Category: Uncategorized

dinner

1 cup of dried split peas purchased 4 months ago
three small carrots, chopped, with greens separated and chopped
2 sweet potatoes peeled and chopped
2 russet potatoes chopped
1 leek chopped
1 bunch (2 pounds?) collard greens chopped
2 approx 1 month old onions chopped
handful of mushrooms, chopped
1/2 of approx 1 month old clove of garlic chopped
filtered water
big squirt of braggs liquid aminos

put the peas in a large pot with about 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then simmer covered for an hour. Toss in carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, garlic and onions, with enough water to cover, and braggs. Bring back to boil, and simmer for another 15ish minutes. Toss in greens (collard and carrot), mushroom. Cook until potatoes done.

Yay for simple tasty stew recipes. The sweet potatoes were an experimental element, but I think they worked out well. Ah, if only we had some basic spices (oregano, most prominently).

Home Sweet Unmetered Internet

After greyhound’s third weather based cancellation of trips I was set up for I decided to go back and quit with the hemmoraging of cash. So, I’m back in Minnesota. I’m planning on sending a letter which says in essence this: “Through no fault of your own, you couldn’t provide the service I was seeking when I paid for my 7 day pass. Instead, you took me halfway, and baited me with empty promises to take me places you couldn’t go. In the end, I didn’t go where I wanted to go, and unless I get my money back, or some other reasonable compensation, I’m not touching greyhound again with a 10 foot pole. Oh, and I’m sharing my experience, including your response, with an online forum of more than 150 subscribers.”

With that in mind, I may well convert my amtrak tickets into “do whatever you want with it” amtrak credits, and try to make it out to pittsburgh another day. Still not decided on that part. But I’m definitely not heading out of this house for at least another day or two.

Merry Hannukwanzasolstiramamas, everyone. =)

Vacation status

Not going as expected. I’m very glad that I purchased the oh-so-flexible discovery pass. 7 days of wherever the heck I wanna go on greyhound.

So, when last we left me cursing at greyhound, indiana and ohio were an impassible sheet of ice. Which has apparently not improved much. Columbus which is a major hub for all my originally planned travels lies in the middle of this.

So, now I’m heading down to southern Illinois to visit a different paternal uncle and his brood. I should be arriving a few scant hours after the end of midnight mass obviating the potentially awkward atheist-at-the-house-alone syndrome. Though I may be facing it on sunday anyway.

Still, I haven’t ever really visited these people without my parents around. It’s an interesting, dare I say, experiment. Let’s see how we get along. After that, I may be hitching a ride with uncle dennis in his private plane back to kentucky, or hopping on a greyhound in paducah, ky, to get to london, depending on the weather. (did I mention that the other greyhound stops in the area are cairo, and vienna (pronounced “vie-enna”, provides an amusing, if shallow, international veneer to the trip).

Last night, I stayed at the chicago hostel, did a bit of shopping, got a day pass at a local gym, hit a newthe pick me up cafe. Today, I slept in, then made arrangements for my 9pm bus ride. Since then, I’ve been strolling around lakeview, checking the smelts practice schedule, enjoying the lakefront, eating at the chicago diner (and leaving my contact info with a waiter there, again, but at least it’s a different waiter this time), and wasting time at the Cruise-a-bou coffee in boystown, while reading Young Miles as part of my obsessive attempt to read everything bujold’s ever written, and listening to the original versions of many of the songs I sang while in the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus, including no small number of Judy Garland tunes, and a bunch of holiday music. =)

As an amusing coincidence, I saw Evan who I had one of my brief, intense crushes on shortly before leaving chicago. We’d chatted online a couple days ago (first time in years), and we weren’t going to be able to meet in chicago. So, of course, I spot him as I’m walking in and wave. I’m wearing my recently acquired ninja ski mask, and as I take it off a look of much surprised amusement spreads across his face. *sigh* I’m not his type, but he’s certainly one of my types. He shouldn’t be allowed to look even better than when last I saw him. *shrug* Pleasant chat ensued before I got my flavored steamed soy milk, and started up my wireless, which explains what I’m up to now.

In summary, I’m being a dilletante, and hemmoraging money in chicago, but having a great time doing it, and my vacation plans are weathering the winter quite nicely.

Dad’s replacements have arrived, and he should be back in the states within a month. He’s supposed to fly to Kuwait before I get back from DC.

