Since it is Thanksgiving, I feel that I owe the world a cheesy entry about what I'm thankful for this year. So here it is in no particular order:
I am thankful for...
my roaring 20s and that I am spending them single.
my three healthy grandparents.
Chinese food.
accomplishing the Life Goal of going to NYC.
tortellini.
turkey goodness.
puppies.
good answers.
being able to work to excess while I'm young.
plenty.
appreciative students.
unanswered prayers.
Serenity.
family (even though they've raised my blood pressure).
health insurance.
paid holidays.
home.
books.
articles.
blogs.
friends.
a car that runs.
everything else I may have forgotten to be thankful for right now.
And tomorrow, I will rise before the chickens and go off to worship at the altar of capitalism, AKA Target, for the holiday season opener. Have a happy Thanksgiving!
If my life were a choose your own adventure novel, would I
a) Go to grad school.
b) Join a rock band.
c) Quit my jobs and go "to the woods to live deliberately."
d) Go crazy and talk about the personality of fmy breakfast cereal for the rest of my life.
e) Continue working non-stop.
???
So, after a very entertaining weekend involving a migraine (complete with halos) (and not the kind that angels wear), hours of couch time, and some very stiff, sore, swollen joints, I made the trek to the doctor's office yesterday where I made some interesting discoveries.
1) Even though I am 20 pound lighter, my blood pressure is 8 points higher than it was the last time I was in. I think this means I need more salt, don't you?
2) I am still a sissy when it comes to needles.
3 I probably do not have carpal tunnel.
So basically, the only day I really felt good was Saturday, which I had to spend at the mall because it's cold outside and none of my clothes were warm enough. I did get in my two hours of quality library alone without the phone time. Other than that, I watched a lot of TV because I couldn't write anything, draw anything, or cut anything out, and my 670 page book was too heavy to hold above my head without making me cry. (OK so not literally cry, but I do like to bitch, and you are sort of a captive audience.)
Which brings me to my real point: Daytime TV. I think it exists purely so that those of us who are home during the day moping on our couches don't have to feel too crumby about our lives.
For instance, I may be a sissy, but at least I haven't stolen my sister's husband and am not now fighting (shirtless, I might add) with her on Jerry Springer. I may not have much, but at least I'm not being sued in small claims court by someone with a marijauna addiction for the sofa that they left on my porch for six months. I may feel like I'm 800 years old right now with all my aching joints and blood pressure woes, but at least I'm not being divorced by some guy who thinks he's a rapper and won't invite me to his CD release parties. I may not have been at work yesterday, but at least I haven't moved myself into a house with a bunch of weird, co-dependent psychos in order to get my life back on track. I may have to deal with politics in the workplace, but at least no one wearing fabulous clothes in a dimly lighted room is plotting my untimely demise with a witch in the background narrating the event.
Yep, on the whole, my life is at least 50 points above any of those on daytime TV even on my worst days. Sort of makes me sad to come back to work, really, when I can be so awesome without even trying. ;)
In an attempt to create another recurring article, I will let you in on my Saturday activities. A group of girls I went to college with and I go to a new restaurant every Saturday. The rules so far have been that none of us can ever have been to the restaurant in question, and the prices must be reasonable (i.e. less than $20 a plate). We rotate who picks. Whoever chooses the restaurant drives to the restaurant. We came to the conclusion that we've never eaten bad food on these adventures. (This may or may not be because we simply like food.)
At any rate, this week it was my week to pick, and I chose The Highland Grill on the reccommendation of some of my close friends.
The Highland Grill is situated near the corner of Ford and Cleveland in the Highland Park neighborhood (right across from Barnes and Noble and Patina). You can park in the B & N parking lot because it is not actually B&N's lot, as far as we could see. (The limit is 2 hours.) When you get there, the door is weird, so you have to push the automatic door opener button (I don't know what those things are called) in order to get in.
Once inside, the place has sort of a fifties diner meets mom-and-pop-hole-in-the-wall feel. You seat yourself.
The menu is very ecclectic, but I think they are known for their breakfast, and in particular, for the waffles. They also serve breakfast all day. We ordered dinner anyway, and it was fabulous. I had the portebello mushroom sandwhich with sweet potatoe fries. They had a wonderful chipotle dipping sauce for the fries that was spicy enough to off-set the sweet taste of the potatoes. The sandwhich was also pretty amazing. I actually had to eat it with a fork because it was open-faced and was so loaded with mushroom, red pepper, cheesy goodness. We ordered dessert, and it wasn't quite right (I know nothing about the pudding-esque concoction known as creme breule, but I thought it tasted fine), but the waitress comped it, so that was all good.
