is the word 'diary' better than the word 'blog'? probably not.
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Undertaking New Things Despite Natural Obstacles.
Undertaking New Things Despite Natural Obstacles.
It has struck me lately, with the force of an empty apartment, that I should do something. I'll only be in Amherst for another four months, and there are things I haven't done yet. Like I haven't spent enough time with Eric Westerlund, who lives in Ashfield, nearby. And I haven't even seen Chris Collingwood once yet, even though I've been here since September, and he lives in freaking NORTHAMPTON, ten miles away. So I am having lunch tomorrow with Chris (he called and said, "it's that chris collingwood guy" and i said, "shit. i wish i had caller I.D." and he said, "yeah, well if you did it would say 'caller not identified' because I AM FAMOUS!" hahaha). So tomorrow we lunch. And he has promised to design for me evening activities, so maybe I will meet some new people. In addition, Marilyn might be coming out to spend the weekend with me, but only if she gets over her cold, because I've told her I cannot brook any contagions in my house.
Wendy is lobbying for me to come to NYC this weekend, because Hal Hartley is speaking at MOMA and then screening his new film on Sunday. That sounds good. Plus Homay's band is playing that night. Theoretically I could sleep in NYC and get back to Amherst in time to teach at 2 on Monday. But I'll let the weather and my mood dictate whether I can make the trip. I'm definitely going to NYC later in February to see what Christo is going to do to Central Park.
Dug the car out of the snow for the first time today. That sucked. Got to school. Made my students vote on whether I would have to break down and buy ugly practical snow shoes. The vote was split, though with a notable number of abstentions. Winter is hard! Everything is a much bigger hassle, everything takes more time, and clothes are less cute. All I want to do is hide in my apartment. But I need to do things. Life is easy in California, my friends.
I started doing Pilates. And, let me tell you, it is DIFFICULT. Not only is it difficult because it requires a lot of balance and coordination and torso-muscle strength, but because there is this thing called "Pilates Stance" that I am physically incapable of doing. You are supposed to lay on your back with your legs up in the air, both of them turned out a bit so your knees and feet angle out instead of being aligned to the front, and while doing that you are supposed to squeeze your thighs together so that your legs are like one leg, a leg unit. The problem is, I am slightly bow-legged, so no matter how hard I try, I simply can't make my knees and thighs touch each other. The End. My Leg Unit Sucks. Nonetheless, I am already feeling like my trunk is stronger, and possibly leaner. Have you noticed how the word "trunk" used to automatically refer to the torso portion of the body, but now it tends to refer to the ass, like, "whoa, you've got some junk in the trunk," by which I mean, "nice ass." Well, when I say my trunk feels stronger I mean my torso, OK?
Tonight after class I came home and realized I had a pint of heavy cream in the refrigerator that was going to go bad if I didn't use it so I chose a recipe that would use up most of it. Now I have a tart composed of these things: a walnut crust, home-made caramel, and home-tempered bittersweet chocolate ganache. All the different parts were tasty, but I haven't sampled the finished product yet, as it is setting right now. It is challenging, however, to make caramel and tempered chocolate without a candy thermometer, so there is always the possibility that I guessed wrong at temperatures and my tart will never never set. Still, you can't really go wrong with chocolate, caramel, and a pie crust made with walnut flour. If necessary, I can eat it with a spoon.
8:55 p.m. - January 26, 2005
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