October 31, 2003

Adam West comes trick-or-treating

I haven't been in this house on Halloween in at least five years and have no experience with handing out Halloween candy or knowledge of the normal trick-or-treating flow. This year, however, my parents went out of town and the job was left to me. I tried to be conservative, judging that since my family had bought ten bags of candy, we were expecting a lot of trick-or-treaters.

"Pick the one you want," I would say, holding out the bowl to the outreached hands who were ready to grab handfuls. To really cute little kids or people with good costumes, I would offer two or three or "as many as you want". These were a select few, including the last group of kids, around 6 or 7 years old, with whom I had a long conversation of something like:

Batman: Trick or treat!
Lion: Trick or treat!
Me: Happy Halloween! You can have as many as you want.
Batman (taking one candy): I'm Batman!
Me: Wow!
Lion (pointing at my half-assed Halloween costume, which consisted of cat ears): You're a cat!
Me: Yup!
Lion: You have cat ears on!
Me: I do! Do you want some candy?
Batman (taking another candy): I'm Batman!
Me: Wow, Batman! That's a great costume!
Batman (taking another candy): I wanted to be the Joker, but I couldn't, because I had to--
Lion: You're a cat!
Me: Oh, Joker is good too! Yes, I am!
Lion (pointing at Howie, the Devil Dog, being held back by my lovely assistant, Mr Dave): And he's a dog!
Me: Yes!
Lion: And I'm a lion!
Me: Yes you are!
Lion: And you're a cat!
Me: I am!
Lion: Cats are afraid of lions!
Me: They are?
Lion (trying to pet me): You're a cat! And he's a dog!
Batman (taking another candy): And I'm Batman!

So... ten bags of candy... FIFTEEN trick-or-treaters.

We have a crapload of leftover candy. We also have, in this household, a diabetic and someone who tries to watch his weight. Which means that the bulk of the candy-eating falls on yours truly. It's a tough burden to bear, but I think I can handle it.

srah | 9:11 PM | Comments (20) | TrackBack | Tags: halloween, holidays |

'Now it's not even fit for monkeys!'

Dear protesters,

I am not going to take you seriously if you are carrying a sign saying "Addicted monkeys: your tax $$$ at work". I rode past you on the bus and had a good giggle, but I don't think the words "addicted monkeys" are furthering the cause.

srah | 1:44 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack | Tags: |

October 30, 2003

This is a valuable tool, after all

In my group meeting today, I got to sound smart by knowing things about blogs.

Who knew?

srah | 7:15 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack | Tags: school of information |

srah and the no-good very long meme

Nothing to do. So I have done a very long meme.

Update: I decided to flesh out some of my answers because I'm trapped at work.

[via Katie]

srah | 2:37 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | Tags: memes |

Gorgeous clever who, now?

My 501 group-mate emailed me:

"Our 682 group is looking for people that we can take pictures of for use as personas in our final report. Could we rope you in on this? All we woudl need to do is take a few pictures of you sometime, interacting with a computer, a cellphone, maybe a PDA, etc.. You look like you could be in our demographic. :)"

Oooooh, I think. I am flattered. Someone wants to take pictures of me! I am going to be a model! I am... wait! "Look like you could be in our demographic"? What demographic is that, now? Graduate students? French speakers? The gorgeous and clever worship-worthy people of the world? I wrote back for clarification.

"heh.. We're actually targeting 16-22 year olds -- and you do have a youthful look about you."

Drat. Oh well. I will smile prettily anyway.

srah | 12:02 PM | Comments (14) | TrackBack | Tags: srah |

Librarians do it quietly

Erica says I'm an Info*Bitch. I concur.

I smell an Antiguan Independence Day present...

Update: On a related note, Astronomy J* informs me that it is also the Year of the Samurai Librarian.

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* It is hard to come up with obligatory blog-nicknames for people you have only spoken to once or twice. This kind of makes him sound like a rapper on PBS.

srah | 11:34 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | Tags: discovered |

Find your own damn seat!

Two Northwood buses arrived at my bus stop at the same time today. I got on the one less full of travelers. And that has made all the difference.

I was lucky to have gotten on the bus at a point where it was relatively empty, because it turned out that I was riding with the original Busdriver from Hell*. When I got on, I was able to find a seat and sit right down. But by the next stop, seats were getting scarce and far from the entrance and people who were only riding for a short while decided to stand.

