't give me a second thought. food must be the same way for me. baked french toast is just a breakfast dish with a nice hair clippy. plain french toast is more like a mullet in my fumbly hands. but the rice magic? a great basic with a good fit for a lot of occasions. hmmmm...that's kind of a mystery. it might be more like jeans.


my favorite things this week:
  • ren and stimpy postcards (a gift from bonnie)
  • the "cute fly" on zhen's etsy shop.
  • my new hair. all black and red and brown and choppy with permanent sticky-uppy parts. "i coulda been a contusion."
  • calling my oldest brother "pissy chrissy" to shut him down during an argument. no, it's fine - it was a fun argument. we argue for sport in my family!
  • stuart sitting with me and muttering to himself in meows.
  • venuszine

18 March 2008

sticky lips mcgluey

today is a weird day. it might be more like a weird week.

i did get out my faboo reels of gooey tape and wrap packages. sure it was only things i had sold online, but i heart tape. adhesive in general totally rules. as i get more into the habit of sticking things to other things, i'll have to fire up he hot glue gun and undoubtedly injure myself. truth be told, a good old glue stick is my true fave. glue sticks are non-toxic, see? safety is important in my house. i'm a train wreck who has been known to get her lip stuck to the crazy glue tube. it was a really long time ago and i've learned my lesson since then. okay, so it was within the past couple months. like maybe last month. and i haven't used any crazy glue since then for fear of something worse happening. my only defense? the way it snuck up on me made sense at the time, and once i explain it to you, it'll all seem logical and you'll stop making fun of me.

my shower curtain did not have magnets built into the liner. it's more like just a giant plastic sheet (courtesy of those thrifty folks at ikea) with little animals and chicken monster thingies all over it. we've embellished the shower curtain with some sharpie work to add more color so it looks pretty cool. the only problem is that there seems to be some sort of backdraft wind gust going on in my bathroom. the chicken monsters would go on full attack when the water is turned on, so if you wanted to rinse off without having the curtain going all boa constrictor, you would have to hold an arm all the way out and shield yourself while batting repeatedly like a kitten with a ball of yarn in order to protect yourself from the onslaught de plastique. i'm not the type to throw out a perfectly good shower curtain just because it thought it was a body bag in motion. however, showering was becoming a chore and i didn't want to stink.

we made a trip to the craft store and got a fat roll of self-sticking magnetic strip. what a seemingly perfect solution... that was ultimately no match at all for the hurricane that whipped up the next time i went to take a shower. not only did the magnetic strip not hold to the side of the tub, it fell off entirely, causing soapy me to just about bite the dust and have one of those embarrassing "here's how she died in a stooopid home accident" stories be told about me after death. not wanting to end up as a tee-hee-hee sort of news footnote, further measures were required. however, i was going through an unmotivated period in my life.

i tried to reason with my bathroom. i turned the fan off and on. i left the door open at varying amounts. i even took a shower in the dark, just in case that would scare the breeze away. after a few months of being annoyed by this - i was going through an unmotivated period - it was finally time to make a trip to the craft store for some extra strong button magnets to fix the situation.

here's a warning for you: they can make magnets that really are extra strong. handle these magnets with some care if you're prone to accidents. don't tear into them with a sharp knife that'll get stuck to them. that plastic is thin. once you realize that you're about to slice off your elbow and let go of the whole package, they'll fly willy nilly all over the tub. don't yank them off the tub just because you lost your grip on them. you'll only succeed in flying backwards with a handful of magnets and bonking your head on the tile behind you while getting pelted in the eyeball with a magnet or two before they all get stuck to the bottom of the tub when you really wanted them on the shower curtain anyway. and just to let you know something else, you should plot out where you're going to put the magnets along the bottom of the curtain without having the cats help you. they are not there to help. they only want attention. lastly, once you put the glue on the magnet, make sure you have the glue side pointed towards the curtain. if you don't, you will have successfully just let glue dry for no reason on the wrong side and have to repeat the process again. on several magnets. after you thought you were done and flung the curtain aside to get out of an invisible puddle that was in the tub making your butt wet.

in all of this "hypothetical" magnet chaos, i DID manage to get the glue onto the right spots and finish the job. i even avoided a tragedy by pulling the tube out of my hair in a microsecond after dropping the lid and lurching sideways to get it before the drain could have a snack. it bobbed left, i weaved right, the tube of glue went up as my head went down. my catlike reflexes saved the day, as well as my hair, and i waited the appropriate however many felt right and like ti should probably be dry by now seconds before emerging triumphant.

i was trying to blow the glue back down the end of the tube so it wouldn't get clogged. it just irks me to waste money on a gobbedy tube of glue. i had already cut the tip a few times beforehand to solve the previous clogging issues. and those "single use" packs? there's always too much or not enough for whatever thing i'm working on at the moment. so of course if you just give a half squeeze to the glue tube to create some suction, it should all go right back in when you release the tube. just to be certain, you could help it along with a puff of air to get things rolling and all should be righted - voila! put the cap back on and you've got a fully useable leftover squeeze for when you really need some stick. voila, right? voila until the tube is hanging off your face like a truck stop dishwasher's cigarette.

