Travel 2008

A boring, listy post, just for my own recounting. The sad thing is, since I didn't keep a record of my travels, I'll probably miss a few spots...

January:
Bostonish and the Franconia Notch, MA and NH

February:
Mexico City, Mexico
Los Angeles and coastal CA

March:
More Los Angeles and coastal CA

April:
Sacramentoish, CA

May:
Long Island, NY

June:
Bostonish, MA
Atlantaish, GA

July:
Lake Erie, OH
San Franciscoish, CA

August:
Vancouver and Whistler, BC, Canada
Charleston, SC

September:
Bostonish, MA
Napa and San Franciscoish, CA

October:
Santa Barbara and Lompoc (aka Sunnydale), CA
Clevelandish, OH
Long Island, NY

November:
Did I not travel at all in November? Is that even possible? Well, we did start the month in NY...

December:
Clevelandish, Ohio

That's all, folks! Let the 2009 travel season commence!!!

Fighting the good fight

I love combating scurvy!

For lo, I have declared that there shall be none of that in this house!!!

Advice

When most of the people in your life, spanning several different generations, are telling you the same thing, it might be time to listen.

Maybe my new year's resolution should be to reach a more zen-like state of dealing with difficult interpersonal relationships. It seems like everyone is doing (or trying to do) it....

Xmas 2008 and forevermore

Currently: melancholy musing

Intruding on other folks' Christmas traditions still feels strange. I grew up in such an insular, decidedly non-formal (except for the interminable yearly posing for the annual pictures) family that anything else is still disconcerting. Even at my sister's house, when her other family is present and/or constantly dropping by...just weird. I know the old days are never coming back - nor would I want them to - but adjustment takes time, and I'm definitely not there yet. I might never be.

Being around a cohesive, friendly, mostly-to-fully-functional family feels very alien. The mores, the customs, the easy congeniality, not walking on conversational eggshells, not waiting for the fighting to erupt, not breaking apart every few hours to decompress from spending "quality time" together...if we ever had that, it's been a long, long time, and the intervening years of anger and dissociation have pretty much wiped those memories away. It's both refreshing and painful to be around, as the wise one points out, "what [I] always wanted." I feel very blessed to have this opportunity to make new family ties, even as I resent that my old family is never going to be close. Or even civil. Such divided feelings makes for a very ambivalent attitude towards the winter holidays. I wonder when, if that will change.

Uplifted

Currently: muchly pained

Turns out, my ring scrapes against the bar when I lift weights. I only found this out yesterday. This is not indicative of me forgetting to wear my ring (which, I must say, I've been rather good about) - this is the first time I've attempted to lift since early spring, before the great back break of 2008. I managed to get through an entire Body Pump class only by using extremely light weights, and I still knew that my muscles (such as they are) would hurt like a sunuvabitch in the morning.

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I was right.

If I'd remembered that the house I was visiting had several flights of regularly used stairs, I might have sat out the 8-minute squat track.

Owie.

I can say that I'm being quite a bit more diligent about doing my stretches than I have been for some time...

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I've always liked to wear my bras a little tight, to better control my mighty bosom. When I was shedding the day's garments, as I was shaking free of the cumbersome clothing, I noticed that my boobs were sore. Not within the monthly cycle of soreness, but honest-to-goodness hurting. My first thought, naturally was that my propensity for tight clothing was finally coming due, damn that underwire! But, after a few experimental pokes, I established that my chest muscles were the body parts in pain, not the overlying architecture. Huh, hadn't felt that in a loooong time!

Ring around the rosie

Pocket full of posies...

That's how the song is supposed to go. Not ring around the worm. Wormy. Wormful. Full of worminess. That being ME.

Sounds terrible, conjuring up images of wriggling, squiggling, burrowing parasites. Even though it has more to do with blossoming mushrooms (which is a rather cute image, hearkening to the days of Smurf) than a creature feature. Still, not exactly something you want to get, let alone give, because man! What a story for life! And possibly beyond.

I'd been crowing for awhile, joking that "[he] you gave me eczema!," drawing cheerily erroneous (so we thought!) conclusions about our shared epidermilogical tribulations. It was so confirmed even by my dermatologist (thus actually confirming that unshakeable worthless, preoccupied, can't-be-bothered-to-look-at-me, turnstile feeling). I had wondered, however, if the steadily spreading horde indicated the onset of a new plague. One glance by an all-knowing nurse-mother, and the fungal nature of the pox was revealed.

