Today was disappointingly uneventful, but I dragged myself out of the house and went to a book reading and signing tonight. The author was Kate Jacobs. She wrote Friday Night Knitting Club and its sequel, Knit Two, and also Comfort Food. Comfort Food just came out in paperback, so the tour was in support of that, although Ms. Jacobs talked about all of her books.
It was very interesting. The reading was at The Toadstool Bookshop in Milford, which is a nice little independent bookstore I've never been to before. There were about 40 women there for the reading. Ms. Jacobs talked about her life and writing process for about 20 minutes, read for 15, and then answered questions for another 20 minutes.
Hiking exploits, experimental cooking, general nerdery, and cat pictures.
Seriously. Do not call me Katy.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
End of an Era
I just finished watching the final episode of ER and I'm sitting here with tears streaming down my face. Not because the show was that sad, and not because I'm going to miss it. Heck, I haven't watched it regularly since the 1999-2000 season, and I don't think I've watched it at all since 2002 or 03. But for my whole adult life it's been there...somewhere in the background. And tonight when I watched the finale and the special beforehand, it brought me back to college.
Freshman year we had a Thursday night schedule that never varied. Crammed during dinner, took an exam from 7:00-8:00 (at my University, most large lecture classes scheduled exams outside of class during the evenings), watched Friends to relax, did Calculus homework in a group because it was always due Friday morning, and then watched ER. Every single week. The next three years of Thursdays were pretty similar, minus some of the exams, plus some beer as we got older.
I stopped watching ER regularly a couple of months after I graduated and moved to Western NY all by myself. The first round of regular characters had left the show, I just wasn't as into it, and it was making me way too tired on Fridays. You can't sneak a nap in between classes when you're working. So almost all of my mental associations to ER link back to college. And although that seems like just a couple of years ago, I've been out of school almost a decade. If you had asked me in high school or college or even just after graduation, I would have never imagined my life being this.
So I'm not crying because ER is over. But I am crying because that part of my life is over. I'm crying for the things I didn't do for whatever stupid reason that seemed so important at the time. I'm crying for the wasted time I can't get back. I'm crying for friends I have lost touch with, who I will never be as close to again. I'm crying for the dreams I had that didn't happen, and crying in thankfulness that this life happened instead.
Freshman year we had a Thursday night schedule that never varied. Crammed during dinner, took an exam from 7:00-8:00 (at my University, most large lecture classes scheduled exams outside of class during the evenings), watched Friends to relax, did Calculus homework in a group because it was always due Friday morning, and then watched ER. Every single week. The next three years of Thursdays were pretty similar, minus some of the exams, plus some beer as we got older.
I stopped watching ER regularly a couple of months after I graduated and moved to Western NY all by myself. The first round of regular characters had left the show, I just wasn't as into it, and it was making me way too tired on Fridays. You can't sneak a nap in between classes when you're working. So almost all of my mental associations to ER link back to college. And although that seems like just a couple of years ago, I've been out of school almost a decade. If you had asked me in high school or college or even just after graduation, I would have never imagined my life being this.
So I'm not crying because ER is over. But I am crying because that part of my life is over. I'm crying for the things I didn't do for whatever stupid reason that seemed so important at the time. I'm crying for the wasted time I can't get back. I'm crying for friends I have lost touch with, who I will never be as close to again. I'm crying for the dreams I had that didn't happen, and crying in thankfulness that this life happened instead.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Back in the States
Dad has requested that I post something besides the picture of my laundry! And I will admit that I got busy the last week I was in France and didn't update here. Now I am back in the States (and back to my loooong commute) but I will be adding a few more notes and maybe even some pictures. I will most likely post-date though, so scroll back over the past few entries for the new stuff.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Downside
So the bad part about staying in a ski resort for a business trip.... When I go down for breakfast, everyone is dressed in ski clothes and about to hit the slopes, and I'm there in business casual and ready to drive to work. In the snow. Not fair! Of course, it's probably also not fair that work sent me to France to go skiing at all, so I won't complain too much.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Skiing in the French Alps
Today I got to go skiing in the French Alps! Olivier picked me up and we met up with Liliane (another coworker) and her boyfriend and brother, so there was a good group of us. We went to Flaine, which is part of le Grand Massif. We only skied Flaine - it was only one day and a cheaper ticket, but I am going to come back for a week of vacation and ski the whole Grand Massif sometime!