"I'm gonna need you to find a seat for me," suggested the busdriver, rather forcefully. So people sat down, and we moved on to the next stop, where more people piled on.

"I'm gonna need you to find a seat for me," suggested the busdriver. They looked around. There were no seats nearby.

"There's an empty seat right there, near the back," he said, looking at us in his rear-view mirror, "I'M GONNA NEED YOU TO FIND A SEAT FOR ME!!!!!!!!!" Someone sat in the seat, but there were still two people standing near the front of the bus.

"I'M GONNA NEED YOU TO FIND A SEAT FOR ME," he commanded. "THERE ARE TWO EMPTY SEATS AT THE BACK OF THE BUS."

At this point, I was most concerned by the fact that he was counting empty seats at the back of the bus while driving 40 miles an hour down Fuller and changing lanes. The standers couldn't see the two seats at the back.

"I don't see any--"

"I'M GONNA NEED YOU TO FIND A SEAT FOR ME. THERE ARE TWO EMPTY SEATS AT THE BACK OF THE BUS. SIT DOWN!" he roared. They made their way to the back, if only to distance themselves from him. I assume that eventually they found the seats that were visible only to him.

–––––
* What, Cerberus?

srah | 10:52 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack | Tags: university of michigan |

October 29, 2003

Update

Feeling much better now, thanks. The three-hour User Interface Design lecture I was dreading sitting through in my delicate sleepy/emotional state was survivable and even enjoyable and re-energized me for the evening. I've actually done homework (thanks to some whip-cracking yardstick-poking) and I'm off now for an early bedtime so that I can attempt to be a somewhat functioning (albeit emotionless) member of society tomorrow.

srah | 11:09 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack | Tags: srah |

Dain bramaged?

I'm not very good with my emotions. I've repressed and ignored them for a long time, preferring to amuse people from afar instead of getting close to them. I don't know how to identify my emotions now or what to do with them. I'm not sure if my blogging helps, hinders or just demonstrates this situation, but I am definitely more likely to blog about amusing things that happen to me than my emotional reactions to the world around me.

So perhaps the best solution would not be to work myself up about my emotional state, get 4.5 hours of sleep and follow that with readings about people with brain damage to the emotional centers of their brains and how they can't process emotions like normal people and function correctly in social situations. This will just make me imagine that I have brain damage, or wish that I had so I would have an excuse.

Perhaps I should seek counseling from an impartial, objective party. Or seek out a paper journal. Or a nap.

srah | 10:37 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack | Tags: srah |

Bise me not

A friend of my sister had to interview me for her French class. Ooo-ee, I am so important. So I figured I might as well post my answers here as well.

1. What is the primary difference you found when teaching in France?
I've never taught in the US, so I can't be sure of any differences between the two systems. I think that the American system is more coddling, but the French system is less supportive of the students.

2. Where in France did you teach?
I taught in a technical/professional high school in Cusset, a small town just outside of Vichy. Vichy is about the size of Jackson, MI and is located in the political district of Auvergne, in the center of France.

3. Do you think the children were more respectful than American children?
I don't think they were any more or less respectful of me than American students would have been. I do think that the French tend to have more strict school behavior than their American counterparts and would be shocked by the way we (college students, anyway) come to class in our pyjamas and put our feet on the furniture.

4. Do you think the "Système D" or the American education system is better? It's been several years since I took this class, but I seem to remember that the Système D (se débrouiller) was a concept in French culture in general - that you need to learn the way things are done in order to get by. I may be remembering this wrong. So I don't quite see how the two can be compared.

Instead, I would look at the French and American education systems. Again, between these two, I see that the main difference is that the US has a touchy-feely nurturing kind of style, where France's system is more strict. Both have their advantages. France's system isn't tied up in self-esteem issues the wa that America's is, so I imagine they don't have the problems we have with people graduating from high school unable to read. If you don't know it, you don't pass. And if you don't pass, too bad for you. I think that America's system is sometimes too soft on students, but I also see that France's is sometimes too hard.

France's system is focused on passing the Bac, whereas we have no such test in the US. We sometimes compare it to the SAT, but they aren't the same. The Bac is the ultimate test of everything that has been learned in high school. It makes people crazy throughout high school and crushes them if they fail. The SAT is just another aptitude test and is for testing general knowledge. We couldn't have a Bac in the US because we don't have a centralized education system. We couldn't have a centralized education system because we're an enormous, complicated confederation of states rather than a unified, centralized nation. Our political reality affects our educational system which affects our culture.

