casara

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:37:27 GMT

It's been a while.

Some things I've been up to this summer:

Had an amazing two and a half weeks studying international law in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, there's really not much work for Americans in the field of international criminal law, since we're not down with the International Criminal Court, but it was still fascinating. I saw parts of trials at the International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and toured a lot of important buildings in The Hague that I'd never heard of before starting this class (when I first heard we were going to the Peace Palace, I pictured a gleaming white castle that we had to defend from the invading forces of evil who were going to try to steal the Peace Crystal. Or something along those lines).

I stayed with an incredibly nice family in a village outside the city of Leiden. They got me a bike so that I could ride to school, brought me on bike rides to cheese farms, went kayaking with me on the canals, and were generally more fun to stay with than I could have imagined.

This was going to be a more comprehensive entry, but now we have company, so I'll jump to the present:

Yesterday I went on a ten mile hike, played all-you-can-pinball in Illinois, then ate (and quickly regretted) a cheese omelet and two and a half pancakes (I needed to leave half a pancake to cut in the shape of an anteater).

Today I watched the Godfather for the very first time, and now we're going to play Ticket to Ride, which is a board game about trains.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:55:37 GMT

Here's what I've mostly been up to: fairly successful attempts at cooking and baking, lounging in backyards (preferably around a fire), studying Dutch, reading and watching things about chefs, and running.

I also took a train home to Kalamazoo for Memorial Day weekend, and had the Memorial-Day-Weekendiest weekend possible, including a parade, a picnic, and two meals cooked on the grill. One of the highlights was learning to play Rock Band, and discovering that the Kendall Family Band is not quite ready to tour the U.S. in an old school bus. Not quite.

On Saturday, I invited my friend Christine over to make cupcakes for Dave and Colleen's bachelor and bachelorette parties that night. I very much recommend this recipe for Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. Unfortunately, after putting the cupcakes in the oven and preparing to crack into the leftover bottles of Guinness, I discovered the unopened box of baking soda. Reciting a few of our favorite expletives, we yanked the cupcakes out of the oven, sprinkled a tiny bit of baking soda on each one, and stirred it in. The resulting cupcakes looked like well-frosted espresso pucks, but were still surprisingly delicious.

This summer I plan to cheat on my book club by joining up with Infinite Summer, a group of thousands of people reading Infinite Jest over the course of the summer. A more enticing opportunity has presented itself, however; some of our friends just happen to be in a local book group, reading the same thing, starting this week. Either way, most of my summer reading schedule and a large chunk of my carry-on luggage space is spoken for.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:58:14 GMT

Grey and rainy for our last day in Prague. It would have been a good day to move on, if we hadn't paid for the room already, but instead we're just taking it pretty easy before heading to Cesky Krumlov tomorrow.

Shortly after we arrived on Monday, we struck up a conversation with a couple who turned out to be more or less our Canadian doppelgangers, and we became what we termed BFFTD (best friends for three days). Yesterday we all went together to see a church in a nearby town that is decorated with the bones of 40,000 people, came back and made dinner together, then parted ways when they took off on the night train to Krakow (which has lodged "Midnight Train to Poland," a la Gladys Knight, in my head for more than 24 hours. Where it fights with the Safety Dance).

I've gotten a few opportunities to use my scant knowledge of Czech, including a profoundly unsuccessful bit of asking for directions. Standing in front of a podunk, possibly abandoned local bus station in Kutna Hora, I asked a man where the main train station was. He answered, "Station? Hrumph. That's a station there." Thanks buddy.

Last night we were fairly desperate not to sit around lonely, and ended up leading a procession of 10 people from 5 countries down the street to a bar where we'd previously made asses of ourselves earlier in the week. We stayed until after four, likely making asses of ourselves again.

I don't think I'm up to the task of the brilliant summary I think this week deserves, so I'm going to go check the weather report and hope for the best, before we venture back out to catch part of a film festival in town.

New slang developed/stolen this trip:
stinkbuzz - definition flexible, use it when you feel it appropriate. "Aw man, Dude, stinkbuzz."
toured whale - third wheel, as pronounced by an Irish boy. Can be worked in to conversation suprisingly often when traveling as a couple.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:26:15 GMT

Two minute update:

Arrived in Prague after some of the smoothest travels ever. Stayed up for about 40 hours straight. Made friends quickly. Hostel is amazing.

The weather is amazing, low 70s, clear skies, lots of sun. Hard not to just lounge in the courtyard.

