it is possible:
1. that i'm now an old fogey
2. i think too hard while grocery shopping
3. food inc. and king corn are some scary-ass documentaries
4. it's all derek's fault
well, derek has given up soda and i bought him a new kitchen gadget to make super fizzy water at home to mix with juice. (izze is just too expensive!) we've gone to buying local meat at the meat market and concentrating on eating more and more of what one could call real food.
it's really not that dramatic of an adjustment. we've been going to harvard meats for a while off and on. eating more veggies and cooking at home more often kind of started when i began my nesting phase a while back. the no mountain dew thing for him is new, but i am trying to be supportive by only getting my diet dr. peppers when i go out. it's an addiction, i know, but i'm a pepper. wouldn't you like to be a pepper, too? hell yes!!! i HAVE to be a fucking pepper! "they" made me into a pepper when i was a kid, and i'm not stopping now. must! be! PEPPER!!!
see how that works? high fructose corn syrup must have been the impending doom epidemic of the twentieth century. dr. tony was chatting with me a few weeks ago (also in reference to food inc. - don't know if he's seen king corn) and made a passing comment that diabetes is the new black plague. that stuck with me as i was watching the "eat actual food" docs of the last month and hearing michael pollan's name an unusual number of times. to hear it told by these people, HFCS is the devil... not to mention all of the other corn-derivative products used in food production processes and as feed for slaughter animals. now corn is not be the root of all evil, and it probably didn't even make me into a pepper, but you know what? there sure is a lot of fucking corn out there. it's in a lot of stuff.
this probably doesn't mean i'll give up the occasional bag of blueberry muffin tops cereal, because who can give up crazy shit like that? (yes, i'm not kidding - it really does exist!) i probably won't even give up any other icky HFCS convenience junk food that i want on occasion. being the pepper that i am, i'll always want a burrito or some pudding to tide me over in times of craving. however, we do try to eat actual food around here. if that means reading labels and thinking about packaging and figuring out how to be informed to the hilt about things i really don't want to know, so be it. nobody said being a pepper was easy.
but i don't think the doctor would recruit me into his vast army of tasty liquid minions without expecting me to cram in the spinach, too. he is, after all, a doctor. he wouldn't want us to exist on his crack and heroin filled soda alone. that's why he kept in a few natural flavorings, don't you know. now he should prolly think about capitalizing on this whole "organic panic" craze by going back to cane sugar as a sales ploy. just think of all the peppers he would gain! our growing numbers could then spread the word that olive oil is not the enemy. we would reinstate good carbs to their rightful place in the world. maybe, just maybe, we could make the federal school lunch program get the funding to include things that didn't involve some unidentified food byproduct being boiled to greyish, soupy goop amongst a sea of abbreviated additives.
they say that if you can neither spell nor say the ingredients on your food, you most likely shouldn't be eating it. i can go with that theory. then again, i'm a pretty good speller, but you can bet the doctor would agree with this advice. and besides, our nations' children can't even tell where to put punctuation, so it's a decent enough rule to stick with until we can start funding education again... maybe the peppers of us out there can work on that next.
postal goodies:
urban craft uprising package from bonnie! EEE!
17 December 2009
07 December 2009
i don't really give a shit about sociological theory today
too bad that sociology what it is i'm supposed to know all about after i've finished my degree. to a large extent, most of the stuff is like, "duh" when i read it. maybe i just know more about sociology than i think i do, or maybe it's just easy because it makes sense to me.
plato does not make sense to me.
dead white guys like that just piss me off.
honestly, when something makes no sense to me i have to try extra hard just to even grasp any part of it, much less be able to study about it with any proficiency. does it say something about me that machiavelli and rousseau were totally easy to comprehend? it was like a lightbulb moment reading about people like mills or weber. others make me feel like i'm in the dark... cooking a large fancy meal. and we all know about my vast culinary skills. hardy har har, eh? how people get through college learning shit about shit is kind of a mystery to me. i'm just in it for the piece of paper, as they say.
