interstellarglue

To Do List Continued:0

I got one thing done and added one thing…

Get Eurostar tickets to Paris.

19.) Buy some comfy shoes.

Posted under Uncategorized

Bummer!0

I just went to book my King Lear tickets and I found out that the only time it will be showing when we’re in London is at 1:30 in the afternoon. I was really hoping we could see it at night. Lear is just one of the those plays you want to see in the dark! Oh well, better Lear during the day than no Lear at all. However, I still wasn’t able to book our tickets. Something is wrong with the website. I’ll have to try again tomorrow. Damn, I really wanted to check that off of my list…

I do, however, have some things to add:

17.) Make British Invasion soundtrack.

18.) Notify the bank of trip out of the country so they don’t freak out if I buy a cup of coffee in London. 

In other news (if you can call it that), I made a delicious Asian “Ficken” salad tonight:

I found the recipe on Allrecipes.com, but I made some slight alterations to suit my fancy. Instead of bok choy I used cabbage and I added red bell pepper and cilantro, and subtracted the water chestnuts (gag!). And of course I replaced the chicken with “ficken” (just as good, and cruelty free). We didn’t have any soy sauce for the dressing either so I just put in some Asian sesame marinade goop that we had in the fridge. It turned out pretty well. It was nice and fresh and crunchy- plus, there are leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch!

Posted under Recipes, Vacation

Boo on you Sunday night. Boo. On. You.0

Yet another weekend has gone by and I didn’t get enough done, nor did I relax as much as I would have liked. How is that possible?

I did, however, manage to spend money this weekend. Somehow I’m always able to do that. 

I’m working on redecorating my office and I found this adorable owl will that will look quite charming on a shelf that I just hung:

I also hung my William Blake quote decal:

 

I also made a pretty good blackberry peach crisp:

Well, it’s time to go do my Sunday ritual- laundry!

Posted under Decorating, Summer Stuff

Pip Pip! Cheerio!0

I’m sad to say that I haven’t posted since February. I suppose it was around that time in which I became completely swallowed up by my graduate work. It was a rough semester… I’m certainly glad it’s over. While I could go on and on about the intricacies of the semester, I would rather talk about something that is much more interesting: our upcoming trip to EUROPE!

It’s official, Kyle and I are leaving for Europe in exactly four weeks! While this is insanely exciting, I’m starting to freak out a bit. I have a lot of planning to do. While I was very proud of myself for getting our plane tickets and booking (most of) our hotels, I still have a lot of work to do. Although I don’t plan on following a strict itinerary, there are some things I would like to prepare for.  

If there is one thing I have learned in college, it is this: when stressed, make a list.

Things I need to do in preparation of our trip:

