Sidebar Stories: Vol. 1

I've discovered that the majority of the events here are not big and earth-shattering and probably not worthy of an entire post (me going to class at the wrong time = case in point). Most people don't care to know about the nitty gritty details of the daily grind, but at the same time they are the things that will be memorable to me down the road and will make me laugh at inappropriate moments that I won't be able to explain to other people. So I'm going to combine the smaller events into collections of sidebar stories and leave it at that.

In March we tried to make beans and weenies. They did not turn out that great, but they were close enough to the real thing to satisfy that little section of our stomach that craved them. The beans were in "tomato sauce" so maybe that was teh problem, but it looked like our best option at the time. The Australians thought we were crazy. We also managed to get into a huge argument because they think it is morally reprehensible to cook hot dogs on a grill (or barbeque) because "they would get all crunchy." Honestly, it's not that much different from a snag (sausage) if you cook those on a grill you can cook a hot dog on a grill. Sheesh. And my pants weren't hiked up as high as they look in the picture. I'm really not sure what was going on there.

Somehow we've gotten in the habit of making cupcakes for people's birthdays. It's kind of nice because we try to surprise them, which is sometimes hard with communal kitchens or because Laura is the only one with a muffin pan... it was tricky when her birthday rolled around... I casually mentioned I was going to make blueberry muffins the next morning and asked if I could borrow her pan. Worked like a charm! She wasn't even suspicious. Then last Tuesday we made some for Joe, the RA for the Collins side of the Blocks, he totally walked right in while we were making them and even asked if we were having "cooking club" cause he's seen us do this before. We thought he was on to us, but it turns out he is Captain Oblivious and had no idea the whole time. So that was great. Usually we share them around the block so 12 people get to enjoy them but on Tuesday we each decided we'd each have three. It was wonderful.

Have I mentioned my feelings about public transport? I'll admit, sometimes it's nice. It can be a relaxing way to unwind, just roll with the rhythm of the bus, you know. But for the most part I think it is a joke the world likes to play on me. I think it proves that I am just not in sync with city life. I can't get the timing down, I end up on the wrong side of the road to catch the bus I need, I look at the wrong day's schedule, a different bus driver gives me bad directions so the next bus driver yells at me.... It's more than just getting from Point A to Point B. Trauma, pain, social humiliation, angst, self hatred, and 90 cents poorer each time I ride, this is what I get from public transport.