Looking Forward

I don't have a list of goals for 2016 like I did for 2015. There are things I want to do, projects I'm working on. But things will come as they come. Instead, I have a bigger, more nebulous goal in mind. It's the closest I've come to having an actual New Year's resolution in years.

In 2016 I want to learn to be more flexible.

This started on the yoga mat (oh god, I'm turning into one of those people). Physically, flexibility is something that has always eluded me. I took ballet classes for ten years and only did the splits once. I could barely touch my toes in all that time. If I'm honest, a lot of that is because I just didn't care that much. Now I do. And I'm seeing enough improvement to keep myself motivated. I'd like to be able to touch my toes, to fold in half, to splay out my legs and put my elbows on the floor. So I'm working at it and improving bit by bit.

It extends beyond the physical, though. I like my routines. I rely on them. I get stuck in them. As nice as it is to have them to fall back on, especially when I'm sick or exhausted or stressed, they can occasionally become a hindrance. It's been especially difficult dealing with Kevin's ever-changing and last-minute travel schedule. I'm hoping to figure out how to get better a this in the new year. I want to be able to go with the flow a little more, to not have my entire day thrown off when plans change or something unexpected happens.

Maybe this doesn't really count as a New Year's Resolution. It's been on my mind, and it's something I've been actively working on since mid November. But I'm still working on it. If I'm honest, I'll probably be working on it for my entire life. In this time of looking forward and setting new goals, this is the one I want to focus on.

Here's to a new year and a more flexible me. See you on the other side.

Looking Back

Coming up on the end of the year, and I thought this would be a good time to go back and see how I did with my resolutions. Without further ado:

• Plant some herbs. I'd love to have fresh basil and mint and maybe thyme available in my kitchen. And I think I can handle a small, indoor herb garden.
• I tried this! I had an herb garden for several weeks. Then the cat got mad and ate the entire thing and threw up all over the bathroom. At least he did it in the bathroom. No more herbs for me.
• Plant some tomatoes. Tomatoes are supposed to be easy, and it'd be great to have some nice, fresh ones available to eat. Especially since I just found an easy marinara sauce recipe.
• Man, I didn't even attempt this one after the disaster of the herb garden
• Learn to make jambalaya. Last year I conquered risotto and the year before that it was soup. This year: jambalaya. (My first attempt was a little too soupy. Next time will be better.)
• I did this! I made jambalaya several times. Each was better than the last, and I now have go-to recipes for a quick jambalaya-tasting dish (~25 minutes) and a more involved version. Yay!
• Bake some bread. We've got this lovely stand mixer that I never, ever use. I want to use it more. Bread could be fun, right?
• Nope, this didn't happen at all. Maybe next year? But it's so much easier to buy.
• Make pasta from scratch. See above, re: stand mixer. With pasta making attachment
• We did do this! Several times. We even did ravioli once. It was fun and delicious but also lots of work considering pasta is usually around $1/lb
• Cook more new things in general. I already moved the cookbooks out of the cupboard to help with this. If I see them everyday, I'll be more likely to actually use them.
• I think I did this? It's hard to quantify. I cooked some stuff, though
• Learn to knit? I mean, probably not. But also it could be fun. And something to do while I'm watching TV
• Definitely did not do this.
• Start building up a home gym. I want to start small: a foam roller, a mat, a set of dumbbells. Eventually I'd like to be able to cancel my gym subscription. I just need to get in the habit of working out at home first.
• I have a home gym! Mostly I use it for yoga, but those dumbbells still sit there and mock me.
• Lose some weight. It's such a cliche. For real this year, though 
• Actually I think I gained 5 pounds? Whatever
• Bike to work at least once. I'm doing decently on the exercise bike, and my office really isn't too far away. I'm planning to buy a bike in March or April and get out more. Especially if this summer is as gorgeous as last summer was. (I hope I didn't just jinx it.)
• I rode my bike to work a ton last Spring. For three months I was biking to work at least twice a week. Then it got hot. Then it got dark. But come April I should pick this up again.
• Reorganize the library/living room. I want to get a couple more bookcases for the living room and start moving some books down there. Because my library is actually overflowing.
• I did this, and I love it. But now it's time to reorganize yet again Or maybe get rid of some books?
• Pay off my student loans. This is definitely happening this year. It's barely even a goal. Still you have to put down something that's guaranteed. It makes the rest of the list easier.
• I did this, too! Goodbye student loans. Now we just need to pay off the car. And the house. 

 As for my reading goals, well I think that was an utter failure. I did complete Wheel of Time, which was well worth my time. I'm really glad that I read that series, and also that I waited until it was finished to read it. And while I did inject some diversity into my reading habits, I still mostly read books by white men. I guess that all I can do is keep trying.

I also failed to read less. As of this writing, I've read 110 books so far this year and will likely complete two more by Thursday (yeah, I know). Four of those 110 books were the Vorkosigan omnibuses, each of which contains 2 novels and 1 novella. Though that's probably balanced out by the graphic novels I included in my count. The point is that I read an absurd number of books this past year, and it did occasionally cut in to other things I could have been doing. As proud as I am of reading 100 books in a single year - it is a pretty great accomplishment - I'm once again hoping to read less next year. If only there weren't so many books that I want to read.

Then there's the writing goal. I didn't even try that hard. I half considered a few ideas, and I even came across a request for posts from a blog I frequent that I could have written something interesting for. But ultimately I didn't write anything with the intent of getting it published somewhere other than my blog. On the other hand, I now have three blogs. Maybe that counts?

Even though I didn't do everything I said I wanted to, 2015 was pretty successful. I did some cool things, read a ton of books, and generally had a pretty awesome year.

Merry Little Christmas

This year we celebrated a much quieter Christmas than I'm used to. But it ended up being a lot of fun, and I got to spend some quality time with my brother.

He came over in the early afternoon on Christmas Eve and we went down to the Kennedy Center for Kevin's mom's Christmas concert. Kevin usually drives to these concerts, so it probably isn't a huge surprise that I got very lost. I missed my exit and ended up doing a big loop, crossing the Potomac three separate times before we finally found our way into the parkign garage. Luckilly, we had planned to arrive half an hour early. We ultimately made it to our seats a few minutes before the concert started.

The concert was lovely, as always. It didn't include music from any other countries this year, but that turned out to be a timing thing. A choir visiting from the Phillipines performed with them on the Gala Night, the main concert event, but elected not to stay for the Christmas Eve concert. Instead, we got some fun performances from a trumpet soloist.

After the concert we went to a friend's house for champagne and appetizers for a couple of hours. The group was much smaller than normal, as Kevin wasn't the only person unable to spend Christmas in Virginia this year. Then it was back home for a dinner of sausage and pasta and movies and wine with Connor.

I got him to watch Pride and Prejudice, which I've been wanting to rewatch for a few weeks now. Then we started The Tenth Kingdom, but Connor fell asleep before long, and I wasn't too far behind him.

On Christmas morning, Connor and I slept in until after 8, probably the latest either of us has slept on Christmas. Then we opened presents and made pancakes and called dad while we took Kina for her morning walk. After that we dove back in to The Tenth Kingdom. It was on in the background for most of the day while we visited and worked on a puzzle.

We met up with Pat for an early dinner at a nice Chinese restaurant in the area. The place was unbelievable crowded, even during our 4:30 reservation. But the food was well worth the wait, and it was a nice change of pace to go out on Christmas instead of cooking and facing a heap of dishes afterwards.

After dinner, Connor and I went back home and finished The Tenth Kingdom, then rounded off the evening with a few episodes of Angel, which Connor always preferred to Buffy. Overall it was a really nice, lowkey Christmas. I'm glad I was able to spend it with the family I had here, msotly hanging out in my pajamas and watching old movies. All things considered, it was about as perfect as it could be.

Yoga Check In

I'm about halfway through the 30-day yoga challenge, and it this point it's looking like I will make it all the way through. I'm planning to start over again once I finish. Or maybe start doing some other yoga videos? Mostly I just want to keep this up. I like the way I'm feeling. I like that I can see myself improving, almost day to day. And I like the control I'm gaining over my body.

I still struggle with some of the poses. But others come much easier, which helps me stay motivated. And even the ones that I'm having trouble with, I'm already noticing improvements on. The nice thing about starting over from the beginning is getting to go back through and realize that I'm already stronger and more flexible than I was a month ago. I may still have trouble touching my toes, and I may continue to fall over, but I'm holding poses longer and sinking into them deeper.

It's also leaking out into my life a little bit, too. I know it's easy to roll your eyes at people who really embrace yoga as a lifestyle, I know I have in the past, but I'm starting to see how it can happen. When I find myself stressed about something at work, I can now slip pretty easily into a couple of deep breaths or a moment of grounding myself and get back on track much quicker. I don't know how far I'll really go with this, but for now it's working great.

Early Christmas

This year we celebrated Christmas a week early. The Friday before Kevin left for Hawaii, we invited his mom and my brother over for a lamb dinner. Jen and Steve came out, too, and spent the night before their early-morning flight out of Dulles.

Kevin prepared an excellent lamb dinner with roasted potatoes and a delicious loaf of bread. His mom contributed a green bean casserole. We ate and drank wine and talked, and I was grateful that Kevin had been able to do all of the shopping and cooking.

Before dinner, we exchanged gifts with Kevin's mom. It was a little more rushed and chaotic than most years, which has become a bit of a theme for this year's holiday. After dinner we exchanged gifts with Jen and Steve. Then we we finished off the bourbon I bought for Kevin last year and played a game.