So, to sum, on the 2nd day of Christmas, my true love gave to me - two arms full of ringworm. I think it'll be coal in yer stocking this year, buddy...

Souping

This winter's soup initiative is in full swing! In addition to a second take at the cauliflower (a little dark and spicy, almost curry and stewlike, instead of a more classically soupy texture), I tried to recreate a friend's corn chowder. It is a little southwestern and has gorgeous bright colors - great for lifting spirits during the dreary winter!

I didn't whirl the soup for very long, thinking that a coarser, chunkier texture might be fun to "chew". Next time, I think I'll test the mettle of my immersion blender.

I tried my hand at vegetable stock - we've been saving all the vegetable scraps and leavings from various dishes and I threw in some freezer-burned greens. It looked beautiful:

and the stock came out nice and dark, but it's a little sweet and doesn't have the depth of flavor of meat stock. Still, it should serve as a nice base for soups to come.

While the cat's away, I made some chicken soup just for me, using up the stores of turkey stock and freeing up some precious, precious quart containers. Ummmmmmm, warming and delicious.

I've learned to use celery! It's really not that bad, as long as you cook it down forever, and it's actually a nice filler for soups. I guess that's why everyone uses it...

All by myself

After all this time, it's strange being alone in the apartment. It's different from being alone on the road, when I have a mission, distractions of travel, food to taste, and new surroundings to interest me. Home alone, however, is not a state I come back to easily. I've always been a mite scared of the dark, and loud, startling noises in a suddenly echoing apartment quickly lead to raging cases of the creeps. Sharing a one-bedroomed apartment hasn't been easy, but one of the consequences of success in living in such tight quarters (Yeah! I never thought it would last this long! Go tolerance!) is that the space feels hideously large and lonely when I am the sole tenant. And separation during the cold winter months - with no one to snuggle and no warm body to bury my freezing feet under - is especially painful.

On the other hand, I get to live like I have no parents. Late, novel-filled nights, terrible food (velveeta mac!), unmade beds, TV blaring, loud country music wailing in the background, clothes strewn about, not having to answer for my where- or when-abouts, no set meal times, and no harassment in the morning...

It's heaven and hell, all at the same time.

Follies

The bad news is that I somehow managed to get lost for the third year in a row on the way to the ice skating party.

The good news is that I tried going a different way this year, to avoid getting lost...so at least I'm making new mistakes!

The day was unseasonably warm, so the rink was actually a very shallow lake atop some extremely slick ice. It was a skate at the risk of a wet bum night! Except for getting very sweaty, because I'd dressed for normal December temperatures, I managed to avoid becoming overly moistened. It's weird to skate when it's too warm to drink hot chocolate!!!

The burden of wisdom

When arguing with siblings, if reason, facts, and logic aren't persuasive, what does that leave? Well, the oldest sibling can always fall back to the most natural default state - moral and general superiority.

And with it, the mantle of responsibility for guiding the younger generation. Sigh.

Thinner

Sometimes procrastination and laziness are really not your friends.

Please contrast:

with

I could have switched them out any time for the past 11 months - the exact amount of time that flat screen monitor has been sitting, unused, in my office.
Seeing this

is knowing that the lost time and desk space was a travesty. Let that be a lesson to me!

(I love it so much!! Sqeeee!!!)

Gifting III

The hunt for Xmas present is ON! Actually, it's almost over, since I buy stuff throughout the year when I see things I think my people will like. (Plus, On SALE!)

The trouble with gaining new family is that it doubles (or more!) the number of menfolk for whom I have to, if not actually buy for, worry about coming up with just the right present. I was already having a hard time with the ones I had...sigh.

Oh darn!

This is one of my favorite sweaters :(

Any tips on fixage?

Ding dong, the class is dead!

Done and DONE!

