Last night I participated in my first ever LAN party with the BF and his brother and their friends. Some observations:
1. 5 hours is WAY TOO LONG to play StarCraft unless you're really, really bored .
2. There are some people out there who are way too into their video games.
3. Computer game themed cupcakes are always a hit with nerd boys.
4. Nerd boys still make messes with cupcakes, themed or not.
5. I am a complete and total noob for not knowing what a "Lurker" is. Except that now I know, after demanding an explanation.
6. My cat loves people, gamers or not.
7. If I am going to have a party, I want talking and social interaction - other than re-hashing strategies from previous games.
8. It's nice dating a techie, because I would be clueless about anything network-related otherwise.
9. I really hate having people watch over my shoulder while I play (and lose) games.
10. Next time we do this, I will provide refreshments and a crummy ally for maybe 3 or 4 games, and then I will retreat to a good book so the boys can talk about hit points and tactical strategies.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Life Lessons
Today, I have two life lessons to share with everyone:
1. Avoid gossip
2. Don't date nutjobs
Both are kind of hard to live by.
Backstory: last summer, I briefly dated a guy I met on okcupid.com - judge if you like, but I have dabbled in online dating. He seemed like a real winner, so I was a little disappointed when he dumped me, though I suspected it was because I wouldn't put out - making him less of a winner. We decided to "stay friends" which failed when he wouldn't stop flirting with me in a pretty obvious way. That and I had made the wise decision to not be friends with people I dated.
Fast forward to now, with no communication besides a few chats in between (in varying degrees of snarkiness and smugness on my part over my excellent boyfriend). He recently IMed me to let me know he had had a risque conversation on okcupid with a friend of mine from the program. Not my style of chat, but whatever. It was an unexpected connection between people I know.
Then today, I ran into said friend, to hear that this guy told her I was crazy and thought he was stalking me! Now crazy, sometimes that's legit, even the awesome BF would admit that. But really? I didn't think he was stalking me - just that he was inappropriate! Very odd.
I have spent the last two days telling the BF how glad I am that I'm with him and not some nutjob. I also guess that I'm not living by my first life lesson here, but I thought it was an interesting story worth sharing.
1. Avoid gossip
2. Don't date nutjobs
Both are kind of hard to live by.
Backstory: last summer, I briefly dated a guy I met on okcupid.com - judge if you like, but I have dabbled in online dating. He seemed like a real winner, so I was a little disappointed when he dumped me, though I suspected it was because I wouldn't put out - making him less of a winner. We decided to "stay friends" which failed when he wouldn't stop flirting with me in a pretty obvious way. That and I had made the wise decision to not be friends with people I dated.
Fast forward to now, with no communication besides a few chats in between (in varying degrees of snarkiness and smugness on my part over my excellent boyfriend). He recently IMed me to let me know he had had a risque conversation on okcupid with a friend of mine from the program. Not my style of chat, but whatever. It was an unexpected connection between people I know.
Then today, I ran into said friend, to hear that this guy told her I was crazy and thought he was stalking me! Now crazy, sometimes that's legit, even the awesome BF would admit that. But really? I didn't think he was stalking me - just that he was inappropriate! Very odd.
I have spent the last two days telling the BF how glad I am that I'm with him and not some nutjob. I also guess that I'm not living by my first life lesson here, but I thought it was an interesting story worth sharing.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
I am becoming so obsessed with cakes and baked things
I've been obsessively reading cake blogs lately, especially bakerella and cakespy. This fun thing is blatantly stolen off of cakespy:
Recently, a website called Very Good Taste started something of an internet fire with a list called "The Omnivore's Hundred", which listed 100 foods which "every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life." We liked the idea, and inspired by the vegan variation on Hannah Kaminsky's site, we thought--why not make our own Sweet 100!? Like the original, our list includes "fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food"--but in our universe, it's all sweet! (In case any of them are foreign to you, links to pictures and recipes are included; also, for any vegans, feel free to go through the list assuming it's a vegan counterpart). How many have you tried? If you'd like, feel free to follow the same guidelines:
1) Copy this list into your site, including the instructions!
