So begins my quest to blog more frequently...

Last night I visited the ancestral homestead, where I picked up various fun things like my laundry, a box of things Mom wanted to get rid of (mostly my bookends - two of them are carved stone figures that are bloody heavy, even for bookends), and some of Mom's lentil soup, this time the cumin and coriander variation.
I am eating the soup right now and it's awesome, but I do wish I'd had the forethought to add some cheese to it before I left. There are so few foods that cannot be improved by the application of some extra sharp cheddar.

It's a rather nice change to have so much of my floor visible at home, although I still don't have all my flat spaces cleared. I can't sew yet, for one thing. But I'm close, very close.

Yesterday I did actually draw something, too. It may or may not morph into a full-blown illustration, we'll see.

Also, I took a Democratic Party political survey, the mail-in kind, and I mostly wished I had a big red marker to strike through half of it. "Mark the issues most important to you right now" - well, it's hard to do when they aren't even on your stupid list, Democratic Party. I added some write-ins.
"Which party do you trust to look after your interests?" NONE.
I hope they don't just throw my survey away because it has so much writing on it, outside of the "Please tell us anything else you think we should know" box. I have extremely neat handwriting, Democratic Party interns, you can handle it!

Here I am at my lunch break, thinking that I have not been doing much blogging lately.
Things have been happening, thoughts have been thunk, writing has not really happened but a lot of art has gotten done...

I've been calling on my parents a lot for help with the apartment, arranging and unpacking and such. I have some stuff from IKEA that hasn't yet come out of the box - perhaps I should have that Flat Pack Party after all.
I think that this evening I shall go buy a television at last, and maybe put some books away.

Lately I've had lots of meetings and Meet-ups and a seemingly overwhelming amount of volunteer commitments, mostly online. How did I end up working on two back-to-back cons? Urgh.
I haven't got a costume for any of them, either. Although I may go shopping for something to wear to the dances, at least. 
I'm test-running some less-demanding-than-Adobe art software on my Mini, so that I won't have to lug Ginevra and all of her expensive software to San Francisco for the art demo I'm supposed to do. Does anybody out there use openCanvas regularly?  Got any good tips? Tutorials?

Other randomness:
Read The Graveyard Book, and it was excellent. Haven't yet managed to finish any of the other books I took from the library. Rereading the Enchanted Forest Chronicles omnibus instead.
Ran through the entirety of Avatar: The Last Airbender again. The finale chokes me up, man. Beautiful stuff. I may need to get DVDs.
Still re-watching Merlin, too. I'm easy.
Really, really wish I had Ghostbusters  on DVD.
I've made a lot of grilled cheese lately.  Also used almost every pan I own. Now I just need to make cookies (or pizza) and I think I will have used all possible kitchen tools at least once.
Have made minor progress on the current quilt, but won't really get far until the sewing table stops being the "put everything down here when you come inside" table. Working on it.
Been keeping a better food diary for the past few days, along with a general journal. I've stopped trying to separate everything and am just keeping everything in one book now. This combined with regular check-in with the Wellness Counselor at Rice should help me get a better handle on things. I hope.

And that's enough for now. Lunch break is well over, and I have things to do.

The original post: The Omnivore's Hundred

Instructions:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
(go to the original post for Wikipedia links if you don't know what something is)
4) italicize ones you haven't eaten but WANT TO TRY
5) Leave the ones you haven't tried, but are indifferent about

(You know what would be good on this meme? A designation for something you tried once but will NEVER EAT AGAIN.)

( The Omnivore's Hundred )

wordcount widgets

Current Count: 37,176

Today Harry and Luna get married.
And possibly pay a visit to Luna's mother's grave.
And maybe there will be some tabloid headline action and a trip to the Solicitor's.
Fun times!

I have managed to post almost every day, and did double scenes when I missed so I am still up to date for the month. 20 days, 20 parts.
I have to stop myself from going back to do thorough editing all the time. Not certain if I want to actually look at this again in December or just move straight into the original story that has been percolating in the back of my head.
Also, I have a mad lot of gifts to make. So maybe no writing at all for a week or two after NaNo is over.

I need to think of a name for the sewing machine. It might be a he sewing machine, oddly enough, too.

Today is a short day at work, and most of the office has taken off anyway. I am holding down the fort for my department.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving with my aunt and her huge family, plus games. Yay games! Friday I get to see Donna's new house.

Plus at some point I must visit the store, because I am all out of Stash Peach Black tea and that is tragic, folks. TRAGIC.  Perhaps I shall go to Spec's downtown and combine my tea trip with a chocolate and cheese trip because, dude - a WHOLE AISLE of gourmet chocolate. 

me: omg, I was just reading about cheese rolling in Gloucestershire.
Lisa: oo, fun!!
me: people are crazy!
me: and yet, I cannot help but think that anyone who would throw themselves down a steep hill in pursuit of a bouncing wheel of Double Gloucester is my kind of person.

