What's with you guys and food?

Sick Days.

2010-12-03T09:32:00.003-06:00

I've been sick since Thanksgiving, and I've managed to pass on my illness to Drew. This experience has revealed a few things about us:

1.) We have completely different styles of taking care of illness. Drew goes by the (arguably more sane) method of actually going to the doctor right when he gets sick. He then is armed with medical advice, prescriptions, and, I think, just feels safer knowing that someone with a medical degree knows that he's taken ill.

I, on the other hand, view illness as a test of my strength. Aside from pushing off going to a doctor (which costs money! And they ask you questions (which I also interpret as tests that I can either pass or fail, of course.)), I also hesitate to use any sort of medicine. I like to think that my body will eventual overcome what ails me and that I'm stronger than the pain of a headache. Which, yes, is insane.

2.) Which brings me to the next revelation - I'm willing to get potentially sub-standard medical care if it's cheaper. I'll definitely either go to the campus wellness center or just call my pharmacist father instead of seeing a real doctor where there might be a copay for a visit. My cheapness is usually restricted to things like saving up for a purse for years or not getting yogurt at the store because it's too fancy. But now I've taken it to new levels. (My newest line at the pharmacy is "Is this the generic brand? Yes, that's good enough.")

3.) Filling out medical forms is extremely amusing. The receptionist asked Drew who he'd like as his emergency contact. He said to put my information down, and then she asked what my relation to Drew was. He first said "girlfriend." For some reason, something about that sounded a little floozy to me. It sounded equivalent to "This girl I've been seeing for about two weeks. She's pretty nice. ...What's your name again?". So I gave Drew a look that I thought communicated that message. In an attempt to correct this, I said "partner" while he murmured "Best buddy." I'm still not sure what the receptionist wrote down.

I'm bracing for a future call that goes something like this:

"Hi, I'm sorry to say that Drew is in a coma. His emergency records say to call you. Are you his best buddy?"

"Of course, yes, I'm his best buddy. Is he okay?"

2010-06-04T06:37:00.001-05:00

"Forgot to lock the door last night."

"Well, nothing is missing, is it?"

"No, but just because nothing came out doesn't mean nothing came in here...I checked the closet for a creeper. We're safe."

"...That's a great attitude."

This is why we can't go to nice places.

2010-04-05T20:26:00.005-05:00

A few nights ago, Drew and I traveled up to Evanston for dinner. We found an amazing BBQ place with possibly the best nachos and milkshakes I've ever had. But better than the food was the entertainment. We were seated in a booth with very high backs on the seats, so that you can't see over it. It was very cool, sort of like being in your own room in the restaurant.

As we sat down, we heard the family next to us talking. The conversation started getting increasingly out of control. It seems that the father brought his two sons, one college-age and one around ten, to the restaurant for a "nice night." He kept making proclamations in a heavily accented voice like "I am going to tell you something important. Are you listening? Okay. 'No pain, no gain.'"

Needless to say, it was a pretty entertaining evening. We had a very good time listening to their stories and arguments. As they were leaving, we heard the mother say "There were people sitting in the next booth? I didn't notice. They didn't say anything for the whole meal!"

Uh, embarrassing. That's because we were listening to you the whole time, lady.

You have two items in your shopping cart.

2010-03-08T14:36:00.004-06:00

I have a very complicated relationship with shopping of all kinds - online, in person, those people in the middle of the mall that try to attack you with various beauty products. I'm not naturally a very good shopper when it comes to real life stores. I typically need to have a mission, especially in malls. Otherwise, I get pretty overwhelmed quickly. I start looking bedraggled, my eyes get bloodshot, and I turn into a five year old, very concerned about when I'll eat next (and seriously in need of a nap). I've narrowed this problem down to two possible sources: terrible air quality and lighting in most stores or my general inability to spend money.

The problem with the spending money thing is that I just need a lot of time. If no one was in the stores with me, I would pick up things that I thought I liked, walk around with them for maybe an hour or so, and talk to myself about the pros and cons of handing over my debit card. Then I could make a reasonable decision. But do you know how crazy you look if you enter and exit a store upwards of three times in an hour? Pretty darn crazy. I know.

My shopping difficulties have resulted in quite a few positives. I don't really own all that much, I typically really like what I do own, and I'm pretty good at saving money. The major negative is that my anti-shopping personality conflicts with the part of me that thinks I can shop my way into being a new person. I have this version of myself that I think I'd like to be. It's fairly close to who I am, but I live in a better decorated apartment and I wear better clothes. The trouble is, then, that I enter every store thinking that I can manifest my dream self by buying a really great cardigan. Rarely do I find that awesome sweater and, even if I do, rarely can I part with money without feeling flu-like.

This complicated back and forth with retail therapy got even more complicated when I discovered online shopping during my senior year of college. Shopping online, while it seemed to solve all my problems, just prolonged my personality ticks. Now I could shop whenever I wanted, but with no one judging how long it took me to make decisions! I could pick things out, put them into that shopping cart, and just wait. Walk away, make a sandwich, consider whether it was worth the cost. If I still wanted it in a few days, it was probably worth the money.

It sounded like the perfect solution, but did I mention that I could shop Any Time? And that I could obsess about a pair of socks For Days? And that the woman working at my college mail center thought that I was running a seriously shady business with the amount of packages that I would receive in a given week?

