Weekend

Enjoyed the weekend.

friday night was first friday, it was my first first friday also, and lee and rusty and claire had exhibits opening. the plan was to dress up meet up at lee and rusty's gallery (@ cumberland and gay), do the "ooh, awesome!" thing then grab food @ 7 @ the bistro and make our way down to w summit hill for claire's stuff and then hit sassy ann's for a little cutthroat action.

so i dressed up, green low cut sweater hoodie, brown tank, short denim skirt, and brown boots. i had just had my hair done, and i even put on makeup. i felt so much like an undergrad getting ready for a night out. my normal "lets go out" clothes consist of a pair of ripped jeans and a tank top. ah well. it wont kill me to get dressed up now and again.

but the others were running a little behind. lee and rusty weren't even there when we had to leave for our dinner reservations.  so we ate, shared a bottle of wine, and went back.  at lee and rusty's there was a water cooler full of wine. a WINE COOLER if you will. so much wining was had, and there were multiple people who i hadn't seen in a while so there was a bunch of catching up going on there when it was like OK! MUST GO FIND CLAIRE!

morgan was driving (thankfully) so he toted my and shannonette's arse up to w summit hill in which progress i call claire up twice, the first time thinking i had a bad connection. the second time realizing it was just REALLY LOUD where she was. she was at the crown and goose, apparently her thing was over for the night (BOO!) I felt like such a pathetic friend missing her thing, especially since when i showed up at the crown and goose to talk for a few moments i was obviously feeling the wine.

when i first got to the c&g i saw nate and adam, so i talked to them for a bit. morgan and shannonette joined me in there, so they both said hi. it was morgan's first meeting of this cookeville group, but shannonette had met them previously. i guess bringing morgan may have been somewhat transparent (bringing the current boy when meeting up w the ex-boy's bro) but at the same time i wanted to find claire.

finally found her! after running into one of our prof's, that is. i was so intent on finding claire, though, that i just gave him a half wave while trying to figure out what she was saying. i'm doing great with my personal interactions. found claire, talked for a while, left, ran back by nate and adam, and asked about a wedding this coming weekend.  then asked about the ex's plans for this coming weekend (which is also brewers jam, and yes, is where i met him last year, and i hoped wouldn't be a big deal, but with some of the emails that he had been sending me and the fact that he kept checking my blog and myspace somewhat consistently until about 2 weeks ago, i'm honestly a bit worried about what might happen if we both meet face to face utterly beer-plastered) i find that not only does he not have plans to attend brewers jam, he also does have plans for something else. so no worries there.  i just don't want drama. i'm tired of stupid boys.

any way, after that, off to sassy ann's, where i change into my jeans and chacos. it was easy as i was already wearing a skirt. yay me.

cutthroat was cutthroat. yay. i was beat, though, i had been on the move since 7AM. had done the oil change thing, the hair cut/color thing, and then the social thing, so we cut out at about 1AM.  and went home. and passed out.

zonk.

good times.

the following day the morning was spent reading, and taking a shower, and getting things together, as that afternoon there was another dnd game (yay?). i think i'm enjoying it. I'm just trying to decide if i really like spending 5 hours i could devote to school stuff with this limited tangable reward system.  after the game we hit the mall and i had to physically restrain morgan from purchasing for me an item from williams sonoma. i know, what was i thinking. dinner was lovely mashed taters and tomatos with mozzerella with olive oil and balsamic viniger. because that was what i wanted. and the trend seems to be with him that i get what i want. i can't abuse this, but with wierd food cravings while cramping, it's totally legit.

sunday was good brunch at sunspot, grocery shopping, and more reading (read that as "napping), and monday was monday.

tonight i have options. morgan might still be in town, or he might not. if he isn't i may go watch the debate with jim (where? does he have a tv?) and play www.palinbingo.com with the prez candidates. or a may go see dennis at his open mike at the pres pub. or i may stay in and read this book about fair trade coffee if i don't get it done by then.

blargh.

proudness

so i did it. finally. i made my very own myspace picture. i don't like pix of me, so i go ahead and rip off other sites. my latest picture stated that my marxist feminist dialectic would bring all the boys to my yard. the newest newest one is to the left. thank online translators for the translation. hopefully i have it right!

maybe not all, but i do have one at the moment. i don't know if it was the MFD that did it or simply the fact that i could actually speak intelligently after multiple beers on random uber-esoteric,paradigmatic-shifting, rhetoric challenging, possibly-important topics.

woot.

