gina_r_snape

Well, I got nothing done this weekend. I felt completely listless, so I watched 30 Rock and curled up with my cats on Saturday. I did meet up with pomona513 on Sunday, however, and bought a funky tie with vegetables on it. And I went to the DWNY video meet for a short while, where I got to hang out with tennis_bear.

My cape arrived today. It sort of helped, but I was particularly amused by the language on the return form. They called it a "counterfoil" and I'm not sure why it amuses me, but it does. I also liked how the paper that lists your purchase was called a "Despatch Note" rather than "Invoice" or "Packing Slip."

The weather was weird today, but the perfect temperature for my new cape, so at least I got to wear it home.

The State negotiated to keep some of the homeless funds we lobbied for. They plan to replace the former housing voucher with something new - to be announced at a director's meeting on my birthday. FML

I have a meeting on Wednesday with my dissertation chair and second. I might have to shell out real money for mplus, as my chair informed me that the University didn't purchase new licensed copies. And my friend who was going to give me her copy doesn't think it'll work now as the license expired. Anyone have an idea for a tacky fundraising auction I can do? I have a YouTube account, if it helps.

At least work was relatively quiet today.

So I went to University yesterday and did a training on EndNote. It's a bibliography software that I've struggled with using in fits and starts over the past few years. My academic advisor gave the instructional session, so I decided to try one more time. I think it's finally sunk in, how it works, and I'll give it a go.

It's been ages since I stepped foot on campus. As I'm not teaching this semester, I've had no reason to go there except for occasional use of the toilets library. How warmly I was greeted by so many!

I sat in the doctoral lounge in the afternoon and attempted to get work done. Actually, I did get work done, in an interesting paradox. When I'm alone on my own, I find I seek out forms of distraction. But when other people interrupt me, I get frustrated and strive to concentrate harder.

This photo of the Boosh boys is for drfardook's amusement after a conversation we had last night, but seems ( oddly apropos )


At any rate, after spending time in my department, I went to the NYU Bobst library where I miraculously still have access. Having first grown used to that library during my undergraduate days, I still flinch when I walk in and see display cases where the card catalogues used to be. It feels like a missing limb. I truly am in some ways still a product of the 20th century, of another age.

I wanted to copy one chapter of a book that my University does not have in its holdings. I discovered that Bobst only has an electronic version, much to my annoyance. And the "ebrary" won't let you print it out. Call me old fashioned, but I want a hard copy! I want to be able to highlight it and mark it up - and :gasp: read it in a cafe or a pub and NOT on the computer. I struggled with whether this makes me the product of another age, or if it's a tangible need that will endure as we further progress into the electronic age and the myth of the joys and efficiency of a paperless society.

One of my exes used to chide me for keeping hard copies of CDs when electronic backups would do. I used to say I liked having them. I still miss playing records and rolling joints on gazing at album covers. In Being Human, one subtle way they showed Mitchell wasn't as he appeared was his stack of records, tapes, and antiquated but still operable stereo. But the fact is, I do now only listen to music on my iPhone, the iPod hooked up to my stereo, or directly from the iTunes library on my computer. I threw out a stack of old games on CD Tuesday. Perhaps it's time to do the same with my CDs.

Today is the first day of my four-day weekend of cleaning and dissertating. I slept for eleven hours last night and had some strikingly vivid dreams this morning. fiendish_thingy even appeared in one of them to my delight and surprise. I almost never dream of friends as they actually are. We sat on a couch in the lobby of Gallifrey talking. No idea why. But it felt good to allow my brain the opportunity for extended REM-sleep.

I ate toast with nutella this morning, and herded the laundry previously scattered to the four corners of my flat-world, feeding on dust bunnies.

Then I took this quiz, what I saw on droxy's LJ and it's very amusing. Not least of all because since I don't believe in Dante's version of Christian Hell, the results make me think "well, I would be afraid if I believed it..." A tautology of a meme outcome if ever there was one.

( The Dante's Inferno Test )


And since we're on the topic of gluttony/indulgence, I really want to buy this cape from TopShop. It's the brown piping that draws me in. Some of you will understand. ( cut for very large photos )


I took a long shower and contemplated the outline for my dissertation chapters. Clumps of ideas, with a better idea than before regarding what might be missing or need further exploration and developing bubbled up to the surface. Cells splitting into an organism. The creative process is embryonic. But it's also like connective tissue sometimes.

