happy halloween!

There was an article I saw and wanted to mention, but I decided to hold off until close to Halloween (and how much closer can you get?). The article says that just about one in three people believes in ghosts...which, coincidentally, is the same percentage of UFO believers.
What struck me as interesting is the relatively high number of people believing in ghosts, UFOs and ESP (nearly half the population!) but the low percentage of people who believe in magic.

What also struck me was that as far as people living in the city goes, men were more superstitious than women. When I mentioned this to my sports-loving co-worker, she said "well...there's baseball." And the article did mention that the number of people (both men and women) believing in these things matches the percentage of baseball fans in this country.

I was going to look for a quote from the article, but there's too much there that's extremely interesting and I couldn't really pick the most interesting paragraph. But I will say that I've felt bad for some of the superstitions. So what have I done to remedy that? My favorite number is 13 and I have two black cats.

I once read that in England it was considered lucky to have a black cat cross your path. So when I first got Isis, I figured I'd embrace that part of my English heritage.

And yes, the above pumpkin is one I carved. I'm old fashioned, I didn't need a stencil to make some complicated design...even though they look really cool. Back in my day we used a pencil or a marker and a knife. C'est tout.

Happy Halloween!

wish me luck

On Thursday I begin a new novel, one that will be at least 50,000 words and will finish on November 30. Which coincidentally falls on a Friday, which might be a great time to celebrate finishing a new novel.

That's right, this year I'm participating in the National Novel Writing Month. I haven't in years passed because I was working on other things at the time. Right now I am working on finishing up the first draft of the first book in a YA series that I'm actually really excited about. So when it came to decide to participate, I thought at first that maybe I wouldn't. I wanted to finish this one.

But it's a series. And I roughly have ideas for the first four in the series since it's about four sisters and each book is about one sister (there is more to the idea than that, but I don't want to talk too much about it because the more I talk, the less I write).

Anyway, it struck me that I should go ahead and write the second book. That will definitely ensure that the series continues.

So...wish me luck! I'll occasionally post updates. The only glitch may be my holiday vacation. But I'm hoping to mainly just lounge around the house in Dallas, which should give me plenty of time to write.

And Good Luck to everyone else participating!

puppy chow

Peanut butter, chocolate and Crispix. Can there be anything better?

I realize this may be a foreign dish out here, seeing as how only two of the people I've talked to had any idea what I was talking about. Usually the response was "Puppy chow? What in the world?"

But I made a box of it last night and am pleasantly surprised to see it disappearing fairly rapidly here at the office. And you know, for a first time, it's not so bad. My sister makes this every year and of course it's always delicious, but I've never made it. And I do have some criticisms...there are a few squares without any powdered sugar, but that's really about it.

I love cooking, and as much as I would love to say that the deliciousness that is this batch of puppy chow are due to my expert skills in the kitchen, I can't. I think it's mainly due to melted chocolate, peanut butter and butter poured over cereal and mixed with powdered sugar.
Genius.

I think I may have introduced several people to something new. They do say that Aquarians are trend setters. Always trying to help.

Enjoy the weekend!

umbrella

This may sound strange and/or random, but I don't like umbrellas. I never have, and I usually go without. In Texas it was fine because the only time you would get wet would be the dash from the car to whatever building you were going to. Granted...it pours in Texas like nobody's business and even then sometimes you'd need an umbrella. But when I could, I'd avoid using one.

Then in the four years I was in California, it rarely rained, and when it did, it usually sprinkled which was nothing to the torrents I grew up with. And since I was usually walking from class back to the dorm, I didn't necessarily mind since I could make up a cup of hot chocolate and change and be warm and dry in an instant.

But here...I have no car and no need for one and so I walk. Everywhere. And only rarely take the metro (like last night when it poured and I did to escape the rain even with my umbrella). And I was also reminded of why I don't like them.

First of all, I have to admit it, but they look ridiculous. And secondly, when you have a narrow sidewalk that's already two small for groups of people walking against each other, what are you going to do when you have an umbrella? Granted, I'm short, so for most people, they don't have to worry about hitting me. But I have to worry about hitting them in the face with my umbrella, especially like last night when I rounded a corner against a wall of some prickly bush and had nowhere really to avoid hitting some guy who, granted, raised his umbrella to make room for me.

This morning on my way to work, it was hardly raining and yet I saw nearly everyone with their umbrellas up. I decided to avoid mine, thinking if it started raining harder I'd pull mine out. There was this man in front of me with one of those really large umbrellas (and again, keep in mind it was hardly even spitting). He walked a little slow, and not in a straight line as not many people walk in perfectly straight lines. I wanted to pass him except I couldn't see around his umbrella. When I'd start, someone else would come waltzing past me, blind until we both got to the edge of the umbrella, or he'd start walking in front of me and I'd have to duck, or walk in wet grass, to get around him.

