Thanksgiving 2007

I have Wed-Sat off for Thanksgiving, since I have to do my last Sunday shift this coming Sunday. Wednesday I relaxed around the house, and cleaned the kitchen top to bottom. I mean really cleaned - moved all the furniture out of there and hand scrubbed the floor. I feel much calmer now that I know what is or isn't underneath things in there. I've never lived somewhere for this long so it's definitely a bit grody in parts. Wednesday night Nate and I caught up on the tv we missed last week.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. When I called my aunt in California she reminded me that this is the first Thanksgiving in four years that I have not been in California with them to celebrate. Hearing that shocked me a bit, and made me sort of sad. Luckily, she told me that well after the bulk of the day was over so it didn't put a damper on my day. Nate and I woke up and I made blueberry muffins. Nate doesn't like muffins, which I do not understand considering he loves cupcakes. I made him eat them anyway. We then lazied about and watched Darkon, that IFC film about some huge Live Action Role Playing community in the Baltimore/DC area. The movie was really interesting. We also put up my tiny Christmas tree, and put the Christmas flannel sheets on the bed. I am a full obsessive when it comes to the holidays and I don't understand why. As an atheist with a bad track record of family holidays, I'm not sure what gets into me every year.

Around 4 I got dinner ready. Dinner was a premade turkey roast, homemade mashed potatoes, box stuffing, and biscuits. Not fancy by any means, but more work than I usually do for a dinner. Everything turned out perfectly, which makes me think that next year I can step up my game and maybe make my grandma's awesome stuffing recipe. I still won't be able to do a 'real' turkey though. We also had some of the high end Sterling merlot that I love. Below is a photo of our food and my hokey holiday plastic plates.



As a frame of reference for how Midwestern this meal was, here is a photo of what I ate last year in Oakland on Thanksgiving. What you see is polenta with tomatoes and cheese, and eggplant stuffed peppers. Oh yeah and roasted duck heads (ew).



Yeah, our meal lacked any color or vegetable (we skipped the salad so we could stuff ourselves with potatoes), but oh well. Nobody said you had to eat healthy on Thanksgiving.

Later in the evening we attempted gingerbread cookies that turned out to be disasters. We melded two different recipes, didn't have the right sized bowls, didn't cut and cook them properly, didn't have a rolling pin...it was bad. I'm going to buy a rollin pin and some parchment paper and try for round 2 gingerbread cookies later in the week. I guess some part of Domestic Day had to go wrong.

do the disaster

I've had two nights in a row of dreams that involve catastrophes of some sort.

The first night I dreamed I witnessed a plane fall from the sky and land upside down and there was nothing I could to to help. Last night I had a dream that my apartment flooded with water and yet again all I could do is stand there and wait for a maintenance guy to sweep the water out. Let's see what hack job out there online thinks of these two things:

To dream that you are in a plane crash can mean you are afraid of something catastrophic happening that's out of your control. A dream about a crash can also mean you're feeling things are out of control somehow in your life right now, or a feeling that you're having bad luck or things just aren't going your way right now.



A dream that a body of water is rising or flooding can represent:

* A feeling of overwhelming circumstances invading in your real life, such as your to-do list or an emotional crisis
* Feeling overwhelmed or suffocated emotionally in a relationship or other situation
* Feeling like you are "over your head" or things are out of control somehow in your life

hmm...

word of the day

Thanks to Graham, I learned a new word today (or perhaps relearned a forgotten one):

os·si·fy (ŏs'ə-fī') Pronunciation Key
v. os·si·fied, os·si·fy·ing, os·si·fies

v. intr.

1. To change into bone; become bony.
2. To become set in a rigidly conventional pattern: "The central ideas of liberalism have ossified" (Jeffrey Hart).


v. tr.

