Happy All Souls Day; New Rule

Seeing as I'm averaging one blog a month, I'm going to insist to myself that I blog once a day. Is this a bit stringent and impractical--well, yeah, but it's ideal. So, hopefully I will be on more. And therefore I will have more to say...and eventually, perhaps, people will even comment. That would be nice.

So, what shall I be talking about in this entry? Let's see: 1) Z and L are home!! Huzzah! 2) the pleasures of baking....and the pains of a disappointing end product. 3) Weekly choir concerts are a bit taxing on my vocal cords. 4) The wonderful world of TV and what you must watch. 5) My new job. 6) Whatever else.

So Z and L have returned. This makes me smile. The house was so dead, the atmosphere too serious and now it feels as if a weight has lifted and a light hath returned. Though, they don't really turn many lights on in reality. Even the Vampire is more personable today. L cooked and did dishes and watched me bake--yeah, we'll get to that in a second--joked and laughed. I swear, they have the greatest laughs. They're always laughing and they're always happy and it's absolutely wonderful to live with people like that. There's so much life in this small house when they're here.

Baking is my favorite stress relieving activity. There's just something satisfying of putting all that effort into something that's so enjoyable by others. I like watching people eat my baked goods. It's very fulfilling. Over the past month, I've made muffins, banana bread, cookies, and other stuff. So tonight, I was feeling daring and wanted a bit more of a challenge. So I decided to go and try to make savoiardi--aka Lady Fingers. I should have listened to my mother when she told me they were hard to make. But did I? No. They didn't rise. Not one bit. I blame the recipe. Because, god dammit, I followed it down to the letter--well, kind of.....I had to convert from grams to cups. So yeah....not a particularly fine moment for me. However, I shall find another recipe and I shall press on. I will. And I will make the most amazing lady fingers ever and not just ones that make subpar milano cookies.....stupid recipe. If only I had a Kitchenaid Proline 600. All my baking problems would be solved. Santa, please bring me one for Christmas.

So, I have endured two grueling weeks of non-stop choir song and dance. I over-exaggerate. We've just had rehearsal every MWF for 2 hours and two concerts on the 19th--which were fun because we were singing Jukebox music--and then we did our part in the Halloween concert on the 28th (the picture of the pumpkin is actually the pumpkin I carved for the Halloween concert because what is a Halloween concert without Jack-o-Lanterns? I didn't like scoop the stuff out though, my friend L did because doing that would have given me a panic attack. Pumpkin insides remind me of placenta and delivering babies for some reason). My larynx is tired because I'm not used to this kind of thing anymore. I used to be because I sang competitively in choir in high school and did honor choir and did professional choir, but I don't do that anymore. Yeah, I should have time to rest it. The next performance isn't until after Thanksgiving. Well, except that I have alto sectionals tomorrow (yeah, I sing like a man, so sue me) and rehearsal every M and W. I guess I shouldn't complain. After all, it's the one place I don't feel like an idiot for singing loudly. Well, there and in my car. God I love singing along to the radio or an awesome CD. Speaking of awesome CDs, Grey's Anatomy Vol. 3 is PARTICULARLY amazing. Indeed it is.

Which brings me to...TV! Should you be watching Grey's Anatomy?--unless you're Sara--OF COURSE YOU SHOULD! Should you be watching Pushing Daisies? DAMN STRAIGHT! And the Office? HELLS YES! So Grey's Anatomy is back and it's a bit slow right now, mostly because we're being introduced to the new interns. But the beginning of most seasons are slow, so I'm not complaining. I do, however, miss Burke--despite the fact Isaiah Washington's a douche bag. On to Pushing Daisies which is now, like, my favorite show ever. It's an ingeniously weird concept that just works. And it has this kick ass Tim Burton feel to it. The music even sounds like it's composed by Danny Elfman--though it's not. Ned's gorgeous and sweet and makes me want a piemaker of my own. And Chuck is adorable. And Kristin Chenoweth plays Olive--and she SINGS, god that woman can sing (she was more than amazing in Wicked, believe me). Oh, and did I mention Chi McBride plays Emerson, a sarcastic, money-driven PI who KNITS. What could be better than a black man that knits? Nothing. Nothing at all. The Office is great too because I heart Jim and Pam. And of course I heart Dwight. Who doesn't?!

I believe we're on the topic of my new job. So I'm an assistant employed by the University but I work in the Plant Gene Expression Center at the USDA because, well, it has to do with funding and because there's funding that's run through us, we have people there. So it's pretty awesome. It's only five minutes from where I live, I get plenty of hours doing really easy work like sorting mail and scanning and organizing documents. I shouldn't say the work is really easy, because it's not, but it's easy for me. Of course, I'm a super-organized work-a-holic. The best part about my job: I make $14 an hour. It's pretty great because it means I can make my car payments. Go me.

Wow, we're now on the last topic...everything else. What else is there? Well, my birthday is coming up on the 21st. I shall be 21. I'm going home for Thanksgiving on the 20th so on the 21st my mom and I plan to get shitfaced or something like that. Apparently, my mom's really excited that I'm now legally allowed to drink. I think it's because this means I can pay for the drinks....there's always an ulterior motive. Hmmm, is there anything else. Well, other than the fact that I've recently found myself enamored by a certain member of the opposite sex. Luckily it's not the same person as last time, so in that respect, I'm good....it's still rather obnoxious that I find myself thinking about him at random times. Life would be so much less complicated if I could just take a pill and not feel this anymore--though I think I'd miss this feeling if it did disappear. Oh and I totally bombed my Calculus midterm on Wednesday. That's ok, though, so did everyone else, which means I should still get a B. Also, that picture to your right. The one you're drooling all over. Those are the most amazing cookies ever. Made by me. See, I can bake.