New Soul

I love that song on the new Apple commercial. Y'know? The one where they fit the computer in the manila envelope? Ridiculous. Anyway the song is called "New Soul" and it's by Yael Naim, some super cool french singer. It's on my MySpace profile if you want to give it a listen, but all of her others seem to be in French. But I'll take what I can get.

I spent the last week in Manhattan and it was fantastic. Time passes so strangely in my two different lives. Here, weeks seem to stretch on forever, full of work and chores and ferrying Abby around to different appointments and lessons, etc. But I spent ten days in Manhattan, all relatively uneventful, and the time seemed to gallop away from me. Hopefully time will start to gallop here, also. I don't operate well with slow.

Anyway, here are the highlights, so that I can remember how I spent my week.

1. Harvest Grain & Nut pancakes at IHOP. I finally found a pancake I like. Steven and I tried to feed the extras to the ducks, or the birds, but when we got to the lake, we discovered that it was frozen, and the only animals around were hunting dogs. So instead we tried to throw rocks through the ice and ate the pancakes ourselves.

2. Waitress. It's a new release with Keri Russell and it's wonderful. Very quirky funny, and Keri Russell is so sweet and quietly hilarious. I watched a lot of movies over the ten days and it was definitely my favorite. I also watched Feast of Love which was not great, but did inspire me to read the Charles Baxter novel it was adapted from. Movies we watched that you should avoid: In the Land of Women, Suburban Girl and Because I Said So. Poor Diane Keaton is so fidgety.

3. Chipotle Raspberry Bean dip at So Long. It takes a good three times eating it before you like it, but once you do, you'll never order the fried pickles again. It's just that good.

4. Dan Chaon. I'm currently reading "You Remind Me of Me" and it's excellent. I've been reading some of his short stories, and moved on to the novel. I'd recommend either. I've also been hooked on Lydia Davis, TC Boyle, and Alice Munro, as of late. I think you have to be in the right mood for Munro, though. She's great for gray, cold weather days.

5. Big Love. I know I'm three years behind on the show, but I watched the first two seasons in four days. I'm hooked on their crazy lives. And their continued dedication to always making the wrong decision. Love it.

6. Super Tuesday. Steven and I watched Bob Roberts in between all night coverage of the results of Super Tuesday. Then we researched the candidates websites. Seriously, if you're running for President, Hillary Clinton, you'd think you could get a better web designer. I'm officially throwing in my hat as an Obama supporter. This declaration in no way means that I wish to engage in any sort of political discussion. They only end in tears. I'm just excited to see how it all plays out. And if you haven't seen Bob Roberts, it's not bad. If you can get over the fact that it's Tim Robbins.

7. The Superbowl. I didn't watch it. We made jambalaya and watched Big Love and played Phase 10 instead. But we did watch all of the commercials the next day on MySpace. The eTrade baby ones were my favorites. Anyone else?

8. Omaha. Hailey is officially moving to Omaha in August, which means that if my plans remain the same, I will be living on my own for the first time, back in Manhattan in August. If anyone hears of a good one-bedroom, I would be much obliged, since I have to do the majority of my apartment hunting from GC. Also job openings are helpful too. Just if you run across anything. It was really nice to have a roommate again for a week. We watched American Idol and that terrible Moment of Truth reality show on Fox, ate a lot of cookies and giggled. It'll be strange to live in Manhattan without her.

9. Spring break. We decided not to go to New Orleans over spring break, but instead visit Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi. We'll probably spend a day in Memphis too, so if anyone has any ideas or suggestions about things to do/see in that area, I'd love any advice.

I think that's the major update on my life. I have three more days at Hastings and then it's back to substitute teaching full time. Unfortunately, the anthropological experiment came second to paying the bills, so I'm giving it up. I'm very relieved to be rid of my coupon signing and cash drawer counting responsibilities.