With DNA Testing, Students Learn What’s What in Their Neighborhood
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/nyregion/27dna.html

Chemically inspired jewelry are hot sellers
(I'd wear it)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/18/LVCS19D9S9.DTL&type=living

Solar savings
City, state and federal grants, tax breaks are making 'going solar' more affordable in area
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/27/RERH1B6B7G.DTL#ixzz0asMkuMOt

Plastic or paper? Maybe neither
MA Grocers to promote alternatives, recycle
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/articles/2009/03/12/plastic_or_paper_maybe_neither/


Fashion:
Skinny model photos draw protesters
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/741856--skinny-model-photos-draw-protesters

In other fashion news-
Kershaw, Poly and Pivovarova refuse to walk in McQueen's Stilettos of Death

So, Christmas was pretty good. I awoke at eight-thirty, which is ridiculously early to my standards of holiday sleeping. At around nine, Nicole woke up and turned on the radio downstairs to loud Christmas music in hopes of waking people up. That succeeded only in me coming downstairs, while the other inhabitants of the house continued doing their log impressions. Baby was eating sliced banana and seemed completely unimpressed with the concept of Christmas morning. I expect that next Christmas he'll have graduated to mild happiness, followed by intense excitement the year following. This year, however, he spent the morning with the calm of the ignorant.

Nicole finally sicced the baby on the 'rents, and we got everyone gathered downstairs for present-opening. Baby was thrown into heights of ecstasy at the very sight of his Elmo wrapping paper, (but didn't seem aware of the need to unwrap anything,) and so it began. The unwrapping process is very untidy at my house, by the way. Three minutes in, and everyone's wading in swathes of paper and bits of ribbon. Baby kept getting bored with it and wandering out of the room, and my sister dragged him on back, saying: "Come back and finish Christmas!"

Meanwhile, I am smug. I bought him books this year, and he dropped smack down in my lap and wanted me to read all three of them to him before we made any more progression into the rest of the gifts. He wasn't nearly as interested in his toys. (With the exception of the Elmo bath toy.) I am very proud of my nephew's fondness for books and reading, especially since his mother hates to read and can't stand most books- the exception being Twilight. Gag me. It's heartening to see that this isn't being passed on to the progeny.

My loot was:

Coach purse and Sephora make-up set from my mom
Borders gift certificate from my baby sister
A necklace, earring, and bracelet fleur-de-lis set in two red velvet bags, from younger sister
Another necklace, earring, and bracelet set and cucumber melon bath set from aunt
Chick Fil A gift card from dad
Bath and Body Works products and $50 from the family I babysit for.
Assorted candies including Ferrero Rocher and Russell Stovers from the stockings

Christmas dinner was the ubiquitous turkey (I keep trying to get my dad to make goose again), stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, gravy, and fresh asparagus. My dad, unfortunately, tries something new with the stuffing every year, though it thankfully doesn't seem to have much effect on the taste of the turkey. I taste it every time, despite my distate for stuffing in general, and this year's batch was fairly standard- and quite good. For dessert we have something called 'royal bavarian', which is a creamy, custardy sort of thing, marbled with raspberries and gelatin. Mmmm.

I have enough sugar to last a normal person for years. I am heartily pleased. I hope you all had a good Christmas, too! (If you celebrate. If not, I hope yesterday was at least a pleasant day. XD)

Merry Christmas, everyone!




WE ARE ABOUT TO COMMENCE OPERATION: UNWRAPPING PRESENTS. WISH US WELL.

So, I watched The Frog Princess, and I adored it. There were some parts that I was iffy on, but the characters in general were endearing and the movie's message didn't make me want to exfoliate my face with a cheese grater. So, here's the review for the movie behind the clearly and artistically formed lj-cut:

( people gonna come here from everywhere, and I'm almost there )

All in all, this was an enjoyable, lovely movie that made me feel happy inside, and I would definitely recommend it.

In the spirit of Christmas and as a response to all these friends list cookie posts, I give you a looong ramble containing my thoughts on yaoi cookies.

