I started reading Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist. I’m about halfway through, and I love this book. How do I love it? I will count the ways. There will be more detail and gushing when I’m through with it, but for now, I’m just going to let this picture of my breakfast speak for itself (berry crisp – vegan and gluten free style).
Posted in Books, Food | Tagged resolutions | Leave a Comment »
Well, it’s here. Texas summer. It took its merciful time getting to Denton, but this week it seems to be making up for lost time. Goodbye, low utility bills. I’ll miss you most of all.
June means:
– summer conferences in Housing
– having most of my conversations start with some variation of, “I haven’t seen you in so long – where have you been?” Working. Always, always working during the school year. Summer means no teaching, though, which makes just working my full-time job feel like time off.
– summer cleaning (because it was too nice outside/too busy in the spring)
– snow cones
And all these things:
Books
Apparently I think I’m a young adult, because YA fiction is what I’ve been reading lately.
In June, I finished the latest in Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments series. They’re…okay. I would have enjoyed them more in a month when everything else I read was terrible, but that’s not really a recommendation, is it? If you have to read poorly written things to appreciate something, maybe it’s best to advise others to skip it. Especially if they happened to read something like Lord of the White Hell by Ginn Hale in the same month. There’s just no comparison.
I also read Citrus County by John Brandon. He writes dialogue well. I can read just about anything with well-written dialogue.
My favorite book of the month was Will Grayson, Will Grayson. I love John Green. Every time I read another book of his for the first time, I gush and say, “This is my favorite book I’ve ever read of his!” And it’s true every time, but it’s especially true with this one. This is my favorite favorite. I’ve never read anything else by David Levithan, but I certainly will now.
In July, I am actually reading books written for proper grown-ups (well, older ones, anyway): The Paris Wife, Let the Great World Spin, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Snapper, The Cookbook Collector, and I might finish A Storm of Swords and Quiet. I also might start Infinite Jest. Maybe.
Or maybe I’ll just catch up on TV.
TV is my boyfriend:
The only movie I watched this month (or last month, for that matter) was Friends with Kids. It’s not new, but it had me at Adam Scott, whom I adore.
I haven’t even watched a lot of TV this month. I finished the last season of The West Wing. Yes, it was my first time. I’m glad I waited until it was off the air, because I am pretty sure I would have been an emotional disaster if I had actually followed it as it was airing. Just the whole time. In related news, if anyone is looking for gift ideas for me, you’ll notice that I’ve provided a link in the previous line for your convenience. /shameless
Lately, I’ve been watching Dr. Who. I’m about halfway through the fourth season. The weeping angels are still the creepiest villains. *shudders*
And I haven’t been watching Game of Thrones, but I had to see what everyone was so upset about re: the wedding of doom. Clearly, these upset fans have not read the books, or they’d be used to people dropping like flies (and don’t yell “Spoiler Alert” to me. If you don’t know that a lot of people die in this story, you haven’t been paying attention, because…um…war). I like that the episode inspired this (spoilery) and this (spoilery).
I can’t believe I missed the start of SYTYCD. I love that show. Fair warning – next month will probably include videos of dances that everyone just really needs to see.
Music:
At work, I have been rocking my Pandora stations, specifically the Build Me Up, Buttercup station and the Edith Piaf station. You’re welcome, coworkers.
In my car, it’s been Melody Gardot and Madeleine Peyroux.
Food:
I’m taking Preston Yancey’s Sacramental Baking course, and I now am addicted to sourdough. Seriously – I might have a problem. A happy, delicious problem about which none of my friends are complaining. You can throw just about anything into a loaf of sourdough. Sundried tomato and olive is my current favorite.
It’s summer, though, so most of what I have been making are a thousand different salads. My favorites in June were this Mediterranean couscous salad, arugula pasta salad with chickpeas and goat cheese, and anything with this lemon garlic vinaigrette dressing,
I also bought Popsicle molds and made many frozen treats. My favorites were vegan peach pie pops and vegan orange creamsicles.
I want to make this banana jam…and possibly roll around in it a little.
The Interwebs:
– The person who made this cake is pretty much my hero.