1. To convert (a membrane or cartilage, for example) into bone.
2. To mold into a rigidly conventional pattern.

Weekend Update

I had the weekend "off" with Nate in the recording studio. Friday night I chilled with Audrey on the couch. I also did my grocery shopping, and got all the food I need for Thanksgiving. I wasn't going to do any sort of dinner for Thanksgiving, but got wrapped up in the moment at the store and bought tons of traditional Thanksgiving food. This means on Thursday Nate and I are going to eat till we puke, while also watching classic Thanksgiving tv, putting up the Christmas tree, and all those other traditional things I love but probably shouldn't.

Saturday I laid around all day and talked on IM to friends. I watched a ton of bad tv. In the evening I finally showered, and met Andy for dinner at Fernando's. We got drunk off intensely strong margaritas, and made our way to Schuba's for Steve's Smooth Music night. Nate brought Dylan, the guy recording their album, so I got to meet him which was nice. He used to live in SF so we talked a bit. By this point I don't remember what was coming out of my mouth, so I'm sure I was really embarrassing. We went home around 2, and Nate had to help put me to bed. Whoops! I don't go out too often anymore, so I don't feel too guilty about it.

Today, Sunday, I watched a depressing and not very well done documentary called Home. Then I watched The Thumbsucker, where my only thought at the end was "wow I really hate the Polyphonic Spree." It was cute enough though.

This week is a two day week because I am the sucker who has to work on Sunday after Thanksgiving. I'm sure I'll do absolutely nothing at work the next two days. Wee!

randoms

I got my eyes checked for the first time in years today. I told myself I wouldn't buy a pair of glasses without bringing Nate or a friend, but I found a pair I liked that will work and I didn't want to wait over a week for Nate to be free to come with me. The glasses are Booth & Bruce glasses. I encourage you to go to their website to laugh at how stereotypically gay male it is. From the shirtless dude to the pounding beat of bad techno...the site is amazing! It also has basically no content. Regardless, I like the frames and they should be ready in about a week. Just in time for my holiday photos with Audrey! Now I just need a haircut.

I have a ton of television to catch up on - Kid Nation, Pushing Daises, Real Housewives of OC, Project Runway... tonight is the office and 30 Rock, and I have some stuff taping on IFC. I also have two DVDs. Good thing my plans this weekend are to sit around the whole time. I'm getting my chores/laundry done tonight and perhaps Friday night so I can do nothing this weekend.

mini-film and book update

I can't decide if I want to see the film version of Love in the Time of Cholera, or if it will just ruin my super love of the book. Suggestions?

I saw Lars and the Real Girl tonight with my friend Melissa and her friend Anne. I wasn't sure what to expect from the film, and I wasn't sure how I felt during it. In the end I gave it 4 out of 5 stars on netflix, but still processing the film. It has characteristics I seek out in movies: isolated protagonists, quirky crap, sad stories, funny bits...just not sure if it was awesome or not. What was very odd was that there is a scene in the film that incorporates my fave fave fave song, Talking Heads' This Must be the Place. In fact the scene is a replica of the video for the song, which only a super TH nerd would notice. Creeeepy! The movie inspired in me the need to write a bit, but of course I come home goof off and blog instead. Whoops.

I finished Tolstoy's Resurrection on the bus ride home. The ending was very frustrating for me. I need to read some analysis of the book before I say anything of substance, but I really didn't like that the last ten pages were an analysis of the Book of Mark from the Bible (is that how you write it?). Barf. The last few paragraphs were beautiful though, and I'll need to re-read them when I think about how life is all confusing and who knows where it's going and all that shmaltz.

late Weekend Update

Despite being the instigator of the Annual Family Christmas Drama, I will be returning to Omaha for a few days around Christmas. I'll have doggy Audrey in tow too! I'm left really hurt by my dad, and not all pumped about having to stay with mom, but there isn't much I can do.

This weekend I watched R Kelly's Light it Up Tour dvd from 2006. It took place at the Paramount in Oakland, and was all I expected it to be. Utter hilarity the entire two hours. Even Nate laughed at some of it.

