Rotate the foodstuffs!

Hey folks, how's it going?  Just a quick update.  This has been a pretty quiet week; not too many exciting things, really -- and that's just fine with me, really.

An exception would be Wednesday night, when lucki_dog and I grabbed dinner at Flatiron, down near the Convention Center.  We'll talk about the restaurant in a second, but first the mode of transport.  Lucki often rides around on a scooter, and being as my car doesn't have A/C, it seemed just as well to take the scooter down to the restaurant.  I've decided that riding on the back of a scooter is a weird cross between riding a bike and riding a horse.  A bike because, well, it is.  And a horse, because I often felt almost like I was posting (def: post3, #10), anticipating bumps and curves.  My thighs are still a little sore today -- it feels like I was having athletic sex or something.  Anyway, I kinda liked the scooter.  I totally don't have the money to get one, but if I did I think it would be a nice way to bridge the gap between my desire not to use gas and my desire to go places the bus isn't terribly efficient for (read: most places).

Anyway.  Flatiron (link is broken atm, but it's the right address) is a really tasty restaurant down near the Convention Center.  Its website states that it's in the Arena District, which I think is unfair to itself (but then, I have a generally negative opinion of the Arena District, so).  It's actually on the OTHER side of High Street, at (roughly) Naghten and 4th, in a little skinny building reminiscent of NYC's Flatiron Building, hence the name.  Flatiron specializes in barbecue and vaguely New Orleanian dishes.  It seems like a really odd combination, but it actually works quite well.  Aaron had the N. Carolina style barbecue (i.e. a pulled pork sandwich with mustard barbecue sauce), and I had a muffuletta.  I was especially interested/excited by the muff.; while a well-done muffuletta is one of the pinnacles of sandwich-making, there are a lot of substandard ones.  This one didn't disappoint.  The balance of olive salad to meat to cheese to bread was spot-on, edging right up against the edge of too much olive without quite going over.  And although it wasn't quite as ridiculously huge as one from, say, Central Grocery, I still only ate half.  We both upgraded from the standard potato chips to their sweet and spicy fries, french fries with a dash of red pepper, a dash of balsamic vinegar, and heaps of provolone.  I'm not certain I'd always spring for the $2 upgrade, but they were quite good.  I got fried oysters as an app -- they were pretty good and had a tasty rémoulade, though I tend to like my oysters a little more cooked when I order them fried (if I wanted raw oysters, I'd just get them on the half-shell).  Aaron's spicy sweet potato soup was also good, though not what I was entirely in the mood for.  And the server was a doll.  She was hilarious, and very attentive.  And I'm pretty sure she thought we were on a date.

So, yeah.  Eat at Flatiron (veggie-folks, I'm told their portobella sandwich is one of the best ever, so if you've given up on the venerable mushroom sandwich you might give this one a try).  Next time I'm trying their catfish po'boy; if it's good, I may never eat anywhere else again, since I could live on a good catfish po'boy.

And in a couple hours, it's off to the Michigan Renaissance Faire.  Minstrelry is headed up, ostensibly for some guerilla performing, but really just for fun.  It's been a while since any of us have just gone to a faire as playtrons, so it should be fun.  We'll be back Sunday afternoon/evening; see you then.

I'm not even going to bother apologizing for my absence anymore, since it appears to be my default state nowadays.

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( Dentists, catholic stupidity, driving, coming out, grades, and a disclaimer. In that order. )

Seriously?  I just can't seem to update.  It doesn't help that my laptop and the wireless at the Cup O' Joe right across the friggin' street don't get along; I do a lot of updating from coffee shops.  So in lieu of a real entry, here's an email I just wrote to one of the Frenchies back in BR.  Let it serve as a very brief State of the Mike.

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OSU and I are settling in with each other well. The creative writing program is full of really great, sociable people,all very friendly and supportive (in terms of writing and all that), so that's been good.  The parties were coming fast and furious right at the first, so it was sort of high-octane socialization by fire :)  Also getting back in touch with people I know up here, which is great.  I miss all of y'all down there, but I've also missed these people up here for two years now; friends are family.  Add that to the fact that I've got a nice boy (well, not too nice, heh), and I'm in a pretty good place.  Faut que jtrouve qqun qujpeux parler frcs avec, pourtant, parce que la langue me mord les méninges.

