DVD on Repeat

I was finally able to see How to Train Your Dragon this weekend. And so I watched it two days in a row. I figure if TNT can do it why can't I? It was enjoyable. I mean...it had one of those things about movies that always irk me. That being when everyone has an accent except the main character.

The previous offender was Wolfman. Everyone is English and then here comes Benicio del Toro just strutting around with his strange, soft voice and we're all just supposed to pretend like nothing weird is going on here.
What's funny is that I was less annoyed with the voices in H2TYD. Probably because I actually liked it. Wolfman is a horror film and I didn't get past the first 20 minutes but I'm a sucker for animated, funny movies. Though the whole voice thing was pretty bad. They're supposed to be vikings but all the adults had "Scottish" accents, the female was American, and the main character, a skinny, awkward boy had your wry, sarcastic, sorta whiny voice courtesy of this guy:


No, I don't expect the accents to matter because casting is casting and let's face it this is a cartoon. But some movies it does drive me crazy. Imagine if they had casted a Harry Potter film that takes place in England with all English actors but Harry is some giant Hollywood star so we're just supposed to roll with his non-English voice. They do that stuff all the time and it's a pet peeve. That's the point of this post.

Also-who wouldn't love How to Train Your Dragon? Is Toothless not the cutest, coolest pet ever? I want one so bad.

Hey There Lonely Girl

Dear young people who suffer from low self-esteem. Who spend hours trying to look and act a certain way because you think no one will ever want/desire/love you. News Flash: It really doesn't matter how unattractive you are or how unattractive society and pop culture tells you that you are- you'll get laid. Don't worry.

I'm mean really. If you lived in college housing then you discovered this pretty quickly. Sure there are the "hot" people. The ones who dress nice and who make themselves appear unattainable. But really, as long as you're not smelly or a total social pariah, as long as you find that group of people who share the same interests as you, you will find amor.

Think about this: at my college there were pirates. No, it did not have a nautical studies major, nor were there any large bodies of water present. There were simply some dudes who must have been seriously into D&D. Who had long greasy hair. Who enjoyed parachute pants, large black boots, flouncy shirts, and who were very talented at creating swords and other pirate-like weapons out of cardboard, foam, and duct tape. And all of these guys had girlfriends. Not just girlfriends but wenches. Girls with flowy skirts and possibly even a corset thrown in there.

Then there was a rather rotund guy who always-ALWAYS- wore a poncho. A giant, floor-length poncho. (Who I actually got to know a tiny bit because we ended up being R.A.s in the same building for a semester, nice guy.) Not only did he always wear the poncho but he always had Birkenstocks on. In the winter. Because, oh yes, in the spring/summer he went shoe-less. And he had a serious girlfriend. So serious she was moving back home with him after they graduated and I'm pretty sure at that point they would be married. Whether or not they did is beside the point. The point is this guy was not a Kardashian or a Brad Pitt and he was getting some. And he was in love.

Then there is Mark and I. I am the poster child for low self-esteem. I wear ill-fitting clothing. I love hats in the winter because I don't have to worry about my frizzy hair that hasn't been professionally cut in years. I'm borderline overweight. I've had chub in the same place since the 4th grade so it's going NOWHERE. I have terrible posture. I never wear contact lenses. Mark is a unicorn. And he has hobbit feet. And oh the farting......
But anyway. I love him. And he loves me. At least he loves my cooking. But we have each other and in the core of me I'm happy. I might not be a bouncy, happy-go-lucky person but even on my bluest day I know I have the super important stuff.

So:
Dear Young Person. Stop wasting money on things that you think other's will judge you favorably on but you don't really like. Stop trying to make friends with people who seem cool but treat you like shit. Just be you and go out and find someone who'll notice. It might take awhile but my goodness, we've got years.

Before January Ends

New Post, new post, new post. Everyday I tell myself to write one and then I don't. What is there to say? I'm a blue person. I don't want to be depressed and mopey on my blog, I save the special honor of listening to my sad self for poor Mark.

Anyway, here I am waiting for another blast of snow to start. Were you out on the Tuesday after MLK day this week in NYC? My god that has to be the worst weather I've ever experienced. EVER. I mean it wasn't snow it wasn't rain. What was it? It was like it was raining pure slush. Not like snow falls then turns to slush- it was raining slush. I was totally amazed and horrified.