This was not one of the good ones. I took peculiar pleasure in writing up the meanest factual criticisms I could come up with, and they were legion. I filled out the space allotted on the physical evaluations, but went to town in the unlimited online space provided. It wasn't just that they made us drive 4 hours in a single day to present in person when the expensive and perfectly serviceable long-distance video equipment would have more than sufficed. It wasn't because of the wildly arbitrary grading scheme, or the nonsensical emphasis on anywhere except America. It wasn't because the only natural resources of interest, but of course, are the renewable kind, and it wasn't because the graded assignments were essentially tests of how well we could work Google scholar (but seriously, what kind of class specifically asks you NOT to cite the reading? What kind of work incentive structure is that??!!).

It was because I didn't learn anything.

Sure I gleaned a few new facts, mostly from my friends and colleagues. I was confronted anew by the remarkable thoroughness of the CIA factbook. I even picked up a few things while researching my 2nd-choice paper topic.

But I wasn't introduced to any new ideas.

Population growth and consumption is bad, sustainability and waste reduction is good, blah blah blah ad infinitum. Not really cutting-edge concepts, but nothing to be argued with in the field of sustainability science. But how were we to reach this exalted state?

We should.

We must.

We will.

Education is the answer.

Oh come on, blow me! These are answers for grade school children. Originally, I'd credited them with high school-level instruction, but upon further consideration, I think that critical thinkers in high school would laugh in the face of this mantra-based, detail-lacking, hokum. This is the Tinkerbell approach - wish as hard as you can and clap your hands, and all will be well with the world. The how, the why, the where, the what, the order of priorities...nothing. I went through most of the class reeking of are you kidding me? bad attitude, and they never gave me reason to change.

So, I'm glad that it's all over for now. I'm sad that it was such a flaming disappointment. I hope the next one will stretch my mind, even a little.

Otherwise, I'm just the stupid girl doing homework for fun, which isn't.

Kicking off the soup initiative

Winter is here and it is time again for soup! I never officially quit last year's soup initiative, since cod chowder and lentil soup are perennial favorites, but 'tis finally the season to start experimenting again!

First attempt of the year, and I'm pretty pleased with myself:

(note to self: food photography has not improved)

It doesn't look like much, but that's sort of the point. When you puree a soup, it's loses a lot of the characteristics or recognizability of its ingredients. This is roasted cauliflower soup, made without a recipe. I should actually say, made without a specific recipe, since I actually bundled several into my concoction. A blend of roasted and boiled cauliflower, a few potatoes for body and thickness, milk, stock, a ton of pepper, a touch of sugar, and an array of curry spices (whatever I had lying around. Which is quite a few). A whir with the immersion blender (Why hello there! How are you! I've missed you!!!) and thick and warming soup is born! It played well with both permanent and guest judges. I think this one's a keeper!

Chopped liver

The celebratory madness has meant that I've had foie gras three times in just about a week! I need to stop eating out entirely! Starting now!

So, I bought some pate at Trader Joe's...

(If it doesn't kill me, my cardiologist will! Whee! Happy holidays!)

On the other hand, total spoilage

THREE birthday splurge dinners for me!

Despite any general birthday complaints, I really made out like a fat bandit this year. I got both pre- and post-bday meals at some of the best places in the city. We covered the spectrum of old (2941 - got to talk to the chef and enjoy a kitchen tour, and reaffirm that I love the ambiance and the food), new-to-me (Corduroy, in its new home, is still beautifully...itself. Mostly the same staff and menu, but upgraded digs. The best soup I've eaten all year, no surprise, came from Chef Power's kitchen.), and just plain new (ish. Yes, I get rutlike in old favorites very quickly, and it takes a while to make it out to new places) (Proof - I can't believe I could eat everything on the tasting menu. That never happens, which I understand, because there are just so many things you can do with shellfish, but to be able to eat, and want to eat, everything on the menu was a treat all by itself!! And, with mushrooms and foie gras and wine reductions galore, I was in heaven...). A bounty of beautiful and delicious treats for me from and with wonderful and generous people! I am so blessed And full!!

Gifting II

Currently: slightly crushed

I think my mom's b-day present moved me so much because it exhibited caring and thoughtfulness on several (new and) different levels. It took time and effort to find something she thought I might like and ship it here well in time for bday joy. Similarly, I got the royal treatment this year from my new and chosen family. The little boy even contributed (I haven't gotten anything from him in a loooong time)! So, while I do feel flush and rich and lucky and much beloved, it still hurt not to get any bday lovin' from She Who Is Closest of Them All.

