Lemon Chiffon in the Afternoon Tastes Like Victory

I love tea and cake in the afternoon. You know, one time we had a half a dozen people over, for 4 hours. When it was all over, I finished off the last piece there in the warm afternoon light. The taste, you know that delicate flavor of lemon chiffon with the bitter tea, the whole afternoon. Tasted like... victory. -Lieutenant Colonel Tetime

Yesterday was wonderful. I cleaned and after a while Richard went out to deal with a parking ticket and pick up his friend Stacy. She's going to stay with us for a short while before she heads back to Georgia on a permanent basis and she's nice enough to help out a bit in return. A little later Sibohan, a friend from the library, arrived and I finished frosting the cake that I started while I was cooking. Lemon chiffon cake is my favorite and I'm going to bake one of them and an orange cake for my birthday party on the 11th.

We had a wonderfully wide ranging talk about adaptations of fantasies and which ones worked better in movie than in books. I mentioned The Prestige in this category as while the book is good I think the movie was better for having simplified the plot. Stacy mentioned that she does not watch dramas because she has more than enough drama in her own life, I wonder if that is true of most people. The Lord of the Rings was talked about again and that moved us on the the subject of when computer-generated imagery overwhelms a movie rather than serving the plot.

After all the tea and cake was done and over with I finally cooked up the pork loin for dinner with Stacy and Rose. It was good paired with some asparagus I got at Costco the other day. And now I'll have good leftovers for a few days that can be turned into soup, sandwiches, and the like. Double duty cooking as suggested by Cook's Illustrated. And after all this cooking the apartment was still pretty well put together. And I'm going to make a bit of progress on "spare 'oom" today. Both for Stacy's comfort and so that I can get people in here to start hauling away the books.

Manliness In Blizzards

A really manly guy does not have anything to prove so he won't go out in a blizzard unless it is really necessary. No, really necessary. Why? No matter how good a driver you are (or think you are) there are other people on the road. A bad driver with no one else around is only a danger to himself and may even avoid a crash since there are fewer objects to run into than on a full road.

Go slow, be careful, and don't go out unless it is required. I went out to pick up Richard from the airport last night since the only other option for him would have been a taxi and that may well have been more dangerous given how taxi drivers are in the snow. If I had not been doing that I likely would have stayed in even though my company wanted me to do an extra shift. $200 to risk getting in an accident that would cost me much more is not worth it.

Today things seem all right and I'm going in to work for my normal shift, but it is much better now. Just driving a little slowly will make it pretty darn safe.

But last night there were a lot of really dumb people on the road. I was on the freeway where there are normally three lanes of traffic. But everyone was following the leader so it was down to just two lanes of traffic with generous spacing. Then this idiot in a black Mercedes comes barreling along passes me with about 10 centimeters to spare heading up between the two lines of cars. Moron! When ahead he could not do that anymore he followed one car length behind another guy and speed off as soon as he could squeeze though. I sincerely wish him ill and that he wreaked his car on his way home. But I got home in one piece despite the best efforts of the other people on the road. I even managed to get my car up the slight incline into my parking space.

So life is good.

2007 Travel

Vicarage's Post on LJ inspired me to do this. The rules are simply to note those places where one has stayed away from home for a night or more. If you have stayed somewhere more than once, with a gap between, mark it with a star. (Since I moved in the middle of the year I'm counting Denver as my home now.)

Elizabeth*; Limon, Colorado
Pride of Aloha (ship at sea & in port around Hawaiian Islands); Honolulu, Hawaii
Newark*, New Jersey
Rome, Italy
Athens, Greece
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Wellness and Gift Exchange

Mercedonius 3 after AUC 2760, Ides

Well... I think I'm just well enough to head to Elizabeth today. Today is the day of the traditional meal and gift exchange on Christmas Eve. I've had a head cold for the last four days and it has greatly contributed to my disagreeable mood. I've also been more serious about the brushing of my teeth lately and the increase in frequency has irritated my gums. Stars, I sound like an old man, not that I haven't always been a bit of 'present age' going on eighty. I suppose we all are at times, but headaches with other body irritation brings it to the fore.

Reading back on Christmas five years ago brings some of this up. My journal (on live journal) is a lot less lively. I suspect this is because I stopped actively seeking out people to read, people to bring to my journal, and commenting on a regular basis on everything.

So... off to the daily races.