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Happy Leap Day

February 29, 2008 By

Today is February 29, a day that rolls around only once every 4 years. Gotta love leap years. Normally, February is a financially difficult month, since it’s 2 – 3 days shorter than all the others, it seems that we don’t get paid as much and bills are due a lot more often. But this leap day is special. I get paid today, and since Leap Day occurs on a Friday this year, it makes this February all the more rare. This is what is known in budgeting circles as a 5 week month. There are 5 Fridays this month, so for those of us who get paid every Friday, it means an extra paycheck. Next month there will still be 4 paychecks. I myself get paid every other Friday, so today I get my 3rd paycheck of the month. Yeehaw!

I haven’t forgotten about the follow-up to my previous post. The weekend is coming up and I’m tired from the week. I ended up napping yesterday instead of checking email and blogging when I got home from work, then it was our usual Thursday night out. If I’m not too tired and Boyfriend has nothing planned for tonite, I should be able to get some time then.

Happy Leap Day everyone!

Filed Under: Holidays

On Academia, Pt. 1

February 27, 2008 By

I have been toying with the vague idea to go back to school for quite some time. Years, actually. But it’s hard to come up with some plans without any clue as to what direction one wants to travel in.

Here’s a bit of history: When I was in high school, I was never very academically inclined. I did well in my classes, but overall wasn’t interested. I felt a calling more towards interior design. Rooms were my canvas, and I preferred to shop for sheets rather than shirts. As I was planning the rest of my life, I looked at schools that had design programs. I really wanted to go to a school in Atlanta that I had seen in my mom’s decorating magazines, partly mostly because they had an exchange program in London. But neither one of my parents was wild about the idea. My mother thought I should focus on something more practical like French, since I was doing well in that class, and my father just had that look on his face. That look wasn’t enthusiastic. I was disappointed, since going AWAY to school was a big part of the appeal. But I digress. I looked at schools a bit closer to me and ended up at the esteemed University of Lesser Knowledge Hesser College.

Hesser was in the next town and had an interior design program. Still infatuated with the away at college idea, I took a room in the dorms and immersed myself into college life. Oh, you’re wondering about the comment above? Well, my I found the college prep program in my high school to be more challenging than the course of study at Hesser. But other extra-curricular activities, which found me studying mixology more than interior design, saw me on academic probation and changing my major. I went with the path of least resistance and chose a major that featured classes I actually did well in despite my inebriated state. I focused on small business management the next semester, redeeming myself and my academic standing, but also letting a childhood fear of math get the best of me.

During an English final at the end of the second semester, I was answering an question with a total ass-kissing essay and ended up believing what I wrote. It sure sounded good at the time, and would certainly make a lot of people proud of me. I changed my major again, this time to liberal studies, with the intention of transferring into a 4-year program with a double major of English and education. I graduated Hesser with an Associate of Arts in Liberal Studies, and prepared for more studies at New Hampshire College (known today as Southern New Hampshire University).

Something weird happened when I was at NHC. I threw myself into my studies, but something was off. Something major in a cosmic sort of way. I started feeling like I was on the outside looking in, like I was in the wrong place. Bigger than that, actually – like I was in the wrong life. This life was so not the one I was meant to be living. The feeling became so overwhelming that I withdrew from classes to figure out exactly where I was supposed to be. I took a string of retail jobs, spent some time in Europe, got into office work, and lived a marginally fulfilling life.

In 2003, when I moved to Vegas, I had a bit of money to play with, so I decided to take a course at the local community college as a way to get out there and meet people. While perusing the non-credit courses, I figured why not? Why not take up a course of study? I did come here for a change, after all. But there was this pesky residency thing. Being the cheap shit that I am, I didn’t want to pay an exorbitant fee just because I hadn’t lived here long enough, so I only took 2 classes and took a part time job (Shoe Job). But finish up the core requirements that wouldn’t transfer in, and taking only 2 classes at a time, I lost steam. I needed to work full time, so school fell by the wayside.

That brings you all up to speed of the life of Kirsten, b.b. (Before Blog). As my longtime readers know, I have worked in a variety of administrative jobs, which while not exaclty fulfilling, kept me fairly happy. Until recently. Last year, as I was looking for yet another new job, I was searching for something, but I didn’t know what. I did know that I didn’t want to file and answer phones for the rest of my life. I needed direction.

And right now, I need sleep.  Stay tuned for part 2.

Filed Under: Talking About Myself

Burn Baby Burn

February 26, 2008 By

I was going to compose a post about academics, but I burned my finger while preparing dinner tonight.  I have a tendency to be a bit of a clutz in the kitchen.  Anyway, the pad of my right middle finger (the exact part of the finger that touches the keys while I’m typing) has a large and still-growing blister.  I will try to type up something to post tomorrow, but right now I have to try and finish making dinner without cutting my finger off.  That might make it feel better, though.