i also, this afternoon erased all email correspondance with people i don't like. err.... a person i no longer like. i didn't realize quite what had piled up, but when i saw something with his name on it, i dug a bit and realized "damn, don't need this mucking up the inbozzle". Hitting the "trash" choice surely isn't as cathartic as burning things, but who needs catarsis when you've moved on.

and no, me stating that i've moved on is not denial that i haven't.

speaking of moving on, back to the MFD/Beer incident... YAY!

that's all. if you haven't met him, you obviously haven't seen me in the last 2 weeks, as we seem to do many things together. i'm home alone now for the first time in a while. i should be doing laundry....

hit the disc exchange today. picked up tickets for brewers jam. not missing it for anything. there's a crew of boucoup zwanzig joining me: eric, morgan, shannon, shannon, kimberly, heather, paula, jim, and more. yay.

also grabbed a PJ Harvey CD. i blame my DE dude for hooking me on her last last summer. damn him and his lucious prematurely entirely gray hair coupled with being a band teacher and a husband and father (i think he said he had kids) with awesome tastes in knowing what i want.... in music. DAMN HIM!

ask me about my recipe for curry. and remember that the farmers market has awesome summer squash this week. it goes well with curry.

and to the Ktowners who read this excuse for a blog... i'll be at GreekFest sometime after 3. I have some brownies that need my attention until then.

update on my side

It's been good. I like being an adult, to a point.

D's plane got in just fine at 2PM on Thurs, I got him at the airport (found him before he saw me) and we headed home, did the food thing, and started to chill.  A calls and says "L (her sis) and I are going to the farm NOW" so D and I jump in the car and go meet them there. It's only when we're finished the 1/2 hour trip do I realize that I totally forgot to call Mr. J, who I had mentioned this potential trip to the previous day.  We get there, swim, dive, kayak, tree-yak (no, not really) I see my first persimmon, we ponder as to the identity of some other tree, and have some general fun.  D and I then head home after poking in to see Dancer, A's horse, and chill/catch up.  At somepoint in there, I noticed that Nece's eyes were too goopy/squinty for my comfort so I called the vet and made an appointment for 930AM on Fri.

Friday I go to the vet.  The cat has Chlamydia... again.  So we're on a round of eye drops. yay.  Then I go to work, Dave comes with me to look around.  I finish up what I need to do for our people on Tuesday, and we head out, run some errands, and head back to my place.  We hang out for a little bit, I get a few things going for the Pirate/Zombie dinner party on Sat, and I do some reading for class (yaaay... blah).

I am now becoming fully indoctrinated in economical/ecological social stances.  The current book is continually repeating "capitalism is bad because it can only happen if you don't restrict growth" "unrestricted growth is ecologically unsound." yes, I get it. let's get deeper. MORE RHETORIC! I want to be more Pretentious.  MORE EXAMPLES! I want to see how *I* can utilize these paradigms in my own stuff.  Shift it, shift it good.  The class should be good, alot of structuralism/marxism.... plenty of my buddy foucault too.

So I drag D to the brewery, where he gets to have some of the world's best stout. Mr. J joins us and we have a fun, somewhat nerdy conversation. D is a chemist, J is all about alternitive/bio fuels, and lets just say that my field requires me to understand way too much schtuff. Woohoo!  Then, we wander over to the Pub for some beer and CUTTHROAT SHAMROCK!

We hang there for a bit before others who we know join.  So there's Mssr. E (from past adventures), his new roommate Mssr. D, my girl H, her boy G, my D from NY, and Mr. J (alphabet stew!).  At which point Ben from the band sits down at our table and joins in our conversation.  That was most awesome.  I think it was even better because D came all the way from NY to see them (in a ways), and Mr. J has only seen them once before, and I told him that the show at the Grotto was nothing like what most shows are.  So we're all talking, I noticed that Mr. J got numbers from Ben, I'm assuming for his Gf as she's also a band person (haven't heard them play yet, they come in town some point in October).  Twas most nifty.

The opener band rocked.  I was very very please.  And the CtSr show was amAZing!  One girl at the show pulled me aside and asked if I was the one "doing the research on that hammer" as she recognized me from my newspaper article.  I affirmed that "ahem, yes, that is me".  I was surprised she recognized me as in that photo I hadn't brushed my hair, was hiking backwoods / off trail for a while to get to the site, and was wearing a bulky wool sweater and Carhartt's.  But whatever.  No-name-boy (or "many-name-boy") also recognized me before I recognized him.  He ran off soon, though, on what H reported as a red Harley.  He said he was going to come up and hang out, but I think that I was familiarly slipping between 3 dudes (Mssr E, D from NY, and Mr. J) and that our previous interactions over almost the whole last 10 months has consisted of bar-room conversation over mediocre beer with thinly veiled flirtations, it wasn't the most welcoming environment. Shrug. It was an ego-boost.