frankly, the most profound thing i'm getting out of this experience is the ability to negotiate my way into being an exception to the rule whenever i possibly can. if my fast-talking skills weren't in tune before now, they're right up there with a politician at this point. the other thing i'm getting is an impending disdain for the written word. it seems comical to me that whenever i'm not in school i love to read, yet when faced with textbooks i begin to loathe all reading. people tell me just to skim, but i'm not sure i'm getting much from that. skim reading is kinda like skim milk. it'll work in a pinch, but i'm not really into dieting. i would rather taste what i've got.
my solution? i'll skim the textbooks and read the normal stuff. i'm known for my spectacular class attendance and devil's advocate participation, much to the chagrin of my instructors, so i absorb a lot through osmosis in the classroom. sparkling bullshit goes a long way towards getting the whole thing over with in the end, believe it or not. yes, my attitude regarding higher education currently is sardonic and gorgeous.
it's difficult sometimes to understand why people think i'd make a good teacher. but maybe it is exactly that - my mocking of the system makes me the perfect candidate for doling out some reality and pragmatism to the youth of society. somebody has to be a leader who isn't afraid to use a red pen. holy shit, i'm not really the wholesome role model type, am i? picture me wincing right now. just as i know you are, too. i'm terrible with rules. structure is great, and i need guidelines, but rules are... well, i'll get back to you on that one when i think of a better word than icky. all i know is, progress doesn't happen by simply following the rules.
current podcasts:
wait wait don't tell me
stuff you missed in history class
this i believe
today in the past
planet money
plato does not make sense to me.
dead white guys like that just piss me off.
honestly, when something makes no sense to me i have to try extra hard just to even grasp any part of it, much less be able to study about it with any proficiency. does it say something about me that machiavelli and rousseau were totally easy to comprehend? it was like a lightbulb moment reading about people like mills or weber. others make me feel like i'm in the dark... cooking a large fancy meal. and we all know about my vast culinary skills. hardy har har, eh? how people get through college learning shit about shit is kind of a mystery to me. i'm just in it for the piece of paper, as they say.
frankly, the most profound thing i'm getting out of this experience is the ability to negotiate my way into being an exception to the rule whenever i possibly can. if my fast-talking skills weren't in tune before now, they're right up there with a politician at this point. the other thing i'm getting is an impending disdain for the written word. it seems comical to me that whenever i'm not in school i love to read, yet when faced with textbooks i begin to loathe all reading. people tell me just to skim, but i'm not sure i'm getting much from that. skim reading is kinda like skim milk. it'll work in a pinch, but i'm not really into dieting. i would rather taste what i've got.
my solution? i'll skim the textbooks and read the normal stuff. i'm known for my spectacular class attendance and devil's advocate participation, much to the chagrin of my instructors, so i absorb a lot through osmosis in the classroom. sparkling bullshit goes a long way towards getting the whole thing over with in the end, believe it or not. yes, my attitude regarding higher education currently is sardonic and gorgeous.
it's difficult sometimes to understand why people think i'd make a good teacher. but maybe it is exactly that - my mocking of the system makes me the perfect candidate for doling out some reality and pragmatism to the youth of society. somebody has to be a leader who isn't afraid to use a red pen. holy shit, i'm not really the wholesome role model type, am i? picture me wincing right now. just as i know you are, too. i'm terrible with rules. structure is great, and i need guidelines, but rules are... well, i'll get back to you on that one when i think of a better word than icky. all i know is, progress doesn't happen by simply following the rules.
current podcasts:
wait wait don't tell me
stuff you missed in history class
this i believe
today in the past
planet money
01 December 2009
don't eat (too much) pie for breakfast
ugh. i shoulda gotten out a plate instead of just a spoon. and yet, every time i open the fridge i want another bite. mary and bev's key lime pie must have crack in it.
did i mention that i'm selling off my almost the entirety of my multimedia collection? that goes for books, cd's, dvd's, and whatever video games i can pry away from derek. not to be happy about the state of the economy, but it looks like a ton of people are opting for used goods over retail right now. this is excellent for me, as i still have a ton of things to sell off after going digital. what used to be several cases and shelves and other random fixtures in my house brimming with music and video and print has now dwindled down to two bookshelves and a media case. in the spirit of my newly organized self, i can happily say that the extra space (and all that extra moolah!) is really impressing me. now i have room for more shoes, right?
stuart copeland has parked himself on top of my arm once again. how does he expect me to type like this?