1. Figure out transportation:
   • What the hell is the difference between an Oyster card and a travel/paper card? Which one should we get? (Looks like the Oyster card is our best bet- At this point- I really don’t care if it is or isn’t, I’m just sick of doing the research.)
   • How do we get from Heathrow to our hotel?
   • Become somewhat familiar with the tube stations and their proximity to the places we’d like to go.
   • Figure out transportation to/from the Lake District (see below).
   • Get Eurostar tickets to Paris. Find out how to get to the Eurostar station from our hotel.
   • Find out how to get from Eurostar in Paris to our hotel.
   • Become somewhat familiar with the Metro stations and their proximity to the places we’d like to go.
   • Find out how to get from the Eurostar station in Paris to our hotel in London (it will be a different hotel- near Gatewick).
   • Figure out how to get from our hotel to Gatwick.
   • Find someone who is kind enough to take us to/from the airport, or see if taking Yolobus is plausable. Kyle’s Ma is taking us, and my Ma is picking us up.
2. Research day trip to the Lake District. I really want to go, but I’m not sure it’s practical. But is a trip to London and Paris practical to begin with? Nope. So why not indulge? Per the experienced travelers on the Fodors forum, save Lake District for another trip. 5 days is barely enough time to explore London itself.
3. Come up with flexible itineraries for each day. Okay, I’m not a psycho who has to follow an itinerary down to the very minute, but I don’t want to spend all this money getting over there, and then waste time by not being organized. Plus, I will schedule in time for spontaneity ;)
4. Buy an electrical converter (or whatever) so Kyle can charge his laptop and I can use my hair dryer.
5. Buy a laptop charger for the plane. I’m not sure we’ll be able to use it, but if we can, it’ll be nice that we have it. Decided not to, as the chargers for Kyle’s MacBookPro are $50.
6. Take a looksy at my Mom’s luggage, see if we can use it. It’s pretty hideous, but it will work!
7. Make sure my mom can watch Piddy while we’re gone. Piddy’s going to her grandparents’ house while we’re gone! They had better not spoil her too much!
8. Make a list of things to pack. Make sure I have said things.
9. Make copies of pertinent documents (passport, credit cards, etc.).
10. Make sure I have fun things to do on the plane. Bring a book (or two?), some magazines, iPod, etc. Have Kyle put Spaced and other shiz on his computer. What great fun it would be to watch Spaced on our way to London!
11. Buy tickets to see King Lear at the Globe Theater. That’s right, mother fucking King Lear at the mother fucking Globe Theater.
12. Look into buying tickets online for cruise on the Seine. If you purchase them online they take 4 euros off (making it 7 euros each, not bad!). But I want to make sure the dates/times are flexible if you buy them online.
13. Look into trip to Versailles. How much will it cost? Is it worth it? What am I talking about, it’s Versailles! Of course it will be worth it! We’ll probably hold off to see Versailles until next time…
14. Make sure my camera has enough memory for the entire trip. If not, buy another memory card. (Kyle assured me that we don’t need another one.)
15. Make sure rent/bills are paid before we leave. 

Wow. Lots to do. And I’m sure I’ll come up with even more. I had better get busy!

Ooh! I already remember one more thing!

  16. Book hotel near Gatwick on last night.

Posted under Summer Stuff, Vacation

Arthur Morted0

I humbly retract my ignorant grumblings about Le Morte D’Arthur. I’ve gained a much greater appreciation for the story as it comes to it’s cathartic end. Although deeply sad, the end is quite beautiful.

Posted under Skoo

God Arthur, Can’t You Just Morte Already!0

I’ve read about 250 pages of Le Morte D’Arthur and all I want is for Arthur to die! I know I sound like a bad English major, but I just can’t take it any more! It’s too much! I get so irritated simply holding the book in my hands. It’s the same feeling I got when I had first period P.E. in high school and the teacher would make us run first thing in the freezing cold. No, reading this is worse, because at least I knew the running would at one point come to an end. This book will not end!

Posted under Uncategorized

Java City Employees May Come and Go, but I Remain0

Well here I am in the umpteenth semester of my life.

I often find myself doing homework in the Java City on campus (despite the fact that their coffee tastes like styrofoam), and I find it comical that every semester or so the resident employees leave and they are replaced by newbies. It just doesn’t seem right that Java City employees move on with their lives but I’m stuck dealing with papers, reading, and annotated bibs. I’m like a war vet who witnesses the world changing around her, but isn’t able to change along with it. My knowledge of technology and pop culture has definitely been stunted since high school. I’m okay with knowing more about British lit than reality TV, but I definitely feel inept when it comes to relating to my peers… But I’m thankful that most English majors (especially grad students) are nerds like me.

This semester I’m taking three grad classes: Arthurian lit, Classical Rhetoric and the Poetry of T.S. Eliot. I’m excited, but a little uneasy. These classes are pretty hardcore, but I guess that is a good thing. I’m used to writing papers the night before and still doing well. These classes will give me a much needed mental push. However, I won’t deny the pain that I suffer every time I think that I could be finished with school right now…

I had to buy an unholy amount of books for just three classes:

How on earth am I supposed to fit these books in my bookshelf?

