Giving Blood

Gave blood today.  It went well.  Not the super-smoothest donation experience ever, but nothing went wrong, and my arm feels fine.  I like the idea of giving blood, of giving something to other people without expecting anything in return (except maybe some fig newtons in the recovery area afterward).  I wish the experience were a little bit easier, or I had more control over exactly where they stick the needle in, because sometimes it's perfect and the donation process is over quickly, and other times it's a little more painful and takes longer.  Still, it's pretty cool that there are people (I'm gonna go ahead and use the ten-dollar word: phlebotomists) dedicated to getting blood donations, and they tend to be very professional and skilled at what they do.  I never feel like people should give blood unless they want to and unless their bodies handle it well.  I feel lucky because it doesn't bother me much to get shots or have needles in my arm to give blood, but that's really not in my control--just luck.  I've also done it enough now to not be nervous about it.  My curiosity about how the process works and what's happening at each step helps me distance myself from the visceral experience of losing precious bodily fluid, and it ends up being kind of cool to give blood.

Unexpectedly Running into Old Friends

Dear friends, I tried to take a good picture of this drawing, and then I tried to edit it to come out clear and crisp, but it just was not happening.  I think it's because my pen was drying up, and the lines weren't bold enough.  Anyway . . . today I ran into some old friends from my childhood whom I hadn't seen in far too long.  It was quite unexpected, but not startling.  I find that running into people I'm really comfortable with tends not to be startling, even when they're out of the normal context.  And when the universe throws us together again, it's a reassuring reminder that our worlds are not so big, the distances between us not so vast, and the connections uniting us surprisingly powerful.

Old Radios

Well, yesterday it looked like spring was here to stay, and today I woke up to sleet bouncing off the sidewalks.  Go figure.  So I bring you a cozy scene appropriate for this brisk evening: a duck comfortably ensconced in his study, bathed in the warm glow and sonorous tones of an old, vacuum-tube radio.  To be honest, this drawing is a little more off-kilter than I was planning on, but sometimes tired muscles act of their own accord, with little regard for right angles.  Perhaps my subconscious is back on a Chagall kick.  But back to the old radios.  Compared to transistors, vacuum tubes are fragile and terribly inefficient.  They are shorter lived and usually more expensive to replace (at least nowadays).  But oh, the sound!  To this day, guitarists prize tube guitar amplifiers over solid-state ones for their superior tone, for the smooth, "organic" way they break up into distortion when pushing their tubes outside of the specified operating parameters.  And vacuum tubes seem to me the last link between the visible mechanical world and the theoretical electronic one.  You can't see electrons bouncing around inside a vacuum tube any more than you can see them inside a transistor.  But you can imagine them.  You can see the plates, the grids, the screens, the filaments that heat the tubes.  It's all on display inside the glass.  And you can fathom just how it all works, even though electrons are invisible to the human eye.  I like the way a vacuum tube device doesn't just turn on, lickety-split.  It takes its time as the tubes warm up and begin to glow a soothing orange-yellow.  Listening to the radio becomes a ritual.  And relaxation in a cozy room at the end of a long, cold day is an important ritual indeed.

Cardigans and Springtime

For my fiftieth post, I would like to recognize two things that I love: cardigan sweaters and springtime.  They are not incompatible, for on a brisk spring day a cardigan is the perfect companion to keep you warm when you need to be warm and offer ventilation when you need to cool off.  This duck has just checked the mailbox, or perhaps is on his or her way to check the mailbox.  The tulips and daffodils are in bloom, and cheery cumulus clouds float overhead.  The grass is green (you will have to imagine) and the sky is blue, and all is right with the world.  The duck has a pipe, since pipes go wonderfully well with cardigans, though this is a bubble pipe in lieu of a real one, out of concern for health and longevity. And here is a link to a fine poem about springtime by Gerard Manley Hopkins.  If the link stops working, just search for his name and "spring" and it should turn up.  Here's to the beauty in the world, and the fresh newness of spring!