We couldn't stay up too late, because everyone had planes to catch the next morning. But it was nice to get a chance to visit and eat some good food. As weird as it is to celebrate Christmas so early, I'm glad we fit the celebration in before Kevin left.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Back when the release date for Star Wars was announced, I began to consider taking the next day off from work so I could go to the midnight premiere. I haven't been to a midnight premiere since college. The last few times I've attended movies that began after 10 I fell asleep in the theater. But for Star Wars, I was willing to insert an IV drip of caffeine so I could thoroughly enjoy the first showing.

It turns out that I'm not the only one for whom midnight premieres aren't exactly feasible, and the industry is beginning to realize this. Across the country, the movie was shown at 7 PM on Thursday. A cynical person might call this a money grab (Star Wars shattered records, and I'm sure at least part of that is because of the extended opening weekend), but I was thrilled for the earlier showing that meant I wouldn't have to chug coffee or miss work.

I was even more thrilled when Zach discovered that we could get tickets to see the movie at the IMAX at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. It was perfectly nerdy, and exactly the right place to enjoy the new Star Wars film. There was even something special about it being one of the few theaters to show it on film rather than digitally, not that I'm the sort of person who can tell the difference.

I wore my Jedi dress to work and was sorely disappointed by the reactions of my coworkers. Many of them hadn't even realized that Star Wars was premiering that day. One person complimented my hood, but then she admitted that she'd never seen Star Wars before. But it was all fine, because as soon as work was over I caught the train downtown.

Zach had arrived early to pick up tickets and secure a place in line. I snarfed a sandwich on my walk over because I wasn't expecting the Smithsonian to have food available. I was pleasantly surprised to find a concession stand that sold both food and beer. Our group stood in line drinking beer, talking, taking pictures, and generally getting really excited.

The movie itself was fantastic. I had done my best to lower my expectations, which worked in my favor. The plot itself was somewhat predictable, as though a fan were writing fanfiction of the original movie. But that's exactly what it was (albeit with an enormous budget), so I can't really fault it too much. The predictability drained the tension of a handful of scenes. But the movie was so much fun that I couldn't really care that much.

We ended up in the very front of the theater, so close to the screen that I had to physically move my head from side to side to read the rolling text in the beginning. The corners of the screen were outside my vision. It made for a delightfully overwhelming experience. Though I do want to see it again on a more normal sized screen, so I can better appreciate the movie as a movie and not just an experience.

This was the most fun I've had at the movies in a long time. Possibly in my life. I'm so glad the movie was as good as it was, and I'm really excited for the sequel. Here's hoping for another fun night at the Smithsonian in a few years.

Busy, Busy

Ever since getting back from Thanksgiving, it's felt like we've been going non-stop. I rolled from the holiday into a week of 12-hour days. Well, they were 8-hour days, but they were a two hour drive from my house. And they were full of meetings. Nothing but meetings. By the end of it, I was so exhausted that I skipped my Christmas party.

That weekend was spent cleaning and catching up on things I'd intended to catch up on while Kevin was in Hawaii. And continuing to recover from the extended work week. And just feeling down. I canceled my Sunday afternoon plans, opting to stay home and write and wrap presents. Then I just watched TV instead. It was frustrating to want to do things and just not be able to find the energy to do any of it.

But I rallied on Monday, and we went over to watch the football game with Kevin's mom. I actually only stayed for the first half, because I do need my sleep.

The following weekend was Mudd's 60th Anniversary Party, so we met up with a bunch of Mudders for an early happy hour in Adams Morgan. It was fun to see people we haven't seen in many years, and we got some light-up shot glasses. Though I think I'm past the point in my life where I want more shot glasses. Not that I was ever that big on shots anyway.

After the happy hour we went to a party at Jen's house. It's a little awkward arriving at a potluck with no food, but we tried to make up for it with alcohol. After a delicious dinner, it was back to Zach and Sarah's place for beer and card games and the first part of our fractured gift exchange. Sarah got me a Jedi dress, that I've been waffling on buying for several months. I'm so glad she got it for me, because I may never have bought it for myself (I have a thing about buying clothing without trying it on first), and I love it dearly. It's super comfortable with deep pockets and a deeper hood and I get to pretend I'm a Jedi when I wear it.

The next day, Zach and Sarah came out to our place so we could go to a sports bar that airs all of the football games and serves relatively cheap mimosas ($30 for a magnum of champagne and a pitcher of orange juice). We did the second part of our fractured gift exchange, watched some football, and then watched The Empire Strikes Back in preparation for the new Star Wars movie.

All in all it's been a very busy couple of weeks. As much as I look forward to a big holiday, it's nice to not have to worry about cleaning too much this year. This week has been all about relaxing and regaining some balance in my life. That's usually reserved for the beginning of January, but it's nice to have it come a little early this year.

Searching for the Holiday Spirit

December is always a busy month. With the holidays come many more social commitments. Work holiday parties, work deadlines, time spent with friends before everyone leaves town for a week or two, plus all the gift shopping and wrapping and decorating on top of it. I always know this is coming, and despite my introvert tendencies, I'm usually excited about it. December also brings with it a jolt of energy.

At least it usually does. The long nights and cold air always seem to bring me to life. When the sun has set before I even leave the office, I'm left with a nice, long evening that always feels longer than it is. Cooler temperatures invigorate me. And the twinkling lights and good cheer keep my spirits up. Not to mention that the first (and second and third and maybe all of them) snow fall often has me almost literally skipping around my office.

This year I'm not feeling it. My social calendar has been as busy as ever. But instead of my usual excitement and energy I've been feeling lethargic. I'm going to blame a lot of it on the weather. Winter is simply refusing to show up. A week ago we actually turned the heat off and opened our windows because it was so warm outside. We've barely had a frost. And while it's been very wet, that's mostly just translated to a warm, muggy feel. Like summer, but dark.

The other reason I'm not feeling it is Kevin's work schedule, which has him in Hawaii for three weeks over Christmas and New Year's. I really shouldn't complain too much. He loves his job, and he'd been wanting to travel more. In the scheme of things this is only one Christmas. We'll have many more together in the future. And once this project is through his travel schedule should die down some, or at least become more reasonable and predictable.

But it does mean that I'm going to have a very small Christmas this year. We didn't get a tree or do any decorating, because I was worried about my ability to take it down by myself. Instead of a big home-cooked meal, I'll be going to a nice restaurant with my brother and Kevin's mom. Again, I shouldn't complain. I have family in the area, dinner will be nice, a few traditions are still in tact. But for someone who enjoys and has grown accustomed to huge, whirlwind Christmases full of family, food, and alcohol, it's hard not to feel at least a little let down this year.

I'm trying my best to look forward to the little things, like my four-day weekend coming up (also, thanks to the cruise, I can't take any extra time off for Christmas this year). The holiday is almost over, Kevin will be back home before I know it, and maybe winter will decide to show up at some point. Plus, I have all sorts of writing to catch up on. In the meantime, I'll muddle through as well as I can.

Thanksgiving

We had a bit of a travel snafu over Thanksgiving this year, but everything ultimately worked out. More or less.

Kevin and I are planners. Which means that we bought our tickets to go to Colorado for Thanksgiving back in June. Then Kevin started a new job and his first business trip kept getting re-scheduled and pushed back until it became apparent that he would be spending Thanksgiving in Hawaii. So he went out there and canceled his ticket to Colorado. No sooner had he done that then his trip got cut short. He ended up in Virginia, hanging out with friends for the holiday while Connor and I went back home to see family.

Other than that, the trip was a lot of fun. We got in Wednesday evening, and by a travel-related miracle made it from plane to baggage claim to dad's car in about half an hour. Which also included meeting up with my aunt and cousins who'd flown in from California on a different flight. The whole thing went down with amazing smoothness and we were able to spend a lot of time visiting that evening.

On Thanksgiving Day itself I sat in the kitchen and drank wine and kept everyone's glasses full while they all cooked. It was nice to not be hosting this year. I had fantastic conversation with my aunt and my dad's step-brother's wife (step-aunt? I'm almost more inclined to refer to her by the catch-all "cousin"). We ate delicious food. And between the wine, the jet lag, and my four hours of sleep the previous night, I was passed out on the couch sometime around 8. I completely missed pinochle.

The next day aunt and cousin came over with my cousin's daughter who is just about 18 months old. It was a lot of fun to see them and my baby cousin who I live entirely too far away from. Then my mom came to pick us up and we went back to her place for sausages and television.

On Saturday we met up with my other aunt and cousin for lunch and Settlers of Catan (the Star Trek edition, naturally). Then mom took my brother and I out for a delicious dinner. I had scallops and bacon in a cream sauce and my mom got these delicious pear-cheese ravioli things.

The trip was, as always, a bit of a whirlwind and jam-packed with family. I'm going to need to do a non-holiday week-long trip back to Colorado at some point so I can catch up with everyone in a slightly more relaxed setting. Not to mention that it'd be nice to go in the summer when my aunt's cabin is open for the season. In the meantime, I'm glad that I at least got to see everyone.

Recommiting to Yoga

Predictably, I did not make it through the entire thirty days of yago. Though I actually did pretty well, all things considered. I made it fourteen days into the challenge, and the only day I missed was one on which I was not home long enough to do yoga. 