Finally, LJ comments and PMs seem to be randomly delivered to my inbox or swallowed up by my spam folder. So if it seems like I respond to some things in longer than usual time, that's why.

I've got a lot on my mind today. So instead I'll do two memes. The first one from muscadinegirl and pumagrrl. The second from bluestocking79





( Getting to know you meme )

Forgive me LJ, it's been 4 days since my last entry. If that sounds oddly like a confessional, maybe it's because of the news I heard this morning. Governor Cuomo is being bashed by religious leaders for living with his girlfriend out-of-wedlock. The news this morning was all about Cuomo's refusal to meet with the Bishop of NY. I am greatly amused. I must admit, I have come to dislike Governor Cuomo in recent days. I sense he holds deep hatred for either NYC, Mayor Bloomberg, or both. But his refusal to meet with a religious leader to discuss his "moral failure" gave me a bit of respect for him.

In other news, I am still drowning in my own fluids. But a little bit less so. Coming back to work this week has been nothing short of exhausting. But yesterday the shelter doctor gave me prescriptions for two inhalers. So now I'm all lightheaded and loopy and phlegmy, but at least a small amount of oxygen is making it to my limbs. I've now had this cold for 14 days.

I'm still not completely finished unpacking from Gallifrey. There are bits and bobs to put away, and my corset needs washing but I am not sure whether to use Woolite on it. Last night I felt vaguely optimistic that I might get something done. I came home, put the cat food away, ate a modest dinner, then promptly passed out on the couch for 1 1/2 hours. So, still no Gallifrey pics. That's ok. I still haven't posted the Wizarding World portrait pics from Infinitus yet. One day...

I missed the deadline for submitting presentations to a conference in October. And I wasn't able to apply for that position in Portland. I try to concentrate on my literature review and my head is just swimming. The good news is, I still have time off. 1 sick day, 2 holidays, and 5 vacation days remain until July 1st. I need to plan them wisely and pray the lurgy doesn't become a lifestyle.

And now that I'm done whinging, I wish to bring your attention to the inimitable fidelioscabinet. In light of recent attacks on the right to collective bargaining on the state level, she has started a series of entries on labor history. First one here and the second one here with promises of more to come at irregular intervals. They are extremely interesting and I encourage you to read them. It should come as no surprise to anyone that I favor taxing businesses over cutting health care benefits, laying off workers, etc. And during this time of increased strain on the state level, it does not surprise me that history is repeating itself. Is it any wonder I spend so much time on YouTube watching silly interviews with Noel Fielding and tv shows like Victorian Pharmacy. I yearn for a time when everything seems possible, not impossible. Watching the Daily Show the other day was almost too much to bear.

So it seems there was a change in the power dynamics of my household this morning. Not sure what it means, but it was interesting to witness. Nymphadora has reclaimed the top rung of the kitty condo. It used to be hers, until Calliope came along and made it her territory.

So Calliope sat on a chair, glowering. She then hopped to the top of my shoe shelf, what is normally Nymphadora's spot.

I observed no deleterious effects thus far. But I hope I don't come home to find Kittygeddon has taken place in my absence.

It was suggested to me yesterday during our outing that I ought to look at an Army Navy store for boots in the style I want. So just now whilst sucking down a Red Bull (slow moving Saturday has turned into crawl-moving Monday) I had a look at their website and below the usual fare of combat boots, duck boots and hiking boots they had Vegan Jungle Boots.

My brain is still going WHUUUUUUUUUUH??? Vegan and Army/Navy seems oxymoronic.

On a more serious note, if anyone has been following the news about Uganda, Brenda Namiggade was granted a temporary reprieve to stay in the UK. She is in fear of her life as a lesbian in a country where a man was recently murdered for being gay and an activist for LGBT rights. Where legislators are fighting to make same-sex activity punishable by death. What's wrong about her being granted a reprieve, you might ask? Her reprieve is temporary because a prior immigration judge "found on the evidence before them that Ms Namiggade was not homosexual." So what exactly does one have to do (or not do) to prove sexual orientation and fear for one's life?

