Sleepwalking Nightmare of Doom

Let this be a warning to you all.  Exercise extreme caution when ingesting any medication with the suffix "PM."  Normally I consider myself pretty impervious to these types of medications since I suffered from extreme insomnia my sophomore year of high school and became immune to any over the counter sleep aide.  However, it's been a while since I've needed that little extra shove into Dreamland, so when I finally decided to just take a pill last night, the effects were stronger than I anticipated.  Last weekend I stayed up for 20 hours straight for NYU's annual Relay For Life for which I am one of the overall event chairs.  I also worked at the hotel (aka got up really early), went to a party (aka stayed up really late), and took a praxis II exam (got up early...you get the idea).  Basically my sleeping schedule was completely out of whack and remained so all week.  I was getting pretty fed up with not being able to fall asleep until 3 and then being awakened by the piercing (but lovely) rays of the sun at 9.  To many of you hardworking people reading this, a 6 hour night does not sound so bad, and it's not - I've been functioning, but I'm an 8 hour girl.  I feel weird and cranky without my full night's sleep.

But I digress.

Last night after popping my pill I was looking forward to 8 (maybe 10!) hours of peaceful slumber.  Instead, I awoke to the sounds of demon voices screeching my name "Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnn."  Startled, I jumped out of bed and stumbled to the door.  When I stepped out into the hallway, the entire apartment was flashing with an eerie blue light.  All around me I heard incomprehensible voices.  I ran to the bathroom, where the screeching resumed. "Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!"  Then suddenly it sounded like people were banging on the walls around me.  As I was sprinting back to my bed, I somehow had the presence of mind to remind myself to write about this in the morning. 

If you can't read that, it says "sleepwalking nightmare of doom!" on a notebook that was beside my bed.  Clearly, I wanted to share this traumatic experience with you all.

After another fretful night's sleep, the sun not only forces my eyes open, but illuminates the true events of last night.  Here is a code to what actually happened:

screeching demonic voices: really damaged breaks of a garbage truck
eerie blue light: the lights from our cable box in the living room
incomprehensible voices: Hamna speaking Urdu in a Skype conversation
more screeching: more bad breaks (really people, go see a mechanic)
banging on the walls: old pipes making noises

I'm fine now, but let this be a lesson to all who are considering taking the medical route to sleep - it might not be as restful as you think.

I Love Meat

Stop your snickering and get your minds out of the gutter!!  But really, I love any kind of meat.  Pork, beef, poultry, seafood - all of it!  I even love things that PRETEND to be meat!  For instance, I love those Morning Star fake hot wings.  I also love facon (fake-bacon).  Hamna just made a delicious quiche with facon mmm-mm-m-m-m!  The point is, I'm a carnivore and proud of it!  That is all.

Oh yea, look at that.

          

Templates

I'm trying out new template designs.  This one is pretty, but the post column is awfully skinny.  What do you think?

Weirdos

Today I encountered a number of weirdos.

1.  Weird lady with a poncho comes into the restaurant (it was my last day FINALLY).  "Is there jam?"  "Yes! It's on the table."  I turn around to see the woman sitting at the buffet that's displayed on the bar.  She pulled up a chair and plopped next to the muffin display.  I didn't even know what to say.

2.  Man eating breakfast with his wife.  Winks at me from across the room like we're friends with an inside joke.  Again I am speechless. 

3.  Angry girl in my Torah class (yea I occasionally attend Jewish classes).  We were discussing how it's important to listen to others' opinions, which was totally over her head.  She was going on and on about how it's obnoxious to repeat what others say (as in, Ok, I hear you saying A, but I think B).  I said that it can be a good way to understand other people's opinions but she kept saying "You can't be sure they were doing it nicely, you can't interpret it that way! It's obnoxious!"  Then I said "I think you're just taking the obnoxious interpretation."  She flipped out and called me rude and guess what else? OBNOXIOUS!

4.  Dramatic girl on the street.  On the phone: "Mom!  I can't live like this!  I can't take this anymore!"  Followed by dramatic sobbing.  I'll never know what she was so upset about.

I might be quirky, weird, and goofy...but at least I'm sane.

Bon Appetit

From time to time I like to pretend that I am a gourmet chef.  I would like to share with you my attempt to replicate Pioneer Woman's Sun-dried Tomato Risotto. Enjoy.  

Well I got off to a good start.  I didn't quite have enough onion, so I added some shallots that were in danger of rotting before I got to use them.  Don't worry, they were still good. 

PW used real garlic.  I like the stuff from the jar. It's more refined.  Now, her sun-dried tomatoes looked red and happy...mine, not so much.  They smelled funny too.  But I pressed on.

Ok, butter and olive oil worked out.  Notice the fun purple in my onion mixture.  I like to keep things colorful.

 Rice!

Then I added the tomaters.

Oooh, I was very happy it looked similar.  I then spent the next 40 minutes adding chicken broth one cup at a time.

Until it looked like this!  Not quite as fluffy, but I made it work.

Next for the Parmesan.  I used the powdery stuff because I'm classy.

Then she added heavy cream.  We are not as luxurious in the apartment so I used 2% milk.  Plus, I'm trying to keep my girlish figure.


I couldn't believe it!  Pioneer Woman used basil from a jar.  That's what I had too.






Oh yea, look at that.  Delicious!




It actually turned out pretty tasty.  Thanks P-Dub!

The Prodigal Roommate Returns

My darling Hummykins has been gone forEVER.  First jet-setting to Vegas for two weeks, then North Carolina for a week.  But now she's back and all is right with the world!

This is what one would typically see walking into our apartment - the three of us Facebook stalking, Stumbling, and sometimes school work. (Sometimes Cary is on the end, but mostly he's in his room studying.)  For three long weeks it was just Kate and I, but now the trifecta is complete.

We noticed that our comments on blogs and conversation topics turn...bitchier...when we're together.  It reminded me of a TruBlood episode I watched recently in which Bill Compton explained to Sookie that when vampires live in "nests," they become more evil.  So basically, since our nest is full again, our snarkyness is going at full blast and our tongues are sharper than ever.  Watch out!

Eyjafjallajökull and the Yosemite Conspiracy

In light of the Eyjafjallajökull erupting in Iceland, our pre-bedtime conversation was centered around volcanoes.  Cary mentioned that he thought he heard that a volcano in Yosemite or Yellowstone or something might erupt sometime soon.  Now how would you react to this news?  "Oh really? Interesting" or "That's not good, can we do something about it?" or "Where did you hear that?" are all good options.  Kate, however, flew into a rage:

Kate: Oh they would say that!
Cary: What?
Kate: The MEDIA!  "Oh the attention's not on us! Hey! We're still here! Pay attention to AMERICA!"
Cary and I exchange glances...
Cary: What??
Kate: I don't trust the media.
Cary: But it's seismology.
Kate: Well still.
Me: I'm not sure that this is the appropriate reaction, Kate.
Kate: I just think we exaggerate.

Kate then proceeded to rave about the virtues of Iceland.  Cary was not as enthused and proposed making Iceland a national park.  I reminded him that we cannot make other nations into national parks. And then Kate chimed in:
"Anyway, since when is Iceland a part of Europe??"

I'm still laughing.

By the way, Cary was misinformed.  No eruption anytime soon.