The prices were pretty reasonable. I wouldn't say we paid any more than we would at a Friday's. They also offer a half-priced wine night on Tuesdays. If you can't finish a bottle, they will also cork it back up for you so that you can take it home.
The service was fantastic. Our waitress had a pretty dry sense of humor, and she kept the Sprite coming, which is always a good measure of how good the service is. We overheard her say to the booth behind us, "Was it everything you expected and oh, so much more?" which was possibly the best thing I've heard a server say in a long time. Granted, we go early in the evening (usually we try to go at 3 or 4 in order to beat the rush and combine lunch and dinner), but they seemed to have a lot of staff waiting around for the dinner rush.
On the whole, I'd give the place a 4.5 out of 5 stars. The napkins are towels, which I thought was a little weird. The door is slightly confusing, and I could see how the place could get crowded in a hurry because the tables are really close together, but on the whole, there was nothing in my experience that I didn't celebrate. Good food, good service, good prices, and a good location make this restaurant a hit in my book.
I am eating an M&M cookie (which just happens to be my favorite kind), and so, I would like to take this opportunity to point out that this is a very good Friday.
Here's its score broken down for you to see:
Brown sweater that I bought last year doesn't make me look like a woolly mammoth, like I originally thought it did: +20.
Scale says I'm two pounds lighter even though I've pretty much lived on a steady diet of cookies and candy all week (probably due to the fact that I've given up beer, possibly temporarily, but probably permanently): +25.
M&M cookies without the guilt that usually accompanies M&M cookies (because I ate an M&M cookie three days ago as part of my cookie/candy diet): +52 (because I like the number two)
Giving up the stress associated with one/both of my jobs, albeit only for a day so far: +60.
No needless drama as yet at my job today (or for approximately four days running)(the longest since the semester started) and very little personal drama at this time (by comparison to three weeks ago): +75.
Having a pizza already in my freezer for supper tonight: +50.
Helped real students with real writing today: +150.
Total score: 432 (LoWriter makes no claims about the accuracy of her addition but believes her calculator knows its stuff.)
There isn't really a top score. For instance, if I won the lottery, my score would probably drastically increase. At any rate, it's been a fine, fine day. And I celebrate this. :) I hope you can celebrate your Friday, too.
Well, kids, it's a much more modest book list this month. At one point, I had no books out from the library, which has not happened since I got my library card two-ish years ago. So, without further ado, here they are: The October books.
The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket: This is the eleventh book in the Series of Unfortunate Events. (The twelfth came out at the end of October, but I'm like 79 on the list for it.) This was the first book that actually ended with something other than complete and absolute misery. I really enjoyed this one. The siblings have to travel on a submarine to a cave. They encounter deadly mushrooms and treachery. I think these books are so fun, and I know it's a morbidity in me, but I love them.
A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis: This is a short little book that I finally purchased after re-reading it many times from the library. It's a very good little book about C.S. Lewis's internal struggle after the death of his wife. This book always makes me feel better. It makes me cry, too, of course, but it always makes me feel connected to others again, and that's what I needed. Sometimes, I need to remember that I am not the only person on the face of the planet who has suffered a loss of a loved one. Sometimes I get so consumed with it, I like to believe that I'm the only one who understands (an arrogant view point which this book always cures me of).
Blue Shoe by Anne Lamott: I finally finished this book. I started it like three years ago and put it down. I picked it up again and zipped through it. Three years ago, it seemed so meloncholy. I think it picks up in the second half, but I also think that it's very different from her other fiction. Personaly, I appreciate Lamott's non-fiction much more than her fiction. The non-fiction always has me laughing. I did like Hard Laughter, though, which was fiction based on her real life. On the whole, if you're going to read Anne Lamott, I wouldn't start with this book. Start with Traveling Mercies or Bird by Bird.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Anne Brashares: This was a fantastic little story (geared more towards girls). It was the perfect book to read before I went to NYC. The story is all about these four girls and how they spend their first summer apart. It's a coming of age story centered around the journey that a pair of jeans they've decided to share over the summer takes.
The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis: This book changes me every time I read it. I would say that this is my favorite of the Chronicles of Narnia. It's all about the last days of Narnia and what happens. If you think of The Magician's Nephew as the story of Genesis, then this book is Revelation.
Well, that's it for the reads this month, peeps. Enjoy!