Yes, we are still here and doing things. I will tell you these things in a list. Here is our life from the past week:
We went to church at Westminster Abbey. It was very old and it was fun to sit in such an old building for church. And yes, we are going to go back yet again for a tour on some Saturday.
We saw the amusing wreck that is Love Never Dies. Our experience also included both the souvenir brochure and the program (for half the price we expected) AND a free poster. What we will do with it, I have no idea--perhaps hang in our loo at home.
We took a walk up to Primrose Hill to check out the view. It was very impressive, though the weather could have been better for pictures. It seems like most days here that start sunny end cloudy.
After striking out on a deal for Les Mis tickets, we chilled at home with pizza and The IT Crowd (an American version for real??).
We hit Primark, which has the cheapest clothes I have ever seen. It is also a complete madhouse.
We made a fairly brief stop at the British Museum. It was brief because it was SO HOT inside and crowded, and not that that is different from any other place we've seen, but that day I just couldn't take it. So we saw the highlights and then escaped.
Saturday was a big day as we (me, Mr. Graham, co-worker Caity and her visiting [former] roommate Melissa) had booked a tour that took us to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath. It turned out to be a great deal, monetarily speaking, and it was nice to not worry about logistics or buying tickets. Also, it was awesome.
Windsor was fun, though probably the least interesting to all of us. It was old and very opulent, and I have never seen so many guns and swords used in such a decorative fashion. The highlight, for me, was Mary's Doll's House. But no pictures were allowed inside so you must imagine! After lunch in a pub, we journeyed on to Stonehenge. We really really wanted a tour that took us there in the evening and into the Inner Circle but apparently they were doing that only on, like, 3 weekdays from now until December. So. Maybe next time. It was still really cool--very mysterious and old. We did our best Tess of the D'Urbervilles impersonations, only with less death. Our last stop was Bath, which we decided we could easily spent a whole tour day at. We had just a little time to walk about so we got hot chocolate and "Bath Buns." Most of the time there was spent touring the actual Roman baths, where we were greeted by a Roman soldier who was very into his character. I so wish that I had taken some video of him because he was just so great. He was a big highlight for all of us, and actually was the thing that made us settle on this particular tour in the first place. We were not disappointed.It was a long day and I was just beat at the end of it, though I tried my hardest to watch Prisoner of Azkaban with the girls (Mr. Graham did quite literally carry me off to bed, since I could no longer move under my own power).
In a rather anticlimactic end to the week, I spent Sunday afternoon emptying my stomach contents in the loo. Too much exertion and no fuel, but by the evening I was right as rain and eating many, many goodly things.
If you have been within earshot of me in the last several months you have probably heard me complaining about Love Never Dies and all its many faults (they are many). But ever since I found out we were coming to London, it has been on our to do list. Actually, the way I broke the job news to Mr. Graham was by saying "We should go see Love Never Dies. In LONDON."
I'm not going to list all my complaints here because I hate to be a broken record and rehash everything I've already said six times. I will just say that I think it tramples on the original in a way that is neither good nor necessary. In fact the whole thing is just ridiculous and unnecessary. Aside from all of those things, we just felt compelled to see it anyway. Those of you who know my Van Helsing love will not be surprised.
So tonight we saw it for ourselves. It was exciting to see the original cast of something, since I never had done. Luckily Madame Giry had toned down her accent so that I didn't hear horses neigh constantly. It was, in general, pretty much what I expected. There were some cool technical things, but overall I think it's just kind of underwhelming (and frustrating in its lack of logic and consistency).
Going into it there was only one song ("Til I Hear You Sing") that I was really looking forward to, since I have listened to it at least 20 times now. And he delivered! He delivered so well! If I had thought to bring pom poms, I would have waved them about spiritedly. And now I give it to you, in the form of a super dramatic music video on YouTube. It might be best if you just play it and not watch the video, for maximum enjoyment. Here is the Phantom, in his new incarnation, which is romantic and lovable and non-threatening (somewhere Joseph Buquet is protesting).