if you have said unfortunate facial situation, do not scream. it will only induce humiliation when whomever is in the house comes to see what is wrong with you. even the cats will judge you for such folly. do not rip the tube off of your face while you're getting the bright idea to go and hunt down the nail polish remover that doesn't even have any acetone in it and wouldn't help anyway. just remain calm and think about which scarf goes best with the colors on the tube. you'll be wearing that scarf every day from now on.

okay, so maybe go ahead and rip it off. you might get lucky. you might be creatively inspired in that second of sheer pain to come up with an awesome story about your latest gnarly pimple and people will pretend they don't even notice it because they're trying to be polite. they're really too worried about their own pimples anyway. you might get away with no commentary at all. you might just live in secret shame and prolonged fear of crazy glue. NOW you can scream. again.

it'll all be worth it in the end, though. your shower curtain will be fixed and you still won't need to spend any extra money on a new tube of glue. aren't you glad you know how to budget?


my latest musical buys:
china forbes - '78
golfrapp - seventh tree
(p.s. has anyone heard much of juliette and the licks yet?)

16 March 2008

self-imposed exile

nearly every day at one point or another, i write a little blog entry in my head. it's usually when i'm at work and ignoring people. or maybe when i'm driving home and talking to myself about the stories on npr. regardless, each time i tell myself that "i'm going to get back on that horse" once i get home. after several failures to follow through (and don't think i'm under the impression that anyone is angry with me here. i'm just musing upon my own falterings) i began to wonder what the hell is going on with me.

over these past months i've felt really isolated. it has been extremely difficult for me to connect to people. even in person, i'm somewhat detached and aloof. the simple question of "how are you today?" has been met with a long blank stare from me. "i don't know, how am i supposed to know?" i say to people. am i depressed? i don't think so. anxious? maybe a bit. for the most part i am just an observer of my everyday life, unlikely and unwilling to get excited about participation.

it would seem to me that i've hit a phase of autopilot. i buy art supplies with no intention of using them. when i go to the grocery store alone, i just roll past most of the food without putting anything in the cart except creamer for my coffee. music comes home with me and i never listen to it. i eschew the theatre and any other live performances. i feel less than sincere in dealing with people in general. not insincere, mind you. just vapid. if an overcast day were to take human form, it would be me.

on the up side of things, this also makes me a blank slate. what do you do with a blank slate when it's only been giving you writers' block up until now? wiped clean of any ambition or planning, i stagnated in place. i waited. i stared. i waited and drank coffee. and then...

i got sick of it. i laughed, i cried, i screamed. literally. mary said it best: "if this were your boyfriend, we'd have all told you to break up with him by now." though the statement was only in reference to one facet of things, it hit me like a brick. she was so right! my isolation is a bizarre side effect of an abusive relationship with my own life.

we're breaking up. thank you mary.

my next projects:
getting demoted at work, by my own choosing
directing teenagers
playing with my glue collection
connecting

03 February 2008

whether the weather be...

it snowed a few days ago. today was about 70F. welcome to oklahoma.

it'll probably snow later this week if i'm a good guesser. weather is an exciting thing around here, believe it or not. now you see why. personally, i just want to know what the hell to put on when i get up without having to reinvent my outfit halfway through the day. yes, i do already layer! it mostly pays off since i can rearrange what i'm wearing like a garanimal kid once the morning dew burns off. maybe i should just keep a suitcase in the car. but really... should i look like i changed clothes just because the rush hour has passed?

dizzy had her checkup and she's okay dokey. she did NOT have to be sedated for grooming. i don't know what kind of crack they served her in the cat treats at the vet's office, but i want one to keep as a spare for when i'm having a bad day. the doctor says she's "just a fattie" kitty in super normal shape. jeez, i can't believe she behaved so well for them. how come i get to deal with the three faces of dizzy?!?

when it comes to derek, she's all purrs and cuddles. when it comes to me, she can be a demon cat from hell. when i warn people of her moods, she acts like i'm a nutjob by proving me wrong no matter what. depending on whatever changing second of the day it is, dizzy can be:
1. i'm a princess who is terribly jealous if i'm not the center of attention, but don't you dare touch me or i'll kill you. but really, at least try to touch me. that'll put you close enough to bow at my feet and adore me.
2. i hate you all. i hate you i hate you i hate you!!!
3. love me, i'm cute and fluffy and lonely. i lurrrve you baby. scratch behind my ears. look at how cuuuuute i am. meow.

i think i'll put her on valium. KIDDING! (for now) let's just wait and see if having a spot on her butt shaved - because she was too damn lazy to groom herself properly - will give her just enough humility to get over herself. i'm the big kitty around here!

now is the time for me to go to the closet and come up with four different options on what to wear tomorrow, just in case. holy, bejeezus, i don't want to make zhen a pucker-faced pickle, but it's freaking february and i've got the balcony door open because it was too hot in here! this is come crazytown shit going on here. see why i'm always buying all those thin little shirts that'll go over or under something and a million tank tops? ahh, those balmy winter nights have me confused as hell. and i'm FROM here. it's not like it's a shocker that it'll happen; if only i could actually plan it ahead of time.

what i'm listening to on my NEW! computer:
juno soundtrack