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Location: Upstate, South Carolina, United States

I think that the Meredith Brooks' song, "Bitch," summarizes me rather nicely. Or, if you prefer, X. dell says I'm a life-smart literary scholar with a low BS tolerance...that also works!

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Fall Break

So, we finally have our fall break coming up! I can't believe they put it in November. We have Monday and Tuesday off. I think they did it that way so they don't have to give us TU off to vote. Clemson doesn't like to give days off. That's why we were supposed to labor on labor day.

I'm ready for this break. It's easier from now on out as far as the vacation time goes. We have Thanksgiving coming up, and then by Dec. 8th I should be done with all classes. Ahhhhh. That will feel great.

The visit with Grant went great. I think he is saving throwing us in the basement for the next visit as he didn't have time to prepare to capture us this last time (he's been working so many overtime hours, you see, that he just wasn't able to gather up the materials). He told me we had to come down again before Christmas, so that's how I know he's not yet given up on that plan! We were supposed to see Angie from Atlanta (Can of Worms Angie), but she had problems with her car the day we were supposed to meet up, and that didn't work out. So I ate her part of the food in order to honor her.

We had a full weekend of gorging. I tried for the first time ever this quail egg sushi that had some type of roe with it (likely salmon), egg yolk and fish eggs all wrapped up together in seaweed. The yolk would burst across the eggs, giving them additional richness and flavor. Very intriguing. I had to have oysters at Pappadeux (they have the best oysters! oh, and fantastic crawfish bisque)...yum! We ate Japanese for dinner Fri and Sat, Cajun for lunch on Sat, and then Mexican for lunch on Sun. By the time Sun dinner rolled around, we all discussed that we were too bloated to eat out for dinner, so Alex and I just hit the road home.

It was really on Sunday at lunch I realized fully what a freaking pig I am when it comes to food. I always have teased people that I can outeat them, but you'd think that both Grant and Alex--males who are bigger than me--would not let that happen. Nope, they both had take home boxes with a full meal in it for later, and I finished my plate (well, I finished the tamale, the taco, the two cheese enchiladas, and then ate a pile of chips and salsa and queso...I DID leave the rice and beans behind). On Saturday, we all split mussels for an appetizer. Then Alex and I split a bowl of soup. Then I had a salad, and that was all before our main plates came out. Alex pointed out to me that Grant had one appetizer; he had two; and I had three. Um. Well. But um...ok. Never mind. I can't fight that one. I wonder why I don't weigh 300 lbs with what I eat? I've definitely picked up weight in the last year or two. I've never been heavier. But I'm still not what one would call "fat." I think that means I still have a great metabolism, but it's slowing due to age. Damn you, age!

The movie selection wasn't so brutal this time, but that might also be because I passed out cold on Saturday night before we managed to pop in Entrails of a Virgin. Grant has been telling me I can't hold my liquor and I need to train more. Hmmm. I think I'll always be a wimp with alcohol because even though my tolerance has most certainly improved the last couple of years, I still can't do heavy drinking two nights in a row. In fact, if we're talking more than a glass of wine with dinner, I have a limited number of times per week when I can drink more without me feeling just blah. I would make a piss poor alcoholic. So, drinking heavily on Sat night meant no alcohol on Sun or Mon at all (even my customary glass with dinner that I often do at home was out Mon night). I think I had a glass Tue night. Nothing last night. I'll never be able to train hard enough to get there. Grant'll just have to tease me more.

It was funny, though...we were watching a movie called Audition (of course it was Japanese...both Grant and Alex like Japanese movies a LOT). It gets really graphic at the end, and the guys both know I handle violence not so well (hence why I drink heavily at Grant's: it makes the movie choice more tolerable to me!). I went to the bathroom, came out, and it was at the end of the movie, so they directed me to close my eyes and stay away from the TV at that moment. Therefore, I turned around and sprawled out on the airbed Grant has in his dining room nook. And promptly passed out. Now when I say, "passed out," I mean TOTALLY OUT. They had problems waking me afterwards. This apparently amused them both greatly. Grant, because he is a true friend, took two pictures of me drooling on his bed. Note: since that's where Grant was sleeping that night, I hope I drooled REALLY COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF SALIVA on his bed for taking those pictures! Then, of course, to complete the photos--like bookends--he took a picture of me the second I rolled out of bed the next morning.

A trip to the liquor store was really fun for me, but I feel badly that I got caught up in a conversation with the wine dude while Grant waited. Wine is not Grant's interest at all. However, I enjoyed talking to this guy because he really knows his stuff! I get frustrated now because although my level of knowledge on wine is, at best, intermediate...many of the people bigger wine places hire have beginning level knowledge of wine, so I try to ask questions and realize they know less than I do. Useless. Bah. This guy, however, had TONS of knowledge right on the tip of his tongue, so I found out a lot of stuff about the wines they had there and wines in general I wouldn't have discovered without talking to him.

So, after all that driving, my back is pissing me off still this week. Oh well. It was worth it. We had a great time.

****

Trick or treating had two pirates in our household. Both Ariana and Jared dressed up as pirates for the holiday, and my ex and I took them out trick or treating together. Ariana had requested it. They got a good haul of candy, so life was good.

Ariana's scrapbook--long story, but it was not done at first correctly due to her father's lack of help and lack of willingness to purchase materials for it--originally had a bad mark on it, but I have always taught Ari to fix mistakes when they are done, even if the only satisfaction we get is to know we tried to fix it. So, we sat down and in two hours, my daughter redid the scrapbook pages for her school project. They were magnificent, and the teacher so kindly understood Ariana's situation and regraded it anyway! So, she is very, very proud with how gorgeous it looks now. She wanted to show her father how much better it is now that she fixed it, so she walked up to him with the scrapbook in hand, holding it out to him like a sacred text, solemnly intoning, "Do you think you are STRONG ENOUGH to handle the magnificence of my scrapbook? Do you think you can HANDLE the beauty that lies within?" I swear I started laughing so hard that I beat the table with my hand. She was so serious-faced when she did this! Where does she come up with this shit?

Ok, off to school I go.

8 Comments:

Blogger Canoes under my shoes said...

"Can you handle the beauty that lies within???" Honestly!

Too funny.

I'm glad he stepped up to do the trick or treating! Yeah.

(I'm a pig too...I'm shockingly piggish...and I don't care)

8:37 AM  
Blogger Valerie - Still Riding Forward said...

I am glad you are back safely and had a great time. Maybe you can do Michigan sometime and I will let you drool on the upstairs spare bed while Alex and I shoot pool!

12:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Glad you had fun in ATL! And Ari is just awesome. I would love to see the scrapbook. =o)

5:25 PM  
Blogger Jezzy said...

Hey - I bet I can out eat you all!!

But seriously, the food sounds yum - I love Japanese food - and I also like Asian movies.

5:26 PM  
Blogger X. Dell said...

Well, at least Grant didn't, say, dump a ton of shaving cream and paper cups on your face before snapping your photo. I think that makes him a true gentleman.

Sounds like a great Halloween, too. It must be a ball to have young uns this time of year.

12:18 AM  
Blogger NWJR said...

Now I'm hungry.

5:37 AM  
Blogger Chief Slacker said...

Ari rocks ;O)

Hope fall break was/is glorius!

10:43 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hey there kira! Sound's like i've missed a lot, and i'm just stopping by to say hi! I'm going to catch up with your blog and i hope you're doing ok!

6:36 AM  

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