Minor frustrations, when compared to my other current frustrations...

--While I should maybe feel flattered, don't call me skinny like it's somehow my fault you're overweight.  In my head I'm still a fat little girl.  I suspect I have a moderate case of body dysmorphia.  I'm careful not to call myself fat around pretty much everyone because I know how much it sucks to hear someone super skinny say they are fat.  So when I say, "It's a good thing we work our asses off around here with all these treats people bring," don't respond to me like I made you overweight. I'm not generous enough to bring sweets often, so I can pretty much guarantee it's not my fault.

--Dear old people in stores--when you complain about how young people can't make change, don't forget which generation has been in charge of our educational standards.  Let's not forget which generations have put all these technological advances in motion.  Kindly refrain from blaming people who can only aspire to the Standards of Learning (SOL for a reason...) they are held to, especially considering how essential "being well rounded" is these days.  Remember, when you point a finger, three fingers point back at you.

--I dreamt last night that after the debate, Obama fell to 11% in the polls.  It was terrifying, and I woke up feeling like it was true.  After watching last night's debate, I can safely say that I fear for our future if McCain is elected.  No, I don't believe that one man can change the course of the country and make magic.  I do believe, however, that electing Obama would signify an amazing shift in this country's mindset.  And I really think we need it.  A lot. 

It's about freaking time.

..because he hunts down a song called "Hate Me" so that I can listen to it endlessly.

Pirates are hot.

I'm a culinary genius.

I don't know why it took me 25 years to come up with this, and I know it is by no means original or extraordinary, but I'm eating one of the best plates of nachos I've ever had in my life.

In

My

Life.

There was a can of black beans sitting in the pantry just screaming out to me.  Screaming, I say.  My love of black beans is almost as well documented as my love of nacho cheese (Actually, probably better documented... I've received BOTH as a present, but the great bean unveiling of 2007 is captured on video), and it spills over into my love of nachos.

*Interjection* How cool would it be if the Cheesy Double Beef Burrito had black beans?  I would die of happiness, I swear.

Ahem.

So I sprinkled some black beans on top of my cheese (colby jack, only the best) and nuked them.  Then I poured Pace taco sauce over the whole shebang and WHAMO!  Best nachos in the world.

You gotta try it, y'all. (Yes, I'm watching Paula's Home Cooking right now, why do you ask?)

My give a damn is broken.

I'm going to have to remember that one.  I'll never use it, but I need to remember it nonetheless.

I don't know if it's the fact that it's 6am.  Or that I've been working extra hard this week without enough sleep.  Or that it's that time of the month...

But I saw footage of the first group of people to drive over the new 35W bridge, and I got all teary eyed.  August 1, 2007 was one of those days, like 9-11, that you don't really ever want to think about, and yet you can remember exactly where you were when the bridge fell.  It's not that I'm majorly overjoyed that the bridge is up again--obviously it doesn't change the fact that so many people were injured or killed--but it does help get thousands of routines back on track.  It will make it easier to get to some of the places I like to go.

At any rate, I've driven past the bridge many times as it was being built, and I still find it terrifying.  I'm sure many genius engineers put their heads together for this one, but it's still a massive, uninterrupted span across the Mississippi River.  If I can remain unaware of where I am, I will get over it just fine.  I will, however, probably have to hold my breath most trips.  At least I'm not usually the one driving.

I'm writing this from my brand new computer.  This should give me a couple years of smoothish computer sailing. 

But it's a Macbook.

I used to always say that Macs were stupid.  I would never own a Mac!  I hate Macs!  And then I had to use one for work at the publishing house, and I kind of liked it.  A lot.  So now I own one.  And an Ipod Touch that came free with the computer (awesome!)

So now the Hippy and I are trying to find ways to make both new toys even more awesome then they ever intended them to be.  Sometimes it's a little annoying, but all in all, it's great to have a computer geek for a boyfriend.

Sick on my birthday.  I'm surprised I even slept last night.  Feel like poo this morning.  At least I had an excellent time at my birthday party.  Good food, good friends and fun bowling (I didn't do too "good" so we'll just leave it at fun).

I think I want to go back to sleep.  Bleh.

I feel really crappy right now (I suspect it's a combination of dehydration, having a cold, and eating a grain product with copious amounts of meat last night), so I'm going to take the liberty to rub in the fact that I just had the BEST MORNING EVER.

This is shallow.  I'm not going to lie.  It's possibly the most shallow thing I've ever written in this blog.  But I just bought a pair of size six jeans.  And they're COMFORTABLE.  Hear me out.  When I first moved up from kids clothes to juniors, I wore a size nine.  I pretty much hovered at 9/10 through high school, but when I got to college I eventually had to move up to size 11/12.  Last summer I was able to buy size 8, and I was ecstatic. 

This last week that I've had off, I realized how loose my jeans were feeling.  At work I wear pants I bought a long time ago, so I'm used to those being really big--I should probably buy some new work pants too, haha.  But wearing jeans all week made me realize that those don't fit either.  So now I have a size six!  Woo!

*ahem*

And I have red hair.  And it's purty.  And it's my birthday tomorrow, so I'm going out for cupcakes and Vietnamese food in an hour.  And crab dinner tomorrow.

Shit, I hope my six still fits tomorrow!  hehehe.

There are a bunch of commercials floating around from the Corn Refiners Association that are designed to assure us that High Fructose Corn Syrup is fine.  I know, Corn Refiners Association... Can't get any less biased than that!

The point that they drive home is that HFCS is, like sugar, just fine "in moderation."

I have a problem with that "in moderation" clause.  The problem is that HFCS is in everything.  Don't believe me?  Just ask Accidental Hedonist.  Seriously.  Look at that list.  How many of those items do you consume in an average day, week, month, or year?  I don't know what the "safe" level is, but it's awfully hard to do anything in moderation when it's in everything ever manufactured.  It's in cough syrup for christ's sake.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not some whack job who is trying to cut HFCS out of my diet.  I'm lazy, I'm sorry.  It would be doable, but there are a good number of those products I enjoy.  I'm all for natural food, and I do try to eat as much of it as possible, but I also really like such offenders as soda (even though I'm not supposed to drink that any more because my front teeth are dying...).

But I take offense with the ever-impartial Corn Refiners Association trying to dupe people who, for whatever reason, don't do any research of their own.  Yes, we are a lazy country who get almost all their information passively.  But that doesn't give you the right to make such misleading statements.

Oh, guess what, politicians.  You aren't safe either.