(Or you can watch this version, which is quite wretched in its drama.)
But then there wound up being another song that just kind of amazed me, this time the title track from Christine. I am not really into belty woman show tunes--those are the songs I always usually skip--and until now this song was no different. But by the time it was over, Mr. Graham and I were both sitting quite dumb founded. It's not the same watching it without the build up of the story and such, but you can watch her sing it live anyway. Just know that in person it was like...wow.
So, when all was said and done, I decided that it was totally worth the pounds for those two songs. And...I would totally see it again for those two songs, sung by these two people. Otherwise I would rather just spend time with Gerard.
We have now spent our first entire week in England, and we are feeling all settled in at last. We use the Tube like pros, hardly ever open the map and say things like "lift" and "surgical spirits." This week we didn't do as much sight seeing, primarily due to time constraints, but we did see some exciting things this weekend. Instead of doing a detailed summary (or saying I won't do a detailed summary and then do exactly that), here are three lists to sum up our life here at the moment--5 things we liked this week, 4 things we didn't care for and 3 things we're looking forward to in the coming week.
Five Things We Liked This Week:
The National Gallery. Oh, loveliness of lovelinesses! All of my life, I have only ever thought of the British Museum so when we saw this place during our visit to Trafalgar Square I was intrigued. We went on Saturday (after the British Museum decided to hate me and have their Egyptian collection closed for a few more days and their Roman collection closed INDEFINITELY) and it was heavenly! I saw not one, not two, but THREE Caravaggios! I had to limit myself to 12 postcards. We will definitely be returning, especially since we somehow missed the Botticelli. Also, it's free! England loves me.
St. Paul's Cathedral. This was a site of particular interest for Mr. Graham, and since we weren't able to see it last Sunday as we planned originally, we went on Friday night. It was just so BIG. We ate dinner on the stairs and fed the pigeons. We fed four and then more came along and I named them all: Henrietta, Piccadilly, Gustave, Ophelia, Bustopher and Jonesy. Afterward, we took a short walk over to the Millennium Bridge, featured in Half-Blood Prince, and clung on for dear life as we watched for Death Eaters. None came around so we continued on to take a look at the Globe Theater and all of its clever Shakespeare merchandise.
Regent's Park. It's so large and scenic. We walked through it about 4 times in a few days, since we had to get to the Underground station on the opposite side of it.
Stability in our living quarters. It's a long story of the hows and whys this all happened, but on Monday we left our first hotel in Bayswater for a second hotel in Harrow, and then on Tuesday evening we left that hotel for a house where we will be staying for next few weeks. So now we're here, in a place with laundry facilities and a kitchen until we move for the last time to some apartments back down by Bayswater. It's so nice to finally feel a little settled.
The Camden Market. We hit this on Saturday morning, and while we weren't wild about the whole thing (the crowds, the stalls that all seemed the same, the long walk over and back), we did find a great fruit stand. 7 peaches for a pound! 3 mangoes for a pound! We loaded up and we loaded up for cheap. Also, Mr. Graham got a swell hat that I have no pictures of.
Four Things We Loved Less:
All the time spent in cabs. Up to Harrow and down from Harrow, and both times we had to direct the driver to our destinations (as we did for the other two drivers we have had). They have GPS, but I'm not so sure they know how to use it. Also, one of our drivers very nearly ran into a couple with their baby.
The batty woman in the Underground station. Picture, if you will, a 65-ish year old woman wearing a flimsy white miniskirt. With blue socks featuring the British flag under wedge sandals. And for the finale, a tank top (sans bra) with an open back with three little ties. I say we loved this less just because...because.
The weekend Underground closures! All of our most frequented lines seem to close on the weekend, which forces us to be much more creative with our travel plans.
On that note, after we leaving the National Gallery, we went over to Piccadilly to investigate theater tickets. We took the Tube from the Charing Cross station at Trafalgar Square over to Piccadilly Circus. Once there we walked a few blocks and found the ticket stand we were looking for...then looked up and saw the back of the National Gallery only a block away. Yes, as it turns out we could have walked behind the Gallery (easily done) and been right where we wanted to be. Maybe we should take that map out more often after all?
