as of late

i haven't updated in a while, so i thought i would just share what's been on my agenda recently. i had a pretty productive day today; i worked a 12 hour shift and then had band practice. i read the entire book weetzie bat at work at lee ann's suggestion, and it was a cutely bizarre, quick read. after work to stay awake for practice, i thought it would be a good idea to get myself a soy latte. the first one was a good idea, but the second one clearly was not because now i'm pretty much up for the night (which is why i am writing).

anywho, besides those things, i am excited that my band will be playing popfest! new england this weekend. it will be good to get away for the day and hopefully enjoy what's left (if any) of the new england foliage on our journey up. we'll also be playing a show with our pals, girlfriends, the monday after thanksgiving. lee ann is coming along for the ride and we're gonna meet up with our pal ellen from our old alma mater. it will be great to catch up!

also as of recently, i've been working on a knitting project which is a scarf for ramsey. i didn't have enough yarn to make a full-sized one, and i thought it would be a good idea to start small since this is my first project. so far i am pleased with how it's coming along! check out this dimly-lit, low quality picture from my phone.

new pooch!

monday night, i brought home a new pup and he's such a love! he's a heinze 57, a tennesee mutt. it's impossible to tell what he really is, but he definitely has some pit in him and maybe a little terrier. perhaps even some hound, but god knows what else! i couldn't care less because he is perfect. yesterday baby had his first bath and he was so good, even though he didn't look like he was enjoying it. he stole everyone's heart at the vet!

he already knows how to sit and is pretty much paper trained, but still doesn't have a name so i've just been calling him beautiful boy. i have so many nice ideas for him, but my family can't seem to agree on one. since he's from the south, i want him to have a good, southern name. here are my ideas:

Davis

Grant

Forrest

Jackson*

Jockamo* (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iko_Iko)

Peyton

Angus

Benny*

Carver

Clover

Grover

Mingus

Orville*

Ramsey*

Royal*

Tennessee*

Wesley

Winston

*my favs

he is so small right now so i am holding him all the time because i know he won't be small for long. i can't wait until he is fully vaccinated so i can take him to dog parks, obedience class, and let him mingle with other pooches.

this book is good

sewing clazz

for the past 4 weeks, deanna and i have been attending a sewing class at purl, and what a joy it has been. since day one, we diligently cut and sewed in hopes that we weren't wasting our tuesday evenings creating some misshapen, useless, ball of fabric. despite our fears, we were pleased to leave our final class with fully functional, stylish bags (complete with fully-lined interior and exterior pockets) that we made all by ourselves! it was one of the most rewarding classes i've ever taken and i look forward to making more bags using different patterns and fabrics. check out the final product, modeled by dylan.

another ordinary day

today i got a manicure, my band got asked to play a show with a vivian girl, and i saw a cat die and come back to life. whatevs.

image courtesy of nataliedee.com

decisions, decisions

is $42 too much to pay for a planner? mine is about to expire in september, and i came across this lovely one. i always need a good planner and so far my best one was this out of print sea creatures one, which only set me back about $18. but this new one you see, it's my favorite color and it has french phrases scrawled in a cute handwriting all over it. hmm...

halloween

i know i am several months early on this, but every year when halloween rolls along, i kick myself trying to remember that great costume idea i came up with several months too early. so far, i have three ideas that i am writing here purely for the purpose of remembering:

1. little edie

2. a robber (just black leggings/ turtle neck and a black mask around my eyes. simple and comf.)

3. bat girl (same as robber costume but substitute mask with bat ears for robber mask.)

can i graduate?

so in about a month's time, i will graduate from hunter college with honors in english. this is kind of huge, a little scary, but mostly exciting. there are many pros and cons, all of which cannot be contained in a list, but i will make a modest attempt:

PROS
1) no homework!! (a point emphasized by jen)
2) a great increase in free time
3) i can read and write what i want
4) i can volunteer for the willie mae rock camp for girls (if they accept me)
5) i can go on tour with my band
6) i will have more time to write music
7) more time to work and make more $$

8) more time to travel
9) i've been toying with the idea of starting a more serious, regularly updated, collaborative blog and i can finally bring this to fruition

10) maybe i can do one of those teach english abroad things

11) i can take classes i've always wanted to but never could because i didn't have the time and they didn't apply to my major. lately i've been thinking it may be wise to take a web design class because the internet is still the future after all these years.

