Labor Day

It seems like I started writing a blog last week but lost interest and deleted it. I believe it was about the ongoing “Velveeta Saga.” So, I’ll shorthand the story and move on. My roommate is a food snob. (Well, a Euro-snob in general but specifically food - seriously he spends hundreds of dollars on food each month.) I bought Velveeta to make mac and cheese while he was gone one night. It’s how my mom made it, I know it’s mostly chemicals, I realize it actually has the word “food” in the title and that it’s not actually “cheese.” I just wanted it because it was familiar and comforting to me. Many discussions, much debate, a few hurt feelings later… fast forward… the Velveeta box is still in the fridge but is now in an actual red biohazard bag on it that I've ignored for almost 2 weeks. Damn snobby Czechs… I’m sure he ate something even worse as a kid… pig brain or something…

Otherwise, things are pretty good at home. I sometimes get cranky and need some “me” time but that’s normal. All complaints and differences aside, I like having a roommate, even if he is a Euro-snob. I think he had a date last night. He showered and left for hours and basically told me to “not wait up.” But he was deliberately mysterious about it as if he wanted me to ask where he was going. I didn’t. I was just happy to have some time to myself. My only regret is not eating some of my nasty “processed American cheese food product” while he was gone!

I had a nice Labor Day weekend. Friday night I was a grump and stayed home by myself to watch Doctor Who and eat Ben and Jerry’s in bed. Sometimes I just need a night to myself and that specific night I just couldn’t face the prospect of hanging out with my Euro-snob roommate and his even snobbier European friends. Spending an evening with people that immigrated to this country from other places to work and having them bitch about how much better their home countries are is extremely tiresome and makes me spout off very republican sounding things. So, I try to avoid that now. I appreciate their loyalty to their home countries but I get tired of explaining why things are done differently here and I get sick of having to defend things I don’t even fully understand myself. For example... roads that are solid instead of cobblestone. Sure, if we have to replace them, then they have to be ripped out and re-poured entirely and yes it's a huge pain in the ass... but cobblestone streets don't work in an environment where you have to remove snow for 9 months of the year or have heavy fast moving traffic. It's not a better or a worse system, it's simply different, shut up and quit bitching or move back to where you came from! :-P

Saturday night I went to the opening of a tapas and martini bar in the next town over. Some friends I hadn’t seen in a long time invited me and I was grateful to be out of town for a night! We had a martini at their house before going out. Well… most of us had one martini… someone had 2-3 and was drunk before getting to what might have been the classiest place in town. (That still isn’t saying a lot for this town though.) His boyfriend was tad embarrassed but I thought it was pretty funny and I had a great time. Best of all, it was totally free. Free tapas, free martini, free desert, all of it. We did leave a good tip since we were kind of a pain for our waiter. After, we went to an older gay couple’s house to chat and drink a beer or two. It was so nice to get out and spend time with new people! Sometimes it’s nice to step out of your own existence for a night and experience new things.

Sunday we painted my room. Well, we primered my room to be more accurate. First there was the taping of the trim, then the covering of the floor, then the primer. Two coats later, my room is white. The actual proper painting will take place next weekend. Still no idea what color. Not blue, not white, not green, not yellow. That doesn’t leave much… brown, orange, pink. The last suggestion was “watermelon.” Well, actually the last suggestion was squares… but I don’t see either of those happening. I’m thinking maybe a reddish/ pinkish sandstone color if I can find the exact shade I’m thinking of.

Then Monday (Labor Day) we got up early (for a day off) and went up to the mountains to do some hiking. I took the doggy along but had some very mixed feelings about it. I’ve never taken her hiking before since she’s dumb enough to run into the woods and get eaten, or push me off the side of a cliff because she smelled something interesting. I was glad to have my roommate with me since we took turns walking her. It was pretty much the coolest thing to ever happen to my dog. There were smells and things and… and… and! Unfortunately, in her excitement she totally wore herself out and then we had to practically drag her all the way back to the car. She slept the rest of the day. She was still pretty groggy this morning when I left for work.

And now… back to work. Only about an hour left to go then I’m slipping out early for a meeting on main campus. I feel fall creeping up and I noticed a few yellow-ish leaves yesterday. Boo… I would love fall if it didn’t mean winter was just around the corner.