Three Things We're Looking Forward To:
Love Never Dies! It's going to be a delicious disaster! I can't wait.
Stonehenge on the weekend? That's the plan! If there's any possible way for Mr. Graham to lay down in the middle, he will surely do it.
No moving at all! Ah, sweet stability.
And that has been our week here. We are happy and excited that we still have so much time to see all the other sights we possibly can. Just this very afternoon we are heading back to Westminster to sit in on a service. So cheerio! Cheerio, dah-ling!* *Name the movie.
So, we have been here for several days now. Generally, things are going well. Our luggage arrived safe and sound, and so far we've navigated the city just fine, with only a few minor hiccups in transit. It took a while for it to sink in just where we were. In some ways, it still is, but more on that later.
There have been some things going on with work that have been quite frustrating, but I don't really want to go into them just now. Hopefully those things will be resolved soon and it will just be one of those stories you tell later and roll your eyes at. For now all of us (me, Mr. Graham and my coworker, Caity) are doing more face palming than eye rolling, but as I say, hopefully they will be resolved soon. The work itself (the card scanning) just started in earnest on Friday and it went fine. It's really cool to be working in such an old building with so much architectural character.
I don't really want this to be a detailed report of things we do every day, but here are some highlights, in chronological order:
On Wednesday, after finally settling in and brushing our teeth (huzzah) we had our first fish and chips (in a...Lebanese restaurant?), bought a map and then sat in our hotel for a long while looking at the map. Finally we went out and got Tube passes and immediately put them to use to visit this place: It was basically deserted so there was no pressure to be hasty with pictures. At this point it began to feel a little more like we're in England. Ah, Harry Potter's homeland. Earlier that day I also saw a UK copy of Half-blood Prince with its hideous cover.
Thursday was another leisurely day, but in the early afternoon Caity and I took a wild cab ride over to the Society to meet with the staff and set up our equipment. When we were on our way out, who should we see but the Minister of Magic himself: Can you tell it's Bill Nighy in the middle of that crowd? Celebrities of almost any caliber make me all fluttery inside, but he is definitely the most celebritous celebrity I have ever seen. I have been on an extra sharp lookout ever since for more.
The rest of that day we spent seeing some of the standard sights: Buckingham Palace (where the Queen was at home), Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, the houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey (we have to go back to go inside) and the Tower of London. A lot of buildings here have been covered for construction/cleaning/etc., including part of the houses of Parliament and the Tower. I suppose preparations for the Olympics are to blame there. On Friday, Caity and I spent the day at work, then spent some time in a massive H&M store that even had a maternity and kids section. I just got some hair flowers, but I'm sure I'll be back there sometime. The rest of the night was pretty mellow. Mr. Graham and I traveled far and wide to get some delicious foods we'd seen in Victoria station, and then picked up a bunch of English candies at the nearby Tesco. We came home to find a new episode of The IT Crowd on tv and laughed and laughed and have been quoting it since ("super mah-rio"). We only have 7 channels, and two of them are the same so we got quite lucky.
Saturday we spent a lot of the day down at the Tower of London (which we only saw from the outside on Thursday). We thought it was kind of pricey to get in, but we didn't realize how much there was to see and I think we spent like 5 hours in there. There were so many old, old, old things that it blew my mind a bit. Am I secretly a history nerd? Mayhap. Sadly the main tower was half covered for construction. I say "main tower" because there were so many towers involved in the structure. Our favorite to talk about is the Bloody Tower because we can refer to it with such gusto. Other things we have done are: eaten pasties from two different shops (my favorite has been the stilton and steak), wandered through the maze of Harrod's (meh), and eaten cheese on toast for breakfast in the hotel. And how could I forget the remnant of the Roman wall we saw? It's ROMAN (and so old and glorious). Glorious!