I think I've gotten way off the point here, but that's because I'm tired.

5. What is your favorite moment or the thing you'll miss most?
In terms of teaching, I was unhappy for the early part of the year because I thought I wasn't being effective and I didn't know what I was doing. By the end, I learned to accept the things I could achieve and the things I couldn't and I was much happier. My favorite moments were at the end, when my students were saying goodbye and had nice things to write in the notebook I passed around.

6. What part of French culture is your favorite?
The food, the language and the music, in that order.

7. What was the most difficult thing to adjust to in France?
I've lived in France twice now, traveled several other times and taken the First-Year Seminar on cross-cultural understandings between France and the United States. I've studied and experienced so much that it's hard to remember now where I had difficulty adjusting. I suppose I've never been quite comfortable with the bise, the double cheek-kiss, just because it's not embedded in my culture. I get annoyed with bureaucracy in France and what I see as not taking professional responsibility for problems. I also find it frustrating sometimes that the French seem to always enjoy a debate, where I'd much rather everyone got along and skirted the hot issues.

srah | 2:31 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack | Tags: assistantship, cultural differences, france, teaching |

October 28, 2003

Some thank you disillusionment

R-Dogg* (this evening): See you tomorrow. Go help your mom make dinner!
Me: Thanks!

Mr B------ (last week): You do have really fine hair.
Me: Thanks.
Mr B------: Uh, I meant the texture rather than the quality.
Me: I completely understood that. I just say "thank you" to everything anyone says to me.

I do. I think it's a disease. I thank people for completely inappropriate things.

I thank them for walking through a door I have held for them. I thank them for listening to the directions I gave them to the Office of International Programs. I thank them for taking the money I gave them.

Thank you for letting me serve you, O Great Ones!

I suspect that in most of these cases, my brain automatically realizes that there should be a "thank you" in the situation and if they don't provide it, the ol' noggin thinks it's my turn.

–––––
* Because everyone's gotsta have a cool nickname in srah's blog.

srah | 10:18 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack | Tags: |

October 27, 2003

Facts of the matter

1. I work in the Overseas Opportunities Office.
2. I am the peer advisor responsible for teaching abroad information.
3. One of the largest teaching abroad opportunities is the Japanese Exchange & Teaching program, a teaching assistantship sponsored by the Japanese government.
4. The Japanese Exchange & Teaching program is abbreviated "JET".
5. Every time I hear the word "JET", I think "I thought the major was a lady suffragette."
6. Seriously.
7. Every time.
8. Make it stop.

srah | 3:28 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | Tags: music, work |

Unobservant girl would like to be observed...

It's been almost a week and two people have noticed that I got my hair cut.

srah | 2:53 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack | Tags: haircut |

Get out... while you still can!

Damned editing. My blogiversary came and went and I didn't even notice. So... two years of blogging. What the hell? How did that happen? It's been a long and exciting two years. Let's recap the thrills along the way.

Two years ago today, I was tipsy and watching Scooby Doo.

One year ago, I was in love... with flan.

Six months ago, I was fascinated by vending machine waffles.

One month ago, I was fidgeting.

And for some reason, people are interested in reading this. Well, thank ye kindly for your patronage, you crazy folkses.

srah | 12:14 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | Tags: blogiversary, holidays |

Good morning, starshine

The Earth says hello!

What is the sun doing, being up so early? I actually woke up when my alarm went off this morning, rather than my usual routine habit, which is being in a semi-asleep hypnotic trance for half an hour before my dad knocks on the door (my back-up alarm) and I have to drag myself out of bed. I, of course, still lay in bed for that half an hour, but it was somehow more enjoyable when I could actually consciously listen to The Neil on my CD alarm clock and appreciate my half an hour of warm, snuggly bedtime.

srah | 7:41 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack | Tags: |

October 26, 2003

It's beginning to look a lot like Halloween

In movies, kids go trick-or-treating door-to-door and you open the door and see them standing there in their costumes with eager looks on their faces, bags outstretched. What about a realistic Michigan Halloween? Eager looks, check. Bags, check. Costumes? Hmmm.

And what are you? A princess in a parka? Well, isn't that cute? And you are a crayon in a coat? Adorable. Awwwww, it's Anakin Skywalker in an anorak. An Orc in an overcoat. Jack Sparrow in a ski jacket.