But then Thanksgiving happened. I was being too optimistic in thinking that I'd find a time and place to do yoga while surrounded by family and wine. Oh well. After I got home, I was planning to jump back in. But a few 12-hour work days got in the way of that. I was too exhausted to even think about yoga. Then again, part of the exhaustion was from my stress-fueled insomnia. I was maybe sleeping 6 hours a night, and I'm sure that if I'd managed to do some yoga, I'd have been relaxed enough to actually fall asleep. It's a vicious cycle.

So now I'm back to it. I decided to start back at the beginning of the 30 day cycle i was watching, rather than pick back up with day 15. This way it'll be a little easier to track that progress this time around.

I also like that I can already tell that a few things are coming easier. I still struggle mightily with downward dog. I think my biggest problem is that I have no idea how to modify it so that I can improve. But I've noticed improvments in other areas. I can touch my toes occasionally. I can hold lunges a little longer. It's heartening to see these little improvements. And with no travel in the foreseeable future, I ought to be able to make it through all 30 days.

Bits and Pieces

It figures that I would commit myself to three blogs and then immediately stop writing for two weeks.

Well, it's not that I haven't been writing at all. But I've written very little and posted nothing at all.

Kevin's business trip got cut short, so he came home shortly after my last post. Then I went home for the holidays and spent all my time drinking wine and visiting with family. I got home late on Sunday, and now I'm in the midst of a string of 12-hour work days without a computer. So I'm squeezing this post in in the evening.

I'm behind on my book reviews, but those should be easy to bang out once I have some uninterrupted time with my computer. I'm falling behind on my alphabet project. Or rather, I've been having a hard time getting started. But I think I can catch back up before they're due to start posting this weekend. Maybe. I'm not giving up yet, though.

I've been considering getting a chromebook or a cheap laptop to give me some more mobility with this whole writing thing. It would have been nice to have something along my Thanksgiving trip home to keep me from falling quite so far behind. And it'll be nice to carry it to the couch and such. I've tried writing on my tablet, but it doesn't really offer everything I want (a full keyboard, the ability to schedule blog posts).

Of course, I also recently lost my phone, and it's showing no sign of returning to me. It's looking like I'll have to buy a new one this weekend. And we just bought a TV. And we need a new water heater. And it's nearly Christmas. Now probably isn't the right time to buy a laptop just because.

Then again, sales. And convenience.

I'm on the verge of rambling. There's so much going on and I have so many thoughts that it's hard to wrangle them all. But this has been an update on the basics. If I'm able to work a short day on Friday, you can expect more then.

Redesign

I've decided to make some changes to the way I blog. Specifically, I'm splitting this existing blog into two blogs and then adding a third. Because one blog just isn't enough.

This blog (Geeker Joy) will remain my personal blog. I'll talk about the stuff I'm doing and goals I have. I might try some other things, along the lines of that 17% post from 2014. Who knows, really. Basically, this will remain the catch-all blog, where I can write about whatever enters my head. It will mostly be about my life. I'm toying with the idea of making this one private, but I'll let you know before I do that. And I'll make sure friends and family know how to get on the white list.

I'm splitting all of my book reviews off into a dedicated book review blog. It's called Bookish Thoughts and you can find it at caitsbookthoughts.blogspot.com. I'm in the process of porting everything over to it now. It's taking me longer than I expected, because it turns out that Blogger enforces a 50 post/day limit. But I'm chugging along and should have that all set up within another week.

I'm hoping that the new book-only site will be somewhat more navigable. To that end I'm going back through and adding a bunch of tags to my old posts. You should be able to zero in on stuff by author, series, or genre, and I'll try to pull as much of that out as possible to make it easier. Doing that is creating some work for me now, but it should all run nice and smooth with minimal effort on my part once it's up and running. If you're one of the people who cares what I have to say about all the books I read, you can check out that site (which will remain public). If you don't, the personal blog will now be less cluttered for your enjoyment.

The third blog I'm setting up is a writing blog. It's called Paper and Ink Dreams and you can visit it at paperandinkdreams.blogspot.com. I'm hoping to post some short stories and writing challenges over there. Mostly I want to get in the habit of writing for some amount of time every day. I want to hone my story-telling abilities. I want to start producing a mountain of work in the hopes that I will get better at writing fiction. I want to see where this goes.

For the time being, I'm revisiting some old projects. In high school, I was given an assignment to write a short story for each letter of the alphabet, memoir style. Those are currently being posted as a sort of baseline for me to see where I can improve and where my strengths are. And for you all to have a good laugh at 16-year old. Some of these stories are pretty melodramatic. It's fun.

Once that's all up, I'm going to dive back into my companion project - the college alphabet. I started this years ago when I first started the blog. I posted five stories and wrote drafts for six more before it all fell by the wayside. I'm going to start polishing those up and writing new ones. They'll start going up after the high school alphabet finishes posting. Depending on how far along I am, they may or may not be in alphabetical order.

At some point I'll look into daily writing prompts or creative writing challenges or something and start posting based off those prompts. Maybe I'll come up with another project for myself. Maybe I'll start writing actual short stories (as opposed to what I've been writing, which I believe qualifies as "flash fiction" or "drabbles"). We'll see where this goes.

30 Days of Yoga

I'm now three days in to a 30-day yoga challenge that I sort of fell into accidentally.

Since I quit going to the gym and paying for a personal trainer, I've been intending to work out more at home. This worked great for a little while. I was riding my bike to work and going for long rides on the weekends. But then summer happened and my desire to go outside went away. I lifted weights in our basement a few times, but nothing ever really stuck. It's too easy to have a beer with dinner or spend the night watching TV or reading instead.

With the house to myself, I decided to start looking into exercise videos available online. The thing I liked most about my personal trainer was that I had someone telling me what to do. I'm not great at putting together workouts for myself. It's too easy to decide halfway through to skip that extra set or just blow off legs completely. But with a video, there's a fixed time and routine, and it's easier to have someone doing it along with you.

There used to be a ton on Netflix, but they seem to have all been removed as part of Netflix's changing business model. So I ended up on YouTube looking at yoga videos. I found a series called Yoga with Adriene that had a promising looking challenge. It's aimed at beginners, and she offers tons of modifications and encouragement. The routines are all different and range in length from 10 to 30 minutes.

This isn't about getting into super shape right away. It's about baby steps. Establishing a routine. I want to get in the habit of doing ~30 minutes of yoga every day, and this seems like a good way to do that.

I've had a contentious relationship with yoga in the past. I think it's mostly the group classes, where everyone seems leagues ahead of me. As soon as I fail a pose, I get embarrassed and half the time that leads to me leaving early. Then I don't go back. And it's just a stupid cycle. But in the privacy of my own home, that embarrassment is gone. I can wobble and fall and get right back up and try again without getting strange looks from anyone.

It would be nice to have a mirror to check my body, but the truth is that my ballet training is kicking in pretty nicely. I can tell pretty easily when my hips are square, when my legs are too far apart, when I'm not standing up straight, when my weight isn't properly distributed. I'm still unsure about some poses, but I think that has more to do with my lack of flexibility. I'd really like someone to help me figure out Downward Dog, especially since it's such a popular pose. I'm not at all convinced I'm doing it right.

Still, I'm doing better with these videos than I expected to. I don't quite have the core strength needed for standing on one leg for an extended period of time or the flexibility necessary to actually flow into and out of lunges. But I'll get there. In the meantime the exercise has been a nice mix of relaxing and strenuous. Which is to say that I'm always nicely relaxed while I'm doing it and pleasantly sore the next day.

At this point I'm thinking that when I finish the 30 days, I may just go back to the beginning and start over. Hopefully I'll do better on some of the earlier exercises. For now I'm just taking baby steps towards strength and flexibility. Not that I have high hopes. If ten years of ballet didn't give me the ability to touch my toes, I doubt yoga will. At least I know I'll get stronger.

Comfort Food

Kevin is away on a business trip that's going to last nearly six weeks. It sounds like a long time. It is a long time. But I'm honestly looking forward to having the house to myself for a while. I'm going to miss him, obviously, but it will also be nice to have my own space. I'm hoping to be able to establish some routines around exercise and writing that will be firmly in place by the time he returns. Not that I can't establish those routines when he's around, but it's harder.

It's hard to diet or cut out alcohol when you share meals. It's hard to treat the basement as a gym when he's using it to play video games. Not that there has been even the smallest bit of friction when I have asserted those desires. This is more about me, me being aware that the space is shared, me being unable to get past certain mind blocks and just do it. When it's just me, there's less pressure to perform (and it's all internal pressure, to be clear) so I can really prioritize some of these wants and desires.

Hopefully those routines will carry over once Kevin gets back. Like I said, he's going to have no problem with me taking over the basement for half an hour a day to work out, or eating smaller portions, or turning down the beer/wine. It's just a matter of asserting that. Which means it's a matter of me getting completely comfortable with it.

But I digress.

Knowing that Kevin would be leaving on an extended trip, we spent the last weekend getting in some quality time. I was a little surprised to realize how much of this centered on food. Not that I should have been. Food is so central to so many things, in ways you don't even entirely realize. So we ended up eating a bunch of delicious meals in anticipation of our separation.

Since Kevin will be missing Thanksgiving this year, we decided to do a smaller version with just the two of us. On Friday we roasted a mini-turkey (also known as a chicken) and ate it with some rice pilaf and glazed carrots and a very strange Western Kevin had been wanting to watch. On Saturday I made a casserole that I discovered last year that basically tastes like an entire Thanksgiving dinner in a single dish. It's one of my favorite meals, but it's way too much food for just one person, so I had to sneak it in before Kevin left. Sunday morning was bacon. We'd bought two pounds of bacon for Hallowiener that we forgot about, so Kevin cooked all of it and we've been eating it ever since. Then it was time for football, beer, and pizza.

