Thanksgiving Turkey

I realize that it is fairly far off, but I am thoroughly excited for Thanksgiving Day. Last year, we hosted a small gathering of friends that were unable to get to their respective homes for the holiday. In my mind, though, Thanksgiving is more of a friend holiday than a family get together. Take, for example, the seemingly endless number of Friends episodes set on or around Thanksgiving Day. The show isn't called Friends for nothing. While I do enjoy the football, camaraderie, and convivial conversation my favorite part of the whole day is the food.

Now, more than ever, I really enjoy cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Last year I got to cook a turkey (thanks How To Cook A Thanksgiving Turkey Dot Com), mashed potatoes, a cheesecake (thanks Mom), and other succulent things. This year, I hope to do the same and maybe more. I doubt our feast will look like the pictured spread--for one, it is apparently dangerous to stuff the turkey because germs totally lurk in the breading--but I won't mind too much. I really enjoy sitting around a table with friends with well filled bellies enjoying the friendships we are blessed with.

If you've nothing better to do on November 27th, give us a call and join the festivities.

ps- It's incredible to me that www.howtocookathanksgivingturkey.com actually exists. What's more incredible is that cooking a turkey is fantastically easy. Ever since Thanksgiving Day last year we've wanted to, on a whim, purchase a turkey, cook it, and feast for weeks on the left overs. The aforementioned Web site (is that the correct way to write that?) gives a very easy turkey cooking process that is very work-free. Anything that is delicious and incredibly easy is okay by me.

Waste of Time

May I tell you how much I enjoy trick plays like the "Flea Flicker," "The Statue of Liberty," or even "The Annexation of Puerto Rico" as seen in Little Giants. It's things like that that make football enjoyable. I have my first major graduate level paper due on Tuesday and I can't seem to motivate myself to work on it. I think I'm a much better student in the Spring because there's no football to distract me. I can't help but watch the Eagles play the Patriots. The Eagles are currently winning and, though I typically hate them, I would love for them to beat the Pats.

Thanksgiving was lovely. I got to cook a turkey, cheesecake, and mashed potatoes and they all turned out pretty well. I missed the family, of course, but it was nice to have friends and loved ones to spend the day with. And it doesn't hurt that the Cowboys won and the Buckeyes won the Saturday before. Life is good and I'm happy. I'll need some extra blessing in the next few weeks regarding school work, but it'll be just fine; I'm sure of it.

I got a permanent position with the credit union that employs me. My time here has been spent at many different branch, but starting the first week or so of December I'll be exclusively at the brand new branch in West Chester, PA--the home of my graduate program. Hooray!

Sorry this wasn't more exciting, I'll see you soon.

The BQE and Mr. Stevens

Sorry for the hiatus, but life gets busy. It's been over a month since I've written and it's been a busy one. Lots of counting money, lots of reading, and lots of Grey's Anatomy, surprisingly.

Last weekend, Jenna and I trained over to NYC for a nice little two day trip filled with being tourists and lusting over the musical stylings of Sufjan Stevens. We, along with Jordan, had the privilege of seeing the world premier of his BQE at BAM and it was magnificent. Pitchfork has a pretty nice write up, but in typical PFM fashion, they can't really like anything. The suite was triumphant and, if I had any musical ability, I would write exactly what Sufjan did. At times it was no different that a typical Sufjan song with its soaring highs followed by a single piano and an abundance of flute runs.

Let me put this out there--I love Sufjan and I am probably a horrible critic because I love nearly everything but I'm trying to be as objective as possible.

The piece was nice, but what impressed me most was that the musicians were obviously enjoying the music and the moment. I was in the third row, right in front of the speaker on the far right (stage left) of the auditorium and I had a great view of the musician's faces and they all, for the most part, were grinning with glee. I, too, was impressed by Sufjan's abilities at the piano. I had always figured he was just pretty good at all the instruments he plays, but he kicked that piano down. The beginning of the suite the curtain was down and all we could see was the film Sufjan had shot, then the curtain lifted half-way and exposed a scrim behind it so the audience could see the shadow of the performers and I assumed Sufjan was conducting but I soon realized he was behind the piano. The piano carried the piece and was the introduction to nearly all of the movements of the suite, I believe there are 8 but I could be mistaken.

After the 30 minute BQE ended, there was a brief intermission and the 2nd half was titled "Sufjan Plays the Hits" and he certainly did. He opened with "Seven Swans"--a personal fav, went to "Concerning the UFO..." and onto others. Sufjan, who is funnier that I had previously imagined, gave humorous introduction to the song "Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!)" about every car coming from Detroit and how he had constructed his own personal world industrial history. After "Jacksonville," he played "Casimir Pulaski Day" and John Wayne Gacy, Jr." back-to-back and it was fantastic. "Gacy, Jr." ended with Sufjan and Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond) singing a lovely little "ah-ah" harmony over a subdued banjo rhythm and my heart melted.