Sassy Waitresses and Waiters

I went to a diner in Greensboro with a friend today, and encountered my favorite kind of waitperson--a sassy one.  Now I'm not a fan of waiters who roll their eyes or make snide comments under their breath, but I am partial to the kind of waiter or waitress who can be a little sarcastic and poke gentle fun at customers while still showing that he or she cares about them.  She might say, "Oh, now you're ready to order?" with a smile, or "Nope, no more coffee for you," with a wink.  Being a waiter must be a difficult and often frustrating job, so you've got to find ways to let off some steam while still making the customers feel good about their meal.  I think a little sassiness can go a long way toward making a diner experience more satisfying and memorable.

Singing Really Loudly in the Car

Usually I take the bus to work in the morning, but this morning we were doing an off-site strategic planning discussion, so I drove.  On the way, I pumped a band I just saw last week and loved, The Rural Alberta Advantage.  They're from Toronto.  I love listening to music in the car, and especially love it when I'm feeling tired or frustrated or really happy, and I can just blast it and sing along at the top of my lungs and get lost in the wash of sound.  It was a very wakeful way to start the day.  I also love pulling up at stoplights when somebody in the car next to me is singing emphatically, not realizing others are watching.  Sometimes that somebody is me.  I like to think this duck is singing along to some Meatloaf, or maybe Journey or Queen.  His day just got a whole lot better.

Silly Hats

I'm watching Carolina play Marquette right now, so that probably influenced the choice of silly hats.  But my friend also has a hat very much like the one on the left, so that was what sealed the deal.  Silly hats make everything better, as far as I'm concerned.  True, it can be tricky to navigate low doorways, and there are a certain number of odd looks from passersby, but after all, isn't that kind of the point?

Wandering Around Big Buildings

Today I went to a panel discussion on employment law and undocumented workers in the evening.  My friend helped organize it, and it was held in a building I was not too familiar with.  It turned out to be easy to find (and an informative and interesting discussion), but as I walked the halls I was reminded of how much I enjoy wandering around in large, unfamiliar buildings.  If I'm not in a hurry, I find it a lot of fun to walk aimlessly around, seeing how the hallways and stairwells connect, peering through the odd window here and there, perhaps emerging on a landing overlooking the lobby.  It satisfies my curiosity and my childlike enthusiasm for small adventures.  Wandering can almost be meditative.  Even among crowds of strangers, I can enjoy solitary contemplation and fond reminiscence.  My favorites are buildings with unusual architecture or old buildings from the time when institutions were built to last, with marble floors and columns, carved archways, intricately cast brass grates, and monumental main doors.  Makes me feel small, and feeling small frees me to think and to wander.

Postcards

I didn't send any postcards today, but I thought of how great it feels to receive them, and to send them to friends and family when you're traveling.  I was reminded how important it is to stay in touch, and how hard it is to do that consistently with people I don't see all the time.  I also love the kitsch of postcards.  Because there's not much room on the back to write, the picture you choose for the front becomes an integral part of your message.  You can be sassy, sincere, goofy, informative, or pretty much any way you please.  It's totally great to get an email from someone you haven't talked to in a long time, but there's something extra special about getting a physical postcard in the mail.

Pfand (Bottle Deposit)

My roommate and I buy milk to share, and it comes in glass bottles from the dairy.  When you buy it, you have to pay a deposit (called a Pfand in German--they don't use that word here, but I think it sounds so much more interesting than "deposit," so I'm sharing it here) to make sure you return the empty bottle for reuse.  Well, we'd been letting the empties pile up on our counter for some time now, and today we decided to cash them in.  It was all part of a clever spur-of-the-moment plan to watch Jeopardy, but more on that in a moment.  So with our other roommate, we loaded up nine empty bottles and drove to the store, where we got $13.50 of deposit money back.  From there we walked to the pizza place and only had to add a couple bucks each to get an extra-large pizza.  It felt like free money.  It was like every time I had bought milk, I had been putting money down toward a pizza one day, and that day was today.  While we enjoyed our pizza, we watched Jeopardy on the TV mounted in the corner of the pizza place.  A friend of a friend of ours was competing today, and we wanted to cheer him on.  He gave a good showing and ended up coming in second, and a good time was had by all.

