telophase | (no subject)

Wooo, some neighbor has an unsecured net connection! Not that I'm going to be here for long as I am very tired!

At least, I think it's a neighbor! There's a sign outside the apartment office that says WiFi Available, but they usually mean in the office itself. Hrm. Not going to argue, though. Going to update my podcasts instead.

Yesterday (Saturday), I returned a wrong-size air filter and a compact florescent bulb that I'd gotten for a lamp I misremembered as 60 watt that was actually 40. Then hit a bunch of stores looking for ideas for furnishings including curtains, a side table, and something else I don't remember at this time. Found nothing I fell in love with, then went to grocery store.

Speaking of grocery stores I have auditioned 3 nearby. The closest is the Fiesta, which is in a low-income neighborhood and also caters to the Mexican-music-loving population, as it was playing that very loudly (Not Tejano, more traditional stuff). I was one of the few non-Hispanic people in there and kept feeling like I was being stared at until I remembered I HAVE PURPLE HAIR OF COURSE I AM BEING STARED AT. You don't realize how much I forget my hair is oddly colored, and I get intimidated by people staring at me, wondering if I've got something on my face or my clothes are stained or something, until I remember OH YEAH PURPLE HAIR. XD Anyway, the deli section was lousy, the bakery wasn't much to speak of, but the produce section was OMG BEAUTIFUL and the prices were good. I know where I am going for produce. And it SMELLED like a market, not like a grocery store.

The Albertson's is a good generic store, with a slightly better deli and bakery than the Fiesta, but still no prosciutto. The Tom Thumb a bit farther away is very large, and has good-looking produce that is about 1/3 higher in price than the Fiesta, and has prosciutto in the deli, although not significantly much else besides generic turkey, ham, and salami stuff. I suspect I shall be heading to the gawdawful expensive Central Market for my deli needs.

I should not go to the grocery store when I am stoned on migraine meds. I got there, and despite having NO FOOD IN MY KITCHEN (well, a frozen pizza, half a loaf of bread, and enough salami and lettuce to make 3 sandwiches), all I could think of was that I needed Coke Zero, that I wanted to get something for breakfast, and that I'd kind of been craving something sweet. So I left with 2 packages of Coke Zero, a box of cookies, and four bran muffins.

None of the stores have any Tuna Helper Tuna Tetrazzini. What's up with that? I know Wendy's isn't serving tomatoes and TGIFriday's isn't serving lemons at the moment due to contamination concerns, but did the Tuna Helper get caught up in that? Or did they stop making it? I MUST HAVE MY COMFORT FOOD.

Anyway, today's adventure started at 8, when the cat woke me up. At 9 I left for the old apartment to clean it and get rid of the last stuff in it. I worked hard, and stuffed 2 carloads of stuff into the dumpster (Hmmm...this has been in the freezer for 2 years ... I'm obviously not going to eat it), including all the junk in my porch closet. I started to pack up waht was left when a huge migraine hit, probably due to dehydration and overheating. I told myself that the entire reason I had the two apartments overlapping for a month was so that I didn't have to do all this on one day, and left. Migraine meds down, which luckily kicked in fairly soon, then home. After a while, I went for more shopping, to attempt to find curtains I like that were the right length (the top of the windows is 92" from the floor), failed, bought a correctly sized air filter and compact florescent bulb, went to Tom Thumb, came home and changed the air filter, put the stuff up and COLLAPSED INTO BED for an hour or so.

Still exhausted. Going to bed shortly. Have a request for you plant people, but am going to put it in another post in case nobody reads this far through my TERRIBLY INTERESTING WEEKEND.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

i wanna go to fiesta!

we have an albertsons, i've never been much into it other then when they have 10 for 10 sales! who can argue with that.

10 for 10 sales are awesome when they're stuff you want. XD I keep forgetting I also got 2 boxes of lactose-free ice cream, as they were buy 1 get 1 free and HOW COULD I PASS UP THE SAVINGS?

YOU CAN'T. AND IT'S LACTOSE FREE WHICH IS EVEN MORE AWESOME.

i had to buy 5 gallons of pure, whole milk for the project i'm doing with my students tomorrow. looking at it made my tummy cry.

