I'm Oprah.

I use Google Reader to keep up with my blog reading. Obviously, that never goes all that well since I often go weeks or months without checking it (mostly because I know that when I log back in, I'll be met with daunting hoards of unread entries). That being said, I still love Reader because it makes my life so much simpler. I love you Google. With all of my tiny, shriveled heart.

Here are some things I've been enjoying recently (some of which I just barely remembered that I loved):

1. The Sartorialist is an amazing blog by sales rep turned accidental fashion photographer Scott Schuman. It started simply as a place to post photos of people he met around town whose style he admired, and not long after was included by Time magazine as one of today's 100 top design influencers. Now, obviously I am no style hound. What I love about this blog is the simplicity of his portraits: usually a lone person standing on a downtown street (most often in NYC, Paris, or Milan), without artificial lighting, some posed, some candid, and always inspiring. I do love this London girl though- she has a muff!



2. Picture Stories by Stephen Alvarez is another great photography blog (weird, I'm seeing an unexpected trend. Maybe it's time to start a new hobby) that I found one dry summer day in Utah when look for a picture of perfect, foggy, rolling smoky mountain-y Tennessee to put on my desktop. The winner was one of Mr. Alvarez', who (as I found after exploring his blog) lives a short distance away from me (hence the lovingly rendered portraits of Tennessee). Apparently he's a photographer for National Geographic, with an interest in cave photography (especially when said caves contain water, which results in ridiculously dangerous situations I imagine, but spectacular photos). Browse around, there are some really fascinating photo essays, and lots of what I'm sure is great discussion about the business of being a photographer (which I usually skip over because, hello, I have no idea what he and his guest posters are talking about). Oh and yeah, some amazing photos.



3. DOCTOR WHO has been my official obsession for the last several months, but I've come to the end of available episodes (until Easter, when the new season with the new Doctor premieres). Netflix is both a blessing and a curse. Anyways, Doctor Who is the longest running sci-fi show on tv. Of course, it hasn't been consistently on the air since it debuted in the mid-60s, but it was recently revived (in 2004, I think) and has been going strong since then. From what I gather, it's something of a national obsession (if British morning news is to be believed) over there, but hasn't really gained as wide an audience here. Yet. If you like British humor, really terrible special effects, sometimes brilliant writing, or random unexpected guest appearances by people like Derek Jacobi (squeal!) or Kylie Minogue, you need to watch this spectacularly addicting show. Oh yeah, did I mention the geeky charm of David Tennant?


4. Finding out that Paper Source carries bookbinding supplies (board, cloth, tools, etc...). I'm not sure why I didn't realize this earlier, but in my defense, it IS rather hidden away on their site.

5. Potato tacos! When I was in California and in the throes of my obsession with Mexican food, I made these at least once a week, but haven't broken this out for years now They're so unexpected (before I ate real Mexican food, potatoes never crossed my mind as a filling for tacos). I usually use 3-4 potatoes, cooked till soft, and mixed with about 1/4-1/3 cup of shredded chicken. Toss in a couple of tablespoons of crema mexicana or sour cream if you can't find it (which is unlikely because even Walmart carries it) to hold it together, a couple of tablespoons of queso cotija (again, Walmart) which is basically Mexico's answer to parmesan cheese, some salt, some pepper, and smash it all together. Never use store-bought taco shells. They are the worst. Heat some oil in a skillet, fill corn tortillas with 2-3 tablespoons of your potato mixture (keeping it to the middle so it doesn't splatter in your eyes while they're cooking) and fry on both sides till brown. Serve with lettuce of chopped cilantro or salsa or whatever your heart desires. Just eat them. Authentic and delicious.

I don't have anything exciting to blog about right now.

Just a warning.

Last night I saw "Alice in Wonderland". I'm not really a fan of Tim Burton (or Helena Bonham Carter these days, except when she's ridiculous Bellatrix...or to be honest Johnny Depp, I'm not sure his career is going where he thinks it is right now) so I was not awaiting this premiere with baited breath, but you know how I love movies in general, and especially movies at midnight. They're just better.