I've since chilled out with the online shopping. And also regular shopping, for the most part. So uh, now I just don't really buy clothes that often. And I just wear shoes and jeans into the ground. I have one pair of boots that I wore every day in the winter. And I don't own a pair of jeans that don't have a hole in them. Oh, and I wore a pair of flats for so long last summer that the sole ripped off. ...and I still wore them. For months.

So uh, yeah, this approach doesn't seem to be working, either. Unless sole-less shoes and T-shirts from American Eagle's Summer 2006 collection is a good look for this spring. Then I'm golden.

Serious Lapses of Judgment

2010-02-23T22:27:00.003-06:00

I'm sort of worried about my sense of perception lately. First, I went to IKEA and bought three small, shrubby plants as a centerpiece for my dining room table. I was very careful with carrying them home, I arranged them in my apartment, and I watered them daily. On day three, I thought about trimming them and transferring them into the ceramic pots I had bought for them.

Then it hit me, out of nowhere. Those are not real plants. In no way do they look like real plants. I looked in the pots to find not dirt, but a plastic disk that was supposed to look like dirt. I also found about 3 inches of water, just sitting there. I had been living in an alternate reality for half a week.

(To be fair, Drew also thought they were real, but he saw me treating them like real plants. I feel that that might have influenced his opinion of the whole situation.)

My second troubling thing happened today. Every day that I'm on campus, I check my mailbox in the department. This is around 3 or 4 times a week. Today, I took a second look at the mailbox that I've been checking all this time and realized that it's not my mailbox. For around 5 weeks, I've missed all the mail in my box. I've missed FIVE WEEKS of work. I'm pretty sure my boss thought that I became extremely lazy and was blowing off all the work he gave me to do. Not a great reputation-builder.

I'm hoping this lapse in judgment is short-lived. In the meantime, I'll be continuing my routine of taking an empty watering can and pretending to water my fake plants. I'm a creature of habit.

Updates and Neighbor Adventures

2010-02-21T19:05:00.003-06:00

I realized today that I have sadly neglected this blog. So, some updates:

-Drew moved to Chicago about a month ago to take a very exciting new job! We've been watching Mad Men marathons and eating Giordano's pizza (for Valentine's Day, in the shape of a heart!) with reckless abandon. Basically, we're going to be 300 pounds by summertime. It's awesome.

-I've been considering moving, mostly due to an increased neighbor involvement and encouragement from Drew. A snippet of what's been going on on the homefront:

A group of young, upstanding boys have decided to make my floor's hallway their ground zero of pot smoking. Come on, guys, let's at least go home to do this. I wouldn't be that annoyed except they sit directly in front of my door for stretches of several hours, preventing me from leaving and from thinking non-drug addled thoughts.

My neighbor (mother of Crazy Next Door) decided to stop by one day this week, after I was stuck talking to her at the laundromat for an hour. During this hour, she told me that I'm too nice, that I'll probably end up decapitated (!) in a bath tub because "people in this place are CRAZY, girl"), and that I must keep an eye on my laundry, as it might be stolen. She has proof that this happens because she saw people steal 1500 dollars from a dryer once. She never explained why there was that amount of money in a dryer to begin with. Anyway, after that pleasant event, she encountered me a few days later in the hallway, where she asked me my pant size. Apparently she has some clothes for me that she thinks I'd like. I tried to get out of this quickly, and I thought that I had succeeded.

A few hours later, I heard a knock on my door. Now, I refuse to answer knocks at the door, unless I know that someone is coming over. I'm absolutely certain that I won't want to talk to whoever unexpectedly shows up at my door. However, the visitor knocked four times over the course of 2 minutes, and then she started yelling "It's your neighbor! I hear the TV! I know you're there!"

Darn. Not the first time viewing 16 and Pregnant has led to a bad situation.

I answered the door, and I found my neighbor smoking in my doorway. She asked if she could use my cellphone to locate her 35 year old daughter. Um, okay. After this call, she told me that she'd be back in a bit to give me clothes.

I had to think of a way to get out of this, of course, so I turned on the shower. I figured that if she came back and heard the shower, she'd leave. I sat down on the bathroom floor next to the running shower to wait. Yes, this was a low point of my life.

When Neighbor returned, she knocked, and knocked, and knocked. She waited out the duration of a normal shower. She continued knocking. She started talking to herself. Okay, time to step in. I shut off the shower, switched sweaters, and answered the door. I made up some excuse about having to get ready for class. I'm pretty sure that she realized that having completely dry hair and just wearing a different sweater didn't equal having taken a shower. Not so smooth.

After this awkward series of encounters, I decided that moving might be in my future. I can't bring myself to sit on the bathroom floor again to hide from my neighbors. Because "they're CRAZY, girl."

Hi, Neighbor.

2009-10-15T10:49:00.002-05:00

-"Hi, how are you?"

-"Good. I have all this stuff to carry. You can go up the stairs first."

-"Thanks."

-"I can't walk as fast as you. I'm old. I'm 71."

-"Oh, wow. You look great, though."

-"Eh, thanks. I have 9 kids and 15 grandkids."

-"That's great! Congratulations."

-"...all my friends are dead."

Wow. Heavy.

