disparate rambles
So I'm looking today at my mail which includes something from a company with a tackyish uninspired name like GradImages telling me this is the moment I will want to look back on and smile (and therefore I should buy pictures buy buy buy yes). I am immediately resistant to this idea. Graduation was fun (despite most lackluster catering ever) but oh man it had nothing to do with that moment and everything to do with what lead up to it. Talk about putting the emphasis in the wrong place. I have four years of Reed, memories, new friends, projects, accomplishments and that will make me smile right now, in ten years, when I'm eighty. I probably won't even remember graduation (probably should have gotten some sleep before it -- oops). I don't want their over-priced picture. It feels like bizarre memory prostitution. Also, how do a few graduation companies have monopolies. Do they? I'm sort of assuming, since it seems like Josten's for example owns the K-12 circuit. I wonder if they have gang wars where they muscle out smaller photo companies from their turf and have them silenced and stuff.
Yesterday I watched Red Violin, this sweet British car show called Top Gear and a few episodes of Myth Busters with G. In all we hung out for about 7.5 hours. I brought dinner and we drank and it was fun. Also tempting. But oh well. I like that we've reached the point in our friendship where I can be like "give me your head" and we can sit semisnuggly on the couch and I can play with his hair and it's comfortable. Also he has brilliant taste in TV. Yess.
I'm just starting to digest the fact that gradschool and Erik are not necessarily compatible. He's sort of said as much before but it wasn't real before because now gradschool is The Plan. I don't really want to have another plan. I know this is the time in my life to try whatever crazy things I want to. I guess I kind of want to get a small business degree and try having some kind of business. At least a little. I also want to travel but it takes a real job to afford that kind of thing, not 20,000 in student debt. But shit man, all these years of good to okay to amazing relationship and him and I don't want to both move across the country and lose my man and my dog. Even if we stayed together it would be all long-distance and blegh. Blerrgh. It being one year off, I've largely decided to go the "don't think about it" route.
On a positive note, I made cinnamon ice cream which has literally the lightest fluffiest texture ever, it is perfect. Perfect I say! Since I couldn't decide what flavor to make I also made cream cheese ice cream to which I added lemon zest and then some grand marnier soaked strawberries. Better flavor, but due to some churning problems, worse texture. Then I made some crazy pesto/alfredo fettucine with salmon and peppers and onions and garlic, pecorino romano (amazing pecorino romano) and parmigiana regiana, fresh basil, olive oil, white wine, etc. I was unimpressed but both Erik and G were appreciative, which is nice. It's really satisfying to cook for people, especially cute hungry boys. I'm also realizing of myself that I am a really picky person, maybe I should be a food critic. I think I'd make people cry. I do have crazy-sensitive taste buds though. So that probably has something to do with it.
Work is beginning to work. I've work of remembered/relearned CSS and I'm starting to learn Stata and I like Stata. Lemming (my bestest friend from home, at least ish at this point) asked me to design a website for her nonprofit kitty rescue. I told her I would certainly give it a shot. Websites are clearly my destiny. I should go learn something about graphic design. I keep wanting to go get educate at the local CC because I could learn to do just about anything. I realize my ideal job (lots of people's) is something like Mythbusters or Top Gear but I lack all kinds of practical mechanical expertise. I think it would be super sweet to have a show like that with Geoff since he's brilliant and practical and I'm inspired but I don't know how to make things happen. Also I think we have "good screen chemistry" or whatever they call it.
I'm beginning to feel like a real person. I've got a job, and it's ideal in that I can work from home and play frisbee with Bandit and call friends and I'm not quite accountable to anyone (this will probably be a problem as deadlines approach). I've got a man with a real job. I cook and clean and play with the child. I wake up on my own schedule. I sleep on my own schedule. I make ice cream like a bad ass gourmand. I meet my grown-up friends and we go climbing or make Happy Hour dates. I think I'm going to like being a twenty-something. We'll see.