Volunteering at the Library

I have been thinking about volunteering at the library since I moved here, but I just hadn't done anything about it. I finally filled out the application. I haven't turned it in yet, but I really want to now.

I can teach adult literacy classes, or tutor adults one-to-one. I can participate in planning library activities for teens. I can read to groups of tiny people.

I try to be helpful, so I checked every box that applied, meaning I also checked that I could help out with general library gruntwork-database entry, etc.

Who knows, maybe I will like it, and the next phase of my life will be getting an MLS and working in libraries? We shall see. Muahahaha! There's no real reason for the evil laugh. I just like it.

My life has felt a bit empty, and it's making me a bit depressed. Doing something constructive seems like a definite fix for such emptiness. Hooray for doing good things with one's free time!

Ready to Be Productive

So, I finally finished watching all of Lost. I thought the conclusion was a bit lame, but really, I'm somewhat impressed they had the guts to go with that sort of ending because it's hard, and most people go for the other endings because they are easier to do. So kudos to the Lost people for being brave.

I have been playing Epic Mickey, which I think is a cool game, but it turns out that I really don't have the stamina to complete a whole game. I am bored, and I am ready to be reading and writing again. It's good that I got that out of my system while my Blockbuster subscription was still in trial mode.

I have been reading The Female Man by Joanna Russ. It's a weird book, and it's only like 200-some pages, but it's been taking me forever to read. I'm starting to really get into it (at 170 pages in). I'm in reading mode again. Forget TV and video games.

I've been re-plotting my novel in my head for my most recent change in plan-of-action (this is the 3rd major change in the focus on this novel). I also need to make a research plan/book list to help in developing it. I can do some of the early revision now, but I really need to do some serious reading before I can get a more solid new direction. I have been working on this novel for over 7 years now. It needs to be finished.

Friday Afternoon Club

So it has been a long week, and a lot went wrong at work. To celebrate the completion of the awful week, we set up an unofficial Friday Afternoon Club that was more like a Friday evening club.

When 5:00 rolled around, Loyse (my boss) and I shut off our computers, and Mari (a work-friend) walked over from the other building, and we set up our event.

We set out a bowl of chips and one of salsa, unpacked a small cooler of beers and mini-wines, and set to chatting.

Loyse keeps a dart board in the office, but we couldn't find the rules, and no one rememberd exactly, so we made up our own game. Loyse drew a face (because she has mad art skills), and then Mari added a few details and labeled his face with a point system. We named him Mr. Frustration, a stand-in for our general frustrations with work. We called him Fred for short.

We gave ourselves 10 rounds to play, and at the end, the highest score won. Loyse and I tied at 305 points. I suggested we each throw a single dart to break the tie, but Mari thought we should arm wrestle because she had been admiring Loyse's guns. Loyse does P90X.

I was sure Loyse would win because I don't work my arms much, but I do have the advantage of being much bigger than Loyse and younger too. She's like 5'1" whereas I am closer to 5'7". We fought hard against eachother, yet we barely moved. We were pretty evenly match. As our arms started to shake, Mari started counting down. When she hit zero, we ended the match, still tied. Perfect equals.

It was fun. We talked about our pets, our various crafty projects, refinishing furniture, selling things on Ebay, losing finger and toe nails in clumsy accidents, hair dye, and anything else at all that came to mind.

There is talk of a future yarn art party, complete with chick flick. Next time we do this, I'm responsible for drinks, so I'm making them try pineapple beer.

Fingerwave...Lazy Beauty Queens

So Molly came to visit me this weekend. We've successfully gone for a bike ride, played some video games, made tasty fish sticks, and a mediocre curry. We've both discovered that a raw squash salad is a delightful idea.

We also thought we would try our hands at fingerwaves. It's harder than it looks. We weren't entirely unsuccessful, but we definitely need practice.

Molly won't let me post her before and after pictures.


So here I am. My nerdy self in all my glory, sporting my frequently scrunched hair and lack of makeup.