Some Summer Holgas

2009-10-13T10:08:00.002-05:00

An autumnal nesting frenzy has come over me. I'm busy writing papers and finding ways to make my apartment cozier, in anticipation of the winter that never ends. Despite my fear of the winter, I have to say that I love autumn in Chicago. It is beautiful and just cool enough for me to wear my favorite coat every day. I may need to calm down with all the pumpkin-related baking, though. Things are getting out of hand.

People Who Are Unaware That I Blog Have Told Me That I Should Blog About This.

2009-09-27T14:29:00.004-05:00

This week, I was crossing a busy intersection, where many people had to weave around each other because of the large mass of pedestrians. As I'm participating in this weaving, I noticed that a skateboarder was coming toward me at a fairly slow speed. We both tried to avoid each other, but I realized a collision was inevitable, so I put both of my hands up and turned my head. As luck would have it, I my hands landed squarely on said skateboarder's chest, and my cheek sort of nuzzled up against him. As if things could get more awkward, in an effort to brace himself, the young man wrapped his arms around me ever so tenderly.

So let's take a moment to picture this. I'm in the middle of a very busy intersection, with dozens of people walking around me, wrapped in a rather intimate embrace some random skateboarder. Everyone around us decided to either stop and stare or laughing at me.

Drew's response to this situation? "Did you kiss?"

I assured him that, it being the only polite thing to do, I did kiss that fellow and send him on his way. ...And if I honestly had, it might not have even added to awkwardness.

Transition

2009-09-12T07:13:00.005-05:00

Sometimes, when I'm walking outside, I forget whether winter is coming or going. I can only feel that it's not completely hot and not completely cold, just somewhere in between. I sense we're in transition.

This also happens when I'm flying in a plane from time to time. I forget whether I'm flying to Pennsylvania or from. Am I going to Chicago, where my apartment and my stuff and my work are, or to Pennsylvania, where my family and my childhood friends and Drew are? Parts of my present and my past and my future in both places. Not sure which direction I'm going. Just knowing I'm straddling the two. And I'm at home in both.

Mad Men s3e4 "The Arrangements" thoughts

2009-09-06T22:27:00.001-05:00

Mad Men Episode 4 - The Arrangements

I want to start off by saying I called Grandpa Gene dying because the first shot shows the black Lincoln. Looked like a hearse. Not an accident I don't think by Matt Weiner and crew.

This episode was all about father figures. That's fairly obvious. It takes a look into the different fathers who have left or leave impressions on their children. For the Draper kids, Grandpa Gene leaves them memento's of his time that Don doesn't approve of. Gene oversteps his boundaries with the grandkids and with Betty. Betty doesn't want to hear about her father's funeral plans and last wishes but he makes her talk about it. He's also wearing black this entire episode. Can't be an accident.

For Don himself, we see him as he looks back on his own father. We see him look at the picture but not with the same disdain that we're used to seeing Don show towards his father.

Pete references his father's awful investments by say the Jai alai account would be "my father's kind of investment." A backhanded compliment towards Horace but Horace has no idea. "Your son has a dream" Don says. True for anyone's son but not always told. Not always understood.

Horace himself also gets in on the father figure act with his father being brought in to Sterling Cooper and told of the situation. He throws his son to the wolves in hopes he'll learn a life lesson.

Back to the big story. Grandpa Gene says he shielded Betty from the outside world. Perhaps now that he's gone she will look past her shields of family. Perhaps not in the same way she did at the end of last season but like the end of the episode where she eats the peach that's been in his car all day. Like eating the forbidden fruit maybe Betty has gone past the point of return.

Speaking of forbiddin fruit. A lot of Biblical references in this episode. The Fatted Calf reference by Pete towards Horace. The talk of the Holy Father's death. The monk who sets himself on fire.

Finally, everything with Sal was just off. The commercial. The sulk time with Don. The way things are between Kitty and him aren't -just- off but they're fairly off.

Nonetheless a very good character episode. I haven't even been able to go into detail all the nuances that were fit into the 48 minute TV greatness.

PS - Lois comes back. I love Lois.

Sage advice.

2009-08-17T19:51:00.004-05:00

My youngest brother is starting college this year. He told me that he fears he'll do something really dumb during his first week.

I said "Just don't be THAT kid who goes to the hospital for alcohol poisoning the first night."

He said "No, I meant more like shrink my clothes when I'm doing laundry."

We're a simple people.

"Remember when Captain America died? Sad."

2009-08-10T20:20:00.003-05:00

Drew and I went to Comicon this weekend. This was my first taste of a comic convention. Oh my, the things that I've seen. I'm not used to getting so much attention from men because I'm one of a handful of women in a room (and perhaps the only one not wearing some form of cape or combat boots). The following is a good snippet of the antics that occurred there:

Early in the day, I explained to Drew that an exboyfriend, who enjoyed comic books, often suggested that I started reading comics as well. "Just read one! I know you'll love them!" he'd say to me. Not surprisingly, I just don't think that they're my thing, so I refused.

Later in the day, Drew left me alone for about 30 seconds while he looked at something. The owner of the stand approached me and the following conversation occurred:

Owner: "Hi! Can I help you with something?"

Me: "Oh, no. I'm just waiting for HIM." (Said loud enough for Drew to hear, but just pretending to be annoyed.)