Posted under Skoo

Up Yours Bowser!1

I think it is only appropriate that I beat Mario Galaxy the day before school starts back up again. Although… I still have about 15 stars to get… I can get those on the weekend. More to come on the game itself…

Posted under Games

The Art of Crepe Making1

Supposedly each major civilization has a version a thin, flat, flour based treat. South Americans are widely know for the tortilla. In Russia, one might enjoy a blintz, and in India, a dosa. Americans like myself are quite fond of the pancake. But it is perhaps the French that are most famous for their version of this universal and versatile food that is known to the French as the crepe.

Saturday morning Kyle and I attempted to replicate the crepe, and in doing so made quite a mockery of the food that is so much a part of the collective unconscious.

I faithfully followed the recipe as espoused by Alton Brown, who is widely known by food nerds the world over. I refrigerated the batter for an hour as per the instructions. Meanwhile, I did the dishes and read the news and then obnoxiously woke Kyle. He wasn’t thrilled when I woke him by hopping around on the bed, but when I told him I made crepe batter and that all he had to do was cook the crepes, he quickly perked up.

Cooking the crepes was not quite as trivial as I may have made Kyle believe. One must note that the most essential quality of the crepe is its thinness. Now, putting the correct amount of batter in the pan is a reasonably easy task. However, what one does next with said batter proved to be quite difficult. Despite a generous lubing of our new Teflon pan with butter, the crepes clung onto dear life to the bottom of the pan, as if they were trying to say (in their best French accents), “Screw you silly Americans! You have no business making crepes!” Since they were sticking to the pan in protest, they were impossible to flip. Kyle tried to salvage whatever was in the pan by turning the crepes over as best as he could. The result was a big glob of greasy goo in the middle of the pan.

We discovered our fatal flaw was finding the ideal temperature. However, after much trial and error Kyle finally found the correct temperature and even perfected his flipping technique. I think by the end, Kyle produced two decent looking crepes. He kindly gave those to me and he ate the huge glob of crepe goo.

We poured a little bit of maple syrup on them and sprinkled them with powered sugar, and they were quite delightful. They may have been a bit unorthodox, but they were tasty and we had a lot of fun making them.

I think authentic French chefs shed a tear for us that day, but come on, it was our first try! Perhaps the only thing we can do to perfect the delicate and complex art of the crepe is to keep practicing. That’s totally fine with me, as long as Kyle is willing to eat the mess-ups.

Watch as Kyle perfects his flip!

Posted under Recipes

I suck0

It’s no coincidence that the only time I update this is when I’m not in school… But what really sickens me is that I could be permanently out of school, yet I choose not to be. I finally got my BA in English (actually my degree is still pending until I get my final grades, but I think it’s safe to say that I passed all of my classes). So, technically I could kiss the days of homework, tests, papers and blue books away, but some sort of masochistic impulse is telling me to go to graduate school.

This has been a really rough year and I can think of a million reasons to not continue in school, but I’m trying to stay positive. Let’s think of reasons why I should go to grad school:

1. I genuinely feel like there is a lot more to learn.
2. A Masters degree always looks good on a resume.
3. A Masters degree is required to teach at a community college (in case I do choose to teach).
4. I won’t have to be an official member of the “real world” yet.
5. I could not live with myself if I stayed in the sterile atmosphere that is my cubicle. I have a feeling if I don’t get my Masters, I will stay at my mindless and soul-shrinking job.
6. I will make my friends and family call me “Master Tara.” (Just kidding!)

Since I already have 6 units of graduate work, if all goes as planned I’ll only have 3 more semesters of course work. Then I’ll have the pleasure of writing a 60-80 page thesis.

But enough about school! I obsess enough about it during the semester.

I’m hoping this winter break will include some much needed rest and relaxation. I don’t think I’ll be doing anything too exciting, as excitement usually requires money, and funds are tight right now- but I’m okay with that. I’ll be happy if I can play some games on our Wii, try out some new recipes and read a novel or two.

Posted under Skoo