In which I tell you about my lunch break.

I went home for lunch because I have no cash. I passed The Ex and Truck on the way down 2nd street as they were going the other way in the Big Black Truck.

Truck called me and said, “Your brake light is out again. I know I said I’d do it, but will you remind me when I get home tonight to fix that for you?”

“Sure,” I said, walking up the driveway.

I made falafel (in a pita, with hummus, tahini, lettuce, onion, and avocado – yum!) and had a big glass of lemonade. Bindu ate kibbles while I cooked.

AmmZon called and said, “I want to take the empties back. Can I use the jeep?”

“Sure,” I said, and told her she could come pick it up from me at work in 20 minutes or so.

Then I sat on the back deck in the sunshine and ate my food. The end.

In which I’m doing a lovely meme.

Vuboq did a meme and now I’m doing it too because I follow Vuboq everywhere. (Yes, dad, even off cliffs.)

Here are the questions Vuboq wrote just especially for me:

1. Why are you still in Iowa?

Because it’s easy to live here. It’s cheap. It’s safe. It’s uncomplicated. I have good friends here.

Moving cross country with a pet is stressful and expensive. People often move in with family when relocating; no one in my family lives anywhere I want to live.

To move, I’d have to really want to be somewhere in particular; leaving simply to leave isn’t my style and I am not currently drawn to any place in particular (other than NYC. I might move there for a stint at some point).

2. If you could ask any famous person (living or dead) one question, what would it be and why?

I’m not particularly curious in this way. There are people I’d like to converse with, sure, but one question?

I guess if I only got a single question I’d ask Harlan Ellison, “Why are you such a sanctimonious prick?”

3. How do you define yourself?

Uh…

I am lazy, under-motivated, selfish, and distant.
I am enthusiastic, selfless, motivating, and talented.

I am a complete waste of resources and am contributing nothing of value.
I am intelligent, thoughtful, and interesting.

I am left-handed.
I am a voracious reader.
I am not interested.
I am a creature who prefers her mental life to the real world more than is probably normal.
I am cute.

4. Who was your best friend in 1st grade? Tell us about him/her.

I don’t remember. I think I remember what the playground looked like, and I think I remember that my first grade teacher was named Miss Dingle? I can’t remember any friends at all, though. (It was, after all, 33 years ago.)

5. How cute is VUBOQ?

On a scale of 1 to 10, Vuboq is one million cute.

Ah, hell. I have to run to the post office and buy stamps for the office. Ciao! Oh, and if you want to do the meme, leave a comment and I’ll email you your own five questions!

My participants:
Lady Wyvern, Only Me

In which I’m anonymous.

I just went to the falafel place for dinner. While I was ordering, I noticed that someone had printed out my review of the restaurant and brought it in to them. It was sitting on the counter near the register.

All authorship had been stripped from the document, and only the photo and text remained. It appeared to have been printed by someone named ‘felix’ or something. I wonder who it was, and why they didn’t attribute it to me?

The bad news is that I ordered the falafel platter, and it didn’t satisfy. First, it didn’t come with a side salad like it did last time. Second, the tahini had changed to the normal store-bought variety and the kisir was bland. It seems the falafel place has succumbed to that most horrid disease: popularity. Third, it cost nearly nine dollars.

Oh well, the sandwich, fries and soup menu item still rocks.

In which this is a more cheerful post than yesterday’s.

The Curse, I think it’s ending. Yay!

The weather, I think it’s gorgeous! Yay!

The Taco John’s, they make really good fresh lemonade and I have some! Yay!

I bought some new shampoo at Everybody’s recently, and it’s made my hair all bouncy and curly. Yay!

In which there is now a nationwide ban on a particular type of abortion procedure.

The term ‘partial birth abortion’ was coined by a right-to-lifer (Congressman Charles Canady, R-Fla) expressly to fuel an already volatile debate. However, as much as I hate to admit it, the term is a fair description of a fairly horrific procedure. Continue reading 'Partial Birth' Abortion Procedure Banned →

In which I feel gross.

The Curse. It has arrived.

I thought it had arrived on Saturday, but then today rolled around and I realized that the weekend had been only the precursor. Cramps come in many varieties of intensity, yea verily.

When I was younger and had three-day discomfortless periods, I thought women who bitched about theirs were exaggerating for effect or merely being hysterical. Now I think that women who are bleeding and who can manage to get to the fucking grocery store and back without help deserve medals of honor.

I will be lying in bed reading if you need me.

That is all.

In which he will be mourned.

Vonnegut died at age 84 yesterday.

I’m deeply sad. He will always be one of my favorite authors.

The man was brilliant. His works changed the way I think.

The hours I spent reading Vonnegut were among the best of my reading career. Whenever I finished reading him, I wrote like him for weeks afterward. (Steven King once commented after reading Ellison, in the intro to Stalking The Nightmare, that “Milk takes on the flavor of whatever it’s next to in the fridge,” or something like that. I can’t find the quote. The point being that Vonnegut, like Ellison, is the onion to his milk.) As a case in point my bio, a poor example of the craft, was written after I’d been reading Vonnegut and I can always tell when I re-read it. Ha, ha.

“This is a very bad book you’re writing,” I said to myself.
“I know,” I said.
“You’re afraid you’ll kill yourself the way your mother did,” I said.
“I know,” I said.
– from Breakfast of Champions

Death by Pall-Malls. A “classy way to commit suicide.”

RIP.

In which I tell you all about my new restaurant crush.

I just drove up Burlington street to the Istanbul Grill and ordered lunch. For $5.95 I got a falafel pita, fries, and a cup of lentil soup. Vegetarian lentil soup, even!

They forgot to give me a spoon, but I still *heart* them.

They put “kisir” on their menu instead of “tabouli,” so I assume they’re Turkish. (Kisir isn’t exactly tabouli – it’s got red pepper paste and lettuce in it – but it’s still a delicious, wonderful bulgar-based salad with lemon-and-olive oil dressing and I’m so glad I can buy some in town again. It takes forever to make.)

Their tahini appears to be homemade. I’ve never had tahini like this before, it’s really thick and wonderful.

The streets around their building have been blocked off (due to road construction) since they opened, but the parking strip was full today anyway and all but three tables were occupied for lunch. That people are willing to go there even though it’s a pain to do so is a good sign!

I could so live on Mediterranean food. Now that Istanbul Grill is open, I may be able to do so all! Summer! Long!

The list of reasons not to live in Fairfield is almost endlessly long, but for a tiny town in Iowa we do have great restaurants. Mexican, Thai, Indian, and because of the meditating community all of them are well-trained to cater to vegetarians. It’s really pretty awesome, now that I ponder it.

In which I’m just not HAPPY with the way the ‘box looks, damn it.

I’m still trying to find a template that I like. I used one for a year that I loved — it was simple and clean — but change is good. I think this one will work, once I get it tweaked just right.

For Easter, I slept in, played on the computer, drank some vodka, and made enchiladas for dinner. Then I slept for 13 hours. I think I might have a mild cold or something. I didn’t go out at all this weekend, and I slept like a teenager. (Yay!)

Update: Because IE sucks ass (and not in the fun way), the template I was working on has been scrapped. I hate the Internet.

In which this email is old, but still makes me laugh every time I receive it.

“Fundamental differences between laundry hamper and floor” and “basic differences between mother and wife” make me chortle. So funny. In a sort of that really shouldn’t be funny sort of way. Ghod I love being single!