i've reached a pre-holiday slow period. thanksgiving is around the corner, and then I'm sure december will fly by. one beauty of working at a school is the time off. i've got five days in a row next week, then two full weeks for xmas. ooh yeah. i look forward to heading up to ely to hang out with lots of family, including two new baby cousins, plus lots of dogs. and of course my awesome little nephew. ely is beautiful too, although i'm guessing it will be very cold !
otherwise, work is going really well. it has been quite cold in chicago, which i don't like because it prevents me from biking. i think joe will be bringing the bikes up to minne over thanksgiving so i'll have to kiss that mode of transport goodbye for the season. which is depressing. but we really have no where to store them here, and i don't want it to get all rusty from snow.
here's a run down of other happenings, however banal.
watching: synecdoche, ny. this is an amazing film!!! i highly recommend it. it was both surreal but incredibly real. there was only one scene that disappoints. philip seymour hoffman is one of my favorites. it's written & directed by the guy who wrote eternal sunshine, another one of my favorite films.
listening: prince, sign o the times, on vinyl. i wish i had it on my ipod. this album is so solid. it's my favorite prince album by far. altho prince said some weird crap lately against gay marriage, which i was very disappointed to hear. last night i saw a prince cover band on letterman which only reaffirmed that there is only one prince. prince gives me some minnesota pride. so does wild rice.
cooking: i have been going a little susie housewife on this one, and it is way fun. i have been cooking and baking up a storm. two of my recent creations have been brought to joe's studio and his night class, which have made them happy :) i've been recently making tacos, wild rice soup, barbeque tofu, baked ziti, ginger snaps, pumpkin bread, oatmeal cookies, and white chocolate orange cookies. i love my oven. and it helps to heat up the house to boot. also, i have been eating carrots every day. i never even liked them until recently. now i can't get enough. it's weird how taste buds evolve.
crafting: i made a linocut this weekend and printed up a bunch of cards. i hope to make some more linocuts soon, perhaps some xmas cards or something crafty for xmas gifts. i love the idea of multiples. i was a big andy warhol freak in high school. therefore i am printing. i would love to get an antique letterpress. in fact i have been looking into it on ebay, i wouldn't mind spending a few bucks on one, however i don't have extra room. something else i would like is a gocco. it is a small japanese screen printing machine. unfortunately, they don't make them anymore. so they are kindof rare.
shopping: joe and i have been playing around with getting a new lens for the digital camera. i think we will be springing for a prime lens soon. joe hasn't had any time off to actually go with me to a camera shop to check them out however, so we are waiting for a time that he will be around...it doesn't look like that'll happen until after thanksgiving.
reading: underworld by don delillo. i picked this off of the shelf. joe is a fan. i tried to read white noise but didn't get into it. why i picked this much longer book by the same author is a bit of a mystery but i really like it so far. perhaps i should give white noise another chance.
that's about it for now. i didn't say this would be interesting!
