I have that giddy holiday feeling. You know the one, all warm and fuzzy inside for no reason. I also have a bit of nerves. I absolutely love the holidays. Not only will I be going home on Saturday to spend the holidays with my family but Tony will be joining me on Christmas Eve. After 4.5 years of being a couple we will get to spend Christmas day together. This is pretty freaking exciting. Although, I think after finally getting incredibly comfortable with my family and the new people nerves having worn off, we just might scare him with our slightly nuts and painfully happy festivities. Oh well.
Last week I was talking to him about our trip home and I was saying how he would get to go to the Christmas Café (just our table) and get breakfast and he said, “I don’t’ want to have to go to any Christmas Café. I just want to hang around the house.” Once I explained that he would be hanging around the house and would get to be served breakfast with my parents by Sister and I he was more agreeable. Although, I swear he knew the Christmas Café existed. I think he doesn’t listen to me sometimes. I then pictured him flying in and being accosted with Harry Connick Jr. singing “This Christmas” (cause it’s hilarious) and Sister draping him with tree decorating stuffs. HEHEHEHE. I’ll get pictures.
Plus, Hanukkah starts while I will be home. This means that I will NOT forget to light candles this year. Last year I had every intention of lighting my menorah. I took it out of the drawer got it set up nice and pretty and went to get the candles...get the candles…where were the candles? I spent the next eight days reminding myself to go to the store and buy candles. I failed completely. After the holiday break I returned to work and told my Jewish colleague of my failed menorah attempts. Amusingly enough she had candles but no menorah. That gave us a good chuckle. Tony should also enjoy lighting the menorah. Although he was raised Catholic, he has a strong affinity for all things Jewish. I think he knows more Yiddish than I do.
At this point all the presents are ordered and the planning is done. Well, most of the planning. I am having thoughts about the traditional Christmas Pizza. We usually do two big pies with different toppings. I will have to check it out with Sister because Christmas cooking has kind of become our thing but I think that we should do more, smaller pies this year, thus maximizing our flavor variations. I have all kinds of wondrous pizza ideas milling around in my head. A Mexican pizza with beans and salsa as the base, a pesto pizza like we had last year mmmmm, a caramelized onion and apple pizza with brie, a normal pizza, a wild mushroom pizza with some kind of delicious sauce. Oh, Christmas Pizza, why must you be so far away?
I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season and all the wonderful things that come with it. Hooray!
Showing posts with label Pizza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pizza. Show all posts
Monday, December 15, 2008
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
ADVERTISEMENTS LIE
So I watched about 50% of the Vikings Bears game last night and although I haven’t seen sloppier football played for a while the end result was just fine with me. I always think it is mean when teams who have little or no chance at the playoffs beat teams who have something of a chance. I know they get paid to win no matter what but sometimes I think it is more sportsmanlike to make sure some fellow players get their dream. Actually throwing games may be the epitome of being unsportsmanlike so never mind.
While I was not watching the game I was watching the Extras finale. What a depressing show. It made me want to cry repeatedly while slapping the people who were making me cry. I guess that is something of an accomplishment.
Note to self: stop being taken in by commercials about pizza.
A while ago there was that Dominoes commercial about the garlicky crust pizza with the guys who had extra big sensory organs. They made the pizza look so incredibly delicious. I don’t do Dominoes pizza, it was been pounded into my head that they have some political leanings I don’t believe in (although who knows if that has changed since the mid 80s) and the pizza is relatively disgusting on top of it. Pizza Hut, on the other hand, is a guilty pleasure of mine. Man that stuffed crust is awesome. I do realize that I live in Chicago and if I want a delicious pizza there are far better options but sometimes I just want some of the Hut. Anyway, Pizza Hut had this new double deep pizza that looked pretty delicious in the commercials. I wanted to eat it. While it wasn’t disgusting, it certainly wasn’t as delicious as my typical Pizza Hut pizza. I swear that pizza commercials will not take me in anymore. I am always disappointed when I open the box. Actually, this happens with many food items I see on TV and think look delicious. They never look the same on my plate as on the TV. I take that back, there is one product, the ice cream I have seen on TV is just as delicious if not more so when I try it. I love ice cream.
Note to self: When you get up early to go to a breakfast at work, don’t eat breakfast before you go.
I don’t know what I was thinking. I mean I got up an hour early specifically to go to breakfast. However, as part of my typical morning routine I ate breakfast. What a dumbass. There was fruit at the breakfast though and I hadn’t eaten any fruit already so I had some but not as much as I would have if I hadn’t already eaten. Stupid stupid stupid.
1. Across the lines/ who would dare to go/ Under the bridge/ Over the tracks/ That separate Whites from Blacks. Across The Lines, Tracy Chapman. Identified by Mom.
2. Today was the day/ For dancing and for singing/ The birds in the trees/ And all the bells are ringing
3. Goodbye Cruel World/ I’m leaving you today/ Goodbye Goodbye Goodbye. Goodbye Cruel World, Pink Floyd. Identified by Auld Hat
4. My head’s been lying dormant like a sleepy little mouse/ What I have inside me it’s enough to fill a house
5. Repair the hull/ Replace the sail/ The monkey wrestles with the ghost
While I was not watching the game I was watching the Extras finale. What a depressing show. It made me want to cry repeatedly while slapping the people who were making me cry. I guess that is something of an accomplishment.
Note to self: stop being taken in by commercials about pizza.
A while ago there was that Dominoes commercial about the garlicky crust pizza with the guys who had extra big sensory organs. They made the pizza look so incredibly delicious. I don’t do Dominoes pizza, it was been pounded into my head that they have some political leanings I don’t believe in (although who knows if that has changed since the mid 80s) and the pizza is relatively disgusting on top of it. Pizza Hut, on the other hand, is a guilty pleasure of mine. Man that stuffed crust is awesome. I do realize that I live in Chicago and if I want a delicious pizza there are far better options but sometimes I just want some of the Hut. Anyway, Pizza Hut had this new double deep pizza that looked pretty delicious in the commercials. I wanted to eat it. While it wasn’t disgusting, it certainly wasn’t as delicious as my typical Pizza Hut pizza. I swear that pizza commercials will not take me in anymore. I am always disappointed when I open the box. Actually, this happens with many food items I see on TV and think look delicious. They never look the same on my plate as on the TV. I take that back, there is one product, the ice cream I have seen on TV is just as delicious if not more so when I try it. I love ice cream.
Note to self: When you get up early to go to a breakfast at work, don’t eat breakfast before you go.
I don’t know what I was thinking. I mean I got up an hour early specifically to go to breakfast. However, as part of my typical morning routine I ate breakfast. What a dumbass. There was fruit at the breakfast though and I hadn’t eaten any fruit already so I had some but not as much as I would have if I hadn’t already eaten. Stupid stupid stupid.
1. Across the lines/ who would dare to go/ Under the bridge/ Over the tracks/ That separate Whites from Blacks. Across The Lines, Tracy Chapman. Identified by Mom.
2. Today was the day/ For dancing and for singing/ The birds in the trees/ And all the bells are ringing
3. Goodbye Cruel World/ I’m leaving you today/ Goodbye Goodbye Goodbye. Goodbye Cruel World, Pink Floyd. Identified by Auld Hat
4. My head’s been lying dormant like a sleepy little mouse/ What I have inside me it’s enough to fill a house
5. Repair the hull/ Replace the sail/ The monkey wrestles with the ghost
Monday, November 05, 2007
THE EDGE
I’m on the edge of something big. I want so much to write about it but I just can’t quite yet. There is nothing else that I want to write about so it has made posting a little hard. My office smells like Sbarro pizza, which I am not a huge fan of but right this second it sounds amazingly delicious. I have some pasta in the fridge though so I will not be eating pizza. My pasta is delicious. There is little better than a mixture of pesto and mushrooms. MMMMM food. That’s all I can say for now. I truly hope that I will be able to go over the edge, in a good way, in the next few days.
1. Lonesome cowboy bill/ Rides the rodeo/ Lonesome cowboy Bill/ You got to see him yodel-eh-he-hoo. Lonesome Cowboy Bill, Identified by Monica.
2. You never give me your money/ You only give me your funny paper/ and in the middle of negotiations/ you break down. You Never Give Me Your Money. The Beatles. Identified by Brooke.
3. I know/ I can’t find you/ I go/ sit beside you
4. We love to boogie/ we love to boogie/ Jitterbug boogie/ High school boogie/ we love to boogie/ On a Saturday night
5. I never meant to give you mushrooms girl/ I never meant to bring you to my world/ But now you’re sitting in the corner crying/ And now it’s my fault/ My fault. My Fault, Eminem. Identified by Brooke.
1. Lonesome cowboy bill/ Rides the rodeo/ Lonesome cowboy Bill/ You got to see him yodel-eh-he-hoo. Lonesome Cowboy Bill, Identified by Monica.
2. You never give me your money/ You only give me your funny paper/ and in the middle of negotiations/ you break down. You Never Give Me Your Money. The Beatles. Identified by Brooke.
