"...no dead end in sight..."

"we made it, Yogi!"

...to another glorious Friday. This entire week has been so incredibly, disgustingly blaaahhh. What with the weather being overcast (but not rainy - just on the verge of rainy) and my being in a weird lethargic-slash-not feeling well-slash-anxious about life-type of mood, I have just not been at 100%.

However! Today is going to be a good day. If not, I can't say that it was self-fulfilling, because I am determined to make it better than this entire crappy week. 

My Amazon package(s) came in and I am now the owner of a silicone pastry brush (thank you Malto Mario) and a micro zester, so I can now zest citrus into my baked goods without using a knife and having huge chunks of orange peel in things. I also got square silicone baking cups, which instead of using for baking I am going to use for portioning out my bento box lunches.

The biggest challenge for my bento? Remembering to put my ice pack in the freezer each night -_-; I was really bad about this in elementary school too, I seem to recall. Lukewarm bento is not tasty. Rather than taking it to work anyway I just leave it at home and go down Lemmon for some drive-thru lunch. I realize this defeats the point of planning intricate, lovely bento lunches, but it has only happened twice this week.

Also in my Amazon box was a set of stainless steel chopsticks, which I find to be so incredibly chic. This will assist me when I start to make my cute decorative bento lunch bag, to hold my bento lunch box. I'm thinking lots of pockets. I love bags with lots of pockets :D

This weekend is another mandolin lesson. Tonight I am going to down like 489637384 Red Bulls and just practice, practice, practice. (Somebody get my cup of ice ready.) Jay wants to see Star Trek, and oy vey, I don't know how I feel about it yet. Everybody, even hardcore fans who should know better, is like OMG IT'S SO COOOOL but I am still skeptical. But I will give it a shot. Oh, summer movies. You don't ever make sense but boy are you sparkly. *sigh

Also this weekend is lunch at Good Eats, and a trip to Librarian Heaven. More on that later. But seriously, being a non-librarian I am still squealing like a little girl when we go to this place. Only just in my head, because if I did it out loud everyone would look at me like I'm nuts or something.

The apartment is a Hot Mess but that will be a project for Sunday, I think. Also, I am having this incredible urge to work on my stamp collection. Maybe it's the USPS rate change next week, but I really want to see what I've got for 2009 (not much). I think I worked more on my stamp collection last year in the midst of planning a wedding and moving, &c., and that is kinda sad. Or maybe it's just that this year other hobbies have surfaced which have encroached on my otherwise stampbooking time.

Also! Speaking of hobbies - I have found a rock climbing place close by. No, I'm not a rock climber. I usually shy away from outdoor hobbies, but it's indoor rock climbing, people. Oh plus I am terrified of heights. But I thought maybe this was a good time to address that, and while augmenting my personal growth I would also knock out a few phobias on the way. We'll see - I have to ask myself if it's financially plausible. I might try it once and hate it, or I might think it's rather liberating. We shall see.

I am putting various electronics up on Ebay. Not because we are hard up for cash, as everyone is assuming at this point. I am trying to be more conservative with my material possessions, and if we have a couple hundred bucks out of it to put into savings, well cool. I think the prospect of our apartment lease being up (ie: moving) put a horrendous icy fear into me (like: "OMG we have to move all this stuff down to the first floor *dies") and I'm trying to take out all the nonessentials.

So coming up is Glorious Weekend. I've been thinking of taking off the Friday before Memorial Day to go someplace awesome - or just to stay at home. A nice four days of doing absolutely nothing sounds delish. I just don't want to look back around July and be like "man I would have LOVED to have been someplace exotic and/or not boring back then". 

Now it's getting ready for work-time. Friday Five possibly later, dears! Yall take care!!

weeekend~

I find myself pausing whatever I'm doing when this commercial comes on. I like Jupiter maybe even more than Mars, and not just because everybody and their dog plays Mars at some point. It's also not just because of the huge field adrenaline-slash-nostalgia rush. It's more of a...stirring, a call to action, a drive to be more and do more. It's uplifting for me, even though in the instance of this commercial it's only sixteen seconds.
Today is the start of a new week, and it's unusually cool outside. We had the unholy mother of horrendous rainstorms drag itself through DFW this weekend, and when I stepped outside to go see Sasha's new babeh I was surprised to find that it was only 60 degrees out. So much for putting up all my winter sweaters this weekend.
Actually, I didn't get much done. Overcast weather and I was really blah yesterday. Not much cooking, except for a modified recipe from my new Party Food book (well, not new, per se. A Half Price purchase) for rice and crab balls that I've baked instead of deep fried. They're okay. Not great, but they will do in my bento lunch this week.
On the menu for the bento: rice and crab; strawberries; baby carrots; hummus. I also bought refried beans to do some sort of quesadilla thing in the middle of the week, and delicious Pink Lady apples at beloved Market Street for when the strawberries run out. I usually buy Fiji, but I saw these and thought I'd give them a shot. They are sweet and slightly juicy, with a tart bite to the skin that makes it a little bit more diversified than a regular Fiji or Red Delicious. I think they would be good for baking.
I am so not looking forward to the new, stylized Star Trek movie. It will not be the same Kirk and Spock without Shatner and Nimoy. I am predicting all the junior high kids will squeal over it, but all the die-hard fans who knew the Trek franchise was headed downhill at the release of Nemesis will recognize it for what it is: a shiny pile of poo. I am still going to go see it, just for fodder to make fun of it (also because for some bizarre reason pookie is really jonesing to see the thing), but I am not going to consider this canon at all.
Well, we shall see. I didn't think the Wolverine movie would be any good but I am giving that one a 3 out of 5.
Tomorrow is Monday and lately that means it's House night! We have fallen into this television routine in the evenings - Tuesday is The Biggest Loser, Wednesday is SVU, and Thursday is "I'm going to watch NBC even though technically that's cheating to watch The Office when we haven't gotten through all our DVDs yet" night.
This Friday is payday! And that means it's dry cleaning day and car wash day, and I can get my registration sticker taken care of. Not that it's for anyone's personal reference but mine, but anyway.
I see people my age who are super tanned and they look way old. They have that same look that people my age have when they have been smoking for years. That gross, haggard-in-training type of look. I guess it makes them look older? Or at least that's what they want. After awhile I think they just start to look dried out.
When I was going into college I wanted more than anything to be in a sorority. (I was eighteen and stupid and wanted to pull a 180 and "redefine myself".) My parents said, oh hell no we're not paying that much money for you to lose focus with your studies your first semester. I wonder if I would be the same person had they let me. I wonder if at any point it would have occurred to me to get a job and pay for it myself. Was I just not that rebellious, or did it just end up not being that important? I mean, I turned out all right. One of those Butterfly Effect moments. Whatever.
I'm going to start simplifying my life, starting by getting rid of all the material things I don't need. I think it will make my life easier in the long run.
Now I've got to change out the laundry so we will have nice warm sheets and pillowcases to sleep on tonight. Apologies for the sprinkle assortment of words and phrases.