is the word 'diary' better than the word 'blog'? probably not.
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Conceptual Cake, Invented Pie.
Conceptual Cake, Invented Pie.
The weekend in New York was fun. On Thursday I drove through a frightening tunnel of a snowstorm on my way from Amherst to New Haven. The snowflakes were so huge that it took all my concentration not to allow myself to stare at them as they fell. No, instead I kept my eyes on the road, white knuckles on the steering wheel. By the time I reached mid-Connecticut the snow had disappeared.
At Linda�s Caroline made some very yummy and intoxicating drinks out of vodka, perrier, orange juice and campari. Linda made a yummy pasta featuring Broccoli Rabe and garlic. Broccoli Rabe is where we are at in the Vegetables section of the Cook�s Illustrated cookbook. What do I mean? Well�.
Linda is currently working her way through the Cook�s Illustrated cookbook in order. I am not kidding. She is cooking every recipe in the book, including all the variations, in order. The last time I stayed with her she was in the midst of all the mayonnaise variations, and, given that I am really disgusted by mayonnaise, that was a bit of a bummer. However, Linda is an excellent cook, and she turned that mayonnaise into some impressive food substances to which I had no objections at all.
Then we watched Sixteen Candles. The intent was to do crafts while watching Sixteen Candles, but I was both drunk and utterly transfixed by the movie, so I just sat on the couch and stared at Linda�s HUGE television.
The tiny screen of my eight inch television has made me appreciate all the televised largesse I witness elsewhere.
Linda has a subletter sleeping in �my room� (aka �Heidi�s room�), but Marian is currently living in LA most of the time, so I stayed in Marian�s room. Accordingly, I had a couple of those waking-and-not-knowing-where-I-was moments while there. But when I opened my eyes I was comforted to see that I was surrounded by very very expensive shoes, most of which are my size.
Bill�s Sixteen Candles party was fun. Almost everyone there was in costume, which is a testament to the love Bill inspires. The fact that every guy there save one or two was dressed as one of the geeks from the high school dance scene is a testament to something else about the people I tend to know�. Bill�s costume was best in this regard. With his finely honed geek-skills, he constructed an exact replica of the funny goggle and microphone set from the movie. Here he is in shadow-profile including the crazy goggles, blowing out the candles on the cake that wasn�t on my head. 
Of all the costumes worn, only Wendy and I had on what you would call "conceptual" costumes. I was the cake, she was the toilet-papered tree. A woman who talked to Wendy for a long time without noting that she was wrapped in toilet paper, then asked about her costume, and then said, "wow, that is very intellectual." We weren't so sure it was intellectual. Bill has promised to send photos of the costumes in action, but, for now, here's my cake hat, pre-party time (photo courtesy of the Sidekick II!). It only took 1.5 hours to make.
Saturday I hung out with Ramsay and Julia and Wendy for a few hours, talking and listening to music and eating sandwiches. Then I went to Central Park and walked a number of miles of the Christo Gates installation. It was impressive, but I think the masses of humanoids detracted from what would have been its effect if I had had some peace and or space for viewing how the gates transform the views offered by the park's various paths. Nonetheless, I�m glad I got to see it. Photo courtesy of Ramsay, who dropped me off at the park:
Saturday night I was exhausted. Paul and I had hatched some zany plot to go heavy metal dancing, but I managed to talk him into coming over to Linda�s for drinking instead. He even showed up with two different nicely aged bourbons. They were in mason jars, which made me suspect at first that he was trying to trick me into drinking a urine sample. But, no, it was most definitely a night of fine bourbons and good company, better than any Lowenbrau commercial you�ve ever seen.
Valentines Day came and went without much ado. Monday is my longest day, with a meeting with the thesis student, then getting ready for lecturing, lecturing, then office hours, then a two hour session with an independent study student. So when I got home I was ready for some not-thinking. I made a grilled cheese sandwich and French fries, and then I invented a kind of oatmeal-chocolate-and-cinnamon-chip-cookie-pie, worked on the paint-by-number series, and watched a number of episodes of Wonderfalls. The evening lacked nothing.
In addition, my sister sent me an awesome Valentines Day gift: Roxy Music Avalon. This is particularly funny, because it was the album most known as makeout-ready when I was in college. If a guy put that on, you KNEW he wanted to get with you, and quick. I used to have it on vinyl, and haven�t heard any of its songs for years. So I put it on and had a hilarious visceral memory of the last guy who had put that on when I was in his house: Kenny! Poor, misunderstood, lying, tragic Kenny. Poor guy thought he was the kind of prize who makes girls choose him over their girlfriends. Turns out, he was wrong. It�s still good to hear the voice of Bryan Ferry, and it�s still funny to think about Kenny.
12:16 a.m. - February 16, 2005
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