Oh, the weather.  The highs have only gone up to the low 80s once since I've been here, and we've been hovering mostly in the low to mid 60s for the past week or so.  This morning I was rushing off to campus before the sun was even up, and my hands were getting a little stiff from the cold.  So exciting!  Plus the grocery stores have not only Leinie's (which, by the way: OMG THE BERRY WEIS IS LIKE DELICIOUS ALCOHOLIC CANDY), they also commonly have some sort of Abita, which is fantastic.  Strangely, the Amber... I haven't found it yet.

I totally feel you on the early morning stuff.  Through a series of logical and yet slightly regrettable turns of fate, I have class at 9:30 MTWR.  Not so bad at your 7:40 teaching schedule, but still quite a shock compared to "I'm in the French Department, we don't have grad classes before, like, 3pm."  And this morning I had to be on campus at 7:30 to lead a discussion section with some freshmen about the Common Book they read.  Enjoyable, but I overslept and had only 50 minutes to dress, bathe, catch the bus, etc.  Arg.

Hope your nap was good.  I'm off to bed soon... getting near midnight, thus getting near my bedtime (*rolls eyes*).  Say hi to everybody for me!

--Mike

One of these days I'll write a real entry, but for now I'll just say that the wedding was lovely, the drive back uneventful, and now I'm here back in BR.

Here's a poem I wrote en route back.  I should note that as I wrote it, the last info I had on TS Chris, from Thursday afternoon, was that it was scheduled to become a hurricane and be at the entrance to the Gulf this afternoon, instead of petering out into a low-pressure area just off of Cuba.

( Jackson, Mississippi, with its obelisk aloft )

Hey there--

Just thought I'd say that I'm home, back in Baton Rouge, camp now being over.  I'm currently going through the post-camp withdrawal/depression period, which I knew was coming but forgot to prepare for.  It's basically a long bout of loneliness, when you're suddenly no longer surrounded by people day in and day out.  I'll be better once I've slept a night in my own bed.  Anyway, Kate and Kevin, I got your messages, but teardown lasted until 6:30, and then there was the eating and drinking.  Now I'm just worn-out (I think I was teetering toward a major heat-related illness today, what with the flushed skin and dizziness), and don't really want to subject anyone to my mopes.  I'll call you both tomorrow, K?  Sleep well, everyone.

I cannot find a lantern battery to save my soul.  You all know the batteries I'm talking about, the ones with the little conical springs sprouting from the top.  I have an incredibly cheap-ass flashlight that takes one.  I use this light not because it's fancy or anything (like I said, it's cheap-ass), nor because it's light and packable (it takes a lantern battery, for chrissakes), but because it throws a whole, whole lot of light, yet I don't worry about losing it or breaking it, since it cost me something like $5 dollars about an equal number of years ago.

But I can't use my giant flashlight, because I can't find a battery.  First I tried at Albertson's, a long shot to be sure, but it's the closest store, and they have ziploc containers, some of which I needed.  I couldn't even find the batteries there, so I gave up on that jaunt.  I then decided to make a drive out to Target, because hey, it's a bigger store.  And if Wal-Mart carries lantern batteries (as I'm pretty sure they still do), surely Target does too.  No luck.  Seriously, I looked all over that blasted store, and there is nary a lantern battery to be had.  They have lanterns in their sporting goods section that appear to require them (although an increasing number seem to be plug-in-rechargeable, which may explain the sudden dearth of gigantic single-use batteries that have no other conceivable purpose), but no batteries.  It's maddening.

You also can't buy a 4- or 6-pack of AA's anymore, I think.  I had to buy 16 AA batteries -- what is that?  I just don't use that many batteries.  I was only barely consoled by .99$ key lime-white chocolate cookies in the checkout line.

So, yes, in about 30 minutes I'm headed out.  I'll have my phone with me, but I generally have it turned to silent in camp situations.  Feel free to leave me a message, or maybe I'll even be both free and aware of the flashing screen.  What an idea!  I'll be back from training the night of the 6th, unless it's like last year and I get sucked into dinner and drinks in Lafayette (or was that just after the encampment itself?  I can't recall).

Family reunion was good.  I took quite a lot of pictures, but I'm pretty tired from the reuning and the driving.  So... later.  Yes, later.  Pictures and writing later, sleep now.