Drew: *turns around very quickly and pretends to be mad* "WHAT. Just waiting for me?!"

Owner: *growing uncomfortable at our fake fight, turns to me* "Oh, do you read comics?"

Me: "No, no."

Owner: "You should read one! You'll love them!"

Drew: "Ah, I'm constantly telling her that! Just read them and you'll love them!"

Me: "Maybe next year, guys."

Next year. As though it's an activity that you can only do once a year. Boy, was I out of my element. I think it was worth it for the people watching that occurred, though. Where else will I see multiple men in capes and get checked out by Christopher Knight, actor who formerly played Peter Brady? Nowhere, friends. Nowhere.

In another life, I was a golf pro.

2009-08-10T20:13:00.003-05:00

I'm so happy that I made such good friends this summer. Drew is visiting Chicago for the week, and we went mini golfing with our friends Bryan and Whitney. It was perhaps the most challenging mini golf course ever, because it clearly has not been tended to in years. Drew proved to be victorious and won by a landslide.

Summer.

2009-08-02T10:09:00.003-05:00

I went to a Cubs game last week. I'm not big on watching the game but instead sat for awhile, enjoying the sunset, and then wandered Wrigley Park. What a great stadium. Malt cups are my new favorite thing.

It's Just the Undercover Cops Again

2009-07-26T18:06:00.002-05:00

I live in a...rowdy neighborhood. I have difficult neighbors. I'd hardly describe my living situation as dangerous - most days - but there is a level of banter and general antics that I've never witnessed in suburban Pennsylvania. During my first week here, a van was on fire in front of my windows, filling my place with thick black smoke. The next day, a group of fifteen pre-teen boys got into a huge fight on the corner. I'd say that set the tone right.

Since then, I've witnessed many police visits to my neighbors (Crazy Next Door and Family). Sometimes, it's hard to even determine why the police are there. There was the hit and run incident, general suspicion of drugs, street fighting. I'm pretty sure that they just come to visit from time to time. Perhaps they need some entertainment.

My first conversation with Crazy Next Door took place as she scrubbed ink off the hallway walls, wearing hardly any clothing.

"This building is awful. Kids are in the halls smoking pot all the time. And they'll try to break into your place. Break ins all the time, giiiiirl."

"Um, really? Into my apartment? Well, how do they get into the building?" (Wow, what a newb, she must have thought.)

"Yeeeah. Well, they're my son's friends." I had identified the problem neighbor.

"Oh. Well. Okay."

"You know what you need to do? You need to get a baby bulldog and raise it from young. I mean, this will take a lot of work, but it'll be worth it. At least your stuff will be there when you get home."

This conversation was followed by me going into my apartment, locking my three locks, and weeping.

I'd like to point out that my apartment has never (knock on wood) been broken into. No one in this building has tried to bother me...except for Crazy.

This is not to say that Crazy is all bad. She is kind enough to warn us when she's taking her giant, vicious dog out of the apartment and letting it loose into the hallway. "ANYONE IN THE HALL?!" she bellows.

I always wondered what would happen if you neglected to indicate to her that you were, in fact, in the hallway. My curiosity regarding this ended when I walked by her door one day and the dog slammed its body against it, from the inside of the apartment, while snarling. As a warning.

Enough said, Crazy. You mean business.

Why It Took Eight Years for Drew and I to Date

2009-07-08T21:29:00.003-05:00

As I've mentioned, I've been taking a German class this summer. Basically, I'm supposed to learn how to translate German texts in the course of 12 classes. The professor keeps saying "Now you have learned all you need to know. Ever." Reassuring, prof, but you say that after 30 minutes of class. I'm starting to have trouble trusting your word.

This class has also done something interesting to me. It appears to temporarily switch on the part of my brain that made me incredibly un-fun in high school. Since graduating from college, I haven't taken a test. Basically, since high school, I haven't had any pop quizzes. This class features both of those. I've been reminded that when I sit in a classroom before class and hear rumblings about surprise quizzes or scary tests, I have a complete internal freak out. This is why most of my current friends, family, and Drew would not have been or were not crazy about me in high school. (There are many reasons that Drew and I didn't date in high school, even though we knew each other. The fact that I was so tense and nervous that I kept my shoulders pretty close to my ears is one of them.)

Anyway, nervous high school Christina ("Oh no, I didn't memorize the right vocab words!") has made the last week a little rough. This, compiled with 40 hours of work a week, has made me a little negative and stressed.

In order to turn that attitude around, I'm making an effort to start running more frequently. This has benefitted me in ways I couldn't have imagined: I got an offer for a new running buddy. My neighbor, who is more than a little familiar with the neighborhood cops, has offered to run with me to get rid of her "gross legs." I will weigh this decision carefully. Pros: I get way more street cred. Cons: The things I'll have to go through to get said street cred. Only time will tell.

OMG Where Are You Guys (and food!) (dot com)!