3. I know/ I can’t find you/ I go/ sit beside you
4. We love to boogie/ we love to boogie/ Jitterbug boogie/ High school boogie/ we love to boogie/ On a Saturday night
5. I never meant to give you mushrooms girl/ I never meant to bring you to my world/ But now you’re sitting in the corner crying/ And now it’s my fault/ My fault. My Fault, Eminem. Identified by Brooke.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
THE MAGIC OF BEING PREPARED AND THE WONDERS OF MONOPOLY
To celebrate Lakeiya’s going to law school Monica, Q (who may want to remain nameless in blogworld) and I had a good old fashioned sleep over complete with horror movies. It really was the way to go. I haven’t had a proper sleepover in ages. As an adult, sleeping over is usually referred to as “crashing”. Crashing happens when you are either too drunk or too tired or too far to safely make it home. In most cases crashing involves a couch.
Not so with the sleepover. When sleeping over you go prepared. You have pillows, sheets, toothbrushes, and even pajamas. The foresight that goes along with a planned sleepover makes it much more comfortable than the unexpected crash. Monica is awesome enough to have a humongous air mattress that Lakeiya and I were easily able to sleep on. Q could have fit too but she was too close, sober, and awake to sleepover. That is perfectly acceptable, we are grown-ups after all. The air mattress also served as a great place for the four of us to huddle together, try and creep each other out with odd caresses, and watch scary movies. We even ordered pizzas! What good times.
The foresight also allowed me to spend the next day at Monica’s house without feeling like there was death in my mouth. I love brushing. If it wasn’t for the toothbrush I wouldn’t have been able to play endless games of Monopoly and wouldn’t have been able to stay long enough for Morgan to come by and enjoy said Monopoly with us and then, eventually drive me home. Without the toothbrush, my trip home would have been long, dirty, and hot. What wonders a clean mouth can do.
Monica had a brand new Monopoly board. I typically don’t enjoy brand new Monopoly unless it is of some fun variety such as Star Wars, Simpsons, or Looney Tunes. I recall there is a Muppet Monopoly out there somewhere. I wouldn’t object to having it. This new Monopoly of Monica’s, however, had something rather exciting in it, thus making the game exciting despite the money being stuck together. It was a special blue “speed die”. I play Monopoly in a rather speedy fashion as it is so the speed die didn’t immediately intrigue me. Monica and I played a good old regular game and, when Lakeiya showed up, we decided to put the speed die into use.
After your first trip around the board you can use the speed die. You roll it along with the two regular dice and fun ensues. The speed die has the numbers 1-3, a bus, and two “Mr. Monopolies adorning its six sides. If you roll a number you add it to the value of the other two dice making a larger roll. If you roll the bus you can take the singular value of either of the normal dice or their combined total. Then you get to Mr. Monopoly, more affectionately known as “The Man”. The Man can be your friend, or he can be your worst enemy. If you roll The Man, you take your turn based on the roll of the white dice and then move to the next unowned property, which you can buy or not. If you are playing with the actual rules the property then gets auctioned off to the highest bidder but who plays that way? Once all the properties are owned, The Man becomes evil. You now must move to the next property on which you will owe someone money. So if you landed on a hotel on Park Place and had The Man show up you would then have to go to Boardwalk and pay on the hotel that would also be sitting there. Oh, the ins and outs of The Man.
It was nice to be in a place where I could play at least ten games of Monopoly in a two day time span. Playing games is probably the thing I most miss about living with Monica, that one is good for games. I don’t think Monica, Brooke, and I have ever played a game of Monopoly together. That has to happen sometime soon. No one loves that game as much as the three of us do. Ladies, let’s make a date.
The unguessed songs from last week are as follows:
1. What if the show didn’t go on/ What if we all got jobs and got to bed before dawn/ What if Old Joe had to retire/ What if all the stagehands were let go or fired. Promises of Eternity, Magnetic Fields.
2. You’ve taken the fun/ Out of everything/ Making me run/ When I don’t want to think. I think this is called No Other Way and it is certainly by Blur
3. Every night/ Out for love/ Get my strength from the man above/ God of pistol/ God of steel/ God is here behind my wheel. Working For The Man, PJ Harvey
4. I said oh/ I got this feeling and it's deep in my body/ it gives me wiggles and it makes my rump shake/ I said oh. Speaking in Tongues, Eagles of Death Metal
5. I can’t believe that I’m writing this down and/ I can’t believe I’ve got you in a song/ I don’t want to be a whining girl/ Rather not be in your world. I Don’t Want to See You, Camera Obscura.
Not so with the sleepover. When sleeping over you go prepared. You have pillows, sheets, toothbrushes, and even pajamas. The foresight that goes along with a planned sleepover makes it much more comfortable than the unexpected crash. Monica is awesome enough to have a humongous air mattress that Lakeiya and I were easily able to sleep on. Q could have fit too but she was too close, sober, and awake to sleepover. That is perfectly acceptable, we are grown-ups after all. The air mattress also served as a great place for the four of us to huddle together, try and creep each other out with odd caresses, and watch scary movies. We even ordered pizzas! What good times.
The foresight also allowed me to spend the next day at Monica’s house without feeling like there was death in my mouth. I love brushing. If it wasn’t for the toothbrush I wouldn’t have been able to play endless games of Monopoly and wouldn’t have been able to stay long enough for Morgan to come by and enjoy said Monopoly with us and then, eventually drive me home. Without the toothbrush, my trip home would have been long, dirty, and hot. What wonders a clean mouth can do.
Monica had a brand new Monopoly board. I typically don’t enjoy brand new Monopoly unless it is of some fun variety such as Star Wars, Simpsons, or Looney Tunes. I recall there is a Muppet Monopoly out there somewhere. I wouldn’t object to having it. This new Monopoly of Monica’s, however, had something rather exciting in it, thus making the game exciting despite the money being stuck together. It was a special blue “speed die”. I play Monopoly in a rather speedy fashion as it is so the speed die didn’t immediately intrigue me. Monica and I played a good old regular game and, when Lakeiya showed up, we decided to put the speed die into use.
After your first trip around the board you can use the speed die. You roll it along with the two regular dice and fun ensues. The speed die has the numbers 1-3, a bus, and two “Mr. Monopolies adorning its six sides. If you roll a number you add it to the value of the other two dice making a larger roll. If you roll the bus you can take the singular value of either of the normal dice or their combined total. Then you get to Mr. Monopoly, more affectionately known as “The Man”. The Man can be your friend, or he can be your worst enemy. If you roll The Man, you take your turn based on the roll of the white dice and then move to the next unowned property, which you can buy or not. If you are playing with the actual rules the property then gets auctioned off to the highest bidder but who plays that way? Once all the properties are owned, The Man becomes evil. You now must move to the next property on which you will owe someone money. So if you landed on a hotel on Park Place and had The Man show up you would then have to go to Boardwalk and pay on the hotel that would also be sitting there. Oh, the ins and outs of The Man.
It was nice to be in a place where I could play at least ten games of Monopoly in a two day time span. Playing games is probably the thing I most miss about living with Monica, that one is good for games. I don’t think Monica, Brooke, and I have ever played a game of Monopoly together. That has to happen sometime soon. No one loves that game as much as the three of us do. Ladies, let’s make a date.
The unguessed songs from last week are as follows:
1. What if the show didn’t go on/ What if we all got jobs and got to bed before dawn/ What if Old Joe had to retire/ What if all the stagehands were let go or fired. Promises of Eternity, Magnetic Fields.
2. You’ve taken the fun/ Out of everything/ Making me run/ When I don’t want to think. I think this is called No Other Way and it is certainly by Blur
3. Every night/ Out for love/ Get my strength from the man above/ God of pistol/ God of steel/ God is here behind my wheel. Working For The Man, PJ Harvey
4. I said oh/ I got this feeling and it's deep in my body/ it gives me wiggles and it makes my rump shake/ I said oh. Speaking in Tongues, Eagles of Death Metal
5. I can’t believe that I’m writing this down and/ I can’t believe I’ve got you in a song/ I don’t want to be a whining girl/ Rather not be in your world. I Don’t Want to See You, Camera Obscura.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
AN ABNORMAL LOVE OF CHEESE
I am starving. I want to eat anything and everything. I don’t know the last time I have been this hungry at 11:06am, unless suffering from extreme drunk-all-night-and-need-cheesy-potatoes- stat sickness. Speaking of, why do I love a cheesy potato so much? Not to mention, why am I starving at 11:06am. Maybe it is because I stayed up crazy late last night finishing "Stranger In a Strange Land" with Tony (I think it was the first time I didn't cry although I was plenty choked up) and haven’t eaten anything in a long time. I missed breakfast for some stupid reason.
I have been craving ice cream. Surprisingly, it is free cone day at Ben and Jerry’s. I am thinking of the fact that the nearest Ben and Jerry’s as at 500W and I am at 50E. While not incredibly far, it is far enough that I don’t know if it is worth a free scoop. If you happen to be closer to a Ben and Jerry’s than I am please grab some Americone Dream (or other suitably delicious flavor) for me. Then again, I really am itching to try Willie Nelson’s Peach Cobbler now that I have had a taste of Stephen.
What am I going to eat? I want something delicious, with cheese. When don’t I want something with cheese? Never. If I didn’t like cheese I think I would instantly reduce my size by half. This is a lie but it effectively illustrates the amount that I like cheese. The question is what kind of cheese do I want? Do I want a melted cheese? A solid cheese? A slightly melty but still firm cheese? Do I want a mild cheese or a sharp cheese? Do I want the cheese to dominate my meal or should it be a mere accent? I just don’t know. I do know that I am starving.
