Plastic glue and spunky spies
Today's food conclusion: Low-fat cheese is surprisingly (and pleasantly) indistinguishable from regular cheese. Non-fat cheese, however, tastes like plastic and melts really strangely and unattractively. I got non-fat cheese when we bought groceries this week (because there wasn't any low-fat on sale), and I am experiencing significant buyer's remorse. This stuff is icky. Shannon asked what I'm going to do with the rest of the package, and I said that perhaps I could make quesadillas with lots of other stuff in them (like corn, red peppers, whatever ... I wonder what fruit would be like in a quesadilla ... I mean, it works with empanadas ... hmmm), and just let the cheese serve the purpose of glue, to hold the whole thing together. Yummy yummy plastic-flavored glue!
I got more collage work done today at CWC, and I really really liked today's results. I wasn't doing anything terrifically complex or difficult, but I'm quite fond of the use of color, composition, symbolism, and emotional import of the (nearly) final product. (I worked about 3 hours on this one postcard, so I'm a bit invested in the outcome.) Tomorrow I plan to cut and glue one last piece of paper on top of what I glued today, and then it'll be time to move on to the next postcard.
Crystal and I hung out at a cafe for an hour or so after finishing up in the art room, and it was nice to chat with her away from all the random other folks at CWC. I really enjoyed our conversation. We're both quite excited that our writing group will be starting up again in a week or two. She writes a lot of fiction, but I haven't written fiction in years. I just freeze up, like my brain goes empty. Maybe getting involved in the writing group again will help loosen me up and get the creative juices flowing again.
Then, this evening, Shannon suggested that we get hot dogs from Top Dog for dinner, and go out and sit by the creek on the campus, as we did a few times last summer. He was inspired by today's weather, as this was perhaps the first truly hot day we've had in 2011. Welcome to summer in the East Bay -- it apparently starts in late September! Most of what is officially called "summer" here has been very gray, overcast, and chilly this year. We've had multiple blankets on the bed all year long.
Right now the TiVo is holding a new tv episode I've been really looking forward to (the season premiere of "Castle"), but I'm so tired right now that I don't want to "waste" a good show on my semi-conscious brain. I'll watch my beloved Nathan Fillion (star of "Castle," but also former star of "Firefly") tomorrow, when I can get optimal enjoyment out of the experience.
Shannon and I have been watching the 5th season of "MI-5" (British spy series, which in the U.K. is called "Spooks"), and I'm really liking it ... but, then, I've really liked every season so far. The show uses a lot of the subtle writing and directing I was discussing re: the Italian movie I watched the other day, plus it isn't afraid to take on really tough issues that challenge the government. It's pretty shocking sometimes how critical the show is of the British government, how real-life political issues are picked apart and portrayed as deeply unethical. I have often thought, while watching "MI-5," how strange it is that a show actually funded by the government (as "Spooks" is produced for BBC1) feels free and willing to criticize that same government heavily, and is apparently not penalized for doing so, while American tv shows (which are funded privately) don't seem willing to take that kind of chance. I find that difference in relationship to the government intriguing. Perhaps it's just that the post-9/11 fear of appearing "un-American" runs pretty deep in our country. Bush is gone, but his legacy lives on.
And, lastly, my right wrist and left elbow continue to hurt frequently throughout the day. I'm trying to avoid using my arms too much (e.g., not being on the computer very often, not lifting things, not riding my bike, etc.), and I'm icing as often as I can manage (usually 3 or 4 times a day), and I'm taking ibuprofen about as often as is recommended by the instructions on the bottle, and I'm wearing my wrist braces to bed, but the pain isn't going away. I've found myself wondering if I should contact the insurance company that handled my worker's comp case when I was first injured, as I never accepted a settlement and so treatment for ailments resulting from this particular injury is covered for the rest of my life. I'm hesitant to approach them, though, because they would no doubt make me jump through a million hoops to prove that this is not some new and unrelated problem, because of course they don't want to shell out any money. But maybe there is something new that could be done to help, and I'm just sitting here hurting -- and limiting my activities in inconvenient and annoying ways -- rather than seeking treatment.
I got more collage work done today at CWC, and I really really liked today's results. I wasn't doing anything terrifically complex or difficult, but I'm quite fond of the use of color, composition, symbolism, and emotional import of the (nearly) final product. (I worked about 3 hours on this one postcard, so I'm a bit invested in the outcome.) Tomorrow I plan to cut and glue one last piece of paper on top of what I glued today, and then it'll be time to move on to the next postcard.
Crystal and I hung out at a cafe for an hour or so after finishing up in the art room, and it was nice to chat with her away from all the random other folks at CWC. I really enjoyed our conversation. We're both quite excited that our writing group will be starting up again in a week or two. She writes a lot of fiction, but I haven't written fiction in years. I just freeze up, like my brain goes empty. Maybe getting involved in the writing group again will help loosen me up and get the creative juices flowing again.
Then, this evening, Shannon suggested that we get hot dogs from Top Dog for dinner, and go out and sit by the creek on the campus, as we did a few times last summer. He was inspired by today's weather, as this was perhaps the first truly hot day we've had in 2011. Welcome to summer in the East Bay -- it apparently starts in late September! Most of what is officially called "summer" here has been very gray, overcast, and chilly this year. We've had multiple blankets on the bed all year long.
Right now the TiVo is holding a new tv episode I've been really looking forward to (the season premiere of "Castle"), but I'm so tired right now that I don't want to "waste" a good show on my semi-conscious brain. I'll watch my beloved Nathan Fillion (star of "Castle," but also former star of "Firefly") tomorrow, when I can get optimal enjoyment out of the experience.
Shannon and I have been watching the 5th season of "MI-5" (British spy series, which in the U.K. is called "Spooks"), and I'm really liking it ... but, then, I've really liked every season so far. The show uses a lot of the subtle writing and directing I was discussing re: the Italian movie I watched the other day, plus it isn't afraid to take on really tough issues that challenge the government. It's pretty shocking sometimes how critical the show is of the British government, how real-life political issues are picked apart and portrayed as deeply unethical. I have often thought, while watching "MI-5," how strange it is that a show actually funded by the government (as "Spooks" is produced for BBC1) feels free and willing to criticize that same government heavily, and is apparently not penalized for doing so, while American tv shows (which are funded privately) don't seem willing to take that kind of chance. I find that difference in relationship to the government intriguing. Perhaps it's just that the post-9/11 fear of appearing "un-American" runs pretty deep in our country. Bush is gone, but his legacy lives on.
And, lastly, my right wrist and left elbow continue to hurt frequently throughout the day. I'm trying to avoid using my arms too much (e.g., not being on the computer very often, not lifting things, not riding my bike, etc.), and I'm icing as often as I can manage (usually 3 or 4 times a day), and I'm taking ibuprofen about as often as is recommended by the instructions on the bottle, and I'm wearing my wrist braces to bed, but the pain isn't going away. I've found myself wondering if I should contact the insurance company that handled my worker's comp case when I was first injured, as I never accepted a settlement and so treatment for ailments resulting from this particular injury is covered for the rest of my life. I'm hesitant to approach them, though, because they would no doubt make me jump through a million hoops to prove that this is not some new and unrelated problem, because of course they don't want to shell out any money. But maybe there is something new that could be done to help, and I'm just sitting here hurting -- and limiting my activities in inconvenient and annoying ways -- rather than seeking treatment.