quick update before bed

we are in chicago for amanda's cousin's wedding. the reception was in the same hotel as a dr. who convention!

in the elevator we overheard this conversation between a woman dressed as dr. who and a guy with a baby in a stroller. (no idea if the guy was part of the convention or not)

dr.: "hey, wouldn't it be great if her first word was 'tardis'?"

guy: "um, yeah, pretty great"

dr.: "no wait, even better, what if it was 'dematerialize'?"

guy: "well, she did almost say 'avocado' the other day"

yes!

“For 18 years, she was the 'voice of God' in the Cocteau Twins. Now Elizabeth Fraser finds it too difficult even to think about her old bandmates.”

An interesting interview … she's as inadvertently enigmatic as ever. And she has a new song out.

Spent the day making pasta with Juliet. Pounds upon pounds of lovely pasta.

The problem with trying to acclimate to a new time zone is that my body clock is already generally fucked up from being a night owl, and not working M-F. I am currently missing out on Vitalic spinning somewhere in this city, as I just don't have the energy to spend an hour or so taking nightbuses across town.

Everyone talks funny, and it's hard to suppress my giggling at how everyone sounds like a BBC show. Still, it's nice to be able to walk around without having to look out for human excrement on the ground.

This journal has been retired.

After sleeping for 16 hours, K. felt better this morning, so we went wine-tasting today (with K. as our designated driver). I found some nice syrahs at Hogue Winery, which isn't usually a grape I like, but these were quite tasty. Tomorrow, we head back to Seattle by way of Zillah, where K. hopes to take a photo of the town's Church of God. *shakes head*

I have no idea what I was thinking -- we're having friends over for a dinner party this Sunday night. Yay for Rick Bayless' pork with tomatillo sauce! Next week is going to be a whirlwind. Choir dress rehearsals on Monday and Tuesday nights, flying to LA on Wednesday morning for my mock interview (which is Wednesday afternoon), flying back Thursday afternoon, then concerts on Saturday and Sunday. All while I'm hormonal. This should be fun.

why is it that mixing turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy together is way awesome, but when someone else does it for you (a la kfc's "sadness bowl") it's disgusting?

If you are looking for the perfect gift to give, this is the real deal. http://ping.fm/BzXKL

Turned around just now from stirring the soup to find the cat on the counter rubbing herself against the cutting board, upon which I had chopped an onion, carrots, and celery. I kicked her off with a quickness, but I have to admit it's one of the funniest things I've ever seen, especially since she then continued to roll over and over on the carpet in vegetable juice-fueled ecstasy. My cat is nuts.

As is the weather, by the way, which is swinging back and forth between sunshine, heavy rain, and sleet. I think I will not be running outside today, and possibly not at all. One day off won't hurt.

Though yesterday was gorgeous--we had pre-dinner drinks outside in the sun--the temperature is finally starting to drop, and it's entirely possible that I may have to turn the heat on in the next few days. (No, I haven't had it on yet at all--I don't know if it's because the hallways of the building are overheated, or whether I get a bit of a boost from the afternoon sun in my west-facing windows, but my apartment temperature has been hovering between 76 and 78 for a while now; I've even had to turn the fan on when it's been in the fifties outside. I am so not complaining about my low electricity bill, though.)

Goals for today: finish my Crim and Civ Pro outlines, which are both close to complete, and make bean & barley soup and bread pudding. That'll leave tomorrow and Sunday to start working on Torts, which I've been avoiding, and perhaps finally attempt to fix the buzz in my classroom, if I can get in. Oh, and write a whole bunch of blog entries for various places. No pressure.

We're celebrating Thanksgiving with friends in Prosser and poor K. has come down with food poisoning or something. :-( He was up all night last night and sick all day today. I'm so hoping that he feels better tomorrow. Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful, but I can't enjoy myself knowing that K. is feeling so poorly.

Left dinner about two hours later than I had expected to, because we were all having a great time. Yay. (For the record, brought one bottle of wine and the orchid, which was all that was necessary, as I was the only person at the table drinking white.)

Happy thanksgiving, all. This year, I am thankful for new opportunities. And I am especially thankful for all of you, and all my friends, new and old.

Simon got a shot in the arm yesterday and LIMPED out of the Dr's office. I said shot in the *arm*...

Pro tip: I hid the messy parts of the house in my bedroom.

Coming back to my parents' place for holidays is like chasing the dragon. I always come back in the hopes of peace and rest... and that is never how it turns out. This time, my mother is accusing my father of an affair and my father is accusing my mother of insanity and they're both mad at me for defending the other (even though I know it's never good to get involved). Every day has been gray and rainy; it gets dark by 4p.m.

*

I had brunch with Nikoel and a gaggle of great girls at Lottie's (amazing spicy bloody mary!) in Columbia City and we saw "New Moon" (which was entertaining, but not as entertaining as the 14-year old girls sitting in front of us). I had a drink with a good friend from college. I saw my estranged cousins. I had an excellent meal with some old work friends at this place that was new to me called The Tin Table. It's housed on the second floor of the Oddfellow's building where the Velocity dance studio used to be. It was strange to be eating dinner in the old space where I'd seen performances. I had the short ribs with polenta and it was delicious. Last night, I saw a friend from high school.

*

And now they're arguing about past injustices from decades ago, a puzzle I have pieced together over my life. When it turns to God, I go to my room and shut the door. Even with age and wisdom, the words still have an effect on me. They take me back, regressing, literally to my high school bedroom where nothing has changed. It's a good place to be thankful: 1. The room is still here and so is everyone connected to it, 2. I can leave now.

What I neglected to mention is that we lost our cordless phones so he's using an orange princess phone from the 70s (it goes with our kitchen). He has to hand-dial each time. He's earning that money! Still have not gotten through to KCRW either.

Thanks everyone for the well-wishes! Sorry if I haven't had a chance to respond individually.

Question:
What's the best free service to use if I want to post/share video? I was going to just use YouTube, but thought Id check if there was another service that works well. It feels weird putting family video on YouTube.

I'm trying to get through to KCRW's music library to track our record. I am paying Simon $5 to dial the phone over and over and get the busy signal. LOL