Anyway, so I pass him and get to the intersection, stepping up to the curb to wait for a break in traffic to cross. And what does this guy do? Walk right up next to me, exactly next to me with his umbrella sticking out in my complete line of vision. I missed a few breaks, trying to lean forward or back to see around this guy before he crossed and my vision was clear.

Ok, that's the extent of my rant. I know they're a necessary menace, but for whatever reason, umbrellas annoy me and they always have. And I apologize if I hit anyone or my umbrella blocks your line of vision. I've been there and sympathize. But know that I'll only use mine if it's absolutely necessary.

turkey

Last weekend was the Turkish festival. I met Carrie down there shortly after lunch and we pretty much went straight for the Turkish coffee. We had a bit of a wait while they made some more, but it was delicious, of course. We opted not to have our fortunes told, and while I think it may have been fun, the last time I had a friend read my palm it was a good fortune and I'd rather just leave it with that.

We walked through the stands of food, inhaling the delicious spices used for the kabobs and even the smell of fresh, warm baked pitas with spiced hummus. When we arrived, the music was contemporary and sounded almost like house. If it was Turkish house, it was awesome and I would love to hear any recommendations. When we got back to the stage, the schedule was back to traditional music and next to the stage was a screen rotating images of Turkey. I watched mostly that while we listened to some music briefly and then headed back to Dupont for lunch. To keep with the spirit of the day, we went to Levante's for some hummus (which was some of the best hummus I've had in awhile), I had a grilled vegetable pita and we both finished off lunch with another Turkish coffee.

Oh, and on that, I did buy a small canister of Turkish coffee. The only downside is that the instructions are all in Turkish, so I'll have to try Carrie's instructions since hers are apparently in English. I'll let you know how that turns out.

I stopped by my apartment to put the second half of my sandwich away and then headed back to the Turkish festival right around closing to meet another friend of mine. Like earlier we went for the Turkish coffee first, but I wisely declined some, because I'd also had a big cup of coffee earlier that day, plus the other two coffees. I don't usually get wired from coffee, but when we sat and chatted for awhile, I was pretty wired.

We stood again for awhile listening to the traditional music, which at first was upbeat and yet also mysterious in a way. I really enjoyed that set. The next set was something slower, and while it was nice, it didn't pull me in enough to forget that I was standing in fading sunlight after walking and standing for most of that whole day. So we stopped at another food stall so he could get a quick bite and then sat down in the plaza and chatted and caught up, with the music in the background until it was time to close up shop.

I've wanted to visit Turkey before, in much the same way that I've wanted to visit...Peru or Germany. It was on my list, but wasn't quite up there in the top with Paris, Greece, Prague or Cambodia, the places I really, really want to visit soon. But I think that now it's moved up there. I've always loved the food (and the coffee) and have fairly recently been interested in its history, but the images on rotation and the atmosphere have really bumped Turkey up on my list.

dc driving

I don't often drive in DC because...well, mainly because I don't have a car (which is a good reason). I do miss having a car, except when I get the opportunity to do a little driving inside the District. Like yesterday, for example.

Yesterday I took my colleague's car to pick up a catering order for a big office meeting. Driving her car freaked me out already, without the driver's around. Each time I came to a stop light my heartbeat picked up ever so slightly because there was no clutch and yes, I admit it, I was tempted to do some phantom shifting. I refrained (except once), but there was no way to put the car in neutral and I kept waiting for it to buck and stall. Seeing as how she has an automatic, it didn't. But in the almost 9 years of driving, over 8 have been in a standard.

To think I used to make fun of people who phantom shifted.

As if that wasn't enough, there were the other drivers. Getting to the store wasn't too bad, there weren't to many idiots on the road. But getting back was a different story. I had some guy open his car door almost right into my car, and I just barely had enough room to swerve without hitting oncoming traffic in the next lane. And then, driving back to work at one intersection there was the classic car in the middle of the intersection trying to turn, but oh, guess what? I had a green light and she had a red! I wanted to honk at her, because I'd actually already almost been hit twice...but seeing as how I was in a new car, trying to remember not to shift, I had absolutely no idea where the horn was. It was in a different place than in my old car. I think on the bottom of the steering wheel, not on the side.