On Saturday we went to PetSmart, Target, and Home Depot. Oh and Circuit City too. Total Big Box Tour de Force. I got dog food, a humidifier, an external hard drive, and some window insulation stuff. We spent the afternoon preparing my apartment for winter, then watched Zodiac. Zodiac was really good! Its rare that I really like a current blockbuster flick, but I was captivated from start to finish. Certainly didn't hurt that Jake Gyllwhatever is super hot.

Sunday I had to work. Yuck. Then we had a boring quiet, early to bed evening. Yesterday work was total chaos, so all I could do was go home and veg in front of bad MTV programs all night. Tonight is my last day with Nate for awhile, since his band is recording the rest of the week. We are going to get Mexican food and watch Beauty and the Geek. I think I'll spend the rest of my week finishing Resurrection, writing, napping, watching DVDs...enjoying a quiet week to myself.

On randoms, dogs, family...

I only moved two pieces of furniture with me from SF to Chicago, and those two only got moved because they could collapse and would be useful. One of them, a shitty IKEA coffee table, broke long ago. The other, a tv tray table thingy from Target, is still rollin on, and I use it as an end table to my couch. I put my laptop on it and type. Recently I've moved it in front of the couch. This closes off one entrance to the couch, but also lets me sit straight forward instead of twisted. I used to have this table the same way in SF - straight ahead, and Audrey would curl up in my lap while I typed away all night. Now that I moved it back into this position, she's curling up again! I love it. A doggy in my lap, a laptop under my fingers, cable tv on...my version of heaven.

Despite blowing the credit card that I had paid off on my laptop, I've been slowly squirreling away money for a new apartment in April. I look at apartments on Craigslist and fantasize about moving. Less than 6 months. Hating your apartment and hating your neighbors can really be a great motivation for saving money.

Also in the money department - this month is the first in 18 months that I will have to pay my student loan payment. So from now until eternity I'll be dumping 236 a month into my loans. Thanks out of state Madison tuition!

Finally in random updates that relate to dogs money and apartments, Christmas. Christmas is a dilemma for me. I have a doggy that I refuse to put in a kennel. I've done it once and I was so miserable I cried and cried the entire time she was there. It really bothers her too, after being in so many shelters before becoming my lil gal. Normally I send her off to her favorite dog-vacation zone, Natalie and Matt's house. They have always been so amazing about helping me and taking good care of her. I don't worry (too much) about her when she is there, and I know she's having fun running wild with their beagles. However, there's no way I'd even attempt to dump my dog at a friends house on such a huge holiday. That's just not right. So I'm left with 2 options:

1. Stay here with Audrey like I did last year
2. Rent a car and drive Audrey and me to Omaha and stay with a family member.

I could do 1, but it was sort of lonely last year. About 2 - I can't stay at my mom's because she has a golden retriever that is a bit too big to be rough housing with Audrey inside a house. They spent the night together when I moved here and it was stressful. Also my mom's creepola husband called Audrey a rat dog and made fun of her the whole time. No pup of mine is going to be ridiculed on a holiday!

So that leaves me with my dad. He just moved to a new house with his wife. I asked him in person if I could stay with him for a few days and bring Audrey. He had dogs with us as children, so I didn't think it would be a big deal. Instead he said no because he doesn't want Audrey on the furniture. I said she can go in her kennel when we go out, and be confined to just the kitchen, but he said he just doesn't want her in his new house.

Wow.

I asked my older brother to try and convince my dad. I haven't been in Omaha for a few years, and I'd like to be able to see my relatives. Big bro tried and also failed and I guess got really pissed at my dad because he is valuing his furniture over seeing his child. I said I'm being equally stubborn because I can't leave Audrey alone. However some of that is financial - a decent kennel over the holidays can be 50 bucks a day. So my big brother is angry, I'm hurt, I have nowhere to go for Christmas now because I can't bear to part with my dog....the whole situation just sucks. This is when being an obsessive dog owner hurts, and when having a creep for a step-dad and a materialistic real dad are problems.

