the smell of my house

today was a cooking day. i made my sister's fantastic recipe --with 2 pages of ingredients! --for chicken tikka masala, and then a batch of chocolate chip pecan cookies. the combination of the two is a not unpleasant, slightly burnt cumin/coriander/cookie kind of scent. it was blowing in hot and strong through the bathroom vent just now.

a box of matches by nicholson baker

I just read this book for the second time, and i really like it. it is about 20 early-morning musings from a middle-aged man during the winter time, likely in New England (fiction). it mostly deals with the minutae of this man's life and his sometimes very random thoughts, but is beautifully written and (hooray) positive; nothing too tragic in it. actually, it is not unlike a well-edited blog, full of daily events, memories, and the occasional profound thought.

i tend to gravitate to very sad books that haunt me for months. one, the time traveler's wife (see post below) truly depressed me for several weeks. i bought a copy and then, realizing that i should not have this book in my house, i sent it to my sister. hopefully she will fare better with it.

against breakfast food

I haven't been a breakfast person for years, and i think I've figured out the phenomenon: breakfast food is not worth it. i'm much better off with a bowl of chicken herb ravioli or pizza or even (I know, insert *shudder* here) a tuna sandwich than any sort of bread product with syrup on top or processed grain shape with sugar on top or granola bar. (caveat: vanilla flavored miniwheats are excellent any time of day). I just gots to have me protein in the top o' the morning.

aetna=evil

don't, I repeat, DO NOT, call your HMO to ask any kind of important information. why? because the "person" answering the phone is really a robot whose sole purpose is to obfuscate simple information, such as the answer to, "is _____ covered?" much better off finding the .pdf version of your plan info and NEVER talking to a live person, ever. ok, now I need some chocolate and a diet coke.

hi-larious Japan travelogue

oh, seth stevenson is one funny man. If you've been to Japan or if you haven't; if you even know where Japan is on the map, you need to read this; 5 full days' worth of stellar humor and crazy fun in Japan, as seen through the eyes of mr. stevenson. then go to the archive and ready everything he's written, esp. Ad Report Card, and laugh yourself out of the cheeto-induced coma you've been in. (I've been in? Whatever.)

brokeback mountain

ok, I don't have a problem with this movie existing, but I saw the trailer 3 times last night, and if I'm not mistaken, it is being touted as a love story [no problem there; it is a love story], but ALL of the clips involving 2 people hugging/touching were between the cowboys and their wives. I think that's a bit misleading. Some poor granny out there is going to think it's a good ol' fashioned western love story and be a little shocked, I think.