Wow, a lousy update, but my scrap of time is through.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 15:41:21 GMT

The best / most pathetic conversation I've encountered in "Conversational Czech":

Man: Would you like to get a drink with me?
Woman: No thank you.
Man: Maybe at 1:00?
Woman: No thank you.
Man: At two? At one or two?
Woman: No thank you.
Man: At 8:00?
Woman: No, not at 8:00.
Man: Ah, now I understand.
Woman: You understand? Very good.
Man: Would you like to have lunch with me?
Woman: (Doesn't answer)
Man: Where would you like to have something to eat? At the restaurant or at the hotel? At what time? At one or at two?
Woman: No, you don't understand.
Man: Or at eight? At what time? Would you like something to eat later?
Woman: No thank you. Not in the restaurant, and not at the hotel. You don't understand Czech.

Burnt!

I had to go through this part three times because I was laughing too hard to remember how to say anything.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 22:12:34 GMT

Now, I have a passionate hatred for comments on internet articles, but I stupidly gave in to the temptation to read what people were saying in response to a news story about a friend of ours getting badly beaten by thugs while overseas on vacation. This was a mistake.

The news story referred to him as a "lawyer" and not a "man," so everyone is complaining that the guys who beat him should have "finished the job," they're disappointed that they didn't get him worse, calling him a "poor little rich boy," a "hot shot lawyer" who must have been giving attitude to the local boys. One person offered to buy the guys the next round.

One of the few comments in his defense blames the hateful comments on the fact that "Obamanites feel so powerful they are lashing out with hateful class envious tirades," and invites comparison between Obama and Stalin.

I am going to try so hard not to read any more of these. I know there's no reason to get upset about the fact that some people feel the need to say pathetically stupid things, but I am so easily riled.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:45:23 GMT

Found an old roll of film, finally got it developed.

The best (by far):

My dad.

Runner up:

We had just returned from that peak on the upper left there. And we still (barely) caught an afternoon plane home.

Some days are more fully utilized than others.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:34:21 GMT

I spend the slow days at the office reading product reviews. I am addicted. Amazon is now understandably confused about the sort of products I might like to purchase. Perhaps I'd be interested in the same model of mini laptop I just bought, but in pink? Along with a pocket-sided guide to legal ethics? An ultralight, quick-drying towel? Dutch for Dummies?

The Amazon recommendations actually do a pretty good job of showing where my brain has been these past few weeks: elsewhere.

I just got permission to take time off work for study abroad in the Netherlands this July. I couldn't resist. The courses (all related to international law) sound fascinating, and also it means that instead of spending 20 weeks trying to maintain my sanity in evening classes here in town, I will spend two weeks in intensive, field-trip-filled courses in Leiden, and also I will be able to finish the paralegal program several months earlier.

But before that, we're going on our honeymoon. Because I have a rather obsessive personality, I've been studying Czech for a few weeks now, and I just picked up Pimsleur's Conversational Hungarian today at the library. I don't know how much I'll actually use what little I'll be able to learn, but I wanted to at least give it a shot. I've freaked out and relied on English way too often in Germany (read: in almost every situation), but in France I think I used every single word I knew (Badly: "I seek a girlfriend. I wait of her. Where is telephone?")

Then in May, I'll start with the Dutch, making a dramatic transition from languages with a startling lack of vowels to one where vowels seem to adhere to a strict buddy system. Geen probleem.

I'm going to go file things very slowly so it takes up the last half hour of my shift.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:07:28 GMT

I am, unsurprisingly, sick.

On Monday I went home sick from work, but I had to give a presentation for my legal ethics class. So I napped feverishly for a few hours, dreaming the whole time about how I had to get up and prepare the presentation, which included media clips and quotes from textbooks.

I don't usually talk about my dreams, but I think my dream last night was hilarious. Still sick, I again dreamed that I had to give a presentation for class, only this one was about how Amy, the youngest daughter in Little Women, became an unwed teenage mother. So I kept thinking I had to wake up early to find clips from the movie and quotes from the book about her teenage pregnancy. This made total sense until I'd been awake for several minutes.

Finally I realized I don't have to make another presentation after all.

Then, much later, I realized that there was absolutely no teenage pregnancy in Little Women, and that it would have been a very, very different book if there was.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:27:23 GMT

Yesterday they let Lomo out of the hospital and I took him home and we loved the crap out of him for about 14 hours.

