We Used to be Friends

Yesterday, I drove up Aurora--which is kind of dicey, think State Street in South Salt Lake--to get my emissions tested. I passed. And then I drove to South Seattle which is even dicier to get my car weighed--2620--which apparently I didn't need to do even though it said so on the licensing website. Liars! However, Washington doesn't require a safety inspection, so that's something. And today I got the damn thing registered, however, the rear plate won't come off. I seem to remember having the same problem when I bought the car, and my dad used a power drill to replace the plate and now the screw is not coming out. I used a screwdriver, some pliers, and about 20 wrenches. Notta. Meagan said she has some power tools, so hopefully those will work. After this, I should get my tires rotated, and then I think my car will be in excellent shape.

I had a job interview today! I interviewed for special collections, and I think it went pretty well. She'll let me know on Friday. And tomorrow I interview for circulation. Hopefully, I will get one of those jobs. Cross your fingers and wish me luck! Being broke is not nearly as glamorous--in an angsty, twentysomething kind of way--as one would expect. I may also need to finagle a loan to pay the last two months of my exorbitant rent. I'm pretty excited though that--as long as I don't move to NYC, Chicago, or the state of California--pretty much anywhere I go will be cheaper than Seattle.

So I've pretty much been bumming around my apartment since I can't afford to do anything. We had a heat wave the week after the 4th--they weren't lying--and it was kind of wonderful. and miserable. I haven't really noticed the humidity in Seattle except when it dropped below freezing back in December and whenever I went back to Utah. Oh, and now when it's excessively hot. No one has AC in their homes/apts and it's kind of ridiculous. So then I went to Target and bought a fan--the last one left!--and it's amazing. It was hot and sunny outside and cool inside. And then the heat wave went away the next day, of course, and the weather's been pretty sucky since. I want my summer back!

My reading list continues to languish. I'm halfway through The Iliad and while it's bloody and great, it's a lot to take in. I'm also reading The Omnivore's Dilemma--I know, only three years after everyone else--and it's pretty interesting. It's fairly critical of capitalism, but who isn't these days? Even the right currently prefers the term "free enterprise system." But what's striking is how terrible industrial agriculture is. It's harmful to our health and the planet's and it's just not sustainable. As described by Michael Pollan, agrarian farming is the silver bullet. Sustainable, ecological, and healthy, it benefits farmers, consumers, and the planet. You know, Thomas Jefferson was a proponent of agrarianism. I think he's always been more radical than most people have been comfortable with, so I'm glad he's been written out of history textbooks. But why stop there? Who needs any of the founders--I mean they were all frickin' revolutionaries.

Instead of reading all my books, I've been watching entirely too much television. I finished the last three seasons of The West Wing which aren't nearly as good as the first four, but I've seen those seasons too many times. I also just finished watching all three seasons of Veronica Mars. Whew. I never watched the show when it was on the air, but it was available on Netflix for instant viewing, and I thought, "Why not?" 45 hours later... It's pretty addictive, especially when you can just keep hitting "next episode," as I so, so often did. Veronica, played by Kristen Bell, is the daughter of a private investigator and former sheriff, and she's picked some things up. In every episode she solves a single case while helping to solve a larger case. It's definitely an ode to detective fiction and film noir. Veronica is punky and sassy, but not in an annoying way, and the dialogue is brilliant. La Weekly noted that "the hard-boiled dialogue comes from its teen protagonist's mouth in a way that stabs any potential cutesiness in the heart with an ice pick." Can writing be sharp and blunt at the same time? Its mining of pop culture is excellent too. I've had some pretty vivid Veronica Mars dreams.

Now that I have nothing else to watch, Meagan and I are going to start Battlestar Galactica from the beginning--get our frak on. We probably won't make it very far before school starts again. That's a shame. Our drinking continues haphazardly. We got a small group together at Oliver's Twist, and even Maggie, who usually abstains, had two cocktails. Meagan and I each had three. We're both very indecisive people, but we're pretty good at deciding to drink more than we really should. She's leaving me next week to go to Alaska and see her boyfriend, psshaw, leaving me alone on my birthday. Lame sauce!

In other news, my grocery shopping habits have changed for the better. The last three weeks, I've consistently managed to only spend $70! It's still a lot, but I'm a bit of a foodie, dammit, and I've never been much of a penny pincher to begin with. (And did I mention that Seattle's expensive?) I could never feed a family on $100/week. But by looking at the weekly ads for sales and specials, and writing out a menu (not inspired by Food Network), I've gotten much better. I just made bistecca tagliata (Italian style steak) as shown by GQ. It was deliciozo! I made a bed from a bunch of arugula, squeezed a lemon over it (I think squoze should be a word, don't you?), and topped it with shavings of Romano cheese. Then I placed my beautifully pan-fried steak, sliced, on the arugula and topped it with deglazed pan drippings. It's excellent with a Lillet spritzer, though Campari might be more appropriate. (Okay, so that's a little glamorous.) Bon appetit!