Lastly, on a lighter note, a coffee and a red bull were invited to do a tango in my blood stream this morning after a seemingly humble and happy cup of tea laughed in my face. Pamplona did not erupt in my nervous system. I still feel groggy and limp. I shouldn't complain. I couldn't have had a more pleasant morning in other respects. But I was promised better living through chemistry.

Well it's Sunday night and for the first time in ages I can not only manage easy egress in/out and within my study, but I can see the floor, the desk top and organized piles for the first time in months. I'm not entirely certain how many bags of recyclables were thrown away (articles, old notebooks, various other paper goods), but good doesn't even begin to describe the end result. I've not yet finished, mind you, but more than a dent was made.

A small amount of furniture was also moved. An old bookshelf may find itself on the sidewalk, even.

Purging is good. If 2011 is going to live up to its promise, then the purging is just as necessary as the commingling. Not holding onto things that "might be useful in the future," or that "seem really interesting and I want to read at some point," or that hold a tenuous emotional bond to a particular moment, or a hope, or a teacher, or a memory. Yes, there was even some of that in the stacks.

My muscles are going to be very sore tomorrow, I can tell you that. drfardook was indispensable. I only hope my multiple forms and displays of gratitude were adequate to the task, and that he didn't completely freeze his backside off on his journey back to Beacon.

Which reminds me. Sesame oil, soy sauce and buckwheat soba noodles were made to commingle. Just saying. Consider it a PSA, even.

So I was chatting this evening with my friend BE and realized I've not left my house since Thursday night. That's right. THURSDAY. It's had both its positives and its negatives. Not being subjected to the cold = goooood. Spending too much time inside my own head = not as good. Two things pierced the protective padding in my mind this weekend and tried to drag me back to the ill-advised behaviors borne of the unhealthy commingling of painful pasts and selfishly unconsulted projected futures that form a kind of paradox mindset. I need to stop. I keep telling two specific friends of mine (LG and BE) to live in the moment. I need to take my own bloody advice.

And nothing soothes the soul like fandom. So tonight I rewatched the series 2 finale of Being Human and the series 3 opener. (Not gonna spoil, but feel free to say whatever in the comments). That finale remains a powerful piece of work. One part horror, one part mind-f*ck, one part eternal bonding. There's not a moment wrong in the entire episode. Series 3 opener? Not so much. The pacing was off, the themes overplayed. But there were moments. Moments that kept me interested. I am not sure how I feel about the anticipated story lines for this series. But I will stick with it. And I was amused by the cameo of Kai Owen. (Er, that's not really a spoiler, right?).

Now I've got a pile of books on my bed demanding to be stacked and a ticking clock threatening to sneak up on me and dart past midnight if I don't step away from the computer. So off I go. See you when I do.

Greetings f-list. Why yes, I am still alive. I've just been cocooned in pleasant company and pleasant pursuits for a few days.

The conference was wonderful and inspiring. I am very very pleased to have gone.

On the flight back I sat next to a junior faculty member (TM) from my Uni who extended herself during the con and she advised me about the qualitative portion of my dissertation. We also chatted about academia, family (she and her partner are raising their baby vegan, she keeps joking that it's the closest thing to immaculate conception she can think of since her partner is the one who gave birth), and her undying love for Angelina Jolie. LOL I told her about Doctor Who. We talked about playing music (she used to be a musician and I used to play guitar). And generally just enjoyed each others company. She even gave me a lift back into Manhattan!

Upon my return, I spent some time with drfardook and I think it's fair to say my taking him to Russ and Daughters followed by Economy Candy and the Essex Market were something of a LES culinary tour de force. Pity we didn't make it to Guss' Pickles or the Doughnut Factory. But hey, gotta leave something for another time right? At the very least, he got to pretend to be a NY Jew for a bit. And I see my brainwashing influence has taken root because he insisted on buying licorice bootlaces in homage to the Mighty Boosh. ^_^

Today ME of the Jew Crew came for dinner. We had savoury chickpea flour pancakes with onion, shallot, and sunchokes from my CSA (and parsley) with a side of sauteed cod and a carrot salad (also from my CSA) with a balsamic vinaigrette. Then her husband AJ and a mutual friend (KS) came over for tea. I brewed some Whittard's Afternoon Blend and got to use my tea set! She made almond macaroons and we used an egg from my CSA as well for that. And we had some halvah from Economy Candy and I also happened to bake a challah bread for tomorrow so we had some of that with nutella.