Unfortunately, we can't love the pee out of him. So this morning at 6:30 he went back in for another 5 days. Shit.

The doctor showed me some of the battle wounds he's gotten from taking care of Lomo, and while I think he's a nice man and don't wish him any harm, I couldn't help but think, "That's my boy! Still got it!"

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:14:54 GMT

On a lighter note, I am mesmerized by this photo.

Girls rifle team of Drexel Institute. Washington, D.C. 1925.
via the Best of LIFE blog

I can't decide whether the second girl from the left or the one on the far right is my favorite. They're all so creepy and wonderful with those dead stares, rifles, and Mary Janes. Will somebody please make a movie where they are a girl gang? Thanks.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:04:57 GMT

Last week there was this beautiful weather and I was working at the coffee shop and everyone who came in asked, "And how are you?" and I answered "I'm great. I'm really great. Everything's comin' up Cara- I can't complain."

This is no longer the case.

The problem isn't just that my cat's been in the hospital for three days and has at least two more, or that even if he does get better by then, and doesn't require surgery, this will still wipe out our savings. Well, actually that IS the whole problem, and that's the problem, see?

The fact that I am nearly wrecked by my cat's illness has made me realize how much other bad stuff could happen, and in fact, is absolutely going to happen at some point. And what the hell am I going to do then, if I'm such a mess now?

I know that this is a terrible way to think, because if I thought like this all the time I would have given up a long time ago. But it sure makes it hard to want to go to bed, or to sit still.

Because even if I can stop myself from one thing that's going through my head, the idea that everything that exists is gradually getting worse, is breaking, is getting older, rustier, moldier, faded, weaker
- even if I CAN stop thinking that,

I just think: I miss my little guy. I really do. I hope he's okay.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:08:42 GMT

My thoughts, on seeing a "Free Breakfast Friday, January 30" sign in the office building elevator this morning.

"Oh yeah! Free Breakfast Day on Friday!"
"...am I working on Friday?"
"I am! Yeah! Free Breakfast on Friday!"
"...WAIT! TODAY'S FRIDAY! YEEAAHH!"

Consider my day made.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:38:15 GMT

I joined a gym Friday on a whim, and have since spent about five hours there. Much to my surprise, I really enjoy it, but I make no promises that the enthusiasm will hold out (hence joining one with a month-to-month plan). On Saturday, during my fitness evaluation (after getting pinched with the "skinfold thickness" measuring tongs, and getting the trainer to agree that "skinfold thickness" is a very gross phrase), I realized that I didn't have any specific goals. It just seems like a good idea.

But I did have a lot of fun yesterday morning, when I was the only one in the place and wasn't afraid to make mistakes. So there was no one looking when I accidentally went backwards on the elliptical machine for a while (how to fix that problem: move your feet forwards instead), or when I actually fell over after a misstep on the treadmill and slid off the back.

Every time the phone rings in the office, I flap my arm feebly toward the phone. I know Christine's always going to get it, but I feel the need to make a token gesture of willingness.

The Edukators

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:02:32 GMT

This makes me smile:

Bernie Madoff's stolen statue returned with a note that says "Bernie the Swindler, Lesson: Return stolen property to rightful owners." Signed, The Educators.

The Edukators is a movie starring Daniel Brühl (my German actor crush) and Julia Jentsch (Travis's German actress crush) where a group of young people break into rich people's houses, rearrange things, and leave a message like "The Days of Plenty Are Over."

I felt very clever for recognizing this, but by the time I looked at the Edukators Wikipedia page, that had already been added. Damn!

Yes, it's a copycat crime, but considering the victim and the fact that there's no harm done, I appreciate it.

I do have real things to type about, but I don't want to write my next actual entry til I hear back from the mechanic.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:42:27 GMT

Co-worker, on the subject of expensive new radio purchased for wife:

"This had better sound great. There had better be broken drumsticks on my living room floor."

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 04:07:30 GMT

Saturday night we went to the Bonos' Christmas party, where we read aloud from David Sedaris's "Holidays on Ice" and had a mid-century recipe cook-off.

Travis and I brought a celery log from a 1970s Weight Watchers recipe, as well as "Peanut Butter Catchup Dip" from a 1950s Good Housekeeping cookbook. The dip, in case you're curious enough to try it, consists of equal parts peanut butter and ketchup, and it comes out to be an intriguing color of brownish orange.

