Can't Sleep. Don't Think Clowns Will Eat Me

Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder plus migraines plus being over-tired and overheated is awesome for turning one into a vampire.  I slept until 6 PM last night.  So, I'm still awake now.
Since I can't sleep, I decided to play with the new "Template Designer" Blogger has put out.  Yeah.  It makes it slightly easier to move around page elements and probably do stuff from scratch, but I decided to try out one of the pre-loaded templates and just fiddle with width and gadgets.

Thoughts?

In other news, I had an interview for a part time job on Wednesday.  It went fairly well.  I would essentially be filling in for other people as needed, which should be doable for me.  The heat index here has been insanely high.  I'm far more sensitive to heat/humidity than I used to be, so this sucks more than usual. 

Really?

I write like
David Foster Wallace

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Really?
This is based on multiple blog posts I've input.  Vaguely tempted to try some of my academic papers.  Honestly not sure how to feel about this.  Everything I've heard or read about Wallace's work has turned me off, big time. 
At least it wasn't Dan Brown.

In which very little happens

Not much going on lately.  I had an pretty disconcerting episode of freezing while standing the other night. I had been in the dining room looking at my bookshelves for something to read and I just froze. For a few minutes I literally could not get my legs to move, but I was still standing.  I thought I might be stuck there for a while, but everything started working again, so not a huge deal.  This is good, as Tom was asleep, so who knows how long it would have been before my pitiful cries for help woke him up.  ;P  Just another symptom to report to my neurologists, who will undoubtedly look puzzled and disbelieving because they work hard at living up to their nickname:  "The Douchetastic Duo."
Ahem.
I figured out the costume and hair for the amigurumi and she is nearly done.  Her polymer clay accessories are cooling after being baked and she should be ready for delivery tomorrow.  Once everything started making sense, it went pretty well.  I'll post pictures after she's been delivered.
I slept most of today and am still tired.  My various plans for getting things done are mostly being postponed daily because I'm too tired, too twitchy, or have other things to do.  Sigh.  Not giving up, though.  Dammit.
I am pleased, though, that Netflix now has Mystery Science Theater 3000 on instant play.

On the schedule for the rest of the week:

• Get some stamps put together and used
• Start on my next knitting project (fingerless gloves of some variety)
• Make some napkins
• Work on the crochet hook case I started sewing months ago.
• Work on the crocheted bag I started crocheting months and months ago.  It's getting close to finished.
• Think more about holiday gifts - who is getting them, what they're going to be, when I need to start them, etc.  Last year we made chocolate bark for people and Xmas cookies for doggies and I'm thinking of doing the very same thing this year because it was easy, tasty, and everyone seemed to like it.  I'm also inclined to crochet or knit things, but that's time consuming and unpredictable.  :P
• Work on a crocheting project for Tom.  (IS A SECRET.  CANNOT SAY MORE.)

Oh, and I have a doctor's appointment Friday.  Endocrinology.  Boring.

Word of the Day

Nugatory  

My husband introduced me to this word when he found it in the petitions to the Supreme Court regarding firearms restrictions in the city of Chicago.  (You can get PDFs of both petitions there - Chicago's lawyers decided to use the word "nugatory" and the reply seems to find that, uh, interesting.  I'm not discussing the case here, just pointing out the word.)

I thought it had something to do with nougat, creamy, tasty nougat before I was given any context.

We both hoped it had something to do with The Nuge because the use involved guns. I was thinking along the lines of:  "That action was so deeply stupid, trashy, and ignorant as to be nugatory." Alas, no.

Long Weekend

So a good friend of ours from college, Joe, came to visit us this weekend - thus my failure to blog regularly.
It was very good to see him again and while I may be spending this week recovering from the visit because I still can't bring myself to slow down when I should, we had a blast.

He got in late Thursday, so we wound up having a late bite to eat at the White Palace which was not nearly as scary as I thought it had the potential to be.

The next day we walked around Hyde Park and showed him the museum and that night had a party for which I had made marinara sauce especially for Joe.  It was pretty fun!