thankfully, my birthday falls during dead week at school. while i innocently pretend to prepare for finals, waiting until the usual weekend cram, i can concentrate on things more fun. things like getting all this cat hair off my sweater. or putting temporary tattoos on myself. perhaps relaxing and just reading anything except for a textbook. oh, wait... i'm "getting ready for finals" now, aren't i?
what we're doing right now:
looking for titanium sporks on the web
did i mention that i'm selling off my almost the entirety of my multimedia collection? that goes for books, cd's, dvd's, and whatever video games i can pry away from derek. not to be happy about the state of the economy, but it looks like a ton of people are opting for used goods over retail right now. this is excellent for me, as i still have a ton of things to sell off after going digital. what used to be several cases and shelves and other random fixtures in my house brimming with music and video and print has now dwindled down to two bookshelves and a media case. in the spirit of my newly organized self, i can happily say that the extra space (and all that extra moolah!) is really impressing me. now i have room for more shoes, right?
stuart copeland has parked himself on top of my arm once again. how does he expect me to type like this?
thankfully, my birthday falls during dead week at school. while i innocently pretend to prepare for finals, waiting until the usual weekend cram, i can concentrate on things more fun. things like getting all this cat hair off my sweater. or putting temporary tattoos on myself. perhaps relaxing and just reading anything except for a textbook. oh, wait... i'm "getting ready for finals" now, aren't i?
what we're doing right now:
looking for titanium sporks on the web
30 November 2009
happy burfday to meeeeee
so, i am total rock star!
last night we had my birthday party over at india palace. in addition to having mango ice cream and a scrotum cake for dessert (just go google gulab jamun. yes liz, i also have a thing about calling them nutsacs, balls, or testicles!) after consuming vast amounts of F-U-D, we had a sort of crafty evening. see, i never know what i want for my birthday anymore, but i do know that i love to have theme parties.
last year's party was my presidential theme. i was finally old enough to become president, so we had everyone dress in red, white, and blue while i named them all to my cabinet. i made my friends tell me all about their volunteer work. i made them donate to causes in their community or give to people in some small and direct way. i got letters about planned parenthood, animal shelters, political parties, and the like. friends gave away books to the library and took clothing to homeless shelters. people donated money to cool nonprofits that i like. it was pretty neat... and the sparkly cupcakes rhiannon made for me didn't hurt.
this year i decided the theme should be going postal. bonnie, don't hurt me! hehehe. it would seem that my postcard collection has grown into an over-bloated whale of paper. how guilty i felt that they all just sat there with nowhere to go! feeling shamed from postal neglect, i tried to think of ways to reach out and say hi to people. getting happy mail helps to shield people from all those bills.voila! a lightbulb hit me that i hadn't had a postal party since that time back in seattle with my peeps there, so i gathered all the posties and stickers and sharpies under my guard and toted them off to the indian joint. i got a group of about twenty friends together for dinner and mail. people were a bit shy and confused at first when i spread out all the doodads. then we got going and everyone got more excited about my plan.
"i do demand on my queen for a day celebration that you bring your address books! i've got gobs of all the other supplies for us to send out cool correspondence to people. no xmas stuff allowed. remember stamps? pens? real live addresses? well, what i want for my birthday this year is to grace people's mailboxes with fun mail, just because we can."
once i explained the email i had sent out, they got to it with gusto! i forced them to grab the epistolary schtuffies and told them to just say hi to people. i let them rip through my supplies like little kids. they squealed with joy at the lovely greetings they were sending out and watched the pile grow as the evening went along. everyone seemed almost grateful that they could bring some tiny surprise to post. see there? just because i'm bossy doesn't mean it can't be a good thing.
let me tell you this: we started off with a roll of postcard stamps. that's 100 stamps. i came home with about 30 stamps, and even had to bust into the other stash for some international mail. i literally had a whomping STACK of postcards to go out today! some people even took a few finished products home to scan in or add zip codes or whatever else before sending even more happy mail out into the world. wowee, if this is what it's like not asking for birthday presents, count me in.