Dear greyhound

Dear greyhound,

Blow me.

Luv, scu

It would seem that I have a 4 hour layover here in chicago, and that I will not be seeing zanesville this time around. Ah well. I’ll turn it into more time in pittsburgh. =) Wish I’d be around for lunch. I’d try to snag . I’m browsing the web in a coffeeshop that I oft frequented while doing my thing for columbia college. Down by dearborn center in printer’s row.

I like being in chicago. Maybe I’ll look for internships around here…. =)

full holiday itinerary

Leave Arrive
Town Time Town Time Mode
Minneapolis 12/22/04 10:10pm

Zanesville 12/23/04, 7:55pm Greyhound
Zanesville 12/24/04 3:35pm London, KY 12/24/04 11:30pm Greyhound
London, KY 12/28/04 2:05pm Pittsburgh, PA 12/29/04 Greyhound
Pittsburgh, PA 1/1/05 10:30pm Chicago, IL 1/2/05 7:45am Amtrak
Chicago, IL 1/4/05 2:10pm St Paul, MN 1/4/05 10:25pm Amtrak

Contact has been made, or at least attempted with parties on various segments of this journey. =)

Additionally, I have registered for the TRB Annual Meeting in DC, and reserved a room in the Washington International Student Center hostel. James recommended that I go to this twenties group thing on friday evening, as a way to meet thoughtful homos of my age group. It sounds like something to try.

Also considering joining the twin cities gay men’s chorus, and re-visiting my attempts at starting a homo-oriented reading group (or two) around here.

To all non-minnesotans bitching about the cold

To all non-minnesotans bitching about the cold, I say this: suck on it.

Until you have to wear long underwear beneath your pants when going outside because pants alone aren’t enough to prevent frostbite on your thighs, don’t talk to me about cold.

I once again have the “butch because I live someplace cold” thing going on. Yay! =)

sharing from nytimes

When (an old friend of Simon’s, who works for PIRG and is therefore awesome, also my most likely candidate for roommate had I ended up living in chicago) posted a heartwarming christmas story from the nytimes opinion page, written by Maureen Dowd, I went browsing around for other items on the same page. I also found one talking about the “year of the passion”, an article discussing the current prominence of fundamentalist christianity.

And it reminded me of a couple of things over dinner. One, my recent “antagonism” towards christianity, which led to come out as a christian in his first post, and Two my plans for a transcontinental bikeride.

I would like to reiterate my religious beliefs and my attitudes towards believers. Which is that we’re all shooting in the dark on some questions: What is the nature of consciousness/self-awareness? Where did the world come from? What happens when we die? Is there a reality beyond the one that we perceive with our five senses? I further claim that the answers to these questions are unknowable. That is, I don’t doubt there is an answer to it. I strongly suspect that what we see is the only reality, that there is no god, that when we die our minds/awarenesses/consciousnesses end. Lights out, game over. And I really have no flippin’ clue where the universe came from. That doesn’t mean that I will accept the first plausible answer as absolute truth. I accept that it is theoretically possible that an omnipotent entity created the world, complete with fossils (carbon dated for extra humor value), oil, etc, and even that such an entity cares deeply about who I have sex with and exactly how I have sex with them. But I consider it functionally infinitesimally unlikely. Your guess is as good as mine no matter how certain you kid yourself into believing you are about it. And so long as you don’t go around proclaiming your superiority or my inferiority, we’ll get along fine. Also, if you insist on talking to me at length about your imaginary friend after I’ve indicated disinterest in the topic, well….

The other item was my transcontinental bikeride. The reputed conservative resurgence and triumph of intolerance throughout the country scared me. Poor atheist, homo like me gets caught somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, likely to get his head blown off by some bible-thumping fanatic trying to protect the community from my taint. It’d only take one, and I’d be spending alot of my planned three-months out in the middle of nowhere. Add that on to the risk of being run over by a semi or a soccer mom (or her partying teen kids) and it starts to look pretty daunting. But I could get run over by the semi, soccer mom, or drunkard teens here. And I think it’s important for me to meet people I wouldn’t normally. I don’t think there are as many homo-haters as the newspapers say. I think it’s also pretty important for people who normally would never run into anyone like me to meet me, and to see that I don’t bite. I still want to do the bike ride, and I ain’t gonna let this stop me. Hell, I didn’t freak out flying in late september of ’01, I ain’t gonna freak out over this one.