psych

i'll admit it, i love psych. the tv show, not the slang (although it is cool). it's about two funny dudes, one of whom pretends to be psychic but really he's just hyper-observant. they work with the police to solve murders and robberies and other crimes. the show is actually really funny, the actors are better than most sitcom actors nowadays, and since the star (james roday) started helping with the writing it's been pretty tight. lately, though, i've been noticing some major issues - mainly the theme song. apparently it's written and performed by the guy who created the show. it's really not very good, lyrically or melodically, and the guy's voice leaves something to be desired. also, the make-up in the show is really awful. with the exception of the two main guys everyone looks like they're covered in fake tanner. really patchy fake tanner. but mostly the song is what's getting me down. it's really awful. even so, i strongly advise you check it out.

from the mountains to the sea

my cousin kelly has come to visit. she flew into portland last friday and we've been on a non-stop adventure ever since. she's exactly like me, and i got her hooked on letterboxing at christmas, so naturally our adventures consist of hunting for treasure, the puff, watching cartoons and playing with legos. oh, and eating. while in portland we managed to squeeze in a show at reed college (an extremely liberal, drug-friendly college), the oregon zoo, a trip to powell's, and lots of eating.

the zoo was pretty great; we had been told there were "finger monkeys" there (monkeys the size of your finger) but we had no luck finding them, and the lady we asked looked at us like we were crazy. we spent a lot of time at the asian elephant exhibit - the giant male elephant was eating and we couldn't tear ourselves away. it uses its trunk like a little vacuum to blow away the dirt from the straw/food, and also to ensure that he gets every last bit. there was an enormous tiger (bigger than i've ever seen), as well as some cute penguins and great monkeys. as far as zoos go it was pretty nice. perhaps the best part of the zoo was the lorakeet area. there are tons of beautiful lorakeets flying around you in a giant cage. for a few dollars you can buy nectar for them and they will come land on your hand and sip the nectar. naturally, we did not buy nectar, but some lady was kind enough to give us hers that still had a bit left at the bottom. the little guy that we snagged had an affinity for hair it seems:

so that was the zoo, we liked it. we got back to eugene on saturday night and kelly's friend scott arrived on sunday. he's a nice guy, nerdy and funny. we've spent our days letterboxing and eating at delicious restaurants. monday we went bowling and i got an amazing score of 105 (a personal best, at least since high school). today will be much the same (papa's soul food, mmmm), tomorrow we head to san francisco for more fun and games.

restaurants we have dined at (and what we ate):

• morning star cafe (portland, or) - eggs benedict; sourdough flapjacks; breakfast burrito with boar sausage
• the tin shed (portland, or) - mac n' cheese w/pine nuts, shallots and red pepper flakes; a burrito with raspberry jam in it; artichoke/parmesan dip
• studio one (eugene, or) - crabcake eggs benedict; smoked salmon eggs benedict; french toast w/almond custard, berry compote and romanov sauce
• cornucopia (eugene, or) - chicken pot stickers; hush puppies; french dip; reuben; taco salad
• sushi domo (eugene, or) - raw oysters; gyozas; deep-fried soft shell crab; crunchy california roll; eugene roll; dynamite roll; in n' out salmon roll; rainbow roll
• off the waffle (eugene, or) - yogurt, banana, coconut waffle; the shmooli (pears, gouda, applesauce, walnuts, coriander); the cree-wi (kiwi, cream cheese, hazelnuts); the habib (chevre, pistachios, cardamom)
• empire buffet (eugene, or) - lots of crab legs and chinese food

still to come: evergreen indian restaurant, papa's soul food, holey donuts and divine cupcake (i hope they're good).

the puzzle lady

in preparation for the detective fiction class i'm taking next term (and because i love mysteries [and puzzles]) i've started reading lots of mystery novels. i've always been a fan of mystery novels, detective fiction and pulp writing; and while many of them are cheesy i find that there is always some amount of pleasure, no matter how minute, to be derived from figuring out whodunnit before the protagonist. my most recent addiction is the puzzle lady series. that's right: mysteries involving crossword puzzles with a hard-drinking, fast-talking, high-rolling "puzzle lady" at the helm. in other words: awesome. granted i'm only on the first book but i can already tell i love the series. after this i'll be starting on the "stainless steel rat" series: a science-fiction/mystery series involving an ex-con, secret government agencies, aliens and time travel. who knew the mystery genre would be so vast?

on a side note: there seem to be an inordinate amount of birds flying into windows around here. i'd say average i see three birds a week flying into windows. generally in my room, but also on occasion in the living room and once at work. that's strange.