Thankfully I still have my puny Charlie Brown-esque tree, xmas lights, and ornaments to celebrate here in style. I'll make my eggs, muffins, sausage like my mom normally does and watch some sort of tv marathon or something.

buzzzzz

At what point did I get so old that I can't have coffee after noon without waking up at 2 am and not being able to fall back asleep? This sucks. I've spent the past hour in bed drafting emails to professors in my head and planning crap to do for work. My eyes are tired but my body and mind are all jittery. And in 4 hours when I have to wake up I know I'm going to feel miserable. Stupid coffee, stupid being bored at work and drinking coffee to pass the time.

...but I can come up with this

After a long day of being nice to patrons, I had this ridiculous conversation with my friend, who can identify himself if he wishes...the set up is that I forgot to by toilet paper at the store, and am irritated I have to carry home a ton on the bus. Conversation edited to make a bit more sense. Also, I should admit that my best friend and cousin Kristin, never EVER called me a douche as a child. She just passed the Maryland Bar so I need to be mindful of slander or libel.

Friend: what's wrong with carrying TP on the bus? everybody poops
Me: yeah but for some reason it embarasses me to just buy tp
Friend: if I can take my 14 year old cousin to walgreens to buy tampons when I was 16, you can buy TP at the store and ride the bus
Me: i hate hate hate mixing paper products and using them for their unintended purposes
Friend: Bathroom Tissue is for noseblowing too
Me: tp = ass. kleenex/tissue = nose, paper towel = spills. i've only recently adapted to paper towel = napkin, and trust me that was a hard switch to make.
Friend: wow...a charmed life. when we were growing up, me and my bros kept a roll of TP around for nose blows
Me: this is BLOG FODDER
Me: my family was very anti paper mixing but i've learned that we were the only ones
Friends: HA
Me: i'd go to my cousins and tell her she's out of kleenex and she'd be like wtf use tp you douche, and i'd be all mortified
Friend: HAHAHA
Me: like when i learned her family only used Colgate and my fam is a pure Crest family. I was like HOW CAN YOU NOT USE
CREST OMG
Friend: haha...wow. total brainwash
Me: i switched laundry detergents
recently. otherwise i'm on all the same brands as a kid. my family totally brainwashed me
Friend: funny; my family picked brands based on the coupons that came out that week
Me: zest, cascade, kleenex, quilted northern. i recently switched from tide to ALL. that was intense.
Friend: you guys were all about brand loyalty
Me: yes... and fiscal irresponsibility
Me: and i still am... *cough new laptop*
Friend: ha. well, don't freak out if you have to use excel on a mac


Note that I noted this was good for the blog. Ultimate geek here. I still hate mixing paper products, and yes, I still hate wet paper. Finally, my dishes are in the dishwasher with some cascade, got zest in the shower, crest by my sink...my family really did brainwash me.

I can't make this shit up...

In my 4.5 hours on the desk today, I had 3 amazing patrons. Pretty good ratio of time to wackos. I'll rewrite the conversations then provide my own commentary.

Conversation one, 8:35 a.m.:

Middle aged 'community member' (i.e. not a student, just some dude we let in): Hi, how are you?
Me: Fine, do you have a question?
Guy: I'm great thank you very much for asking.
Me: Oh, sorry, how are you? Do you need any help?
Guy: Nope. How was your weekend? Did you watch the game?
Me: Uh nope
Guy: What? How do you expect to find a man if you ain't watchin the game?
Me: Uh, I'll find someone who doesn't watch football.
Guy: So that's your criteria huh? He a freak.