And then in the next block, there was a truck stopped in my lane, and I couldn't very well go around it because there were cars coming against me in the very next lane. Fortunately only two, so I didn't have to wait long. But long enough to have some guy two cars back honk. Geez...it's not like I felt like stopping in the middle of the lane for the fun of it. I couldn't go anywhere!

And then I think I almost got hit again before making it back into my building's parking garage. You know..they say LA has the worst traffic, but in four years of driving in Southern California and LA...I never had the problems I've had in the few times I've driven in DC in only two years.

My colleagues were waiting for me in the garage to help take all the food back upstairs and when I first joked with them about the weirdness of driving an automatic again, I told them my realization: No wonder people here are often in such foul moods. I'd be too if I had deal with that every day.

So that's my rant. And that took care of that emptiness of not driving somewhere inside me. And besides, in a month I'm going back to Texas for the holiday and I'll get to drive in nice, four lane roads where most people observe traffic signals, use turn signals and wave when you let them in (how nice is that?) and...what's even better, is I'll get to drive a standard which will relieve that tension.

Oh, and I know where the horn is on my Mom's car.

By the way, I know I owe a recap on the Turkish festival. It was an incredibly crazy week at work this past week with lots of long hours, but this weekend I've got some downtime and intend to take those pictures off my camera and I'll post about the delicious Turkish coffee.

economics

I remember the advice that we received before and during college, that many people get jobs that have nothing to do with their major. I heard a lot of this when I still thought about a creative writing major, which I then switched before I even went to college. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but I would have thought my degree would have been used. And it still may be.

If I can remember what I learned.

I spent four years studying economics...ok, maybe three since one senior semester was spent studying politics in DC and the other had one economics course: my senior seminar where I wrote a paper. But I took a lot of courses and I loved them, even if I didn't get a 4.0 in some of them (ok, maybe all of them). The coolest thing was taking what I learned there and applying it to my minors, like the time we were discussing the Asian financial class in my Asian International Relations and for some reason, the double graph I learned about expected exchange rates totally made sense when I tried to apply it.

Sorry...still awake?

The thing is...I don't necessarily remember how to do all of that now. I can see the graphs, but I can't quite remember what goes on there. And it extends beyond international finance. I'm not sure I remember anything from international trade, my favorite econ class.

I'm not sure why, but I kept my old econ books. Well, except for statistics (a class we never used the book in anyway). I've pulled out my micro book to look through. Let's see how easily it is for it all to come back. And now I have something to keep me occupied until Italian classes start again in the spring.

assateague island

Anyone do anything fun for the holiday weekend?

I did. Well, not for the weekend, but yesterday. My friend and I went to Assateague Island to see the wild horses. Did anyone else read Misty of Chincoteague as a little girl (it doesn't strike me as the type of book little boys would read, but I could be wrong)? Well...I did. We both did. And a little over a month ago while chatting over sushi, we somehow started talking about it and it dawned on us that we were close to Assateague and Chincoteague. Now granted, after some research, we missed the scheduled driving across the bay, but the horses on Assateague are wild and you can see them year round.

We found a day that worked for both of us, and drove up there and back yesterday. If you'd like to do it, it's about a three hour trip and Google maps does a great job with the directions.

Anyway, when we crossed over to the island, we drove past two brown horses ambling along the side of the road, but didn't get any pictures of these two. I guess we thought the island would be teaming with the 150 strong herd. But...it's a long, thin island.

We went first (after a couple of trips around finding a parking lot, let alone a spot) to the Life of the Forest trail, which was a nice escape in the hot day. From the outlook point we saw several horses at a distance. Along with a bird. Now...if only we can get to that other side. But...it's an island, right? How confusing could it be?

We drove to the end of the island and parked at the Trail of the Dunes, which I have renamed the Trail of Doom. It was a gorgeous trail, but it was sand. And we both thought the trip would be like the earlier trail, and both wore athletic shoes and I had on jeans and it was hot. It's also been awhile since I trudged through sand and this was deep sand with a lot of resistance.

And no horses here.

But it was beautiful and so the Doom nickname was more of a joke. We made it back to car and thankfully it was after we were back in air conditioning that we realized the weather was up into the 90s. Not knowing that during the sand hike might have made it even worse.

On the way back to the bridge we went down a road and there we saw three more horses that we got out and followed a ways. Now that was pretty cool. They had the right idea by plowing ahead into the water. We hoped they'd lead us back to the larger herd, but they were probably lounging in the shade. Even those these are wild horses, they're not like what I'd imagine the mustangs would be. You could get close to them and they got close to the people around (I think brushing past an oblivious fisherman who looked around with surprise at the three horses walking past him), so we definitely got some great shots.

