Tuesday Five: Metaphors be with you

(aka yes, I am pathetic!)

Here are my answers to Friday’s questions…

1. When you go to the beach, lake, or pool, are you more likely to lower yourself gradually into cold water or to take a determined plunge and get it over with?

I slowly creep into the cold water until I can’t take the torture anymore (about butt-level) and then just submerge myself to get it over with. So a little of both!

2. How is this like (or unlike) your approach to other tasks or ordeals?

Eerily similar. I’ll peel a band aid off eighth-inch by painful eighth-inch, ’til I grow tired of the ripping and just finish it. I’ll drag out a tedious task at work as long as I can (reading then re-reading documentation, writing out plans over and over again) and then just toss on the headphones and do it.

3. When someone gives you flowers, are you more likely to let them turn completely brown and gross before throwing them out, or to discard them the moment they take on that sick-flower look?

I toss them when they first start to die. Why spend days and says watching them turn to mush?

4. How is this like (or unlike) your approach to other gifts, purchases, or relationships?

I think it’s an apples/oranges type of comparison. Flowers can’t be fixed - they can only be preserved as long as possible. If something can be fixed, I’ll try to fix it first.

5. Think of your favorite movie (or a movie you really like, if you can’t think of a favorite). Some people say that the reasons you love your favorite movie are related to what you value in romantic relationships. How is this true or untrue in your case?

For the most part, I dislike movies. I don’t like spending 2 hours of my time being emotionally manipulated. It’s hard for me to get lost in a film because I’m always distracted by blatant product placements, predictable subplots and looking at my watch. The recent movies that have sucked me in are Independence Day and 300. So I guess that means I value blood, gore, and ass-kickery in relationships.

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Tags: friday five

Monday Five?

The adventures of the veggie cheesesteak bumped out the usual Friday Five post. And since I’m in a writing slump lately, I have to ration out the content a bit to avoid long periods of nothinginess.

So without further ado, Friday Five: Bad Food

1. What was the last meal that caused you to be ill?
The weekend of July 4th, WM whipped up a chicken salad using Betty Crocker’s “Suddenly Salad!” meal “kit.” Blech. We both were ill (not seriously, but inconveniently) for the next day or so and found quite a few S-words that could fill in this blank: “Suddenly _____!”

2. Are there any places you never dine anymore because of a bad experience hours after the meal?
Ages ago, BVP (he’s doing well, thanks!) and I got the stomach flu the day after we ate at Red Lobster. Red Lobster didn’t cause it, but the reappearance of the prior night’s dinner soured us on Red Lobster for a long time. Despite the decadent cheesy biscuits there, I’m still reluctant to go back.

3. What’s your prescription for dealing with a food-caused illness?
Water.

4. When friends tell you about coming down with food-caused illnesses, do you avoid the places they name, or do you figure it’s a dice-roll wherever you go?
I figure it’s a dice-roll. I mean, look at the whole tomato/salmonella controversy. The government was convinced that the sickened people were sickened because of tomatoes. People changed their diets. Restaurants changed their menus. Tomato growers recorded huge losses. Then, all of a sudden, it’s okay again to eat them again. Nothing was proven. But there remains a tepid warning against jalapeno peppers. People get sick. Sometimes it can’t be explained.

5. After numerous citations, a very, very popular restaurant that you’re quite fond of is shut down by the health department until it can get everything up to code. When the health department gives the restaurant the o.k. to reopen, do you go?

Of course. If I was eating there when it was not up to code and lived, eating there right after the OK is probably the best time to eat there!

***
Firefox 3 slow?
I was up late last night doing a System Restore on my PC. Ever since I installed Firefox 3, my system just dragged. I did Virus scans and malware scans, but nothing turned up. Finally, after waiting five minutes tonight for Firefox to start after I double clicked the icon, I rolled the system back to June 16. I reinstalled Firefox 2.0.0.16 and it’s all zippy again. The downside is that I have to reinstall the last few World of Warcraft patches.

Posted at: 7:32 am in General, Play | Permanent Link | Comments Off
Tags: computers, firefox, food, friday five

Friday 5: Midsummer Nights’ Dreams

I’m stuck in a blog funk…but as long as there’s a Friday Five, there’s a post!)

Here is this week’s Friday 5 - Midsummer Nights’ Dreams

1. What are some recurring dreams you’ve had?
Definitely the apocalypic dreams. I’m alone after some crazy event wipes everybody I know out. Then I end up becoming either a machine-gun wielding operative or a survivalist. I’m never afraid in the dreams though. Also, I have a recurring dream (although I’m usually half-asleep at the time) that a spider drops on me from the ceiling. Then I wake up, yelling that there is a spider in the bed and slapping at the blankets.

Admit it, you SO want to sleep with me now, right?

What’s weirder…my brother says the same spider dream happens to him. I wonder what the hell happened when we were kids.

2. What is the significance of dreams in telling you about yourself?
Based on my dreams, which are usually quite vivid and unique, I have an amazing imagination.