My analysis: 8:35 on a Monday morning really isn't the best time to make chit-chat. Sure, I guess I forgot the nicety of asking him how he is, but do I really care? No. Was it necessary of him to point out my (questionable) rudeness? No. Even better was that he A - assumed I'm heterosexual and B - that I don't have a man. It should be noted that our waiter at Silver Cloud pulled the same "I'm so great thank you so much for thinking of me" shit on us on Friday night. Is it really that awful that I forgot or was too lazy to return what I consider to be a mostly rhetorical question? Fuck man, when did having to make small talk with every shmoe become a requirement to eat dinner or umm..sit at my freaking job all morning?

Conversation 2, 10:00a.m.:

Set-up: 6 female students who speak minimal English ask me where our fancy 3-hole puncher is. I don't see it anywhere, which is odd because it is huge. I look in our back office just in case, then ask my boss if he has seen it lately. Boss came out and saw that it was at a table with a student. Said male student was not using the puncher, nor is he allowed to remove things from the desk.

Me: Excuse me, this needs to stay at the desk there are a bunch of people waiting for it.
Him: Are you asking me if I'm done using it?
Me: Uhh...well you really can't remove it from my desk, all those people over there need it.
Him: Are you asking me if I'm done using it?
Me: I guess??
Him: I am, and even if I weren't it doesn't matter because I got it first.
Me: Ok, but you don't have permission to move it away from the desk.
Him: Even if I left it at the desk, I got here first so all those people would have to wait.
Me: Ok! (bad fake smile, grab puncher and run)

My analysis: Couldn't he just have said "oh sorry, yeah" and let me take it? Did he have to be all snide and repeat that totally bitchy question? Why does this seem so similar to the "I'm great thanks for asking me" response I got earlier? Am I really a total dick? I had to hand it to him - he was technically 'there first' but he also wasted all my time searching for it, and all these girls were nervous that we didn't have it anymore. And he broke THE RULES. We in the library love RULES. Don't take my shit man! What a dick, I was so angry after that. He left me thinking maybe I really am super rude and awful. Screw him for making me question my 'tude. At least he didn't pull the "listen lady, I pay your salary so fuck you where is your manager."

Conversation 3, 3:30 p.m.:

Another middle aged 'community' guy: Hey can you help me log onto the scanner?
Me: Sure!
Guy: You are so nice, are you from Wisconsin?
Me: I lived there for awhile.
Guy: But are you from the midwest?
Me: Yeah
Guy: I knew it, you got that midwest hospitality, you are so nice. (looks at my thighs and ass)
Me: Yeah thanks, well it's all set up so bye.

My analysis: This is the second middle aged man in a day that was a bit too jovial with me, and I obviously saw you checking me out. Yes, I'm a bit corn-fed, thanks for looking in the worst spot. And, as my friend Tamar noticed, DUDE WE ARE IN THE MIDWEST! I realized that I felt a bit like a stripper - I'm only being nice to you because I have to. Sheesh.

Luckily for me, I find all this mostly humorous so it didn't get me down. Plus I knew it'd give me something to blog about, which is always great.

overheard

I have so much to catch up on - some great halloween parties, my MIA jacket, my laptop dying and me getting my first macbook (which I'm on now!)... Instead I'll be lazy. I haven't found the energy to blog since I've spent so much time distracted by thoughts of "why didn't I get a mac sooner?" However, I did have two thoughts tonight that I wanted to remember for later. 1 - non-librarians ranting about why Library of Congress sucks and other library things = really fun eavesdropping for me. 2 - I really dislike bars, going to them, sitting in them, having my eyes fall out from smoke and my vocal chords collapse from shouting, and going home stinky and alone because I'm the only person on earth who hates bars at 26 years old in Chicago apparently. January 2008's smoking ban can't come soon enough.

And hooray daylight savings time for fooling me into happy-land by giving me an extra hour of sleep, only to dump 5 months of darkness immediately afterwards.

boooo

My laptop broke yesterday. Until I can diagnose it and repair or replace it, I'm off the internet! Boohoo. Of course I still sit on it all day at work, but it's not the same!!! How am I supposed to start typing my nanowrimo, considering it's november 1st? Ugh.