Just reading that is making my tummy cry.

thankfully no one is drinking it. just good old fashioned dish soap and food coloring is going to taint it. DIE LACTOSE, DIE.

Lactose-intolerance? Eesh, my sympathies.

(Man, I'd hate to have that condition -- I've been known to drink a half gallon of milk in a day.)

Yup! It's not too horrible, as I lived in Africa as a kid where we only had dried milk, so I lost my taste for milk and it's always tasted nasty to me as a result. So I take lactase pills for cheese and cream-containing things (which works most of the time), cook with lactose-free milk, and miss drinking plain milk not one bit. XD

Hah. I have purple hair too, and that happens to me ALL THE TIME -- I forget I stand out, and get a bit skittish about being stared at, and then remember.

Weird thing: Nobody stared when I was at school in Cleveland, even off-campus. People stare here, in Chicago and its suburbs. *shrug?*

XD You'd think, since I hate being stared at, I wouldn't dye my hair. But I'm paranoid enough to be convinced that people are staring at me when I DON'T have purple hair, so I might as well do it anyway. XD

Yes, yes, exactly! At least you know folks have a perfectly good reason to stare, which can be strangely comforting.

And hee, my purple emo-bangs got a *lot* of stares at the Bestway Supermercado down the block, but the looks were definitely more of the 'hey mami' variety than 'ZOMG lookit the freak'. (Which is kind of cute when it's coming from the hot teenage stockboys who are half my age, but not so much when it's coming from some dude old enough to be my dad...who's standing right next to his wife...)

But the most amusing reaction the freaky dye's ever gotten me was about eight years or so ago, when instead of just bangs or streaks I'd done all my hair in a really deep plum. Walking my dog through Logan Circle in DC, a bunch of dudes hanging out in the park started singing "Purple Rain" as I walked by... XD

How were the firefighters? Were they HOT?

I wouldn't say OMG HOT, but they were certainly TALL. XD I did take a picture - once I get the big computer set up I'll post it. :D

I feel your pain on the Tuna Helper Tetrazzini front. Apparently, I am the only person in this town who loves Ling Ling dumplings, as I haven't found any in weeks.

I am jealous of you getting to have purple hair. And having cool grocery stores around you (oh, god, the store near my place is SO BAD. It makes me cry).

And ain't unsecured net great? XD

Re the grocery expedition and the scanty spoils thereof: that's why the good Lord let us invent the grocery list. (Which doesn't explain why I once again didn't buy the vanila soymilk I like for my breakfast cereal.)

(BTW, see my LJ.)

Wouldn't have helped in this case, as I am overwhelmed by not having anything in the kitchen to start with. XD I need to get into the habit of buying smaller quantities more frequently anyway, so shall attempt to shop by recipe instead of stocking up on things.

Oh, the Hispanic market sounds lovely!! My local big supermarket is pretty Hispanic oriented, although not enough to kill the muzak, dammit, and so we have as many beautiful peppers and other produce goodies as a woman could want.

As a plant personTM, I would be happy to answer any questions you might have, but first I think I must take my own weather induced medz, so it's good you waited. :P

And it's close enough that I can see my complex from its parking lot! Well, I have to drive a bit more than that to get there, as there's also a railroad track separating me from it, plus the complex only has one entrance, so it's not a walking-distance thing*, but it's close!

* By American standards.

On behalf of all the other Europeans, thank you for that qualification ;)

:D I currently live in walking distance from my job by non-American standards, and feel vaguely guilty about driving to work, but as the temperature is currently in the 90s F with humidity 50% or higher, I don't feel too guilty. :D I prefer to arrive at my job not sweaty and messed up. When it cools down, I'll start feeling more guilty as I think it's only a 15-20 minute walk. (Probably 10 if you're fast, but I'm slow.)

I live within ten minutes walk of my school right along the students' way to school, which means I rarely walk myself, heh.

Reminder to check on whether stats for the Panda Buddha site went up due to the marital test.

They did - a minscule amount. :) We got 34 click-throughs Sunday, 18 or so Saturday. There were a lot more *hits*, but I think they were mostly bots reacting to the spread of the meme.

Oh hey - here's someone (http://van-maniac.livejournal.com/1040.html) who picked up our cards at A-Kon!