Perils of assimilation

If only life came with subtitles.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Just a few more days

Last year for Thanksgiving, I sat at home at the old hellhole of an apartment by myself, picking at some left over tofurkey a friend had given me. I had no way to get home, and no money at all. I had just gone to Seattle on a whim to see a guy I met on a train back in October (We're still together, got to see him this weekend!). It was cold and dark, and tofurkey tasted like ass but I ate it for a week because I had nothing else. It was a real low point.

This year I am also not going to see my family(Though I suspect they will try to kidnap me on Tuesday). My Dad has bailed on Thanksgiving for the past five years or so, and this time he'll be there. So I must keep up the disappearing family member tradition this year. I am cooking along with Lila and Caroline for Caroline's family. It's an exciting time. I get to do something I love and have Caroline's family foot the bill. We have an organic turkey purchased, at least. Everything else is still up in the air. I'm pulling for some kind of braised winter green or an orange-fennel salad. Oo, or brussels sprouts and bacon. Caroline's mom is a diabetic, so we have to keep the sugar content to a minimum, so a savory sweet potato dish has been settled on instead of the sickly sweet mash that everyone loves so much. The food blogs are going mad with all this Thanksgiving prep and I fucking love it. So many ideas bouncing around!

Monday, November 16, 2009

I've been swallowed by the school monster!

Since school has started I haven't had very much time for anything else. I always have something to do, and some pretty interesting ways to procrastinate on it. But, like every school year that I can remember, this procrastination has done me in again. I have a large assignment in every one of my classes all due this week, Thursday in fact, the day that I am flying out to DC. It's not that I'm bad at this stuff, I'm actually kind of good at it. I have a terrible time getting started because I feel that I am not very creative and I am afraid of failure. Everytime I don't turn in an assignment it's because I feel like what I have is too mediocre to turn in (or I forgot about it). I do my best work when I'm in a state of emotional turmoil, when it's life I need to avoid for a while. My life has been too stable for that.