2) Bold all of the sweets you've eaten--or make them a different type color.
3) Cross out any of them that you'd never ever eat. (Mine are in italics, but really, I will try a BITE of most things).
4) Consider anything that is not bold or crossed out your "To Do" List.
5) Optional: Post a comment here linking to your results--or just post a comment letting us know how many you've tried, or what you're going to try next!
1. Red Velvet Cake
2. Princess Torte
3. Whoopie Pie
4. Apple Pie either topped or baked with sharp cheddar
5. Beignet
6. Baklava
7. Black and white cookie
8. Seven Layer Bar (also known as the Magic Bar or Hello Dolly bars)
9. Fried Fruit pie (sometimes called hand pies)
10. Kringle
11. Just-fried (still hot) doughnut
12. Scone with clotted cream
13. Betty, Grunt, Slump, Buckle or Pandowdy
14. Halvah
15. Macarons
16. Banana pudding with nilla wafers
17. Bubble tea (with tapioca "pearls")
18. Dixie Cup
19. Rice Krispie treats
20. Alfajores
21. Blondies
22. Croquembouche
23. Girl Scout cookies
24. Moon cake
25. Candy Apple
26. Baked Alaska
27. Brooklyn Egg Cream
28. Nanaimo bar
29. Baba au rhum
30. King Cake
31. Sachertorte
32. Pavlova
33. Tres Leches Cake
34. Trifle
35. Shoofly Pie
36. Key Lime Pie (made with real key lime)
37. Panna Cotta
38. New York Cheesecake
39. Napoleon / mille-fueille
40. Russian Tea Cake / Mexican Wedding Cake
41. Anzac biscuits I think...
42. Pizzelle
43. Kolache
44. Buckeyes
45. Malasadas
46. Moon Pie
47. Dutch baby
48. Boston Cream Pie
49. Homemade chocolate chip cookies
50. Pralines
51. Gooey butter cake
52. Rusks
53. Daifuku
54. Green tea cake or cookies
55. Cupcakes from a cupcake shop
56. Crème brûlée
57. Some sort of deep fried fair food (twinkie, candy bar, cupcake)
58. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting
59. Jelly Roll
60. Pop Tarts
61. Charlotte Russe Uh, I thought this was a store. Does that make me a bad baker and a teeny-bopper?
62. An "upside down" dessert (Pineapple upside down cake or Tarte Tatin)
63. Hummingbird Cake
64. Jell-O from a mold
65. Black forest cake
66. Mock Apple Pie (Ritz Cracker Pie)
67. Kulfi
68. Linzer torte
69. Churro
70. Stollen
71. Angel Food Cake
72. Mincemeat pie
73. Concha
74. Opera Cake
75. Sfogliatelle / Lobster tail
76. Pain au chocolat
77. A piece of Gingerbread House
78. Cassata
79. Cannoli
80. Rainbow cookies
81. Religieuse
82. Petits fours
83. Chocolate Souffle
84. Bienenstich (Bee Sting Cake)
85. Rugelach
86. Hamenstashen
87. Homemade marshmallows
88. Rigo Janci
89. Pie or cake made with candy bar flavors (Snickers pie, Reeses pie, etc)
90. Divinity
91. Coke or Cola cake
92. Gateau Basque
93. S'mores
94. Figgy Pudding Well, maybe. To say I have.
95. Bananas foster or other flaming dessert
96. Joe Froggers
97. Sables
98. Millionaire's Shortbread
99. Animal crackers
100. Basbousa
Overall, I think it looks like I have a sweet tooth - and it's true! The cakespy has links to descriptions of all of these. Maybe I'll bake some of them this summer!
Recently, a website called Very Good Taste started something of an internet fire with a list called "The Omnivore's Hundred", which listed 100 foods which "every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life." We liked the idea, and inspired by the vegan variation on Hannah Kaminsky's site, we thought--why not make our own Sweet 100!? Like the original, our list includes "fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food"--but in our universe, it's all sweet! (In case any of them are foreign to you, links to pictures and recipes are included; also, for any vegans, feel free to go through the list assuming it's a vegan counterpart). How many have you tried? If you'd like, feel free to follow the same guidelines:
1) Copy this list into your site, including the instructions!