This is October in Michigan, people. Don't even get me started on the grown-up costumes. Sexy French maid... in sexy snowpants, perhaps.

[Okay, I originally planned to blog on this topic months ago. Now I look at the weather report for Friday and it's supposed to be 61 degrees. Bah!]

srah | 10:12 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack | Tags: halloween, holidays, weather |

Work group? Fun group, more like it!

What I like most about my work group for User Interface Design is that, while we aren't terribly focused, this isn't always a bad thing. Our meetings may last five hours where everyone else's last one, but we manage to find a balance between working and having fun, so we get things done and don't notice the time going by. It's a lot less stressful than trying to bring everyone together for a quick, productive meeting and breaking up. Dinner, working, playing... 'sall good. C'est cool. C'est relaxe.

srah | 9:38 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Tags: school of information |

Il pardonnera ses caprices jusqu'en soixante-dix

When I went to get my hair cut this week, I talked to the hair-cutting lady about how I felt like I was betraying my usual hair-cutting lady by going to her. She said she doesn't mind when people do that, and that the customers often get really worked up about it and it's all business to the hair-cutting ladies.

Was this comforting? It really should have been, but I have this terrible over-dramatic streak that decided she was only telling me this in order to keep me from feeling guilty and lure me away from the usual one. Scheming tricksy hair-cutting lady.

While talking about my studies of French and my life in France, I also learned from her that Mick Harvey of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds released an album called Intoxicated Man, where he translated sixteen of Serge Gainsbourg's songs into English. This would make a really great Veterans' Day present. You know, for... somebody.

srah | 9:25 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack | Tags: music |

I don't love the smell of consulting in the morning

The paper that I've been editing this weekend is our 15-page Use of Information paper. In this class, we have practical experience doing whatever it is exactly that they're trying to teach us to do. We are divided into groups and sent to a University office, non-profit organization, or library site for the semester, to examine their work processes and tell them how they could improve their communication or workflow or things like that. It smells suspiciously of consulting.

Last week in our discussion section, our groups convened to discuss our cultural models, diagrams showing the interactions in the offices. Each group drew their own, then we had to share them with another group and get their input and critiques.

We started with tbone and Mr B------'s group's cultural model. They were a bit confused about how to draw their Venn diagrams to best represent the interactions between the different groups at their site, but we offered some input and suggestions and I think they may have felt better or had more ideas about where they were going.

Then we moved over to our drawings. Which had to be explained. And the whole culture of our site had to be described, because it is so complex and tied up in bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo and internal and external links that no one who hasn't been studying the group for weeks could understand. So here it is, summed up:

Us to them: "Hmmm, I think maybe you could be clearer in that label. And maybe you could have another arrow pointing over here."

Them to us: "Damn, your site is hard."

You better believe it, baby. After explaining it all to the other group, though, I think we came out with... oh wait, nothing. Nothing but more confusion. And a sense of failure. Thankfully, we seem to have formulated something over the course of the weekend. And also thankfully, I am only editing and was not given any responsibilities for drawing anything or understanding the point of making stupid cultural models.

srah | 8:37 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack | Tags: school of information |

I only advertise for people I reeeeeally like

Are you in Indiana? Do you like art?

Shut up, you do too.

November 7-21, there will be an exhibition of installations by fifteen artists at the old Lafayette Theater on 6th and Main Streets in Lafayette, Indiana. I suggest that you go, because it's too far for me to go myself.

Why should you go?, you may ask. Well, among the artists featured will be the lovely and talented Miss Jillian Longheier, who knows where to get a good taco.

In Albion, anyway.

Shut up, just go.

srah | 8:31 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack | Tags: |

'What do you call the game wherein the participants see who can throw a knife closest to the other person?'

I call that out-of-state crackheads. What the hell kind of game is that?

In Michigan, we say "pop" for sweetened carbonated beverages like Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, root beer, etc.

We also say "Flore-i-da", "cray-ahn", "flurr-ish", and "groshery", pronounce "Mary", "merry" and "marry" the same and pronounce the I in "cauliflower" like the I in "sit". We say "tennis shoes", "roly-poly", "kitty-corner", "oil and vinegar", "by accident", "mow the lawn", "basement", "drinking fountain" and "goose bumps". I am somehow a mutant for my state, though, and say neither "car-ml" nor "carra-mel", but rather "care-a-ml".

