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miko2It is important, as we go about our holiday weekend, to occasionally pause and reflect on the fact that recently the CEO of Meow Mix was bitten by a dog. But we wouldn't want to insinuate that this is the only important news story currently out there, because the US military is forcing Iraqi prisoners to listen to music by Vin Diesel, Metallica, and Barney the Dinosaur. And you thought torture was against international law!
So today![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jeffreycornish and geojlc called to tell me that members of Varttina, my all-time favorite Finish folk-pop girl band, were going to be playing down at the Folklife Festival. I don't know when they called because I slept in to 2pm. But they called again around 4pm or so and I said I'd go, since it was supposed to be at 5pm. Then they called back again to tell me where it was, which was near some buildings I didn't know, South of some building I wasn't familiar with, and right near someplace I'd never heard of. I was still getting ready and was expecting to arrive late, when they called yet again to tell me the concert had been cancelled.
Oh well. I really needed to get my car's oil changed anyway. So of course I watched television for an hour. Then I drove down to Jiffy Lube, where I learned that it's bad to not have your oil changed for five months, but more importantly, when Saturn of Lynnwood fixed my car up in December after it had been stolen and recovered, they inexplicably didn't put an air filter in it.
Hmmm. I've been driving around without an air filter for five months. That's bad. This is another reason I should have had my oil changed sooner, I suppose.
The Jiffy Lube guys said that I could have sucked a rat into my engine. Those were their exact words. This probably would have been bad news for my engine, and even worse news for the rat.
I regaled them with stories of how my car was stolen and used in a kidnapping case. You know, changing oil isn't the most exciting job in the world.
Afterwards I drove to Half Price Books, all excited to use my 15% off coupon from my calendar. Every year I get a calendar from them with coupons to use throughout the year for 15% off, and despite this I'm not sure how to spell calendar. Or for that matter, coupon. Plus I think I've managed to cut out one of those coupons and used it exactly once in the last several years, so I was really happy to remember to have it on me.
Only they're doing a 20% off on everything in the store sale this weekend, so I didn't need my cupon. Oh well. Not like I can complain about 20% off. I bought some books on cd -- I was REALLY happy to see some good books on cd! I got Dr. Jekyl And Mr. Hyde, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Orlando, and Phantom of the Opera. Cool. Something to listen to while I'm stuck on I-5 every day. They had lots of Shakespeare on tape but nothing on cd, bleah. And then I got some trashy true-crime books, and only later did it occur to me that I was buying trash to read and classics to listen to... kinda weird. Mind you, I highly doubt that "Deranged: The Shocking True Story of America's Most Fiendish Killer" is available in cd form.
I also got a Heather Alexander cd for $2.98. ^_^
But what I'm reading at the moment is Hopscotch by Kevin J Anderson. It's based on a premise similar to my own "Mental Hopscotch" story, except that everyone in the world has developed the ability to swap minds instantly. Nobody knows why. This is what you might call "science fantasy" or even "speculative fiction based on a weird-ass premise" rather than hard science fiction, but the fun part is the world that Anderson imagines might exist based on this premise, and the crimes that could be committed, and how diffucult it would be to track the criminals.
So. After that I stopped at the store and bought a bunch of vegetables, so I could trybrombear's stew recipe. I was shopping from memory, I hadn't written anything down, so I got back out to the car, and remembered I needed V8 juice.
Then I got back to my apartment and started making it, and realized I didn't have onion soup mix or mushrooms.
So I was supposed to be watching Anna and the King, which was on television, but actually I spent most of the movie chopping vegetables up and running back to the store. I followed Bill's recipe closely, which meant there was too much stuff to go into my crock pot. So I diverted some of the chopped bell peppers to a homemade salsa, and then I made guacamole too (I'd bought supplies for both the night before).
I'm fully convinced that the true reason this soup is supposed to help you lose weight is that you sweat off several pounds just chopping up veggies.
But anyway, that was my exciting evening. I haven't tried the stew yet but the nachos I made are good. I might not need any stew tonight. ^_^
So today
jeffreycornish and geojlc called to tell me that members of Varttina, my all-time favorite Finish folk-pop girl band, were going to be playing down at the Folklife Festival. I don't know when they called because I slept in to 2pm. But they called again around 4pm or so and I said I'd go, since it was supposed to be at 5pm. Then they called back again to tell me where it was, which was near some buildings I didn't know, South of some building I wasn't familiar with, and right near someplace I'd never heard of. I was still getting ready and was expecting to arrive late, when they called yet again to tell me the concert had been cancelled.Oh well. I really needed to get my car's oil changed anyway. So of course I watched television for an hour. Then I drove down to Jiffy Lube, where I learned that it's bad to not have your oil changed for five months, but more importantly, when Saturn of Lynnwood fixed my car up in December after it had been stolen and recovered, they inexplicably didn't put an air filter in it.
Hmmm. I've been driving around without an air filter for five months. That's bad. This is another reason I should have had my oil changed sooner, I suppose.
The Jiffy Lube guys said that I could have sucked a rat into my engine. Those were their exact words. This probably would have been bad news for my engine, and even worse news for the rat.
I regaled them with stories of how my car was stolen and used in a kidnapping case. You know, changing oil isn't the most exciting job in the world.
Afterwards I drove to Half Price Books, all excited to use my 15% off coupon from my calendar. Every year I get a calendar from them with coupons to use throughout the year for 15% off, and despite this I'm not sure how to spell calendar. Or for that matter, coupon. Plus I think I've managed to cut out one of those coupons and used it exactly once in the last several years, so I was really happy to remember to have it on me.
Only they're doing a 20% off on everything in the store sale this weekend, so I didn't need my cupon. Oh well. Not like I can complain about 20% off. I bought some books on cd -- I was REALLY happy to see some good books on cd! I got Dr. Jekyl And Mr. Hyde, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Orlando, and Phantom of the Opera. Cool. Something to listen to while I'm stuck on I-5 every day. They had lots of Shakespeare on tape but nothing on cd, bleah. And then I got some trashy true-crime books, and only later did it occur to me that I was buying trash to read and classics to listen to... kinda weird. Mind you, I highly doubt that "Deranged: The Shocking True Story of America's Most Fiendish Killer" is available in cd form.
I also got a Heather Alexander cd for $2.98. ^_^
But what I'm reading at the moment is Hopscotch by Kevin J Anderson. It's based on a premise similar to my own "Mental Hopscotch" story, except that everyone in the world has developed the ability to swap minds instantly. Nobody knows why. This is what you might call "science fantasy" or even "speculative fiction based on a weird-ass premise" rather than hard science fiction, but the fun part is the world that Anderson imagines might exist based on this premise, and the crimes that could be committed, and how diffucult it would be to track the criminals.
So. After that I stopped at the store and bought a bunch of vegetables, so I could try
brombear's stew recipe. I was shopping from memory, I hadn't written anything down, so I got back out to the car, and remembered I needed V8 juice.Then I got back to my apartment and started making it, and realized I didn't have onion soup mix or mushrooms.
So I was supposed to be watching Anna and the King, which was on television, but actually I spent most of the movie chopping vegetables up and running back to the store. I followed Bill's recipe closely, which meant there was too much stuff to go into my crock pot. So I diverted some of the chopped bell peppers to a homemade salsa, and then I made guacamole too (I'd bought supplies for both the night before).
I'm fully convinced that the true reason this soup is supposed to help you lose weight is that you sweat off several pounds just chopping up veggies.
But anyway, that was my exciting evening. I haven't tried the stew yet but the nachos I made are good. I might not need any stew tonight. ^_^
