Easter Weekend
I had a interesting (for me) weekend, with many experiences! I will document them in a (nested) list!! In chronological order!!!
- For our Friday Night Potluck, I made my dad's (not really) French omelet recipe: a folded omelet with a thickened mushroom and wine concoction as the filling. It got midling-high reviews from the potluck attendees.
- Apparently I beat the eggs to an appropriate degree, which is supposed to be the tough part.
- But Howard Prospect says I overdid the (dry, white) vermouth in the filling. Incidentally, I used portabello mushrooms--I think the choice of mushroom and the use of white, not red, wine are a departure from Dad's original formula.
- Also, I managed to totally mangle the folding process, so that one person who saw one in the works said. "Oh, is that a frittata?"
- That said, these were monster (8 egg) omelets, so I don't feel so bad about messing up the presentation.
- I met rachiestar in real life. She partook of the omelet. She's just as cool in person as she is on-line.
- I practiced with the low-intensity intra-mural softball team that I'm playing on for some reason.
- The team is composed entirely seniors in the computer science department, with one exception. I am that exception. This goes to support unthevert's accusation (see below) that I am a "department whore."
- The name of the team is Brute Force. Our cheer is: (Captain:)"What do we use?" (Everyone:) "BRUTE FORCE!" You might think the name is an expression of some kind of dangerous machismo, but it's not. It's in fact a hilarious algorithms joke!
- I was that kid who, when playing little league baseball, would lose track of the game and sit down in the outfield so I could play with dandelions and, if lucky, worms. I really suck at fielding, even compared the other members of the team, who are, recall, computer science majors. In the most courteous and careful way, they keep giving me much needed advice like, "This is how you throw a ball."
- I'm decent at bat. But...that's because it's softball.
- I made tofu with Howard Prospect for dinner in a way that I found really satisfying. It was a variation on this recipe, except we used chopped onion instead of fermented black beans, which was a little strange. But the sauce still had a rich flavor that complemented the flavorless but nicely textured pan-seared tofu well. Overall, a success.
- More face time with Rachel to talk shop. She grills me on conceptual role semantics. I fumble the explanation. She elucidates social constructivism, or at least the kind that she likes. I agree that it sounds pretty reasonable, but articulate reservations. Fine times!
- Party at ADPhi, where the drinks were free and most of the people were friends of various degrees of closeness. I can remember several good conversations. I may have forgotten a few others:
- Caught up with Smiles-by-Miles, who seems to have built up a tentative life plan that is well-suited to his skills and potential. This is worlds better than depressive nihilism, and I am very, very happy for him. His insistence that "we all should move to the Bay area" strengthens my convictions about where I should apply for grad school.
- Long, fruitfully inebriated conversation with unthevert
- I also had an exchange with a stranger that went something like this:
Me: "Hi, I'm [insert name here]."
Stranger: "Hi, I'm [insert name here]. Wait, do you have a livejournal?"
Me: (cautiously) "Yes."
Stranger: "Do you post on philosophy? Are you paulhope?"
Me: "Uh, yes. How did you...um...?"
Stranger: "Oh, I found you through Cristi's blog. Also, I recognize you from your icon."
- Boy, was I hung over!
- Ginormous Easter meal at the house of Greg, the man to whom this journal is dedicated. (It's been a strangely LJ weekend) I went with Michael Prospect, Melanie, her idea James, and others from the old freshman unit crowd. Since Toxie is in El Salvador, there was zero drama, and I felt like I was just one of them again. Nostalgia for times long gone; I probably should get more of this before I graduate.