so THIS is why kurt wanted to sing defying gravity so badly.

seeing this:

in this:

are you kidding me?
i realize i'm 20 years behind the times with seeing this,
but this was one of my favorite things i've ever experienced or seen with my own eyes.
and that includes the taj, eiffel, panama canal, etc.


...
call me a dork -- i fully accept it.
because i'm still recovering and attempting to pull myself out of infatuation with it now.
just TRY to keep me from relapsing into daydreaming** about it constantly.
i dare you.








**just found out a synonym for daydreaming is woolgathering.
note this for possible future use.

oh you dirty apple.

still recovering from the hills and the adrenaline.


mortal combat, gravy shots, leg cramps, air soft guns, and subarus.
okay i'll stop talking about it.

but still, it put me in the mood where i want to pretty much do everything/anything: 

hike/ski/raft/bungee/climb/slack/swim/sail/tour/fly, etc, etc.

let's just say...

i was faster than about 40 dudes.

heyooo.

sorry for the hiatus.
for a number of reasons, i've been temporarily away.




i'm not really back because i have inspired topics to write about.

but really, truthfully, you know you don't come here to hear anything inspired at all.






BUT you might come to see things like bill cunningham talk about thigh high boot trends.love it.

(you could go to nytimes.com to do that too, but whatever.)

oh,

and also,

this is fun:

oh my gosh, a raisin

feels like a saturday.

no work.

no school, really.

sleep in, porch breakfast, clean kitchen, clean room, run errands, etc.

mid-week weekend.

so here's a story for you:

yesterday, my roommate made brownies just because.

after eating dinner, no longer could i resist eating a brownie, because it was dessert time and that's what you do when it's dessert time.

so i scooped one out -- still warm -- and when a piece fell on the floor, i picked it back up promptly and ate it.

i knew i swept the floor a little while ago, and i also believe in trying not to waste food if it isn't dropped in mud or garbage or whatever.

upon chewing something chewier than brownie, i stopped and thought,
uh.  is that a raisin?

...

thankfully she put raisins in the brownies,

which was unexpected, 

but thank GOD it wasn't a raisin that had been on the floor.

i probably still would have eaten it,

but seriously.

that's gross.

an intensive list of the top 10 careers according to yours truly.

caught up in the contagious fever of "let's start talking about real life",

i've decided to regress into an imaginary train of thought by playing instead, "let's see what i'd do if i could do anything ever".

this game prepares me for nothing and pulls my mind away from any useful work or any productive thinking completely.

which is the one of the reasons for why i do most of the things i do. 

so in honor of the first week of school and going along with the theme of a friend's party thrown just last evening,

i'll start the list of people i'd like to be or jobs i'd like to have when i grow up. 

firstly,

padma lakshmi on top chef.

all i have to do is be a few inches taller, a few sizes smaller, and a few notches more photogenic,

get discovered by a modeling agent in someplace like paris or milan,

write a cookbook that wins some type of award,

be able to speak well and act all serious, contemplative and dramatic in a solid reality show type way,

and THEN i'd get to host a show where i just get look pretty and eat people's food and say stuff that sounds cultured.

secondly,

jeopardy's clue crew.

if you think you know me at all,

you would know that one, i like puzzles and trivia crap like this.

two, you would know that i like traveling.

and three, that i'm an occasional sucker for the cheesy.

i would ROCK at being the person for jeopardy video answers.

saying things like, 

"the memorial behind me was erected in honor of this ship, named after the 48th state, which was best known for its sinking at Pearl Harbor in 1941, taking over 1100 lives that day."

meaning that i would be in hawaii for the sole purpose of speaking on a 10 second video clip.

yes.  this is a job i would do in an instant.

thirdly,

bill cunningham.

street photographer for the new york times. 

this adorable, nearly 80 year old harvard drop out claims he's "not a good photographer".

but his job is to wander the streets of new york,

go to the hubs of life where there's dancing in the streets or masses of people dressed up as santa or even to the most exclusive parties around nyc,

and TAKE PHOTOS.

he takes photographs of life as lived all over the city.

AND he narrates his own, wonderful little video slideshows on nytimes.com.

i could so totally do this.

(minus the 80 year old adorable harvard drop out part.)

fourthly, 

ice cream taster?

no more needs to be said about that.