2) Bold all of the sweets you've eaten--or make them a different type color.
3) Cross out any of them that you'd never ever eat. (Mine are in italics, but really, I will try a BITE of most things).
4) Consider anything that is not bold or crossed out your "To Do" List.
5) Optional: Post a comment here linking to your results--or just post a comment letting us know how many you've tried, or what you're going to try next!
1. Red Velvet Cake
2. Princess Torte
3. Whoopie Pie
4. Apple Pie either topped or baked with sharp cheddar
5. Beignet
6. Baklava
7. Black and white cookie
8. Seven Layer Bar (also known as the Magic Bar or Hello Dolly bars)
9. Fried Fruit pie (sometimes called hand pies)
10. Kringle
11. Just-fried (still hot) doughnut
12. Scone with clotted cream
13. Betty, Grunt, Slump, Buckle or Pandowdy
14. Halvah
15. Macarons
16. Banana pudding with nilla wafers
17. Bubble tea (with tapioca "pearls")
18. Dixie Cup
19. Rice Krispie treats
20. Alfajores
21. Blondies
22. Croquembouche
23. Girl Scout cookies
24. Moon cake
25. Candy Apple
26. Baked Alaska
27. Brooklyn Egg Cream
28. Nanaimo bar
29. Baba au rhum
30. King Cake
31. Sachertorte
32. Pavlova
33. Tres Leches Cake
34. Trifle
35. Shoofly Pie
36. Key Lime Pie (made with real key lime)
37. Panna Cotta
38. New York Cheesecake
39. Napoleon / mille-fueille
40. Russian Tea Cake / Mexican Wedding Cake
41. Anzac biscuits I think...
42. Pizzelle
43. Kolache
44. Buckeyes
45. Malasadas
46. Moon Pie
47. Dutch baby
48. Boston Cream Pie
49. Homemade chocolate chip cookies
50. Pralines
51. Gooey butter cake
52. Rusks
53. Daifuku
54. Green tea cake or cookies
55. Cupcakes from a cupcake shop
56. Crème brûlée
57. Some sort of deep fried fair food (twinkie, candy bar, cupcake)
58. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting
59. Jelly Roll
60. Pop Tarts
61. Charlotte Russe Uh, I thought this was a store. Does that make me a bad baker and a teeny-bopper?
62. An "upside down" dessert (Pineapple upside down cake or Tarte Tatin)
63. Hummingbird Cake
64. Jell-O from a mold
65. Black forest cake
66. Mock Apple Pie (Ritz Cracker Pie)
67. Kulfi
68. Linzer torte
69. Churro
70. Stollen
71. Angel Food Cake
72. Mincemeat pie
73. Concha
74. Opera Cake
75. Sfogliatelle / Lobster tail
76. Pain au chocolat
77. A piece of Gingerbread House
78. Cassata
79. Cannoli
80. Rainbow cookies
81. Religieuse
82. Petits fours
83. Chocolate Souffle
84. Bienenstich (Bee Sting Cake)
85. Rugelach
86. Hamenstashen
87. Homemade marshmallows
88. Rigo Janci
89. Pie or cake made with candy bar flavors (Snickers pie, Reeses pie, etc)
90. Divinity
91. Coke or Cola cake
92. Gateau Basque
93. S'mores
94. Figgy Pudding Well, maybe. To say I have.
95. Bananas foster or other flaming dessert
96. Joe Froggers
97. Sables
98. Millionaire's Shortbread
99. Animal crackers
100. Basbousa
Overall, I think it looks like I have a sweet tooth - and it's true! The cakespy has links to descriptions of all of these. Maybe I'll bake some of them this summer!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Car!! Aka, I'm torn about my noble intentions
I recently decided that I had to buy a car. I couldn't do it any longer without one. Now, I really love the idea of going car-less. If I lived somewhere where it was possible, I would walk or bike or take public transportation everywhere. I've been trying this in Syracuse for about a year now, and let me tell you something. It doesn't work. Or, maybe it would, but my options would be really limited. Also, my poor boyfriend has been driving me everywhere, so it's not like I'm that much more environmentally friendly - someone is still using gas to transport me, even if I'm not the driver.
