flippin' crepes

In culinary today we made crepes. Not the flaming Crepes Suzettes, just the ordinary, non-incendiary sort. They didn't really work that well. There was this dome-shaped pan which you dip into the batter and then invert over a hot stove. It was sort of....an epic fail. Our batter [as well as everyone else's] was dripping down into the burner, and getting the crepe off the pan involved a lot of scraping. We scrapped [or dare I say....scraped?? lol!] that idea and went for the skillet.

One of the other groups was exhibiting the proper flipping technique. One guy was demonstrating how "you want to catch it on the return loop", and another described a pleasing parabola with his hand, dramatizing the Escape of the Crepe ["There it goes! Incoming!"]
Meanwhile Nate [in our group, the math guy, you recall] made coffee as per the teacher's direction. However he didn't really measure it properly and the result was a remarkably weak brew [one might almost call it flaccid].

Then I raced off across town to bio. That was also fun. First lab--intro to microscope--viewing thread and cheek-cells. And definitions review. There are 27 definitions to know for this module. Mod. 6 [The Cell! Rejoice!] has over 40. Inhumane.
Micro-organisms: "Organisms that are micro" and Consumers: "Organisms that consume" were two of the jewels offered up at one point or another for our thirsty, knowledge-seeking ears. [It is, perhaps, superfluous to note that there are two guys in the class.]
One other girl and I have already done bio [or half a year thereof, in my case] and are sort of dominating the definition scene.

Then during lab we were using a Q-tip to take samples of our cheek-cells and Emily thought her mom [the teacher] said "smear the west side of the qtip on the slide" when of course she meant "wet". Yes, don't use the east side, use the west side! lol We also managed to break a couple of slide covers "Oh I'm going to see how long I can go without breaking one this year!" CRUNCH!

There were some adventures with the methylene-blue stain, too. Fortunately nothing too dramatic.

At the end of class our teacher was quizzing us on definitions. We were supposed to say "ding!" to replicate the sound of a buzzer when we knew the answer. At one point one of the girls received a comment: "That was a weak 'ding'" which made us all laugh.

I was slightly buzzing from the coffee, I think; despite the weakness of said stimulant.

Oh yes: I forgot to mention at the relevant time that in culinary we learned that the glass shields above buffet cases are called "sneezeguards". Is that not hilarious?


Let's talk sherpa. [Have we had this conversation before?] So yeah, I am pretty much a certified sherpa. Carrying oodles of stuff, balancing things, opening doors with my feet are all parts of daily life. My dad says I inherited it from him.....these awesome pliable toes.


During one shoot last spring I was carrying about 40 bags of camera equipment out to the car [prior to transfer to ANOTHER set] and had no hands free, and the other actors and such were lagging behind. Here's me, a heavy bag crossed over each shoulder [choking me--but Certified Sherpas care not for such trivialities], and a bag or costume in each hand. The trunk of the car demanded to be opened. I slipped off my shoe, stuck my foot in the handle, and [using my balletically strengthened muscles] hefted upwards. 'Twas quite a feat--the others were quite impressed.

We've got this tour book on England and we're poring over it....."Clovelly--perfect Devon village oozes charm as thick as clotted cream".....I kid you not. The book was, needless to say, written in Britain. I seize this opertunity to interject a bit of lucidity penned by myself a few months ago.

'Twas in regards to a hilarious bit forwarded to me on Britain taking charge of the affairs in The States. Amongst my suggestions were:

- remedy the peculiar American method of naming towns in words of two syllables or less. Towns deemed to be unsuitably named will be rechristened with such names as: Urswick-by-the-Tweed, the Firth of Forth (actually that's a body of water), Chipping Mutton (not to be confused with Chipping Norton), the Wallops (a pretty trio of towns, Upper, Middle and Nether), West Eastwick, Huddleston-in-the-Moor, Twiddlesbury, Wootton Plunkett, Thrushmutton-on-Rye (with caraway seeds) and Woolesley-Henworth. These names are particularly suitable for abbreviating on sign-posts--such as, M'finch, U'wk-by-Tweed, W'ly-H'wth.

- re-institution of the noble sport of mangold-hurling

- elimination of the costly habit of making beds with two sheets. Only duvets are really sensible. [Warning: duvets may prove a hazard to uninformed American-types. The management of many British hotels have had to rescue a great many hapless tourists from the duvets [known familiarly as tourist-traps] on the hotel beds. Duvets are not sleeping bags!! ]

- prompt installation of surveillance-cameras at strategic points, for example in grocery-store parking-lots. Persons wishing to abscond without paying parking-fees for a full hour when they've only been there 20 minutes will need to resort to ploys such as: finding they do not have change while at the pay-station, meandering back to their auto to get it, rooting in the auto, being "horrified'' to then discover they don't have any change, and other sundry tactics intended to assure the British government they really are trying to pay up.

- treatment of national landmarks, historical sites and such in the British fashion. To wit; not swathing them in velvet ropes strung between poles and then hiring a lot of security guards to ensure that no-one (heaven forbid!) actually gets close to anything interesting. Outdoor-type attractions, such as ancient monuments, Stone Age earthworks and stone-circles (which, we are informed, the U. S. has a painful dearth of), will be open for the general public to walk up to and touch.


- signposts are another issue. Customary American standards of navigational signs tend to be confusing. It is not necessary, for instance, to change the mileage-to-destination notation with distance traveled. A typical British road (let us say, to Scorhill stone circle) would obviate this difficulty by continuing to state the same mileage, i. e. , "Scorhill--2 1/4 km". The next sign, a good mile later, would be marked thus: "Scorhill--2 1/4 km" and so on up until the destination which, we wish to emphasize, need not be marked at all.

- small roads, such as those exemplary ones to be found in England's South-west, are just as efficient as large ones. When traveling along a small, two-lane road, one does not worry about oncoming cars until one meets them--and one does not see them until one meets them. Then there is usually a little lay-by handy to pull into and politely let the other auto pass. Very civilised and polite, you understand.
Some (we would say over-anxious) drivers might feel it expedient to travel in the wake of other, larger (if slower) vehicles such as farm implements which act in the role of "brush-cutter" to ensure there are no obstructions (oncoming autos, pedestrians, projecting hedge-material etc.) in the path. A small auto, progressing in this way, may proceed without fear and even reach alarming speeds before overtaking the farm-implement. Still other drivers may wish to attach long slender "whiskers" to the fronts of their autos (in order to sound out the terrain), some models even coming equipped with little red warning flags at their tips.


Humourous, no? [That word has WAY too many U's!]


I forgot all about Reader Wednesday but better late than never. I want your thoughts on computers: Macs vs. PCs, Vista versus XP, html-coding, are you a comp-geek, how often do you de-frag, etc.
Hey, that's a good idea for a poll!

Poll has been added [two, actually] GO VOTE!!! All patriotic followers of the Republic of Varied Topics are encouraged to vote early and often!