My tummy is so hungry. I just realized that the Volunteer Services Director isn’t here today because the receptionist called and asked me if I was handling volunteers. I am always her back-up. However, she is very specific about calling me to make sure I am available if she is going to be out. She calls me on sick days; she even comes in on days off to handle certain things. I am really surprised that she didn’t call and it is an Interview Day for the clients, which means we have more volunteers than usual. I hope she is ok. I just realize that I have five volunteers scheduled to show at 12:30. This means that I have a lot to get ready in the next hour. I have to set up rooms for them, greet them, and make sure they have pens. I can’t go to lunch now! There is no way.
One of my favorite things about my job is that, except for the days that I teach, I can set my schedule. I can take lunch at 10am or at 4pm. It doesn’t make any difference. As long as I get done what needs to be done I am fine. The lack of that freedom is the biggest thing that I hated about working the Volunteer Director position when they were in-between directors. Not only did I have to be all nice to the volunteers all the time, not that I don't like them I just can be cranky, I had to make sure lunch didn’t happen between 11:15 and 1:30. I know, lunchtime. However, since the volunteers come in on their lunch hours it follows. Typically, that is no problem. A 1:30 lunch is generally right on the money for me. Not today. Today I want to go get something cheesy and delicious right this second. My tummy is rumbling and my head may very well start to ache. This is no good.
I think I have decided to go to Caffe Baci. Why there are two “F’s in the name is a mystery to me. I just wanted you to know I know how to spell café. I am torn between a pesto pizza, ravioli salad, a Caprese sandwich with veggie chili, and numerous other cheesy dishes. Unfortunately it is not Thursday because on Thursday they have some fantastic looking goat cheese pasta that I really want to eat right now. I think this post is getting pretty long and it is all about how much I want to eat cheese. This is totally embarrassing. I should probably stop. The unfortunate thing is that writing about cheese is the only thing keeping me content that I am not eating cheese. The volunteers will be here in ten minutes. Remember at the beginning of this post when I was starving and it was 11:06? It’s now 12:20. I wonder if the Vegetarian Chili comes with cheddar cheese. I really need cheese with my chili. I am sick and have a problem.
If anyone is still reading this post I am sorry. I know that I occasionally come up with interesting things to say and maybe you were reading on in hopes that that time would come. Unfortunately, in this post, it will not. It is now 1:38pm. The interviews are done and technically I could go to lunch. However, Tony is coming downtown and I would love to eat with him. Not to mention that I waited so long to eat that I‘m not even all that hungry anymore. Bugger.
1. Let me tell ya’ll what it’s like/ Being male middle class and white/ It’s a bitch if you don’t believe/ Listen up to my new Cd/ Shamon
2. She set your goldfish free/ And now she's sighing/ Blew out your pilot light/ And made a wish
3. Last night it was so good/ I felt like crying/ I felt crying/ Last night though you looked so cold/ I felt like smiling/ smiling while I'm dying
4. She was hungry so hungry/ she was trying to think clear/ she kept opening the fridge door/ Looking at the mustard and the beer. Slide, Ani DiFranco. Identified by Brooke.
5. People talking but they just don’t know/ what’s in my heart and why I love you so/ I love you baby like a miner loves gold/ Come on suger let the good times roll. Come On (Let The Good Times Roll), Jimi Hendrix. Identified by Mom.
I have been craving ice cream. Surprisingly, it is free cone day at Ben and Jerry’s. I am thinking of the fact that the nearest Ben and Jerry’s as at 500W and I am at 50E. While not incredibly far, it is far enough that I don’t know if it is worth a free scoop. If you happen to be closer to a Ben and Jerry’s than I am please grab some Americone Dream (or other suitably delicious flavor) for me. Then again, I really am itching to try Willie Nelson’s Peach Cobbler now that I have had a taste of Stephen.
What am I going to eat? I want something delicious, with cheese. When don’t I want something with cheese? Never. If I didn’t like cheese I think I would instantly reduce my size by half. This is a lie but it effectively illustrates the amount that I like cheese. The question is what kind of cheese do I want? Do I want a melted cheese? A solid cheese? A slightly melty but still firm cheese? Do I want a mild cheese or a sharp cheese? Do I want the cheese to dominate my meal or should it be a mere accent? I just don’t know. I do know that I am starving.
My tummy is so hungry. I just realized that the Volunteer Services Director isn’t here today because the receptionist called and asked me if I was handling volunteers. I am always her back-up. However, she is very specific about calling me to make sure I am available if she is going to be out. She calls me on sick days; she even comes in on days off to handle certain things. I am really surprised that she didn’t call and it is an Interview Day for the clients, which means we have more volunteers than usual. I hope she is ok. I just realize that I have five volunteers scheduled to show at 12:30. This means that I have a lot to get ready in the next hour. I have to set up rooms for them, greet them, and make sure they have pens. I can’t go to lunch now! There is no way.
One of my favorite things about my job is that, except for the days that I teach, I can set my schedule. I can take lunch at 10am or at 4pm. It doesn’t make any difference. As long as I get done what needs to be done I am fine. The lack of that freedom is the biggest thing that I hated about working the Volunteer Director position when they were in-between directors. Not only did I have to be all nice to the volunteers all the time, not that I don't like them I just can be cranky, I had to make sure lunch didn’t happen between 11:15 and 1:30. I know, lunchtime. However, since the volunteers come in on their lunch hours it follows. Typically, that is no problem. A 1:30 lunch is generally right on the money for me. Not today. Today I want to go get something cheesy and delicious right this second. My tummy is rumbling and my head may very well start to ache. This is no good.
I think I have decided to go to Caffe Baci. Why there are two “F’s in the name is a mystery to me. I just wanted you to know I know how to spell café. I am torn between a pesto pizza, ravioli salad, a Caprese sandwich with veggie chili, and numerous other cheesy dishes. Unfortunately it is not Thursday because on Thursday they have some fantastic looking goat cheese pasta that I really want to eat right now. I think this post is getting pretty long and it is all about how much I want to eat cheese. This is totally embarrassing. I should probably stop. The unfortunate thing is that writing about cheese is the only thing keeping me content that I am not eating cheese. The volunteers will be here in ten minutes. Remember at the beginning of this post when I was starving and it was 11:06? It’s now 12:20. I wonder if the Vegetarian Chili comes with cheddar cheese. I really need cheese with my chili. I am sick and have a problem.
If anyone is still reading this post I am sorry. I know that I occasionally come up with interesting things to say and maybe you were reading on in hopes that that time would come. Unfortunately, in this post, it will not. It is now 1:38pm. The interviews are done and technically I could go to lunch. However, Tony is coming downtown and I would love to eat with him. Not to mention that I waited so long to eat that I‘m not even all that hungry anymore. Bugger.
1. Let me tell ya’ll what it’s like/ Being male middle class and white/ It’s a bitch if you don’t believe/ Listen up to my new Cd/ Shamon
2. She set your goldfish free/ And now she's sighing/ Blew out your pilot light/ And made a wish
3. Last night it was so good/ I felt like crying/ I felt crying/ Last night though you looked so cold/ I felt like smiling/ smiling while I'm dying
4. She was hungry so hungry/ she was trying to think clear/ she kept opening the fridge door/ Looking at the mustard and the beer. Slide, Ani DiFranco. Identified by Brooke.
5. People talking but they just don’t know/ what’s in my heart and why I love you so/ I love you baby like a miner loves gold/ Come on suger let the good times roll. Come On (Let The Good Times Roll), Jimi Hendrix. Identified by Mom.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
TIME KEEPS ON CIRCLING CIRCLING CIRCLING
Today feels like it should be Friday. Actually, yesterday felt like it should be Friday. Neither day was, or is, Friday. Have you ever noticed that the broker you are the longer the week seems? I have been sitting there trying to stretch a few bucks this past week and it has made everything slow slow slow. I made it through. There is enough food and the bills are all paid. It’s still just something about being broke that slows down time for me. Like payday can’t ever come fast enough. The whole watched pot never boils rule.
Money may be one thing that scares me with going back to school. While I by no means make a lot of money at my job I make enough to get everything I need to get done taken care of and still have a little left over for some fun now and again. However, I don’t have room to make much less. If I go back to school I’ll have to figure out how to keep everything together. I know there are loans and all that. I don’t have a problem borrowing money for school. It just makes me hesitate.
Back to the whole time thing, I hate it. Time is the one thing in life that we can’t escape and it rules everyone and everything. I don’t care what it is that you do, some type of time constraint or guidelines are there. I understand that time is one of the first things people started to pay attention to. It’s obvious from the movement of the sun that time is an excellent way of measuring things on this planet. It’s part of what makes the planet what it is. Therefore, it governs every inhabitant of the planet in some way. Plants, animals, we are all intrinsically linked to the passage of time and the cycle of the earth.
Given that, how is it that time infuriates me so much? I know it is necessary and I know it is important. I think I would just like it to be a little looser. It shouldn’t matter if I show up somewhere at nine or ten. It shouldn’t matter when things happen as long as they happen. Luckily I now work at a place where that philosophy pretty much rings true. At least when it comes to the jobs I have had here. I don’t have to teach class every day, I just have to maintain my contract and teach when I need to, run a few reports here and there, and be generally helpful. I can do it at my own pace. This is yet another reason why I fear leaving my current job.
I guess my point is that time sucks and I wish I had a way to alter its passage.
Now for a MEME from Janna
LIST FOUR SENTENCES YOU'VE NEVER SAID BEFORE:
1) When you really think about it, George Bush was right.
2) I can’t wait to get home and put on some nice comfortable pants
3) I don’t think I can walk in those
4) Wouldn’t that be better without cheese?