I guess this is getting kind of long, but I am going to keep going a little longer anyway. A little while ago I started to get a little nervous about this trip because I was so afraid that England could never live up to the ideal in my head, but I so badly wanted to love it no matter what. That said, I was prepared to not love London because I know Dickens's London is not London now and I couldn't expect that. And it's true, I am not desperately in love with London, not as a whole anyway. I love lots of the sites we've seen, but it's really just reaffirming to me that I am not Live in the Big City person. I am a Visit the Big City and Live a Little Further Away person. I love the unique cultural opportunities in big cities, but I don't care for the constant bustle and shops hold only so much interest for me. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to be here, and there are still so many things in London that I'm eagerly anticipating, but I'm also very excited to get out of London in the following weekends to see the countryside and smaller towns.
On a similar note, all of us have been surprised by just how many non-English people we see every day. Some of that, surely, is due to it being tourist season, but also I guess London is just more international than any of us expected. A few nights ago on the news they had a story about how people are feeling that London is becoming a separate entity from the rest of England and that is now making more sense to me.
Anyway. It's a big, exciting city with so many things to see, and so much history to be seen firsthand at last. But for now, take a look at our first pasties in England:
As I mentioned in my last post, there have been some big things happening around here lately. Mr. Graham got a sweet new job, we went to Disneyland and we got some babies--baby tomato plants, that is. But the latest and greatest thing, which is surely going to be The Thing of our 2010, is that next Tuesday we are heading to the airport and relocating to here:
You know, London.
It all started a few months ago when at work they announced that they'd made a sale for some on-site work for the Society of Antiquaries in London. They went on to say that in the coming weeks they'd be posting the job and we would all be free to apply for it. At which point I began to mentally drool. Here is the thing: since I was a wee girl, my cultural diet has included a lot of British, and I've spent many years pining for moors and Bath and accents. Hence the drooling.
Anyway, nothing was said about the job for so long that I thought perhaps the contract fell through, but finally, last month the job was finally posted. I wrote a cover letter, polished my resume and applied. The interview came and went, and I went through alternating phases of cockiness and dread. But lo and behold, the good news came in and I somehow kept it to myself all afternoon until I could spring it on Mr. Graham at home.
They wound up hiring two people, and the other girl going is one who was hired the same time as me so I know her and she's cool (phew). The job itself is simple--we're scanning thousands of cards from the library's old school catalog. Mr. Graham will work away at his job and we'll spend the evenings and weekends exploring the towns.
My plan at the moment is to blog at least semi-regularly while we're there so you can hear all about the fun times. I won't make promises but I will at least make the goal!
I've been trying to collect recommendations for sights to see, but I've also been trying to collect any tips on things to do and not to do--as in things that will make me look stupid or things that will help me avoid pickpockets. So, bloggy friends, if you've been to the UK (or Paris...or Disneyland Paris...), do you have any insights for me?
I haven't blogged in a long time. Lots of things have been going on around here, but I will post more about that later at some point later, later on. For now, here is a story.
Some while ago we went to Disneyland (*sigh*). Since we were driving, we stocked the car up on her necessary fluids, including a can of gas for just in case. It was a great trip and the car behaved perfectly well, as she is prone to do. We came home and went on our merry way in life.
A few weeks ago we went over to the gym, and when we came out to the car there was a post it note on the windshield. This time it was not an ad from the nearby Paul Mitchell school, but was instead from a fellow exercise enthusiast. They had parked behind us and noticed a lot of liquid under the back of the car, and wrote that they suspected we had a gas leak. We looked under the back and sure enough there was a load of liquid blackness on the pavement, freshly dripped. I flailed a few times and then we got in the car, which now had a distinct eau de gas. As we drove home I went through different scenarios of the car suddenly exploding and pondered our chances of survival.
Once home we investigated the car and found the obvious hole where gas was leaking out. Mr. Graham, ever resourceful, stuck some packing tape over it until it could go to the shop. We were out of duct tape.