The paternal unit likes to make pfeffernuesse cookies, apricot-filled cookies, and elaborate sugar cookies filled with date-nut filling for Christmas. These are widely acknowledged as 'Christmas cookies' and are only meant to be consumed on Christmas. I like the apricot-filled, will eat the sugar cookies, but can not stand the pfeffernuesse. No one really likes them. And yet, every year, we make the damn pfeffernuesse with their spicy-molassass taste and the sprinkles that won't stay on. They're also hard, thinner cookies, and I prefer cookies to be thick, chewy, and soft. I was always amazed that Santa ate them every year.

Looking back on my cookie repertoire, I can see a definite pattern in preference. As I said before, the cookies I tend to like are thick, chewy, and soft. They need to have evenly-distributed sugar and flavor as well- I don't like jam thumbprint cookies. I'm not fond of the soft, crumbly, powdery tea cookies, either. I like cookies to have a richness to them, so lots of butter and sugar! And as for texture, I'm totally cool with anything thrown in the batter: coconut, chocolate or butterscotch chips, nuts of any variety, bits of toffee...whatever strikes the fancy of the chef.

I like big peanut butter cookies. They're the only sweet peanut butter product that I will eat, actually. Typically, peanut butter candies remove the saltiness of peanut butter entirely and give it a sort of saccharine-sweet flavor, when the saltiness of the butter is what I find appealing. Peanut butter cookies maintain the salt and sweet balance, while offering the rich, doughy cookie texture. Mmm.

Other cookies I enjoy: plain old unembellished chewy sugar cookies, white chocolate macademia nut, and ginger chocolate.

I think my favorite cookies really are chocolate chip. It's hard to get better than that old classic. Just enough chocolate that it doesn't overwhelm your taste buds, and they're just so tempting when you get them straight out of the oven. Those little chips become miniature globs of molten chocolate goodness! And of course, the perfect complementary beverage is a nice, cold glass of milk.

In fact, the only cookie that breaks tradition of big, soft, and chewy is the girl scout cookie of paradise: the thin mint. I suspect them of lacing the product with an addictive substance, because I constantly buy these things and consume them like mad. Even made cheesecake crust with them. (It was delicious.) Chocolate and mint is such a winning combination. I don't like mint very much on its own, but paired with chocolate- especially dark chocolate, it becomes delectable.

So, what are your favorite cookies, people?

Things I want to rewatch:
 
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Buffy
Hook
The Iron Giant
Iron Man
 
Things I have that I have never, in fact, watched, that I need to get off my butt and view:

Dead Like Me: Season One
Firefly


This isn't counting the humongous heap of books I would like to read. I'm tempted to call one week 'no internet week' and see how long I last. I might not have that kind of willpower in me!

So, I really dislike the word 'slut'. It's an insult based on ages of denying women sexual freedom and enjoyment, and denigrates women who enjoy sex and embrace their own sexuality. It imparts a value judgement on the sex lives of women- something that is personal and nothing that anyone should have the right to dictate or judge. (Except in harmful cases such as pedophilia and rape.) 'Slut' and 'whore' automatically hit my rage triggers when used against a female. They're loaded, insulting words that scream of patriarchy and sexual repression.

So, when I read 'slut' being used as an insult against women in an Anne Bishop novel, in which the Blood presumably enjoy a matriarchy, I'm a little thrown out of the reading. Women in this world are expected to explore their sexuality and may have as many bed partners as they like, even in corrupted Terreille. It makes sense, for me, to see 'whore' being leveled against men in this world, because the pleasure slave industry seems entirely male dominated. 'Whore' leveled at the female gender makes sense as well, since female prostitution is alive and well, and the insult gains a new twist to my mind- perhaps shame associated with choosing a profession that caters to the sexual enjoyment of men.