LIST ANY NUMBER OF SONG TITLES THAT DESCRIBE HOW YOU'VE FELT THIS WEEK:
1) 4 Better or 4 Worse (Pharcyde)
2) A Chicken With It’s Head Cut Off (Magnetic Fields)
3) Ball of Confusion (The Temptations)
4) Everybody Wants to Rule The World (Tears for Fears)
5) Strange Days (The Doors)
IMAGINE YOU'RE HAVING THE IDEAL PERFECT DAY. WHAT FOUR THINGS WOULD YOU BE DOING?
1) Having some pizza with all types of mushrooms on it, gorgonzola, and caramelized onions
2) Laying on the beach with close friends looking up at clouds, a rainbow, and huge birds.
3) Running away from something harmless that suddenly became very scary.
4) Laughing, smiling, and contemplating life on many levels knowing I have nothin to do the next day.
MAKE UP FIVE CREATIVE NAMES FOR A NEW ROCK BAND:
1) All Purpose Lotion
2) Bowl of Purple Jell-O
3) User Error
4) The Oozing Glue Sticks
5) Baked Brie
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU GET TO GO BACK IN TIME AND ENSURE THAT THREE SONGS WERE NEVER WRITTEN, THUS SPARING HUMANITY FROM EVER HAVING TO HEAR THEM. WHAT THREE SONGS WOULD GET THE AXE?
1) Revolution 9 (The Beatles)
2) Born in the USA (Bruce Springsteen)
3) Murder Murder (Juelz Santana)
I don’t feel like calling anyone out so I’ll let those who want to do this do it and those who don’t to not.
Now for some songs I am glad were written, hopefully-
Arrivederci Roma, The Three Suns- This is a wonderful song that partially has transported me to that wonderful day I mentioned above. It wasn’t that hard considering I am sweltering right now.
The Incumbent, Soul Coughing- This song kind of creeps me out. Let’s stay with that perfect day but this song will help us flee.
Waiting For The Night, Depeche Mode- Can anything be better than Depeche Mode? While it certainly can, why would it bother?
Money may be one thing that scares me with going back to school. While I by no means make a lot of money at my job I make enough to get everything I need to get done taken care of and still have a little left over for some fun now and again. However, I don’t have room to make much less. If I go back to school I’ll have to figure out how to keep everything together. I know there are loans and all that. I don’t have a problem borrowing money for school. It just makes me hesitate.
Back to the whole time thing, I hate it. Time is the one thing in life that we can’t escape and it rules everyone and everything. I don’t care what it is that you do, some type of time constraint or guidelines are there. I understand that time is one of the first things people started to pay attention to. It’s obvious from the movement of the sun that time is an excellent way of measuring things on this planet. It’s part of what makes the planet what it is. Therefore, it governs every inhabitant of the planet in some way. Plants, animals, we are all intrinsically linked to the passage of time and the cycle of the earth.
Given that, how is it that time infuriates me so much? I know it is necessary and I know it is important. I think I would just like it to be a little looser. It shouldn’t matter if I show up somewhere at nine or ten. It shouldn’t matter when things happen as long as they happen. Luckily I now work at a place where that philosophy pretty much rings true. At least when it comes to the jobs I have had here. I don’t have to teach class every day, I just have to maintain my contract and teach when I need to, run a few reports here and there, and be generally helpful. I can do it at my own pace. This is yet another reason why I fear leaving my current job.
I guess my point is that time sucks and I wish I had a way to alter its passage.
Now for a MEME from Janna
LIST FOUR SENTENCES YOU'VE NEVER SAID BEFORE:
1) When you really think about it, George Bush was right.
2) I can’t wait to get home and put on some nice comfortable pants
3) I don’t think I can walk in those
4) Wouldn’t that be better without cheese?
LIST ANY NUMBER OF SONG TITLES THAT DESCRIBE HOW YOU'VE FELT THIS WEEK:
1) 4 Better or 4 Worse (Pharcyde)
2) A Chicken With It’s Head Cut Off (Magnetic Fields)
3) Ball of Confusion (The Temptations)
4) Everybody Wants to Rule The World (Tears for Fears)
5) Strange Days (The Doors)
IMAGINE YOU'RE HAVING THE IDEAL PERFECT DAY. WHAT FOUR THINGS WOULD YOU BE DOING?
1) Having some pizza with all types of mushrooms on it, gorgonzola, and caramelized onions
2) Laying on the beach with close friends looking up at clouds, a rainbow, and huge birds.
3) Running away from something harmless that suddenly became very scary.
4) Laughing, smiling, and contemplating life on many levels knowing I have nothin to do the next day.
MAKE UP FIVE CREATIVE NAMES FOR A NEW ROCK BAND:
1) All Purpose Lotion
2) Bowl of Purple Jell-O
3) User Error
4) The Oozing Glue Sticks
5) Baked Brie
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU GET TO GO BACK IN TIME AND ENSURE THAT THREE SONGS WERE NEVER WRITTEN, THUS SPARING HUMANITY FROM EVER HAVING TO HEAR THEM. WHAT THREE SONGS WOULD GET THE AXE?
1) Revolution 9 (The Beatles)
2) Born in the USA (Bruce Springsteen)
3) Murder Murder (Juelz Santana)
I don’t feel like calling anyone out so I’ll let those who want to do this do it and those who don’t to not.
Now for some songs I am glad were written, hopefully-
Arrivederci Roma, The Three Suns- This is a wonderful song that partially has transported me to that wonderful day I mentioned above. It wasn’t that hard considering I am sweltering right now.
The Incumbent, Soul Coughing- This song kind of creeps me out. Let’s stay with that perfect day but this song will help us flee.
Waiting For The Night, Depeche Mode- Can anything be better than Depeche Mode? While it certainly can, why would it bother?
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
BAD DREAMS ARE BLOWING MY MIND
I am guessing there must be some truth in the advice that one should not eat spicy food late at night. It really did me wrong. Tony was going to get home from work late and there was no food in the house and I didn’t want to go shopping by myself so we ordered Indian. I asked for mine to be made hot, so did Tony. The food was delicious but nowhere near as good as Hema’s, that place is divine. Why don’t they deliver? Anyway, after eating we watched a little TV and finished Watership Down (finally) and I settled down to sleep. I should never have done it.
Dream #1
It started out fine. I was at a new apartment that looked suspiciously like Belmont apartment with my new roommates and we were having a good time. They told me that I would have the whole upstairs area to myself and that I should go check it out. I was very excited because I am an addict for living spaces and couldn’t wait to see what was in store for me. It was beautiful. There were curved mosaiced fireplaces in corners, a poured concrete floor, high ceilings, huge windows, and a large mosaiced fountain in the middle of the room. I was sitting on the edge of the fountain trailing my fingers in the water when I was grabbed from behind. I twisted free only to see a man with a knife behind me. I started to run but he seemed to know the floorplan much better than I did. I was screaming and running and he was getting closer and closer to me every second. He grabbed me and was just about to thrust the knife into my neck when my roommates burst through the door.
I sat straight up in bed, breathing heavily. I was terrified. I looked around and saw that Tony was up and looking at me as if something was very very wrong. Apparently I had been thrashing about in bed for about ten minutes or so. I said I had a bad dream and he patted my hair and told me it would be ok. It was five am. Somehow, I was able to get back to sleep and reset my alarm for the latest it can be set for in order for me to still make it to work on time.
Dream #2
This one was bad from the start. I became aware of the storyline by realizing that I had something and someone wanted it. They wanted it bad. They were trying to get my friends and I because we had some kind of secret information. We tried to get away by bus, they blew up the bus. We tried to get away by splitting up, they split up too. We ran into my apartment to gather supplies to flee the country, they were too close behind and started shooting up the house, with heavy artillery. They had grenades, rocket launchers, automatic weapons, all kinds of horrible tings. We needed to arm ourselves. There was nothing in the house to arm ourselves with. If this were to happen in real life I would be in the same no-weapons state. We went for kitchen knives, dodging gunfire all the way. Someone was hit. I slid along the floor to try and get close enough to a widow to do something (what are you going to do at a window with a knife?) when an attacker jumped through the window and landed on top of me. We were struggling and I somehow was able to get my kitchen knife and drive it into his heart. I could hear the knife tearing through sinew and flesh. I had to push really really hard to get it to enter the body. The dead man fell on top of me and I looked for a way to get him off to see if everyone else was ok.
The alarm went off. I was exhausted. There was no possible way that I could get up and function properly. I put another ten minutes on the clock and went back to sleep. I didn’t know if it would be restful sleep or awful scary sleep, but I knew I needed to give it a try. Luckily, when I woke up, I was reasonably ok. I rushed through my morning routine and managed to make it to work on time. However, I still haven’t gotten over what happened last night.
Blaming it on the food seems too easy. I mean it’s one of those things I have heard but it seems like an old wives tale. Dreams like that tell me something is seriously wrong. In both cases I was being chased/attacked by a man. I don’t have anything strange going on with any men in my life so maybe that wasn’t meaningful? Maybe the weapons were the issue, the issue that I was left unarmed for most of the dreams and had to resort to everyday items that were just lying around to save my life. Maybe something is telling me to use the resources I have to make a change. I feel far too content to be in that serious of a need for a change though. I really wonder what is going on in that mind of mine. I know there are many people who don’t give dreams much credit. I don’t believe that they mean I am going to be attacked by someone or anything that literal; I just think they tend to show us something about what we need to change or do in life. At least a very graphic dream like that. Maybe the fact that I was attacked with a knife in the first dream and killed with one in the second was important? Who knows? any dream experts out there?