It was something of a last hurrah for me, too, as I'm hoping to use this time to go on a diet. Sort of. I'm not really planning to change what I eat. I like food too much to ever successfully change my eating habits in the long term. No, my goal is to eat less. Portion control has been a struggle for me ever since I moved in with Kevin. He eats a lot, and it's hard not to match him. So that's a habit I'm hoping to establish while he's gone.

There are some other goals I've set for myself in the last two months of the year. Old-year resolutions, I guess? But more on those in the coming days. Expect some changes, though! And keep your fingers crossed that I'll be able to stick with all of them.

Puzzles

For the second year in a row we were able to attend the day-long puzzle fest hosted at the local library. It's a really fun day with lots of different puzzles. And even though we didn't win anything, I did noticeably better than last year. Especially on the crosswords.

The day kicked off with the group challenge, which was slightly different than last year. We had to cut out one of the rounds due to time constraints, but the rounds we played were fun and different. It started with a categorization-type game where we were asked questions like "Of the US states, which begin with an uncapitalized English word of at least 5 letters?" (Colorado is in the set, Indiana is not). Then there was a difficult "coordination" activity where we had to select where on a picture something was located (say the appendix on a picture of the human body), but the people selecting the horizontal coordinate couldn't communicate with the people selecting the vertical coordinate. We did surprisingly well. The final round presented questions, but with only the first letter of each word filled in. As time ticked by more letters were filled in, and the sooner you got the correct answer, the more points you got. For example the first question started as "W--- w-- t-- l--- -N-- t--- t- w-- t-- S---- B---?" in the category sports. (the answer, which we got right away, was The Patriots).

After the group challenge we moved on to the crossword puzzle game, where you're given 20 minutes each to complete 3 crossword puzzles, and the three people who do it the most quickly and accurately compete on a final puzzle in the front of the room. I didn't even finish any of the puzzles, but I came very close on the first one. I did somewhat better on the Sudoku version of this later in the day. I finished every one of those puzzles in the time limit. Alas, everyone else there was much better, too, and the lady who ended up winning was consistently finishing the puzzles in two or three minutes.

It was a fun way to spend the day, even if I wasn't nearly as good at puzzles as most of the people there. It's fun to stretch your brain a bit. I just wish a bit more time could be devoted to the group competition, since that's my favorite part of the entire day.

Second Hallowiener

Jen and Steve couldn't make it to the official Hallowiener this year due to the wedding of Steve's best friend. So on Wednesday we gathered up our leftovers and went down to Zach and Sarah's for a second (and less beer-soaked) Hallowiener. Rather than just tossing everything on the grill, we actually took the time to prepare some of the meats and have a real dinner.

We marinated the remaining bear loin in a wine and lemon-juice mixture that we found online, then roasted it. The alpaca and venison loins were covered in grill rubs and grilled. Sarah found a recipe for the unagi that involved coating it with a delicious fish sauce. And we fried up the remaining rabbit and python sausages with some onions and bell peppers. The results were delicious across the board, and it was nice to have a slightly more adult variation on Hallowiener.

I'd really like to see this party evolve in the coming years as we start to have kids. The party we've been throwing for the past few years has a definite shelf-life. We just won't be able to sustain it for too much longer. But if we can start focusing in on 2 or 3 exotic meats and throw a fun dinner party, we'll be able to keep doing this for as long as we can find meats and recipes.

I'm glad we were able to have the second Hallowiener, both to try out a few recipes and to share around the leftovers. With Kevin leaving next week, it'll be nice to not get stuck with a fridge full of game that I have little interest in cooking. This way everyone got to enjoy the meat just a little more.

Stories of the Red Goo Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

For this first time in six years, we were able to throw the annual Hallowiener party on Halloween. Whether it was because of that magical timing, or because we've now thrown this party six times and have a lot of experience, I'm pleased to say that the party was very nearly perfect this year. Nothing was broken. We had the perfect amount of beer. And I even had the foresight to take a vacation day on Monday to deal with the aftermath.

The party began, as always, with people arriving on Friday night. Ben and Autumn's bus came in shortly after ten, and Zach and Sarah were right behind them. Sarah got to work preparing the opossum, which needed to be brined before cooking. We hung out and drank beer until Scotty arrived in his unique way.

Scotty decided to come to Hallowiener at the last minute, so Kevin wanted to keep his attendance a surprise. His plane landed around the same time Ben and Autumn's bus pulled in, and he got a taxi from the airport. We were hanging out in the kitchen, with the front door open in anticipation of Alex, Natalie, Bryan, and Alyssa. Scotty decided to burst in and surprise everyone. Instead he ran smack into the glass door, which remained closed to keep Kina in. Sarah heard the impact and went to investigate, and the surprise came off quite well, if slightly painfully for Scotty.

We set up beer pong and our remaining overnight guests trickled in. Zach and Sarah left early to get some actual sleep before Hallowiener, and I really should have followed their lead. Instead I stayed up until 2:30 with everyone else and naturally woke up shortly after 7.

When everyone else woke up (Zach and Sarah were actually back before this, being early risers like Kevin and me), we made biscuits and gravy and mimosas and played board games. At noon we switched to beer and started getting ready for the party. Some people went for a walk because the weather was perfect (sunny and 60 with bright autumn colors). Other people took naps because they are smarter than me. We fired up the grill at 3 and the rest of the local guests arrived shortly thereafter.

Alex kept a list of all the meats we grilled and ate over the course of the afternoon, which I will reproduce here with my own notes of flavor:

• otter sausage
• Surprisingly delicious, dark rich meat.
• alpaca loin
• Very small, very good. Kind of fatty
• black bear rib
• Super fatty and super delicious. Hard to get off the bones (this is where I gave up carving)
• Python and rabbit sausage
• just a little sour. Would be great with some jalepenos
• Cajun beaver sausage
• also good, but kind of forgettable (Alex actually forgot to include this one on his list)
• water buffalo porter house
• I had to send this back because it was too rare the first time. It came back perfectly medium-rare, very similar to a cow steak
• black bear loin
• Also very fatty and delicious. There was a lot of bear meat
• yakwurst
• Last year's favorite, a pleasant repeat for this year
• arugula, edamame, and cauliflower salad with Sriracha, sesame oil, and soy sauce dressing
• This is what Chev, resident vegetarian, ate
• unagi eel
• The only fish this year, and we had to fillet it ourselves. It was a success!
• white tail deer
• We usually get venison of some sort. I'm not sure if this is the same as what we've always had or not (it probably is). Regardless, it was very good, and not as gamey as I was expecting
• sago worms
• the best of the bugs, by popular consensus, a little earthy
• grasshoppers
• earthy, but also dry and dusty
• silkworm pupae
• basically this was like eating dust, from what I gathered
• stuffed opossum
• a great success. The brining helped, and this was absolutely delicious. Hard to get off the bones though.
• bunny
• It's not Hallowiener without a bunny. We've had one every year

 We didn't have as much meat this year as we've had in previous years. But I preferred having more of fewer animals. Everyone was able to get seconds, or even thirds, of their favorites. And we finished grilling well before the trick-or-treaters showed up.

As the locals trickled out, we switched over to drinking games with the traditional round of Dr. Killebrew, which I haven't won in years now. The keg beer is just too cold to chug. I'll need to set aside a cup to warm up a little bit next year. Or is that cheating?

At any rate, the second half of the party was a ton of fun. Alas, my lack of sleep caught up with me, and I was in bed by 9:30. I'm mad at myself for falling asleep so early and missing so much. On the bright side, I got a solid 8 (or 9, thanks to Daylight Saving's Time) hours of sleep and woke up perfectly rested at 5:30 in the morning.

No one else was going to be awake for hours, so I went downstairs to retrieve my tablet and book to occupy myself. I noticed the curtain blowing in and saw that the door to the backyard had been left wide open all night. Kevin and Craig were both sleeping on couches in the living room, so I figured no one had come in to steal anything. I closed the door and went back upstairs.

About five minutes later I vaulted back out of bed and searched the entire house for my cat, Onyx. He was in none of his known hiding places, so I went outside to call for them. My shouts woke up Zach and Sarah, and Zach came down to help. We moved Onyx's food to the door and, with nothing else to be done, went back to bed. I was worried, but Onyx would certainly come back when he got hungry or when the house emptied of strangers.

Around 6:30 it started raining, and it wasn't too long before an irate and soaking Onyx ran upstairs yowling. I dashed down to close the door, and Onyx disappeared to a hiding place to dry off. All told, he probably wasn't outside for more than three hours. So he got a little adventure and made it home safely.

Eventually other people woke up and we poured mimosas and scrounged for breakfast while playing games. I wanted to make sure we killed the keg before everyone left, but it turned out that we very nearly had the night before. There was just enough beer for one side of a 6-cup game of pong. I'm very proud of us for finally buying the right amount of beer for this party.

While we were playing games, I also commented on the lack of mystery puddles. It seems that filling our house with Mudders inevitably ends with a puddle somewhere that I don't want to investigate too closely. But that didn't happen this year! Of course, Chev and Alyssa immediately mentioned the red goo in the downstairs bathroom. I'm still not sure what the deal was here, or even how bad it was. The mess had been mostly cleaned up by the time I went downstairs later in the day.

