Moving. It seems like the strangest thing in the world to me, although I’ve done it plenty of times before. Four times for college, each to a different place (once to Bend, OR, then three different rooms on the University of Oregon campus).
Those times, I brought minimal things (increasingly so each time as I decided that I really didn’t need much, and even if I had before…I certainly hadn’t the time for extracurricular reading material and the such now) with the expectation that I could always go back home to the rest. Now I’m trying to move for good, but not to bring everything I’ve ever had with me. Trust me, I’m a pack rat. I only recently threw away a ton of my school papers and reports from when I was in elementary school. I hardly plan on bringing my dolls from back when, or most of my books (my poor, poor books) to save on room and general expenses from shipping all that across the nation.
But still. When you find yourself starting your new life by wrapping up your good dishes in your baby blanket (some things I can’t get rid of), you just..think.
Sorry, Fish, but the big ‘ol rice cooker has GOT to come with. Me without perfectly steamed rice would be a sad thing indeed.
I’m heading into eight days straight of working at 4:30 in the morning at the deli, a shift I’m hardly used to and therefore terribly slow at, overall. Especially when greeted first thing by customers who order specialized sandwiches only to be told at the checkstand the obvious that they have known for years (and trust me, judging from these women they had been pulling from the government for a good long time) — you can’t buy hot food with food stamps. I was cranky enough before the very items that put me behind in my opening schedule were brought back to me to be thrown out. Don’t get me wrong, I think that the food stamp program like other forms of government assistance are great for people who just need an extra boost. But I also work at the only real grocery store in this little town, so I can see on a regular basis which people don’t have the will to help themselves and get full enjoyment out of handouts. Makes life harder for the people who are genuinely trying and get less assistance because money’s spread so thin. I’m grateful every day that I have a full-time job, even if it’s minimum wage and hard work. I have plenty of college loans to pay off, not to mention the cost of moving and getting settled into a new city. Scary as that is.
Alright, for anyone who’s not heard of it: Eureka. All of the first season and some of the third (they’re working on trying to get the rest) are available on Hulu, so give it a look see if you want some nerdy comedy. About an ordinary, good-hearted, fight-first-ask-questions-later U.S. Marshal who goes off a back road somewhere in the Pacific Northwest (hints indicate it’s actually supposed to be Oregon-ish) and finds himself in a podunk town where everyone knows each other, there’s only one diner, the town sheriff makes house calls to just about everyone on a first name basis, and the local mechanic also doubles as a coroner, priest, forensic analyst, radio show host (etc. etc. etc.) and inventor of memory manipulation devices and hovercraft. Oh, wait– I didn’t mention that little Eureka is home to the most brilliant thinkers and inventors in the world, all of whom work in a secret government testing center developed at the beginning of the Cold War? Or that this poor unfortunate man regularly finds himself battling (often after the populace themselves accidentally created them) atomic weapons, ghosts, alien menaces, superhumans, and the frustration of being a single parent to a delinquent teenager in a town where fitting in usually means opening your eyes to the impossible, each and every day? I mostly get a kick out of the little things, like the “Cafe Diem” where their chef can fix literally any meal you’d want on the planet, even if that means cheeseburgers with wild mushrooms and blowfish in ten minutes or less.
So, Sims 3 looks awfully fun, at least as far as the clothing designer and interior decorator in me is concerned. Don’t have the game myself, but that’s what stealing usage of your friends’ computers is for. Loving that you can change the colors and patterns of anything you wear or buy in the game, and choosing your Sim’s likes and dislikes has never been more precise. What their favorite food is, whether they’re a good kisser or afraid of water…hehe. Unfortunately, that makes killing them off through drowning in the backyard pool a little unavailable. Oh well, I’m sure they’ve created bigger and better ways of letting us be morbid cyber-gods.
One of my favorite pastimes when visiting restaurants or shops is slowly becoming photography– not of the food or goods themselves, but as a setting for my always-hungry and endlessly-curious toy naked mole rat to express his views of the world. I got the toy years ago when visiting the Oregon Zoo, mostly spiteful at the time that they did NOT have a toy lemming instead. This was long before Kim Possible aired with their mole rat Rufus, so don’t get the idea that I have some Disney cartoon pet fetish going on. I also tend to find it troublesome to bring a digital camera around in my already burdensome purse, plus turning it on, focusing it, making sure the picture’s perfect…blech. I’ll save that for more serious pictures, but my handy dandy iPhone does the trick for the mole rat adventures.
That, and I just have an impromptu thirst for showing the truth of the world through beady little eyes.
For instance:
Whether he’s eating Swedish meatballs…
Or Thai curry…
Or just good old crab cakes, Mole Rat has a diverse palate and a love to try new foods.
…Just so long as they don’t look too much like someone put his relatives in the blender.
Mole Rat is always trying to stand out in the rat race…
And moonlights as a crusader, saving his kin from being tied to railroad tracks and other evil hijinks.
In short, he’s a well-rounded, hip young rodent who plans to go places in life. But only if they’re a warm climate or he’s got a sweater on, cause being furless can only take you so far.
And that’s my update for the day!
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