something new

I want to be more diligent about writing on my blog, but I don't want to spend every post blathering on about what I ate for lunch or how difficult of a time I'm having concentrating on my work (which is obvious by the fact that I am blogging in the first place).

So, there's nothing all that grand going on in my life that I can discuss right now. I already covered our upcoming trip to Europe. Instead, I am going to borrow an idea from several of my grade school English teachers. I'm going to give myself a topic of discussion, and free-write, as they say.

Today's topic: "restaurants", inspired by a tag on del.icio.us (I'm scratching for something here, people).

And of course, the obvious place to start here is- my favorite restaurant. The obvious answer, for many years, has been Outback. But I think Outback, along with a fondue place in Mantiou Springs called Mona Lisa, has become reserved for very special occasions, when it is okay to gorge myself and eat more than I typically eat in an entire day. I love both restaurants, but they would not be my favorite in the sense that I would pick them more than once in a blue moon.

Here in Wyoming, the two restaurants that I would probably pick to eat at most often would be Lovejoy's and Sanford's. Both of them remind me how important a restaurant's atmosphere is- probably just as important as the actual food. I love Sanford's because it has license plates all over the wall and a roll of paper towels at every table in place of actual napkins. It's like Joe's Crab Shack, without the obnoxious picnic tables and birthday songs. And Lovejoy's is a great place to hang out with people and have a drink. Eating out at a restaurant is all about the social function.

Something I realized about myself while living in Brooklyn: I'm not too concerned with how sanitary a restaurant is. There was a Chinese place a few blocks from my apartment, and it was certainly not the model of clean food service. I saw a bug or two on the walls, and the entire place just seemed to be caked in grease. But that is by far the best egg-drop soup I have ever had in my life.

What's your favorite restaurant? Are you picky about certain things like service or cleanliness?

from crumpets to gelato to kabobs

So really, nothing in my life is terribly exciting at the moment. Well, except for the fact that Mike and I purchased tickets the other night to go to London, Rome, and Abu Dhabi at the end of December. Quite the combination, eh? And yes, every time I think about it, my heart goes EEEK!! very loudly, so that you could almost hear it from the outside. But that's all the excitement so far- it will be much more exciting to recap what I'm sure will be an incredible trip, when I'm back at work in January, wishing I weren't back at work.

For now, we are just in the midst of our plans, making sure we get to do everything we want to do while we're there. We will be spending some time in Oxford also, and I really hope that I am able to drag Mike away from it to see the many other parts of Europe that we intend to see, because I think he could probably stay in Oxford for a very long time if I let him. We're also thinking about taking a train to Rome, and getting a pass that will allow us 4 days of travel, so we can visit Venice or Milan or (be still my beating heart) France. But I told Mike last night that I don't want us to spread ourselves too thin. I want to get to know Rome- you know, buy it a drink, maybe take it to dinner. This is what I said to Mike last night, and he didn't think I was all that funny. I thought I was funny. So much so that I repeated my joke on my blog the next day.

So, apparently, talking about our trip before we even go is more exciting than I thought. At least for me. This will be my first time overseas, and I am so grateful that we're able to do this before we get tied down by school, and money issues, and the rest of life. This is actually going to be a fairly cost-effective trip anyway, which is nice.

As Mike has been saying all week- LONDON, BABY! (How can I not love a man who quotes Friends??)

P.S. I am also managing to visit a Middle Eastern country, which makes me so glad, since Lebanon is not the best option right now. I will get to practice my Arabic, and have some authentic food (even though I do already when Mike's mom is around), and enjoy a few days of sun in January. I lied- life is very exciting right now!

unproductive

What I should be doing right now:

dishes
homework
yoga
crochet

What I am doing instead:

feeling grouchy and sicky
watching a TV show that I don't even like (apparently the guy on Two and a Half Men is going through his second divorce. dumb.)
type-typing away

girl talk

I miss having a girl best friend. It has been in the back of my mind for some time, and what a weird time for it to come out and be put into material thoughts. Mike took me to see the play "Dead Man Walking" tonight, we went for coffee afterward, and it was a really nice date night. I made tempura for dinner, and it was delicious, and now I am just hanging out and waiting for Mike to be ready go to to bed. I had a great Friday evening, and yet I'm thinking about how nice it would be if I had one girl friend that I could really connect with.

It has been quite a while since I've had a "best friend". Since high school, in fact. And this may only be in retrospect, but I don't think that I was very real or open with my close friends most of the time back then. It seems like I spent a majority of my time making sure that the people around me would like me, rather than simply being myself. That's not to say that those relationships weren't genuine, but I'm really not that surprised that things have changed. Time and life have just shifted everything around.

It would just be so nice to have that person that I could go shopping with, call at any hour of the day, confide in about my marriage or my job or whatever. I do have these things in different people, but I want it all combined into one perfect girl best friend (who has cute hair and the perfect taste in earrings). I think I'm worried that I won't ever know anyone like that, or I will be too closed off to be like that with anyone. I think that I purposefully don't get too close to people, because I have been moving around so much in the last few years, and will be doing that again soon probably. And then I'd have to keep up with my girl best friend by phone, and she of course would know how much I HATE the phone.

But I guess I am glad that this is the worst of my problems. I think I must be doing pretty well if the thing that concerns me most at midnight when I am left with my thoughts is wishing for a girl best friend.

i'm not saying i would call anyone a flaming idiot with no sense of propriety

I have absolutely no intention of blogging for the purpose of standing on a platform and criticizing others, or pushing my political/religious/social ethics views. Mostly I just like to write, and keep up with myself, and try to be somewhat creative. Sometimes my views just end up being a part of what I feel like talking about. But I just have to get it out today.

I am SO TIRED of the 24-hour news networks, and the televised news media in general. Lord, even some of the newspapers are making me crazy.

There have been an inordinate number of acts of school violence in the last week, and it is my humble theory that the news frenzy caused by each one has managed to exacerbate the entire situation. I was checking out CNN's site (oh no, I'm not going to link that crap), and one of the new facts posted with the story is that KY jelly was found at the scene of the school shooting in Pennsylvania, pointing to the fact that the guy was going to molest the children if he had more time. Is this really appropriate/necessary news coverage?

I am also beginning to wonder, based on all of the similarities, if this guy was encouraged by all he heard about the shooter in Bailey, CO, and decided to become infamous as well. Hell, the guy in Colorado was an instant celebrity. Why not get your name on the news, and assure that half a million people across the country will have the chance to read your suicide note and know what anguish you were put through as a child? This irks me beyond reason.

I know how fascinating this stuff is- I get sucked in too. But it's become mere entertainment. How easy is it to distinguish an episode of CSI from a spot on Fox News? The only difference is the scroll bar (which allows us to know everything that is going on at any given time, something I would argue is not that important).

I could go on for a very long time, but I won't. All I will say is that I refuse to allow the people who create this kind of obsession (Journalists? Me? Hollywood? Rupert Murdoch?) to get my business anymore.

On a lighter note, the new show Studio 60 is BRILLIANT. It is dealing with a lot of these issues, albeit in a superficial way and under the guise of the typical sardonic television show that is popular these days. But it is saying something, and pushing some buttons, and I LOVE that. And Amanda Peet and Sarah Paulson are spectacular, too.