shiver me livers

today i ate fried chicken livers for the first time. and they were gross. b.paul and i decided to go out for lunch to a quaint little fish n' chips place called The Rose and Thistle. we ordered some fried oysters, a fish n' chips basket, and the aforementioned gross livers. the oysters were wonderful, and the fish was tasty, but man oh man those chicken livers got me. for those of you who have not had the pleasure of experiencing chicken livers, imagine an overcooked hamburger wrapped in poo. yes, poo. not only were the smell and taste terrible, but the texture was that of a shoe tongue covered in pudding skin. just thinking of it now makes me slightly ill. still, i am proud of myself for trying something new, even at the risk of it tasting like poo. which it did.

alright, this blog is lacking of late, mostly because i am lazy, and also because all of my time has been spent with the candy blog. so here is a little update:

lots of traveling coming up - (hopefully) the midwest in february, san fran with cousin kelly in march, portland lb event in april, (hopefully, and a BIG one this time) s korea in may, iowa in june, portland to san fran lb race in july, and connecticut in august/september. is that too far to plan ahead?

had a pretty exciting holiday in florida with the family. the whole family. that includes mom & marten, brother & family, sister & family, all the step-siblings and their families, aunt sis & greg & the twins, and grammy and grandpa. we spent three days at universal studios, went on all the rides and ate way too much crap. we also letterboxed in orlando and got a ton of cool stamps. plus we met someone while doing it (another letterboxer, obviously)! we played lots of games, and got my cousin into letterboxing! she's even making her own stamp and we're going to go when she comes out to visit.

ten days in florida was long enough, and i am so happy to be back. i definitely feel at home in eugene, i love the people i've met, i love the house we live in, and i really love my job (even if sometimes i hate it).

things i did that i have been procrastinating for far too long: fixed the window in our room (but my nerves are still damaged), payed off school and signed up for next term, bought new shoes that don't have holes in them, bought a new cupcake pan, made cupcakes.

also, i think by the fall i should be a full-time UO student majoring in linguistics, so that's pretty cool. oh, and i started on another internet kick: postcrossing.

things that i have yet to do: oil change, closet shelves, spring cleaning, fish city, read my book club book (i joined a book club!), update candy blog (way too much stockpiled).

there, that's about all i can say without sounding like an egotistical, blathering fool.

turkey day, a week late

i don't think i've talked much about thanksgiving. here's the scoop, in case you don't know: we had about 15 people (including the housemates) and about 100 lbs. of food. seriously, that might be a little more than true, but there was a 25 lb. turkey, so, you know. what other food was there, you ask? well, how about: appetizers (crab dip; cheese ball; little eggy-veggie sandwiches; ham, cream cheese and green onion wraps; plus stuff i probably can't remember), meats (turkey, ham, pork tenderloins), sides (green bean casserole; yams w/mandarin oranges and honey; bacon buns; homemade stuffing; homemade cranberry sauce; beet salad; carrot and blueberry salad; cheesy broccoli and cauliflower; again, i feel like i'm missing some), and desserts (pumpkin cheesecake; strudel; bundt cake; "special" pumpkin pie; "special" apple cake; caramel apples; chocolate-dipped strawberries; chocolate coconut cream pie; yeah, there was probably more). we also had hot cider and eggnog, not to mention wine and sparkling cider and champagne. basically it was a feast. there was so much food left over, i feel like we should have had a second thanksgiving, just to get rid of it. but we didn't, most of it probably got thrown out, or eaten in the wee hours of the night. so, i hope all of your thanksgivings were great as well, but if not then i guess next year you'll just have to come to my house.

candy rants & raves

due to the high volume of candy i am eating and therefore writing nonsense about, i am moving my candy rants to another blog. this one will be more for my daily goings-on, letterboxing, cupcakes, etc. now you have two places to hear me babble. you can thank me in the form of presents. and candy.

so, i also wanted to tell you of some LTCs that i got in the mail the other day. for you who aren't aware, LTCs (letterbox trading cards) are similar to artist trading cards. you carve a stamp and then stamp it on a card about the size of a baseball card. then you add on any other embellishments, writing, painting or what have you. and then you trade them with others for their custom LTCs. so b. paul and i joined an LTC ring with a mystery science theater theme. we each made our own stamps, and then we got back about ten others. there was one of each of the robots, a few scenes from some of the movies they riff on, and a few others. i made one of the spaceship that joel/mike is stuck on, the satellite of love. b. made one of the logo for the show. needless to say his is much better than mine, but i like them both. after it gets light out i'll take some pictures and post them so you can see exactly what i'm talking about. we're going to do another one soon, the theme is comic heroes and villains. i think i am going to do the tick, but not positive. suggestions?

also, i think i have poison oak. or maybe hives. but they itchy and i can't stop scratching.