2009-07-08T19:12:00.003-05:00

So I was thinking the other day how we haven't posted a single blog entry on here in a long time. 5 days ago? Dang! That's forever ago. I decided I will do some wrap up of the week that was:

I played Mario Kart Wii. It was an epic 2 hour romp with three other friends back in Scranton. It's the only video game I play competently and I love it. Cartoonish racing games will always have a soft spot in my heart. See Crash Team Racing for a little piece of my childhood.
I uploaded a new song to the ReverbNation playlist! http://www.reverbnation.com/jackingsaturns thanks so much for the hits and plays. I made it into the top 200 for the Syracuse region (need to change that zip code!)
A month in, and Dave Matthews Band's Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King still dominates my iTouch. I bought the album twice. The regular CD version and then the awesome full vinyl record. I would hope one day to meet someone associated with the band and have them sign the record it's such a piece of art. By piece of art, I mean both the cover and the music inside. Great work from my favorite band!

If you're asking me to rank, and of course you are, the best song in my humble opinion is Lying in the Hands of God.

Speaking of DMB, I've seen them a good number of times. If you want to look at my stats check out my DMB Concert Stats on Antsmarching.org!

Alright, a nice update for now. I'm sure Christina will enjoy this.

Go Yankees. Go Giants. Go... Syracuse Chiefs!

PS. Title is an obvious rip of AD's I'm Oscar! (dot com!)

Ikea Picture Frame Extravaganza

2009-07-04T08:47:00.006-05:00

Being in a city without owning a car is both a blessing and a curse. Not having to pay for parking and gas is amazing, especially because public transportation here is really reliable and generally not filled with too many crazies. However, one thing has bothered me about not having my own car. Even worse than not being able to get anywhere without walking at least a half a mile has been my inability to get to Ikea, the source of all wonderful things.

This weekend, I bummed a ride with a friend to the local Ikea. I've gotten to the point where just being in a car is incredibly exciting. That store, as usual, did not disappoint. My epic four hour adventure, complete with a delicious Swedish meal and cookies, resulted in some wonderful purchases.

By the by, did you ever notice that Ikea goods look different in the store? Something just overcomes me when I'm in that environment. You're walking around with a cart full of awesome things, and they all look so perfect surrounded by fake showrooms. You start having trouble discerning between wants and needs. You might get sort of dizzy. You convince yourself that you simply MUST HAVE the Kloppengelfagen outlet converter. Then, you take them home, and they're still wonderful, but they don't quite look the same. Where did I plan on putting the Kloppengelfagen anyway? It's sort of like a brief drunkeness wherein decision-making becomes harder and harder. Then you wake up the next day surrounded by awesome, but probably unecessary, goods. This, by the way, is how I furnished my whole apartment last summer. In one, hour-long Swedish-induced stupor.

Anyway, I spruced up the old apartment with my wonderful wares, including some new picture frames. I framed some pictures from my college trip to London, some pictures that I took from my grandmother (who could not be less sentimental about the old things in her house), and my latest Holga pictures. I'm pretty excited about how they turned out, and I'm also coming to terms with the fact that I'll have about five thousand nail holes to plaster over before I move out of this place. Hopefully I'll stop moving around picture frames and keep the walls more or less intact.

Christina and Drew Pre-Blog

2009-07-01T22:39:00.004-05:00

The story of how we met is muddled in history. I'm pretty sure it was at a mutual friends birthday party somewhere in the 2001-2003 era. However! We do have some more recent records of how Christina and I came to the point where we now co-habituate a wonderful little slice of the internet!

Christina

December 20 at 3:11pm

Hm, so, I remembered that you said you'd be in Scranton tonight. For one night only, as I recall. So as to not appear to be ditching you because of sleeping or class, I thought I'd send you a message and see if that's still the case. Let me know if you're still going out and if I'm still invited. I know how fickle you can be. My number is 8675309. Otherwise, I'll probably be baking or writing. You know, wild and crazy as usual.

Drew

December 20 at 6:05pm

haha I'll give you a call when I get in town! dawg... my digits are8675309 feel free to txt/call when you get siiick plans

And there you have it folks. A quick facebook message got the phone calls rolling. :) Go out there and tell somebody you wanna hang out! Who knows where it'll go! Also, HOW MUCH did she want me to hang out?!? :D

"A New Doctor Needs a New Graveyard."

2009-07-01T07:56:00.008-05:00

I just started a German summer class. My professor, who has two PhDs, is adorable ("Yes, well, two PhDs. It was hard but, eh."). For a split second, I thought, "I could get two PhDs! I'll just start another after I finish this one." But then I realized that I will really never earn a living nor have a life. Despite this, I'd be way more interesting at a dinner party because, as NYC Prep (a tremendous feat of television) tells us, "A Philosopher? Is that even a job? Who pays you to do that?".

In said German class, I have to do some translations. In the past 24 hours, I have translated the following things:

-A dwarf always stays a dwarf.
-It's raining sausages!
-The goat is the poor man's cow.
-The limping messanger brings the truth.

And my favorite: "Haste breaks legs." Why do the stakes seem so unbearably high in German proverbs?

In other news, I'm learning the polarizing force of aviator sunglasses. I have a really hard time finding sunglasses that don't a.) move all over the place when I smile and my cheeks puff up or b.) make me look like a bug. When I was at Anthropologie the other day, doing mental math about how in debt/hungry I'd be if I bought every single thing in there instead of paying my bills and buying groceries this month, I decided to try on aviators. I'm not a particularly great judge of what I look like in certain accessories, so I decided to mull it over for awhile. Okay, also, I'm cheap, and it takes a lot for me to fork over cash.