Saturday, Joe decided he wanted to try Kuma's Corner.  Despite the 45 minute wait for a table (because the place was super popular), it was AWESOME.  They have ridiculously huge, delicious burgers and the best fried calamari I think I've ever had.  Fabulous.  We would never have discovered this place without Joe, so extra awesome.  Though I don't really drink anymore, they also have an enormous selection of beers and what appeared to be interesting possibilities for cocktails along with whisky on tap.  They also had tasty, tasty root beer.  The people watching is pretty entertaining too - hipsters, frat boys, bikers, average people, all mixed in.
After that we decided to check out the Cook County Fair at the Garfield Park Conservatory.  The "fair" was more of a way to let urban kids see farm animals and play (not that we expected much more) but the conservatory was spectacular and definitely on our list for return visits in the dead of winter.  Very fun.
After that we drove down the Mag Mile to let Joe see the touristy part of the Loop.  I haven't been down there in a few months and there are now pedi-cabs.  I didn't see anyone actually using one, but the idea is amusing.
Then we decided a trip to a used bookstore was in order and went to check out Myopic Books, which had been recommended by some other friends.  Very cool.  I scored some more sci-fi/fantasy to read.  I will be making a return trip to off-load a bunch of my no longer wanted paperbacks.

So, all in all, a very good visit.  We kicked Joe's ass out today at the airport and he's made it home.  I think Oreo misses him - they seemed to get along very well.  :)  Yay, visiting!

Yay, haircut!

I got my hair cut today.  I went with a slightly shaggier/more texturized bob and short bangs again.  I really like it - it's a bit more fun to play with than my usual sleek bob.  I did miss styling wax and stuff from when I had super short hair - being able to run your hands through your hair, muss it up, and have it look cute was fun.  Plus I really like my hairdresser, which is a first and also very nice.

Also, my neck is hair-free again.  Thank god.  I have no idea how anyone copes with a mullet aside from looking like crap on toast.

Our plants seem to be settling in well.

I attempted crocheting in the car on the way to the salon - my bag pattern is pretty auto-pilot, so I can chat and work.  I don't think it's the best idea for me - I got a tiny bit motion sick and so put it away.  Oh well, fortunately I usually like staring out the windows on road trips, so if I have to pull a long haul in the car anytime soon (I really, really hope not) I won't be too miserable.

An Easter food musing

So, I'm lounging on the couch watching Good Eats on Food Network - I assume they're running Easter-associated food shows leading up to the weekend.  Tonight's episodes have been ham (I missed most of that one) and lamb (on as I type this).  Both very tasty things - lamb is really under-appreciated in the US in my opinion and pig is damn tasty.  :)

Something that usually occurs to me and then speedily flees my brain after the Easter season is why ham and lamb tend to be the traditional foods for Easter lunch or dinner (at least in the US, as far as I know).  

It seems strange to me that one option is something that Christ (not getting into historicity here, just going on basic "accepted" knowledge) wouldn't have eaten as a good Jew (pork) and the other is a creature associated with one of the many titles given to Christ ("Lamb of God").  I'm probably way over analyzing, but it just like either disrespecting the cultural origins of Christ or eating him (not going into Catholic theology here - I spent enough years being catechized in private school), which I would think would be creepy for at least some flavors of Christianity.  :)

I can guess at reasons why for lamb - the association with Passover, spring being lambing season, etc.

Pork I can postulate as having been historically easier to raise than, say, cattle, and ham as a traditional preserved food, thus providing a source of meat even in the early spring, probably even before lambing.

Anyway, I just find it anthropologically interesting - not enough to devote a large amount of research, but enough to comment on and make random postulations based on whatever is floating around in my head after 10 years of higher education.  :)

Any comments?  Similar musings?

My innate fickleness...

...has led me to migrate to WordPress in the hopes that it won't annoy me as much as blogger...

Bear with me as I make the shift, undoubtedly it will be painful for all concerned, especially as I seem to be especially brain-foggy this week...

Here is the new blog:  link

Inaugural post

I'm not entirely sure yet what I'm going to do here, but I wanted a fresh start.  I'm hoping this will force me to write at least a little bit everyday.  And I'm hoping to record some of my crafty stuff, share some of my random finds of other people's awesomeness, share my dealing with being "disabled," and generally goof off.