Today as I left my babysitting gig I was passed by a stroller being pushed by the dad. And in his hand was a shopping bag bursting with tampons and pads. And I couldn't help it: I released an immature giggle. Here is a dad staying home with baby, which is all Go Dad! Go Equal Parenting! but then there is that silly cliche of the wife who forces the husband to do the menstrual shopping and I just cringe for the poor guy. Maybe that's why he was walking so fast. He had to get out of the open.

I'm on a reading binge. I can't stop. I read so much in one week that my eye was literally exhausted and couldn't even focus anymore. I was reading a trilogy that my pal Mario had hooked me up with. That was entertaining if also a little strange. But right before I was swimming in Young Adult, Sci-fi, post apocalyptic world, I was looking for something to do and I picked up an old book that I've had since my AmeriCorps years. I didn't remember everything about it but I did remember enjoying it. So here I am diving in and suddenly it makes itself apparent. Holy Crap! This is a romance novel! I had no idea. I definitely remember 'those things' happening but I guess it just didn't dawn on me when I first read it that it was a romance novel. There's no Fabio on the cover. No woman busting out of her corset.
So I read it. Also, I had discovered a number of months ago that the author had decided to develop the characters and create a series out of it. And low and behold I had bought the second one for 6 bucks at Barnes & Noble before I was reintroduced to the first one so I had the second one waiting for me and of course I dove in because I was hooked. It's romance. But it's also historical fiction which I'm a total sucker for. And it's tasteful. :)

1-1-11

So I attended a get-together and I walked into conversation about New Year's resolutions and the fact that they were being discussed as part of a game. But then the conversation turned into just discussing resolutions in general and I personally don't create resolutions. I could be perceiving it wrong but I think one of the persons thought I was mocking the idea of resolutions and became slightly defensive about the fact that they make resolutions and last year they stuck to it and because of it their life has changed and so why wouldn't they stick to it this year. I hadn't wanted to make it a big deal- I find it commendable that people will actually stick to their resolutions- it's just a behavioral modification that's never worked for me.

I jokingly said that I'm not much of a goal-oriented person so resolutions are kind of pointless and Mark said that it wasn't true. I make goals all the time it just takes me awhile. I jokingly compared myself to the tortoise in the tortoise and the hare stories. Another person said “yes but the tortoise wins”. Which, surprisingly, made me feel better about myself. I might go slow and steady but hopefully I do get there, wherever there is. I mean...I make plans to do something all the time and most of them fall through. I don't make the lasagna on Thursday that I thought I was going to. I didn't go to the post office today like I said I would. My desk didn't get organized by the end of the weekend. But there is some big stuff coming my way and as long as I take it step by step (with a few anxiety melt downs and sobbing along the way) I can actually achieve something.

I'm trying really hard to begin attending school this spring. I'm terrified. The classes are already full. I might have to pay out of pocket or getting AmeriCorps money will be difficult. The schedule will stress me out as I try not to lose any babysitting hours. And in general I will just feel out of place and lonely. But I've been fighting to start these classes since early October and now I'm really close. The next two years will be pretty rough. But I do allow myself to get excited about what might happen when I'm finally a bit more financially secure. So I guess I am capable of some positive future thinking...I just don't like to talk about it.

Past Reads: 2010

The books I've read in 2010. That's for the entertainment Literary World!

PAST READS: 2010

Strange but True by John Searles
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve
Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Whitehorn Woods by Maeve Binchy
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch
A Fair Maiden by Joyce Carol Oates
Day After Night by Anita Diamant
The French Gardener by Santa Montefiore
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Things You Should Know by A.M. Homes
Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner
Honolulu by Alan Brennert
Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler
The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
The Piano, Screenplay by Jane Campion
The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg
Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petersen
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Fortune's Rocks by Anita Shreve
Body Surfing by Anita Shreve
Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan

Odds & Ends

Don't complain to me about how you have no money. I mean, can you be any more tacky? I just spent my evening in your lovely 2-bedroom apartment with a sunken living room feeding, bathing, and putting your kids to bed so you can throw me some cash so I can put food on the table. And you sit there complaining you're broke while you take off your designer coat, sit in your designer dress, remove you fancy high heels that you bought earlier that week, and say thanks for working until midnight while me and my husband attend our annual soiree that we throw every year at a lovely Manhattan location. Oh, by the way, my husband will drive you home in our luxury car. Good Night!
*Fantasize about stabbing in the throat here*

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My parrot sucks. He's yelling at epic volume even though he got more quiche this morning for breakfast than I did. Sometimes I just want to let him fly out the window. It's just so hard to keep my already fragile state of mind set to calm when he's going ballistic.

