Perpetually Unfinished
Saturday, February 21, 2004
Yes, yes, I took the quiz more than once. Don't tell me you've never done it.But I only did because one question could have gone either way. So take your pick...
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You're Israel!
Though a victim in the past, you've learned very little from this and have encouraged a cycle of violence in your life and the life of many you know. You're a little paranoid and somewhat schizophrenic, causing you to promote both hatred and hope in cycling intervals. Some of the paranoia is justified, as a lot of people don't like you, but more people are helping you than you'd ever really admit to. At this point, you live on some valuable property and would benefit greatly from just giving peace a chance.
Take the Country Quiz at the Blue Pyramid
You're Bosnia-Herzegovina!
You've just been through a big tragedy. You weren't sure you were going to make it at all. Now that you have, there's a lot to pick back up in your life, and not enough people are helping you. You just wanted a little more freedom, a chance to be away from those who thought poorly of you. Now it's time to build up some confidence, and it looks like you have a good chance at that. But you'll need a lot of therapy.
Take
the Country Quiz at the Blue Pyramid
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
So.
The other night we were at a tapas place for dinner. And as I was pondering my choices, I came upon "Calamares a la Plancha." Hmm, I thought. Despite my internal anguish about where it fits into my vegetarian hierarchy, fried calamari is yummy. Granted, in this dish it was not fried. In fact, the description read "Grilled squid in olive oil and garlic." (No, I do not have a photographic memory, just an online menu.) But I've had it grilled and mixed into my Flat Top stirfries before, too. Add to that the fact that it was one of the relatively few non-spicy tapas offered, and one of the cheapest seafoods, and I said, "Okay, I'll bite." (Bite, get it? Ha.)
Well, they brought it out. And, umm... how can I put this? Calamari is squid. The previous times I've eaten it, I've gotten to conveniently ignore this fact. Fried calamari is pretty much completely unidentifiable-- it could be any kind of long thin fried object. And little bits of it in a stirfry could be any kind of seafood or white meat, really. But when they brought it out to the table? It looked like squid.
I mean, seriously looked like squid. Like, with slippery tentacles and stuff. I kept staring at the dish and laughing for several minutes before I could start seriously contemplate actually eating the food. There were two different sizes in this dish. The bigger ones were white, with about 5 thick flat non-descript tentacles each. They really weren't too bad, especially after I cut them into bite-sized pieces so I could once again pretend I didn't know what I was eating. It was really yummy, too; nothing like squid with olive oil and garlic, huh? Oh, but the little ones... they had them facedown on the plate, and I ate the first one without flipping it over. But then I made the mistake of looking at the underside... lots of skinny little tentacles, with little suckers or feelers or something on them. Gah. I tried to eat another one, put it on the fork and lifted it to my mouth, but I just couldn't do it.
Yeah. Eating squid is creepy. I think from now on I'm going to stick to dishes where I can pretend "calamari" just means some kind of exotic fish.
(0) comments
The other night we were at a tapas place for dinner. And as I was pondering my choices, I came upon "Calamares a la Plancha." Hmm, I thought. Despite my internal anguish about where it fits into my vegetarian hierarchy, fried calamari is yummy. Granted, in this dish it was not fried. In fact, the description read "Grilled squid in olive oil and garlic." (No, I do not have a photographic memory, just an online menu.) But I've had it grilled and mixed into my Flat Top stirfries before, too. Add to that the fact that it was one of the relatively few non-spicy tapas offered, and one of the cheapest seafoods, and I said, "Okay, I'll bite." (Bite, get it? Ha.)
Well, they brought it out. And, umm... how can I put this? Calamari is squid. The previous times I've eaten it, I've gotten to conveniently ignore this fact. Fried calamari is pretty much completely unidentifiable-- it could be any kind of long thin fried object. And little bits of it in a stirfry could be any kind of seafood or white meat, really. But when they brought it out to the table? It looked like squid.
I mean, seriously looked like squid. Like, with slippery tentacles and stuff. I kept staring at the dish and laughing for several minutes before I could start seriously contemplate actually eating the food. There were two different sizes in this dish. The bigger ones were white, with about 5 thick flat non-descript tentacles each. They really weren't too bad, especially after I cut them into bite-sized pieces so I could once again pretend I didn't know what I was eating. It was really yummy, too; nothing like squid with olive oil and garlic, huh? Oh, but the little ones... they had them facedown on the plate, and I ate the first one without flipping it over. But then I made the mistake of looking at the underside... lots of skinny little tentacles, with little suckers or feelers or something on them. Gah. I tried to eat another one, put it on the fork and lifted it to my mouth, but I just couldn't do it.