– 31 Unmistakable Signs that You’re an Introvert. Yep. If the crowd is too big, I will socialize with your cat. And ONLY your cat.
– My Imaginary Well-Dressed Toddler Daughter on Pinterest.
– Jonalyn Fincher’s video response to Jessica Rey’s The Evolution of the Swimsuit
That about sums it up. Looking for something else to read, watch, or generally be into? Check out similar posts at Leigh Kramer’s blog!
Posted in Books, Food, Resolutions, TV, Work | 14 Comments »
You go through your day, and people talk to you. They ask you questions. They need directions. They just wanted to stop by and say, “Hello.”
They talk to each other, and you overhear it.
“Did you learn about aspartame in your nutrition class? I learned about aspartame. It kinda freaks me out.”
“And then he said, ‘I like your socks,’ and I was like, ‘Really? You have to try harder.'”
“It’s so muggy in here.”
They nod at you as they pass by, and you both manage to speak in the short time it takes for them to walk by.
“Have a good day.” – “You, too!”
“How are you?” – “I’m doing fine. And you?” – “Just great!”
“Thank you!” – “You’re welcome! See you tomorrow.”
Every once in a while, though, someone comes through, and the scene changes.
You’ve noticed him before. He comes in often, almost everyday. You have exchanged passing pleasantries prior to today.
But today, he pauses and reads something on the desk in front of you. And you look up from your book and watch him read.
And the scene changes.
He’s scruffy. He has brown eyes. He has a light scar above his left eyebrow.
He glances at you and smiles as he says, “Hi,” and then goes back to reading. He doesn’t give in to the popular compulsion to narrate why he’s breaking his routine. You like that about him.
You don’t give in to the popular compulsion to rationalize aloud why you’re watching him.
His focus is intense. It’s just a flier about the building, but it has his full attention in this moment. The same full attention he gave you with his greeting.
He finishes reading, and then says, “Community baths, huh?” His voice is the exact moment that the buttercream from your cupcake mixes with the first sip of espresso on your tongue.
You manage to pull off a sympathetic smirk and say, “Yeah.”
He smiles and shakes his head. Your smirk grows into something more open. More alive. His smile does the same.
He pats the desk once and says, “Have a good day.”
And the scene has changed.
Not really. Nothing is different. Tomorrow, it will be back to “Have a nice day!” – “You, too!”
But you remember that you can notice. And feel. And appreciate. And be awake.
And the number of days, weeks, months since that has happened has been reset to zero.
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The last twelve hours have been emotional. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.
A couple of highlights, in case you missed it:
1. I love you, Texas Senator Wendy Davis.
2. Thank you, SCOTUS. A promising start.
I almost wept at work. Perhaps I should have taken a personal day.
In other news, I am in love with these biscuits. They might be my favorite biscuits that I’ve ever made.
Now, I am going to get another cup of coffee and see if I can’t remain upright for the remainder of the work day.
Posted in Food, Hope | Tagged hope, resolutions | Leave a Comment »
Welcome to Round Two of the Larry^ vs. Christmas* Summer Showdown. I am going to start over – clean slate – with the scoring, because otherwise, it’s possible that it just might get ridiculous. And that’s how tournaments work – each game starts at zero. And this is a new day. And I’m too lazy to scroll back and look at where the score stands.
In the interest of fairness, I admit that most of the items in Summer Showdown Two follow a theme of argh-so-many-people, so it’s possible that this will be viewed as skewed by some readers.
I do not care. Crowds are really not my favorite.
This round starts with…
The Cafeteria
You know how, before, I said things like, “Being in a building with a cafeteria, I get to see EVERYBODY!” like it was a good thing? Well, now that I’ve slept, woken up, and remembered what my actual personality is, my reaction is more along the lines of, “OMG so many people and so much loud!” Don’t get me wrong, I like people. People are nice. I can rock a one-on-one conversation or a small group gathering. In fact, I’m rocking one right now (well, not RIGHT now. But just a few minutes ago, before I started typing). But when there are so many people that there’s no way I could possibly hope to interact with everyone, I get overwhelmed, and I just want to crawl under the desk and cry.
