And now I start writing...

I see this as the second phase of my school career:  I will begin to write my dissertation.

Yesterday I was in my office, one of my classmates--we came into the program the same year--came to chat.  One observation: Can you believe that we've been here 3 years already?   I cannot.  The first year here in University Town...it was probably my worst year ever (which brings to mind the last time I said that about a year, my 7th grade year, which at the end, I thought that I wouldn't wish my 7th grade year on my worst enemy....heh, funny how one keeps tracks of years).   I was assured that it would would all pass quickly by my officemate at the time, a girl about to graduate.   Well, they say that the years pass quickly, and it's the hours and the days that last forever.  It was the beginning of my path towards depression.  

The second year was alright.  In fact, I can't really think of anything good or bad to say about it.  One of my friends got married, in the local courthouse, and they had a simple reception at their house afterwards, with food from their favorite Indian restaurant.  They had a magnum of some sort of sparking wine chilling on their porch, an Asti, I think--as I gift, I had brought a bottle of Veuve-Clicquot.  Towards the end of the dinner, they toasted with my stuff.  I wonder now, thinking of it again, if it was rude of me to bring it.  Towards the end of that year, I began to accept that I would be here for the long term, as in really, really accept it.  My depression bottomed out around that time.

And summer before my third year began.  It was a very quiet summer, mostly.  There were trips to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.  I had family visit me in University Town for the first time.  I watched the movie Julie and Julia.  I can't remember if I watched it with my husband in person, or if we watched it him at his theater, and me at mine.  I want to say that we watched it together.  In the movie, the protagonist, Julie, takes up blogging.  My husband suggested that I do the same, to give me something to do in University Town.   And so, this blog started.

I think that this blog did keep me sane this year.  School wasn't bad this year.  In the fall, I had two classes that I very much enjoyed.  The first classes the entire time I've been here that I can say that I actually enjoyed.  The spring was hard.  Tough classes, but it kept my mind engaged, and they were both classes that I wanted to take.  Then of course, there was the summer class that I taught!  It was an adventure every day.  I laughed, I cried, and now, it's done, I feel like king of the hill.  And in the winter, when I normally go crazy...I cooked, I photographed, and I blogged.  

So here I am.  Last week I returned from a trip to Niagara Falls.  And now, I'm working on writing my dissertation.

I was on the phone with my husband today.  We joked that in old cartoons and TV shows, the wife would wail "I'm going to go my mother's!"   I pointed out that I would just get on the plane and go back to University Town.  It used to hurt me that I lived here by myself.  It doesn't hurt so much any more.

The penny remains.

New Background Theme

I noticed the other day that my blog titles were not displaying correctly in Internet Explorer. Since I have no experience in XML/HTML coding, and since I wasn't particularly attached to the old blog template, I got a new template, rather than try to repair the old one.

I hope you enjoy the new look!

Winterizing

It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my hometown...

Garrison Keillor is one of my heroes. I've been a fan of his since I was in high school, when I wondered why my tape recorder wasn't auto-programmable like my VCR. I would pull my chair up to the boombox on my dresser and just sit and listen to his baritone. The Guy Noir segments were my favorite. One day, I hope my blog posts will be as good as his tales from Lake Wobegon, and then I can die happy.

It's been a quiet week here in University Town, out on the edge of the mountains.

This week, I got ready for winter. I took my car in to be winterized. I also "shrunk wrapped" my bedroom windows. And finally, I purchased my first named African violet.

I've been a longtime fan of African violets. I gave them up when I went to college, but started growing them again when I moved north. They do two things: help keep the air humid, and help me from going crazy in the winter. They grow and bloom beautifully when there is nothing but gray and snow outside.

I have three violets. One is dying--a victim, I believe, of the cold draft that came through the window on the early snow days. I bought another to replace it. I used some of the leftover window plastic to build a bubble around the new violet, and it is now in quarantine, on the same shelf with the others. The new violet is a scraggly thing, having been on a low shelf in the back of the store. Even so, it looks sturdy, and so far, it's doing very well. I have high hopes for it--higher hopes than when I got the violet it is replacing. All of my previous violets have been NOID grocery store acquisitions. The new one was, too, but surprisingly, the pot had a tag. It's my first named violet: Anthoflores Berti.

This week, I made a classic Chinese dish: Tomato Egg Rice, or, as the blog Rice Again calls it: Chinese Egg Tomato S**t.  I used Arborio rice, since I had a large container of it left over from a failed risotto recipe. My ingredients:

1 cup Arborio rice
3 cups chicken broth
28-oz can of peeled tomatoes
4 eggs

I cooked the rice in the classic method: putting the rice and one cup of broth in the pan, stirring over heat until it was absorbed. I then added the second cup of broth, stirring until absorbed. Repeat for the third cup of broth. Finally, I added in the tomatoes, straight from the can, juice and all. Continued cooking and stirring. After about 5 minutes, I was afraid that I had put in too much liquid, but after cooling a bit, it was a nice creamy consistency.

I cracked the eggs in a bowl, scrambled them with a fork, and then put them in a hot fry pan, continuing to scramble them into small pieces until done. The dish was served by sprinkling the egg on top of the tomato risotto.

I used to think that I did not like risotto. This dish changed my mind.

Happy Halloween!

Catching up

I missed last Friday's post, for which, I'd like to apologize to my readers. It seems that it has been forever since I've blogged.

The blog is something that I now always keep in the back of my mind. I keep notes for ideas to blog about, and keep them in drafts on Blogger, or on notes in my iPhone. I parse phrases in my head in the shower, trying to think how they would 'sound' written down. I think too, it has kept me sane this semester. This has been THE best semester I've had at school. I think this is partly due to my light class load, but also, I think due to this blog. I keep thinking that I have to TRY something, I have to DO something, because I need something to blog about.

This can be seen already in my recipe reviews. I normally try to cook as little as possible, and what, ME, try new recipes? BLEH. But already, since starting this blog, I've tried new recipes every week. I'm learning about cooking, and being excited about trying new things. This whole cooking thing is like a new world. And crafting, too. I've always thought they were silly, cute, things to pass the time. And they are, I guess. But if I blog about them, if I'm given some justification for doing them, I mean...Let's start again. I think doing crafts is silly and frivolous. But with this blog in the background, I can justify myself and not feel guilty for "wasting my time" by saying to myself "I'm doing this craft because then I can have something of interest for the blog", I don't have to feel guilty.

It's freeing. I feel like I'm not stuck in the world where everything is "should, should, should", but I can now have some freedom to do what I want, to do something that seems fun, and the world is NOT going to end because I actually did something I actively enjoyed.

I know I put myself on a schedule for this blog, every Tuesday and Friday, another rule for me to follow. And although I am sorry when I don't follow the schedule, I don't feel like a failure and a fool when I don't keep up. The blog is still there, in my head. I have these notes and ideas that aren't going anywhere until I post them.

This week then, I'm going to post twice more, just to catch up, to make up for missed posts.

Thanks for bearing with me.