So the next day, Mr. Graham dropped me off at work and then took the car off to see the mechanic. (Isn't Mr. Graham so nice? He always takes care of my car for me.) The car, Leeloo, was hoisted up so they could check her underpinnings. But instead of immediately seeing the hole on her underside, Mr. Mechanic didn't see a thing and had Mr. Graham come and point it out to him.
No, there was no gas leak. Did you know that trunks have a drainage hole? It turns out if you have a gas can in the trunk, it can tip over. And sometimes it can tip over and land directly on its spout. And sometimes gas cans inexplicably have no cap on the spout. And then the gas leaks out and down through the trunk's drainage hole, prompting concerned gym goer's to leave notes.
Word on the street is that Frank Frazetta died today. If you don't know who he is, he's an American illustrator who revolutionized the look of science fiction and fantasy book covers (think Conan the Barbarian or The Pathfinder*). He's not my very favorite artist or anything--his ladies are distractingly lusty and he sometimes pilfered ideas from Howard Pyle (Pyle vs. Frazetta). But he did do some great work, and it's always sad to see a talent pass on.
Also, can I just say how glad I am that I took those History of Illustration classes so that I know about all these neglected illustrators? If I were ever to get a Masters in art history, that would be my focus. Anyway. Educate yourselves on Frank Frazetta, won't you? Soon you'll start seeing his influence when you're at the library.
Or if you don't want to educate yourselves, you can just look at these favorites of mine.
*Okay, I know these are both movies, but hello, they are both moving** Frazetta paintings.
**Moving as in "brought to life", not "evoking sentimental feelings". Although the beginning of Conan always made me scared sad.
Like I said a while ago, I've been trying my hand at baked goods this year, specifically bread. Aside from that one mishap, the results have been pretty good and even delicious. Bread has always been pretty intimidating to me. Yeast is kind of scary. It has to rise and rise and rise some more. You have to KNEAD it. There are just so many ways it could turn into a disaster. Basically, the ability to make bread from scratch is a sure way to impress me. But now I'm joining the club! Let's look at my efforts this year.
In January I made rolls. Betty Crocker supplied the recipe, but since our (old) apartment was not supplying heat, I put the rolls in front of a wee space heater to make them rise. They turned out tastily, though not quite as hearty as I like for my rolls. I made a second batch of these and made crescent rolls. This was in the days before I owned a rolling pin so I used a can for the rolling. The end result was fat little crescent rolls that tasted just fine regardless.
Next I made yet another batch of these rolls but tried a different shape. Once again, they tasted just fine, but my, um, even shaping skillz have a ways to go. A few were giants, some were a little small and the rest were normal. After my two breads, I decided to try ciabatta bread because it is delicious. This one I made myself and it came together just fine. While the loaves were rising I realized I should have put some herbs into the dough but I settled for sprinkling it with rosemary. It didn't really add any taste, but it looked pretty. The texture was great, though the flavor was a little too mild. Herbs would probably make a world of difference. But taste aside, I felt quite sophisticated for making such a fancy-sounding bread that was very easy to make.
Okay, this isn't quite on par with my other efforts, but Mr. Graham had his birthday in March and he requested a funfetti cake. So I made it as requested, but I thought of the decorations myself. I've never decorated a cake in my life, and it turned out fine, if amateurish looking. But Tiana and Naveen made up for my weak frosting abilities! Side note, I could not figure out how to get those sprinkles onto the cake. My method was to throw them and hope that some stuck. Also, since this cake had to be transportable, I didn't get to use our still-unused pretty glass cake tray (though you can see the box in the picture). Woe.
Finally, this very evening, I made scones! My recipe came from Comrade Ferskner's sister. It came together fine, for the most part, but it did make me realize that forks are not pastry cutters. The dough took its sweet time coming together and Mr. Graham had to distract me from my frustrations by telling funny stories about people losing their swimsuits in the ocean on their honeymoons--not that I would know anything about such experiences. In the end, the dough obliged, they went in the oven and they came out delicious! I followed Elizabeth's recommendation to make two separate scone batches and I'm glad I did since they are just the right size. Unlike her, I wish I *had* done a glaze, rather than just milk, because they look a little unadorned and I had the ingredients. They're sweeter than the scones I've made in the past, but as I said...delicious.