Mortar and Pestle and Garam Masala

I told myself this wouldn't happen, but I knew it would.  I've fallen behind in my blog posts.  Fear not, though, for I'm catching up tonight with two posts.  First, making Indian food from more-or-less scratch, which I did last night with a lovely lady ducky (you can tell by the kickin' hair bow).  It was not only simpler than I'd thought it would be, but also even more fun than I'd hoped.  And cooking together is an excellent way to see how compatible two people, *ahem* or ducks, are.  I'm pleased to say we got along swimmingly in the kitchen.  We toasted spices to intensify their flavors and ground them in a mortar and pestle to use in a masala sauce.  We coated chicken in a yogurt sauce before broiling it, cutting it up, and adding it to the sauce.  We crushed garlic, plucked cilantro leaves from the stem, and grated ginger up the wazoo.  And it ended up absolutely perfect.  The chicken was tender and not at all overdone, and the sauce was flavorful and just spicy enough.  Mmmm!  And we were just going from a recipe off the internet.  It's inspired me to branch out more in my cooking.  Culinary adventures, here we come!

Weekend Lounging

My post for Saturday is so belated that it's now solidly Sunday, but here you go.  Yesterday I enjoyed the finest that Saturday afternoon has to offer: quiet lounging with family and a good book.  I may have dozed off at one point.  It was glorious.  I'm all for doing things on the weekends--working on fun projects or traveling, visiting museums, seeing movies, etc.  But I'm also a staunch proponent of just relaxing and doing nothing.  Because there simply aren't enough occasions for that during the week, and sometimes you need to chill out.  I hope that you all have some good down time this weekend to relax and do nothing.

With apologies, or maybe just thanks to Marc Chagall.  I wish I had time now to do this justice, but I think the warm light in the photograph gets it partway there.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Ha, perhaps you thought I was above cheesy holiday-related posts.  You thought wrong!  I wish you all a very happy St. Paddy's Day.  Worth recognizing with a holiday: a man who can drive all the snakes from a country.  Also green everything.  Drink responsibly, or you might end up with huge mutton chops like this duck!

Late-Night Salads

Recently when I have that "kinda hungry but not really" feeling around bedtime, I'll make myself a salad in this large, blue-and-white china bowl.  I use normal red or green leaf lettuce, or whatever's handy, and dress it with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, crushed black pepper, and dried oregano.  Then I put a few drops of Salsa Huichol hot sauce on top for that extra zip.  Tonight I felt like I'd been eating poorly all day, so I kicked in a couple cloves of crushed garlic and some clover sprouts, too.  When I've finished the salad, I'll often drink the vinegar that's left in the bottom of the bowl, in accordance with my childhood tradition (seriously, I did this as a kid and loved it).  Tonight's duck is drawn with a big ol' charcoal pencil, and man, I'd forgotten how much fun those are!  It's like instant "Curious George".

Burritos

I hesitate to say that burritos are my favorite food, but in the last few years they have certainly climbed right up near the top of my list.  I think it's largely due to Carrburritos, a superlative burrito restaurant in Carrboro, NC.  Also the Cosmic Cantina, which has locations at least in Durham and Chapel Hill.  The burritos there are much more straightforward than Carrburritos, but still completely satisfying.  In fact, come to think of it, I had one burrito from Carrburritos and one from Cosmic today, which makes it a pretty awesome day in my book.  The burrito has endless variety and potential, it's a neat and tidy package, and it's got all your food groups in one handheld bundle.  What more could you ask for?  My favorite burrito at Carrburritos is the regular black-bean burrito with guacamole filling and jalapeños added.  At Cosmic I go for the regular veggie burrito and use liberal amounts of Valentina hot sauce.  I've got more stories about burritos, but that's all for now.  I'm not thoroughly happy with this drawing, but I tried it a number of times, and concluded I'm just too tired to get it better right now, so up it goes.  Burritos, on the other hand, I am entirely happy with.  Mmmmm!  So good!