Cutthroat ended only after many beers were accidentally and purposely released into the atmosphere, and I decided that with the beer and the hour D needed to have his first southern experiance of Krystals. So with Mr. J in the cramped back seat of my car and DfromNY in the cramped-pulled-forward passenger seat we went and initiated D on the finer points of ittybittyburgers.

Then, everyone safely at home, I had a reprise from the St.Pat2007 CtSrShow. I looked at my feet and they were DISGUSTING. So while I didn't have the energy for a shower, I stood in my tub and washed my feet. yuck.

Next day, feeling slightly not up for it, I started working on the dinner party.
It went marvelous. The Curried Goat was not too spicy, the hot sauces were flavorful, the riceandbeans in coconutmilk were divine. The spiked fruit salad was overly intoxicating (yay) and yeah. Success. We all chatted and played apples to apples, the cats weren't overpowering (allergies in some people) and it wasn't just D and i in costume. It ended a little earlier than some parties, but that was all good, as I was exhausted. R stayed a little later (I think I bugged him or something to do so, I don't know) and I ended up starting to fall asleep in my camp chair while he and D were talking about something.... important? I don't know.

Sunday, clean up was a bitch, and know i should be reading, but D is napping and we have a Boomsday party in a bit and I'm bored. My cats are also sleeping. They look dead.

Best to all!

Weekend party

So, this weekend I attended a smashing gathering of people. The plan had been for it to be much larger, but the core group who attended were most awesome. It was me, Miss S, A, Mr. J and Ms. J (Mr. J's long time friend who drove up from Atlanta).

S and i got there later than we had hoped, but were still the first people there. We scoped out the property, a horse farm, and found the bathrooms, the kitchens, the bbq area, and the lake. That lake was MAAAHVELOUS! It had canoes and kayaks and paddleboats and a dock and another dock and turtles and bugs and fish and...

Soon after A showed up, gave us a slightly more organized roam around, and we set up our tents (we were staying the night). While that was going on, J and J showed up ... with ribs. Sweet! So we were a ribbed, brated, beered, vegetabled crazyness of food, but that's for later. We all got the tents up, said "hi" to the others in the facility, piled up firewood, distributed beer stratigically to different locations and then donned our bathing suits and headed to the water.

After some swimming and diving (I'm so pleased with my new-found ability to flip on dives, i'm such a dork) we grabbed boats (S and i in a canoe, A in her own, and originally mr. J in a paddleboat, but when Ms. J joined they also shared a canoe)a couple of beers each, and played pirates. We stole/drank beer. S and I were UNSTOPABLE. At one point, we gave Mr. J a beer to appease him, then the next time we passed we took that one *and* the one he was drinking. We were up one side of the lake, down the other, and around all the islands. S and I found a case of fireworks on a far dock and told the others that it was beer (too far to see what it was at that point), but "we didn't have enough cup holders for it" when they were distracted, we worked on drinking our booty. The Pretty Pretty Princesses rocked, although there was some B-movie survival throwback moments when A stood up and was paddling, looking all Amazonian and the time that we all started drumming our paddles against the boat in rhythm and then went faster and faster until we yelled and attacked.

The funny thing about boats is because you're consistently off balance you don't realize the effects of alcohol ... until you get up. I could NOT pull the canoe up, it was killing me, and by that time some of A's friends, including K and her puppy, and also N and C (who have appeared a few times in the blog) were able to witness it. The solution: go swimming.

So after more swimming, playing with dogs, and such, we decided to go get the grill going. I had brought 1.5 bags of charcoal and a massive container of lighter fluid. As the grill was MASSIVE we decided to use the whole thing. Enormous fire, lots of meat (and grilled cheese), we had ribs. Then, down to the bonfire. By this point it was back down to the core so we sat and talked and chatted and chilled and set off fire works.

Eventually calming down and going to sleep, the next day was beautiful! I woke up with the sunrise. surprise, huh? So I laid watching the sky change colors to a most beautiful blue, at which point I was hungry. So I got up, grabbed some hotdogs for the dog, and radishes and cheese for myself, checked the time on my phone (about 9), and took out the canoe. I was able to paddle quietly, watching the turtles flop into the water, noticing all these crazy nymph carapaces, and cruising along with the ducks. Beauty beauty beauty.

