Um, random info

So, did you know that duct tape is actually completely useless in repairing ducts? I was a little surprised upon learning this. I mean, why is it called duct tape if it's not actually used on ducts?

In case you're wondering where I'm getting such random information and why I'm pondering such thoughts, well I was listening to the podcast for this past weekend's "Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me" - have I mentioned how much I adore NPR? *smile*

Faux is in . . . and that goes for turkey too

As you may have noticed I've sort of disappeared again. It's the end of the quarter, enough said, right? But I couldn't miss out on sharing my Thanksgiving with all of you, because that is the spirit of the holiday is it not? I had intended to spend Turkey Day at home writing a paper, not because I'm a huge procrastinating nerd (is that contradictory?) but because I was scheduled to work at the yarn shop for 3 days of the holiday. So I really needed to get work done. Well, as usually happens in my life, there was a change of plans and I ended up hosting Thanksgiving for a few friends whose original Thanksgiving plans had fallen through.

We were going with a vegetarian menu for the evening including some 'raw food' (as in the raw food movement) dishes. Here's what we had:
Wheat berry salad
Wild rice salad
Roasted vegetables
Faux 'raw food' turkey
Kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) soup
Hawaiian rolls
'Raw' sweet potato pie

Sound tasty? Definitely not your average Thanksgiving spread. It was delightful. I must admit that the faux turkey may not be my first choice for Thanksgiving dinner entree but it wasn't all bad. It was a combination of seeds, nuts, herbs, and celery blended together and then formed (very artistically I might add by dinner guests) into a turkey shape. The way it tasted reminded me of Mediterranean salads, except thrown into a blender. And I would probably have eaten even if it hadn't been the main dish for dinner but the idea of it being faux turkey sort of distracted from the whole eating experience.

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving . . .

And now back to writing my paper because as you might have guessed this post was a little jaunt down that oh so tempting road of procrastination.

Bittersweet fruit for a bittersweet time

A brief moment of the Cranberries on the radio this afternoon made me desperately want to listen to them. So, now I'm finally at home sitting at my desk listening to Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? I know that I've said it time and again but there is a certain special quality to music. It can transport you through time and make you feel as though you're reliving moments of your life. The Cranberries take me back to being a teenager . . . all the bittersweet memories of teenage heartache and heartbreak. Somehow it's both exhilarating and heart-wrenching to recall those feelings. Oh, to be a teenager again . . . to have those cares and concerns. I suppose I can only say that though because I was a relatively happy adolescent. I know there are plenty people who were unhappy adolescents and would never wish to return to that time in their lives. It's a scarring time for all of us, though in vastly different ways.

Though I won't bore you with the memories associated with them, I'll tell you that my particular favorites on the disc include "Sunday", "Linger", and "How." They are attached to both immensely fun and happy memories and blisteringly painful ones.

Into the night

The other night I was waiting at the bus stop on campus regretting the fact that I had stayed so late since it's not fun to wait for the bus in the damp cold darkness. There was a sudden gust of wind and the leaves in the tree rustled so loudly that I looked up to see a burst of leaves in the wind backlit by the orange street lamp. Against the deep navy sky they looked like flakes of gold pirouetting through the air. It was so beautiful. And in that moment I couldn't remember why I didn't like the darkness and the night. We only fear the night because of the things that we humans have created and infused in it - violence, crime, heartbreak. Without those things the night is just another time of day, a time when the world feels smaller, cozier, and intimate.

The darkness brings the magic hour where illusions seem more real and time can't be trusted to tell the truth. I used to imagine the night as the softest embrace of the darkest velvet. In the darkness I can lie in the grass and listen to the tree frogs and crickets sing as the stars inch across the sky. In the darkness I can drive through the cornfields to watch the harvest moon creep along the horizon. In the darkness I can watch the snowflakes drift upwards in the air, glowing in the moonlight.

And since related things always seem to happen as if by chance at the same time, I came across this poem on the bus a day or so later. Another sentiment for the darkness and the night. In my heart of hearts I love the darkness and the night.

This is why I'm really in grad school

Hhhmm . . . after my earlier post I feel the need to reassure people that I really do enjoy academia. Mostly it's the little things I find highly entertaining. Such as the story about the Taisho Emperor (who was to be honest probably a couple cans short of a six pack in the brains department, proving that the Japanese royals could make them just as inbred as the Europeans) and the incident in which he went to a Diet session to deliver a proclamation. Instead of reading the proclamation he stood looking around for a couple of minutes and then proceeded to roll the proclamation up into a telescope and peered through it at the Diet members, no doubt accompanied by a "Why, helloooo there." Ah, gotta love the crazies.

Yes, the grass is always greener . . .

So, now that I'm overwhelmed with work I think longingly of the days when I actually had free time, when I could come home at the end of the day and not have homework to do or tests to study for. But I know that back then I thought longingly of being in school, doing research, and having witty debates in class . . . well I assume I did or I wouldn't be back in school now, would I? So, yes the grass is always greener . . . at some point someone is going to have to incorporate astro-turf into that sentiment.

Yes, so I'm back from the land of non-blogging. And as I've already mentioned I'm a little overwhelmed with work. I'm not entirely sure how that happened, one day I was pretty much on top of everything and then the next day everything had gone to pot. I'm decisively behind in 2 of my 3 classes. And on top of my classes I'm still working 3 jobs . . . don't ask how that happened. I know I swore that off after Spring Quarter but . . . well I'm a pushover and get suckered into things. Today is a perfect instance of my pushover-ness - as part of a class project I've been setting up an interview with a contact at the Japanese Consulate. Part of the assignment is to record the conversation so that my instructor can listen to it afterwards. Well, of course, the Consulate has a no recording policy so I can't record the interview but I only found this out yesterday. So, I'm asking both instructor and interviewee what can be done about this situation . . . apparently a whole lot of nothing! So, now I'm going to go do an interview that no longer counts as part of the assignment since it's not recorded all because I feel guilty about canceling the interview I set up. And all when I have precious little time to be doing any of these things . . . pooh.

On the up side, it's Wednesday which means the week is half over. And yesterday I saw the public library's bookmobile and that made me smile - still smile actually. I mean, it's a truncated school bus with giant cartoon animals painted on the outside, how can it not make you smile?