On a side note, I always dream in color. I hear many people don’t. That seems limiting to me. I guess it isn’t something you have control over though. However, I do think you can have control over actions you take or decisions you make in your dreams. I like having the power to change the storyline and make a difference in what I am going to experience. I’m starting to get really sleepy. I need a nap.
1. The Arrivals Gate, Ani Difranco- This song really depresses me. It reminds me of the fac that these days we can’t go to the arrivals gate and just sit and watch people reunite with their friends and loved ones. We can’t even go to the arrivals gate to meet our friends and loved ones. I rarely think about this fact because people can still meet you at baggage claim and that is almost as good, but not really.
2. Giulietta, Smoke City- This is a band that my sister introduced me to and I really liked a lot. That is a little unusual because, while my sister doesn’t have bad taste in music, we don’t have the same taste. Usually I make her listen to things.
3. Manhattan Serenade, Tom Dorsey- This is funny because the album this is from is called Mob Hits II. I have this song essentially by accident. However, the other day Tony and I went out for pizza at Pizano’s (the downtown one) and in their jukebox there was a record labeled Mob Hits and we made a lot of jokes about it. Little did I know that I had a song from Mob Hits II.
Dream #1
It started out fine. I was at a new apartment that looked suspiciously like Belmont apartment with my new roommates and we were having a good time. They told me that I would have the whole upstairs area to myself and that I should go check it out. I was very excited because I am an addict for living spaces and couldn’t wait to see what was in store for me. It was beautiful. There were curved mosaiced fireplaces in corners, a poured concrete floor, high ceilings, huge windows, and a large mosaiced fountain in the middle of the room. I was sitting on the edge of the fountain trailing my fingers in the water when I was grabbed from behind. I twisted free only to see a man with a knife behind me. I started to run but he seemed to know the floorplan much better than I did. I was screaming and running and he was getting closer and closer to me every second. He grabbed me and was just about to thrust the knife into my neck when my roommates burst through the door.
I sat straight up in bed, breathing heavily. I was terrified. I looked around and saw that Tony was up and looking at me as if something was very very wrong. Apparently I had been thrashing about in bed for about ten minutes or so. I said I had a bad dream and he patted my hair and told me it would be ok. It was five am. Somehow, I was able to get back to sleep and reset my alarm for the latest it can be set for in order for me to still make it to work on time.
Dream #2
This one was bad from the start. I became aware of the storyline by realizing that I had something and someone wanted it. They wanted it bad. They were trying to get my friends and I because we had some kind of secret information. We tried to get away by bus, they blew up the bus. We tried to get away by splitting up, they split up too. We ran into my apartment to gather supplies to flee the country, they were too close behind and started shooting up the house, with heavy artillery. They had grenades, rocket launchers, automatic weapons, all kinds of horrible tings. We needed to arm ourselves. There was nothing in the house to arm ourselves with. If this were to happen in real life I would be in the same no-weapons state. We went for kitchen knives, dodging gunfire all the way. Someone was hit. I slid along the floor to try and get close enough to a widow to do something (what are you going to do at a window with a knife?) when an attacker jumped through the window and landed on top of me. We were struggling and I somehow was able to get my kitchen knife and drive it into his heart. I could hear the knife tearing through sinew and flesh. I had to push really really hard to get it to enter the body. The dead man fell on top of me and I looked for a way to get him off to see if everyone else was ok.
The alarm went off. I was exhausted. There was no possible way that I could get up and function properly. I put another ten minutes on the clock and went back to sleep. I didn’t know if it would be restful sleep or awful scary sleep, but I knew I needed to give it a try. Luckily, when I woke up, I was reasonably ok. I rushed through my morning routine and managed to make it to work on time. However, I still haven’t gotten over what happened last night.
Blaming it on the food seems too easy. I mean it’s one of those things I have heard but it seems like an old wives tale. Dreams like that tell me something is seriously wrong. In both cases I was being chased/attacked by a man. I don’t have anything strange going on with any men in my life so maybe that wasn’t meaningful? Maybe the weapons were the issue, the issue that I was left unarmed for most of the dreams and had to resort to everyday items that were just lying around to save my life. Maybe something is telling me to use the resources I have to make a change. I feel far too content to be in that serious of a need for a change though. I really wonder what is going on in that mind of mine. I know there are many people who don’t give dreams much credit. I don’t believe that they mean I am going to be attacked by someone or anything that literal; I just think they tend to show us something about what we need to change or do in life. At least a very graphic dream like that. Maybe the fact that I was attacked with a knife in the first dream and killed with one in the second was important? Who knows? any dream experts out there?
On a side note, I always dream in color. I hear many people don’t. That seems limiting to me. I guess it isn’t something you have control over though. However, I do think you can have control over actions you take or decisions you make in your dreams. I like having the power to change the storyline and make a difference in what I am going to experience. I’m starting to get really sleepy. I need a nap.
1. The Arrivals Gate, Ani Difranco- This song really depresses me. It reminds me of the fac that these days we can’t go to the arrivals gate and just sit and watch people reunite with their friends and loved ones. We can’t even go to the arrivals gate to meet our friends and loved ones. I rarely think about this fact because people can still meet you at baggage claim and that is almost as good, but not really.
2. Giulietta, Smoke City- This is a band that my sister introduced me to and I really liked a lot. That is a little unusual because, while my sister doesn’t have bad taste in music, we don’t have the same taste. Usually I make her listen to things.
3. Manhattan Serenade, Tom Dorsey- This is funny because the album this is from is called Mob Hits II. I have this song essentially by accident. However, the other day Tony and I went out for pizza at Pizano’s (the downtown one) and in their jukebox there was a record labeled Mob Hits and we made a lot of jokes about it. Little did I know that I had a song from Mob Hits II.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
A GOOD TIME WITH MOMMY
I had so much fun with Mommy that I just don’t know where to begin. I’ll just give a little rundown of the festivities. I also went a little link happy. I don't know why.
Wednesday- Mom sent email to say she was leaving within the hour at 9:45. Mom called to say she was leaving at 12:45. She arrived around 8ish and we ordered some food and relaxed. It was fun.
Thursday- Mom, Tony, and I went to see “Radio Golf”, August Wilson’s final play in his chronicle of African-American life in the 1900s. It was great although we discovered the matinee audience at the Goodman is 75yrs+old white people. They didn’t really seem to “get” the play. No one clapped between scenes in the entire first act. Mom and I wanted too but were kind of embarrassed. We shouldn’t have been. That was silly of us. Anthony Chisholm (Burr Redding on Oz) was in the show. That made Tony and I very excited because Oz rules. I realized I had already seen him act in “Gem Of The Ocean” (another August Wilson play) on Broadway. I felt more special. After the play we wanted to stand up but the old white people made us feel uncomfortable about it. We should have stood up. At least we held our hands high to clap. Mom, Tony, and I went to dinner at Hema’s Kitchen a fantastic Indian restaurant on Devon and Oakley. If you live in Chicago and like Indian food this is THE place to go. I have never had a poor dish there. We then dropped Tony home so he could pack for his trip to Houston and his friend’s wedding. Mom and I went to a fundraiser at Continuum Studio where Dave E. Wo works. He poured a mean chocolate martini (although he didn’t know what was in them). We met fun people including a guy who told us to watch out for the black ice on Lake Shore Drive while taking Tony to the airport in the morning. My mom thought he said “watch out for the black guys” which was funny. Went home and enjoyed DVRed programming.
Friday- Drove Tony to the airport at an ungodly hour. Came home and took a nap. Woke up and called Dave E. Wo so that we could pick him and his massage table up and have massages in the living room. That was awesome. Unfortunately he had an appointment so he couldn’t come out to dinner with us at Ethiopian Diamond. Another fantastic restaurant that any person would enjoy (unless they are opposed to eating with their hands from a communal plate). I highly recommend the Tej (honey wine) if you like really sweet wine that Winnie the Pooh would tear up. Went home and decided it was couch and movie time. We started with “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum”. I really enjoyed the film although it was obviously on crack. If you like crack filled musicals you should see it. We then watched “Harvey” and I continually poked Mom throughout the second half because she insisted that we should finish the movie and not save it for tomorrow.
Saturday- It was time to get to business. After lounging around for a while we set out to Target to stock my somewhat lacking house with needed goods. It was the greatest. I am glad Mom likes to take me places and buy me things that I need. We then went to Jewel to get more things I need. I have tons of food and household goods. It is the greatest. We then went to pick up Monica for Pan’s Labyrinth. We were a little later than expected so we opted out of the earlier shows to go home and order food from Heartland Café MMMMMM. Then we headed to the movie. Can I say how much I enjoyed that film? It was dark and fanciful all at the same time. There were so many ways to interpret things and different lenses to look at the film through. The cinematography was gorgeous and the music set the story off beautifully. I did have to look away briefly in a few parts but I knew to expect a little gore. I was thinking it would be more war-type gore than it was but I was cool with it. Then home to watch DVRed SNL (which could have been funnier) and to sleep.