I noticed some others up, so we fixed up breakfast and revived the fire, I'm rather proud of my ability to do that also. It had been a while since I had, and I wasn't sure if I would be able to.

Noshing on foods, packing up tents, and all that followed. Then we went back into the water. This time a grabbed a Kayak. That thing FLEW! We would have been even MORE UNBEATABLE had we utilized that vehicle. ah well.

Eventually, we did have to leave. Ah well. It was great!

The morning on the lake

food and fooding

Aaron has moved to Knoxville. He and his housemate live about 4 minutes from my house. It's very convenient for multiple reasons, especially with a few odd personal things I've been dealing with and a really bad freak out I had the other week. The most selfish thing, however, which may very well be my downfall is that these two men like to eat. They aren't picky much. So I get to experiment. I hate cooking new things for myself because recipes are always for more than one serving, and I don't want to dirty all sorts of dishes just for one meal. This way, I get all sorts of meals from one set of cooking. I've made them chicken soup, chicken pie, pizza, and a few other things. They're *right there*. It's marvelous.... I need to make something for myself tonight, though. I have some soups in the fridge, but I think I'll freeze one up and make myself somehting from the freezer.

Also, I am starting a tastebook. www.tastebook.com . let me know if you want to be added as a friend. Or, you can start your own and add me as yours. My email address is my first initial followed by my last name at gmail's service. You'll get all sorts of good stuff there.

the week...

So, things have been up and down for the last week or so. I’ve definitely dealt with my share of self drama for the year, and it’s not even Valentine’s Day. In fact, my face is a damn journal of all my worries, and I’ve broken out to the point where I’ve gotten so many zits that I even have one in my EAR that won’t go away. Every now and again I get all hypochondriatic about it and wonder if it’s going to abscess into my skull. I figure that’ll be an interesting skeletal marker as well as a good excuse as to why my school work has stopped.

It hasn’t stopped, though, not at all. I’m working on a paper right now.

Anyway, my parents are coming into town this week. This is the first time my father is visiting me in TN. The occasion? My brother is graduating from shoot-em-up camp at Ft Benning. That’s right, the one time my father is taking time to come see my house is actually just a way point in congratulating his son for being able to follow directions. I’m not bitter, only frustrated. They have also tried to get me to send my cats away for the week, but it’s very simple that I won’t. I will keep the cats out of the bedroom, however, so that they can have a kitten free space. I try hard, I really really do.

So, this weekend will be spent cleaning… my house is a mess, my kitchen smells of fish, my basement insulation needs to be finished, all sorts of stuff. My motivation is that I want to have a dinner party on Saturday night. I feel like making chicken pie. mmmmmm

A rundown

It's been a busy while. I'm posting a blog that i wrote in my word processor a while ago, so if you scroll down, you'll see it dated to its creation. I have quite a few fronts to report on, though, so feel free to read on.

Cats

Boy

School

Friends

Thanksgiving

Cats -
Orion and Neci are both getting along very well. They are still vessels of boundless kittanic energy, so they keep me going and on the ball. Orion loves spicy tomato sauces as well as beans and pasta. She doesn't like, however, any meat that I cook. She just got her rabies shot, so my little bitty itty kitten has two big shiny radies tags. The blingbling of the feline world? The vet is actually surprised at how small Orion is, so we're waiting as long as possible to spay her. Probibly some point in January. As she's an inside cat, if we don't get her before she gets fertile, it'll be a bit annoying on our part, but it won't hurt her. I would rather she be large enough that she goes through her surgery safely.

Neci was spayed before I was even allowed to take her home. Granted she was with a recue group, so not actually belonging to anyone, I'm sure that the sentaments if she didn't pull through ok would be different. Neci likes to drink water... out of my glass. It doesn't matter how much is in her water bowl and whether it was just washed or not. She goes for my water glass. I wouldn't mind so much if she was also not so facinated witht he bathroom. She likes to walk the rim of my tub whether or not i'm in it. She also likes to watch the toilet, and once surprised a male in the bathroom by popping up between his legs and watching the happenings.

