I'm not sure how this "next blog" button thing works at the the top of blogger.com sites but I have pressed it four times, and four times it has brought me to blogs of pregnant women, parents potty training their children, mother's teaching their toddlers how to be compassionate and giving, etc.
Hypotheses:
1. Almost everyone else that uses blogger.com is having kids.
2. I have something in my profile or blog that makes blogger.com direct me to blogs of people that are birthing other people (what is it? I'm trying to figure out the tip off). Suggestions would be helpful.
3. Most people in the world are having kids right now, making the ratio of kids having people to not-having kids people much higher, and therefore the high percentage of neonatal-related blogs representative and appropriate (but four out of four? maybe my sample size isn't big enough. I will have to continue pressing the button to decide whether or not to discredit this hypothesis).
Weigh in now! Or just explain the "next blog" button to me.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
As I continue my exploration of the land I am in, discoveries and conundrums abound...
Okay I really cant make anything I've done sound exciting enough to fit that beginning but it is a really beautiful day in New Brunswick, NJ. A crisp 39 degrees allows me to shed my bulky winter coat for my less appropriate thin pleather one, so I can feel chic as I pretend I am not cold, walking around the sunny streets. Today, I went to get coffee at the corner store and met a guy who was celebrating his 60th birthday! He said 6o is the new 50, and that when he was born it was 3 degrees out and a snowstorm.
In other news:
1. I have persisted in trying to take pictures of my dearest, blackest cat Olive. For the most part she looks like one of those dust sprites in Totoro (whoa, I guess I wasnt the first with this idea), a furry little ball with eyes, but what can I do? Her coat doesnt really reflect much light, so it disguises many of her features. Like the fact that she has a face. Or legs. One day I will get a really fancy digital SLR and devote it to trying to photograph her. In the mean time I have requested the assistance of a photographer friend to take a joke photoshoot of us as Madonna and Child. Hmmm. See above. I cant seem to master putting photos in the right place yet.
2. I cooked! Tom Yum soup! Even though barely anyone in the Hong Kong Supermarket could speak English or help me find the interesting ingredients (fish sauce? nam prig pow?), it came out tasting actually pretty good. Okay I really cant do this picture thing so all the pictures are in a stack at the top. In reverse order. This should be interesting. Its like a matching game! Match what I'm talking about to the picture at the top! Answers will be posted upside down in tiny script in my next post. Ha. Like I could ever figure out how to do that.
3. I had a dream. It was to make a layer cake, specifically a chocolate layer cake with gooseberry jam in between the layers and chocolate frosting. Coincidentally, Dr. Martin Luther King also had a dream. Well that's not the coincidence. The coincidence is that I actualized my dream on the day that we celebrate him and his! So I made my dream into a face cake of him. Rainbow sprinkles for hair and everything, it was symbolic. Cutting into his face to eat it though was not part of the symbolism. That is excluded.
4. Finally. Neverland does exist after all. I found the atlas in the library. They have just been spelling it with a D in the middle instead of a V! That's why we havent been able to find it!
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Cleaning and Other Games
I'm trying to believe that I deserve this morning off, to kind of lounge around in bed and feed my new obsession, molecular gastronomy, with ample youtube videos (like weird spaghetti made of tomato soup) and try to play this game where I try to catch the cat's tongue with my fingers when she licks me. I cant tell if she is amused by it as well, or just annoyed.
But the thing is, I dont really deserve it. The thing is, I kind of did the same thing yesterday. I mean I did work too, but a good part of the day was spent in bed reading Dune and trying to convince Olive to sleep on my stomach while I read so i could play with her funny little feet. Its like I'm working up the energy for something big and important. I know its coming so I'm saving my strength.
Maybe the big thing is this-- I think today I will do part 2 and 3 of cleaning my apartment.
To explain in brief the stages of proper apartment cleaning:
I. Put away all laundry, all knicknacks, cluttersome toiletries etc etc. Clear surfaces.
II. Open up all dressers, cabinets, bookshelves where you stuff all laundry, knicknacks, toilettries, etc etc and actually organize those
III. The main attraction: actually clean. Sanitize, disinfect, sweep, mop, scrub to some loud loud music.
This usually takes between I full day to several weeks. I live in a studio apartment. I will probably always only live in studio apartments until I get married and have children. And even then, we will only move into anywhere bigger once they are old enough to grasp a broom handle. I will breed a small army of cleaning machines. How else do people ever take care of bigger homes?
