My Waking Eyes

You know that part on Lord of the Rings when Sam and Frodo are laying, exhausted, near the top of Mount Doom?  And they've given everything they have and are to make it to that point, they've come so far and yet seem to have nothing left to take them the final steps to the top?


And that's when Sam says to Frodo, remember the Shire?  Remember the orchards and the birds and the barley, remember the taste of strawberries?


And Frodo says, "No, Sam.  I can't recall the taste of food.  Nor the sound of water.  Or the touch of grass.  I'm naked in the dark.  There's nothing...no veil between me and the wheel of fire.  I can see him with my waking eyes!"


Well, I finally understand what Frodo means.  As I lay here, exhausted, near the top of Mount Homework Doom, I've come so far and yet seem to have nothing left to take me through the final assignments that are due by Wednesday. I can't recall the peace of sleep. Nor what outside this apartment feels like.  I'm naked in the dark.  There's nothing...no veil between me and the wheel of deadlines.  I can see homework with my waking eyes!


Erg.  Thursday is going to be the happiest day of my life.

Pizza Tacos

I've been doing a lot of weird things lately.  It could because I'm starting to crack under the homework pressure, it could be because I've stayed up until 4 or 5 in the morning every day for the last week, or it could be because I'm just weird.

The other day I decided to put corn tortillas in the toaster.  The toaster?!  Yah, the toaster.  Isn't that weird?

Then I put some leftover velveeta cheese and pepperoni on them, which was weird.

Then I put them in the microwave for 20 seconds to get the cheese all melty and gooey, which was not weird, but rather brilliant.

Then I had two things in front of me that resembled pizza tacos.  Weird.

Then I rolled one into a pizza taquito, just to be weird.

Do you know what's weird?  I took approximately 7 photos of the pizza taco from this exact angle.  Why? I don't know, I was kind of feeling weird at the time.

Sometimes it's nice to not have anything to eat for days except weird combinations of leftovers in your fridge, because you get surprisingly delicious treats like this.

Would you say that being weird could also at times be surprisingly delicious?  It would be a weird thing to say, though...so I wouldn't if I were you.

Nerd Alert

Maybe this past week I have been doing 8 - 10 hour days of homework (trying to do six months of work in one month) and then staying up until 4 in the morning rereading the Harry Potter series.

Maybe once, or twice, I have wished I had Hermione Granger to copy notes from.

Maybe I have had a secret crush on Snape since the very first time I ever read the first Harry Potter book.

Maybe while plowing through the third book, every time they mentioned dementors I imagined my unfinished homework and I immediately felt cold, lifeless, depressed - as if I'd never be happy again.

Maybe after everyone has gone to bed at night and I've just brushed my teeth, I point my toothbrush wand to the bathroom mirror and whisper "Expecto Patronum!" (It's a giraffe, btw)

Maybe yesterday while eating a piece of bread, a crown came off my tooth and exposed a horribly rotten tooth underneath and my first thought was about going to see Madame Pomfrey.

Maybe I just finished the fifth book and cried when Dumbledore told Harry he loved him.

Maybe you could call me a nerd.  But do you really want to after all the hexes and jinxes I've been reading up on?

A Love Letter

Dear Kitchen Family Tacos,


It took me 45 minutes to find velveeta cheese at the store.  


It took me (and Kelly) two hours to make you when I should have been doing homework.  


It's going to take me two weeks to work off the extra five pounds you gave me.


You were worth it.  Every bit.


Love always,

Ashley

Beautiful Words

Kelly once wanted to name a child Silhouette.  Call her Silly for short.  She just thought the word silhouette was so pretty, she wanted a reason to say it every day.

I'm in the middle of collecting beautiful words.

My collection so far:

silhouette (for Kelly)          strum                      shore 
river                                   colloquial                hue
dazzle                                 hum                         muzzle
lullaby                                evoke                      illuminate
shush                                  honeycomb              ineffable
parallelogram                    murmurous              autumn
tremble                              wherewithal             candle
shepherd                            edelweiss                 the


I think Kelly was onto the right idea, any of these words would work as a child's name.


Will you help add to my collection?  What are your beautiful words?

Page 56, 5th Sentence

I'm always up for a silly game, especially one that has an air of destiny about it.

I tried this game out the other day: grab the nearest book to you, turn to page 56, read the 5th sentence down.

"a steady hand, a heart open to nature and a head devoted to the advancement of man."

Cool.  But then I looked at the instructions again - what was the point of the game?  It told me to go there and then...what?  The fifth sentence is...a description of my soulmate?  advice on how to live in the jungle?  what my day will be like tomorrow?  what?

This game needs to take a lesson from my favorite game that I've been playing with roommates and family for years: the dictionary game.  It's like the magic eight ball game but with more possibilities for answers.

Hold a dictionary in your hands and ask it a question then open up to a random page and point down without looking and whatever word your finger lands on is the answer.  It's amazing how accurate it is.  Here, I'll play it with you right now.

Q: What word best describes my attitude towards homework today?
A: escapist - n., one given to escapism

Q: If you could describe Cowboys and Aliens in one word, what would it be?
A: herdsman - n., a herder

Q: When I start my band, what should I call it?  (two part answer)
A: Elite - n., a socially superior group
A: Pupfish - n., a small freshwater fish
(...I love this song!  Who's it by?...Elite Pupfish)

A: My nieces and nephews like to call me this.
Q: What is... butty - n., a fellow workman

Q: How do you feel about this blog post right now?
A: flatter - v., to praise excessively

Oh really, I had no idea, thank you.  See?  This game is so accurate it's scary.

Cherry Blossoms with Water