That being said, I was really impressed. I was not creeped out as I thought I would be, it was hilarious, the costumes were insane (in the best way possible), the beasts were cuddly, the mouse carried around an eyeball for most of the movie, Mia Wasikowska has the cutest accent imaginable, Johnny Depp was...orange, Helena Bonham Carter had pigs and monkeys in place of table or chair legs, and...I want to watch it again already. Always a good sign.

So in summary, I'm mad they only had 3D and it cost me $13, but it was mostly worth that much.

All I write about these days are movies, I'm sorry. My life just isn't all that exciting. I dog-sit. I do homework. I have class on the internet (gag me). I sew. I have weekly Glee night. I gossip. I read. I volunteer. Have I written about that yet?

I started volunteering a while ago at two museums in the area. One, the National Medal of Honor Museum, has a separate archive where I spend a few hours each week. It's a tiny museum located in the local mall for the time being because the old location was a moldy flooded nightmare. The other, the Hunter Museum of American Art, is a larger, more financially sound institution where I work in the library each week. The main volunteer is Frances. She's been there for 30 years, is in her 80's, can't hear anything I say, and is rather charming. They still use a card catalog (which they are outgrowing...I keep wanting to tell them just to scrap it all and try something a bit more modern, but the curators prefer this...I have no idea why), and I do a bit of cataloging, book repair, filing, whatever. It's small but it's something to do.

I had a job interview the other day at a local college as a records clerk/counselor/something. It's one of the few I've had since I've been here, and actually went really really well. I dread job interviews. They usually go horribly, I can never think of good answers, and I always leave feeling completely stupid. This however, left me feeling brilliant. There were six people there to interview me (overkill? I think so...), which was ridiculously intimidating, but I managed to control my nervous shaking and present a calm exterior and give great answers to all the questions. I even made them laugh. It was wonderful. The thing is, I haven't heard back yet. It's been almost two weeks now. They warned that it would take a while, but I can't help but be nervous. They had 200 applicants, about 50 of whom had Master's degrees already. I suspect the only reason I got an interview was because I (apparently) know one of the administrators (I didn't even realize this until after I submitted the application, and to be honest, I didn't even remember applying or what in the world the job was when they called to set up the interview) but anyways, still waiting to hear back on that. It would really be ideal. I think that it would be similar in a lot of ways to working at IS. Only, obviously, it would pay much more.

BUT. Right now, I'm really unsure whether I even want this job or not. I have no idea what I would say if they called me tomorrow (which they won't because it's a Saturday) and offered me the job. Why? Because I've already been offered a paid internship this summer at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (heavens, what a mouthful) library. It's not really in the area I want to go into, but it's in an area of librarianship that is higher paying, and probably easier to get into. And, all that aside, it's experience (which I don't have, but need) and it pays real money (which I don't have, but need). If I took a full-time job right now, there is no way I could take ten weeks off this summer to live in West Virginia. Also, I've recently been to a national lab. And who mostly works in labs? Men. Attractive ones. So. Full-time job, temporary security, or no full-time job, start substitute teaching next week, and make myself more valuable to future employers. Which is more important. I have no idea. Please tell me.

So this post basically started off stupid, became inane, and just got really long.

Guess what? Spring break is next week. I HAVE A SPRING BREAK. Take that, world.

"Shutter Island"

quote of the day:

"If I sank my teeth into your eyeball, would you be able to stop me before I blinded you?"

Martin Scorsese, may I please send you a puppy or some sunflowers or something? Because your mind is clearly getting much too dark. And it scares me.

Also, your soundtrack is a little heavy handed. The final scene would have been much more effective if it was silent.

I made this new background with this program that I lurrrrve (http://mugtug.com/sketchpad/) but it only allows you to create images in one size, so I had to enlarge it so that it would fit in my background, but the resolution is quite low, so now it's all blurry and I don't know what to doooo.

Waa.

I feel like I should post more so that I can give my tags homes. So there's not just one post linked to each one. But that's probably the wrong reason to post. I don't really have anything interesting to say.

Yesterday was one of the coldest days of my life.
I wrote one paper yesterday, one today, and I'll have another one going tomorrow.
Just that, and there's really nothing missing to say, but...

little buddy what you want, some violent...