Spring (?)

About a month ago, I was terribly depressed because all signs pointed to spring: warmer weather, tulips and daffodils blooming, tiny green plants appearing; but the trees were still the same barren, dead-looking branches as in winter. Then, one day, magically, it seemed like a green mist appeared on the trees overnight and the tiny leaves were growing. Soon, the leaves were practically obscuring the trees and I was happy. Warm weather was here to stay and the sun-lover in me could be happy again.

Sadly, this is Colorado, and spring melted back into a snow shower (which then melted back into a 70-degree day), and we have clouds and rain again today. At least we have leaves on the trees now!

Best/Worst Movie Ever

Plan 9 From Outer Space.

We saw "Ed Wood" over the weekend and I just loved it, so we had to put the movies Ed Wood really made on our queue. I didn't think the real one could live up to the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp extravaganza of "Ed Wood," but man, does it ever!

If you haven't already seen it, I recommend seeing "Ed Wood" first, because it'll give you insight into scenes that wouldn't otherwise be terribly interesting and will also give you some background on the movie and its making.

"Plan 9" is like the epitome of every bad horror movie from that era. Crappy special effects, terrible dialog, ridiculous plot, it has it all. I love the (multiple) scenes that transition between night and day with each cut, the cop car that changes color and style every time we see it, and the tomstones that topple over when someone touches them. Awesome!

My Easter vigil

Normally I would be going to Mass tomorrow. It's at least a nod to my Catholic upbringing and faith, though I don't know if any weekly Catholics would consider me Catholic anymore. But this year, my first year away from family and married to a devout atheistic humanist, I await a different kind of celebration. This year I will be celebrating spring (and Easter) with my friends (those who aren't going to church). We're having a brunch buffet at our house tomorrow, complete with easter egg hunt and bacon--the poor grad student's Easter ham. My Easter vigil is tending to the muffins in the oven and the cheesecake I baked earlier. My communion will be sharing the food each person brings to our table. My thoughts are of spring, the rebirth, the joy and pain each birth of all kinds brings, and the hope for tomorrow's days to be better ones.

May you all have a safe and peaceful Easter.

Ruminating

Is a "thank" less than "thanks"?

Literary trivia

Am reading J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey for a fun bookclub my friends started. Peter and I watched The Good Girl with Jennifer Aniston which makes numerous references to Catcher in the Rye, the other Salinger book (are there any more?). Zooey Deschanel is also in the movie, and she was named for the character in the book! What are the chances of her being named Zooet (the character is a man), acting in that movie, me reading the book and watching the movie at the same time without knowing the connection? And yet, this little miracle has probably played itself out a hundred times before. Such is our world.

PS My friend actually had a conversation with Salinger, so there!

Kitchen Aid ecstacy

We used the grating/slicing attachment on the Kitchen Aid mixer for the first time tonight. It was magical grating 4 cups of cheese so quickly (we only needed 2 cups, but it was so easy! Anyone want some finely shredded swiss?). We got three identical graters for the wedding, and for some reason, I'm pretty sure we returned all of them, so we've been making do with a makeshift grater for a while.

But now, we have been reunited with our Kitchen Aid! I made a cheese souffle tonight and used the mixer not only to grate the cheese, but also to beat those egg whites into stiff peaks while washing the dishes. I'm hoping Peter noticed my amazing multitasking and put in my nomination for Wifey o' the Year ;-)

In other news, I love the time change when I hear the kids playing outside at 8 PM (memories!), but I freaking hate it when it's midnight and I'm not the tiniest bit tired. Plus, I can never remember if this will be a good thing on Tuesday when I have my 8AM class, or if I'm going to be hating life and hating the fact that I hate coffee. Clearly, math is not my strong suit. In fact, time in general perplexes me. Peter laughs at me because I used to set my clock an odd number of minutes fast (like 7), because I could never do the math fast enough to figure out what time it really was when the alarm went off. 5 or 10 minutes was too easy, so I'd just keep sleeping and defeat the purpose of setting the clock fast and thus frustrating my bedmate who likes his clocks all to have the right time. Crazy.

OK, I'm off to bed, and I'll probably sleep far too late tomorrow. Damn! That means Tuesday's going to suck. Adjust, little body, adjust!