Oh I will write about the other games later.
But the thing is, I dont really deserve it. The thing is, I kind of did the same thing yesterday. I mean I did work too, but a good part of the day was spent in bed reading Dune and trying to convince Olive to sleep on my stomach while I read so i could play with her funny little feet. Its like I'm working up the energy for something big and important. I know its coming so I'm saving my strength.
Maybe the big thing is this-- I think today I will do part 2 and 3 of cleaning my apartment.
To explain in brief the stages of proper apartment cleaning:
I. Put away all laundry, all knicknacks, cluttersome toiletries etc etc. Clear surfaces.
II. Open up all dressers, cabinets, bookshelves where you stuff all laundry, knicknacks, toilettries, etc etc and actually organize those
III. The main attraction: actually clean. Sanitize, disinfect, sweep, mop, scrub to some loud loud music.
This usually takes between I full day to several weeks. I live in a studio apartment. I will probably always only live in studio apartments until I get married and have children. And even then, we will only move into anywhere bigger once they are old enough to grasp a broom handle. I will breed a small army of cleaning machines. How else do people ever take care of bigger homes?
Oh I will write about the other games later.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Eating Bugs
So it's the new year. I know this because Ebay, Amazon, Godiva, and a whole slew of other companies have sent me emails about "new coins" and "turning leafs" and other such things that require me to purchase new electronics and enjoy 40% off chocolate to participate in. There have also been other hints about a great casting off the old and embracing the new, like freezing in my little black dress as I attempted to gracefully walk the pitted sidewalks of Park Slope in too-high heels (which I never, never wear) or watching the ball drop on a the squeezy end of a couch holding onto a High Life like I was going to drink it. Anyway. I have put that dress in a deep, dark corner of my closet, donned a more appropriate winter coat, and my cat will probably be the only one who ever sees me in those beautiful emerald heels again-- most likely while trying to reach the high cupboards above my sink. But really, I kind of like turning new leaves.
I generally find New Years' resolutions kind of silly. I think that if you want a reason to make a change in your life, you shouldn't have to wait around until once a year. That's a lot of stagnant time. But of course I still capitalize on the chance to try to come up with ideas of how to live better. This years ideas mostly involve productivity and adventure, and I feel like I'm heading in the right direction.
My sister, at brrrrlin.blogspot.com, has headed to Brrrrlin for her adventure, but hopefully I can find some ways to experience life anew without straying too far from home.
So far I've:
1. Finally visited a ramen restaurant. After being inspired by the firey, soul-warming noodle soups described in Korean drama Flower Boy Ramen Shop, I decided that trying real ramen was just what I needed to restart my winter lull. I walked 40 blocks from my parents apartment to Totto Ramen in midtown. What I found was a snaking line, curving out into the 20 degree, windy Manhattan night. People with suitcases were standing out there. With little time to spare I temporarily gave up. Luckily, I found Rai Rai Ramen #3 (is there a #1 and #2, I wonder) in Somerset, New Jersey also serving up Ramen. While I didnt try the traditional pork bone broth, which the menu promised to strenghten bones, especially for expecting mothers, the vegetable broth spicy kimchi with chicken was rather delicious and definitely heated me up.
2. Discovered that Olive, my little black kitten, has developed a wild penchant for bananas. She is currently sitting atop the two bananas I bought at the supermarket as if they were her personal throne. The kind of throne you lick and gnaw on.
2. Tried to make the most productive use of my days and ward off laziness. I'm really really trying.
Ex: I woke up this morning at 8. But I was having a really good dream. So I reset my alarm again for 9 (but the blanket was made of this impossibly cozy stuff)! ...and then again at 10, at which point I flew out of bed, ready to greet the world.