[via ASquared Airbeagle]

srah | 9:40 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack | Tags: language, michigan, united states |

Shake it like a polaroid picture

Our evening activity to entertain our out-of-town visitor was a trip to a Pimps & Hos & Elvis & Scary Scary Unconvincing Transvestites With Beards party at a co-op on campus, to which we were invited by one of my SI classmates and one of Robin's enginerding ones. We were dressed as neither pimps nor hos, which was rather surprisingly disappointing to me.

Beer flowed in abundance, but Thomas ("Frenchie") was kind enough to hop along to the kitchen and get me a glass of water. They played Hey Ya! and I danced my little head off, I spoke French to the francophones, and I danced in a circle with my pepys from SI. Big loud dancy parties with strangers are not usually my style, but I had a pretty good time.

Cheryl's and my favorite part of the evening was when the guy who'd been wandering around the room, awkwardly nodding at everyone in it, finally approached us and sat down and talked to us. Apparently we bored him after a while, because he said, "Well, I'm going to be going home now" and got up and... went and sat across the room. Seriously. If you're going to lie to blow us off, at least leave the room.

Now I'm home and it's time to get into bed and curl up with a good rough draft.

srah | 2:38 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack | Tags: |

October 25, 2003

Unconscious Mutterings

A bit early this week, but still jam-packed with flavor and free-associated goodness.

srah | 8:52 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Tags: memes, unconscious mutterings |

For anyone who is sad enough to care

This is srah's weekend (thus far and to come)

Friday:

October 24, 2003

And boo-yeah!

I was feeling guilty about the fact that my left column is so much longer than my right (in my screen resolution, anyway), so I spent all of the brainpower I had this morning (which was very little) jotting down blog-notes. So when I have a free moment at a computer... shazam!

srah | 2:47 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | Tags: |

Tales from srah's bladder

Warning: this post should not be read by... anyone.

srah | 2:27 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack | Tags: health, water |

Don't poke me

I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon and for the test they want to do, I have to have to drink 32 oz. of water through the course of the morning and show up with a full bladder. The stupid thing is that the test has nothing to do with my bladder. But anyway, I'm shooting for drinking a bottle of water an hour, starting at 8 and finishing by 12.

Just don't make me laugh.

srah | 8:15 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack | Tags: health, water |

October 22, 2003

Mystery... uh, solved?

The Neil has been identified. Or something. I think. I am somewhat confused. Whether or not the culprit was, in fact, the ever-amused, evasive young Matthew, I have declared that it was the ever-amused, evasive young Matthew so as to avoid losing my mind. So there you are.

srah | 10:53 PM | Comments (17) | TrackBack | Tags: |

October 21, 2003

He is... he said

I have started two separate conversations today with the question "Are you Neil Diamond?" This would be a perfectly understandable and normal question if the person were Neil Diamond, but neither of the people I've addressed happened to be. So I just sound insane.

The search continues... Who are you?

Update: Four. And still unsuccessful. I only have one suspect left.

srah | 4:48 PM | Comments (26) | TrackBack | Tags: readers' choice |

October 20, 2003

Dopey und mopey und sniffly

Lack of sleep has put me in an odd irrational mood-swing where I am very mopey and down on myself. I have determined that I would like to be a more considerate and nicer person and am frustrated with myself for not being that way to start with.

So enough about me. How are you?

srah | 9:39 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack | Tags: |

Oh what a tangled web we weave when we something something on Christmas Eve...

I have a haircutting appointment on Tuesday. I'm going back to Robin's hair-cutting lady. I will look good and feel guilty for abandoning mine. Either that or she will have gone insane in my absence and I will feel guilty and look like crap.

Why can't I get just a haircut and not have big dramatic issues about it, as I assume normal people do? Well, if I weren't insane and neurotic and overdramatic, then I wouldn't have anything to blog about, now would I?

srah | 10:56 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack | Tags: haircut, neuroses |

Life and a bowl of cherries

Someone brought a bowl of chocolate-covered dried cherries to work today and left them in the kitchen for the staff. I tried one and despite being covered in dark chocolate, it was quite tasty*. So I had another. All in all, I had at least five in the time it took me to make a cup of tea. So I have self-imposed a ban on kitchen visits for the remainder of the post-season play day. Yeah, like that'll work.