I told my parents this, and, miracle of miracles, they told me they had been planning on giving me my grandmother's old car. I am now the owner of a 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, who is now named Harriet Jones. She's a grand old car, except that the right speaker crackles and pops like a bowel of radioactive Rice Krispies and my grandfather, for some reason, cut the wires to the cigarette lighter, making it a heck of a lot harder to charge the GPS.
Either way, I suddenly feel gloriously independent. I can go to the nice grocery store without help. I can drive to my boyfriend's house when I want to, so my schedule no longer revolves around him. I can drive to visit friends who live further away. Life is great. Part of me mourns for the environment and wishes I weren't adding another car's worth of pollution, but most of me is just relieved to have one less thing in my life to worry about and plan around. Viva Harriet!
I told my parents this, and, miracle of miracles, they told me they had been planning on giving me my grandmother's old car. I am now the owner of a 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, who is now named Harriet Jones. She's a grand old car, except that the right speaker crackles and pops like a bowel of radioactive Rice Krispies and my grandfather, for some reason, cut the wires to the cigarette lighter, making it a heck of a lot harder to charge the GPS.
Either way, I suddenly feel gloriously independent. I can go to the nice grocery store without help. I can drive to my boyfriend's house when I want to, so my schedule no longer revolves around him. I can drive to visit friends who live further away. Life is great. Part of me mourns for the environment and wishes I weren't adding another car's worth of pollution, but most of me is just relieved to have one less thing in my life to worry about and plan around. Viva Harriet!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Sleep logic
A new medication I've been taking has the possible side effect of unusual dreams. Now, I've always had unusual dreams, but in the last few weeks they have been more frequent and more intense. I've dreamed about traveling in airports inside of convenience stores, going back in time by train, grilling cat food, watching Gauls hold ancient ceremonies, and many other things.
I think because of the weird dreams, I am having a harder time snapping back into reality when I wake up. A few nights ago I woke up and was completely out of it. I wasn't really sure what I was doing, but what was really confusing me was this thing in my bed. Sleep-me couldn't even figure out what it was - was it a person, a lump, or something else? And why was it in my bed? So, logically, I reached out and poked "it" in the face a few times.
"It" was my boyfriend, who is almost always next to me when I'm sleeping, and should thus not have confused me so much. On the second or third poke I realized this, apparently said sorry, and went back to sleep. The next morning I had convinced myself it was all a dream.
Turns out it wasn't, and I had poked him in the eye. He had turned over to escape me and my sleep-poking. Poor guy!
I think because of the weird dreams, I am having a harder time snapping back into reality when I wake up. A few nights ago I woke up and was completely out of it. I wasn't really sure what I was doing, but what was really confusing me was this thing in my bed. Sleep-me couldn't even figure out what it was - was it a person, a lump, or something else? And why was it in my bed? So, logically, I reached out and poked "it" in the face a few times.
"It" was my boyfriend, who is almost always next to me when I'm sleeping, and should thus not have confused me so much. On the second or third poke I realized this, apparently said sorry, and went back to sleep. The next morning I had convinced myself it was all a dream.
Turns out it wasn't, and I had poked him in the eye. He had turned over to escape me and my sleep-poking. Poor guy!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Real Life Romance
Something young women seem to hear a lot is that love in real life isn't like the movies. I always thought, "well, duh, and I wouldn't expect it to be." I thought I had a healthy enough dose of cynicism, or at least common sense, to not expect a romance movie style romance. Not that I watch a heck of a lot of romantic movies, but you get the drift.
And overall, I think I'm pretty good at being practical. But sometimes I slip up and get all crazy about things and it stresses me out. I watch movies and think "wait, why don't I have that? Why can't that dramatic romantic thing happen to me?"