Sunday- We took Monica home in the morning and then went home for lunch before going to the airport to pick up Tony. He was happy to see me. It was nice. We ordered Pizza Hut for dinner (I know, a strange departure from the fantastic food we had been eating) but Tony really wanted some bad pizza with cheesy bite crust and dipping sauce. Pizza Hut took FOREVER to come and I got $10 off my next order. Tony was super tired and I think ended up getting 3 pieces of the pizza he desperately wanted and has talked about for eons and was SOOO HUNGRY because he fell asleep. Mom and I watched “Ali” because I had never seen it and “The Five Heartbeats” cause who doesn’t love that movie and Mommy hadn't seen it. Then it was time to sleep.
Monday- Mom and I ate the rest of the pizza for breakfast because he was still sleeping. He kind of got up for a second and I asked if he wanted the last piece and he said no so I ate it. HA. Before putting Mom in the car we watched "Hustle and Flow" because we needed some grit to round out the wonderful visit that we had.
As you can see, I was totally busy and even though I considered blogging here and there I just wasn’t going to do it. Feels good to be back though.
Oscar Sees Through Red Eye, Boards of Canada- There are a lot of drums in this song. I don’t know if there are any words. I don’t listen to it often. It is really relaxing, maybe next time Dave comes by to massage people (or I go there) I’ll recommend that he invest in this song. Oh wait, there comes some muted voices. I have no idea what they are saying.
Is This Love, Bob Marley- Don’t you love how people say they really really like reggae music and then own one Bob Marley CD and it is Legends? Posers. Now I own two Bob Marley CDs and one is Legends, I also have a good deal of Lee Perry and some other assorted reggae. I enjoy it plenty but know I am not very knowledgeable about the genre. I would never be one of those people who says I am all about reggae. I am a poser in different ways.
I’m Looking Through You, The Beatles- The Beatles are a band I am not a poser about. I don’t own everything of theirs, for some reason I don’t have Let It Be and I know that is a problem in my Beatle cred. Regardless, I know a fair deal about their songs but am not one of those huge Beatle geeks that knows everything about them. I did write a 50pg paper on them in Jr. High. That was a bit silly. I think many of the pages were lyrics.
Wednesday- Mom sent email to say she was leaving within the hour at 9:45. Mom called to say she was leaving at 12:45. She arrived around 8ish and we ordered some food and relaxed. It was fun.
Thursday- Mom, Tony, and I went to see “Radio Golf”, August Wilson’s final play in his chronicle of African-American life in the 1900s. It was great although we discovered the matinee audience at the Goodman is 75yrs+old white people. They didn’t really seem to “get” the play. No one clapped between scenes in the entire first act. Mom and I wanted too but were kind of embarrassed. We shouldn’t have been. That was silly of us. Anthony Chisholm (Burr Redding on Oz) was in the show. That made Tony and I very excited because Oz rules. I realized I had already seen him act in “Gem Of The Ocean” (another August Wilson play) on Broadway. I felt more special. After the play we wanted to stand up but the old white people made us feel uncomfortable about it. We should have stood up. At least we held our hands high to clap. Mom, Tony, and I went to dinner at Hema’s Kitchen a fantastic Indian restaurant on Devon and Oakley. If you live in Chicago and like Indian food this is THE place to go. I have never had a poor dish there. We then dropped Tony home so he could pack for his trip to Houston and his friend’s wedding. Mom and I went to a fundraiser at Continuum Studio where Dave E. Wo works. He poured a mean chocolate martini (although he didn’t know what was in them). We met fun people including a guy who told us to watch out for the black ice on Lake Shore Drive while taking Tony to the airport in the morning. My mom thought he said “watch out for the black guys” which was funny. Went home and enjoyed DVRed programming.
Friday- Drove Tony to the airport at an ungodly hour. Came home and took a nap. Woke up and called Dave E. Wo so that we could pick him and his massage table up and have massages in the living room. That was awesome. Unfortunately he had an appointment so he couldn’t come out to dinner with us at Ethiopian Diamond. Another fantastic restaurant that any person would enjoy (unless they are opposed to eating with their hands from a communal plate). I highly recommend the Tej (honey wine) if you like really sweet wine that Winnie the Pooh would tear up. Went home and decided it was couch and movie time. We started with “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum”. I really enjoyed the film although it was obviously on crack. If you like crack filled musicals you should see it. We then watched “Harvey” and I continually poked Mom throughout the second half because she insisted that we should finish the movie and not save it for tomorrow.
Saturday- It was time to get to business. After lounging around for a while we set out to Target to stock my somewhat lacking house with needed goods. It was the greatest. I am glad Mom likes to take me places and buy me things that I need. We then went to Jewel to get more things I need. I have tons of food and household goods. It is the greatest. We then went to pick up Monica for Pan’s Labyrinth. We were a little later than expected so we opted out of the earlier shows to go home and order food from Heartland Café MMMMMM. Then we headed to the movie. Can I say how much I enjoyed that film? It was dark and fanciful all at the same time. There were so many ways to interpret things and different lenses to look at the film through. The cinematography was gorgeous and the music set the story off beautifully. I did have to look away briefly in a few parts but I knew to expect a little gore. I was thinking it would be more war-type gore than it was but I was cool with it. Then home to watch DVRed SNL (which could have been funnier) and to sleep.
Sunday- We took Monica home in the morning and then went home for lunch before going to the airport to pick up Tony. He was happy to see me. It was nice. We ordered Pizza Hut for dinner (I know, a strange departure from the fantastic food we had been eating) but Tony really wanted some bad pizza with cheesy bite crust and dipping sauce. Pizza Hut took FOREVER to come and I got $10 off my next order. Tony was super tired and I think ended up getting 3 pieces of the pizza he desperately wanted and has talked about for eons and was SOOO HUNGRY because he fell asleep. Mom and I watched “Ali” because I had never seen it and “The Five Heartbeats” cause who doesn’t love that movie and Mommy hadn't seen it. Then it was time to sleep.
Monday- Mom and I ate the rest of the pizza for breakfast because he was still sleeping. He kind of got up for a second and I asked if he wanted the last piece and he said no so I ate it. HA. Before putting Mom in the car we watched "Hustle and Flow" because we needed some grit to round out the wonderful visit that we had.
As you can see, I was totally busy and even though I considered blogging here and there I just wasn’t going to do it. Feels good to be back though.
Oscar Sees Through Red Eye, Boards of Canada- There are a lot of drums in this song. I don’t know if there are any words. I don’t listen to it often. It is really relaxing, maybe next time Dave comes by to massage people (or I go there) I’ll recommend that he invest in this song. Oh wait, there comes some muted voices. I have no idea what they are saying.
Is This Love, Bob Marley- Don’t you love how people say they really really like reggae music and then own one Bob Marley CD and it is Legends? Posers. Now I own two Bob Marley CDs and one is Legends, I also have a good deal of Lee Perry and some other assorted reggae. I enjoy it plenty but know I am not very knowledgeable about the genre. I would never be one of those people who says I am all about reggae. I am a poser in different ways.
I’m Looking Through You, The Beatles- The Beatles are a band I am not a poser about. I don’t own everything of theirs, for some reason I don’t have Let It Be and I know that is a problem in my Beatle cred. Regardless, I know a fair deal about their songs but am not one of those huge Beatle geeks that knows everything about them. I did write a 50pg paper on them in Jr. High. That was a bit silly. I think many of the pages were lyrics.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
THINGS THAT I LOVE- PART IV
I love pizza. I don’t think this makes me a particularly unique person whatsoever. I think most people like, if not love pizza. What is it about a mess of bread, cheese, sauce, and toppings that makes people so happy? Is it that bread and cheese are some of the best foods in the world? Probably so. Is it that with pizza, the consumer has a choice and they can always have it the way they like it? Probably so. Does it make sense that a food so customizable, so potentially different would be so universally loved? Probably so. The only question that remains then is; why do I care? Why am I so fascinated with pizza? I guess it is because I am just like everyone else.
Currently I live in Chicago, so I’ll start by talking about pizza here. I tend not to be a huge fan of the Chicago-style deep-dish pizza. It isn’t bad; it’s a pizza. Something about it though isn’t quite right with me. I think that the crusts are typically delicious. The cheese, however, tends to get lost to me since it is at the bottom of the pizza rather than the top. The sauce tends to also be delicious, nice and chucky and full of tomatoes but I find it generally overpowering. I read somewhere that this style of pizza started in the depression when casserole (or hotdish as weird Minnesotans that are not me call it) was king. They just threw a bunch of stuff together and baked it. Makes sense to me. However it is no longer the depression (although it feels like it sometimes) and we don’t have to eat that way anymore. It reminds me of the question, why do people still eat chitterlings when they have more options than the leftover remnants from the butcher? Some things we may never know.
Another Chicago-type pizza is the stuffed pizza. I love this type. Some people may question how it is that I love stuffed pizza when I don’t like deep-dish but others will understand it. My explanation is this; the stuffed pizza is all about the cheese. You won’t have to search for gooey goodness in this dish. I will go out on a limb and say that my favorite stuffed pizza is from Pizza Capri on Belmont and Sheffield. However, I haven’t had it in years and it is possible it is no longer as good as I remember so if it got bad don’t blame me. In case you don’t know. The stuffed pizza has a relatively thick bottom crust, a thick layer of cheese and whatever toppings you so desire, a very thin top crust, and sauce on the top. Part of what make Pizza Capri’s dish so wonderful is the crisp and flaky buttery delicious crust.