Ben and Autumn were the last ones to leave, and Jen and Steve were able to stop by briefly and see them, even though they'd had to miss the bulk of the party. We ended the day with Chinese food and one last game of beer pong (there were extra cans in the fridge, just in case). Then we abandoned the mess for the night and went downstairs to watch TV.

I was glad I didn't have to work on Monday. I slept in and then alternated clean-up with television. It was nice to have the extra day to decompress, recover from my hangover, and clean up the house at a slightly slower pace. I also watched half a season of Jane the Virgin, which might be a perfect show. I'm glad the party was such a success this year, and I'm especially glad that we aren't hosting Thanksgiving later this month. I get to relax now, instead of gearing up for the next big party.

A Visit From the Butcher

Kevin wrote a poem for Hallowiener this year, and it was so wonderful I had to post it here.


Twas the night before Hallowiener and all through the kitchen,

Not a creature was stirring, they were dead as fried chicken.

The fridge was well packed with sausage and hare,

And kegs were out icing in tubs by the stair

The mudders were passed out all over the floor,

With visions of venison and wild boar

And Caitlin and I were tucked in and warm,

Enjoying the calm ahead of the storm

When out on the patio arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter

Away to the window I stumbled and fell

To make sure all was right with my old Weber grill.

The moon through the branches of now leafless trees

Gave light to the red cups, blown around in the breeze.

When, what to my half drunk eyes should appear

But a kangaroo, yak, and a couple reindeer.

Herding them all, so tasty and thick,

Was a butcher, I thought might be playing a trick

But behind him came others, with all types of meat

And i suddenly realized this must be a treat.

"Now Camel! now, Llama! now, Pheasant and Beaver!

Iguana! Alpaca! Prepare for my cleaver!

And as you prepare for the cut of this knife

Remember how tasty your flesh and your life!"

As a lamb at a slaughterhouse walks calmly by

Not knowing that soon it will be sent to the sky

So too did these creatures step calmly up

Volunteering themselves to be what we would sup.

I made my way down, down to the main level

Anticipation flowing for the next day's revel.

I opened the door, to offer the butcher,

Any help he might need, or beer from a pitcher.

He was dressed in brown leather, from ankle to hood,

And his clothes were all stained with intestine and blood,

A stack of thick steaks he had piled nearby

He looked just like death, with a twinkle in his eye.

His brow, it was furrowed!  his dimples how stoic!

The work he was doing was truly heroic!

His droll little mouth in a state of repose,

And the beard of his chin dripped red as a rose.

The hilt of his tool he held tight in his hand,

And the block on the table was fancy and grand.

He had strong broad shoulders, and muscular arms,

Undoubtedly ladies did swoon at his charms

He was skilled at his craft, a seasoned old killer

I hoped to one day know as much as a griller.

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but finished his work,

And filled all the coolers, with game meats and pork.

And laying his cleaver back down on the block,

Double checked that in fact we had plenty of stock.

He then sprang to the woods, but gave one final bow

To honor the creatures he'd butchered just now.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he ran out of sight,

"Happy Hallowiener to all, and to all a good-night!"

This also inspired our wonderful friends to write some poems of their own

Friends Abroad

We have a few friends currently living in Europe, so when we booked our cruise we reached out to see if anyone would be able to meet up with us for a day in Venice. Of course both couples responded to let us know that they'd be in DC while we were in Italy. Isn't that just how life goes? Luckily our trips didn't overlap completely, and we were able to get together with everyone once we returned to DC.

The Tuesday after we got home, we went downtown to meet up with a group for trivia at Zach and Claire's favorite bar. I'm assuming it's their favorite bar. They knew the bartender very well.

We had so many people that we ended up dividing into two teams, neither of which won. The game was really complicated. There were ten rounds with various rules and categories, and I probably didn't stand a chance at any of them. The answers I knew were few and far between. But it was a lot of fun to catch up with our friends over beers and bar food.

On Friday, Kevin's friend Karl came over to our house with his 20 month son. Carolyn and Craig joined us, and we spent the evening playing games and catching up. The toddler was sufficiently entertained by Kina, who in turn was impressively calm. She stood up and walked away a couple of times, mostly towards the end of the visit. But I was really happy that she did so well with the kid's attention.

It was nice to see our friends, even if the timing was a little off. They all have plans to move back to the US before too long, and hopefully we'll see more of each other then. In the meantime, we take our brief visits where we can get them.

Med Cruise: Olympia

Our final stop on the cruise was a small resort town in Greece called Katakolon (or Katakolo, as I've since seen it spelled. I still can't pronounce it). Once again we signed up for an official excursion, this time to see the ruins at Olympia.

We boarded our bus for the 30 minute drive to the archaeological site and museum. The scenery along the drive proved more depressing than anything. Thanks to the depression in Greece there were more closed store-fronts than open ones (on a Thursday morning). Most of what we drove past looked abandoned. And then there was the garbage. Our tour guide told us that the garbage collectors had been on strike for four months. The result of which was piles of garbage everywhere you looked.

The museum, being a museum, was better maintained. It was a lot of fun walking around the site and looking at all the ruins. Even if I couldn't understand most of what our guide was saying. The whole place was a bit like a college campus, with dorms, the restaurant, and the gym. It was fun to learn about the early history of the Olympics, and to at least see the site where one of the seven wonders used to be. The statue of Zeus has long-since been destroyed.

We also got to go to a museum that housed most of the statues and artifacts that had been dug up on site. I essentially abandoned our group at this point in favor of looking at things on my own. And also because the echoy feedback on my radio was giving me a headache.

After the museum we were given a whopping 30 minutes in the city of Olympia which was almost enough time to order and drink a beer. I had to abandon the food I'd ordered, though. Then it was back to the ship, where we arrived not too long before departure. Kevin had wanted to check out the beach in Katakolon, but there wasn't enough time. The excursion filled our window entirely.

As cool as Olympia was, this was easily my least favorite port. Between a sub-par tour guide, a lack of free time, and the depressing background of Greece, it didn't quite live up to my expectations.

Med Cruise: Santorini

Santorini is a gorgeous island off the coast of Greece. It's a volcano, and I believe that it's still active. But it's clearly past it's prime. In fact, it's the volcano that some people believe is responsible for the sinking of Atlantis. So it's old.

The island that people live on is essentially a large crescent, with high cliffs. The cruise ships stop between these cliffs and the crater. We had to get on a smaller boat that took us to the docks. Then it was up the cable car to the actual town of Fira, which has lots of hotels and restaurants and shops. The shops are open whenever there's a cruise ship around and closed whenever there isn't, which tells you all you need to know about the economy.

We didn't have a ton of time in Santorini because we slept late on the day we visited. We had opted not to do an excursion for this one, and that may have been a mistake. It would have been fun to visit the volcano or see the other towns. As it was, we spent some time wandering around, shopped a bit, and got drinks and calamari at a cafe before heading back to the ship. Hardly a bad day.

The main excitement came from ascending and descending the cliffs. We decided to take the cable car up because it was easier. Though waiting on the stairs for it to arrive left me feeling dizzy. The steps were steep and I was accustomed to being on the boat, so I spent most of the wait half-convinced that I was gonna topple down the stairs. Kevin didn't help. But once we got in the gondola I was fine.

We had enough time at the end of the day that we decided to walk down. There are also donkeys that you can ride up or down the paths, but everyone told us not to do that. It seems that there was some sort of incident recently, possibly involving a death. Avoiding the donkeys was fine by me. Or it would have been, had it been possible.

The path down was a series of gently descending switchbacks. And every so often a train of donkeys would pass you either coming or going. The trail was wide enough for everyone, but the donkeys wandered all over the place. Twice I ended up pressed against a wall with a donkey coming straight at me and the guide telling me not to move. Both times the donkey swerved away from me at the last second, but it was still terrifying. I can only imagine how much scarier it would be to actually ride one. No one looked like they had good grips or proper seats.

Still the day was fun, and Santorini is gorgeous. Extremely picturesque. It's like something out of a fantasy novel with all the bright white buildings clinging to the cliff sides. I didn't get any pictures, because I was too busy admiring the view, but you should definitely google some.

Med Cruise: Ephesus

The Ephesus tour was one of the official excursions we signed up for on the cruise. Ephesus is about a 30-minute drive from the town we docked in (Kusadasi, which is basically a resort town dependent entirely on tourism), and it was easier to go through Royal Caribbean than try to figure out how to get there on our own. The paid excursion ended up being a pretty great deal.

Royal Caribbean is amazingly efficient at breaking up these huge excursion groups. They assign everyone a number on check-in and that becomes your bus/group for the day. Groups leave almost as soon as they fill up, so everything ends up nicely staggered. The tour included some maps and brochures, a little trinket, and a bottle of water. And we had a great tour guide.

Ephesus itself was amazing. And while part of me wishes we'd had a bit more freedom to explore and read the signs on our own, our guide had a lot of good information. We got to see the library and an old public restroom (all the toilet seats carved along a u-shaped bench, so you were probably bumping knees with your neighbor). We weren't able to go up in the theater or a few other places that we saw people exploring. But we saw the major stuff, and made good time getting through the ruins.

After the ruins we bused over to a museum-type-thing. There was a gift store and a food court and a space where we watched a brief (staged) gladiator fight. The whole thing was possibly the silliest part of the entire trip. But there were bathrooms and I got some kabob, so it was all good.