 

Still here, still alive, very busy.
Work - busy.  Next month will be worse, possibly.  I have learned that summer = WOW HECTIC here.  It's all good, though, and still fun.  These are good people. Also, wow, this week I have come closer than ever before to actually doing a header into my keyboard at the office.  So tired.  Must learn to sleep.
Home - reading, busy, tired.  The Dresden Files keep me up all night. 
Exercise - heavy weights = sore, but man, I can lift weights! 
Cheese - located Houston vendor for Wensleydale with Cranberries; all is right with the world.
Also acquired: Mexican Chocolate ice cream, and Santander dark chocolate.  Oooh, baby.  Seriously, Santander = wonderful delicious. 

Con Report with photos is coming, really.  Hopefully my Masquerade photos will be salvageable.  I just haven't had a chance to edit them, it's been nonstop with Meetups, work, exercise, the whole "I'm reading books again" thing, and being tired. 

Also, from the random files of web graphics, each issue's DVD from imagineFX comes with ten quzillion fonts.  Woot, fonts.  Too bad they don't have a quick-upload thingie, though. Doesn't Adobe have some kind of font manager tool to keep the font bag from overloading? 

O Woe! O Alas! O Tempora! O Mores!

It turns out that in hot, humid, swampy Houston, even in an air conditioned building, one cannot keep Wensleydale cheese except in vacuum-sealed packaging. Whole Foods does not stock any variety in the summer! (Except for the Wallace & Gromit sealed packets of straight cheese, but they were sold out.)

I got some Kerrygold Ivernia instead, but it's just not the same.

I spent a good weekend, sleeping in, watching movies, and quilting. I also got to interview another Vassar applicant, and test Ginevra's wireless chops. (She worked like a dream.) And I went to Central Market and blew my whole specialty grocery budget on cheese. Whee!
The quilt top is coming along very well. Soon we'll have to break out the sewing machine and put it together. Yay! I have only minor pinprick injuries, mostly from watching the movie on the TV instead of my needle.
My favorite tool of the moment is my appliqué iron. Oh, how do I love thee, appliqué iron? Thy tiny angled head, so perfect for handling the small dimensions of my objects.

Movies consumed over the weekend: Dark Water; King Kong; Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels; part of Casablanca, part of Out of Africa, The Illusionist, and Van Helsing from a point halfway through, then from the beginning to that point, with commercials. Hey, I got a lot done during Van Helsing.

In other news, there was a post on the Religion News Blog about a witch in Kenya transporting a live hippo in a public vehicle. That image has stuck with me. I think there's an illustration there. And a story, outside of the news story. From the article: The witches compete in capturing the fiercest of wild animals. Ambasa says some witches have leopards while others have crocodiles and some are courageous enough to have hippos and pythons.

Mom sends me this tidbit from the BBC News: Poles & Slovaks in cheese stink.

Ah, cheese.

Check Out What's New in the Cheese Caves!

Where are the Cheese Caves and when can I visit?

Mom sent me this one:
Brewster Rockit: Behold the Power of Cheese.

My friends, this last job ended well. After a morning with the Princeton Jazz Quartet, I went through the final errands and follow-ups of my day without incident, and with much chat and good wishes from my coworkers. Then my boss took me out for a farewell drink at Artisanal, which is conveniently right downstairs from our office. Our drink promptly turned into a farewell cheese plate, as we went up to the counter to engage the very enthusiastic fromage expert in conversation over samples.
We had the following exceptional cheeses:
Monte Enebro from Spain, "Creamy with an aroma of Wet Slate" (goat)
Keen's Cheddar from England, "Full-bodied, Sharp, Buttery" (cow)
Affidelice from France, "Aromatic, Savory, Creamy" (sheep)
Blu de Moncenisio from Italy, "Full Intense Flavor, Delicate Aroma" (sheep)

They were utterly brilliant on the sample sticks, but when they came to our table! I tried the Monte Enebro on a thin slice of crisp, tart green pear, and it was totally transformed. Likewise, the cheddar with tart apple, and the Affidelice on the pear. I will never dis the pear again. It is a very worthy fruit. The Blu was mind-blowing, especially with a green grape. It was a beautiful experience, all the more so because I was sharing it with someone else who understood the whole thing. We were all about the cheese. We discussed it like wine people discuss wine.

And now, I am home and facing the Real World again - boxes and trash and bills and too many things to sort. Whee!

How I spent my afternoon:
25 Cheeses for Geeks

Fun places to go:
cheese.com - get cheese news via email!
ilovecheese.com - American Dairy Farmers Strike Back!

As of 4:08pm today, I am no longer perfect. Hee. (It's a math joke, folks!) The 28-year-old me is no more. Time to see what 29 has to offer.
I'm doubtless going to be filtering a nice little introspective review of twenty-eight at some point later. Probably not now, as the laptop keyboard I am using is teeny tiny and set to QWERTY so it's doubly hard for me to use. I shall be home from my grand Paoli excursion later this evening, though, and back at my usual workstation.

It has been so fantastic to have a weekend of lazing about in good company, coupled with socializing, writing, reading to baby, learning about the noises the animals make, and enjoying delicious cheese. Mmm, baby. Mmm, cheese.

I-CON 25 :: Cheese Programming Track
Sometimes, the link title just says it all