I am also a fan of thin crust pizza. I don’t generally love the super thin cracker crust type pizza but some places do it well and I won’t complain. What I will complain about is how many Chicago pizzerias have the audacity to cut their thin crust pies in squares. Maybe I am the nut here but pizza is supposed to come in slices, each slice with its own crust that you can hold onto (important if you eat your pizza like a normal person which I don’t but that will come later) not in a bunch of squares so that the middle pieces have no crust and although they are deliciously cheesy and toppingy they are undeniably messy. The best thin crust pizza in Chicago I will hand to Ranalli’s. They have a crust with a good thickness and a mighty fine sauce that can stand up to the many toppings you will have on your pizza. Why so many toppings you ask? Because all toppings after the fourth are free!!! You heard it folks, top all you want, we won’t charge you. I will often get pizza with like eight toppings on there and it is so incredibly yummy. Plus they have a colossal list of ingredients so you truly have everything to choose from.
However, in my opinion, no matter how good a thin crust pizza is in Chicago, it has nothing on NY pizza. The huge floppy slices with the greasy cheese and the almost non-existent sauce and just varieties of pies at your disposal is absolute pizza heaven to me. The most common complaint I hear is the blandness of the sauce, that’s what the shakers of oregano, red pepper flakes, and Parmesan are for folks. The thing with a NY pizza is you can truly taste everything because nothing is overpowering. Plus I can order eggplant on my pizza and no one will look at me funny. Ranalli’s has eggplant as a topping option but not too many Chicago places will let you go there (unless they’re fancy). The thing with ordering eggplant in NY is that in some places you will get nice deli-thin sliced eggplant rounds, others you get chunks, and still others you get little cut up pieces of eggplant parmesan. All are delicious. Since I no longer live in NY, I will have to say the best place I can think of is down the street from Sister’s house on Arthur Ave in the Bronx. Their brick oven pizza was fantastic! The regular slices didn’t look too shabby either. The pie came out so nice and crisp yet still floppy in the right places and the eggplant was divine.
To finish off this post (I would really like a slice) I will talk about how I like to eat pizza. Those of you who have enjoyed pizza with me know it is quite an endeavor. I need a knife and fork to eat pizza, no matter what kind it is or how it is sliced. I will always eat the crust first and have before pizza hut stole my thing with their stuffed crust deal. Why, because it’s my least favorite part that’s why. Even the best crust doesn’t have cheese (well the stuffed crust does but that cheese tastes strange like they rolled some string cheese in butter and tries to pass it off as yummy). Then I will cut off the top of the pizza closest to he crust and eat that section first. I’ll work my way down a little bit from that end. Then, I’ll turn it around and work my way up thus leaving the middle section of the pizza to eat last. Why, because it’s my favorite part that’s why. I also like to take my pizza apart and enjoy the cheese and the crust separately. I often do this inside my mouth but sometimes I do it on the plate. Occasionally I will chew a bite all together just to see how it tastes. It usually tastes good but not as good as separately. I actually always save the best bites to eat last, no matter what I am eating. I hate it when someone goes for a bite of my food and they take my saved best bite, I mean I put it aside on the plate for a reason people. Anyway, this has been a really long post about pizza. If I were to have a pizza parlor what songs would be playing? Let’s guess and see.
1.The morn the morn the morn that I was born my old man beat up the Dr. he clocked the Dr. because the Dr. said I looked like Chewbacca.
2.Lady called the blue boy love she took him home made himself an idol yes so he turned to stone. Blue Boy, Joni Mitchell. Identified by Mom
3. In my little town I grew up believing God keeps his eye on us all. My Little Town, Paul Simon (and yes sung by Simon and Garfunkle). Identified by Mom
4. Now here’s a little story I got to tell about three bad brothers you know so well. Paul Revere, Beastie Boys. Identified by Brooke.
5. Standing on the corner of a civilization. There's a time there's a place for me.
Currently I live in Chicago, so I’ll start by talking about pizza here. I tend not to be a huge fan of the Chicago-style deep-dish pizza. It isn’t bad; it’s a pizza. Something about it though isn’t quite right with me. I think that the crusts are typically delicious. The cheese, however, tends to get lost to me since it is at the bottom of the pizza rather than the top. The sauce tends to also be delicious, nice and chucky and full of tomatoes but I find it generally overpowering. I read somewhere that this style of pizza started in the depression when casserole (or hotdish as weird Minnesotans that are not me call it) was king. They just threw a bunch of stuff together and baked it. Makes sense to me. However it is no longer the depression (although it feels like it sometimes) and we don’t have to eat that way anymore. It reminds me of the question, why do people still eat chitterlings when they have more options than the leftover remnants from the butcher? Some things we may never know.
Another Chicago-type pizza is the stuffed pizza. I love this type. Some people may question how it is that I love stuffed pizza when I don’t like deep-dish but others will understand it. My explanation is this; the stuffed pizza is all about the cheese. You won’t have to search for gooey goodness in this dish. I will go out on a limb and say that my favorite stuffed pizza is from Pizza Capri on Belmont and Sheffield. However, I haven’t had it in years and it is possible it is no longer as good as I remember so if it got bad don’t blame me. In case you don’t know. The stuffed pizza has a relatively thick bottom crust, a thick layer of cheese and whatever toppings you so desire, a very thin top crust, and sauce on the top. Part of what make Pizza Capri’s dish so wonderful is the crisp and flaky buttery delicious crust.
I am also a fan of thin crust pizza. I don’t generally love the super thin cracker crust type pizza but some places do it well and I won’t complain. What I will complain about is how many Chicago pizzerias have the audacity to cut their thin crust pies in squares. Maybe I am the nut here but pizza is supposed to come in slices, each slice with its own crust that you can hold onto (important if you eat your pizza like a normal person which I don’t but that will come later) not in a bunch of squares so that the middle pieces have no crust and although they are deliciously cheesy and toppingy they are undeniably messy. The best thin crust pizza in Chicago I will hand to Ranalli’s. They have a crust with a good thickness and a mighty fine sauce that can stand up to the many toppings you will have on your pizza. Why so many toppings you ask? Because all toppings after the fourth are free!!! You heard it folks, top all you want, we won’t charge you. I will often get pizza with like eight toppings on there and it is so incredibly yummy. Plus they have a colossal list of ingredients so you truly have everything to choose from.
However, in my opinion, no matter how good a thin crust pizza is in Chicago, it has nothing on NY pizza. The huge floppy slices with the greasy cheese and the almost non-existent sauce and just varieties of pies at your disposal is absolute pizza heaven to me. The most common complaint I hear is the blandness of the sauce, that’s what the shakers of oregano, red pepper flakes, and Parmesan are for folks. The thing with a NY pizza is you can truly taste everything because nothing is overpowering. Plus I can order eggplant on my pizza and no one will look at me funny. Ranalli’s has eggplant as a topping option but not too many Chicago places will let you go there (unless they’re fancy). The thing with ordering eggplant in NY is that in some places you will get nice deli-thin sliced eggplant rounds, others you get chunks, and still others you get little cut up pieces of eggplant parmesan. All are delicious. Since I no longer live in NY, I will have to say the best place I can think of is down the street from Sister’s house on Arthur Ave in the Bronx. Their brick oven pizza was fantastic! The regular slices didn’t look too shabby either. The pie came out so nice and crisp yet still floppy in the right places and the eggplant was divine.
To finish off this post (I would really like a slice) I will talk about how I like to eat pizza. Those of you who have enjoyed pizza with me know it is quite an endeavor. I need a knife and fork to eat pizza, no matter what kind it is or how it is sliced. I will always eat the crust first and have before pizza hut stole my thing with their stuffed crust deal. Why, because it’s my least favorite part that’s why. Even the best crust doesn’t have cheese (well the stuffed crust does but that cheese tastes strange like they rolled some string cheese in butter and tries to pass it off as yummy). Then I will cut off the top of the pizza closest to he crust and eat that section first. I’ll work my way down a little bit from that end. Then, I’ll turn it around and work my way up thus leaving the middle section of the pizza to eat last. Why, because it’s my favorite part that’s why. I also like to take my pizza apart and enjoy the cheese and the crust separately. I often do this inside my mouth but sometimes I do it on the plate. Occasionally I will chew a bite all together just to see how it tastes. It usually tastes good but not as good as separately. I actually always save the best bites to eat last, no matter what I am eating. I hate it when someone goes for a bite of my food and they take my saved best bite, I mean I put it aside on the plate for a reason people. Anyway, this has been a really long post about pizza. If I were to have a pizza parlor what songs would be playing? Let’s guess and see.
1.The morn the morn the morn that I was born my old man beat up the Dr. he clocked the Dr. because the Dr. said I looked like Chewbacca.
2.Lady called the blue boy love she took him home made himself an idol yes so he turned to stone. Blue Boy, Joni Mitchell. Identified by Mom
3. In my little town I grew up believing God keeps his eye on us all. My Little Town, Paul Simon (and yes sung by Simon and Garfunkle). Identified by Mom
4. Now here’s a little story I got to tell about three bad brothers you know so well. Paul Revere, Beastie Boys. Identified by Brooke.
5. Standing on the corner of a civilization. There's a time there's a place for me.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
BACK ON THE BLOCK
I feel like it has been forever since I have posted anything. Granted I was out of town and, since being back, have been very busy at work and a little under the weather so I guess I shouldn’t feel too bad. I’ll start my return with a quick recap of the NY trip, which was great fun.