Mr. Graham enjoyed his with Nutella. Check out this sweet apron my Mama made for me! She also made a matching hat, just for novelty's sake.
What future baking delights await me? Focaccia intrigues me and red velvet cake is sounding both daunting and delectable. In the meantime, I will just have another scone.
Last night Mr. Graham and I finished watching the whole series of Battlestar Galactica, after starting it around Christmastime. I was so happy and relieved when he got into it because then I knew we could still be friends (phew). Seriously though, this show is so good. I have a hard time imagining getting into another show as much as I have this one, though I suppose only time will tell. But really, it's so good.
I'm not going to recommend to every one of you, my fair and illustrious readers, because it's not for every one (mostly in terms of, ahem, content). But I just want you all to know that is excellent, and if you think it's just about space ships shooting each other then, well, you have no idea. I keep trying to make a list of all the things that are good about it and it is just too long. The story! The characters! The action! The drama! The music! And yes, it has some killer space fights too.
Battlestar, I love you like Adama loves Roslin. Except not romantically. So maybe more like Starbuck loves Helo.
I desperately wanted to end my no-salt bread story with the words "I forgot the salt." so I did, and now I will give you the second half to the story.
I was temporarily daunted by the breadmaker. Besides tasting like styrofoam, the bread had a ridiculously thick crust that exploded all over if you put the knife to it. It also had a gently concaved top that perplexed me. Mr. Graham praised me anyway and ate it extra happily, but I just ignored it bitterly (the bread, not his praising and happy eating). But! Since I knew the lack of salt was probably 95% of the problem, I was determined to try again.
So, while we fast forwarded through the Oscars, the breadmaker (maybe I'll call it George) worked away on a new batch--complete with salt. Of course, I forgot that it takes 3 hours and 50 minutes so it didn't finish until about 10:30. It had looked good while it was cooking and it smelled pretty nice too. But then! I took it out!
It was so beautiful I promptly named it the Bread Baby and took pictures with it. It was so beautiful it glowed. Then we ate half the Bread Baby while all my Oscar predictions came true.
The breadmaker still feels a little bit like a cheat to me. I put all the things in and it does 100% of the work. It's like my own electronic bread-making hen--and yet I still wind up with all the bread in the end. It takes away some of my satisfaction in having made bread, since I didn't have to put forth much effort. Still, they have their place and I know some days I will want bread but won't have the time or willpower to do all the work.
On a similar note, Comrade Ferskner and her sister are having a Year of PieCakeBread. I guess I have been having my own little bread fest, although so far it is mostly filled with, well, standard rolls and saltless bread. Maybe I can call this my year of bread. Not quite on par with the actual Year of Bread, but a year that includes bread nonetheless.
Here is a little information about my Mama (I say this in the British way). She bakes many a thing and bakes them quite well. Chocolate mayonnaise cake is one of my particular favorites (no no, the mayonnaise is not chocolate. It's just a chocolate cake with mayo to make it delectably moist). My very favorite thing is her rolls. I have fond memories of waking up early on Saturday mornings, pilfering some rolls from the kitchen and then reading fairy tales in my bed for a few hours. Obviously this was a while ago since I haven't woken up early naturally for years.
Anyway, her rolls are delicious. But. My Mama has a little problem sometimes with her baking: salt. Or rather, a lack of salt. I don't know how many times she has put rolls in the oven and then said "Oh my gosh, I forgot the salt!" (Then she promptly makes another batch. Such dedication to quality!) If you have ever had a bread product without salt, you know what a big difference it makes. They're totally edible, but they're also totally flavorless.
So, this year I've been attempting bread things. I made two batches of rolls all myself, but one of our first wedding presents was a breadmaker. I'd never so much as touched a breadmaker before, and its intimidation was second only to the Kitchenaid. Or maybe the food processor. Anyway, last week I finally got myself some bread flour and stocked up on yeast. Then, I did it. It was easy, and I only got a little scared with the pan popped out of place and I had to fix it mid-kneading. It cooked away while we were at church and when we got home the first thing I did was open it up.