It was definitely a great experience and a wonderful day trip. I satiated that desire from when I was a little girl completely infatuated with horses (and I think that little girl is definitely still around) and we learned some things for the next time we go. Bring towels and a swimsuit, because the ocean was far too tempting. Had we submitted to that desire, it would have been a long...wet car ride home. And bring better shoes for walking on sand. And more sunblock since I think we sweated most of it off.

Anyway, that's the trip in a nutshell. I have more pictures here. I didn't put them all up, but I took about fifty pictures. The island itself is beautiful, which only adds to the coolness of being there. And I think it is pretty much guaranteed that you'll see a horse or two. Whereas if you go out West with lots of land and try to see the mustangs...well, you might not.

Up next, I hope, is a trip to Luray Caverns. I went once when I was very little and don't remember a whole lot. But I think it would definitely be worth it to visit again.

independent bookstores (remembering city lights)

The other day I read about an independent mystery bookstore in Massachusetts that was selling (and in all probability, closing). And there were great stories about that this store that made it seem like an institution in the state, and quite possibly in the mystery genre. And it got me thinking and really wanting to go to an independent bookstore again. Thinking about this morning, I thought of City Lights.

My first visit to California was junior year in high school when I went out to San Francisco to visit a friend of mine. One day when she had to work, her friend took me on a tour of the city and we passed City Lights. At the time, my only idea of the beat generation were people I imagined went to the Zodiac in Bell, Book and Candle. I may have known of Jack Kerouac, but I certainly hadn't read anything at that point.

But...it was a bookstore. And it looked cool. So we went back and I was in love. I was in love with the atmosphere, the books that lined the shelves and weren't like many other books in the bookstores I frequented. I may have bought one or two books that day, but I went back.

Another day my friend had to work and I walked around from our hotel, down around Fisherman's Wharf, and up to Chinatown and around to City Lights and bought a big bag of books. I discovered Lawrence Ferlinghetti on this trip and great Spanish poets like Jorge Guillén and Rafael Alberti, and first discovered spoken word (though I read it this time and hadn't yet heard it).

I remember going back to Pier 39 and getting clam chowder in a sourdough bowl at Boudoin bakery and reading for the rest of the afternoon there on the pier. It was almost like reading here at a cafe in the fall. It was cold (for me) in July with that breeze coming in from the ocean, and overcast that afternoon.

I digress. But I can't imagine what San Francisco would be like without City Lights. Unfortunately I don't go to independent bookstores as much as I'd like, but I'll make a conscious effort to amend that. While the big stores are great because they have nearly everything you could possibly want, it's the smaller places where sometimes great discoveries are made. I still look for more Ferlinghetti when I'm at the bookstore, and occasionally there are a few newer collections, but I've yet to see Guillén or Alberti.

And those are wonderful discoveries to make. And that sense of history that are with these places. When I think of City Lights, it's like you could imagine browsing through the somewhat obscure poetry and prose, almost waiting for Ginsberg or Kerouac to walk through the front door. These are magical places, full of creativity and history and dreams. They've been created out of a love of the art form and sustained by that.

And that's what I love about them. And miss about City Lights.

It says a lot about that place that I haven't been back since that summer, in seven years, and I can still vividly remember it.

oh DC, sometimes you're really wonderful

Ok, so besides the greatness that was the National Book Festival last weekend, today I discovered something else that has me incredibly stoked about living in this great and wonderful city (I know, these are not actually adjectives I freely use in the dead of winter...DC and I...we have a complicated relationship).

October 14 is the Turkish Festival. And Turkish coffee...how I love thee.

I still remember the first time I had Turkish coffee. It was at Café Izmir in Dallas, right there on Greenville Avenue where you can go on Tuesday nights for $2 tapas. Yes, I still am madly in love with this place and try to go every time I'm back in Dallas. And yes, I've seriously thought about moving back to Texas because then I could go there any time I wanted. Hey...living away from Dallas for six years can really make you miss a place.

After some of the most incredible food I've had, we had some dessert and coffee, and the coffee came out in these little demitasses with colorful designs. I braved it. I didn't add anything to it, and I think it's definitely ruined if you do, but the coffee was thick, and grainy and rich. And somehow it was still smooth going down and had a dark taste, almost like dark chocolate.

I've had Turkish coffee a few times since, not many, and never as good as when I have it Café Izmir. A woman who worked with my Mom brought back a bag of it after a trip to Istanbul. I still have it somewhere and I think I may need to find that for some of the cold nights coming up. But until then...I have this to look forward to.

And hey! This time I can have my future read too. What a plus.

DC...right now, I love you.