They have also learned that if my phone alarm goes off, I don't wake up right away. That gives them time to knock it off the table and under the bed, where I won't hear it go off again. This means that I'll stay in bed, where they are also snuggled under the covers (except for the one to knock the phone off, who i saw go right back under the covers when I did wake up once)sucking off my body heat. Neci alone, however, has learned that if she doesn't want music, she just needs to jump on my clock radio. In fact, I'm totally messing with her by playing music from my computer. She came over and started walking on the clock radio, knowing that if she does it enough, she'll turn it off.

School

I hate school. I want to be done. And the catch 22 is that it won't be done until i put in sufficient effort. I want real life again. I don't mind school, but I would love to do the part time thing. Not to put the cart before the horse or jinx me in any sort, the park will be opening my old position back up. If I get it, then I can totally and entirely do my real life job, which frustrated me to no end, but at the same time fulfilled me. I just hope that everyone will be able to put up with the exhaustion and intensity that this job gave me. I do so hope that it all works out. Losing that job, even though it was from funding problems, was a huge ego drain, and I feel so incomplete without it.

Yes, I'm one of those people who define themselves by their job. If I didn't want a job so intent and crazed, would I be killing myself at school for it? All you old schoolers know that the one thing I prided myself on was what I got paid for.

Boy

Wow - well, he's definitly proven interesting and good. Those two adjectives are horribly insufficient, but they'll provide a base. Well, he did halloween with me and with some of my friends. We started at Sr. Taco. While there, we invited his brother, his brother's wife, and another friend of theirs. So there were many people enjoying themselves. After Halloween dinner, we had planned on going out, but for some reason, perhaps because it was Wednesday, we ended up going to my place to drink vodka and play with kittens. The weekend after halloween was SEAC, and well, after past experiances with official stuff and bringing a sigoth, I was a little hesitant, but he wanted to come to the friday night dance. I figured that I had built up just enough of a reputation for myself between my past job and my time put into the department that I could introduce an "outsider" to the conference. Besides, it was local so everyone from Ktown brought their spouse(-to-be). Plus, it was not the first time for my circle to meet him. We had had a pot luck a few weeks earlier, and everyone had only positive things to say about him.

So we go to the dance and have a good time. One of my friends is in the middle of an intoxicated conversation with a rather renowned SE Archie, and as we were driving her home, we had to stay with her. He insisted that the conversation continue at the hotel bar when the dance venue kicked us out (midnight).

The following evening is the department party. I was definatly wanting to bring him to this as it's very informal anyways so it's a good venue to debut new members of the anthropology auxilary. We all dressed up, picked up two other friends along the way, and had a blast that evening. He even met and sweet talked the prof who had been giving me relationship advice before. The interesting thing is that, if I haven't mentioned it before, this guy went to highschool with two of my best friends (one in the department), and he graduated with my girlfriend's sister. At this party, we found that half of the significant others in the department (ok, a bit of an overexaggeration) went to highschool with them. This is a little podunk town abotu 1.5 hours from knoxville. Apparently they train them to put up with UT Anthopologists.

Friends

I love my friends, I really do. I do with all my heart, and I would and do do most anything for them, if I can. They've been having it rough, both the ones down here and apparently a few of the old schoolers. Guys, you'll all get it done. Remember what I always said in college: enough hard work will get you your way.

Thanksgiving.

I'm hosting Thanksgiving! So come here! I'm doing an Orphan Thanksgiving for anyone who doesn't have the time to head home. As far as I know, I'm doing meat, stuffing,sweet taters,a vegetable dish, and probibly I'll make an apple cobbler just because. I currently have 4 definate guests, and two who will be showing up later (one being the boy who had originally planned on being here the whole time, but was slammed with a family obligation just this week, so I'll deal.) I do hope that it goes well. I think we'll be so totally fooded out, that we'll be sooooo happy.


See - I update - occasionally

Two curries down and good! One up in the air and planning!

I made a typical vegetable curry the other day, adapted from a recipe in a cookbook of mine. It was utterly delicious. I had hoped to add eggplant to it, but I baked the eggplant for a little too long, so I said “hell with it all” and tossed some cooked rice in the bottom of a casserole dish, next layer was the eggplant scooped from the shells and mashed, and the the curry. I ate that all week.

The next attempt was a pumpkin apple sweet potato lentil curry ( http://www.ivu.org/recipes/holiday/pumpkin-curry-j.html ) (link is to recipe). That too turned out very well, and this time I was not the only one to eat it.

This friday I’m having a pot luck and I’ll be trying East African Eggplant Curry ( http://www.aubergines.org/recipes.php?eggplant=2341 ). Wish me luck!!

See more progress on: Learn how to make curry