Since he is so strong and manly, I had the Mister pull it out of the pan. It looked ever so large and square and was quite crusty as well. Undaunted, I got the knife and I cut it open. I took a bite.
I have been thinking about nerds lately. Not the small delicious candy nerds, but the people kind. A few weeks ago at the workplace one of my coworkers said she likes microfilm. She used to look at it a lot with her mom to do genealogy work and she still likes it. Then she said how she doesn't think of herself as a nerd until she says things like that. And I thought to myself, why is microfilm nerdy? Why should liking it make you a nerd? What is so inherently nerdy about microfilm? And why is nerdiness a bad thing anyway?
Why should anyone be ashamed of their interests (I mean, so long as they aren't obsessive or destructive)? If someone is really into Project Runway, no one bats an eye. Instead they say "Oh, I love Project Runway! That dress that Ping made didn't even cover the model's bum!" If someone is a really into Star Wars, it's like an automatic nerd label. Why is being a fan of Tim Gunn more acceptable than being a fan of Yoda? They're both wise and well dressed, with unique ways of talking.
I guess I just don't get why some things are socially acceptable and cool and other things are uncomfortable to admit to. Should I only wear my knee socks at home and hide my sweater vests under jackets? Should I hide the fact that I love Battlestar and just say that I like The Office? I didn't even realize that my BSG love is shameful until two girls in NPR were hassling their fellow interviewer guy for being a big fan.
I'm not ashamed of the things I like or do. I'm not a running nerd because I run. I'm not a computer nerd because I like computers. I'm not a food nerd because I watch the Food Network. I like lots of things. I like some things a lot. I guess if that makes me a nerd then I am a happy and proud nerd. But I think it's stupid to label myself anything except awesome. I'm awesome. That's all.
This past weekend Mister Graham and I went up to Salt Lake for belated Valentine's Day/6 month anniversary/4 years of knowing each other/employment/new apartment celebrations. We did a number of fun things, like checking out the hotel pool and eating ever so much food at Red Lobster. We also did some fun things that popped up in our path unexpectedly and now I'm going to tell you about them.
While making our way to the mall on foot we ran into a banner for a Jamie Wyeth exhibit at the Salt Lake art center. I crowed with delight and we went straight in. The exhibit is mostly comprised of a series of paintings based on the seven deadly sins--with seagulls. I am quite sure I have never seen such sinister sea gulls. It was unexpected but it made sense (rather than seagulls for the sake of being unexpected) and it totally worked. As time goes on, I realize more and more that I like representational art. Even though there are abstract artists that I respect, I still just can't really love their work. But I suppose that's a topic for another post. Anyway, if you're up in the area, I highly recommend you check it out. It's free and it's small so it doesn't take very long. I liked it so much I got the exhibit guide, and you can read a little more about the exhibit here. I may have spent the rest of the weekend working on my seagull face (mostly inspired by the Proud seagull with the lobster).
Secondly, on our way into the museum we notice a big yellow food truck out front sellingChinese food. Since we had Red Lobster plans we didn't stop, but thought we might get lunch there the next day. Lo and behold, when we were buying the exhibit guide, we found that the museum was giving out vouchers for a free meal from the Chow Truck. We had to wait a while and it was so cold, but the food was great! It came with "root vegetable chips" that were surprisingly delicious. I only could identify one of the roots (sweet potato) but I have been since pondering how to get some more.
And finally, two short recommendations. One, if you are traveling, bring the case for your contact lenses. Otherwise you might have to do this: And if you know you're going to go out to eat and possibly have leftovers, it would be ideal if your hotel room has a mini fridge. Otherwise your husband will be running to the ice machine in the wee hours of the morning to restock your "fridge."* Okay, so you can't really see the ice in this picture, mostly because this was just before we filled the bag up again before heading back to Provo. But it's THERE. And during the night it was all situated in the bathroom sink. Also, it worked and our leftover seafooderies were preserved. *He didn't get up to do this, but being up for the bathroom, he saw what needed to be done. What a man. An ice-fetching man.