3. How do you feel after you’ve had one of THOSE dreams?
Tired. Next question.

4. What was the last dream you remember?
Last night I dreamt I was a Princess, the daughter of Queen Elizabeth, and I had to organize London’s largest blood drive. But Thursday night’s dream was much better: I dreamt that we had a happy hour at a bowling alley called Bruce’s. It was in the woods - there were frogs outside. There was a tournament/promotion, much like … wait … I can’t remember the name of it.* Anyway, in my dream we had to bowl in socks and I had to pick up a 1-2-4-5-7-8 spare to win the big money. It was the last frame of the event and naturally, I picked up the spare. However, the alley manager said that the 1 pin wasn’t loaded, and I only got credit for the 2-4-5-7-8. So no money for me. He pointed out a disclaimer that the alley isn’t responsible for mis-setting of pins. Much like how casinos will not pay out if a slot machine malfunctions. I yelled at the manager and threw my shoes at him. I was summarily kicked out.

5. When did you last dream about something that later happened as you dreamt it?
I don’t think that’s ever happened. I’ve had real life come darn close to some of my more mundane dreams, but I’ve never had an exact match. Which is good since I don’t know how to pitch a tent, shoot a gun or bowl in socks.

~~~
On Wednesday I received a jury duty summons. To the house where I no longer live (and the house which BvP is doing a kick-butt job renovating.**) And to my married name, which I no longer bear. Which is always nice to see that the County is up to date with its info. I’ve been summoned every 2 or 3 years since I turned 18. Maybe this time I’ll get on a jury! Yes, I’m one of THOSE who enjoy jury duty. At best I get on a jury and decide someone’s fate. At worst I sit, drink coffee and read and/or do crossword puzzles all day. What a hardship. I wish I could be a professional juror.

I’ve been slogging through my week waiting for the weekend. Poor me with a 4-day week to begin with. Tonight I’m going to Happy Hour at Taylors with a bunch of people from work. It’s been almost a YEAR since I’ve been out with everyone. With the events that have transpired at work over the last year, by Friday people just want to go home. I hope there’s a good turnout - I’m in the mood to have a little fun!

*Back in high school and college I used to go bowling a lot. (I was a Varsity Bowler in High School, another reason why you want to sleep with me!) Late at night they had a promotion where they’d turn on the blacklights and load neon colored pins into the alleys. There was usually a DJ on duty spinning (yes, spinning, shut up) the latest hits, and if you got a strike when the neon pin was the 1-pin, you won money. There was a name to this fiasco…and it’ll come back to me eventually.

**Seriously, the living room, basement and upstairs bedrooms are completely redone. The living room now has a 40-some inch wall-mount TV, with a freaking 6 speaker Bose surround sound 5.1 system. Genuine marble surrounding the fireplace. Gorgeous new sofa and new carpet. The old 70’s paneling is down and the walls are now yellow and red. Obviously, I was holding him back.

Posted at: 8:00 am in General, Play, Work | Permanent Link | 1 Comment - add yours! »
Tags: dreams, friday five, jury duty

Fourth of July Friday Five: Food Television

Good morning and Happy July 4th to my American readers! No better way to celebrate FOUR big days off than with the Friday Five blog filler…”Food Television”

(great, it’s about cooking. I don’t cook.)

1. If a traveling food show were to visit your neighborhood, what are some unique, regional foods it would spotlight, and where would it go to get them?
Well, I can see Philadelphia outside of my window, so I suppose they’d get the obligatory Philly area foods: cheesesteaks, scrapple, water ice and Tastykakes. And maybe Herr’s potato chips for extra flavor.

2. On an American cable show, a celebrity chef surprises people by challenging them to a contest featuring their own specialties (he usually loses). If he challenged you to your specialty, what dish would you prepare? If he challenged someone you know, what would that dish be, and how might the competition turn out?
Bobby Flay beat the Pop Shop back in May in a Griilled Cheese Battle. If he battled me, I think I could beat him when it comes to making Jell-o. He’d put some crazy ingredient in it - like jalepeno peppers - and I’d beat him by loading up lime jell-o with banana slices. Mmmm…

3. What are your feelings about cooking shows on television?
I miss the older style cooking shows, when the food was the star and the chef showcased the food. Starting with Emeril, the chefs became the personalities, and the more they buy into their own hype (Emeril, Rachael Ray, Sandra Lee, etc) the worse the shows become.

4. What kitchen gadgets have you purchased because you saw someone using them on television?
Back in my days of being addicted to QVC (last year) I purchased some kitchen knives, non-stick pots, and a waffle maker, all from watching “In the Kitchen With Bob.”

5. You get to (or have to, depending on how you feel about it) host your own food show on television. What will it be called and what’s it about?
Wheedling other people into cooking for you. Co-starring the Wandering Minstrel, since he is Top Chef here at the Dee-luxe apartment in the sky.

***
Have fun and be safe today, and if you’re in the US…yeah…it’s not optimal right now. But there are a lot of worse places to live. And we have the ability to change what we have. It takes thought, and it takes voting at EVERY LEVEL, not just for president. Change happens from your city council upward.

***
Happy Birthday, Odin!

Posted at: 10:00 am in General, Play | Permanent Link | 1 Comment - add yours! »
Tags: cooking, friday five