Thursday- Parents pick me up at the airport after having a hell time renting a car. You know when everyone before you in line takes like half an hour to do the same transaction that takes you two minutes, that’s what happened to them. I was fine because the weather was nice and I had a fantastic book to read. Pick up Shoshana and tool up to Tarrytown, a.k.a Sleepy Hollow to visit relatives. Have a very nice time. Eat delicious NY pizza. Oh how I wish they would make it for me here in Chicago. Bastards. Drive home. Realize that I have to share covers with Shoshana. I don’t even share covers with Tony. Complain. Resign myself to the fact and deal. It was fine.
Friday- Wake up to yummy croissants from delicious bakery by Shoshana’s house. Shoshana goes to work. I go back to bed. Eventually get up and experience funniest shower since Amsterdam at Shoshana’s house. The spigot is on the long wall of the tub and the curtain had been taken down to be washed. As I was the third person in the shower it was a veritable lake by the time I got in. Still enjoyed the shower. Go visit family friend Jason who recently moved to NY from Mpls. and has a nice place with a normal sized bathroom, which is a rarity in NY but no furniture. Jason mentions how he can’t find a good slice of pizza in NY, HUH?? Go to the Cloisters. If anyone has a chance to go to the Cloisters they should. They are beautiful and old and wonderfully peaceful. Hooray for that. Take picture of mom passed out like a bum, won’t post here because I would be disowned. Convince mom that waiting at the Cloisters for Shoshana is a bad idea. Instead meet her at her apartment and eventually go eat at Mario’s, which I am told is the restaurant where the scene in the Godfather where he gets the gun from the bathroom was filmed. Have a hilarious waiter who looks like Vince Vaughn but much younger and has a great NY Italian accent and gives little bits of advice such as “Always let the lady pick the wine. That way, if she doesn’t like it, she can’t blame you,” and “Give the lady the wine but give the check to the men.” Eat fantastic smoke mozzarella ravioli in a delicious sauce and Penne A la Vodka (Shoshana and I shared I did not eat two entrees). Pop over to delightful Italian pastry shop on the corner where the desserts are cheap and delicious. They actually give you cookies as appetizers. Feel fat. Go to Brooke’s house where we do nothing. Well we sit and drink and watch Oliver! This activity is actually not nothing. It is exactly the kind of thing we enjoy doing most. Plus it was Anya's first time seeing Oliver! and that is always fun. Great time.
Saturday- Drag my ass back to the Bronx and get in the car to York, PA for cousin’s wedding. Drive is 1.5 hours longer than Yahoo tells us. Park at 2:59 (wedding starts at 3). Delightful ceremony and yummy cake. Cousin Elise looks beautiful. Get back in car and drive to Bronx. Sleep.
Sunday- Wake up late. Eat fantastic brick oven pizza with eggplant and mushrooms. Did I mention how much I love NY pizza? Go back to Tarrytown and hang out. Drive to Chelsea to see “Little Miss Sunshine”. First stop and eat at a fantastic place that I believe is called F&B and they have many varieties of veggie dogs. I eat one with mushrooms and sautéed onions and some sweet potato fries. Delicious. Movie is also wonderful. Go home and sleep.
Monday- Wake up and say goodbye to Shoshana. Parents drive me to airport. I get on a flight two before mine SCORE. Get home and fall into couch. Tony makes me food and tends to my sickness.
All in all a great vacation.
Now, I am back at work much less sick although not better and have a start date for my Customer Service Class. Oct 5-6. Wish me luck. I am now seeing if I can fit my entire curriculum into the 2 days. Hopefully I will have students for my class. So far one has signed up. But I have time. Today must stay late to attend Jr. Board meeting even though it isn’t my job anymore. Person whose job it is has other meeting. It’s ok. Unfortunately, it is Top Model and Project Runway night and I really want to go home on time. If I didn’t have DVR this meeting would have to be cancelled. Since I do, it will be ok.
Oh, it’s back to the song guessing game time. I really like that time. In case you are new or forgot, I will put up the first line/lines of a random song from my iPod and then you put the song title and artist in the comments section. I will then add a link to the guesser's blog. Fun for everyone.
1. You turn the screws you tear down the bridge. Flimsy as it is, it’s business like.
2. I got a bad disease. Far from my brain is where I bleed. Insanity it seems has got me by my soul to squeeze. Soul to Squeeze, Red Hot Chili Peppers. Identified byMonica
3. This pig harassed the whole neighborhood. Well this pig worked at the station. This pig he killed my homeboy so the fucking pig went on a vacation.
4. You’re so gorgeous I’ll do anything I’ll kiss you from the feet to where your head begins you’re so perfect you’re so right as rain you make me make me make me hungry again. Why Can't I Be You, The Cure. Identified byMonica
5. I guess I should have known by the way you parked your car sideways that it wouldn’t last. Little Red Corvette, Prince. Identified by Mom
Thursday- Parents pick me up at the airport after having a hell time renting a car. You know when everyone before you in line takes like half an hour to do the same transaction that takes you two minutes, that’s what happened to them. I was fine because the weather was nice and I had a fantastic book to read. Pick up Shoshana and tool up to Tarrytown, a.k.a Sleepy Hollow to visit relatives. Have a very nice time. Eat delicious NY pizza. Oh how I wish they would make it for me here in Chicago. Bastards. Drive home. Realize that I have to share covers with Shoshana. I don’t even share covers with Tony. Complain. Resign myself to the fact and deal. It was fine.
Friday- Wake up to yummy croissants from delicious bakery by Shoshana’s house. Shoshana goes to work. I go back to bed. Eventually get up and experience funniest shower since Amsterdam at Shoshana’s house. The spigot is on the long wall of the tub and the curtain had been taken down to be washed. As I was the third person in the shower it was a veritable lake by the time I got in. Still enjoyed the shower. Go visit family friend Jason who recently moved to NY from Mpls. and has a nice place with a normal sized bathroom, which is a rarity in NY but no furniture. Jason mentions how he can’t find a good slice of pizza in NY, HUH?? Go to the Cloisters. If anyone has a chance to go to the Cloisters they should. They are beautiful and old and wonderfully peaceful. Hooray for that. Take picture of mom passed out like a bum, won’t post here because I would be disowned. Convince mom that waiting at the Cloisters for Shoshana is a bad idea. Instead meet her at her apartment and eventually go eat at Mario’s, which I am told is the restaurant where the scene in the Godfather where he gets the gun from the bathroom was filmed. Have a hilarious waiter who looks like Vince Vaughn but much younger and has a great NY Italian accent and gives little bits of advice such as “Always let the lady pick the wine. That way, if she doesn’t like it, she can’t blame you,” and “Give the lady the wine but give the check to the men.” Eat fantastic smoke mozzarella ravioli in a delicious sauce and Penne A la Vodka (Shoshana and I shared I did not eat two entrees). Pop over to delightful Italian pastry shop on the corner where the desserts are cheap and delicious. They actually give you cookies as appetizers. Feel fat. Go to Brooke’s house where we do nothing. Well we sit and drink and watch Oliver! This activity is actually not nothing. It is exactly the kind of thing we enjoy doing most. Plus it was Anya's first time seeing Oliver! and that is always fun. Great time.
Saturday- Drag my ass back to the Bronx and get in the car to York, PA for cousin’s wedding. Drive is 1.5 hours longer than Yahoo tells us. Park at 2:59 (wedding starts at 3). Delightful ceremony and yummy cake. Cousin Elise looks beautiful. Get back in car and drive to Bronx. Sleep.
Sunday- Wake up late. Eat fantastic brick oven pizza with eggplant and mushrooms. Did I mention how much I love NY pizza? Go back to Tarrytown and hang out. Drive to Chelsea to see “Little Miss Sunshine”. First stop and eat at a fantastic place that I believe is called F&B and they have many varieties of veggie dogs. I eat one with mushrooms and sautéed onions and some sweet potato fries. Delicious. Movie is also wonderful. Go home and sleep.
Monday- Wake up and say goodbye to Shoshana. Parents drive me to airport. I get on a flight two before mine SCORE. Get home and fall into couch. Tony makes me food and tends to my sickness.
All in all a great vacation.
Now, I am back at work much less sick although not better and have a start date for my Customer Service Class. Oct 5-6. Wish me luck. I am now seeing if I can fit my entire curriculum into the 2 days. Hopefully I will have students for my class. So far one has signed up. But I have time. Today must stay late to attend Jr. Board meeting even though it isn’t my job anymore. Person whose job it is has other meeting. It’s ok. Unfortunately, it is Top Model and Project Runway night and I really want to go home on time. If I didn’t have DVR this meeting would have to be cancelled. Since I do, it will be ok.
Oh, it’s back to the song guessing game time. I really like that time. In case you are new or forgot, I will put up the first line/lines of a random song from my iPod and then you put the song title and artist in the comments section. I will then add a link to the guesser's blog. Fun for everyone.
1. You turn the screws you tear down the bridge. Flimsy as it is, it’s business like.
2. I got a bad disease. Far from my brain is where I bleed. Insanity it seems has got me by my soul to squeeze. Soul to Squeeze, Red Hot Chili Peppers. Identified byMonica
3. This pig harassed the whole neighborhood. Well this pig worked at the station. This pig he killed my homeboy so the fucking pig went on a vacation.
4. You’re so gorgeous I’ll do anything I’ll kiss you from the feet to where your head begins you’re so perfect you’re so right as rain you make me make me make me hungry again. Why Can't I Be You, The Cure. Identified byMonica
5. I guess I should have known by the way you parked your car sideways that it wouldn’t last. Little Red Corvette, Prince. Identified by Mom
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