singing tea part two

my tea sang again yesterday morning. it's kind of becoming like a morning melody now.

happy halloween

a little halloween joke from my laffy taffy.

question: why did the skeleton go to the movies alone?


answer: because he had nobody to go with him.


OH!

happy halloween, y'all.



(by the way, i have more to write on several things over the past few days but i'm exhausted and don't have the energy now. so more to come hopefully over the weekend.)

singing tea

this morning i made myself a cup of tea and a bagel and sat down to do some work on the computer. immediately i started hearing this high pitched humming sound. i didn't think much of it at first because we live by a factory which makes weird noises at all hours. when it got louder i thought it was the computer. but then i went to take a sip of tea and i realized it was coming from my mug of tea! what's the deal, y'all!? there wasn't anything in the mug except hot water (boiled on the stove, not in the microwave), diluted tea, and honey. no teabag. no spoon. but it was making a very distinct and audible hum/whine sound. i didn't know what else to do so i just drank it. but i felt very much like the tea was dying as i did so.

there was no one else around except the cats so i have no proof of this. but i swear it happened.

preserving history

i mentioned a bit ago that i was taking a free seminar at our town's university. one of the books that we've been assigned is daniel mendelsohn's the lost. in the book, daniel goes on a search to find out how his jewish great uncle, aunt and their four daughters died in poland during the holocaust. during this search, he ends up learning not only how they died, but also a whole lot about how they (and others in their small town) lived during that time.

of all the books we've read for the class, this one has so far been my favorite. i have always found family history and family myths to be quite an interesting interesting subject, so the book was already right up my alley. plus, i really enjoyed mendelsohn's classical way of telling a story by weaving through various tangential topics, eventually leading to some point or found fact. it's totally fascinating. i highly recommend the read. however, i should note that there are some really horrific depictions of what happened to the people in the town, many of which will be permanently ingrained in my memory.

because of this book, though, i've been giving a lot of thought to how all of us (or, rather, most of us) will eventually be forgotten. all of our stories will eventually just fade away, just as the majority of those who went before us have faded. it seems very fitting to the cycle of life, yet at the same time, it really makes me sad.

so it was very fitting that today i received an email from my brother about a family website that he and another relative have started for my mother's family. it's totally interesting and they did a great job!

it's an interesting way, i think, to preserve history and to continue the telling of stories. won't it be interesting to see what happens to the web (and all our stories on it) when our children's children are coming up?

state fair

on sunday baldman took a surprise (to me) break from his homework (he has 1 exam and 1 paper due this week) and escorted me to the state fair. i LOVE the fair! and i really didn't think i would get there this year. i think i just love all that greasy, deep fried, sugary, salty, goodness in such a small vicinity. though, i can't believe it, but i didn't have a fried candy bar this year. i just felt too junked out at the moment. so we opted for french fries instead (much healthier??).

we just walked around for a few hours. we checked out the artwork, the agriculture, the sand sculpture, the (classic!) people-watching, and seals. yes, seals! we saw some high schoolers showing off their goats (no euphemism there. i mean literal goats.). they were cute (the goats, not the teenagers). though the seals were cuter. i tried to upload a video of a daredevil motorcyclist that we saw, but it didn't work :( so you'll have to imagine it: a guy in a metal circle cage who rode his motorcycle completely upside down and around the inside of the cage with a woman standing in the middle of it, all to the song crazy train. we did manage a few picts on flickr.

too funny to pass up

i'm sorry, but i just thought this was really fun. i mean, i usually find sarah silverman funny so i guess that's not a surprise.

warning, this video does contain cursing so it's definitely not one to watch at work or with the kids around.


The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.

thanks, paul, for reaching across the isle and posting this on your blog.

reid party

since we had the house clean and party-ready for the slow food event on saturday, we decided to just open up the house in the evening and have a little party for our friends. we had a small but fun crowd come out. some folks even came from out of state! great company and more delicious food. how could we go wrong?

here are some picts that we took.









you can find a link to more pictures of the event taken by one of our guests here.

caught in the creative act

for the past few years (4 i think) usc has hosted a free lecture series, caught in the creative act, where 2 days a week for 6 weeks, folks read books, discuss, and meet the authors. i'm really excited to be registered for the course this year. i went to our first session tonight and it was packed. and i thought it was really interesting that i was basically the only person in the auditorium who was under the age of oh, say, 50 (to be generous). that's not deterring me. as i mentioned to baldman tonight, i spend a whole lot of time around teens and youth, so i'm actually looking forward to spending some time with older folks. this wednesday we'll meet our first author, josephine humphries (who is from our state).

here is the book list for this semester if you want to read along (cause i think it might be too late to register,but i'm not 100% sure):

Josephine Humphreys, Rich in Love

Daniel Mendelsohn, The Lost

Richard Ford, The Lay of the Land

Valerie Miner, After Eden

Sophie Gee, Scandal of the Season & Alexander Pope, Rape of the Lock

Jane Hamilton, A Map of the World

beer paring event sum-up and picts

the slow food columbia beer pairing went really well this weekend. we had a good turnout. folks seemed to really enjoy the chill atmosphere, the fantastic beers, and the sumptuous food. plus, the weather held out for folks to get in a few games of red neck golf. a big ups to untamed beer for being our guest speaker at this event. if you're looking for someone to MC your next beer event, brian's your guy!


cerelle starts out the event with a slow food intro


brian pours the first beers


everyone listens intently to the beer master

if you're interested in more info about the beers we sampled, check out untamed beer's post about the event.

GOTV

south carolina, and lots of other parts of the country, today's the last day to register to vote. if you've not done it, do it!

domestic violence awareness month

the month of october is domestic violence awareness month. one of the events going on around town is this art exhibit at city art in the vista. it's totally free and open to the public. i went tonight (briefly because i'm under the weather) to their opening reception and was able to see the photographs. they're totally moving and worth taking a look-see.

Details.....



SCCADVASA presents an exclusive showing of Living with the Enemy
The Exhibition: An Extraordinary work of photojournalism by Donna Ferrato
Exhibit will be at City Art Gallery
1224 Lincoln Street, Columbia, SC 29201
October 3-11, 2008

more information can be found here.