There was much chatting and smiling and purring (AJ purrs when he's content. No . . . really). And now that they've all gone home I'm sitting here online instead of cleaning up. I suspect the wine and the heat and the food have lulled me into a sense of contentment. But the truth is, this year has started off such that I am brimming with contentment. What is that about?

Tomorrow after work I intend to hack away at my office space a bit more and set myself a work schedule for my dissertation. And catch up on my f-list. So if there are any pertinent entries you'd like me to see, please do not hesitate to point them out!

Is it a weekend if you go away Sunday and Monday? Well, after two weeks of covering for my boss I need a week of Gina time. pov_power came over Friday for dinner and it was the perfect way for me to start my little holiday. We had those leek and onion pasties I made over the summer, salad, and bluestocking79's delightful brussels sprout recipe. The pictures are not that impressive, but I assure you the brussels sprouts were melt-in-your-mouth heavenly. Pictures and recipe:

Leek and onion pasty ( with salad )


Roasted brussels sprouts with shallots and wild mushroom in a white wine ( cream sauce )


Recipe can be found here.

On Saturday I putzed around, did some dishes, relaxed. But on Sunday drfardook and I took a little trip to Philadelphia where we stayed overnight at a very odd hotel. Nothing in the room matched - except for two identical wall decorations. And it had a kitchen (including dishwasher! actual pots and dishes!) larger than mine. I imagine people who stay there go for weeks on end, not overnight.

Anyway, on Sunday we went to the Mütter Museum and looked at all manner of creepy things. My brain, ever loving to amuse itself, started playing "Inside of You" in my head. As for the museum, I was struck most by the 8ft colon, depictions of various skin diseases, the human skin leather-bound books (considered an apt way to memorialize someone at the turn of the last century) and the rows of skulls with causes of death including "suicide from weariness of life." Have you ever heard a description more Victorian? Photography was not allowed inside the museum, but drfardook did take a picture of me on the oversized couch in the atrium where I felt like a Gashlycrumb Tinie awaiting ( my doom )


(Also, I was approached no less than six times by people asking about or complimenting me on my kitty hat during our trip).

I also toyed with buying a small phial of Ü, the museum's signature fragrance by BPAL. With aromas of frankincense, vanilla and cinnamon on my wrists (and lingering on my sweater well into the next day), I kept declaring it smelled like death and breakfast. Intellectually compelling, but I remain ambivalent about its aroma as a sensual pleasure.

We ate at two places, one the Monk's Cafe where mussels in leek and garlic broth were devoured with glee accompanied by the smallest pommes frites I've ever seen in my life, and a selection of Belgian beers. We liked the place so much we went back the next day for more Belgian brew. The other was a little hole-in-the-wall that served vegan and vegetarian versions of the kind of food Philadelphian University students devour after a night of cramming and/or stumbling out of a bar at 3am. I got a vegetarian Philly cheese steak which was just ok, but ( looked rather nice )


Looking for a night's entertainment, he googled a dive bar in the area. I was not pleased that they had on a football game instead of music, so I asked a guy at the bar if he knew a better place to go. Turned out his name was Luke and he's in a band from NYC called The Runaway Suns. They were playing across the street at a dive called Tritone and were actually pretty good! We took his advice and stayed to watch a couple of bands, which really hit a spot needing hitting. Their sound was part garage band, part psychedelic, part sixties pop. I could definitely see myself checking them out ( again )


On the way back to the hotel I was somehow struck by this view, my only shot of an actual Philadelphia ( monument )


On Sunday, we went to the Franklin Institute, which neither of us realized was geared toward 8 to 12 year olds. We didn't want to spend $26.50 each on the Cleopatra exhibit. So we just wandered about the main museum (as an educator I gained free entry). I had crazy flashbacks to my childhood because my father took me there as a child and I vividly recalled the walk-through heart and the steam engine. We played with the displays in the electricity room, where I learned a valuable lesson about taking off scarves with metallic threads before touching anything focusing on static electricity. I also played with the pulse detector where I learned that if I think about studying, my heart rate shoots up; but if I think about the Mighty Boosh I completely flatline. LOL I question the reliability of the machine. Oh, and we watched a video in the Planetarium about black holes, which made me think of John Crichton until Liam Neeson (the narrator) sternly advised us that wormholes would be too dangerous a place to navigate for space travel. Party pooper.

