Teddi Tag

I got this tag from Teddi, Set, Go! better known/formerly known as Jewish Girl in Wasp's Clothing. I've been having a hard time figuring out what this blog is about, because I don't know which side of me to show on it. I think this tag is a good blend of sincerity and levity and shows a balanced mix of my personality.

Just because I haven't touched this blog on months doesn't mean I constantly fret about it. I do... it's just that I quash every idea that I think of for this blog.

A to Z TAG

A. Attached or single?   Very single. Very, indeed.
B. Best friend?   Oh...?
C. Cake or pie? I eat more cake only because it's easier to find so I'll go with pie. Apple pie, buko or young coconut pie, shepherd's pie, buttermilk pie, even pumpkin pie! For cakes, I like caramel crunch cake. In general, I like cake with a lot of fruits and nuts and "stuff"...even fruitcake!

Makes me nostalgic for the 90s and that single magazine in our entire house growing up: Ladies' Home Journal

D. Day of choice? Thursdays and Sundays 
E. Essential item? Pen & paper.
F. Favorite color? Gray & pink to wear, forest green on walls for that old library look.
G. Gummy bears or worms? I like sour, sugary worms. (Teddi's answer, as is mine)
H. Hometown? San Juan is where I was raised, but I'm searching for my place in the sun.
I. Favorite indulgence? Whiling the entire day on the internet reading newspapers, blogs and magazines.
J. January or July? January: clear winter night skies, brisk and chilly nights, and after-Christmas sales!


K. Kids? I am mothering the child in me, as a therapist advised me.
L. Life isn't complete without? A certain level of abstraction.
M. Marriage date? Sometime in the future?
N. Number of brothers/sisters? 1 sister.
O. Oranges or apples? Heirloom apples. So far, my favorites are King David and green dragon.
P. Phobias? I don't have phobias but I have plenty of fears.

Late to the TS party, but converts make ardent believers, they say.

Q. Quotes? Nothing that pops in mind.
R. Reasons to smile? Life may be hard, but it's my choice. :)
S. Season of choice? Early winter or a gentle monsoon season. (Though I've never really lived in a place with proper 4 seasons.)
T. Tag 5 people. If you read this, please do this!
U. Unknown fact about me? The same as Teddi's: I think my voice is stupid... although when I read something aloud, or I'm conscious of how I inflect, it's not bad at all I think.
V. Vegetable? The hot "it" veg: kale. But I like bib lettuce and arugula and most leaf & cruciferous vegetables, especially since I don't think I eat enough of them. I also like taro and ube (which are not the same).

My BFF Gwyny taught me the word "cruciferous."

W. Worst habit? Similar to Teddi's: Being wishy washy and speaking before I think. Also, procrastinating. And being afraid.
X. X-Ray or ultrasound? Ultrasound. I like the gel. haha. But first, why?
Y. Your favorite food? Sugar. Salt. Fat. & Starch. (ADDICTED.)
Z. Zodiac sign? Taurus & Snake. Even though I don't consider myself superstitious, I identify a lot with those two, although I'd never wear a zodiac sign necklace. (But I appreciate it when people do!)


image sources: Wikipedia Commons; New York Public Library Digital Library; Wikipedia; Apartment Therapy; Neiman Marcus via Pinterest

Jhumpa Lahiri

Though he looked like any other Bengali, he felt an allegiance with the foreigners now. He shared with them a knowledge of elsewhere. Another life to go back to. The ability to leave.

-Jhumpa Lahiri, "Brotherly Love" in The New Yorker

In my case, the inability to leave, yet longing to go back to another life.

W of the D

mar·plot  (märplt)

n.

An officious meddler whose interference compromises the success of an undertaking.

---

[After Marplot, a character in The Busy Body, a play by Susannah Centlivre (1669-1723).]

 

from thefreedictionary.com

Quite a good natural sounding word isn't it? I wonder who Susannah Centlivre was. I stumbled on this word in Little Women as I'm rereading it now.

Word of the Day: Obloquy

ob·lo·quy 
/ˈäbləkwē/
Noun

    Strong public criticism or verbal abuse.
    Disgrace, esp. that brought about by public abuse.

Synonyms
slander - opprobrium - shame - dishonour - dishonor

from dictionary.com via google

Example:
"Rather than actually confront the difficulties of the region, he is deploying his considerable prestige to say that one country, among all the nations of the world, is uniquely deserving of obloquy."

