Keepin' on

This fall, I will be occupied approximately 75 hours a week.  I will spend about 30 a week in class or studying, 20 hours working, 20 hours rehearsing and doing other theater activities, and about 5 hours volunteering.   

As much as I am really excited about everything that I am doing (school is where I want to be, work is really rewarding, theater activities and volunteering recharge me) I find it all really daunting.

What's a person to do?

Deodorant Part 2 and Pescetarianism

So the deodorant experiment has been epically successful.  The stuff smells amazing, makes my skin really soft, and keeps me from smelling too bad (a little smell is tolerable and even likable, especially if you enjoy roasted garlic as much as I do).  I highly recommend trying this for yourself.  Even if you think I've gone off the deep end, you will be convinced by the awesome power of the stuff.

I am a pescetarian.  I have not reached full vegetarianism yet because A) I enjoy eating fish and B) Bellingham has an incredible local fish market where tuna is canned on site and they offer sustainably harvested seafood like black cod.  That being said, the rest of my diet is almost exclusively vegan and gluten-free save for the occasional morsel of cheese or baked good.

I was reflecting on this today, and realized that I was born to be a pescetarian and, eventually, a vegetarian or vegan: I have a phobia of raw meat and meat and dairy products make me feel sick.   This was an important moment of clarity for me.

DIY'ing

I have been wanting to make my own deodorant for a long time.  I have been making laundry detergent for a little over a year, thanks to Tipnut (most of these recipes can be adapted to be vegan, which is awesome), and I am graduating to personal care products.  Toothpaste was a major disaster, but I'd be willing to give it another shot.  I just made a batch of deodorant, recipe care of angry chicken.  I'll update soon about how it goes, but by the smell (one of the ingredients is cocoa butter), I can already tell that I'm going to like it.

The Fair

I worked the Fair today.  There is nothing ironic about the Fair.  There is no nuance, and no subtlety.  The Fair is where everyone lets everything hang out, literally and metaphorically.  It is glorious cross-section of humankind, bedazzled and America'd for maximum people-watching enjoyment.  I sold rings, body jewelry and sarongs to my fellow humans, some more evolved than others.

I also rode the public bus there and back, which was just icing on the cake.  The bus is one of the last vestiges of shameless human contact.  People will talk to you no matter what, because dammit, we're all in the same boat (with wheels).  The guy with no teeth screaming at his toddler, the entrepreneurial upcycling artist who turns actual garbage into actual sculptures, the driver named Matthew who is well practiced in the art of subduing the unruly bus-riding public, and myself, a broke-ass college student who wanted to save a little money on gas.

Wine and chocolate

I had a list for the grocery store, and the only things on it were:

Wine (Pinot Noir, under $10)
Chocolate (Cadbury original)
$10 (for Fair admission - I'm working at the Fair this week, and they don't take debit.)

Three observations: the wine is not for me, although it is one of my favorites - Mirassou.  The chocolate is for me, and I have been chocolate crazy lately - check out this recipe for homemade chocolate syrup.  Why does the Fair cost $10?  And why don't they own a debit machine?

Planning

It was really hot today - nearly 90 degrees and a very light breeze.  I went to the lake with some theater friends and didn't have my swimsuit, so I read White Noise by Don DeLillo, which I'm almost done with.  The it's on to Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut.

I am unusually obsessed with Arcade Fire right now...something has come over me.

Growing

I still have the old Livejournal, but I figured it was time to get a grownup blog.  So, here I am.  

I'm currently listening to "Crown of Love" by Arcade Fire from Funeral.