Then we got to see a rug-making demonstration. They showed us how silk gets harvested from silkworms, then gathered and dyed. Then we got to see a woman working on a silk rug, the kind that takes 2-3 years to make. After that we were given refreshments (raki, which tastes like licorice and is not that different from Greek ouzo) and the sales pitch began. We saw about 100 carpets rolled out on the floor in front of us, demonstrating different materials, dyes, patterns, and techniques. Kevin and I escaped before the sales pitch began in earnest, but it was amazing to see all the different carpets. I'd love to buy one someday (and after seeing the process of making them, I'd gladly pay thousands of dollars), but we have nowhere to put one in our current house. Maybe the next one.

We spent some time wandering through the bazaar, and I bought a really cool serving bowl. But I hate how pushy all of the sales people are. As soon as you stop to look at something, they're on top of you, offering to cut the price and trying to convince you to buy from them. It made me walk away more often than not. I liked having a few minutes to make up my mind.

All in all we had a fantastic fay in Turkey. The excursion was well worth it, and I'm glad we had such a great tour guide. We probably could have stayed out longer, but between the heat and the pushy sales-people, I was eager to get back on the boat.

Med Cruise: Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik was the city I was most excited to visit on this trip. It's the whole reason we chose the itinerary we did. My dad's been talking about this city (and Croatia in general) for years, so I knew I needed to visit eventually. We weren't able to get a ton of time in the city, but the time we did have was very nice.

There was a $12 shuttle from the boat to the old city. It ran continuously throughout the day, so we could have gone back and forth if we wanted to. But that's ultimately a little silly when you only have a handful of hours to explore. The ride over was pretty, through a very hilly community that reminded me of Pittsburgh. Though that comparison was at the top of my mind thank to my grandmother, who told me that the family settled in Pittsburgh because it reminded them so strongly of the home land.

Dubrovnik itself (well, the walled part) is surprisingly small. I suppose I shouldn't expect more from a medieval city. But it does look a lot bigger when it's pretending to be Kings Landing on Game of Thrones. There were basically three main streets running from the gate in the direction of the harbor. There were crossed by a wealth of alleys filled with cafes. There were also souvenir shops and cats everywhere.

We wandered down to the harbor, stopping in a few stores along the way. In one corner of the city we found the stairs up to the tower wall, and paid for tickets to go up and walk around. We walked all the way around, stopping to admire the view all the way. It was cool to see the city from up above it, there were lots of forgotten and/or private courtyards and gardens. And lots of cats running all over the place and playing with each other.

After our walk we went to one of the cafes on the water. I got a glass of wine (sold as 0.15 liter) and a plate of smoked ham (the kind you can't get in America). Kevin got a beer and some fish soup. Then it was time for souvenir shopping. And just as it began to rain we hopped back on the bus for the ship.

The visit was short but sweet. It'd be nice to go back some day and spend more time in Dubrovnik (and Croatia in general). But we made the most of the time we did have. I feel like we saw what we most wanted to.

Med Cruise: On the Boat

At noon on Saturday we picked up our bags from our hotel and walked over to the boat. The walk was a bit longer than we'd anticipated, and the check-in process was pretty lengthy. But we got on the boat just before 1, right when the staterooms opened up. So we were able to drop our stuff in the room before going up to the buffet to get lunch. Then we explored a bit before falling asleep. We napped almost until the safety drill they do before the boat leaves, the first of many naps to come.

Cruising involves a lot of sleeping and drinking. At least it does the way Kevin and I do it. We got fancy cocktails on the first day and drank a bottle of champagne we'd bought in Venice. Then we paid for the beer-and-wine package. $42/day for unlimited wine and beer. It's pricey but ultimately worth it.

We had two whole days on the boat, plus all of our evenings. We spent most of that time either sitting by the pool, drinks and books in hand, or down in the bar playing trivia. We one won round of trivia, and had varying degrees of success with the others. The worst was a name that Abba song game, that I was sure my Mamma Mia pandora station would have prepared me for admirably. But we only got 3 answers right. Oh well.

We also played min golf, and Kevin attempted to teach me both ping pong and shuffleboard. We played in two Texas-Hold 'Em tournaments. I got knocked out first in the first tournament, but it was free so I didn't feel too bad. I did a little better the second time around, and Kevin got pretty far, too. But there was one guy who won every single tournament as far as I know. He was just too skilled for us to beat.

The boat screened movies every night, but the only one we watched all the way through was Batkid Begins, which was perfectly heartwarming and made me cry a lot. We also saw bits and pieces of Ant Man (again), Inside Out, and The Sixth Sense which we were wandering around the boat in the evenings. I was hoping for some good star-gazing opportunities, too, since we were in the middle of the ocean. But the boat itself was so bright we could barely see more stars than we see from our house.

We also spent a lot of time eating. There's nearly always food available on a cruise ship. And on the last night we sprung for the fancy steakhouse, which cost an extra $30 each. It was very much worth it, though. Especially since I usually expect to pay closer to $50 for a good steak. (Though Kevin points out that we were already, theoretically paying $20/day for dinner, wrapped up in the overall cost.)

Overall, the cruise was an excellent mix of relaxation and sight-seeing (more about that in future posts). It was nice to see stuff, but it was also nice to have hours at a time with nothing planned. We slept a lot, and I came home from vacation thoroughly rested, which never seems to happen. One night I even slept for twelve hours, which I haven't done in years. It helped that we had a perfectly dark interior state-room. Although the lack of a clock was disorienting. All we had was my Fitbit, and I could never remember whether we were 6 or 7 hours ahead (we switched time zones on the ship), especially in the middle of the night. It all worked out for the best, though.

We're already talking about going on more cruises in the future. I loved this vacation so much. The boat was maybe a bit crowded at times (especially on the rainy days) and I had a hard time staying hydrated (which happens every time I go on vacation), but I had such a perfectly relaxing time that I'm eager to repeat it soon. Though next time we'll probably look for a cruise that departs from Baltimore or NYC, to save on travel time and hassle.

Med Cruise: Venice

We got off to a rocky start in Venice. The airport is about a thirty minute drive from the city. And even though we landed late, we decided to get a hotel in the city to make the next day easier. There was one bus that ran a bit after midnight that we figured we had a 50/50 chance of catching. We did make it to the stop about 15 minutes before the bus arrived, but there was only one kiosk selling tickets. A couple of befuddled men spent a solid ten minutes attempting to buy tickets while the rest of us waited impatiently in line. Consequently, they were the only ones who were able to take the bus when it arrived. We ended up splitting a taxi with another couple, which wasn't too much more expensive, when all was said and done.

There aren't many roads in Venice, so the taxi dropped us off in the Piazzale Roma, the main bus depot. Luckily (well more because we planned this halfway decently) this was only a ten minute walk to our hotel, which in turn was a ten-minute walk to the port where we'd get on the boat the next day. We found it pretty easily, only to discover that they had given away our hotel room to someone else. I half thought that this was simply because we arrived so late, at nearly one in the morning. I could understand assuming that we weren't coming. But it had more to do with a befuddled desk clerk who spent twenty minutes trying to figure out what had happened before offering us another room at a deep discount. The room itself was tiny, but it had a bed and a shower. By the time we got there, that was all I cared about.

The next morning the plan was to wander round Venice until it was time to get on the boat. We woke up early, long before anything was actually open. But it gave us a chance to see the city while it was still pretty quiet. It was fun to wander along the nearly empty streets and squares. When the city started waking up, we got some cash and found some tea and water. Then we decided to walk until we found the ocean. All in all we probably explored half of the city that morning. I got in 20,000 steps before we even got on the boat at noon.

After the cruise, we had another full day in Venice. We were smarter this time and purchased a day pass for the water-bus, Venice's public transit system. We took it down to St. Mark's Square, where we saw the sights and went inside the Basillica. All of the mosaics inside use this glittery gold tile that's really cool. It would have been amazing if the church was really lit up, but even in the low light it was fun to see the sparkles.

We decided to use our pass to ride around the city and get a sense of it. But I ended up doing more sleeping that sight-seeing. We eventually found ourselves in the northern part of the city and caught a boat over to Murano, a small island famous for its glass. We got to see a glass-blowing demonstration, which was amazing. In about five minutes the artisan we were watching made a vase and a statue of a horse. The horses were ubiquitous in the gift shops - probably because the artisan made them so quickly and so often - so we picked one up along with a couple of other souvenirs.

Then it was time for an early dinner. We found a cafe on the water, which isn't hard to do in Venice. There's a lot of water. We split a jug of wine and a plate of cured meats. Then I had a delicious spinach ravioli in gorgonzola sauce. I love a good gorgonzola sauce, and you don't see them that often, so I jumped at the chance. Our meal was somewhat plagued by pigeons and seagulls who were bold enough to peck for scraps around our table.

I'm glad we had the second day in Venice once we'd oriented ourselves and figured it out a bit. It was nice to wander around and see the sights. Although, to be honest, Venice resembles nothing so much as a massive outdoor mall. Every street we went down was packed with cafes and gift shops. The city clearly relies on tourism for much of its economy, and parts of it look very run-down. Then again, this is probably true of many cities.

Let's Do the Time Warp

There comes a point, when you are traveling a quarter of the way around the world, that you just give up trying to figure out what time it is. Your Fitbit says 10, that clock says 5. You just woke up, but now the sun is setting. A beer seems like the most reasonable solution, although you quickly discover that you are no longer as adept at combining alcohol with sleep deprivation as you were in college. When's the next flight? Do we even have a gate yet?

