Spring Break '11

Well, it's Sunday evening of spring break, and the twilight is just ending. It's nice how there's still some light in the day after 7:30. I guess the Vernal Equinox and Daylight Saving will do that. Anyway, it's the end of spring break, and while I didn't go anywhere fun like last year (Portland!), it was nice to kick back and relax for a bit.

On Monday morning, Heidi drove her parents back to the airport (they were visiting over the weekend) and picked up her boyfriend--he was to help her drive back to Minnesota. Anyway, that afternoon we headed downtown--I love going downtown!--and then over to the city center to visit the Space Needle, unquestionably our country's finest needle. I have seen the Space Needle up close a few times, but I've never gone up. It was pretty fun, but I feel no need to do it again. This is us:
That night we had a farewell dinner with another classmate. Then Alex was supposed to come over for some whiskey drinking, but his wife had other plans for him instead. So the three of us sat around watching Will & Grace.

I woke up early Tuesday morning to say goodbye to Heidi. Tear. We hugged goodbye, and she left, and I decided to watch Saved! and be lazy. Then I finished Ruth Reichl's memoir Comfort Me with Apples which I love. If you enjoy food writing and/or memoirs, I highly recommend it. All memoirs are ME-moirs, but hers is less egotistical than some. It's also not a memoir about a horrific childhood which are in excessive abundance (some are good, others not). It will also make you hungry! Later that night I watched the recent Star Trek movie, and the futon which we had just repaired, broke again. *sigh* Now all my naps will be at an angle.

On Wednesday, I decided to go see 127 Hours which was playing at the (three) dollar theater nearby. I hadn't caught the film during its first run since I had little desire to see a movie about a man trapped in a canyon who has to cut his own arm off, even though I heard all these good reviews. But I thought I can spare $3 bucks, and what else am I going to do? The film was good--I didn't think it was spectacular spectacular--and it was more entertaining that I thought it would be. The part where he cut off his arm was actually gorier than I expected, but I think the film is a tribute to the tenacity of the human spirit. Mostly, the red rock of Southern Utah made my heart ache a little bit.

On Thursday I finished reading Stuck Rubber Baby, a graphic novel by Howard Cruse. It's a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story dealing with race and homosexuality in the Deep South in the 1960s. It was very interesting. That night, I went back to the dollar theater to see The Social Network again. It's such a good movie! and it made me upset all over that Tom Hooper won Best Director. What the what? Anyway, I liked it even better the second time I saw it--everything works so well: script, acting, score, directing, editing. Amazing.

(I don't remember what happened on Friday. Probably nothing.)

On Saturday, I finally decided to clean the kitchen, something which Heidi usually did. I love to cook, but I hate doing dishes which puts me in quite a predicament. Once it was clean, I decided to make stuff--like zucchini bread and a wilted spinach salad--quickly dirtying many more dishes. It's so Sisyphean.

This morning, I decided to make cream scones (with sugared ginger!) which by themselves are a justification for life. So good. And then I had to do more dishes. Then I went to visit Lillian in West Seattle, and we had tea and talked books. I have decided I need to read Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey, Empire Falls by Richard Russo, and Margaret Atwood. Everybody reads The Handmaid's Tale, but I'm really into the Bluebeard story (and variants), so I might read The Robber Bride instead. However, first I'm reading some steampunk books for my Nancy Pearl book club. There's Soulless by Gail Carriger which is a Victorian romance vampire/werewolf parasol book, and it's all a bit silly, but very popular. There's also The Time Machine by H.G. Wells which is very short. and weird. I also checked out The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry, but I'm not sure I'll have time to read it.

Anyway, I should start getting ready for bed soonish. This quarter I'm going to be working 9 to 12. So early--nine o'clock is when I got up last quarter, if I was feeling motivated. But it'll be good to get an early start on my day. or something.