No alcohol, day 2

All in all, today was average. I popped-in at the public library and I got my tickets to see awesome:



I am such a huge fan of these books—especially Hunger Games and Catching Fire. I could do with some changes to Mockingjay, but I get why she did what she did…I just would have chosen a different path. If I have yet to talk you into have yet to plead so much that you feel you have to have yet to bully you into have yet to physically force you to have yet to call you each night to read you a chapter as a bedtime story have yet to talk your ear off so much about these books that you wrangle a copy from my hands or access your kindle app or public library or Barnes & Noble right there on the spot, allow me to inspire.

Hunger Games is teen fiction, so it is a fast read, but it is not teen fiction in the sense that it is written for high school students with self-esteem issues {cough} Twilight! {cough}. Hunger Games is post-apocalyptic, making it inherently darker, which gets rid of all of that silly fussing. If you are familiar with the Greek myth of the Minotaur, that is the premise on which the book is built, except in the future, not in the past. If you are unfamiliar with the Minotaur thing, that is cool. If you don’t even know what a Minotaur is, we may need to rethink our friendship.

With our Minotaur base, you can see why this story will be dark. (If you were too lazy to click the link, it’s because there is no Theseus and the children are being sacrificed.) Now mix-in some 1984 government control, some Lord of the Flies level “Why can’t we all get along?”, the technology of Westerfeld’s Uglies series (also, if you haven’t read those…), sprinkle a little The Giver on top and we are ready to roll.

Or, if you are a teenage boy in the high school library, my pitch is “It’s kids killing kids.”

Of course, I could draw more literary comparisons, and if I thought about it, I could probably think of more fitting comparisons, but that is what I can think of at the moment.

In summary, Favorite!Kate and I are going to see it at midnight. Good. Times.

I also did my taxes. TurboTax lets me do federal eFile for free, which is great! And you get the refund in 5 to 7 days, which is even better! Of course, it took me super long because I had to do federal, state, and GR and Muskegon. I am so glad that Wyoming is only running on property taxes.

All things considered, just your average Thursday. Now, where did I put that book...

Candle: We had staff birthday lunch today (each department is in charge of a different month’s birthday lunch where the department buys the faculty lunch). The social studies department chose pizza. They ordered a special small pizza for me with no cheese and “all of the vegetables that you have”. It was delicious.

No alcohol, day 1

It got away from me. I don't know how it happened. Okay, I know how it happened, but I can't believe that I allowed it to happen. And now, here I am.

Sad.

Alone.

Coherent.

Sober.

I have done the unthinkable--I gave-up alcohol for Lent.

Here's the thing, BigRed guilted me. She guilted me like a Catholic mother raised by Jewish parents during the great depression.

So, here we are on Friday night, enjoying a lovely potluck-style Shakespeare night. I am among Catholics, so I strike-up the oh-so-common-for-this-time-of-year "Guys! What should I give-up for Lent? And don't say alcohol." I chuckle innocently, "Someone always says 'You should give-up alcohol.'"

BigRed: You should give-up alcohol.

Aussie: Haha! So funny. {fills glass with more sangria}

BR: No, really. You should give-up alcohol.

Aussie: ... {looking around the table} Other ideas?

BR: You're supposed to give-up something that you truly love. I'm giving-up Diet Coke. We can be miserable together.

Aussie: But--St. Patrick's Day is on a Saturday this year. And I am going to a wedding that day. Open bar! Everybody loves open bar!

BR: You know what else everybody loves? Going to Heaven.

Aussie: {Not liking where this is headed} True. You know, every year someone suggests that I give-up alcohol. I just don't think that it would accomplish anything for me. It is how I socialize with so many different groups of friends.

BR: Well, if it's inconvenient, then I suppose that it's not worth it. Although, I'm not entirely certain that it was convenient for Jesus to die on the cross for your sins.

Aussie: ...

BR: {shrugging} It's your choice.

Damn her trickery! Also, Diet Coke--not the same thing. Not even close.

So, after choir last night a group of us went out and we toasted to my last night of drinking for the next stretch of foreseeable future. And then I got into a rather heated debate about abortion and evolution and crime rates and taking "nigger" out of Mark Twain's corpus. Good times.

And fear not, faithful friends! I stopped drinking before the clock struck midnight! Huzzah!

Of course, I can't be a normal person in any situation involving alcohol when it really matters, so shenanigans jovially ensued. Navigating through today was shockingly tricky. I woke-up still drunk and then I quickly realized that it is Ash Wednesday, which means, among other things, virtually no food. So, rocky start to the Lent thing.

Don't worry MMMonoca, I was responsible and took the bus to work this morning.

I am going to blog every day this Lent. I considered a hokey Jesus twist circa 1999 by being sure to include a "today I am thankful for..." bit, but that is just not me. I know that sometimes I am a Debbie-Downer/Negative Nancy and I--with your help--hope to change this into being more of a bright ray of positive sunshine and joy and good stuff. To that end, at the end of every post, I will include a "candle," as per the title of my blog: "All of the darkness in the world cannot put out the light of a single candle." This gives me a bit more wiggle room and, I hope, will be less annoying.