Here I am with my pseudo-failed-but-on-the-right-track fingerwave hair. Also, I am sporting my new yellow dress, which needs pressed.

 

Needs some work. I think next time I will try dry hair and hairspray instead of wet hair and gel. I think I will also curl the bottoms in spirals first. I couldn't do a good job with that after the fact because it was hard to get a curl while not messing up the wave.

I'll keep practicing.

Cold Steak Tacos

I made cold steak tacos, roughly inspired by Cooking Light magazine. From their June issue, I combined the flank steak taco recipe (vageuly followed) with the coleslaw for a catfish sandish, and tada! Cold steak tacos that were amazing and good for summer and the heat.

Steak

1 hour ahead of time mix

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon dried ground peppers (I have a jar of an assortment all ground up together)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 2 cloves minced garlic

Rub that into a flanksteak and put the steak back in the fridge for an hour. When that hour is up, throw on the grill on high for 6-10 minutes on each side. Keep it juicy. Slice it thin to make it go farther and to make it more easily distributable in wraps.

Mushrooms and Onions

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1/4 cup red onion chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped mushrooms

Warm the oil in a skillet, throw the onions on. When the onions soften a bit, throw the mushrooms on. Don't really cook it down, just warm and soften a bit and pull it off the heat so it can cool.

Coleslaw

• 4 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 2 cups bagged coleslaw mix (cabbage and carrots and whotnot)
• 1 cup fresh cilantro

Mix the first three ingredients, then toss in the second two.

Cheese

• grate some cheese of your choice (I used pepperjack)

Tortilla

• Whatever kind you like (I used spinach wraps)

 Wrap everything up together in one neat little bunch and eat. Yum!

Real Science Behind Sci Fi

I read a lot of fantasy...I like some sci fi. I actually prefer science fiction of the dystopic variety, especially the biological. Nancy Farmer's The House of the Scorpion about a clone boy's exclusion from humanity is a personal favorite.

I don't usually like hard science fiction, but I like real science. That in mind, I thought I would share some recent article finds that touch on classic science fiction topics:

CERN's big steps with the study of anti-matter is really interesting, and it breaks down the basic science fiction concepts of Star Trek and offshoots like Futurama (which I prefer). I've read about this in multiple places, but I think PCMag.com, of all places covers it pretty well.

I also love New Scientist's "When the multiverse and many-worlds collide." What science fiction has been hypothesizing forever has become published scientific theory in drawing on quantum mechanics and math.

Last but not least, Jurassic Park made the idea popular, but Jack Horner talks about the reality of creating dinosaurs in a funny TEDtalk, except he's starting with a chicken instead of an amber-trapped insect.

If you want to geek out on science stuff, I highly recommend New Scientist. It's my personal favorite, and they don't skip out on much. They've got technology, physics and math, science in society, environment, health, and life, etc., etc.

Getting Girly...Bridesmaid Season

So I'm in two weddings this September. Two weekends in a row. Blergh. And of course I am in weddings for people with no particular wardrobe. My sister at least gave some direction. She said a black cocktail dress. I'm borrowing one from my mom. I still need to figure out shoes.

The other wedding though, blergh. I got a random range of "fall colors" that didn't fit into my definition of fall colors, so I got online and searched for a dress I might like.

I'm always falling in love with dresses on ModCloth.com, but I can rarely afford the ones I like. This time I got lucky. I found one I loved, and it was in my price range. It was however, a bit bright, so I was worried the bride would not be okay with it. She said she didn't care, but I sent her a link anyway, and she loved it and said I had to wear it. Woohoo for awesom bride friends.

So here is the dress I ordered to wear for my friend's wedding...in an approved wedding color.

Also...I hope they bring these shoes back. I have a blue dress with which they would be perfect, and I have been looking for the perfect yellow shoes for a long time.

I do love yellow!

I need to stop perusing ModCloth though. I have no money. Someday though, I'm going to actually give my wardrobe some retro edge. Soon, I hope.