Daily Archives: 24 November 2004

Foibles

thankity thank

Because I am still a little sad, even after a great chat over dinner, I am going to write my Thanksgiving thankfulness list of thankfully giving thanks right now.

First of all, I must note that yes, I understand that Thanksgiving is a perverse sort of holiday, so you non-Americans can fold your little fingers in your little laps and refrain from lecturing me now. What you might not understand is that I like to eat. A lot. And so massive extermination of multiple cultures aside, this is an awesome holiday, one dedicated to overeating really unhealthy things.

Without further ado, my Thanksgiving thankfulness list of thankfully giving thanks:

  1. Nutella. O, like you didn’t know this was going to be first!
  2. Books. I like them better than people, most days.
  3. Pocket dogs.
  4. My co-workers, whom I have infected with several memes, one of which is the bizarre pronunciation of “Exaaaaahhhhhctly” that I have affected, and the other is the exclamation of “Good times!” after something that is most certainly not a good time. They also kick ass.
  5. People who don’t break into my car. (See, I knew that keeping the blue tape around my new window would work!)
  6. Free water. Free Willy, too, while you’re at it.
  7. My metabolism, for allowing me to eat like a small horse and still only gain weight on my ass, which happens to be all the fashion now.
  8. My flatmate, for enabling me in so many ways. Especially enabling me to snack and watch television. She also says things like, “Stop being productive! You’re making me feel bad!”
  9. My Star Trek one-a-day calendar. Today’s pic is of Tasha Yar. Are you touching yourself yet?
  10. The aliens who sent me to spy on you all. I mean. Kittens.
  11. Jon Stewart.
  12. My health, my job, and my talent. Yadda yadda.
  13. People like YOU, my dear readers! Because writing is nothing without an audience, and if it’s craptastic writing like this post, it’s in the negative numbers, which means I am overdrawn! Shit!
  14. That half-bottle of Laphroaig at home that’s calling my name right now.
  15. Mm, scotch. Wait, what?
  16. Perforated paper.
  17. Okay, okay: my friends and family. There, that wasn’t so bad. You’re all great and stuff. I tell you this all the time, so if you’re waiting for a post like this to confirm it, maybe I am telling you in Esperanto. In which case, sorry! My bad. It is my native language, so I slip sometimes.
  18. #330033.
  19. Smiling to myself while walking down Market Street because it makes people walk in wide circles around me, so I get all of the sidewalk to do a little weird jig and be smiley. Right before the paddywagon pulls up.
  20. Getting out of the institution for Thanksgiving. This will be the BEST ONE EVAR!!!1!1!!!

fucking thanksgiving. harrumph.

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Foibles

So I’m the turkey.

The prez gave all university employees the okay to leave at 14:00, but I have to stay until closing. It’s an easy workday, though. It’s just me and a student at the helm, and a mere handful of patrons scattered throughout the building, mostly email-checkers, but there are some panicked students who are attempting to hand in assignments before the break. Their little faces are pale and their hands open and close as if grasping at invisible source material.

The café is already closed, so no latte for me. Good thing I had instant coffee this morning! Except for not.

The ferry was packed with commuters skipping out early. I’m so used to commuting alone that the overwhelming aggression and disdain for fellow human beings actually caught me off guard. As I took my headphones off, someone told me to watch his briefcase while he wandered off — told me, not asked me, as in, “Watch my briefcase.” I didn’t respond, and continued reading my book. See, we can both be jerks to each other! Happy fucking holidays.

For those of you traveling the 101 through Marin, both sides are a disaster area, so add 45-60 minutes onto your travel time. Also, you might want to attach a blowdart gun to your vehicle, because I hear that shooting out tires is a great way to immobilize dorky drivers. I mean, after they go swerving and careening into other cars. Okay, so that’s a bad idea. Just throw rotten oranges. Aim for moonroofs.

I don’t know why I’m writing, except that I’m sad. I shouldn’t be sad; I should be excited about Thanksgiving. The MSG is planning lots of cooking stuff with my family members via email, and generally kicking ass. My family members are, of course, impressed with him and saying so. They’re also reminding me rather ungently in private emails about how much I suck in the kitchen. Mentions have been made of the jello salad incident. I love my family, but I really don’t need this from them. It’s already taken me quite a bit of pride-swallowing to venture back into the realm of cooking. And now I truly enjoy cooking with the MSG, even by myself sometimes, and I don’t suck. Compared to the MSG‘s, my recipes and my skills are primitive, perhaps even uncreative, but what the fuck? I’m learning later than everyone else did. I wish people would get off my fucking back about it. And while they’re getting off my fucking back about that, they can get off my fucking back about everything else I have ever fucked up, too.

Sometimes I get a little weary of being the butt of every single family joke. But if I stop laughing, then I’m “taking it too seriously”. If that’s not my absolute favorite phrase in the English language, I don’t know what is.

Ah well. I’m going to try and escape for dinner with a friend in a few hours, which should cheer me up. Then I’ll go home tonight and snuggle Zen. She never makes fun of me and she’s never disappointed in me, either. To her, I am merely a set of hands and a lap. That’s fine by me.

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Foibles

pen intended

38 days until the New Year … what do you want to do with your life? [link ganked from Hammer and Nail]

I am drinking some of Inkbot‘s instant coffee right now, Trader Joe’s brand. I would say “it’s my first time drinking instant coffee” but I’m sure Lara will remember an instance in college during which I not only drank instant coffee but had some part of my head pierced simultaneously. So I won’t; I’ll just assume I’ve done this before, although I don’t remember it. Which reminds me of an Elvis Costello lyric: “And don’t try to read my mind because it’s full of disappearing ink.” Yes, Mr. Costello. Yes.

So my impressions of instant coffee are mixed, no pun intended. I truly enjoy the sight and sound of the little space-age crystals dissolving in boiling water. They hiss while they melt. I like that part. Plus, instant is very convenient. The taste, though: instant coffee is to real coffee as a blue Bic is to my Waterman fountain pen. There’s really no comparison; they are different beasts entirely, except for what they’re supposed to do.

Speaking of fountain pens, my new Recife Cristal is having nib issues. I can’t decide if it’s the ink or it’s just new and needs to be broken in more than any of my other pens, but it’s stumping me. I have been using it at work in an attempt to break it in fast, but it’s so unreliable that I end up tossing it aside in favor of my Recife Riviera, which never fails to write the first time. Does anyone reading this with fountain pen tips know what I can do to help break in a stubborn nib?

Anyway, not only am I drinking instant coffee, I’m eating cold pizza. What a decadent morning I’m having! I’m also creating an iTunes playlist for my morning commute, trying very hard not to include any TMBG tracks, and here it is so far (partially available in an iMix):

  1. Fly Me to the Moon – Sarah Vaughan (The Best of Sarah Vaughan)
  2. Let Go – Frou Frou (Details)
  3. Run – Air (Talkie Walkie)
  4. Against All Odds – The Postal Service (single)
  5. Here Without You – 3 Doors Down (Away From the Sun)
  6. Smile – Telepopmusik (Genetic World)
  7. Extraordinary Machine – Fiona Apple (Extraordinary Machine)
  8. All the Rage – Elvis Costello (Brutal Youth)
  9. Learn to Live With What You Are – Ben Folds (Sunny 16)
  10. Somersault – Zero 7 (When It Falls)
  11. Moonchild – Cibo Matto (Stereo Type A)
  12. Fly – Moxy Früvous (Live Noise)

There’s a mood going, but I’m not sure what it is. Resignation? No pun intended.

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