But 'slut'? I wish I saw more of Blood sexuality beyond Anne Bishop's virginal little girl characters (sorry Lia and Jaenelle,) and the more twisted seductions of Hayll. Surreal seems the closest to average, she sees what she likes, hits on it, and gets herself laid. All very well and good. We see that the narrative seems to frown upon female promiscuity, as both of the female antagonists are of the Whore of Babylon variety: voracious sexual appetites and they seek to control the male characters by force, not by nurturing female nature. Still, the society itself doesn't seem the type to pass that sort of value judgement on a sexually active woman, not when men are the gender enslaved and used for sex. It could be the patriarchal mindset seeping into the book (it actually tends to do this often,) or I could just be missing an interpretation of that insult that would fit in the world given to us by Bishop.

So, who is ready for 'this snow is fucking ridiculous: the picspam'?

I know I am.




Alright, so. Those are the cars. The one with the crumbly, half-swept snow on top of it is my car! I was digging it out, then decided to record the whole ordeal for posterity. This stuff goes up above my knees! I'm totally going to take a running leap and roll in it tomorrow. It's basically the result of the day-long mini-blizzard yesterday. The shoveling didn't actually go as badly as I was fearing: apparently the Homeowner's Association dropped by and made a little runway through the cul-de-sac for us, and all we did was make little tunnels through the snow to connect ourselves to that main runway. Still, my hands are sore and my back hurts from all the shoveling.

It was epic. The stuff of GODS. Also, our neighbors are two elderly couples (who always gave out the best Halloween candy,) and the other neighbor had a stroke a year back and it's just her and her husband there. Nicole and I went out and shoveled their path for them like mad, shoveling things. And then, I was picked up to go to a Christmas party, but since the roads over there were worse than the ones here, we were told en route not to bother showing up. So, instead, I went to my friends' apartment complex, where we dropped off Cynthia, and Patrick and I wandered across the street to the easily accessible mall. On the way, we helped dig two people out of snow and pushed their cars into the street. When we got stuck in the snow on the way to their apartment, a pizza truck stopped and pulled us out with a tow cord.

Storms and such seem to really bring out the best of people in this way: everyone seems to be helping each other and lending a hand. It's the good side of this kind of weather. Everyone was smiling and sympathizing with each other, and in this kind of area, we operate much like cities: no one smiles or is openly friendly with strangers that much. I miss that about the midwest. It's wonderful to see it here- anywhere, really, but it's so much more impactful in a place where overt friendliness is so rare.

Anyway, the mall was fun. We bought hot cider with caramel, and I saw my sister working at the Banana Republic and stopped to say hello. Lots of window shopping with no actual purchasing followed, we ate lunch at the food court, and I was finally dropped off at home. Not before Patrick and I took the arms of a passing woman who was terrified of walking in the icy roads and escorted her to her car. At home, I promptly passed out, because the whole 'shoveling most of the day' ordeal made me tired. Woke up after two hours and resumed shoveling the last of the snow in between the cars with my sister. We threw a bunch of friendly insults at each other and overused the word 'dick' like the Smurfs overuse Smurf, mourned that we were too late to go to Starbucks, and finally went inside.

Where the baby greeted us with: "ELMO! ELMO!"

SO DAMN CUTE.

( Pics of massive snowfall beneath the cut )

So, today I was supposed to go forth into the world and mail a bunch of presents out and do some babysitting. I find myself unable to accomplish these tasks because I am currently snowed in. My car is partially buried in snow. We're supposed to get two feet of snow. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm okay with a reasonable amount of snow every now and then, but nothing this ridiculous! I am stuck in here with my family. With no way of escaping. I can feel the claustrophobis setting in already.

I'm cloistering myself up in my room with my books, my laptop, my DVDs, and a bunch of snacks, and will only venture down below for drinking chocolate and lunch.

Meanwhile, idiot from the D&D party showed his idiocy once more by proclaiming that phsyicists know everything about the other sciences and all the other sciences are watered-down and specialized versions of physics. I hope a bunch of real scientists find him and intellectually beat the shit out of him one day.

I wish I could go to Japan just for the candy. Specifically, the fucked up variety of Kit Kats they have. WE don't have all these flavors of Kit Kats. They have pudding, mango pudding, red bean, green tea, soy sauce, chestnut, baked sweet potato, and others. I stare at them in disbelief and awe.

I mean, look at these. I am so tempted.