update.

congestion levels are going down and energy levels are coming up.

cough is still lingering, however.

in other news, my tulips are sprouting. this is my second time attempting to overwinter bulbs in a pot, and i was afraid they had died again.

happy spring.

sickness.

being sick is too much work. what with the cough and sneezing and chills and drugs and cough drops and fever and sleeping and the constant imbibing of hot liquids and vitamin c, bah. fuck it all.

i'm ready to get better. c'mon immune system, do your thing.

happy purim.

this is why i don't bake. i made such a mess.

but the cookies turned out well (this is a picture of them before they went into the oven). nomnomnom.

for the pedantic among you, yes, i am aware purim doesn't start until tomorrow night. but i have to work tomorrow, so hamentaschen were made today.

liturgical ignorance.

i come from a mostly non-liturgical background. well, from a christian perspective. jews have a fairly sophisticated and well-developed liturgy. but my church background never really featured things like incense, ashes, holy water, altar boys, etc.

however, since i've been working for a church, i've had to venture into the scary world of church supply websites.

i don't think i've seen so many words i don't know since i was learning how to read.

the following are a list of words currently categorized under the "wtf?" label (yes, i can click and see pictures, but they are still wtf):

Ambry
Ciboria
Monstrance
Ostensoria
Paraments
Patens
Pyxes

another one that gave me pause was "Cruets" but at least i know what a cruet is.

i think it's off to my favourite online resource for new words

v-day

home alone on valentine's day.

he's out spinning at a gay club tonight.

somehow, i don't think anyone reading this is surprised.

what's for dinner?

with roasting chickens, organic leeks, and potatoes all on sale last week, the stage was set for a perfect winter dinner.

step 1: roast a whole chicken

step 2: strip the meat off the bones and store for future use (chicken salad, chicken soup, chicken fried rice, etc)

step 3: simmer the carcase with an onion and a carrot in water until all the water becomes a rich stock. strain out the bones, gelatinous bits (ew!), vegetables and discard.

step 4: rinse the sand out of the leeks carefully and peel the potatoes. cut the leeks and potatoes into thin slices.

step 5: heat butter and oil in a pot until over medium-high heat until fragrant. saute the leeks and potoatoes

step 6: when the leek slices are wilted and the potatoes are beginning to brown, pour in enough chicken stock to make a good soup. add a bay leaf or two and simmer until the potatoes are cooked through.

step 7: pour the soup into a blender and puree until smooth, thinning with a little milk or white wine if too thick. return to heat and simmer again.

accepted.

got the phone call this afternoon.

i've been provisionally accepted, assuming i get a tetanus vaccine and test negative for tuberculosis.

at least the weight is off.

commence freakout in 10... 9... 8... ;)

also, it is snowing this afternoon. they came by and salted and plowed this morning. you can see a little salt left there on the ground (this is a view from our office). didn't do much good, apparently. it's a good thing i'm home from work today, or i wouldn't even have gotten that phone call. and the snow is pretty.

unspoken rules.

i have recently, as in in the past few months, been getting a lot of calls from numbers i don't recognize on my cellphone. i am at the point now where i have had this number long enough, that if your number doesn't come up from my phonebook on my caller id, i'm not going to answer. it's very frustrating to hear, "oh, wrong number," on the other end. repeatedly. like, a couple times a week. i've actually gotten into fights with people about, yes, this is my number, and yes, i've had it for several years now (2001, to be exact).

the really frustrating thing about this is that, according to my unanswered calls log, the same numbers keep calling me. but they never leave a message. is there some unspoken rule that if someone calls your cellphone, you're supposed to call the number back? see, i'm not real good with these social expectations.

the reason i ask is because this happens at work a lot. people will call and say, "did someone from this number call me?" when i am on the phones, i usually respond, "we have about 30 people on staff. did you get a voicemail message?" and, of course, they usually say, "well, yeah," because we are a business, and when we call someone, it's usually for a reason that has something to do with disseminating information. so i say, "would you mind listening to it and calling back and telling me who called you?" and they do.

but come on. i really don't understand this whole thing. why don't you listen to your voicemail? do people really, honestly, expect that whomever they called who didn't answer will just call back because the number appeared on their caller id? and when was this agreed on?

speculations in the dark.

happy mid-winter holidays, everyone.

it's back to being dark and cold, as it is every winter, hemispheres notwithstanding. i've never heard what the earliest british settlers in australia thought of christmas in high summer. i wonder if there was a movement to celebrate it in june. considering the original birth it celebrates probably originally happened in march or april, it wouldn't have been any less accurate.

i am rambling, yes.

i don't normally make new year's resolutions, eschewing the practise as a feel-good activity with little meaning behind it. january first is an artificial date anyway, and our western european numbering of years is equally meaningless. i mean, we all saw what attention the cosmos paid to the misnumbered anno domini 2000.

however, the solar-calendar year does provide benchmarks, however artificial, for janus-like hindsight and forward-looking speculation. this past year was a tumultuous one, and the upcoming year looks equally eventful. most prominently, i am dangling in painful indecision, having applied to graduate school just before the holidays, therefore delaying the acceptance decision while everyone uses their time for much more amusing activities.

also this year, i discovered the amazing cost economy of cooking an entire chicken. i must do this more often. when divided on a meal for meal basis, it is cheap. we like cheap.

oh yeah, and we had an election. i did vote. i've become distressingly civic-minded. i'll be running for office next. or not. maybe after i've graduated. assuming i'm even accepted. see how this is consuming my mind? i don't like uncertainty.

i'm ok with change, however. school, government, job (oh yeah, my job changed), provided it's not drastically abrupt, i can deal. what remains to be seen, of course, is whether there will be any change at the government level. i'm not engaging in much speculation about that, preferring my jaded, cynical, gen x stance. the man is an excellent speaker and a consummate politician. but government has been made into an industry and has a fair amount of self-preservation tendencies.

speaking of government, i mostly got money for christmas/hannukah gifts. i think i will buy clothes and books.

what's for dinner?

you know how they say it's a bad idea to go grocery shopping when you're hungry? apparently, it's also a bad idea to cook when you're bored. i've been home sick from work all day, and had to scrounge up something for dinner while he is taking his philosophy final. not having the energy to cook something intensive, i started winnowing through my cupboards.

i think i'll call this "christmas nachos." hey, why not?

canned tuna
tortilla chips
mayonnaise or miracle whip
tabasco chipotle hot sauce
ground cumin
black pepper
salsa
cheese (grated or thinly sliced)
canned or cooked black beans
baby spinach

1. combine the tuna, mayonnaise, hot sauce, cumin, and black pepper in a bowl. mash with a fork until uniform.

2. arrange the tortilla chips on a microwave-safe plate in a single layer.

3. top the chips in the following order: tuna, black beans, salsa, spinach, cheese.

4. microwave on high for about 1 1/2 minutes, or until the spinach is wilted and the cheese is melty.

mmm... melty.

this is a little protein-heavy, but otherwise surprisingly balanced meal. the only problem is that you end up with a lot of leftover ingredients, so it doesn't do much for the using-up-the-leftovers thing.