I wound up renting performance skis, Safine Infinitys. I'm not familiar with that brand, and Googling only seems to bring up foreign language websites, so I'm guessing it's a European brand? Anyway, the skis were FAST, much faster than I am used to skiing with, but I was able to control them pretty well. There were times my brain just gave in to going fast, and it was awesome, and other times when I tried to control the speed too much, and I definitely fought with them...which all leads me to think it's time for new skis of my own to practice with! My friend L would get along well with the group I skied with - they are all fast and I was definitely the poorest skier out of the group. The slopes over here are green-blue-red-black. I did not ski any blacks (I don't think....) but the reds are nice and steep - long stretches of steep, not just 50 m. They have "mile markers" at the edges of the slopes so you know how far it is to the bottom!
I wound up renting performance skis, Safine Infinitys. I'm not familiar with that brand, and Googling only seems to bring up foreign language websites, so I'm guessing it's a European brand? Anyway, the skis were FAST, much faster than I am used to skiing with, but I was able to control them pretty well. There were times my brain just gave in to going fast, and it was awesome, and other times when I tried to control the speed too much, and I definitely fought with them...which all leads me to think it's time for new skis of my own to practice with! My friend L would get along well with the group I skied with - they are all fast and I was definitely the poorest skier out of the group. The slopes over here are green-blue-red-black. I did not ski any blacks (I don't think....) but the reds are nice and steep - long stretches of steep, not just 50 m. They have "mile markers" at the edges of the slopes so you know how far it is to the bottom!
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| At the top of Flaine |
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| Looking across the top |
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| Stuck on a chairlift, time to pull out the camera! |
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| Tracks! |
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Photos, Saturday
More pictures!
At the top of Aiguille du Midi, height of 3842m. "Aiguille du Midi" means "needle of midday" because at noon, the sun is directly over the peak of the mountain when viewed from Chamonix. This also explains where there is so much sun glare in all my pictures....
The rounded peak at the very right of the frame is Mont Blanc, height of 4807m and the tallest peak in Western Europe.
Fernanda and Olivier (and a lot of sun glare!) Mont Blanc is the second peak on the left.
Olivier says this is called the "tooth of the mountain."
The very top of Aiguille du Midi, as seen from the observation deck at the top of the cable car. You can take an elevator to the top, but we were cold enough already! Maybe if I am back sometime in summer!
I am not positive, but I think you can see mountains in three countries in this picture: France, Italy, and Switzerland. It's hard to tell though, because despite what I learned from the maps in elementary school, the land does not change colors at the borders of countries!!
Looking from one observation deck to the other. We walked through a tunnel in the mountain to get from one to the other.
Mont Blanc is the rounded peak left of center.
Ready to make our descent from the midstation.
Back on the ground! Chamonix, which is still at 1000m elevation, but seemed so low and warm after being on the top!
At the top of Aiguille du Midi, height of 3842m. "Aiguille du Midi" means "needle of midday" because at noon, the sun is directly over the peak of the mountain when viewed from Chamonix. This also explains where there is so much sun glare in all my pictures....
The rounded peak at the very right of the frame is Mont Blanc, height of 4807m and the tallest peak in Western Europe.
Fernanda and Olivier (and a lot of sun glare!) Mont Blanc is the second peak on the left.
Olivier says this is called the "tooth of the mountain."
The very top of Aiguille du Midi, as seen from the observation deck at the top of the cable car. You can take an elevator to the top, but we were cold enough already! Maybe if I am back sometime in summer!
I am not positive, but I think you can see mountains in three countries in this picture: France, Italy, and Switzerland. It's hard to tell though, because despite what I learned from the maps in elementary school, the land does not change colors at the borders of countries!!
Looking from one observation deck to the other. We walked through a tunnel in the mountain to get from one to the other.
Mont Blanc is the rounded peak left of center.
Ready to make our descent from the midstation.
Back on the ground! Chamonix, which is still at 1000m elevation, but seemed so low and warm after being on the top!
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