  

fifthly,

sounds effects designer.

ever since disney used to do "imaginear that" segments with tom morrow (this was way long ago),

i was intrigued by these ridiculous jobs some of those people had.

clanging things together and recording them and receiving a steady income from it is ingenious,

and i never really understood how that could happen.  

but it does.  

and it made my list.

sixthly,

a worker at charm city cakes.

i'd do anything:

drive, bake, put food coloring in gum paste, be mary alice's personal assistant.

...

i mean,

i'd even MOVE TO BALTIMORE.

i haven't ever even thought about doing that before in my life.

but for you, charm city cakes,

i would.

think about it.

then move.
for you.  and for a job. 

seventhly, 

a recipient of a charm city cake.

and as a part of this, i want to placed on an episode of ace of cakes.

right. 

so this is neither an occupation or a person i want to be,

but this is something i really really want.

and since CCC is taking up places 6 and 7 of my list.

this really must mean something to me and you should take note of it.

eighthly,

(you didn't think i'd make it this far, huh?)

((this is taking a lot out of me, so i hope you're appreciating it.))

park ranger at denali national park.

this is a dream i stole from someone else's reality.

i'd like to be married and retired and living out of a trailer or something remotely similar,

and volunteer my time as a park ranger in alaska.

this would have to include living in a cabin overlooking unreal views of fields, mountains and all sorts of grandeur,

and hiking around showing people black bears and moose.

ninethly,

(who knew that was a word?  really?)

a sudoku competition winner.

i'm being honest, so don't judge me. 

tenthly, 

whatever job i need to get to be on a red carpet somewhere somehow.

i hope you're all realizing that these are completely unrealistic.

i know this is a foolish thing to say, because padma? seriously? 
i could NOT be her and get that job no matter how hard i tried.

but however silly these are,

i'll admit: i have some strange desire to dress up in ridiculously overpriced handmade gowns

in a head to toe getups that took a team months to concoct,

just to walk around, give a good look to the thousands of flashes,

and kiss/compliment all the other people who are doing the same thing.

totally vain and probably shallow.  but i'm okay with admitting my indulgences to the general public.

at least when it comes to pretty things, food, and bringing out the nerd in me.

so that's that for now.

this is a good game.

it's now taken up another hour or so of my otherwise valuable time.

just for you. 

here's to mornings.

on my first day of class of my last semester of contiguous schooling,

i dropped makeup on my new white shirt that i had been saving to wear, 

spilt my homemade vinaigrette in the plastic wrap/foil drawer, 

and for some reason chose to wear my stinky shoes all before my 730 class.

i mean, the stinky shoes didn't really make a difference until about my 1230 class,

but that doesn't matter.

the point is that i'm a mess and there are only two days down.

the summer's ending was as lovely as it had so blissfully existed the whole break.

it included gracious amounts of tip money, 

shopping trips, 

picnics, 

a topeka sushi bar, 

camping alone for the first time, 

bigger than life sunsets, 

the arrival of cable, 

and a somewhat clean room.

and i'm becoming really okay with moving on from this stage of my life.

so begins the last week of summer.

i wish i could walk through the supermarket without being coaxed and seduced by wafts of sweet cantaloupe and peaches.

i wish i could go to the library without accidentally spending a half hour picking out three or four random movies that i may or may not watch.

if it weren't for food and movies,

i wouldn't spend so much money and i would probably have more time in life in general.

but as of recent,

i've found myself to be a foodie as well as a movie junkie.

this week, i plan to make black bean soup as well as spinach and artichoke lasagna.

i spent too much money at the grocery store and will probably go to the farmer's market and spend more. 

i just can't handle walking by those beautiful fresh fruits and sweet breads and honey.

last night, i watched the lady killers (just for you, nick), 

right now i'm rewatching lars and the real girl,

and then have full metal jacket and mulholland drive to watch later.

i have a list of movies to watch that i compiled three summers ago and am only halfway-ish through. 

and one of the most exciting games i play in a day is "name the other movies that random actor is in as fast as you can."

i think about these things about 300 times more than anything school or industry related.

if i could cook and watch movies all day every day,

i would find myself about 80% happy.

which is a lot for just two things, i'd say.