Filed Under: Health

The Joy Is Back

February 26, 2008 By

I have rediscovered joy in the mundane.  I heard it was coming, and even took a quick peek once or twice once it was here.  But today, I did it.  My first real grocery shop at the new chain: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.  It’s Tesco’s foray into the US market.  I shopped at Tesco when I was in London, and aside from the joy that is shopping in a foreign supermarket, I liked the small store geared for city shoppers who cannot schlep home their week’s shopping on the Tube.

I also used to work for a supermarket, off and on, from the time I was in high school until I left to move to Las Vegas.  Added up, it was something like 8 years, but if you start with my original hire date of 1/1992 until I left in 5/2003, you’ll see that I just could not stay away from the place.  I even enjoyed shopping there.  When I moved to Vegas, I saw that the grocery scene was very different.  People aren’t loyal to a particular store.  How can they be?  No one store will carry everything that you want, like stores back home will.  Here, getting all that you want, all the brands, varieties, and flavors, requires trips to the 4 or so major chains.  Then there’s WarMart and her secretly smart and pretty cousin Kay, only one of which I have found actually has a food section.  We also have 3 chains of soccer mom natural grocery stores – Whole Paycheck, Wild Hay, and Trader Joe’s, where Boyfriend and I have taken to shopping lately.  But there wasn’t as much variety as I like, and I was getting really sad.

Enter Big Bad Mama Detroit.   BBMD lives right next door to a F&E, and loves shopping there.  Boyfriend and I were on our way to her house for dinner the other night, and we said we’d bring dessert.  Since she pointed out the F&E in the directions, I figured we’d stop there to pick something up.  The store is super organized, which appealed to my sense of order.  It’s small, with lower shelves, so you don’t get lost and don’t get whiplash looking for what you need.  And OMG the produce!  Being in the middle of the desert where it’s darn near impossible to grow anything, Boyfriend and I have both commented that we’ve thrown away better looking stuff than can be found in the average supermarket here.  But F&E has super fresh, great looking produce!  The best part is that it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.  I picked up some rosemary, potatoes, strawberries, and salad fixins.

But wait, there’s more!  I nearly short circuited myself in the meat aisle.  I’m not a huge meat eater, but I like a variety.  Not only did they have big ol’ slabs of meat, they also had some ready to cook options like kebabs, seasoned meats, stuffed meats, and other delicious meal options.  I wanted it all.  I couldn’t decide, but finally settled on some chicken drumsticks for dinner tomorrow, and a big pork roast that I’ll stick in the crock pot on Wednesday with some BBQ sauce.  Both will give us plenty of leftovers for the rest of the week.  They were marked down because they were both going out of code in like, 2 days, but they looked just as good as the stuff with more recent dates on it.

The store carries a lot of its own brand for the rest of the groceries, but they did have a selection of name brands too.  Boyfriend and I are trying to focus on fresh foods, so we don’t buy pantry items as often as we used to, but they did have tahini, which I know can be hard to find at conventional megamarts.

Boyfriend and I have been spending less at Trader Joe’s than we ever did at a regular store, and even though I didn’t buy as much as we usually do, I found the monetary outflow to be on par with TJ’s.  I stopped in on my way home from work, and other than the quick dessert run the other night Boyfriend really hasn’t had time to explore, so I think we’ll try to stop by next time we do a grocery shop so he can really check the place out.  Even if it’s not a regular thing, it will allow a stop by the free sample bar to try the delicious foods they offer.   I know I’ll be returning.

Filed Under: Food, Shopping

Music on Mondays – Richard Cheese

February 25, 2008 By

I’m sure there are a lot of use who like cover music. Some of us find special joy in cover songs sung with an original twist.

Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine is a band that sings songs – not necessarily cover songs – songs that were originally written and sung by other artists. I say they aren’t cover songs because there’s such a humourous twist in these lounge style renditions, that it’s quite obvious that these songs are not being sung for the sake of being sung. This also isn’t a group that takes the songs and puts a whole new meaning to them, with new lyrics to beat, a la Weird Al. I hope you can all follow me. Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine sings these songs in the lounge music style.

You really have to have a sense of humor to appreciate Richard Cheese. Otherwise, you’re just not gonna get why Baby Got Back is so funny when it’s “swankified” (this is the term the band uses to describe what they do to the hits). Also, you really can’t be a prude. Part of the fun of a Richard Cheese concert is the way he “reaches out” to his audience – particularly the female members of the audience. It’s quite funny, actually. Here’s someone singing songs in the style of a washed up lounge lizard, who by definition is supposed to be a repulsive character but doesn’t quite get that. Richard Cheese takes the angle that he has a huge, female-centric fan club. At the concert that Boyfriend and I attended back in November, there was a CD sales table with two sign-sheets: Join Richard’s Mailing List, and one that said Women Who Want to Sleep With Dick.” What a kidder!

Now that I’ve inadequately described the genius that is Richard Cheese, check out this video:

Filed Under: Music