In other work-kitchen-related news, who is stealing my tea? And why are they nicking the Earl Grey with my initials on it instead of the Plantation Mint, which I haven't labeled and wouldn't mind losing? Clearly these tricksy hobbitses is wiser than they looks.

–––––
* I know, dark chocolate is supposed to be wonderful and better than milk and all, and everyone thinks I'm insane. Meh.

srah | 9:45 AM | Comments (12) | TrackBack | Tags: food, work |

Third late night in a row

Sometimes, in the course of writing a paper, you just have to zone out and stare at the floor for five minutes.

Oh, wait, no. You don't have to. Apparently I just do it for fun.

Wakey wakey!

srah | 2:10 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | Tags: |

October 19, 2003

Don't be ridiculous, Scarlett, she looks like a big meringue

I'm doing a take-home midterm tonight, and my parents have very considerately agreed not to watch DVDs that will distract me and make me come out and sit down on the couch and lose hours of valuable writing time.

Unfortunately, they have chosen to occupy their time by cleaning out their closet. Which means that there are piles of bridesmaid dresses from the 1970s, when my mom was my age and size, just sitting around. And they are crying out to be tried on and laughed at.

And, you know, with all that crying, how's a girl to concentrate on provenance and structuration theory? Too bad* for you suckas that I don't have a digital camera...

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* Or not.

srah | 7:19 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | Tags: dresses, schoolwork, srahfam |

Unconscious Mutterings

All of the cool kids are reading my free-associations. You know you want to.

srah | 2:29 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Tags: memes, unconscious mutterings |

October 18, 2003

What's that meme thing doing here?

Everyone else was doing it, so why shouldn't I?

A - Act Your Age: 23. And I refuse.
B - Boyfriend: None. And I'm all good with that.
C - Chore You Hate: Washing dishes.
D - Dad's Name: William.
E - Essential Make-Up Item: Uh... chapstick?
F - Fave Actress: Claudette Colbert. Hermione Gingold. Audrey Tautou. I dunno.
G - Gold or Silver: Gold.
H - Homeland: Ann Arbor, Michigan.
I - Instruments You Play: I took 5 years of piano and 3 of flute. I hated them both, never practiced, never learned anything, and forgot what little I did learn.
J - Job Title: Librarian/Webmaster/Peer Advisor.
K - Kids: None. Not sure if I want them in the future.
L - Living Arrangements: At home with Mummy and Daddy.
M - Mom's Name: Marilyn.
N - Number of Women You've Slept With: I can think of six off the top of my head. Unless you are using "slept with" as a euphemism for sex, in which case, none.
O - Overnight Hospital Stays: I probably had to when I was born, but I don't think I have since.
P - Phobia: Gephydrophobia.
Q - Quote You Like: So many...
R - Religious Affiliation: None. Very much so.
S - Siblings: 1 sister.
T - Time You Wake Up: On weekdays, I wake up at 6:30 and actually get up closer to 7.
U - Unique Habit: Playing with people's earlobes? I don't know if that's a habit.
V - Vegetable You Refuse to Eat: None. Any vegetable can be made tasty in one way or another.
W - Worst Habit: Procrastination.
X - X-Rays You've Had: Teeth, chest. Perhaps others, but I don't remember them.
Y - Yummy Food You Make: Poulet à la Claude Andrés Renata srah, cookies, brownies, vegetable stir-fry.
Z - Zodiac Sign: Virgo.

[via monochromatic girl]

srah | 9:29 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack | Tags: memes |

The Friday Five

Meh, why not?

1. Name five things in your refrigerator.
Things that belong to me or I am particularly attached to: Thursday evening's chipati leftovers, cran-grape juice, peach iced tea, mushrooms, horseradish mustard.

2. Name five things in your freezer.
Cooooookies, ice cubes, frozen peas (much better than canned), blueberries, mixed nuts.

3. Name five things under your kitchen sink.
Onions, potatoes, dishwasher detergent, vases, more dishwasher detergent.

4. Name five things around your computer.
Empty tea-cup, address card box, piles of scrap paper, a print-out of today's Get Fuzzy cartoon, a French postage stamp.

5. Name five things in your medicine cabinet.
Scary mascara, tweezers, two-year-old Chilean vitamin C tablets, perfume, q-tips.

srah | 12:21 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack | Tags: friday five, memes |

October 17, 2003

Furthering my nerducation

David, I am nerdier for having known you.