After a few days, I decided that it was time to make the big plunge. I informed my brother, James, that I'd be making this purchase. This announcement was met with wails and gnashing of teeth from my easily embarrassed brother. He insisted that aviators make one look like a hipster idiot (not his words, but I can read between the lines). In order to be a good sibling, I sent him a picture of them for approval. Well, he quickly nixed them, but I ever-so-considerately vetoed his input.

Verdict: While a huge improvement over my other sunglasses, which ate my whole face and looked like I bought them in the old person section of a department store (which, okay, maybe I did), they do make me look like both a highway patrol and the Terminator. I'm comfortable with this, though. When I wear them, people sort of tiptoe around me, waiting for either a citizen's arrest or me to run for governor of California.

Eh, it's better than looking like a farmer because, as I've learned, "farmers love long sausages and short sermons." I had no idea.

Podcast City

2009-06-30T21:38:00.003-05:00

I like the idea of radio on demand. Listening to Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio has been likened to reading USA Today's sports section. It's a little bit of this and that and a lot of whatever hot at the time. So naturally, I like the idea of listening to the sportscaster I want to listen to, when I want to listen to them.

I'll listen to Michael Kay in New York on 1050am ESPN if he has a good guest on. I'm subscribed to the B.S. Report with Bill Simmons and listen to that religiously. When I say religiously, I mean it in the sense that if it comes out and I have the opportunity to listen to it I will. He recently had Chuck Klosterman on and I love their podcasts. Chuck always turns the tables and basically throws these philosophical questions at Bill. They get lengthy and ESPN divides them up between two separate episodes which is nice.

With all that in mind, naturally I wanted to be in on the Podcast craze. So I do a little podcast called WTF@TFW. It's podcast for fans of the monster box-office grabbing hit Transformers and is regularly downloaded by anywhere from 500-1,000 people weekly (iTunes doesn't give out actual download numbers, sadly). My job on the podcast is to come on every other week and be on a panel that discusses recent 'news' or information that's come out. I take it all very lightly, as yes it's an hour long internet radio show about toys, but I also take it seriously. There's a lot of people out there that enjoy listening to it on their commute to work, or while they're at the gym or while they're working on something.

I try to give my opinions on things that I truly have opinions about when I'm asked for it. If something doesn't seem interesting to me, I don't make up something so that my voice can be heard. When it comes down to it, the podcast is an outlet for the kid inside me that wants to joke around. I like that.

What other podcasts should I check out? Any recommendations, internet?

For Michael Kay's radio show -> Click Here
For The B.S. Report with Bill Simmons -> Click Here
For WTF@TFW -> Click Here

Thank you for saving me from urban racoons.

2009-06-29T16:25:00.004-05:00

I like our exploring. Walking around cities that one of us has grown used to and one of is exploring as a new place. Walking around the town where we both grew up, comparing the overlap of our childhoods. Finding places that are new to both of us. Inevitably ending up eating pizza no matter where we are.

I like our sitting at home, watching ridiculous TV shows. Making sweet potato fries and chicken pot pie. Finding out what chores each of us are lazy about (me, filling up the Brita pitcher; him, picking up clothes off the floor). Laughing a lot.

I like that.

"Want me to make pancakes?" "Uh, we ate pancakes four times this week." "Did we? I guess you're right."

2009-06-28T16:53:00.007-05:00

This summer - with the exception of some great visitors (and more fun ones to come soon!) - has sort of kicked my butt so far. I'm exhausted and feeling like I'm home every day just long enough to make a mess but just short enough to run out of time to clean it up. It sort of leaves me longing for my winter Sunday morning pancake routine.

...But then I remember Chicago winters, with the negative 35 degree weather that makes your damp laundry freeze. And wearing a mom coat all winter. And running at a dead sprint while wearing boots and said mom coat (Oh, and a full backpack) over piles of snow and ice because you're pretty sure if you stop moving, you'll die. Yes, take a moment. Picture that. Now add that it's 10 at night and you live in sketchville. And you ran almost a mile like that.

Yeah, I think I'll take summer over that any day.

The Quotes List

2009-06-28T10:03:00.004-05:00

Another list of quotes that either Christina and I will use from time to time. Most of them will be either from clips from the Soup or from our everyday lives. I like keeping this list around in case I forget about using one for awhile I can bring it back and send Christina into a giggle fit when I quote it.

"It's gross" - Billy Bush, on the Octomom coverage, via The Soup. I don't think any of the quotes have really lasted as long as this one. It can be used in almost any situation we find gross... and use it we do. Examples: "Man, this dinner bill is expensive. It's gross." Me: "It is super rainy out!" Christina: "It's gross!"

"You don't look happy! Look happy!" - Maci from 16 and Pregnant to her baby daddy when they take one of those arm's length photographs. She has the biggest smile in the world and he looks like Disgruntled Goat from Itchy and Scratchy Land.* We named a Facebook photo book about this, including the photos from Christina's post about our trip to Chicago. You have to say it in her southern charm accent to really get it across. Haaaappy.

"Where were yo--?" "WHERE WERE YOU!" - Christina works over the summer as a front desk associate for her school. She gets a half hour for lunch. One day we went to lunch and were close to running late for her getting back. I asked her what she'd do if someone gave her beef about getting back on time. "Well if they say 'Where were you?' I'll just cut them off with 'Where were you!!!'"