I covered some academic errands, printed papers to read later, cleaned my car and went to the supermarket to purchase some fruits and vegetables. At this point I found myself exhausted. So I unloaded my groceries half-assedly and settled into writing out my late rent check, and eating 1/4 of a box of lemon-orange-sock flavored polish cookies called Napolitanke to give me energy for this arduous task. Find the checks, find the envelope, etc. Getting a bit deeper into my sleepiness-induced eating binge, I went for the dark chocolate Lindt trufffles I keep on a high shelf. I needed a chair to get them down as my heels where all the way on the other side of my studio apartment. A trek I couldnt manage at the moment. I had recently been battling a moth infestation and was hoping they hadnt made a home in my beloved chocolates. I opened the blue bag and peered inside. The coast seemed clear. Unwrapping one and popping it into my mouth as I simultaneously fell into bed and opened up my current read, Dune, I settled into chocolatey goodness and the warmth of my blanket. Suddenly I shot up grabbing my cheek. Something in my mouth was NOT chocolate. It was weirdly hard, alive feeling, and horrible. I dug around trying to find the answer and could not, so I swallowed quickly. And that was that. I had eaten my first bug and it was now time to nap.
All in all not my most productive day. But I think I met my adventure quota.
I generally find New Years' resolutions kind of silly. I think that if you want a reason to make a change in your life, you shouldn't have to wait around until once a year. That's a lot of stagnant time. But of course I still capitalize on the chance to try to come up with ideas of how to live better. This years ideas mostly involve productivity and adventure, and I feel like I'm heading in the right direction.
My sister, at brrrrlin.blogspot.com, has headed to Brrrrlin for her adventure, but hopefully I can find some ways to experience life anew without straying too far from home.
So far I've:
1. Finally visited a ramen restaurant. After being inspired by the firey, soul-warming noodle soups described in Korean drama Flower Boy Ramen Shop, I decided that trying real ramen was just what I needed to restart my winter lull. I walked 40 blocks from my parents apartment to Totto Ramen in midtown. What I found was a snaking line, curving out into the 20 degree, windy Manhattan night. People with suitcases were standing out there. With little time to spare I temporarily gave up. Luckily, I found Rai Rai Ramen #3 (is there a #1 and #2, I wonder) in Somerset, New Jersey also serving up Ramen. While I didnt try the traditional pork bone broth, which the menu promised to strenghten bones, especially for expecting mothers, the vegetable broth spicy kimchi with chicken was rather delicious and definitely heated me up.
2. Discovered that Olive, my little black kitten, has developed a wild penchant for bananas. She is currently sitting atop the two bananas I bought at the supermarket as if they were her personal throne. The kind of throne you lick and gnaw on.
2. Tried to make the most productive use of my days and ward off laziness. I'm really really trying.
Ex: I woke up this morning at 8. But I was having a really good dream. So I reset my alarm again for 9 (but the blanket was made of this impossibly cozy stuff)! ...and then again at 10, at which point I flew out of bed, ready to greet the world.
I covered some academic errands, printed papers to read later, cleaned my car and went to the supermarket to purchase some fruits and vegetables. At this point I found myself exhausted. So I unloaded my groceries half-assedly and settled into writing out my late rent check, and eating 1/4 of a box of lemon-orange-sock flavored polish cookies called Napolitanke to give me energy for this arduous task. Find the checks, find the envelope, etc. Getting a bit deeper into my sleepiness-induced eating binge, I went for the dark chocolate Lindt trufffles I keep on a high shelf. I needed a chair to get them down as my heels where all the way on the other side of my studio apartment. A trek I couldnt manage at the moment. I had recently been battling a moth infestation and was hoping they hadnt made a home in my beloved chocolates. I opened the blue bag and peered inside. The coast seemed clear. Unwrapping one and popping it into my mouth as I simultaneously fell into bed and opened up my current read, Dune, I settled into chocolatey goodness and the warmth of my blanket. Suddenly I shot up grabbing my cheek. Something in my mouth was NOT chocolate. It was weirdly hard, alive feeling, and horrible. I dug around trying to find the answer and could not, so I swallowed quickly. And that was that. I had eaten my first bug and it was now time to nap.
All in all not my most productive day. But I think I met my adventure quota.
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