Flu Thoughts

Hello everyone Happy Leap Day or whatever you call February 29th. I really think this day should be a holiday because I mean think about it your employer or school gets an extra day of the year out of you for FREE that they don't get the other 3 years before. Either you should get overtime for working it or you should get the day off, that's my stand on the issue.

Anyway so I've had the flu the last couple of days and have been totally useless to the world. Mostly I've just been laying on the futon watching tv and movies and feeling like this sickness will never end. That's how I always feel when I get sick, I forget what it's like to feel normal and having this foreboding that the rest of my life when be lived out in a foggy, aching stupor.

Yesterday I thought I was feeling better so I went to a meeting with my professor to discuss my final project. This was a mistake, she must now think that I am really not too bright because I was kind of dazed and it took me twice as long to understand the concepts that she was talking about as it usually would. Plus on top of that I started worrying about this project a lot, because when I get sick my perspective and rationality kind of goes out the window. This fear started to manifest itself in my dreams that day as well. During a nap I dreamed that my friend Jenn and I went to out professor's houses to talk to them, except the professor's lived in a mall in Amsterdam. It was quite the random dream and I kept getting lost and losing stuff. Does anyone have any interpretations for that?

So one of the movies I have watched during my sickness is called Word Play. It's a documentary about the Crossworder's (or Cruciverbalists, if you will) and the Annual Crossword Tornament. It's something like the documentary Spellbound, which was about the National Spelling Bee, but this is about crossword people (who really aren't that different). Anyway these crossworder's they feature are very very good at solving crosswords, probably the best in the world. Now I myself like solving the New York Times Crossword. Whenever I get a chance I try to solve the Monday and Tuesday puzzles, but that's about all I can do. (They get progressively harder as the week goes on.) But as much as I like trivia and words and puzzles I've come to the conclusion that I'm never going to be great at solving at them. I may be good, even about average, but I'm never going to be among the best.

Take the games boggle and scrabble which I am good at, but since I've been playing them online I've realized just how many people are so much better than I am. So why do I really care, well because I'm a nerd, a competitive nerd. This is kind of a reflection of my life, I'm good at things. I know a lot about a lot of different things, but I'm not great at anything. I'm kind of a jack of all trades, master of none. I don't really have one passion in life. I really envy those people who are so passionate about something and really pursue it, but I'm more like a butterfly fluttering from one flower to the next. Oh well at least I like flowers.

It's Delightful...It's Delovely

Sometimes I'm amazed how delightful the unexpected can be. When something good happens unexpectedly I always enjoy it more than when I've been waiting for it. Like when you go to see a movie and you don't think it's going to be anything much, but it turns out to be a new favorite. Or when you start out a day on the wrong foot, but then out of nowhere things turn around. Today was such a day. The day started with rushing to finish an assignment, traffic and being late to class, then I went to work and there was a letter on my desk from HR. "Effective February 16, 2008, the beginning pay for the position you are in will increase to $*.** per hour. Your pay is also being brought up to $*.**, an hourly increase of $2.41."

What a boon! and entirely unexpected. My boss had pulled some strings and got me a better pay which was great because I have been working at this job for over a year and not getting payed very much at all. I had thought about quitting a few times, but I just couldn't leave my boss who needed my help and had been so kind to me. Today my loyalty payed off and who would have thunk it... Delightful.

I have had a few other great unexpectations lately too, one of them being that an old friend of mine from college that I had lost track of just happens to be in my new ward and just happens to be looking for a new place to live right when one of my roommates is getting married. So she will be moving into our place in May. Who could have seen that coming?

Thank heaven for all the those delightful little turn of events that make life delovely!

Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of my blog! Fun stuff.

So I have this cool roommate Sarah who is an internet guru. She always knows all the most interesting websites. I don't know where she finds them or how, but I learn at her feet everyday. Sadly she is leaving me in May to get married. Here is a few humdingers that she has recommended:

www.futureme.org
At this site you can write a letter to yourself in the future and choose when it will be sent to you. Even more interesting though are the letters you can view that people have written to their future selves. Is there anything more personal and revealing than writing to yourself?

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/lists/
This is a group of random list complied by readers. Funny and very random

www.zafu.com
find your perfect pair of jeans, I don't know if this really works though.

Pad Thai Night

Welcome to my blog family and friends!

Tonight I made dinner for my roommates and I decided to be adventurous and make something I've never made before-Pad Thai. For those of you unfamiliar with Thai food it is a very common dish made from rice noodles with bean sprouts, peanuts and eggs. Its sounds a little strange, but it's oh so good. What I made tonight somewhat resembles Pad Thai, it tasted pretty good for my first attempt and I'll definitely make it again. Things would been easier if I had had a wok. Here's the recipe from Allrecipes.com which I have modified a bit in parentheses. You should be able to get rice noodles (get the thick linguine sized noodles) and fish sauce in the Asian section of your grocery store.

INGREDIENTS
1 (12 ounce) package rice noodles

2 cloves of garlic-minced
2 tablespoons butter or oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup vegetable oil (less)
4 eggs
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (you could double this)
2 tablespoons fish sauce (you could double this)
3 tablespoons white sugar
1/8 tablespoon crushed red pepper (perhaps some more)(some recipes call for paprika instead)
2 cups bean sprouts
1/4 cup crushed peanuts

Soy sauce (to taste)

lime juice (to taste)

3 green onions, chopped
cilantro for garnish (optional)
1 lemon or two limes, cut into wedges

DIRECTIONS
Soak rice noodles in cold water 30 to 50 minutes, or until soft (this may take a little longer than 50 min). Drain, and set aside.
Heat butter in a wok or large heavy skillet. Saute chicken until browned (with two cloves of minced garlic). Remove, and set aside. Heat oil in wok over medium-high heat. Crack eggs into hot oil, and cook until firm. Stir in chicken, and cook for 5 minutes. Add softened noodles, and vinegar, fish sauce, sugar and red pepper (perhaps some soy sauce). Adjust seasonings to taste. Mix while cooking, until noodles are tender (you may need to add some water at this point to get the noodles soft). Add bean sprouts, and mix for 3 minutes.
Garnish with crushed peanuts, chopped green onions (and/or cilantro) and wedge of lemon (you could add all these in the last few minutes of cooking just to bring the flavors out.