…is this a gorgeous storm or what?
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Anyone who’s in Boston at this second…
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008Brain food for thought
Sunday, June 22nd, 2008I have to write today because I have a deadline* (could I be any more crazy/sexy/writerly??), and I am subsequently now justifying the vegan mac & cheese that I’m eating as “brain food”…
…which makes me wonder: is there ANYTHING that can’t be described that way? I mean, a) what are our intentions in invoking that phrase; and b) what is actual brain food? Also, c) should I accept that if (hypothetically speaking, of course) the vegan mac & cheese is in a given case “hangover food,” such a quality is necessarily mutually exclusive with that of being brain food?
Now here’s something else: in searching for a site to which to link the vegan mac & cheese (which is, as you may have already seen if you’re into following my links, Amy’s CHOLESTEROL FREE * LACTOSE FREE Macaroni & Soy Cheeze Made With Organic Pasta), I came upon the Amy’s Kitchen Web site (shocking, I know), where I learned that the company’s founders’ eponymous daughter a) is super-cute; and b) just finished her freshman year at Standford.
Having been to college myself, I very confidently speculate that conversations resembling the following were had many times in Palo Alto over the course of the past year:
Student 1**: Yo, that Amy chick is slammin’. I’d like to get me some of that. (, yes this is how Stanford students speak. I’m almost certain of it.)
Student 2: Check it, she’s Amy, as in Amy’s Kitchen.
S1: You frontin’? Like tha mac ‘n’ cheese with the little bunny on the B-O-X-izzy?***
S2: No, Bitch! Like tha delicious, nourishing, frozen burritos ‘n’ playa meals – such as Macaroni & Soy Cheeze – for health conscious peeps too busy to be cooking.
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*Unfortunately, this is not the good – id est paying – kind of deadline, but while I know now is probably the time in my life when I really should be avoiding pro bono work, I pretty seriously dig PresenTense’s mission, and it’s my pleasure to be able to contribute to it via the magazine.
**This could also be a professor speaking.
***I made the same mistake.
Research abroad
Friday, June 20th, 2008Just a few minutes ago, as I was walking home from the T, I was stopped by a couple who wanted to know how to get to St. Stephen’s Street.
The first thing I thought of was the St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin (where in 2005 I spent a miserable summer enduring what may have been the most ill-executed “research abroad” endeavor in the history of over-privileged, under-socialized U.S. college students), so the first thing I said was:
“Ooh, hmm, that’s tough…I know where it is in Dublin…”
Then I realized that I am a total asshole.
p.s. I like to go straight to the gym from work – otherwise, I don’t go at all – and today, I got all dressed in my gym clothes, went back to my office, tied up one of my sneaks, and realized I left the other one at home this morning. Loser. (Epilogue: I did not wear the one sneak home, but I thought about it.)
p.s. I stand corrected
Thursday, June 19th, 2008Gmail – Chat with Raquel [last name]
Raquel: I think that has 2 ks
Raquel: bukkake
Apparently I’m not quite the slammin’ speller I thought I was.
I was going to leave the error in my previous post, for posterity, you know, but I REALLY hate misspelling things. Thanks, Rox.
Unbelievable. I mean, really.
Thursday, June 19th, 2008As promised, I went back and tracked down the podcast of yesterday’s Brian Lehrer Show segment that I thought featured bukkake, and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t wrong; it really does sound like the caller, who expressed fears that the opening of the new Ikea in Brooklyn is going to put his nearby ceramics store out of business, said:
“I mean, they might come in if they want to get bukkake’d in the face.”
So.
For your listening ease, I have very handily edited the nearly-20-minute segment down to 1:46, cutting out all but the intro and the call.**
The caller begins speaking right around the 38-second mark; the money shot (as it were) is at ~1:30.
Listen, wow.
Unbelievable, right?? I mean, really.
It’s unclear (to me) whether he delivered his line and hung up on his own or was immediately disconnected by NPR for such language; in any case, my boy B. Lehrs did an excellent job of sounding like he took it in stride, I think.
What I find so extra-unbelievable is that WNYC has just left that there to be heard by whomever would like to hear it, a move for which I give them some serious props.
I suppose I should consider the possibility that it’s up only because no one caught it, but that’s really preposterous…so maybe it’s that many people caught it, but nobody who’s employed by NPR or WNYC will admit to knowing what bukkake is.
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*The full podcast can be downloaded here (look for “A Box On All Your Houses”)…
**My audio file editing skillz are not extremely mad, so I also cut off the word “expressway” in making the jump to “let’s take a phone call.”
Make Way for Duck
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008On my way to work this afternoon, I passed through the Christian Science plaza and found a number of Animal Rescue League professionals trying to coax a momma duck into a net. Apparently, her collection of eggs hatched sometime this morning or late last night, and the new little ducklings were falling over the edge of the reflecting pool with the fountain mechanism and getting stuck underneath, so the ARL peeps are trying to move them to a pond in Fenway.
When I finally tore myself away, there was a chirping cardboard box full of little ducks, and Momma Duck was getting in and out of the water, trying to elude the net and also attend to her captive babies…
…now my on-scene informant has just texted to say, “Mom’s crossing the street. Make way for duck!”
Take that, Boston Daily 
.
A note from my landlords
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008“June 15, 2008
“Dear Racheal [sic]
“Because of the huge increase of fuel and other related costs we are asking an increase in your rent from $[X] per month to $[Y].
“We ask that this increase become effective beginning August 1st, ’08.
“Please acknowledge receipt of this notice and return it to us as promptly as possible.
“[Landlords' names]
“Sign:
“[RachelBank] -
“[My roommate's name] -”
I would be chagrined if this didn’t fit so perfectly into my fantasy of being a struggling neo-bohemian.
Also, despite the fact that having to pay more stinks no matter who you are or how much you make, I think this is understandable – now is a time of inflation, and it’s manifesting itself in my rent.
All that said, I do suspect that I’m taking this WAY too well for someone with my lack of income.
p.s. My hair looks kind of gorgeous today. Sorry, Miss Ross – you’re on your own.