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Friday, September 25, 2009

Food

I think it would be fun to start a cooking blog. But as that's not something I do every day, it may be slow going, and in that case it's probably more worthwhile to not make it a separate blog. I thought no movie could inspire me to cook more than Ratatouille, and perhaps that's still true, but seeing Julie & Julia has also shown me the possibilities of chef-blogging in the digital age. I still feel weird calling this the digital age... especially when compared to all the other "ages" in the past, such as stone, iron, bronze, etc. People used to build and make weapons with stone... then they started making weapons out of iron... now... we make weapons out of pixels on screens? I guess that's safer. But I digress.

Anyway, I'm always looking for new ideas on cooking. I work full-time, and have extra activities going on at least three nights of the week, so sometimes I have to find ways to make quick & easy meals that don't come solely out of a box (not that all boxed/frozen dinners are bad... I just couldn't eat them more than once a week... yuck).

Most of the time, I'll make a large casserole or other dish during the weekend, usually Sunday afternoon, and then spread that out over the next few days. This week was whole wheat spaghetti with vodka sauce (Newman's, not home-made, haha). Pasta is good for such things. This week I'll probably do slow-cooker macaroni & cheese, with broccoli.

One of my favorites that I've done recently was breaded orange chicken with almond wild rice. It was a great combination, and while the seasoned bread crumbs kinda overshadowed the orange flavor, the chicken was very tender. I think I could make that into a casserole too, theoretically. I got both recipes at Allrecipes.com, which is a nice little community of recipes and cooks. I may try a cooking blog there, but it's so hard to be spread out over so many different sites. Ah well.

I should do some e-mail before my lunch break is over... namarie.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Rohanite

From what I've been able to discover about this site, it's perhaps a little less social-networking-site than Xanga was attempting to transform into, which is nice. I can scroll through profiles of people who have common interests with me, but due to there not being an overarching search feature (at least, not one that I've been able to locate), I'm finding it harder to find people that I know are on here. So it's both good and bad. Either way, it's not a bad thing to have to exert a little more effort in these things. Social-networking is always plagued by "friend"-addicts who will simply use you as a boost to their numerical popularity count. I'm looking for something a little deeper than that in blog world...

I suppose I should explain my title a little bit. Both my original (and Xanga) blogs user-names have contained the name Eowyn. She's a character in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings who I can't help but admire for her bravery, and sympathize with for the whole 'unrequited love' deal. At least she took her rage out on a Wraith instead of turning emo.

Anyway, I guess I'm going for a more general feeling with the name 'Rohanite.' That segment of the movies was so wonderfully done - the music, dialog, atmosphere - all served to bring me back to the days when I was a little home-schooled girl living in Scotland, going on numerous field trips to castles, both of ruined and well-preserved variety. I love that historical feeling.

I could never presume to be as bold, fearless, and attractive as Eowyn, but I still identify with her far more than any other female character in the stories (all 4 of them). What's the deal with this Arwen girl? She may have looked all cool and feisty on her horse outrunning all those Wraiths in the movie, but in the books she did absolutely NOTHING but marry Aragorn. Eowyn is cooler. End of story.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Why blog?

I would like to say that I'm starting a new blog here - that this is a fresh page, a new leaf, a brand new start, blah blah blah. But really, it's not. I'm the same person as I was at all my other blogs, and if the new name and template alone don't urge me past the blissful honeymoon stage of blogging, then I have failed as a blogger.

Whoa... draft auto-save? Sorry, I got a little distracted there. Why didn't they have that on Xanga? This is great!

Anyway, as a form of introduction, I am Laura. I've been blogging/diarying since I was 16, but anything produced within 2-3 years of that time was so hideously awful and melodramatic that I can only hope none of it shall ever see the light of day again.

I've really only kept 2 blogs before with any great regularity. The first one that stuck was on the little-known site of Diaryland, begun at the age of 17. I'll probably never leave it. A girl needs to have her roots, ya know. My other main one was Xanga. Myspace came along and left very quickly *shudders*. So basically, for the past few years, Xanga has been my public blog, and Diaryland the one that only good friends or complete strangers ever visit. I'll probably never abandon Xanga completely. I just like this format better, and honestly, most of the friends I signed onto Xanga to follow have since ceased blogging there. Somehow this template makes me feel more serious and will therefore hopefully contribute to a stronger sense of motivation when it comes to writing.

Writing has always been one of my preferred methods of communication. I haven't always been good at it (much carefully-censored proof of that fact still exists), but really, the only way to become good at something is to just keep doing it. I use blogs to communicate things I couldn't say in person, either to the right people, or at all.

Not to wax too philosophical or contemplative, but what is communication? My good friend dictionary.com defines it thusly:

"the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs."

That's the second definition. The first one was one of those lame definitions that uses the base of the word to define itself, which has never helped me out very much.

Anyway...good definition. However, I'd like to propose another one, and this is not something I thought up, but rather one that was shared by a professor of a class I took called "interpersonal communication." He defined communication as simply "a sharing of experience."

At first that seems far too general. I've always seen communication as more of a linear transfer - as in, me somehow imparting my knowledge into your head, via speech, writing, "body language," or ESP (just kidding). But I like seeing it as more than that. This definition opens it up into something that sounds far more communal than linear, and I like that. Experience isn't limited to cold hard facts, or bubbly emotional expressions. It encompasses just about everything you do, everyone you interact with. I want to communicate, but even more important, I want to be more valuable to the communities I exist within, and if something as minor as a blog can assist with that, then I shall take the plunge once again.
Blog on!