Pi Day

Today is Pi Day.  It's Pi Day because when you write the date like we do in the U.S., March 14th looks like 3/14, which looks kind of like 3.14, which starts off the decimal approximation of pi, the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.  Pi Day would no doubt be but a blip on the pop-cultural radar were it not for the neat coincidence that "pi" sounds like "pie," and pies are tasty.  So Pi Day becomes for many an excuse to bake and eat pies, a pastime with which few of us could quarrel.  This evening I'm missing out on Pi Day festivities at Johnny's in Carrboro because I'm still a bit sleepy from the time change to Daylight Savings Time yesterday.  I'm also going to a concert later, so I figure I need to marshal my strength.  And do this blog post before I head out.  A few years back I was very enthusiastic about Pi Day and brought pie materials in to work so I could bake a pie in the kitchen.  I did this, and it remains one of my proudest workday achievements.  That year, Pi Day also fell on a day in the NCAA tournament when UNC was playing (actually, it might have been the ACC--I can't remember), so I went back and forth at lunchtime between checking on the pie and watching the game with my coworkers.  It was a good day.  And a good pie.  Have a very happy Pi Day, everyone!

Cleaning Out the Refrigerator

My roommates and I had been talking about it for a long time, saying things like, "Hm, we should really get around to doing that sometime," and answering, "Yeah, we really should, like tomorrow or this weekend."  Well, today the day finally arrived: refrigerator cleaning day.  It was horrifying.  There were several items that looked as though they had been in there since the Clinton administration, which was surprising since we only have a two-year lease on the house.  I'm sure we threw out several promising new antibiotics, along with odors potent enough for military use.  When we'd weeded out all the repugnance, I washed the Tupperware with bleach water and then dish soap and hot water.  And man, we've got a lot of clean plastic containers now.  It's so satisfying to have room in the fridge again, and to know that if I grab something out at random, it's going to be edible.  Maybe I'll ride this momentum all the way to cleaning my desk.  You never know.

Free Brownies

Today I went to a delicious Vietnamese restaurant in Durham for dinner with friends.  We had bubble tea and very tasty food, and then just as we feared we would burst, our waitress brought us a free brownie to share!  Needless to say, we made room.  Brownies are great, and when they're totally unexpected and free, they're even better.  This duck is doing the "I am the greatest" double fist-pump and wearing a crown to show that he feels like the king of the world.  Because that's how you feel when you receive a surprise free brownie.  Yum!

Grape Bubblegum

The other night I got a craving for grape Bubble Yum bubblegum, which used to be one of my favorite flavors when I was little.  It's artificial grape had a sour sweetness that no other brand or flavor could quite match (although the dark pink--not the light pink--Extra gum was also tops).  So my friend and I walked down the street to the gas station convenience store in search of grape Bubble Yum.  We made the disappointing discovery that there was no Bubble Yum to be found, but there was grape Bubblicious.  So we bought a pack and immediately stuffed two big pieces each into our mouths.  My friend took two or three choffs and proclaimed, "Agh, I regret it already!"  I likened the experience to chewing a damp sock.  But don't get me wrong--it was just what I'd been craving, and I greatly enjoyed every moment.  We parted company shortly thereafter, still chewing and fighting back the drool that threatened to escape our overstuffed mouths, and I drove home, grinning all the way.

8-Bit Video Games

Because the colors are so bright and pure.  Because the sprites and landscapes are endearingly blocky and indistinct.  Because the sound effects evoke the future and the past at the same time.  Because nothing about the goals and interactions really makes sense when you think about it.  Because prizes are hidden inside boxes and catchy theme music follows your hero everywhere she/he/it goes.  Because you get points for doing just about everything.  Because they remind me of some beautiful afternoons in my youth.  Because I should really go outside, but they're so much fun!  For these reasons and more, I salute 8-bit video games, which accomplished so much within such strict limitations, which gave us whole worlds of shared cultural reference points, which boosted our hand-eye coordination to the point where we can now use iPhones without hardly thinking about it, and which made us think that jumping on the heads of our enemies was an effective tactical maneuver.  Thank you, 8-bit games.  And thank you, 8-bit game programmers, whose Snickers Bars-and Jolt Cola-fueled coding binges brought us brave new worlds of adventure.  And Mom, who I know is reading this, I want you to know that I am not sitting in my basement playing video games tonight, but in fact at a coffee shop writing this post.  I feel so mature!

