The Elections in Iraq

Interesting comments on the Iraqi election and its implications for secular society in Iraq from Riverbend in Baghdad.

Work music

A sad, pretty album that makes me wish I was in a car driving in North Carolina and not sitting in an office in New York: Wide Swing Tremolo by Son Volt.

Well not sad so much, but a bit poignant. All the reviews point out the influence of 1980's R.E.M., which would explain the driving thing. In high school, I spent many hours in my car listening to Murmur and Life's Rich Pageant.

Queer as folk

Adding another layer of irony to the conservative anti-gay policies, Maya Keyes, daughter of Alan Keyes comes out publicly at an Equality Maryland rally. Good for her.

Yup, Feeling insignificant

That's sad news to see that Hunter S. Thompson killed himself. R.I.P.

President's Day Weekend

This was the first stay at home, putter around the house and clean and straighten things up weekend in awhile. I am taking care of a Andy, the fine canine that belongs to my friend Erik, so I used that as a justification to by new running shoes and gear. I can do little runs and walk Andy at the same time, I thought. That was great, Saturday and Sunday, but today it snowed. So no jogging. Just cooking. Lots and lots of cooking. Last week I made some sort of pasta and bean thing, Saturday Moroccan chicken for a friend who came up from Brooklyn for dinner, yesterday pesto to put in the freezer, and doctor the above pasta and bean thing, which really didn't turn out so well, and today cabbage borscht. Mainly because I have lots of cabbage.

The weekend is a bit melancholy, as I'm feeling the break up. Also, I am looking at a somewhat crazy week at work. In the big book, these are pretty run of the mill complaints. I'm feeling pretty insignificant these days, in the grant scheme of things.

One thing that makes for a little bit of prime drame is that the dog that is visiting and the cat who lives here don't tend to get along so well. The only reason they get along at all is because the cat is sometimes able to dominate the dog and is therefore relatively calm. I just had to turn around from my computer to break up a fight over the dog's food.

Chi chi

I went to the fancy Dominican-Asian fusion place in my neighborhood tonight with my spanish speaking group. It was nice, although one person brought his non-spanish speaking girlfriend, so we all ended up speaking more English that we should have. I guess its a sign of the neighborhood gentrification that the cheapest entree on the menu was $22, and I don't often drop this much on one meal. On many occasions, my ex-boyfriend patently refused to go there, and now I realize its just as well, because even I blanched at the prices and he was way more money-conscious than I. Some certainly say that the gentrification is happening at the expense of the Dominican community in Washington Heights, and I am sure that's justified as far as rents and sales prices go. But still its nice to be able to eat a fancy dinner on your corner, and it did seem like the chef, who we met, was probably Dominican, so perhaps its not an outsider cashing in on the rising rental prices in the neighborhood. Someone ordered flan. And they did make a mean Mohita and offer a good selection of Argentinian wines from Mendoza. For some reason meals with this particular group of people always end up being exorbitant affairs. But we usually pick good restaurants. So it's probably worth it once and awhile.

In my own defense, I did suggest the much more economically priced Malecon, which someone vetoed for the fancier place.

Coming Home

I took a little hiatus, but now Mama's back in business. I think we need some freshening up around here though. Stay tuned for more changes.

Life these days has consisted of going to work in the big medical center down the street, tutoring a seventh grader from the neighborhood, reading the paper on the subway, catching up with my friends, practicing with my Spanish group, trying to wean myself from the TV. It's funny how you can feel like you have a full life, but still feel a little empty. Some big changes, around the relationship precipitated this melancholy. I've cooked some spectacularly disappointing stir fry's, lost and gained the same five pounds, and started novels without ever getting into them. I haven't been reading any blogs, mostly from business as work, so maybe that's why I haven't been writing in mine.

But I'm feeling the need to get back in the game.