From: "Viewpoint: Stephen Hawking's Israel Boycott is lost in Space" in Time magazine. 

(note: Not only are the views expressed solely the individual [source] writer's, I may actually disagree with them)

Nano Update

My reason for being for the next 2.5h is one of those giant cookies the size of a salad plate, a staple of mediocre coffee shop food along with stale croissants and muffins. Gotta get through this, gotta get through this chapter.

Shopping at Goodwill

  Came back from shopping at Goodwill today. I hoped to buy a crock pot, microwave, iron, electric kettle, oven toaster, plates and utensils. I wasn't expecting to buy all of them (since I can't lug them all on the bus anyway), but was very much hoping for the crock pot and microwave to be available. I knew Goodwill always has plates and utensils for sale, so that wasn't an issue.

  I did find crock pots at Goodwill, three in fact, and bought the cheapest one for $5. I'm satisfied with it, but I was thinking of not buying it at all for two reasons: it's really tiny, I would call it "personal size;" and it doesn't have settings. You just plug it in. The two other slow cookers were bigger and had high/low settings but their crocks weren't removable, which is really important to me for cleaning purposes. I was already there and didn't want to waste the trip so I did what was instinctual to me: buy the cheapest option.

 I also found an iron for $6. I have to scrape the iron's bottom plate and figure out how to pour water into the iron but those should be easy. 

  I also found an electric kettle but decided that I didn't really need one, that I should just save the $4 that I'd spend on one for the microwave. Ha. That $4 was spent on something else, very very quickly.

  Regretfully, I didn't find a microwave at all (though strangely there were lots of hair dryers and vegetable steamer contraptions). If I'd found a microwave, I probably had to lugged it, the crock pot, plates, utensils and iron directly to  my Cozy Little Hovel, but because my hands were free, I went shopping a bit more. Big Mistake.

 I spent an extra $14 on a large woven basket and a blouse. It's a really nice basket! It's large, but not rigid, the material is almost like a straw hat but thicker, and it was able to hold the plates, utensils, crock pot, iron and electric kettle with room to spare. And the handle is nicely covered in leather. I think Whole Food sells these baskets and they're from somewhere in Africa. 

  And the other half of the $14, I spent it on an ivory-colored blouse. I'm ambivalent about the soundness of this decision. On one hand, it was "too good to pass up." It was silk and Brooks Brothers. But then again, you can always say something is "too good to pass up," and because it's 100% silk, dry cleaning is mandatory, so in the long run, this shirt will probably be worth hundreds of dollars in maintenance. Also, I've been so good in not buying clothes at all for the past 6 months that breaking my record for a happenstance purchase feels like a defeat. But it's so silkyyyy. And it has covered buttons. And puff but not-too-puffy sleeves. And a mandarin collar. Sigh...

  

  I have two days to return the blouse, the basket or both. I'll probably return at least one of them.

  So the lesson in shopping at Goodwill is that you will end up buying a lot of lovely inexpensive crap if you're not careful. Write down a list. Leave no room for "oh, I really need X and I see they have it and for a good price." And eat before you shop! I was hungry while I was shopping. Not only does it make you impulsive but your mental functions will be cloudy and slow.

  PS. I would take pictures of my purchases esp the basket and the blouse but my camera's dead and I can't find my spare batteries.

Background Color, Weekend Plans, Cooking

Hello Everyone! So I decided to make another blog, hope it's a bit more of a success than the first one. I'm not too happy about the background colors; I was looking for true pinks but came up with peaches instead. No matter, I've quickly culled a few pictures from Flickr and I'm in the process of asking permission from the owners. Flickr's really been spiffying up on the copyright front and I can't right-click save the pictures, which I suppose is good for the photographers.

I have a lot of plans for the weekend that are currently a jumble in my head and on my planner and various pieces of paper but cleaning my Cozy Little Hovel is definitely one of them. Something about swimming, grocery shopping and the reason for my being, Studying, too is up there. And sprucing up this blog a bit more. And other Important Things.

I'm on the hunt for a crock pot. Since I now have to cook for myself, I'm hoping a slow cooker will make things easier. The only place I am allowed to shop, my grocery store, has some good models for good prices but I'm looking for ridiculously cheap prices. A trip to Goodwill is in order.