Some day love will find you, break those chains that bind you

As we used to say, I am dead ass tired. Not only did I have to be at work before 9am this morning, I didn't get home until close to 4am. The problem with coming home so late is that there's never any parking in front of my building. I end up making a chilly trek from some far off space. I tried to wash the hair gel and glitter off, but there are still green sparkles on my face. At least I didn't end up with any in my eyes.

The 80's power ballad singalong was AWESOME. Seriously, that was one of the most fun things ever. There were tons of people in delightfully awful 80's clothes. It was extremely fun to hear 200 people singing along at the top of their lungs to stuff like "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and "More Than Words." I satisfied the long dormant desire of my twelve year old self to make out with someone while listening to Guns N' Roses. (Mike gets extra bonus points for singing "Sweet Child of Mine.") My throat sort of hurts this morning from all that singing and my voice is unfit for work. It was so so so worth it.

questions from Sarah

1. What are the current considerations stopping you from applying to grad school?

Well, money. I worked full time through almost all of my undergrad work and I'm unsure if I want to do that again for another couple years. It was grueling. I like being able to have a life. I also don't want to have anything to do with student loans. The other big thing is picking a program. There's a Slavics/Poli-Sci program at Columbia, there's the CREES at UT, social work, education, etc. I can't make up my mind. (And god help me I don't want to have to learn German for graduate work.)

Plus, I have a state job and that's a hard thing to give up all that security.

2. Tell me one memory from when you were seven years old.

I read Dracula by Stoker and Frankenstein by Shelley that year. I had a big book with both novels in it, and a kind of doofy dust jacket. I drew red fang marks on Mina's neck on the cover.

3. What is the stupidest thing you've ever seen represented in graph form?

Statistics on how many of our mental patient callers get bored and hang up when hold times are high, and how many more we can talk to if we keep hold times low! Seriously, WTF? I don't need to talk to that lady who wants to tell me how CPS murdered her babies in 1989 and sacrificed them to the devil, or that guy who always screams "bitch" at the top of his lungs.

4. If you could only eat one thing for the whole rest of your life, which will be until you're 96 1/2, what would it be? Remember, that's one food item only for the next 70 years.

Potatoes. Potatoes can do anything. I love them. Is there anything quite so versatile, so well suited to numerous flavors and textures? Roasted potato with rosemary, garlic mashed potato, fried krokety, twice baked potato, potato skins, vodka, etc. All hail the potato. The only thing that comes close to potato is pie in terms of perfect food form.

(If it were just one meal, then my meal at Luby's: fried fish, macaroni, dinner roll, iced tea and chocolate ice box pie.)

5. What are the most interesting books you've read that I need to read?

Death And the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov is seriously bizarre, funny, and smart. I think you would love this story. It is clever, and has a quiet love to it.

I Served The King of England by Bohumil Hrabal. This book literally helped save my life. It covers a lot of 20th century Czech history, by turns tragic and hilarious. Hrabal's gift for language is amazing.

No Saints or Angels by Ivan Klima is a book that I obsessively copy out lines from each time I read it. This story is about coming to terms with choices and getting older. It's so good.

Vera: (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov illuminates how the world might not have ever fully known Nabokov's brilliance if Vera hadn't taken life in her hands. She is sort of iconic, in that tradition of Russian women who support their husbands in fame, in artisti achievement or political exile. I fell in love with Vera reading this biography.