*Editor's note - I just bought Simpsons Season 6 on DVD and will be making references to it all the time this week.

"Will the 10 Pound Bag of Flour Be Enough?" "Probably not."

2009-06-26T16:01:00.005-05:00

The second part of my homemaker personality has manifested itself in the form of intense cooking and baking, as evidenced in Drew's last post. I once went on a six month streak of not buying any processed foods. Instead, I made every bread product, every sauce, even every piece of pasta that I ate. This, combined with being too cheap to eat out very often, meant that most of my meals required a lot of work. At one point, I seriously considered making my own bagels.

Then, a few weeks ago, I cracked and bought Pop Tarts. Life has been much better since then.

Now that that bout of homemaker craziness has passed me, I just make most of the desserts and bread that I eat. From time to time, I'll feature pictures of some of the things that I make. Tonight, I made some tortillas. Tortillas, in general, are so much easier to make than I expected. So much easier, especially, than bread because they don't require yeast. In less than an hour, you can make a ton of tortillas that can be frozen or put in the fridge to use later. And they taste so much better than most store ones. Except maybe Trader Joe's. Mm, are those good.

For the record: I'm aware that the following picture looks like I might be eating the saddest meal ever. But it's just to show that I made a really tasty and cute mini quesadilla with a tortilla and that I got the cutest tiny bottle of Perrier at work today. I don't even really like Perrier, but, coming from a mini version, it just tastes wonderful. Also, I just mixed some with fruit juice, and it's awesome. I'm feeling like a mixology genius over here.

Also, the above picture is of a new photo that I framed in my hallway, along with a photobooth strip that I have attached to the wall with magnets.

How Christina has changed the food I eat. Part One.

2009-06-25T22:37:00.004-05:00

Ok, so I was figuring out today what to make for dinner. I realized I wanted Sweet Potato fries. That was it. That was all I wanted to eat. Of course, I would have to make something to go along with it... I suppose. So I started scrounging my fridge for food to make. I ended up with a nice thin sliced pork chops and SP fries dinner.

Christina taught me how to make SP fries a good seven times. I think I asked her three times while making them earlier this week how to make them. I also asked her questions on it today. I'm forgetful like that you see when it comes to recipes. This is why the internet is so helpful.

Anywhozzle, I ended up making some grade A awesome sweet potato fries in my apt for the first time since, dun dun dun, Christina made them in January for me when she visited. So with a dinner of pork chops and SP fries the count is:

Christina 1, Other food 1.

To be continued...

Extreme Makeover: Chicago Shady Neighborhood on a Grad Student Budget Edition, Or What I Do Instead of Writing Papers

2009-06-24T21:52:00.013-05:00

This move to the middle of the country has led to several great changes in my life. Most significantly, I started a graduate program that I love, and I know that I'm moving in the direction of a career that I really want to do for the rest of my life. But maybe the most noticeable change has been the sheer volume of ways that I've discovered to keep myself away from schoolwork. I've turned into some sort of baking/cooking/crafting addict. (This can probably be traced back to 5 year-old Christina obsessively cutting out paper doll chains and crocheting one line of yarn over and over. I suppose you would say that I was committed. Or crazy. Hard to tell.)

My crafting has manifested itself mostly in my apartment, which has been described both as looking like "a kindergarten classroom blew up" or "a really calm bed and breakfast in a really sketchy neighborhood." The latter probably has more to do with the fact that I provide fresh baked scones to overnight guests. Again, with the crazy.

One of my favorite projects was hanging paper fans on a big span of white walls in my bedroom. It was a really cheap and surprisingly easy way to cover such a big space.

The next room that I worked on was the dining room, which, a year later, still only contains a table and chairs. In fact, it echoes so much that, when I talk to my family on the phone, they can instantly tell when I'm in there. But, fortunately, there are some things on the walls. ("What, family? I know that you can hear my voice reverberating off the vast amounts of empty space, but can't you also hear the stylish and carefully selected picture frames? What about the awesome centerpiece? Listen more carefully next time.") Here's a picture of the wall decals that I used to brighten up the room. It was hard to hang pictures on these walls because of the molding that breaks up each wall, so these decals worked out really well.

Here are a few other self-explanatory pictures, including my fairly elaborate snowflake decorations made of old Karl Marx presentation papers and Oprah magazines. While I was making these snowflakes, I was sitting at my computer surrounded by Marx and communist-related books. While my landlord was walking around my apartment fixing things. For hours. I'm sure he has some serious questions for me about my political leanings now. ("Oh, Christina? Right, that girl upstairs who's plotting some sort of apartment-wide takeover. She's already asked several of the tenants if they feel that their humanity is being stripped away by their meaningless labor. Also, if they find Obama's ideas about healthcare appealing.") Just wait until next semester, when I study French feminists. I might actually leave the kitchen and put on some shoes.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

2009-06-24T18:58:00.003-05:00

***Spoiler warning***

I liked it. I really did. I got caught up in it. I fan girl'd out when I saw a Transformer transform on the big screen for the first time in almost 2 years. I'm not sure what exactly fan girl'd out is but I basically sat there and grinned like a 6 year old on Christmas Day watching most of the first scene.