Candle: I resisted the urge to employ the standard college cure and drank water to sober-up instead of filling my RHA nalgene with Burnett's and juice.

Hey girl

My cousin showed me this Tumbler of Ryan Gossling hitting on librarians. AWESOME.

Best pick-up line...EVER!

Proctoring

I am proctoring a make-up exam. This is my life right now.

Phoenix

Boy is moving to Phoenix. He has accepted a position with Teach for America. He will be teaching science to kids in Spanish, hopefully moving them into English as the year progresses. Intense.

At least I have a place to crash when I go to Phoenix...?

Truly

Downton Abbey is only $15 on Amazon right now. Sold.

Cha cha now, y'all

So, I went to this wedding, and I must admit---I hated it. It was in a small Episcopal church that was colder inside than it was outside. I was even wearing a sweater over my dress and I could not stop shivering! And the organ was too big for the space and the woman playing it was basically the definition of terrible. And then she sang a random song and holy warble Batman, it was awful. I have no idea what any of the words were and she just kept going on and on and on and then I realized that she was singing along with a recording. She had recorded herself playing piano and was singing along to that. OMG. And, of course, they used the 1 Corinthians 13 reading. Except...that's...that's not how it goes. Damn you Protestants!

Speaking of crazy Protestants, I am pretty sure that the old women minister brought her female life partner with her to the reception. After the vows---which were super sweet, guys, because he couldn't stop crying and then she had her shit together until "Until death do us part" when her voice went up about 3 octaves--so, after the vows, the crazy lesbian minister was all "We will now join hands and say the Lord's Prayer. The regular version that we all know." Maybe I'm just an awkward Catholic, but what other version is there? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I am pretty sure that The Our Father is the most stand prayer in Christendom. ANYway...crazy lady.

Also, I didn't know anyone there. Except the Bride. Don't worry, I went to the correct wedding this time. So...I was cursing MMMono for being a beezie and lying to me to get out of being my date for the reception and Jasperse looked AMAZING!!!!1 (PS, MMMono, I gave Nanette dirt on you in the girls' room. Sweet, sweet vengeance).

Luckily, Lindsay Iwan was there at the reception, also flying solo, so I had someone to talk to who was not socially awkward. They had a recycled theme, which was adorable and still fall, but super creative. The invitations came in envelopes made of paper grocery bags and the favors were these super cute candles made from a fallen tree branch!



ALSO, Open bar. And she had a vegan meal option. Yummy pasta with a chunky tomato and summer squash topping. Delicious.

It never fails--every time I go to a wedding, they play the Cha Cha Slide. And they always play part 2. You know, the one with the Charlie Brown part. So, not only do I always end up counting a cha-cha step to those in my immediate vicinity (right-left-right,right-left-right), I also am always, without fail, the only one who can Charlie Brown. You know, the swing move. I found this snarky video that outlines the move.




Trip update: My departure date changed from "Available" to "Definitive Departure"! You guys! now it's for sure, for sure!

Cha-cha now, y'all.

Come fly with me. Come fly, let's fly away!

Hey guys! It's been a while.

In the past few weeks, I bought these boots:



And went wine tasting with Toi. And had cider. We need to go back, because their wine list was pretty delicious-looking and when you bring your glass back, you get a free tasting. Whee! I was a bit disappointed, because other tastings that I've been to gave you more than a splash. I was thinking more like this:



And then we went to eat with MMMMono...and then we saw the Three Musketeers. After the fourth time in two minutes that I twitched violently and said, "That. That wasn't in the book." MMMMono turned sagely toward me and said, "Maybe it's better if we just think of this as fan fiction."

On a whim, I decided to look at the pricing of flights on London around the time of my trip. I pulled-up a round trip flight with taxes at just over $1,000.

That's not too bad, I thought to myself. I wonder if Wednesday would be cheaper...

FALSE! When I changed the day, it was suddenly $2,300! After a great deal of date fiddling, I came to the conclusion that the original date was meant to be. I bought my ticket! Yay! My trip is becoming more and more real! And why were the other tickets so expensive? The Olympics, of course. I am leaving a few days after the Olympics end, so everyone and their mom (literally this time) will be trying to escape London.

Now, if only Frank were going with me. I could use some exotic booze...



Pack up; let's fly away!

Tralalala! Cookies!

You guys, I have been super busy. With choir, school, planning a retreat for the kiddies, and cantoring, it has been a full schedule.

I started taking the bus to work on days when I don't need to be home or somewhere else right away. I really like the walk in the morning. It is about 10 minutes form the house to the bus stop, and then another 10 minutes from the stop to work. I think I am more awake when I get to work in the morning...plus I can eat more since I am doing more exercise, right?

Speaking of food, Halloween oreos are back! I love them!


Speaking of awesome food...I made cookies (which were delicious). But the point I really want to make about these cookies is that I candied my own ginger root. I started with this:



and ended-up with this:



MMMono, I know you will enjoy this:

Decision time

Guys, which one? Also...when are we going to Bronner's?!?!?!

http://www.amazon.com/Nordic-Ware-Christmas-Morning-Pancake/dp/B0027FGD66/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317605595&sr=8-1


OR


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VEOC04/sr=8-5/qid=1317605595/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1317605595&sr=8-5&seller=