We labeled the dip "Mystery Dip," which led to the hosts holding a competition to see who could guess the ingredients, giving a prize to the person who was closest (well, the one of the tied-for-closest who won the subsequent arm-wrestling match).

The dip also won Most Half-Assed Recipe. And nobody could really decide whether it tasted good.
The celery log, apart from being hilarious, was (as anticipated) exceedingly mediocre.

That was the highlight of the weekend. Other things I've been up to lately: watching Gossip Girl; reading books about vampires; ordering things online with very mixed results (I received shoes today that were somehow shockingly ugly while still managing to look like they did in the picture); patronizing our new favorite local bar, the Bleeding Deacon; watching and attempting to photograph Lomo's new habit of warming his head under lampshades; reaching the halfway point in my paralegal training; and perfecting a mix cd for next week's Mixmas party.

Also, Travis and I officially have tickets for our April trip to Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, which I have begun to call our Hapsburg Honeymoon.

And I just surprised Travis with homemade vanilla pudding. Things are pretty cozy around here.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:49:13 GMT

I learned a new word just now: Fasciculation.

That's the term for what's going on with my face. My mouth has been distractingly and visibly a-twitch for the past half hour.

It's comforting to have a symptom and then be able to find an exact description of it, a name for it, plenty of perfectly logical reasons why it could be happening, and a number of pleasant-sounding solutions.

Possible causes that could relate to me:
-Magnesium deficiency. Who knows? I've never thought about Magnesium before.
-Dehydration. Check!
-Stress. Check!
-Fatigue. Check!
-Caffeine intake. Super-check!

So the solution to my problem is to relax, drink water, eat spinach, nuts and bananas, and go to bed early tonight.

Caaaan do.

Jury Duty, day two.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:05:32 GMT

Now, I would be fine with jury duty if I thought there was any way I'd ever be on a jury. But the thing is, there is a very, very slim chance of my being picked for a jury, but they haven't had a chance to figure out that they don't want me yet, because I have now sat there for a total of 11 hours and haven't been asked a single question, or even seen a lawyer or judge's face. In fact, they told us yesterday at 5 to come back this morning, so we did, and then they didn't tell us a damn thing til they let us go for lunch. I don't understand how things can run quite this poorly.

It's not really terrible hanging out there, despite the fact that it's cost me well over $100 and counting. I got a lot of reading done, there's some decent seating areas, and the coffee from the vending machine is drinkable and theoretically very cheap. I say "theoretically" because no matter what buttons I press, the machine dispenses a random drink at a random price-- between 35 cents and a dollar, for a surprise size cup of coffee with a surprise level of strength, cream, and sugar.

At lunch I head to the office, eat my packed lunch, and try to do enough work to justify getting paid for an hour.

This morning while leaving the house, I tried to look at two places at once while walking down the stairs, missed a step, and went flying forward, saving my face only by grabbing as much of a tree as I could get with both hands. After the single least graceful movement I've ever made, I landed on my feet, covered in bits of shrubbery, which I am still finding in my hair.

My back hurts so much that I can't sit straight, but personally I'm feeling lucky to still be in possession of my front teeth.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:14:22 GMT

With no attorneys in the office today, no mail yesterday, the mail very late today, and therefore nothing to do, I have decided that reading Suge Knight's complaint against Kanye West for negligence and conversion is the closest thing to work that I can find to do.

Worries

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:38:52 GMT

After hearing that two houses on my block have been burgled in a week, including a methodical clean sweep of valuables from the house next door, I have just decided to get down with the renter's insurance. Having obtained a quote and decided to wait for a chance to talk to Travis before buying a policy, I have probably quadrupled our chances of being burgled in the next 24 hours or so. I generally assume this is how things work.

I am also thinking about putting batteries in the smoke detectors. This, I tell myself, is an important part of being a responsible adult: knowing that it's probably worth it to buy a $5 battery if it may save your life.

Now, if only I could buy $5 battery and a $15-a-month policy to make me worry less about getting shot, for no reason, at any time of day. Or being bludgeoned for sport. But a combination of local news and the neighborhood mailing list keep that fear in the back of my brain whenever I step outside.

And while at the grocery store just now, while stocking up on produce in reaction to my in-class Pop Tart dinner, I bought a bottle of low-sodium Schnuck's brand vegetable juice.

Now, this purchase has really made me think. Store-brand to save 90 cents, low-sodium because I have a vague concept of the fact that I consume sodium enough for three (though I'm not exactly sure why that's bad), vegetable juice because it sounded like the opposite of Pop Tarts.