(PS - The picture above is a pic I colored. Click on it to see more of my work!)

After that it suffered from the jumps to the next chapter and the next chapter of the story. The digital characters all looked better. I loved the parents in the first one but this time I felt like they were just way too gimmicky. Their gimmick? Humor. The one scene where they're not making sexual quips or accidentally getting high made me remember that they're parents caught up in all this at, really, an arm's distance.

This aspect of these larger-than-life robots at an arm's distance is what I liked the most about the first movie, there was a bit of wonderment about it. This whole world was being introduced to us and the characters. This sequel, sort of, felt like a movie that was made with the idea to have three things in bigger quantities: robots, robots and action involving robots. Which I suppose appeases the people who said "Where's the Transformers?" when referring to the 2007 film. Unfortunately, here it's so many, so so many, Transformers that none of them really get a solid foundation. I want to like Sideswipe because his 13 dollar toy is cool but I saw him slice a guy in half and say "I'm just that damn good." Eh. Give me Wheelie over him at this point. Wheelie was basically the best character, he a motive ("They'll whack me if I don't!") he had flaws and he had some good, humorous parts. Wheelie = the best.

The first movie was damn good as in I saw it 5 different times in the movie theaters good. This one just keeps going and going and going and pretty much will keep going on... in movie 3 which is when I might go back to see it... who am I kidding! Who wants to go this weekend? Christina! Where you at?

Quick thoughts:

Ratchet lost weight he looks much more like his Robot Replicas toy.

I can't tell if I like the fact that they just said OK, here's a bunch of robots fighting. "Look how crazy we are! We won't even give a name to this one until the last 20 minutes." Poor Jolt.

I went to Burger King and bought a Kid's Meal after I saw it. Reminded me of the time I went to see Casper the Friendly Ghost with my dad and when he asked where I wanted to go for food after I said "Pizza Hut because that's where they have the toys." Marketing takes over my life you see. And besides how could you say no this Casper hand puppet? Even my dad couldn't resist.

Also,

@daveybadfriends sighting when Sam and family move into college. At least I think. @icecoldcakemix and co. are in the movies now trying to figure out if it's him or not!

Drew's Music!

2009-06-23T20:28:00.002-05:00

Play it here or in the sidebar!

The music is all original stuff. Some of it has been influenced by some of my best friends. The name Jacking Saturns is the name of the little band I play the guitar with every now and then. Enjoy! Christina, for example, loves the song the Guvna. She luvs the Guv!

-Drew

Drew and Christina's Adventures in Chicago: An Overview in Pictures

2009-06-23T18:19:00.006-05:00

Drew came to visit me last week, during what is my first full summer in Chicago. After having his bag searched in Philly because of a contraband regular-sized tube of toothpaste ("Isn't this a little big, sir?"), I welcomed him to Chicago with a small taste of my life here: a two hour adventure home, involving trains, buses, and walking. Oh, and pouring rain and trudging through Cubs fans. Yes, sure, owning a car would alleviate all these problems, but there's something to be said for battling the CTA, crazy Chicago weather, and rabid, drunk sports fans.

Okay, not really. But I can easily travel 20 miles on foot. And there is certainly something to be said for that.

...which leads me to a tangent. When I was training for my summer job, we had to do one of those team building and leadership exercises that I'm pretty terrible at. (That's probably why I wasn't a great RA in college. Well, that and many other reasons to be explored at a later time.) The exercise involved our group of six people figuring out the best way to survive a plane crash in Canada, which supposedly occurred 25 miles from the nearest town. In the tundra. Many team members said that we should stay put post-crash. "No, no!" I argued. "25 miles is nothing. I could walk that in...5 hours. Easy." Well, I soon found out that walking 25 miles in the tundra would lead to certain death. Apparently it has some slight differences from the streets of Chicago. Perhaps you're right, leadership exercise instructor. Perhaps you're right.

But back to the trip! I took some pictures with my Holga film camera because, as my mother says, I need to make everything difficult. Digital camera? Pshaw. Full-sized vacuum? But I have this tiny handheld one that's perfectly good! Full length mirror? But if I stand on the side of the tub, I can sort of see most of my body in the bathroom vanity mirror!

Here are some of our pictures, chronicling Drew's rented 15 dollars per month guitar, the Cubs-White Sox game, and the beach.

*Also, please note. Drew is not doing an impression of George W. Bush in that last photo. It was just really sunny. Although he can do an impression of W., and I find things like that endlessly amusing.

The List of Quotes

2009-06-22T22:27:00.002-05:00

Some quotes will be used and this is a guide to them.

"Do you have ANY idea what you're doing!?" - Involves a police officer, avoiding a ticket and not doing anything wrong in the first place.

"Alright, Larry" - usually used when we've had enough of an idea. For example, "Christina, let's buy the moon!" "Alright, Larry...". From For the Love of Ray J

"That was a good movie!" - During the middle of The Proposal I jokingly told Christina that was the end. Expecting just a laugh in return she looked at me and blurted "That was a good movie!"

To be updated...

Setting the Tone.

2009-06-22T21:26:00.002-05:00

Christina: "Does making a domain name cost money?"

Drew: "Well, it was eight dollars because I had a coupon code. Without that, it would have been a whole TEN DOLLARS."

Christina: "Woo! Savings!"