12) i want to finally learn another language. although i took language classes in college, college still kind of always got in the way of my actually learning a language, if that makes any sense.

13) i can take up yoga (again)

14) graduation party!

CONS
1) i will have to get a "real job" soon. i haven't begun to search for one yet, and i am postponing this until the end of the summer so i can tour and travel and chill for a bit before i have to work for the rest of my life. i guess part of this con is also the larger question of figuring out something meaningful i would like to work on for the rest of my life, but a wise woman once told me that there is nothing wrong with changing careers when one gets boring and devoting one's life to a number of careers. so i'll keep that in mind as i just roll with it.
2) i think i will kind of miss school, but only kind of and only certain parts of it, such as stimulating class discussions (when they don't enter the realm of academic circle jerk), reading great things i would have never read on my own, and my fav profs. fortunately though, the bad parts of going to school are worse than the good are good. so this isn't much of a con. plus, i can go back, but this leads to my next con...

3) dealing with questions of grad school. i really don't feel like taking the gre, so i won't for now, but should i ever decide to, i imagine it will suck. and i'll have to ask for letters of recommendation from profs i haven't spoken to in a while. that will prob be weird, especially if they don't remember me. but whatever, i guess it will be necessary should i decide to ever go down that road.

4) this con ties into the first one. i will have to face the harsh reality of the job market at some point. yeah, it sucks these days, and it may take me a long time to get the kind of job i am looking for, but as long as i can pay my bills in the meantime i guess that is all i can ask for in the present. i am not too worried for the long term though. i am content with thinking that things usually fall into place. even if they don't, it comforts me to think so.

5) at my graduation party and probably for a while, family members and everyone else probably will ask me what i plan to do with the rest of my life. i hate these questions. i get them already. i don't fucking know, what are you planning on doing for the rest of your life?

all in all, i think the pros outweigh the cons, with the #1 pro being i can pretty much do whatever i want. i can do all of the things on that list. i can do none of them. i will have to earn money to support myself in the process, but i have a decent job now that i actually enjoy and they're not kicking me out. i admit it's not completely comforting to know that i really have no idea what is next, i am excited to move forward and see what post-grad life will bring.

notes from new orleans

- never drink sippin' syrup
- i saw steve zahn
- chivalry is not dead (and it makes me feel weird)
- larry flint is a racist

also, pan-african food is delicious. here is a recipe for something called jama jama. the restaurant i had it at, benachin, served it with fried plantains and coconut rice on the side. delishhhh.

What you need:

a few tablespoons of oil
two or three cloves of garlic, minced
one onion, finely chopped
one-half teaspoon cayenne pepper or red pepper (more or less to taste)
two or more pounds of greens (collards, kale, mustard greens, swiss chard, or similar); stems removed, cleaned, torn or shredded, drained
one cup water, or chicken broth or chicken stock
salt to taste

What you do:

Heat oil in a large skillet or pot. Over high heat, sauté onions and garlic for a few minutes. Add cayenne pepper and stir for a minute. Reduce heat.
Add greens to pot. Cook over medium heat for several minutes. Stir greens often, but otherwise keep the pot covered.
Add water or broth. Cover. Cook over low heat until greens are tender -- ten to twenty minutes or longer. Add salt if necessary. Serve hot.

recipe courtesy of congocookbook.com

i get around

i am going to new orleans in 2 weeks!!!!!! i can't wait. i'm gonna eat like a cajun queen and listen to some bounce. it will be nice to hang in a warmer clime.

so far this year, i've gone to israel (tel aviv, jerusalem, tiberius, haifa, golan heights, negev, more i am probably forgetting), philly, and boston. i hope to go to many more places in the 2010. i guess i'll have to wait and see what the future holds.