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I was finally accepted as a transfer to a community college so that I can begin my studies in radiologic technology. As you can imagine it's my dream come true to get ready to spend years of my life in scrubs lifting smelly old ladies and men onto tables to photograph their broken hips. So considering I'm filled with joy to go and begin this journey it would only be right that the universe has to make it as difficult as possible. Congratulations, you're finally accepted- except you have to get a physical with no health insurance, and you have only two classes you really need to start the actual program but they're already full because everyone needs to take them and registration was over weeks ago. Enjoy!

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Mark is going to get me a couch for Christmas which I actually find very inspired of him even if it is over his budget. I'm so excited to be done with this futon. Don't get me wrong, the futon has been good to us. The pad was Mark's for many years and even acted as our bed for awhile, the frame was found by my mother and so the futon cost us nothing and has been useful. But it's extremely uncomfortable. It has zero padding and quite frankly I've run out of large blankets to fold and stuff underneath the pad to mask the feeling of sitting on wood planks. Here's to couch shopping!

Mission: Turkey

Happy Day After Thanksgiving!

I hosted for the first time ever. I've been hoarding these recipes from Real Simple magazine for years. The article is dated November 2003 and I'm not sure where I was when I found it. Maybe AmeriCorps. Maybe somewhere in California. But either way when I saw this spread I thought "One day I might host Thanksgiving I might as well be ready".

Well, it happened.

It started off pretty rough. A dad I babysit for asked me "Are you going to brine your turkey?" I started to panic because I had been prepping for this day, reading recipe after recipe and nowhere was brine mentioned. So I emailed my uncle who is the cooking person in the family and who has hosted Thanksgiving for years and asked him what he thought. And he essentially said "Hell yes. Brine away!"

So I googled and emotionally prepared and I began to brine. I created the salt water mixture in my tray and even though I remember Bill Nye the Science Guy teaching me about displacement I still managed to put too much water in the tray so when I plopped that turkey down briney, raw-meaty water spilled all over my counter. And since my counters are crooked that water quickly spilled all over my kitchen. Yay.

The next day I prepped the turkey. It was a roasted orange and sage turkey. Mark ventured to Trader Joe's just to buy the sage as the Inwood supermarkets have heard of no such thing (what? herbs existing that don't go in sofrito?)

I stuffed that turkey good full of garlic and oranges. Later that night, a full ten hours later as soon as my head hit the pillow I realized that I totally spaced and forgot to put the sage in the turkey. Genius! So Thanksgiving morning I woke up early, cut the twine off the legs, unstuffed the turkey, shoved it full of sage, and replaced the oranges and garlic.

Well, eventually my meal was ready:

Roasted orange and sage Turkey with roasted orange gravy
Apple and Sausage stuffing
Rosemary Cornbread
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Vanilla Sauce
Pumpkin Pie
Chocolate Orange Mousse

my mom brought over potato salad and arroz con gandules....you know the Puerto Rican parts that I just can't do. It was soooo good.

That truly was the best turkey I've ever had. It was so moist, no one even used the gravy!

After a massive dish washing event (dishes were washed in three separate parts. A trifecta of dirty dishes, if you will) Mark and I went for a walk. I hadn't been outside all day and my belly was way too full to fall asleep without a little walk. It was about 10pm and yet Inwood would not let us down. Walking down Broadway we managed to see a heavy-set "butch" woman meandering across the street completely topless and then as we approached the very brightly lit Bank of America we were blessed to catch a homeless bag lady run right under a spotlight and squat to take a very urgent leak. So loud it still haunts me now.

Needless to say we hurried home.