Kevin and I flew to Venice via Istanbul. The first leg of the journey was a red-eye with two free meals, unlimited free alcohol, and a staggering amount of free television and movies. I watched Book of Life during dinner and Mad Max during breakfast. Between the two I watched a few episodes of the ill-fated A to Z because the mother was in it and a sitcom seemed like an appropriate thing to drift off to. I think I slept for two or three hours. Kevin slept for less. We arrived in Istanbul for our five-hour layover bedraggled and scrambled.

The Istanbul airport is enormous, although it did not seem that way at first. Off the plane we were ushered into a fairly small, overly bright, incredibly dingy waiting area with only one bathroom. Half the stalls were backed up, there was a distinct lack of toilet paper, and even the line for the men's room snaked out into the lobby. We made the best of it then decided to go in search of a better bathroom, which we thankfully found.

Once there I managed to make myself feel somewhat more human. I'd had enough foresight to pack some dry shampoo, deodorant, exfoliant, a toothbrush, and toothpaste in my carry on. It was actually a decent substitute for a full shower, especially since I was just going to get on another plane soon. Then we wandered around the enormous mall inside the international terminal in the Istanbul airport and found a place to get a beer.

We went in search of our gate much too early. Five hours is an incredibly long layover time. But we did eventually make it on to the next plane. They served us dinner again, which I ate even though I couldn't decide whether or not I was hungry. The second flight was just long enough for them to screen Ant Man, which I watched while listening to the Hamilton soundtrack on my tablet. They didn't really mesh, but I can tell you that the movie looks pretty ridiculous.

Flying home was the same thing in reverse, with a shorter layover, and day and night reversed. On the way to Venice the sun was up about 4 hours that I knew of. On the way home it rose as we were boarding the first flight and didn't set after we'd gotten our bags in Dulles. My point is that trans-continental travel is not so different from time-travel. Everything all goes to hell, and you just have to hope you can readjust to the new clock quickly enough to get back to life.

By the time I fell into my bed, I'd been awake for a solid 22 hours (not quite the 24 I'd initially calculated, but you try doing math on no sleep). The good news is that my jet lag affected me only enough that I was an hour early for work the next morning. And then I was right back on my normal schedule. Turns out my dad was right: flying west is much easier.

I'll talk catalog the rest of our vacation in the coming entries. You know, the parts you probably actually care about. But the actual act of traveling is just so surreal, I had to write about it. It's so cool to think about how small the world has gotten, that we can make the trip from DC to Venice in less than a day, even when you account for time changes (we took off at 11:30 pm DC time and landed at 11:20 pm Venice time). And it's astounding the things we put up with to do this. The searches and tiny seats and smelly bathrooms and complete lack of personal space. There have been some new horrendous plans put forward recently for mashing more people on an airbus. Perhaps you've seen the honeycomb seating and the two-level ones. Personally, I'm hoping that they just start stacking us in cubbies that we'd at least be able to lie down in, a la The Fifth Element.

America, You Great Unfinished Symphony

How do I begin to write about Hamilton? The original cast album came out about a week ago. Before that, NPR was streaming it free for several days. From the very first listen, it took over my brain.I've been listening to it non-stop ever since, fighting with myself over the logisitics of going to see it on Broadway (next Spring/Summer depending on how long I continue to dither).

This is an incredibly dense musical, which accounts for most of my early listenings. While the story is straight-forward and easy to follow, there are so many layers that I'm still peeling them away, 20+ listens later.

Hamilton is a perfect melding of two American art forms: the Broadway Musical and Hip Hop, used to tell the early history of America while highlighting how relevant that history is to our country today. Of these things, I am most familiar with musicals and current events, so it was through these that Hamilton first got its hooks in me.

There are a wealth of references to other musicals scattered throughout the soundtrack. Everything seems to make an appearance. George Washington introduces himself "I am the very model of a modern major general." Lafayette boasts, "Who's the best? C'est Moi!" Hamilton falls into bed with his mistress claiming "nobody needs to know". The only missing reference is one to Miranda's earlier musical In the Heights, even though one would have been perfectly justified by the fact that Eliza Hamilton founded the first school in Washington Heights.

There are lists of references to musicals, which I had a lot of fun going through, but I almost had more fun learning about all of the hip hop references. Hip hop isn't a genre I'm all that familiar with, despite coming of age in the late 90s. Sure, I own both of Destiny's Child's albums, and I've heard all the music that made it onto TRL or the Now! CDs (basically the same set). I could give you a list of rappers like Biggie and Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog and Jay-Z. I could probably even identify some of their songs. But this was still something of a crash course in the history of hip hop. In between Hamilton songs, I listened to the songs in that article linked above. I've always loved books that encourage me to look things up and make new connections, and the fact that Hamilton encouraged me to do the same and made it so easy is a big part of the reason I've become so obsessed with it. It's a fantastic entry-point for a culture that I grew up adjacent to but never explored.

Other than the music, the big draw of Hamilton is the history. And this is what keeps me coming back for more. I'd hear a line and wonder, is that true? I spent a lot of time on Wikipedia and other sites, re-learning things I probably learned in high school. I spent time learning about the Compromise of 1790 and Hamilton's vision of Wall Street. I learned about the Federalist Papers and the Reynolds pamphlet. This musical highlights John Laurens, a strong anti-slavery voice. Who knows what would have happened if he'd survived the war?

And all of this history ties in effortlessly to the present day. Hamilton and Lafayette were both immigrants, and the show celebrates that status, even though Jefferson and Madison later use it against Hamilton. Hamilton and Jefferson fight about states rights, how much power to give the federal government, whether we should get involved in foreign wars. These are fights we're still having today. Moreover, the second half of "My Shot" is reminiscent of protests in Ferguson. It's a call to action that rings very true.

There are the more blatant jokes, too: a voter commenting that presidential candidate Aaron Burr seems like someone you could grab a beer with, Jefferson complaining that Hamilton's financial plan is too long to read. It all drives home the idea that we aren't so far removed from the founding fathers. They were human, too, trying their best to build a country.

This is the version of America that I love. The unfinished version. Things are better now than they were in the late 1700s. Things are always better now than they were yesterday, because that's the direction America moves in. There are people out there who like to talk about returning to when America was great, but the fact is that America is and always has been better in the future than in the past.. It probably always will be. And we'll claw our way towards that utopia, fight by fight, bill by bill, election by election.

More than anything else, this musical reminded me what I do love about America. It's so easy to get bitter during election season. To look at the mass shootings and sex scandals and endless debates that go nowhere and convince yourself that things are getting worse. But the truth is that it was always this messy. We have the tools to make it better, and while that doesn't make it easy, it does mean that we have to keep trying.

I've been talking about this non-stop since I first heard the album. Kevin commented the other day that he's never seen me this obsessed with something (to be fair, he didn't know me in high school). It's been a long time since I've been this obsessed with something. But I'm going to say it one more time. Go listen to this album. Open yourself up to a new art form. Learn something. Be inspired. Don't miss out on this masterpiece.

And once you've listened, come find me so we can dig into the details.

Fall

Things I did this past weekend:

• Watched football
• Made and ate chicken stew
• Made and ate apple crisp
• Opened all the windows
• Drank chai in the afternoon
• Wore a sweatshirt to walk the dog
• Wore jeans
• Curled up on the couch with a blanket

This morning it was pleasantly chilly when I woke up. I bought an apple chai on the way to work. I even had to wear a sweater until I got to my office.

It's going to heat back up this week. But it seems the days of 90+ degrees are behind us. Fall is on the way. I couldn't be happier about the changing of the seasons.

New Car

If adulthood were simply a series of things that you need to check off, then Kevin and I would be one step closer. We just purchased our first new car!

This has been on the radar for a while. At the beginning of the year, when I was trying to figure out our expected 5-year expenses, I knew that it wouldn't be long before we had to replace both of our cars. At the time we were expecting to get two newer used cars. Or maybe one new and one more used, depending on our needs and when things ended up happening. Then Kevin's car started struggling more and more. As his annual safety inspection approached, we knew we should get serious about looking for a new car. There was a chance his car wouldn't pass, and it's just too old to pour a significant amount of money into.

A bit of internet research led me to the conclusion that buying a new car would definitely be worth it. The prices of used cars simply aren't dropping the way they used to. A certified pre-owned car isn't that much cheaper than a new car, and they're much harder to find. I believe this has something to do with all the computers and electronics in cars these days. Those don't lose value quickly; they just lose it all at once after several years.

The next step was to start narrowing down types of cars. I definitely wanted a lot of cargo space, more than we have now. And I had my heart set on a Subaru Outback, because I still miss my first car. But we looked at some other models with hatchbacks.

Then it was time to go for some test drives. All the dealerships are lined up along one road just a few miles from our house. It made it easy to go after work during the week. We started at Subaru, where I was surprised to learn that the Forester is actually smaller than the Outback. But it does have you sitting higher, which neither of us liked. Then it was over to Hyundai. Kevin has driven several Hyundais as rental cars over the years, and he likes the way they handle. We drove a couple, and I quickly fell in love with the Elantra GT.

Our new Elantra GT!

We did go out one more day to try out a Prius. But honestly, a new car is a new car on some level. Kevin wasn't really interested in a Kia or a Mazda, and the Elantra fit our needs pretty well. Plus it was nearly half the cost of the Outback, thanks to a variety of specials the dealership was advertising. They also do free oil changes, tires, and loaner cars for life, and we got a really good deal on extending the warranty from 5 years/50,000 miles to 10 years/100,000 miles, which will hopefully cover that gap when all the electronics fail.