I understand that work and life and motherhood and responsibilities intervene, but knowing that doesn't stop the pain from being left off the list of priorities. You know?

Supremely

The boys from Duke reminisced about their days of camping out for basketball tickets. I, who had never camped out for sporting events or concerts or Star Wars, so much as actually went camping (more accurately, backpacking), rolled my eyes at their fond remembrances of "privation" and "hardship" and shivered deeper into the cocoon of my mummy bag.

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I gazed at the Capitol, brilliantly lit for nighttime, contemplating its architectural majesty, and asked myself, for the umpteenth time, why I was sitting on the street in front of the Supreme Court in the dark. In the winter.

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Everyone was too wide awake (and cold) to actually sleep, so there was much fellowship and friendly chatter. There were cookies galore, hot tea, chocolate, and coffee. The problem? The nearest bathroom being three blocks away, in the cold dark, was more than enough incentive not to indulge.

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The Capitol police provided some much-needed entertainment. They pulled over a vehicular miscreant right in front of us, and the flashing lights, car search, and consultations with several other policefolk held our attention for the better part of an hour. It also served as a comfort to know that were we so well protected, here on the Capitol campus, in the middle of the night. There were policefolk on every block!

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Breaking dawn was a much-anticipated and heart-warming sight. Unfortunately, at that point, the line became standing-room only (no more camp chairs!) in the SC courtyard. Glad we wore the comfy shoes! In fact, I was wearing my entire ensemble of skiing gear (minus the bibs, thought I did think about it). At least it got used this year.

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The short trek to Union station to stow our gear, clean up, change, and get breakfast was jolly and anticipatory and seemed quite long, because of the sleeping bag, camp chair, change of clothes, food, books, and drinks I was carrying.

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The second line (yes, you stand in the first line to get tieckts to hold your spot in another line) was slightly less fun. While we looked much better (and less like extremely well-heeled homeless people), the sun was out, and we could triumph by holding the entire head of the line, business clothes = real shoes = pinchy when standing/walking for a few hours. As the line grew and snaked back down the street, we felt marginally better about camping out.

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Lawyers enter in the secret, side door, but the waitin' public gets to use the front doors. The front doors of the SC are impressive, like all the other grandiose public buildings in town, and walking up those steps and passing by the pillars of JUSTICE gave me a genuine shiver.

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Seriously, you can only bring in a pen and a pad of paper. That's it. Go back to the end of the line.

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The chairs were small, hard, and placed in extremely close quarters. As in, we of the broad shoulders were getting to know each other very, very well. The public sat around the room in the chairs of discomfort, while the pews filled with lawyers and ticket-holding invitees. The soaring walls, heavy red drapes, and mosaiced ceilings could not disguise the solemnity of the room. The uniformed "behaviour police" (they b*tchslapped talkers, confiscated illegal electronic devices, and prepared to evict any sleepers) only added to the impression. The elongated bench, with the nine seats set and waiting, dominated the visual landscape.

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I fully admit that I could not previously recite the list of SC justices, but now I know them by seat order. How's that for learning something?!

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They say that it is an honor and a privilege for a lawyer to argue a case before the SC. While I believe that in my head, after witnessing the piranha (or better yet, terrier-like worrying) attack style of the interested justices (the uninterested justices may have well been asleep, for all they participated), I can't imagine that it isn't also one of the most nerve-wracking and vomit-inducing experiences of a lawyer's entire career. Fun to watch, painful to play.

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Well, now I know personally that these are some of the sharpest, smartest people in the land. With some of the thickest accents.

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I can say that it was terribly, terribly exciting to be in the room when some of the issues we'd been working on for years were potentially being decided. The justices might not have known everything we knew, but they knew enough to drill down to the core questions with breathtaking speed accuracy and we got to be there as (a tiny piece of judicial) history was made. It was an amazing witnessing experience.

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Half of us got out at the break in arguments, and the other half stayed in. We departees stood outside in our now-familiar courtyard for yet another hour. At least it was sunny!

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We gushed at each other, bonded through (mild) adversity, about the coolest work day EVER.

Hear ye, Hear ye

I hereby begin my advocation of the 3-day work week.

Because it's wonderful/good for catching up on Netflix/time for cooking/means we can get our drink ON!/fun/a cuddlefest/leaves time for reading/full of sleeping/the best thing ever/nice :)