SudsyPop.net

9.02.2008

Too many words!

I'm suffering from information overload. Too many message boards, too many words, too many opinions, too many posts, too much information. I am oppressed by communications.

¶ 21:39

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9.21.2006

Bad Mac 'n cheese substitutions

I love macaroni and cheese. I have been a huge fan of this for ages. Probably since I was 3. I especially like Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. They have new flavors nowadays, which I also love. They're not super new, but like maybe in the past 5 years new. Hence the term, nowadays.

There have been three occasions where I have cooked up the noodles, then found that either the butter or the milk is missing. The most recent occasion being today. When this happens, denial occurs. I can't be out of milk. How is that possible? Why did the milk expire so soon? Why didn't the milk fairy refil my fridge for me. You mean milk does not just materialize in the fridge? AAAAHhhhhh!

After checking multiple times in the fridge for the ingredient, like I missed the new half-gallon container of milk just sitting in the empty fridge the first time, it's time to start substituting. What can I use in place of this ingredient that will make it taste just fine?

Today in place of the missing milk, it was vanilla yogurt. Yick you may say. Why vanilla too? Well, it was either that or peach. Neither sound like a particularly good idea, but I have in the past tried CoffeeMate, and that was just plain gross. (Though not as gross as the time I used butter flavored Crisco in place of actual butter.)

It was alright. The fake vanilla smell was overwhelming, but the taste wasn't too bad. I would maybe try it again, but only if you can't smell. I did eat a whole bowl without feeling ill, which is a good sign since I'm a picky eater. I opted to not save the rest for later either. Oh well.

¶ 11:05

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8.28.2006

Summer Reading

I am reading several books right now. It would seem like a good idea to finish one book, then start another, but that's not quite how it's working out. I read books depending on my mood. For instance, when I am feeling practical, I read part of the Freakonomics book. When I'm feeling ambitious, I read Atlas Shrugged, again. I have started to read this book almost 15 times already, but have never gotten more than halfway through the book. By the time I have gotten that far, I forget what I am reading about due to the afore mentioned fragmented reading habits. When I've got too many things on my to do list I read The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Note, I don't read this for pleasure, but one thing on my list is to read all of the Hitchhiker's series, and getting through this book takes me painstakingly closer to finishing that goal. Perhaps I'm just reading some rather boorish books that don't really entertain me and my fickleness.

I recently finished "Me Talk Pretty One Day," by David Sedaris. That book was pretty good and I read the whole thing from start to end fairly quickly. I have in fact lent the book to a friend, that's how much I recommend it. Normally I just shelve them away. But this book I want to pawn off on others. It was the type of book that I found myself laughing out loud to and trying to tell stories of later. Which, by the way, didn't really turn out so well. I imagine that it's not really all that interesting to hear a story of a story character from someone you know in real life. If I was that good at story telling, I should make up my own stories and sell those rather than trying to invent things to discuss based on fictional items I have read.

Really, one can't go around and say "You'll never guess what happened to David this time..." and have it be taken seriously. Perhaps the first time or two, but after a while people are going to ask, "Who is this David you keep talking about, and when can we meet him? He sounds like a hoot." And then the only reply can be, "Oh, well perhaps you should just read the book, he tells it better than me anyway." At which point, continuing to tell stories of David will only butcher and spoil the stories for other people, so it's best to not really talk about it at all.

¶ 21:55

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2.25.2006

Oohh... Spelling with Flickr

This is made with a FlickR tool created by kastner.

Here's the tool.

¶ 10:26

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9.12.2005

Sigur Ros & Amina

The first time I attended an event at Strathmore Music Hall was to see Sigur Ros and Amina. I didn't know Amina would be there, only Sigur Ros. The hall is beautiful and wood paneled an comfortable and cold. There are air conditioner vents under every Orchestra seat. I sat in row BB in the center in the second to last seat on the left.

I was dressed up. Most other people were not.

