straightforwards

I have tried in vain to keep to any particular subject when blogging, so I'm resolving myself to having attention deficits and proceeding to post whatever and whenever I want to. I know that I have problems completing or continuing things when there are no real consequences, so I'm still betting that I'll get over the idea of a blog in the next month and forget to post things, but acknowledging that in the beginning makes me feel so much better. It's all about freedom--of action or inaction.

Grief

Normal Grief
1. Denial: "I feel fine."
2. Anger: "I hate everything!"
3. Bargaining: "I'll give you my respect if you..."
4. Depression: "I'm sad."
5. Acceptance: "I'm okay now."

Romantic Grief
1. Denial: "WTF?"
2. Depression: *incoherent sobs*
3. Comfort: chocolate, ice cream, etc.
4. Anger: lighting things on fire, keying cars
5. Doing something to boost self esteem

Debugging Grief
1. Denial: "That can't go wrong, I was really careful"
2. Reproduction of error: "Something's definitely wrong"
3. Use of print statements/debugger
4. Anger: "It's nondeterministic! ARGHH!"
5. Giving up: "Not my problem."

Fast Food Logic

Views on Women's History, according to my brother

Conservative: Women were oppressed. Then society changed. Now they're not.

Liberal: Women were oppressed. Now they are less oppressed, but are still discriminated against. They will continue to throw off their oppression as society progresses onwards, upwards and forwards.

Femi-Marxist: History consists in a series of struggles between women and the patriarchal order which will culminate in a revolution of the Womatariet.

Historical: Women were oppressed in some ways and not in others in some societies in different ways than others, and their condition has changed in some ways but not others.

Masculine: First you had to marry them to screw them, then you had to go on a date with them to screw them, now you just have to wait for their BAC to reach a certain level and you can screw them. Onwards, upwards, and foward!

Philosophical: Define women.

getting to three

if friends were flowers...

Vegan Stops (plus long intro)

I was having a miserable day sometime last week. Or the week before.

I was running rather late, which always puts me off, but a homeless man made eye contact with me, and that meant at least saying hello. He asked to me to help him, and starting walking along side of me. The stench of alcohol floated about almost visibly. I offered to buy him something--I make it a policy to never give money, and he asked for a croissant. Easy. Or so I thought. I asked him where we could get one, and he said "Here," pointing to the next place to our right. He was about to go in when I stopped him--it was a nice sit down Thai place. I asked him again, where could we get a croissant for him--he muttered about a place called Au Coquelet. Having been there, it's a great joint, and I highly recommend it, but it was no where near walking distance away. And I had arrived at my destination. And was still late. I apologized, telling him I had to meet a friend, and that if he were still around after, we could go get him something, and I entered the restaurant. He followed. He sat next to me while I waited for my friend, who was apparently also late. For about five minutes he tried to make me sing Beatles songs, and for another five, I asked him to leave as politely as I could, while he talked about his ex-pet cow. He cried at me too. What can one do? Powerlessness is the worst. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty sad and miserable when my friend got there. I wanted to help the poor man, but he was beyond rational conversation. I still feel guilty about it.

Luckily, the restaurant was Cafe Gratitude. By the time we ordered, I was already happy again. The guilt lingered, but it was a learning sort of linger. Anyway, Gratitude is 90% raw, and 100% vegan. They had delicious cashew mozzarella and sour cream, and all sort of other tasty things. It really can lift your spirit. Each menu item is titled "I AM X", where X is some positive adjective. When you order, you are encouraged to say them out loud, to promote happy vibes. Very warm 'n fuzzy and very yummy.

Another Vegan place I recommend is Herbivore. And a third that I have yet to check out is Manzanita.

Nearly Rotten Apples

I had four wonderful Pink Lady apples which I nearly let go bad in my fridge. Upon cutting them open, I discovered that they were beginning to brown ever so slightly. This made them less than appetizing to eat raw, but they worked really well in an apple crumble! I cut them into half inch blocks, getting rid of the skin, cores, are rotten bits, of course, and tossed them with 1/8 cup sugar, a teaspoon or so of cinnamon (perhaps more, to taste), and some fresh squeezed orange juice from about a quarter of an orange. The crumble itself I adapted from The New Best Recipe: 1/8 c packed brown sugar, 2.5 Tbs butter 1/8 c white sugar, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 cup flour, and 3/8 c coarsely chopped nuts (I used half pecans half almonds). I used a food processor to mix all but the nuts until sandy and then pulsed the nuts in until they were mixed and chopped a little finer. I baked the whole thing in six ramekins at 375 until the tops started to brown. I ate four of the six by bedtime. A simple margarine for butter substitution makes the recipe vegan.