Yeah. Eating squid is creepy. I think from now on I'm going to stick to dishes where I can pretend "calamari" just means some kind of exotic fish.
Thursday, February 12, 2004
create your own visited states map
or write about it on the open travel guide
Have driven through without stopping or been in an airport in 5 more states. Will make it to Kentucky on Feb 27th (to protest Taco Bell in Louisville) and Hawaii this summer (yay!).
create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide
Far less exciting. (1%.) Wow, Israel looks tiny over there.
Sunday, February 08, 2004
Okay, so my first and possibly only NU basketball wasn't exactly what one could call representative. But, hell, I'll take it!
The place was packed. Yeah, there were tons of Badger fans, but there were a lot of NU supporters, too. It was clear that the sea of red was a lot louder than we could manage to be-- that was demonstrated clearly enough in the first couple minutes, when Wisconsin was up 6-0 and 8-2, and I thought, "Ah, Northwestern sports, just like always." But then somehow we managed to make it 17-8 and 24-11, and by halftime it was 36-19 and the horde of Wisconsin fans had been mostly quieted. And even though Wisconsin never got closer than 10 points behind during the second half, there was still a sense of excitement and tension, because, c'mon, it was Wisconsin behind Northwestern.
It was really cool. The place was definitely full of energy. I had a blast jumping up and cheering every time we scored, chanting and making all sorts of noise, singing the fight song (it made me miss marching band, but that's a completely different story). At the end we chanted "Our house!" and "Just like football!" and then rushed the court. It was most excellent.
So by my count, I am now 3-0 at Northwestern sporting events: the football team's thrashing of Indiana(?) my freshman year, the NU-Michigan football classic of the same year, and now this one. I know how to pick 'em, huh?
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The place was packed. Yeah, there were tons of Badger fans, but there were a lot of NU supporters, too. It was clear that the sea of red was a lot louder than we could manage to be-- that was demonstrated clearly enough in the first couple minutes, when Wisconsin was up 6-0 and 8-2, and I thought, "Ah, Northwestern sports, just like always." But then somehow we managed to make it 17-8 and 24-11, and by halftime it was 36-19 and the horde of Wisconsin fans had been mostly quieted. And even though Wisconsin never got closer than 10 points behind during the second half, there was still a sense of excitement and tension, because, c'mon, it was Wisconsin behind Northwestern.
It was really cool. The place was definitely full of energy. I had a blast jumping up and cheering every time we scored, chanting and making all sorts of noise, singing the fight song (it made me miss marching band, but that's a completely different story). At the end we chanted "Our house!" and "Just like football!" and then rushed the court. It was most excellent.
So by my count, I am now 3-0 at Northwestern sporting events: the football team's thrashing of Indiana(?) my freshman year, the NU-Michigan football classic of the same year, and now this one. I know how to pick 'em, huh?
Sunday, February 01, 2004
More good things I forgot to include:
Half.com. There's really something nice about bringing in more money in a couple weeks selling books than you've spent buying books for the quarter. Of course, this conveniently ignores the original cost of said books, but if you pretend the money is coming out of thin air, it's pretty sweet. Plus, although I had to make 4 trips to the post office to mail 8 books, I managed to make 3 of those trips on Friday afternoons when I volunteer at NSP right across the street from the post office anyway, so it's been a pretty painless hunk of cash.
Cafe Mud. There's going to be a coffee shop moving in right down the street in March, apparently. This is nice, as the current highlight of my neighborhood is everyone's favorite Hanan's Finer Foods 'n' Porn Shop. I have no idea if it'll be any good, but I'm hoping for some good Grand Opening promotions and discounts.
(0) comments
Half.com. There's really something nice about bringing in more money in a couple weeks selling books than you've spent buying books for the quarter. Of course, this conveniently ignores the original cost of said books, but if you pretend the money is coming out of thin air, it's pretty sweet. Plus, although I had to make 4 trips to the post office to mail 8 books, I managed to make 3 of those trips on Friday afternoons when I volunteer at NSP right across the street from the post office anyway, so it's been a pretty painless hunk of cash.
Cafe Mud. There's going to be a coffee shop moving in right down the street in March, apparently. This is nice, as the current highlight of my neighborhood is everyone's favorite Hanan's Finer Foods 'n' Porn Shop. I have no idea if it'll be any good, but I'm hoping for some good Grand Opening promotions and discounts.