There’s no way to avoid it at Larry. There are going to be thousands of people swarming around. And part of it is that it’s summer, and the campers are intimidated by the students, and the students hate that the campers are here, making the lines that they feel are rightfully theirs longer than usual, and no one knows where the bathroom is, and so I have the same conversation 900 times an hour. So that’s not really a reflection on Larry as a whole, because all of that is temporary.
There aren’t usually drummers in the building, drumming on everything. And I’d be dealing with them at Christmas, too, because it’s near where they practice.
There aren’t usually teenage cheerleaders practicing their cheers in the lobby during their lunch break.
There aren’t usually coaches using their whistles in the building to get their campers’ attention…like this is a damn gym.
I am willing to believe that the building is usually full of people who actually belong here (sorry, campers, but…yeah) and thus who are a little more invested in making sure it is not a zoo, or at least who are less prone to travel in gargantuan packs (because you don’t take your friends to class with you).
But I imagine that the cafeteria still makes it inevitably crowded and louder, especially during typical meal times, than I like for it to be, even during the year. The reason that I suspect that this is true is that the other people who do work here during the year (various university personnel, most of whom I don’t know and who don’t know me) are so used to it that they think they’re doing me a favor when they hang out and talk about the weather or how busy I must be, so that I won’t get bored.
News flash, folks. I don’t often get bored. There’s always something to do or prepare. And if I’ve exhausted all things to do or prepare for work, there’s a cornucopia of things to read. I don’t need to be entertained. You’re thinking of boring people.
What I do need is for you not to yell at me so that I can hear your half of our mind-numbing conversation over the lunch rush. Ignore me. Please. I promise you won’t hurt my feelings.
The only upside to this is that I appreciate quiet even more than I already did. I went to Christmas to prepare for a camp there the other day, and it was so blissfully peaceful. It’s not always that way, but it’s that way more often than not.
Larry 0, Christmas 1.
Temperature control
Christmas has it. Larry doesn’t. As I am typing this, someone walking by just said, as if on cue, “Why is there no air conditioning here?” There is. You just can’t actually feel it, on account-a the so, so many people. It’s not Larry’s fault. It’s just the way air works. When you have 10,000 people coming in, and it’s summer any time in Texas, it’s going to get hot and gross. There’s no way around it. Oh, wait. There is. It’s called being at Christmas, where leaving the door open is so rare that the alarm goes off if it’s left open too long, shaming the people holding it open into closing it immediately, preserving our nice 70-degree climate.
Larry 0, Christmas 2.
Desk operations
When you are one of the most established buildings on campus, you will have collected some things that make desk operations run more smoothly.
Like this:
I covet these boxes so much. Do you know how much easier they have made check-ins and check-outs? Do you know how much more smoothly move-in day would run if we had some of our very own at Christmas? Dear Christmas HD of mine, can we get some of these things?!?!?!?! Because I NEED them!
I like office supplies. No. That’s too tame. I LUUUUUUUUUUURVEEEEEEE office supplies (say it out loud, just like that. Throw a purring noise in there. Now you’ve got it). And if these check-in boxes were a boy, I would marry them.
I also have benefited from seeing how Larry does things differently and weighing them against how we do them at Christmas. Most of the things we do, I’m keeping the same (Desk blog, Larry. Because it’s the 21st century. And we can check problems from afar during the weekend for training/disaster-avoidance purposes. And no one can alter someone else’s blog post. I’m just sayin’.). But it’s always good to see how things work at other places, because it will make me a stronger leader in my regular position. So I’m glad for this experience.
Larry 1, Christmas 2.
Junior High flashbacks
At Christmas, I know where things are, and even if I didn’t, its location has a normal name (i.e., 3rd floor north closet or CHR-375, if you want to cut right to the chase and not have to even bother knowing where north is). Everything at Larry has a quirky, community-building name, which is great…if you’re a part of said community and are going to stick around for awhile, thus inspiring you to actually learn it. I get it – I do – but I feel like the awkward adolescent who doesn’t really fit in with the cool kids. Even a map would be helpful, for those of us who are on the outside looking in, to know where (or what) the hell Sherwood is when the police officer from the information booth wants a quiet place to eat her lunch. But alas, having searched the S: drive over, I have run across no map. I so enjoy looking incompetent when people ask where something is. I need to have a shirt made that says, “I don’t usually work here. Don’t judge me.” or “I’m better at this job in my building” or just “For the love of God, I’m trying.”