Desperation Dinners

I called this post "Desperation Dinners," because I'm a sucker for alliteration, but I prefer to think of them as "adventure dinners."  You know the kind, where you come home after a long day and open the cupboard to find nothing you're looking for and a bunch of ingredients that don't really go together.  For some people, that would mean it was time to go shopping.  For me?  It's time to get creative.  And that's how I end up eating things that I could never in good conscience serve to anybody else: scrambled eggs over rice with sardines on top, sandwiches with nothing but cheese and mustard, microwaved frozen veggies over spaghetti with hot sauce, and so on.  I honestly and truly do not mind these concoctions, but I will admit that they're not usually meals I would choose to repeat.  Tonight I had a perfectly respectable swiss cheese and mushroom omelette with some of the aforementioned frozen vegetables on the side.  And unlike this duck, I am careful not to leave things on top of inactive burners on the stove.  Fire safety, people.  Good luck with all of your future adventure dinners!

Hoodies

As can be clearly discerned by studying the distinctions between figures one and two above, the hooded sweatshirt offers a range of stylistic and thermal options to suit varying conditions.  I am a big fan of hooded sweatshirts, especially the pullover kind with a kangaroo pocket.  True, the hood can sometimes be lumpy behind the neck while seated, driving, or wearing a backpack, but it also keeps the neck warm and provides a feeling of security, like a blanket that is socially accepted for everyday outdoor wear.  The hood can double as a makeshift pillow in a pinch, and is great for unexpected downpours or gusty weather.  I've got a few hoodies with logos on the front, but my favorites are still plain, solid colors like blue, green, or yellow.  Sometimes I wear a zippered hoodie to work over my dress shirt, which helps me feel relaxed and at ease while remaining (or so I imagine) more or less attired for business.  The hoodie may not be the perfect garment, but it comes darn close.

Records

Tangibility has been on its way out for a while now.  Rotary dial telephones were supplanted by touch-tones, which over time gave less and less tactile feedback to users.  Some car steering systems moved toward drive-by-wire, introducing electrons and silicon chips between your hands and the rack and pinion gears that turn the wheels.  Doctors starting using robots to move the scalpel and suture the incision.  Dials and gauges were replaced by digital readouts on LCD screens.  Cameras no longer expose physical film, movies are no longer shown by projectors whirring their way through reel after reel of celluloid.  Heck, even the future of one of humankind's greatest inventions, the book, is in question.  Not all of these changes are for the worse.  Doctors can achieve greater stability and precision with a robot arm than with their own hands alone.  Drive-by-wire steering systems have great feedback so they feel just like normal.  Modern phones and computers allow people to connect in ways they couldn't have imagined even twenty years ago.  But there's certainly something being lost as something is gained here. And one area in which I feel the pang is music.  There is a fundamental and qualitatively different experience inherent in plugging headphones into an iPod versus setting the needle into the groove on a vinyl record.  For one thing, you can see the energy that is turning the record grooves into sound.  You can turn the power off and spin the record by hand and hear, very faintly, all the sounds you would hear if the amplifier were turned on.  You can't plug into an iPod and try--what even, shaking it?  Letting it sit there?--and hear a thing.  You can't witness bits of information transforming into musical reproduction before your very eyes.  For another thing, it's become very natural to pick and choose single songs to play on your computer or MP3 player, and to start and stop them in the middle, or to skip ahead to that rousing chorus.  On vinyl records, it feels natural to just let the record play, to hear the entire album as a unified artistic creation, to lose yourself in the musicians' imagination.  I could go on at somewhat greater length, but this is already absurdly longer than any of my prior posts.  I am by no means a vinyl purist.  I listen to most of my music digitally, as MP3s pumped through my car speakers or through tiny headphones.  And I still enjoy it and it still makes me feel a tremendous range of emotions, and it still inspires me.  But I also have a few records and an old turntable.  The counterweight is made of pennies duct-taped together and one of the feet is missing.  And when I get those pennies taped back together and set a record down, I feel a special kind of joy.  In the music and the tactility, the tangibility.

Rainy Days

Went for a rainy walk today, and there are few things I like better.  Many things I like just as much, but few I like better.  Today the weather was just a little bit cool but not too cold, and the air smelled fresh and new. You could just catch a hint of spring in the world--more than a hint in the gorgeous magnolia trees covered with pink and white flowers.  I love feeling like a kid as I splash through puddles and notice my clothes getting ever more soaked as I walk.  And I love coming in from the rain, taking off all the wet things, and putting on warm, dry clothes before getting cozy on the couch with a good book or movie and some hot tea.  Okay, I didn't actually do the hot tea today, but the walk was lovely.  Splash splash!