speaking of which, i did get some super duper cool gifties, too! more stickers, an art journal, a tim burton bio, a weaving loom, a peacock feather hairpiece, new jewelry, and even a fresh homemade key lime pie! that's what i get for not being greedy. great loot comes to those who force real live human social interaction upon their friends. hey, i'm not ALL touchy-feely about the gifts for other people thing. i can stand to get some royal treatment here and there. what narcissistic crazy person could resist some fawning, right? scott even took me and julie out for sushi today. nummy num num. now that's what i call giving.
personal songs for many occasions:
theme song - georgy girl
really pissed off - across the universe
thinking hard and fast - downtown
sentimentally gloopy - smile
gleeful - spiderman theme song
frustrated with myself - never enough
crazy panic mode - a daisy chain 4 satan
pensive - moonlight sonata
feeling goofy - spice up your life
wistfully hopeful - where the streets have no name
longing - i know it's gonna happen someday
excited about stuff - message in a bottle
last night we had my birthday party over at india palace. in addition to having mango ice cream and a scrotum cake for dessert (just go google gulab jamun. yes liz, i also have a thing about calling them nutsacs, balls, or testicles!) after consuming vast amounts of F-U-D, we had a sort of crafty evening. see, i never know what i want for my birthday anymore, but i do know that i love to have theme parties.
last year's party was my presidential theme. i was finally old enough to become president, so we had everyone dress in red, white, and blue while i named them all to my cabinet. i made my friends tell me all about their volunteer work. i made them donate to causes in their community or give to people in some small and direct way. i got letters about planned parenthood, animal shelters, political parties, and the like. friends gave away books to the library and took clothing to homeless shelters. people donated money to cool nonprofits that i like. it was pretty neat... and the sparkly cupcakes rhiannon made for me didn't hurt.
this year i decided the theme should be going postal. bonnie, don't hurt me! hehehe. it would seem that my postcard collection has grown into an over-bloated whale of paper. how guilty i felt that they all just sat there with nowhere to go! feeling shamed from postal neglect, i tried to think of ways to reach out and say hi to people. getting happy mail helps to shield people from all those bills.voila! a lightbulb hit me that i hadn't had a postal party since that time back in seattle with my peeps there, so i gathered all the posties and stickers and sharpies under my guard and toted them off to the indian joint. i got a group of about twenty friends together for dinner and mail. people were a bit shy and confused at first when i spread out all the doodads. then we got going and everyone got more excited about my plan.
"i do demand on my queen for a day celebration that you bring your address books! i've got gobs of all the other supplies for us to send out cool correspondence to people. no xmas stuff allowed. remember stamps? pens? real live addresses? well, what i want for my birthday this year is to grace people's mailboxes with fun mail, just because we can."
once i explained the email i had sent out, they got to it with gusto! i forced them to grab the epistolary schtuffies and told them to just say hi to people. i let them rip through my supplies like little kids. they squealed with joy at the lovely greetings they were sending out and watched the pile grow as the evening went along. everyone seemed almost grateful that they could bring some tiny surprise to post. see there? just because i'm bossy doesn't mean it can't be a good thing.
let me tell you this: we started off with a roll of postcard stamps. that's 100 stamps. i came home with about 30 stamps, and even had to bust into the other stash for some international mail. i literally had a whomping STACK of postcards to go out today! some people even took a few finished products home to scan in or add zip codes or whatever else before sending even more happy mail out into the world. wowee, if this is what it's like not asking for birthday presents, count me in.
speaking of which, i did get some super duper cool gifties, too! more stickers, an art journal, a tim burton bio, a weaving loom, a peacock feather hairpiece, new jewelry, and even a fresh homemade key lime pie! that's what i get for not being greedy. great loot comes to those who force real live human social interaction upon their friends. hey, i'm not ALL touchy-feely about the gifts for other people thing. i can stand to get some royal treatment here and there. what narcissistic crazy person could resist some fawning, right? scott even took me and julie out for sushi today. nummy num num. now that's what i call giving.
personal songs for many occasions:
theme song - georgy girl
really pissed off - across the universe
thinking hard and fast - downtown
sentimentally gloopy - smile
gleeful - spiderman theme song
frustrated with myself - never enough
crazy panic mode - a daisy chain 4 satan
pensive - moonlight sonata
feeling goofy - spice up your life
wistfully hopeful - where the streets have no name
longing - i know it's gonna happen someday
excited about stuff - message in a bottle
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