Sorry, Larry. You’re too cool for me. Figuratively, of course. Literally speaking, it’s so freaking hot here.
Larry 1, Christmas 3.
The “I gotta be me!” factor (you know, because the rest of this has been super objective)
At Christmas, it is far less likely that, if I (allegedly) did something like roll my eyes and say, “White people!” with an exasperated sigh, there would be a tour of parents coming through to overhear me (it’s not directed at them, for the record. I would never. That’s would be terrible customer service. I toe the line, but I’m not THAT person.). And if there is a tour of parents coming through, I have a better vantage point at Christmas to see them coming and to adjust my speech accordingly.
Some people might argue that I could just curb such comments the entire time I’m behind the desk, but these people clearly don’t get my clever, tongue-in-cheek sense of humor that so endears me to everyone I meet.
So…anyway…
Larry 1, Christmas 4.
Shout-out to Sarah
This summer could have been really terrible. I not only could have been forced into change (which, in case you missed the neon-sign-level-of-obviousness memo, I really detest), but also forced into a place that was a disaster with people I didn’t get along with (delightful as I am, it happens). I cannot confirm that that would have been the case anywhere else in the department – I don’t know of anyone who outwardly hates me – but it’s always a fear of mine. I recognize that I’m an acquired taste, and some people don’t want to make the effort. I am grateful that this has not been the case. Sarah (real props call for real names) has been especially welcoming, so much so that Larry gets another point, just for her. Everyone else is pretty cool, but Sarah goes out of her way, and I appreciate it.
Also, there’s a dog here that, when it’s (he? she? I don’t even know) not judging me, tolerates me enough to put up with me fishing paper clips out of its mouth.
So final tally for this round – Larry 2, Christmas 4
^ and * – Name of building changed…because I’m a professional. I mean, I did immediately email this link to the competing hall directors, because they enjoy this sort of thing, so it’s not like this is a secret. Also, context clues make it really obvious to anyone who has ever spent any time on campus. But still. Random people/prospective students could read, and I could color their opinion, which I don’t want to do, because it’s based on my own personal bias, and they might actually love living at ^ more than *. It could happen.
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I love making lists. I also love goal-setting. Making New Year’s resolutions is like a drug to me. I do it every year.
My resolutions this year were designed to give myself a break from the “stress” (if absolute joy is stressful) of having lists and keeping tabs on my progress. Whatever need I felt at the time to do that…yeah, I’m over it.
So here is my revamp – mid-year – of my resolutions. Some of you who have been around for a while will notice similarities to my resolutions from a few years ago – the “100 things” year. I was re-reading those posts and remembering how much fun I had that year. So I’m going to do it a little differently, but still…list-y.
(I am also going to include some things I’ve already done for these lists, because I don’t have a year at this point, and I am loathe to shoot myself in the foot from the onset)
I picked five things that make me happy/make me feel grounded and centered/make me feel like I’m actually doing something with my life besides waking, working, drinking coffee, and sleeping (not that there’s anything wrong with those things).
1. Reading – 100 books. I’ve already started on this goal, and Goodreads informs me that, while I have read 31 books so far, I am 15 books behind schedule. But I will not be daunted. I haven’t decided if I’m going to update every book that I read here, or if I will just give you what I love the most (or when I hated it and need to vent about it). But you can follow me on Goodreads if you wish to get book-by-book updates, because that’s where I really keep up with it.
2. Cooking – 100 new recipes. My favorite thing about the “100 things” year was all the new recipes I tried. Trying new things keeps me out of Food Rut, and this is important, because Food Rut is what puts me in the drive-through of Taco Bell, and nobody wins there (well, maybe the CEO of Taco Bell, but I think he’ll be okay). I will update these here, because I will be super excited about them. Fair warning – I am taking a Sacramental Baking Course. Look for a post on my first sourdough when I get around to writing it.