Amina is a unique band. It was remeniscent of musical chairs, sulking, and a game of horse. They would all start off playing their stringed instruments in normal quartet-like fashion then randomly they would steadfastly move to another area of the stage and play other instruments. Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Harpsichord, Singing Saw, Water Glasses, random stringged harps, etc. Each song had a new rotation and each of the four would rotate to other instruments, not always the same one.

When Sigur Ros played, it was quite etheral, really. I have not seen such a performance in a long time. The music's tempo undulated within the limits of very slow to rock-out-and-rock-hard. All the while it felt as if I was consumed by the sound. I could feel it inside my spine. The music filled my existence, and it was wonderful.

¶ 22:04

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8.28.2005

Has it really been that long...

Since I posted something here? Oh my. Lots has gone on and this on-line thing has slipped me by. I haven't even updated my pictures in a while. Hrm. I should work on this. Stay tuned...

¶ 11:45

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9.14.2004

Me vs. A Mountain Dew Slurpee

Went to 7-Eleven over the weekend for a snack for the drive back from the weekend. We had roughly a 45 minute drive ahead of us, and we always stop for something. Generally it's Vitamin Water and Gummy Bears (mmmmm). Vitamin Water is my new favorite drink. I like it more than KMX, and more than Red Bull, but not more than Dr. Pepper Red Fusion, which I have not been able to find in over a year despite the Dr. Pepper web site not saying it's discontinued. Maybe if I lived in Alabama I could get it there.

Anyway, so I got a Slurpee this time for a change. I tasted a couple of flavors and decided on the Mountain Dew one. Figured it would be light and refreshing. Plus the electric yellow color looks cool. While I was filling up my cup, the machine started acting weird. A big burst of air went into the cup, causing the top to explode.

The 7-Eleven employees came over wondering what had happened, what had caused the loud pop. I showed the manager the gaping hole in the plastic dome top of my Slurpee. Since we could not find the extra piece of plastic anywhere I was allowed to start a new Slurpee just in case the plastic was embedded in my original one. At this point, it would have been a good idea to leave the Mtn. Dew alone and go for a different flavor. However, I was still of the mind set that the Mtn. Dew flavor was the best choice, so I started filling up my new cup again. This time backing off the nozzle so the pockets of air coming out of the machine would not cause another top explosion.

I should have known based on the performance of the filling that this Mountain Dew was not a good idea. I should have known when it looked all liquidy inside the machine that this Mountain Dew was not a good idea. I also should have known when the manager gave me the Slurpee for free because he "could not guarantee the quality based on the way it looks in the machine and came out" that the Mountain Dew was not a good idea. But I was too giddy over the fact that I exploded a Slurpee cup and didn't get a drop on me. Plus it looked normal in the cup.

So we head off and I start drinking my Slurpee. OMG is it sweet. It tastes like pure syrup, but cold. I think I understand what the manager meant when he said he could not guarantee the quality. That was ok by me though, I tend to like sickly sweet things. Then I noticed my throat started burning. That's ok, I drank more to let the cold cover up the burning in my throat. When my lips started burning I realized that perhaps it was not a good idea to drink the Slurpee anymore.

15-20 minutes later (into what turned out to be a 1.5 hour drive due to traffic) I started to get sick. At first I figure I just need some air. I'm prone to carsickness. Then after the air deal is not working, I get that feeling where I know it is inevitable that I will throw up, it's just a matter of when. So my husband pulls over and gets a plastic bag for me, and then I threw up a mixture of the Slurpee (90%) and some peanut butter from lunch (10%). Oh boy.

Mental note: if the manager of 7-Eleven ever gives you something for free because they "can't guarantee the quality" don't consume it.