In case you have not heard the news, I recently ended my long streak of unemployment with a return to the workforce. The workforce I joined is a company called Backstage Library Works, and because I'm so bored with trying to explain the company to non-library people, I'm going to write it all out here and then none of you can ask me any questions about it ever again.
Okay, only semi-kidding because I'm happy that I have a job to explain to people and a few years ago I would have made that same puzzled face at hearing "It's a company called Backstage Library Works." But I'm not really one who enjoys retelling the same story over and over, even when it's a fun one. Similarly, this past Sunday Drew and I realized that I am more like a man when it comes to listening because I don't like to rehash the same story and I try to solve other people's stories instead of just sympathizing. Meanwhile Drew is more like a woman because he is a rehasher and good at listening without forcing unwanted solutions on people. Somehow we balance out.* That was a long sidenote.
Anyway. So, a few weeks ago I applied at BSLW where I blew through a typing test and took a bunch of quizzes designed to test my brain. I was asked many perplexing things like the years of the Civil War (1861-1865) and whether Nova Scotia is a country, city, state or none of those (province). I did it all in my trusty Jack Sparrow t-shirt, which I kept under my coat to avoid looking unprofessional while interacting with sheets of paper**.
That was a Friday and on Monday they called to set up an interview, which I had on Wednesday or something. I put on my charm and, finally, felt somewhat successful afterwards instead of going home to cry (okay, that rarely happened). When my interviewer called on Friday I was sure she was using her "I'm about to disappoint you voice" but no, she offered me a spot on the team. Huzzah! I took it, and was a little relieved to hear I'd have a week before starting (sweet, impoverished freedom).
Now I will tell you what I do. BSLW does a lot of cataloging stuff for all kinds of libraries. For instance, some old school libraries still have card catalogs and they hire BSLW to make all their catalog digital. In my case, I am part of the group that is switching a library's collection from their own system to the Library of Congress classification system. This means I look at their records, I search for the item in a database to find a call number, I verify it and I put it in the record. Sometimes there are none and I have to find them myself on the Library of Congress's website. I would show this to you if it didn't require a login. It would make all this much more impressive if you could see all the rules and exceptions and exception exceptions. Just know that it hurts my brain by the end of the day.
Now I'm starting my second week but have yet to work on the actual project because I'm still training. I make lots of stupid errors, just like I did in my cataloging class in the beforetimes. Sometimes I come home and wail about my sure-to-come firing, but then Drew pats me on the head and gives me chocolates.*** But it is good to be working in a library-related business, and I like the work. I seem to do pretty well with monotonous tasks involving just me and a computer, though I do miss handling actual items (it's half the fun!).
So, there you have it. I only recently realized that it's been just about 9 months since I last worked, and it is rather a shift getting back into that mode. It was really convenient to have such an open schedule, but I think it will be even more convenient to have twice our current moneys. That means we can go to Disneyland and Disney World sooner, and isn't that what it's all about? *I actually can't remember what this asterisk was going to say. I remembered! That whole man/woman thing is according to what people were saying in our marriage class on Sunday. No, we aren't in counseling. We just go because they asked people with A-K last names to go and boost the numbers. Anyway, we are traditional in our gender ways otherwise. **Nope, can't remember this one either. ***We didn't really have any chocolate but he did get me ice cream.
After lunch in a pub, we journeyed on to Stonehenge. We really really wanted a tour that took us there in the evening and into the Inner Circle but apparently they were doing that only on, like, 3 weekdays from now until December. So. Maybe next time. It was still really cool--very mysterious and old. We did our best Tess of the D'Urbervilles impersonations, only with less death.
It was a long day and I was just beat at the end of it, though I tried my hardest to watch Prisoner of Azkaban with the girls (Mr. Graham did quite literally carry me off to bed, since I could no longer move under my own power).