3. Writing – 100 hours. Whether I’m blogging or working on one of the multiple fiction projects I have going on, I have to write to be sane. I will be starting from scratch here, because I haven’t been logging my writing hours so far, but even starting now, I have twenty-eight weeks left of the year. And November is National Novel Writing Month. Even if it wasn’t, that’s only a little over three and a half hours a week. The writing of this post puts me at 0.4 hours. 99.6 to go!
4. Thanking – 100 admissions of gratitude. Gratitude keeps me from being so cynical that I get sleepless and achy. I may reminisce about a few of these, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if I had 100 MORE stories this year about how beautiful life can be? Here are my first two, just from today:
4a. I just got to encourage someone who assumed that a college degree was too lofty a dream for them to achieve that they could do it. That’s my favorite thing that’s happened this week.
4b. This – oh, my soul – THIS. Thank you, Jesus. And more, please.
5. Watching – 100 pictures. Sometimes, I just go through my photos, and my day is better. There will probably be way more than 100 pictures, and all of them might not make it to the blog. But all of them will make it to the Facebook (here’s Spring and here’s Summer), where I basically live, so peruse and enjoy!
Posted in Resolutions, Seasons | Tagged resolutions | Leave a Comment »
This is the first summer (or…the first time ever, rather) that I have worked here but not at my building. We have two weeks of camps at my building and no cafeteria, so we have nothing for me to do there, basically. That means that I am forced to get to work at another hall most of the summer.
My competitive streak makes me want to stack them against each other.
First, the history:
Larry^ holds many fond memories for me. I spent a lot of time here when I was a resident, four thousand years ago, hanging out with friends in the lobby, Social Dance Liberation Front in the meeting room, eating at what was then one of the only places on campus where you could guarantee that you could get vegetarian food. Good times.
Christmas* is that building that they had to destroy the Texas Pickup Cafe to build. Rude.
Larry 1, Christmas 0.
Recent history:
Christmas has been my place of employ for the last eight years. We have history. I love Christmas. Because we’re the best.
Larry is cool. Larry has character. Larry is…cool. But it’s not home.
Larry 1, Christmas 1.
Hospitality:
Christmas is hospitable. We like to make people feel welcome. This year alone, my hall director has brought peanut butter cookies, breakfast burritos, cake, Ravelin, and multiple other treats. Hospitality is important to me
Larry is at an admitted disadvantage. I have years of memories of Christmas’s hospitality, and I have two days at Larry. Already in those two days, though, I have been greeted by a welcome sign and a cupcake. Observe and be jealous:
Few things say, “Welcome!” to me like mocha buttercream.
But like I said, it’s a little early to really get a real comparison.
The score remains: Larry 1, Christmas 1.
Related to welcome, appreciation:
Again, Larry is at a disadvantage, but this one is going to be hard to outdo. Christmas LOVES me. One year, the Hall Association seriously considered (i.e., it was one of the three finalist designs) making an acrostic of my name, which just so happens to match up with our hall’s abbreviation, as part of the year’s t-shirt. This year, for staff appreciation week, the RAs wrote and sang us a song. When I mention that I’m at another building on Facebook, at least one of the RAs will comment with thinly veiled panic, demanding to know why I’m not at Christmas and needing reassurance that I will be back there – where they claim I clearly belong – in the fall.
Larry seems to like me just fine. The hall directors are awesome. The staff seems great. I’m sure that they will grow to like me as well as can be expected. I’m not sure that two months is long enough to really LOVE me, though, so Christmas comes out ahead on this one.
Larry 1, Christmas 2.
Foot Traffic:
Christmas is pretty much out of the way over at the edge of campus. No one comes to Christmas unless they have specific business at Christmas. Larry is right in the middle of everything. And Larry has a cafeteria. At Larry, you get to see everybody. I like this so far, but I can see it being less appealing once we get camps and I have more work to do at the desk, the completion of which will take hours longer than it should when paired with the endless conversation that inevitably comes with a busy building.
Again, it’s an even trade.
Larry 1, Christmas 2.