At the end of the day, I didn't get my Subaru. The truth is that it just doesn't make sense for us. All-Wheel Drive was necessary in Colorado, but we'd never need it in Virginia, where we just stay home if the roads get that bad. It was bigger than what we need now and significantly more expensive.

We do probably want a bigger car eventually. Once we have kids. But the reality is that the Camry probably only has 2-3 years left in it (if that). We'll be doing this again before long, and by that time we should have a better idea of what we actually need in a bigger vehicle. Hopefully it doesn't happen until after the Elantra is paid off.

Ren Fest!

On Saturday we made our annual trek out to the Maryland Renaissance Festival. I love the Ren Fest, and I look forward to visiting every year. I'm finally starting to figure out the layout of the one here, to the point where I only needed a map a few times.

This year we made an effort to look at the shows ahead of time, so that we'd have some sort of game plan. It's always disappointing to hear about a cool show, only to realize that you've just missed it. But thanks to our preparation this year we basically did nothing but watch shows.

We started with the aerial silk performance, a short but really impressive show. Then we made our way over to the Wheel of Death, which had been recommended by the woman who braided my hair. It was amazing. The man was a fantastic performer, and he put on a really funny show. After that we watched the joust, and caught the tail end of a musical act I'd wanted to see while we topped off our drinks at the bar they were performing at. Then it was on to the Shakespeare's Skrum performance of Hamlet.

The shows filled up the day, though we did stop into a few shops here and there. I got a cute purple purse, and I had time to get my hair braided right at the beginning. But we missed the game shop this year (probably in our bank accounts' best interests). I'm glad we managed to cobble together such an excellent schedule of shows, though. There was much laughter and awe at death-defying stunts. And now there are even more shows I want to catch next year.

Capital Crescent Trail

There are so many bike trails in and around DC. Every time I think I know all of them, I learn about another one. On Sunday, we went down to DC to ride the Capital Crescent Trail with Zach and Sarah. Adding in the Rock Creek Parkway makes this a 20 mile loop with a variety of terrain.

From what I can tell, the Capital Crescent Trail is still in the process of being developed. Like the W&OD, it's a converted railway line. There actually seems to be a sizable initiative to transform rail lines into biking/hiking trails around the area, which is pretty neat. This one starts in Silver Spring and runs in an arch to Georgetown, along the proposed purple line route. Not that the purple line will exist in my lifetime, but it's a cool bit of forward thinking to tie these together like the orange line is for the end (beginning?) of the W&OD trail.

The trail itself is more dirt than asphalt.This made for a harder ride, though it wasn't as bad as the Accotink Trail. The Rock Creek Parkway was bumpy enough that I lost my water bottle at one point, but the Crescent Creek trail was packed pretty well. It was more difficult than I'm used to, and I was definitely bringing up the rear of the group for most of the ride. Probably because I haven't actually been on my bike for a few weeks. Stupid summer sapping my energy and motivation (we've reached the part of the year where I come home from work and basically collapse on the couch).

Through Georgetown (maybe? I didn't have the clearest idea of where we were for most of the ride), the trail got very crowded. I got stuck behind a child who was wobbling all over the place on his bike because I couldn't figure out how to safely pass him. Once the crowd cleared up a bit, Kevin asked the kid's dad to let us by, and we were able to pick our speed back up, but it was frustrating for a while.

All in all, it wasn't my favorite trail ever. It's narrower and bumpier than the W&OD, which isn't really fair since it's still under construction and the W&OD is one of the best maintained trails out there. But I can see it getting easier with more rides. Who knows, it may even be the step I need to work up to the Accotink Trail (although something closer to a mountain bike will probably help more there).

Crabble!

One of the first things we did when I came to visit Kevin in DC way back in 2008 was go to an all-you-can crab place. I'd never had crabs before, and Kevin was excited to share with me one of his favorite foods. I had three crabs that afternoon, while Kevin sat at the table and ate crabs for three hours.

We still make sure to eat crabs once a year, but this has changed from something we go out to do to a party we throw at our house. Where I can drink beer and hang out friends and eat something other than crabs which are not, in my opinion, worth the effort.

With more friends and tighter schedules, it's becoming harder to schedule things like this. Especially in the summer. But we did find a weekend when most people were free, and when Ben, Autumn, and Alex were able to come down from NYC. The addition of out-of-town guests morphed this from an afternoon party to a full weekend extravaganza.

Ben and Autumn arrived at our house late on Friday night. We had a few beers and visited for a bit, but it wasn't long before exhaustion took over and we went to bed. The next morning we had plans to meet the rest of our group at the National Building Museum for their "beach" exhibit: essentially a gigantic ball pit. We woke up early, and I made shakshuka for breakfast. I've been wanting to make it since we went to NYC last month, and we finally had guests I could make it for. We'll get better flatbread next time, but it was enough of a success that I'm putting it in the rotation.

We ended up at the museum half an hour before it opened. This was good. The exhibit is popular, and by getting there so early we were close to the head of the line, able to get tickets and go right in. Kevin hung back to give tickets to the other half of the group, and we spent some time playing in the ball pit. It was enormous and almost waist deep in some places. I had a really hard time standing up once I'd sat down, or even keeping my head above the balls. After the novelty wore off we wandered around the rest of the museum, which had some pretty cool architectural models and a fun exhibit on the differences between houses and homes, as presented through the history of housing in America.

Just before noon, Kevin and I departed to pick up the crabs. We went to the Fish Market, which wasn't as big as I'd been expecting. It was really cool. Boats full of fish pull up to the dock and you buy seafood right off of them. Then it was off to get a keg and prepare the shrimp boil. The shrimp boil was a great addition to this party, especially for people like me who aren't too fond of crabs. Basically, you boil a bunch of potatoes, corn, onions, sausage, and shrimp in water that's been heavily seasoned with Old Bay. It's just a tad spicy and all around delicious and easy to eat.

People started arriving around 3, and we sat in the backyard, eating and drinking beer, until some time after 7. We had 16 people at our house, and I'm actually a little surprised we managed to fit that many in the backyard. But with two tables it worked out pretty well. Still, our parties are beginning to outgrow our house. I think it's time to start thinking about upsizing. (No, it's not. But it will be before too much longer.)

When the sun went down (well, a little before) we transitioned to beer pong. Alex and I did a good job of crushing other teams for a while. Then Autumn and I had a good winning streak until I abandoned her to get some sleep.

At one point, the guys became convinced that we were going to run out of beer. Several of them spent a long time taking turns lifting the keg and trying to determine how much beer was left. It was finally decided that we were nearly out of beer and that we had better go pick up some more while there were still sober drivers around. Ben went can came back with three cases. The next morning we discovered that the keg had not really been in danger of running out. In fact, we didn't actually finish it until some time in the afternoon, and that took a concerted effort (it didn't help that the beer was warm and going flat by then).

Sunday morning was filled with mimosas and board games. We played games we haven't played in years, which was a lot of fun. And we laughed at Kina's attempts to carry a pig ear around the house. Then she tried to bury the pig ear using her bed and Alex's shirt. At which point we noticed that Alex's shirt was damp and smelled. As did Kina's dog bed. We couldn't figure out if it was beer or urine (it was probably beer), and rather than running an extensive investigation I threw everything in the washing machine. Which both ruined the dog bed and revealed a mysterious puddle of liquid on the lower shelf of the table behind the bed. I still can't fathom how it happened. It's a very awkward spot to spill a drink, but it's not like peeing there made any more sense. We cleaned it up and spent some time reminiscing about the other mystery puddles from our drunken adventures over the years. I don't think this one will ever be solved.

People started drifting out in the afternoon. We miraculously got the house cleaned up in less than three hours, which I believe is some sort of record for Kevin and me. Usually it takes a week to get the house back in shape. But with the cleaning people coming to mop and dust the next day, I was motivated to clean up as much as I could.

And now we rest until Hallowiener. After which I'm seriously considering taking the Monday off to help recover.

Tubing

This past weekend Jen organized a camping and tubing trip for her birthday. We couldn't find anyone to watch Kina for us, so we had to skip out on the camping part. But Kevin and I drove out to West Virginia on Saturday to go tubing with the group.

It's always difficult to wrangle a large group of people. And the organization we went with wasn't great at it either. We came close to getting split up across two different buses, but we ultimately had a few people standing in the aisle and holding their tubes so we could keep our group together. This probably wasn't the safest thing ever, but the bus only goes a couple of miles and those on back roads. We made it to the river without incident.

Jen had made sandwiches for everyone for the trip, and we quickly found a sort of secluded beach where we could gather and eat them. We spent some time wading and eating and hanging out, only leaving the beach when another group showed up wanting to use it. Then we lashed all our tubes together in a circle and floated down the river for the next few hours.

Ultimately we were on the river for over 3 hours, which is pretty impressive for a 2 mile journey. The river moves pretty slowly, though, and we did spend a lot of time on the beach. I managed to not get sunburned, and I think I've finally discovered the secret formula (which I've known for years but am getting better about implementing). If you put sunscreen on 30-45 minutes before you go outside (so in the car up) and then reapply right before going outside, it's far more effective. That also prevents it from all washing off in the water. Go me and my lack of sunburn!

We had tentative plans to meet up with friends in the city after the tubing. Having gone tubing last year, I knew it was very unlikely we'd actually make it. Sure enough we didn't even get home until after 8, at which point we were completely exhausted. Sitting in the sun and drinking beer is hard work, it turns out. Next year we'll be smart and not even make tentative plans for after tubing.