That purchase may be the ultimate meaningless token gesture of concern for my own well-being.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 03:29:49 GMT

Got out of class at 9:30, came home to find Travis already in bed because he works in 8 hours. Since he was at work when I got up, that makes for about 2.5 minutes of togetherness today.

Class was, as I described it to one of my classmates, "hell-damn-fart boring." We spent the first two hours going over a practice punctuation and grammar test, during which time 15 out of 18 students were using the internet (I restrained myself and merely paid a few bills). Most of the time I watched my classmates' computers from the back of the room - a man playing chess, a woman looking for apartments, a woman on a My Little Pony collectors' message board, and some others doing extensive Facebook profile surveillance.

Thursday I thought there was something terribly wrong with my car, Friday morning I brought it to the shop and walked half an hour to work, Friday at noon they called to say there's absolutely nothing wrong with my car, and Friday afternoon I slunk sheepishly into the shop, thanked them profusely, and drove away in a car with a free, clean bill of health.

I keep forgetting I start the new job on Monday. I may forget until Christine pulls up in front of my house and honks the horn. Yeah carpooling!

It came to my attention today that I can finish the last 18 weeks of classes for the paralegal certificate in two weeks if I do it in the Netherlands. My brain has furiously set to the task of figuring out whether this is feasible.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 05:32:54 GMT

So I can let some dust settle on my resume for a while, because I got a job in a law office and I can just settle in for a while and go to work and not spend every day feeling like I'm trapped in food service purgatory. And I look forward to working downtown, because every time I go downtown, I remember that St. Louis is (contrary to what I see in everyday life) a city, and not just a sprawling small town.

Lately I've done a fairly good job of following through on plans repeatedly discussed, like "we should definitely go see a play sometime," "we should go shopping together," "we should all go to Chicago some weekend," "we should check out the roller derby." Three out of four of these things were done in the last few weeks, and this weekend Travis, Phil and I are going to Chicago.

Travis and I went to a one-man play on Friday and I'm fairly sure we were the only ones there who didn't know the guy personally. The woman selling tickets asked, "So how do you know Brian?" and we said "We don't, we just read about this in the Riverfront Times about twenty minutes ago." And you could just see a cute little smile of satisfaction. The play was really very good, and then the guy came up and shook our hands before moving on to hug his mom.

I do wish I'd been at the Obama rally at the arch on Saturday, but there was no way out of working, and also I'm not very good at feeling like I'm a part of history. I've seen pictures of the gathering, and while you'd like to think that everyone there is feeling like "This is really something! We're all in this together," I know I'd have spent the whole time having to pee just because peeing would be impossible.

I left Travis and his coworkers at the bar some time ago because I need to get up early, so I guess I should make good on those sleeping plans now. But yes, despite the long silence, things are pretty good in the Cara camp.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:51:11 GMT

Went "camping" this weekend. It was camping in the sense that we were in the woods and cooked everything on a fire. We actually stayed in a very cozy cabin, though.

Here's what happens when you put lighter fluid on coals that don't need lighter fluid:

And here's an apparent navigational disagreement between me and Phil:

We went on an 11-mile hike; it started with 8 hikers and ended with 4. We all spent much of the remaining weekend moving at a top speed of "hobble". It was a good time.

My cooking experiments have continued- my lentil soup has improved to "bitchin", while my low-sodium vegan spinach soup only tasted okay after the addition of salt and heavy cream.

Normally I would be in my Civil Procedure class right now, but tonight's class consists of watching and discussing "A Civil Action," and I decided I would much rather go see Hayden than watch the movie in class, and I would much rather do almost anything than sit through a discussion in that class.

k01ck03@kzoo.edu — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 21:08:21 GMT

Wedding photos are online!

Here are my two favorites so far:

For anyone interested in seeing more (by which I mean, "people who were there and don't see themselves here"), that flickr site will eventually become a repository for all of the photos from the weekend, not just the official ones that are there now.

Last night our friends gathered to drink wine and read a play called "Marco Polo Sings a Solo." It was written in the 70s, takes place on an iceberg in the year 1999, and is not a very good play, but it turns out (much to most participants' surprise) that reading scripts aloud with your friends is very fun.

Friday I tried to go clothes shopping and ended up miserable, but today was much better for my mood/wardrobe and worse for my budget, and I am now very fashionably broke. I'll be the best dressed person at Aldi's.