After a ridiculous story about oboe camp, flying-oboe-bassoon-wasp-monsters, and morality lessons Sufjan played "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out To Get Us!," another fav and followed that with "The Barn Owl," a song I had not yet heard and had to do some internet scouring to find out the title. Apparently it's yet to be recorded and possibly for a new album? Am I excited? Yes.

All through they show, I had been a bit disappointed because Sufjan had been a bit subdued and had quietly dazzled me with his musical abilites, but my eyes had beena bit bored. Luckily, before they kicked out "Majesty Snowbird," (my absolute fav) one of the hula-hoopers brought out his trademark wings and my dream was complete. Sufjan, backed by an impressive orchestra, is a force to be reckoned with.

The set finished with a nice "Chicago," and no encore. I was really hoping for "Come On! Feel the Illinoise!" or "Decatur" but there was nothing. It was, all in all, a fantastic show that I'm very glad I got to see.

Along with the show, Jenna and I did some touristy things. We were briefly on the Today Show, Jenna was interviewed by the Channel 2 news about lip plumpers, we spent a few hours in The Met (and we didn't pay, shhh!), and we walked around Central Park for a bit. We ventured through Brooklyn for a bit with Jordan. It was all of our first times to do so, so that was nice. It was a wonderful trip and we're going to try to make it into the city again around Christmas time. Hooray for the north east.

ride on the peace train

After having heard that song for the first time in a long time on Den's deck Labor Day Weekend, it's been stuck in my head off and on. The ladies here at work listen to the Remember the Titans soundtrack often so I hear it all the time. All that to say, I like the peace train. I figure, riding the peace train is better than riding the S.L.U.T anyway.

There's a lot in life that could get one down. I've been pretty bummed about the Jena 6, The War on Terror, government in general, and Matt Drudge. I think he's ruining my life. Though there is much bad in the world, I can take solace in the occasionally overwhelming good of people and God. I have many good friends nearby and I have a fantastic wife who always makes me feel better about life. The Buckeyes haven't lost yet this season and it's possible that they could end the regular season loss-less. To add to that joy, Notre Dame is win less and M*ch*gan is 1-2. Nearly everything in the world of NCAA football is going my way. If only the SEC would implode--that would be nice. O, the Cowboys are 2-0 while the Eagles are 0-2. Take that Philly. The Braves are on a surge (much like the troops but the only causalities are the occasionally beaned players) so sports in general are treating me well right now.

There is a lot of homework, but it's considerably more enjoyable than most of the work I had at Harding. It's all exactly what I want to do. I'm sorry that this post hasn't said anything substantial but I'm at work and I'm incredibly bored and I haven't posted in awhile and I realize that if I keep typing then you'll eventually stop paying attention. Welp, it's back to the world of money markets and saving accounts.

monotony

I'm nearly finished with my third week of my job as a bank (really, a credit union) teller. While I'm no institutional expert, I have a decent amount of confidence in my abilities as a teller. I was hoping this day would take a little longer to come because I fear that from now on, I'll be just a bit bored. I do, however, enjoy the people I work with--that makes the day easier. A huge plus for this job is that I am in front of a computer with internet access (though no facebook, xanga, e-mail, etc.) so between helping members (that's what our patrons are called because we are a credit union, not a bank) I can keep caught up on the news, see sports scores, and occasionally read wiki articles about Jacques Derrida in French. We were really slow last week at times.

Graduate school is better than I had hoped, especially considering that I'm only taking one class involving actual literature. I do believe my literature course, Mythology, will be my least liked of the three I'm taking. The other two are Pedagogies and Literacies and Introduction to the Profession of English Studies. In title they're a bit boring but I'm enjoying them. Hooray for higher learning.

Yesterday on West Chester's campus I missed Harding, really for the first time. It all happened because I passed a red-headed girl talking on a cell phone who looked enough like Alice-Anne to make me believe it was her. I nearly stopped to talk to her until I realized that AA lives in Mississippi--nowhere near the CBL.

I'm not sure that anyone has read this blog yet, and I'm mostly okay with that. If you are reading this, know that you're loved and most likely missed.

beginnings

So this collection of my personal ruminations begins at, what many would consider a new chapter or even a new volume, of my life. I got married a little over a month ago, started grad school just under a week ago, and started a full-time job that I hope won't be my career just under two weeks ago. Jenna (the wife of just over a month) and I moved to the CBL almost a month ago and we're slowly adjusting.

I tend to think that life, or success at life, is all about ones ability to cope with differences--to adjust. Whether it's small matters like limiting your sugar intake or massive undertakings like packing up your life and moving eleven-hundred miles from what has been home for four years, life is about adjusting.

It hasn't been as hard as I feared it would be. I have a few amazing friends in the city on whom I can rely and I have Jenna who is my rock (yes, it's trite to say this, but I've done it because it's true). I have a supportive family and loving friends and kind strangers in every imaginable spot on the earth. I, too, have a little niche on the interwub where I can leave my thoughts for a very few readers (because who wants to read my thoughts too often?) and life couldn't be much sweeter.