Other traffic:
Traffic around Christmas this time of the year is terrible. We’re right by the coliseum where various schools (read: every school in the entire universe…or metroplex) hold their graduation ceremonies. Parking is a nightmare for a few weeks. I am happy to be avoiding that.
Larry is under construction. So I listen to construction noise all day here, then I go home and listen to three or four more hours of construction there. How is this my life? Why is it following me? *cries; rocks in corner* The construction at Larry has done away with the two public restrooms in the lobby, so every time someone needs to use the restroom, I 1) tell them where to find it and 2) give them the access code, because the restrooms they’re using this summer are the ones on the resident wings that only the residents usually have access to use. Either people will learn and adjust (i.e., learn the codes, follow the signs), or I will have this conversation a lot.
I’m sorry, Larry, but four weeks of graduation traffic as opposed to a forever of construction and related noise/inconvenience? Christmas has this one.
Larry 1, Christmas 3.
So there you have it. My first showdown between Larry and Christmas. Christmas comes out ahead, but I have just been here two days, so I can admit that it’s a little unfair. Also, I can admit that I don’t like change, so it’s possible that that is an underlying factor.
Ultimately, a day in another building is still a day with a job that is pretty fun and easy overall.
* and ^ – Name of building changed…because I’m a professional. I mean, I did immediately email this link to the competing hall directors, because they enjoy this sort of thing, so it’s not like this is a secret. Also, context clues make it really obvious to anyone who has ever spent any time on campus. But still. Random people/prospective students could read, and I could color their opinion, which I don’t want to do, because it’s based on my own personal bias, and they might actually love living at ^ more than *. It could happen.
Posted in Work | Tagged Work-a-day | 1 Comment »
It’s summertime for me. I know, it seems a little early. Summer camps haven’t started. The summer reading program at the library hasn’t begun. The kids aren’t even out of school yet.
My seasons tend to start early, though. I work with college students, so the seasons tend to go with the semesters and their breaks. Also, I live in Texas, so it starts to feel like summer here earlier than most places. In fact, it’s not so much fall, winter, spring, summer for me as it’s fall, holiday, spring, summer, because February might not always feel like winter here, but it always grades like spring. I turned in grades on Monday for Spring 2013 and have started working for summer conferences, so in my mind, I’ve transitioned.
It’s a new season. A new photo album on Facebook. A new goodbye, making way for a new hello.
I will miss my residents. Well, most of them. I will not miss teaching, but I’ll be ready to go back to it in August.
Summertime means conferences, the part of my job where I feel most like a fish out of water. Day desk has been rougher than I expected it to be, but conferences are even rougher. Training is my strength; customer service is not. And customer service is all that summer conferences entail. On the upside, it’s easier to leave behind when I leave work for the day. I gratefully flee. No chance of it following me home.
Summertime means reading. I read a lot anyway, but there’s more time for it in the summer. I am not reading many deep things this summer. I actually have romance novels on my list. I might flip out and throw some Proust in there or tackle Infinite Jest, but I make no promises.
Summertime usually means more writing, too. I am going to work on my Fishbowl story this summer. I am also submitting a few posts in a few places as a guest blogger. And I have the urge for the first time ever to try my hand at poetry, so perhaps I will do some of that, too. I am in love with poetry these days, from E. E. Cummings’s “I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach a ten thousand stars how not to dance,” to Pablo Neruda’s “I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.”
But most important of all – summertime means snow cones and popsicles and yoga. Cooling off and calming down. It’s my sanest season.
Posted in Books, Seasons, Work, Writing | Leave a Comment »
In lieu of actually writing something myself, I wanted to share with you two things I read today that are awesome:
Posted in Beauty, Seasons | Tagged lazy | Leave a Comment »
This was pretty much my main view this weekend. Other than eating and sleeping and laundry, I worked on my Camp NaNoWriMo piece. I had great aspirations of reaching the halfway point by Sunday night, but I am still not there. I got sucked into a little editing, and I just couldn’t seem to stop.
The semester is winding down. My students are working on their third and final group presentation this week, which means easy and boring week in class for me. But I look forward to the presentations next week.
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M. Suzanne Terry 