Across the street from the museum were a string of now-defunct parking meters covered in ( cosies )


Afterward, we walked a mile in the cold to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and discovered IT WAS CLOSED. Aaaargh! The walk in the cold wore me out, so we waited for the bus. Growing impatient, and my blood sugars dropping, I suggested we find a cafe instead. I jokingly said "I bet you the bus will come rolling down that hill the second we've crossed the street (it was something of a highway)". And sure enough, it did exactly that. But we wandered into a small cafe where we were warmly greeted with tea, OJ, and a discussion with the worker behind the bar (named Mika) and two patrons about relationships. This was a sweet little surprise as we sat convivially and compared notes about cheating, time, expectation, and so on. At one point a sushi salesman walked in (the cafe used to be a sushi place) and offered Mika a calendar. Mika asked if he was selling calendars, and this set off in me the idea of a door-to-door sushi calendar salesman. I think it will have to wind up in a story at some point for the sheer absurdity of it. Then one of the guys (Tyler) offered us a ride back into the center of town in his VW bus, where he told us his theory of Faery and Elfin myths being comparable to Native American lore. Now, normally I would not get into a van with a stranger. But seeing as how I was not alone, and the day felt more and more like an unraveling adventure, we rolled with it and everything came up roses. It was just one of those days where you feel like you have wings on your feet. Know what I mean?

drfardook and I ended the day by splitting some fried mac n' cheese and a fried oyster po'boy at a stall in the Reading Market called Beck's Cajun Cafe, a couple more beers at Monk's Cafe, and then back on the train to NYC. I taught him that memory car game "I'm packing a picnic basket" where you go down the alphabet and name things, repeating each prior item on your turn. We chose to load up an iPod instead and came up with band names. First just bands, then he came up with the idea for a second round with only bands who play terrible music. I could not have been more entertained.

Now I'm home and it's a blustery 21F (-6C). I was meant to meet up with a friend for lunch and statistics consultation. But instead I've opted to hibernate and avoid the cold and blinding whiteness of the tundra smattering of snowflakes.

I leave you with this picture I took in the doctoral lounge the other week. I had to laugh when I saw my jacket and accoutrement in juxtaposition to ( the others )



Phew. Well, I hope you enjoyed the regaling of my trip as much as I enjoyed having it.

Well I had something of a weekend.

On Saturday I went to swap out my modem at the cable company, and wound up hanging out in Madison Park attempting to read. It's a bit out of my neighborhood, but I think I might go there again to study. It's pretty and it's quiet and there are tables and cute doggies and the temptation to get something from the Shake Shack is tempered by the queue around the park. (It's so prohibitively long that I've never actually eaten anything from there).

Here's a guy (on the right) I snapped on the sly, who was walking a dog ( and a cat )


At any rate, on a whim I rang up my friend SM and he happily skipped on over. We chatted in the park for awhile, then went to a little cafe adjacent to the Museum of Sex. Afterward, SM declared that he wanted champagne. Heeee. So we wandered over to Chelsea, stopping along the way to look for something yellow and trying on ridiculous hats. None were purchased. We wound up in the West Village at Smorgas Chef Restaurant where we split a herring sampler, a cold water shrimp salad, and I had a gorgeous frozen lingonberry and rum drink. We talked about everything under the sun, he sang songs from The Muppet Movie, and we ended the night with scotch and soda at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame, chatting about the relative story arc writing skills of RTD vs Moffatt, and ghost sightings.

Here's the view from our outdoor table, and one of SM. The view struck me as pleasantly ( picturesque )


SM is producing a play, and he's looking for a non-equity actor to play a flamboyant but worn down cabaret singer in her late 30's. If anyone on my flist knows of someone, do let me know!

Today I had a long catch-up chat with a friend and went to a second birthday party for an old friend/former co-worker. The weather in NYC is brutal. Massive, pouring rain. I wore a hat and made cool poses in the train station to amuse myself.

Now it's Sunday night and I'm finally getting round to watching the first episode of Sherlock, as it seems to have eaten about 80% of my fandom friends. I'm only 1/3 of the way through ep 1, but Holmes is delightful.

And how are you, flist?