¶ 20:38

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8.24.2004

Olympic Carbohydrates

So the Olympics has been on for over a week now. It is non-stop Olympics. Olympic games. Olympic fashion. Olympic medal standings. Olympic media coverage. Olympic-sized sales. Olympic sized-savings. The Olympics have caused me to become transfixed on the TV set for hours at a time. I cannot make plans because I must make time for the Olympics. My husband wakes up in the morning and turns on Olympics, and after eschewing them the night before, I instantly pop awake to partake in MORE Olympic watching.

I cannot escape the Olympics. It is everywhere. I am feeling oppressed by the Olympics... and carbs. I fell the same overwhelming sense of media overload about the horrible horrible carbohydrates that infest all of the food I enjoy eating as I do about the Olympic Games (insert soundbyte of the Olympics theme song with graphic of Athens 2004).

The entire country is on a diet to cut back on carbs. Suddenly they are the worst thing in the world. I feel like they have betrayed me. All along living in the foods I consume, never making me aware of just how insidious they really are. Thank goodness for the diet fad craze that has alerted me to the fact that carbs are the waistline's sworn enemy, and that eating ANY item with over 3g of carbs in it will instantly cause you to swell up to mammoth proportions, and be a porker for life. I have obviously been struck with an insurmountable amount of luck that this has not happened to me yet.

The only remedy is to run in fear of carbs. If you cannot do it on your own, there will be armed anti-carb patrol to monitor your exit from the grocery store. They will summarily destroy any food item you purchase that contains any amount of those dastardly carbs. I even heard rumors that people who consume large amounts of carbohydrates will be marked with large Cs on their foreheads so that you know not accept any food items from them... but so far I think that's just a rumor.. shhh...

Exception: Olympic athletes. They are allowed to eat carbs. Their superhuman athletic capabilities have made their bodies immune to those wily carbs and their fat inducing behavior. In fact, Olympic athletes are ENCOURAGED to eat large amounts of carbs. Is this some sort of on-looker jealousy taking place? "Oh suuuure Mr. Olympic Athlete, eat a bunch of carbs... they're GOOD for YOU. (snicker) " And then the jealous ones will watch as the athletes themselves bloat up to insane proportions, laughing the whole time.

¶ 12:58

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8.07.2004

The Cure

Went to see the Curiosa Festival yesterday. Was such an amazing show!! The Cure was awesome! Robert Smith did little dances on stage here and there that were funny and dorky, but awesome. They even looked like they were having a good time.

Interpol and Mogwai were also there, but we missed Mogwai unfortunately. The Rapture was there, and we caught their last few songs but didn't care too much for what we saw. Interpol though, very awesome. They came out dressed up, and all in black. Fabulously slicked hair!

The light show for The Cure was the best I've seen in ages. It was just amazing, with little twinkling lights for the bells in Plainsong. Oh so good. They played for a long time too! Not just 8 songs and a one song encore... noooo... they played 17 songs, a 5 song encore, and a 2 song second encore!

We sat next to the soundbooth, excellent seats! So I got a copy of the setlist from the sound guy. He was awesome and gave it to me. Here is the Picture:

¶ 16:28

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7.07.2004

Stupid TV Marathons

So I had off on Monday. It was great, a whole day off in the week. I can do all the things I have been wanting to do but never have time. Well one of those things includes sleep and watching TV apparently because that's all I did.

Stupid TV Marathons. Stupid Reality TV Shows.

It seems that every holiday, the TV Stations run marathons of their shows, I guess so people can catch up with them. So this 4th of July weekend I got sucked into the Airline marathon on A&E.

It is unbelievable how people act in public! What I really like about this show is that it is real reality TV. They don't set up the characters and try and manipulate the situation to get certain reactions. It's real people reacting to real situations. The best is, most people have traveled via airplane, so it's easy to relate to.

So I watched it for like 5 hours straight. Uuugggh... But hey, the new season is on now, so I can continue my watching! Nothing like the grave disappointment of getting into a show for it only to be cancelled... (cough, FireFly, cough Keen Eddie)

¶ 09:08

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Some little thoughts that come out of my head.