p.s.

P.S. Before I forget: the best ever way to cook green beans is to sautee them with garlic, a little olive or peanut oil, and some sesame oil. Who'd a thunk it? But it's really delicious.

Also, I really like orange juice, soy sauce, garlic, and salt as a chicken marinade. Mmmmmmm. . . .

"beyonce, you like my favorite ho"

-- Jay-Z, as per Food Party

If you would like to see something funny, you should totally check out Food Party. It's pretty much the funniest, weirdest, most creative set of videos I've seen in a long time (besides Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long blog, brought to you by a bored Joss Whedon). It's a spoof of a cooking show, basically, except all puppet-ified and. . . well. . . unique. Very, very unique.

And genius. Definitely, definitely genius. I laughed SO HARD. So don't stand around, go watch some episodes. Seriously.

nananana -- feelin' groovy

Well, guess what? I found a job for which I am actually qualified. And,
although it's a little complicated because I won't be available to
start the job until
January, I'm applying anyway. Because it makes me feel better. And
because it provides impetus to update my resume (which I just did in
March, so it shouldn't be too complicated).

Also, what? Me interested in food blogs and craft blogs and things of a similar nature? Are you crazy?

href="http://smittenkitchen.com/">Smitten Kitchen is a
place I often check out for recipes or just strange food anecdotes.Mmmm. . . just linking to it makes me hungry!

Also, apparently Etsy is the place to be for handmade things. Which interests me. Because it's on teh interwebs, and people make stuff, for fun. Like Princess Lasertron, whose personal style I admire. But could never, would never, emulate. But still awesome.

And, if you like vintage beads and things and just want to drool over something lovely , you should totally visit French General. I've got to say, this stuff made me smile a lot a lot. SO COOL!

And, in other news, I begin my sentences with lots of "also's" and "and's." Do you think it's a disease?

hey remember that time when i posted about something other than angst and worry and maybe even wrote something thoughtful? this is not that time.

Last night I sat down to write a paper. . . and I realized that maybe my writing skills have not atrophied into oblivion after all. I only forgot I had them. Whew!

So maybe when I graduate, I'll be like "Oh yeah I'm totally an adult with a career and a marriage, I just forgot for a while." I mean, that happens to every graduate. . . right?! AND EVERYTHING WORKS OUT FINE IN THE END, RIGHT?!

You know the other thing I'm freaking out about lately? And by "the other thing," I mean "the only thing I'm freaking out about each and every day, pretty much every waking minute." How do two creative people put together a sufficient stream of income doing what they love? And how can I possibly be ready for post-graduation life when I am not even competent in my field?

I don't want to tear my hair out doing something I don't like for 40 hours a week when I grow up. I don't want Greg to tear his hair out doing something he doesn't like 40 hours a week when he grows up. But to be quite honest, the odds are so huge that we will both end up, at some point, doing something we don't like so that we can feed and house ourselves.

And how can we have jobs that will allow us to take 2 or 3 months off to do awesome things like artists residencies at places like the MacDowell Colony, or this place in Brazil?

I've always had a lot of goals. And a lot of dreams, I admit, even though that sounds ridiculously cheesy. And now I actually have to think about financing them.

I so want to teach college. I want to teach art in college, more specifically. What could be better than working hard at something full of variety, intellectually stimulating, that only lasts 9 months, yet still pays fairly well? And many art institutions will give art professors a teaching load reduction so they can continue to work.

And what could be worse than teaching college and feeling inadequate every day of my life because my students are way more talented and driven and knowledgeable than me?

I'm finding a couple of totally sweet grad school programs in printmaking at places like MICA and UNC at Chapel Hill. But how to get into them? How do I make work in the years in between now and my theoretical acceptance there, when I will, in all probability, be working a job I don't like for 40 hours a week?

Oh, and after I graduate, how do I get to be a professor? Because I have to say, the only openings I can find ANYWHERE are for graphic design professors, which I'm not, and which I never will be.

Sigh.

I am so unqualified for life.

altoids are my new best friends

because hey, everyone else graduated and left me all alone in Grantham.

Ooh, snap. Yes, I did just begin my blog post with snark. Vacation brought back all my super powers, as well as the amount of energy I can hereby devote to sarcasm, so watch out, blogosphere.

Super powers? Did I say super powers? I officially deny the existence of any sort of super powers. Not possible. How ridiculous. And my super power certainly does not consist of planet-sized chunks of discontent and angst.

Do you want to know something? I do not know what I want to do with my life. How weird. I've never been at such a loss for direction. What do I want to do when I graduate?

The only thing that comes to mind is REST. But graduation does not afford time for rest, graduation means massive amounts of stress as I job-hunt and get married. I used to dream about being an author or an artist or both. You know what my dream is right now?

A part-time job. Any kind of part-time job. It just needs to be part-time so that I can REST and do NOTHING for even a single hour. So that I can spend time in a sunny room somewhere reading. I'd like to watch a whole TV show on DVD, one episode after another, just because it makes me laugh. I would like to refuse to drive anywhere for a full week. I do not want to fight so hard for time for fun things so that they're no longer fun, they're another chore. I would like my own space for longer than two months, or six months, or nine months. I want to really settle in somewhere and feel like the space is worth decorating and making my own. I'm tired of adapting and I'm tired of interacting and I'm tired of things to do in the evening and I'm just TIRED.

I did a good job of being happy for a couple of days after getting back from vacation, but now my summer is half over and I feel like the only fun I had was last week. And I won't GET to have any fun, because last year was so busy that I'm STILL writing a research paper I didn't finish for my honors project and I ALREADY have homework to complete for this coming fall. And who am I supposed to have fun with? Everyone left. (I don't mean to say Greg isn't fun to hang out with -- but one's social circle cannot consist of fiance alone.)

Tonight? Tonight I refuse to do anything I don't feel like doing. That's all there is to it.

And after I graduate? Maybe I will take advantage of "the gap year" phenomenon and do something entirely unrelated to what I do now. Just so I can tell if it's what I really want to do.

Did anyone else experience attacks of lack-of-vocational-calling-itis and extreme exhaustion when presented with the idea of graduation? Anybody?

WOW HOW DID VACATION GO SO FAST?

I'm back from Maine, for those of you who probably didn't even know that I was there. I recapped the trip at my MC blog and find myself too lackadaisical to re-post it here, or to re-re-cap.

The summer is just about half over. Goodness gracious! And there is still so much to do! I'm planning on sweeping it out of the way in one fell swoop and then relaxing my heart out the rest of the time. . . . I finished my show with Greg at Cafe Beracah, so we only have to go and take it down, now. He sold a piece, and arranged another show in the Lebanon area, and we might both have another joint show next year. We just have to follow through and figure out the details. Exciting! Yay!

I'm so tired! Have I said that? But feeling somehwat mentally rejuvenated by my vacation. Although my family is possibly heavy on the sedentary aspects of vacationing, I think it functions as a retreat, where we can really gain a little mental strength back.

Well. So I'm back. And tired but also re-energized. That's a good feeling. If I think about it, I'll ask Greg to send me some photographs of our art show that I can post online.