Jam Sessions

On Friday I had a chance to jam with two friends in my basement.  There are only two ducks in this picture because it was getting late, so you'll have to imagine the third.  We'd been looking forward for a while to rocking out with electric guitars and making some positive noise.  It was a pleasure to engage in joint musical inspiration.  One of us would start playing a few chords or fingerpick a pattern, and the other two would figure out what we could add without overpowering the original idea or changing the mood drastically.  Probably the coolest feeling was how we would all without saying anything know when an idea had run its course, and slowly, spontaneously move together into different territory.  Of course to someone on the outside it might have sounded like just so much noodling around, but to be playing that way was satisfying and challenging.  I enjoy playing with people who are better than me, and I felt like that was the case here.  I could keep up, but I was pushing myself, which felt great.  Can't wait to do it again.

'80s Prom Dance Party

Something a little different tonight.  I was at an '80s prom-themed dance party at the Pinhook in Durham, so I bring to you this mulleted duck in a tuxedo, dancing under a disco ball.  This image was rendered lovingly in green ballpoint pen on the back of a receipt, and then photographed on a red vinyl barstool seat.  It was a really fun night, though I am now quite sleepy.  I was not able to post anything on Friday, so this will have to do, and then I'll do another post later for Saturday.  Which is all well and good in my book.  It's important to me to stay consistent with this blog and be disciplined about trying to post every day, but it's also in keeping with the spirit of the blog to allow myself some leeway when circumstances prevent posting as usual.  I hope you all had a good week and that your weekends have started off well!

Unexpected Serenades

Yesterday my housemate cooked dinner and I serenaded him in the kitchen.  He enjoys cooking, and reassured me that he would like it just as much if I were playing and singing as if I were helping him chop vegetables, etc.  For my part, I had gotten home from work with a hankering to play the guitar and sing a few old favorites.  Yes, I did in fact have a music stand in the kitchen to hold the lyric sheets, and no, our kitchen is not so cavernously large as this hastily sketched drawing would have you believe.  My mom used to refer to me as a wandering troubadour when I would walk around the house with my guitar, playing as I popped my head into the kitchen, the living room, the dining room, and all over.  Unexpectedly being sang to, I believe, is a real treat, and one I like to bring to others when the occasion feels right.  And sometimes I need to do something in the kitchen, say, but I'm just not ready to put down my guitar quite yet, so I'll be standing in front of the refrigerator, trying to grab the milk and sandwich materials without banging the guitar into anything.  Assuming I succeed, I'll be all ready for a snack and a song (in between bites, of course)!

Tattoos and Piercings

I think tattoos and piercings are pretty cool.  I do not have any myself, though.  It's for two reasons: one is that I am wary of how body mods would look in my older, flabbier, wrinklier skin years down the road.  The other is that I have not found any words or design that I want to commit to having on my body for all time.  I think I will always love guitars, and could see a tattoo of a guitar, but what kind of guitar?  What style of drawing? What color?  Where on my body?  So that's why I don't have any tattoos.  But I think they can look extremely cool.  They're a neat way of changing your appearance to express the you who you want to be, or of permanently memorializing a person or experience that has changed your life.  We all carry scars with us that commemorate (whether we want them to or not) events in our lives.  Tattoos and piercings are similar in that they're commemorative self-marking, but with the key difference that they're voluntary.  Please forget for a moment that feathers probably don't tattoo well, and enjoy this illustrated (and pierced) duck.

Getting A Good Night's Sleep

So many nights, I have more I want to do than time to do it all, and I end up staying up too late trying to squeeze everything into the evening.  The next morning I wake up tired out and everything goes more slowly, so there's more to do that night and I stay up later to try to do it all.  And the cycle continues.  When I'm overtired, everything seems more complex and difficult, so simple tasks become gargantuan.  My mind--which is already a bit on the overactive side--moves even faster, and my tendency to overthink everything is amplified.  I'll have a brief conversation with someone and then continue analyzing my choice of words and thinking of how it could have been better.  Sleep is so important.  It feels amazing to get comfy in bed, turn off the lights, and let myself slip into dreams.  So before it gets too late here, I'm going to brush my teeth and do just that.  Good night!