Well, thing is, I probably do have that. I love my boyfriend very much, and from what I can tell, he feels the same way about me. At least, he tells me so, and the guy continues to put up with me, so that should say something. Real life really isn't like the movies. Those characters (probably) haven't had to deal with each other when one of them is sick, or stressed, or hogging the covers, or at the very lowest and crappiest emotional state they can be in. Which means they also probably haven't had the opportunity to see each other in bad situations and love them anyway, and show that love.
Also, "real" people don't often have moments when a dramatic declaration is necessary, and not many people are reunited with their love after breaking a curse that made them look like a pig. Um...look up the movie Penelope. And I'm lucky that my life doesn't have much along the lines of emotional returns from war or pig curses or star-crossed love. Sure, sometimes I want to be swept off my feet and kissed passionately, but only if it's by a man who will also drive back to my apartment and get my medicine when I'm sick and crying.
And I hope that poor guy doesn't mind me constantly posting personal things like this to my blog.
And overall, I think I'm pretty good at being practical. But sometimes I slip up and get all crazy about things and it stresses me out. I watch movies and think "wait, why don't I have that? Why can't that dramatic romantic thing happen to me?"
Well, thing is, I probably do have that. I love my boyfriend very much, and from what I can tell, he feels the same way about me. At least, he tells me so, and the guy continues to put up with me, so that should say something. Real life really isn't like the movies. Those characters (probably) haven't had to deal with each other when one of them is sick, or stressed, or hogging the covers, or at the very lowest and crappiest emotional state they can be in. Which means they also probably haven't had the opportunity to see each other in bad situations and love them anyway, and show that love.
Also, "real" people don't often have moments when a dramatic declaration is necessary, and not many people are reunited with their love after breaking a curse that made them look like a pig. Um...look up the movie Penelope. And I'm lucky that my life doesn't have much along the lines of emotional returns from war or pig curses or star-crossed love. Sure, sometimes I want to be swept off my feet and kissed passionately, but only if it's by a man who will also drive back to my apartment and get my medicine when I'm sick and crying.
And I hope that poor guy doesn't mind me constantly posting personal things like this to my blog.
Keeping Draino in business
A certain man in my life has been suggesting recently that I grow out my hair. It's something that has occurred to me too, because, well, Brittney Spears has my haircut in the Womanizer video and it looks like a wig. Is a wig, I mean, and I would prefer my hair looks like hair. Also, I'm bored with it.
But Brittney and wigs are not my point. My point is, I'm afraid to grow my hair out because I shed like a cat. As a matter of fact, between me and my cat, I have a constant vacuuming problem. It is entirely possible that if I let it go too long, you would never see my carpeting.
My cat is also shedding more because spring is coming. Could I be shedding because of spring? This week, I have pulled hair out of the shower drain three times at my apartment, and once at the boyfriend's house, just so the water would drain better. While vacuuming up the hair disaster, I had to stop and pull hair out of the vacuum brush-thingy because it wouldn't spin. And if I haven't disgusted you enough already, I took photographic evidence:
That's only what I pulled from the brush - much, much more got vacuumed up or swiffered and thrown out. And apparently some floss came along. Anyway, I have no idea what to do about it, but I'm clogging the drains and making a mess and it's driving me crazy.
But Brittney and wigs are not my point. My point is, I'm afraid to grow my hair out because I shed like a cat. As a matter of fact, between me and my cat, I have a constant vacuuming problem. It is entirely possible that if I let it go too long, you would never see my carpeting.
My cat is also shedding more because spring is coming. Could I be shedding because of spring? This week, I have pulled hair out of the shower drain three times at my apartment, and once at the boyfriend's house, just so the water would drain better. While vacuuming up the hair disaster, I had to stop and pull hair out of the vacuum brush-thingy because it wouldn't spin. And if I haven't disgusted you enough already, I took photographic evidence:
That's only what I pulled from the brush - much, much more got vacuumed up or swiffered and thrown out. And apparently some floss came along. Anyway, I have no idea what to do about it, but I'm clogging the drains and making a mess and it's driving me crazy.
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