David and I carpooled to study group tonight, living on the same side of town as we do. As I drove him home, he tried to entice me to stop by his house and play some Magic, if you know what I mean.

Of course, by play some Magic, I mean play some Magic. Magic... The Gathering. Seriously. This is the boy who says that he's sort of a geek, but he doesn't "like, quote Monty Python or anything weird like that." David, you might as well do all of the geeky stuff in the middle, like quoting Monty Python or knowing the name of that stupid rat-character in Return of the Jedi*, because you are a practitioner of the Single Dorkiest Activity In The World**.

He has been begging and cajoling for a week, and it finally occurred to me to give in. Once I've tried it, he can't use the "just try it once" argument anymore, and I can say that I've done it and figure out what the heck this crap is.

So I did. And it was strange and very geeky. But I sort of got it after a while, despite my efforts to not understand and die as quickly as possible. As much as he believes otherwise, I don't see myself getting addicted any time soon, except perhaps as an insomnia remedy. But now I can say that I've tried it.

Now, as I converse with him on IM, he is still playing. This is not some one-time try-it-out-as-a-joke kind of thing. This is not some install-it-on-the-computer-to-make-srah-play-it thing.

Post-It®? *Yoink!*

I am frightened.

–––––
* It's Salacious Crumb. This question has been killing me all day and no one has been able to help.
** Well, one of. But I've got contacts in the other realm of Dorkdom as well...

srah | 1:06 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack | Tags: |

October 16, 2003

Le chien chaud, as our amis quebecois would say

I bought a hot dog from a street vendor today. Yeah, I know, I'm not a big hot dog eater. It surprised me, too, but the onions smelled yummy and sometimes you have to try to act normal and not ask for just a bun full of grilled onions.

"Do you want a @#xy&6$ or a iej30#72@?" he asked me.

"Comment?" I asked, not hearing or understanding the choices he was giving me.

"What?"

"Uh... I mean... 'What?'" I clarified.

Sometimes the French just pops out uncontrollably and I don't know what to do with myself. Turns out he was asking if I wanted a regular bun or French bread, which is sort of ironic. I think it's been a while since I've bought food on the street. Is French my automatic language for that behavior?

srah | 1:05 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack | Tags: french |

No? Okay then.

As I walked across the bridge, I saw a man in a long black coat, a beard, and a yarmulke, holding a palm frond and trying rather unsuccessfully to hide behind a lamppost. He could have been waiting for a bus, but it was a pedestrian bridge. He could have been waiting for someone, but it seemed an odd place to wait. I stared at him for a while and wondered. As I passed, he called out to me.

"Are you Jewish?"

"What?"

"Are you Jewish?"

"No."

"Oh. Alright then. Have a nice day."

That's the second time that's happened to me. It makes me wonder what they're doing. I guess they're trying to round up Jewish students and make sure they're going to synagogue and not wandering away from the community. Or maybe they're inviting people to the Sukkot tent on the Diag. Sometimes I'm tempted to say yes, just to see what they're after. Sometimes I wonder if they would wish me a good day even if I said yes.

They're my favorite religious group on campus because they don't try to give me anything or tell me I'm going to Hell or convince me that their way is right. They're just checkin'.

srah | 1:05 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack | Tags: philosophy & religion, university of michigan |

Whoop de whoop de sheller de vere

When we were young, my sister and I were always embarassed by the way our mother could start up conversations with anyone anywhere. She would run into friends in the middle of the street and talk for hours or tell the supermarket cashier about what Becky and I were doing in school.

It's inevitable: I'm becoming my mother. Yesterday I went to Einstein Bros. Bagels and a guy was sitting at a table in an Albion hat. Normally, I would leave people alone in this situation, but I felt I had to go bother him.

I was tempted to just go up to him and exclaim, "Io Triumphe!" (the college yell), but I realized that I would probably throw up on and run away from anyone who did that to me. Another super line would have been, "Hey... Liberal Arts at Work?"

So I went up to him, asked him if he went to Albion and when he graduated, and we had the kind of strange awkward conversation that you have with someone you have nothing in common with except for two years of overlap on the same campus.

srah | 1:04 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | Tags: |

October 15, 2003

Note to self, who always forgets these things

I am always retrying and rebuying things because I forget I hate them. So I will try to remind myself by recording it here:

Bigelow Plantation Mint? Booooooo. Not nearly minty enough. One might even say anti-distinctly minty.