Vacation post 1: Roundabouts and Turnarounds

After spending most of the day on the road, we finally arrived at Oak Island about mid-afternoon yesterday. Although none of us really wanted to have woken up as early as we did, we left the house in the mindset that this was, in fact, vacation...and we treated it that way from the first step. Rather than grabbing a quick bowl of cereal and some fruit before we left the house, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel along the way and enjoyed a nice "sit-down" breakfast. That's something we rarely ever do.

I guess I should backtrack just a little bit. I'm on vacation this week. All week long, with my mother and my little sister. I spend a fairly substantial amount of time with my family, I suppose you could say, but there's a big difference between living and visiting with someone, and vacationing with them. I went into this trip, too, with high expectations. I haven't been on a vacation in over a year. I've taken days off from work to pursue fun diversions, like concerts and whatnot, but the closest I've had to a vacation was a weekend hiking trip I took with a friend back in February. My last "real" vacation was the trip my family took to the Monterey Bay in California, a graduation present for my sister and I, some time ago (I got my bachelor degree, and she made the all-important goal of graduating from high school within a week of each other!). Furthermore, we were going to Oak Island, a fairly quiet little island off the coast of NC, with one side facing the ocean, and the other side facing the sound. It doesn't have nearly the same glamour and glitz as the Outer Banks (which are further up the coastline, toward Virginia), but it's a lovely little island. Why did it matter so much that we were going to Oak Island? My mum and sis have gone several times in the past few years, for a weekend or a few days, or occasionally a slightly longer stay, but because of a demanding school schedule and an almost-as-demanding work schedule, I hadn't been able to go along with them to the beach since sometime in high school. I was about past due for a healthy dose of sand and surf!

The route we took was a pretty interesting one. We left home about 8 in the morning, and travelled east, reaching Oak Island via Asheboro...by way of the NC Zoo! What is this? Going to the zoo on the WAY to vacation? That's like two trips in one! Madness!

We had been to the zoo two other times this summer, but both trips had been last-minute, spur of the moment ideas, and we'd only been able to see about half the exhibits each time. The NC Zoo is split roughly in half - there's a North America exhibit, and an Africa exhibit, and right in the middle is Junction Plaza and just a little beyond that is the Sonora Desert exhibit (technically part of North America, but it's set so far off from everything else, it seems like it's own separate entity!). I love desert wildlife (although I'm not sure if it's a symptom or a cause of my love for the book "Dune" by Frank Herbert), and I'd been very disappointed that on our last couple trips, we hadn't had time to trek into the center of the zoo to see it. This time, though, my patience was rewarded, and we got to see Sonoran creatures in all their glory! The coolest part was something I wasn't expecting - there was a section of the exhibit that was down a darkened hallway and led to displays of nocturnal animals! I was able to get within feet of fascinating little beasties like sidewinders and couatis...and even real, honest to goodness vampire bats! I tried to get some photos, but as I'm sure you can imagine, camera + dark room does NOT equal very good opportunities, especially since I didn't want to turn on my camera's flash and potentially startle the animals.

Equally cool, although not the center of my obsession like the desert exhibit was, was a recently-added feature of the zoo. Called "Acacia Station", this new site is an observation deck that affords a great veiw of a portion of the Africa exhibit, especially the habitat where the giraffes, zebras, and ostriches roam. That itself is pretty cool, but the real draw is that during the middle of the day, giraffe feeding takes place there! My understanding is that eventually Acacia Station will be a paid attraction ($2 admission during meal-times, or something like that), but at the moment it's free. Even if a giraffe doesn't come and get right up in yo' grill, I say it's still worth checking out for the view!

And that was the first leg of our vacation trip. It was a hot, hot day, but there's something about being at a zoo that always makes me feel younger and more playful in spite of oppressive weather. Once we felt like we'd sweated enough, though (and had made sure to see the Sonora Desert exhibit!), we trooped back to the car for the main thrust of the trip. A quick mid-trip stop at Sonic for refreshment (I'd never had their cherry limeade before; it was pretty good!), and then on to Oak Island!

Love, Lunch, and the Dog Days of Summer

This afternoon I had the day off from work, so I met with my mother and my sister for lunch. At some point, the following exchange took place:

Me - Oh that's right, you like onions.

Sis - I don't like onions, I looove onions.

Me - If you love onions so much, why don't you marry them? ...Because, you know, you could do that in North Carolina. [whispered] ...Unless they're gay onions. Then it'd be illegal.

Mom - In Georgia, we call those vidalia onions.

Me and Sis - [stunned silence]

Me - ...just because they're sweet doesn't mean they're gay!

Mom - [laughing] I have no idea where that came from.

What the Internet can do for you.

Earlier today I needed to do a little look-up on an uncommon animal, specifically the Walia ibex (an endangered species of Ibex native to the Semien mountains of Africa). Just a few moments ago I needed to look up the address of a restaurant where I'll be meeting an old friend later this evening. However, my search engine was still primed to "Walia ibex", and the the location it defaulted to – before I could even enter the address I wanted – was for "Ethiopisch Café Restaurant Walia Ibex", an Ethiopian restaurant in Amsterdam!

How cool is that?

PLUR!

It was generally agreed upon...

..that after last night, I am no longer allowed to freestyle.

"I got Lene callin' on me like I'm Doctor Jones
Bustin' up in yo case just like I'm Sherlock Holmes
I got good pronunciation 'cos I know phenomes"

Go, Go, Go

Today I found Speed Racer on DVD for only $7.00, which is an excellent price - I remember the first time I tried looking for it after it was released, it retailed for almost $20.00 - a price I found surprising considering the mixed reviews it got in the theaters. Naturally, I couldn't give up that kind of opportunity, and I sat down to watch it as soon as I got back home!

Personally, I LOVE the Speed Racer film - although the motion and colors can be quite a lot for some people to handle (I understand that the movie's "epileptic" presentation was one of its biggest criticisms). Considering the intentional camp of the film, I think it's very well-acted, with an impressive emotional depth and a focus on some important themes such as loyalty, responsibility, and family relationships. While one could make an argument for a hidden level of complexity to the film that's not immediately apparent, it's actually the film's straight-forward simplicity that I love about it. Although patently unrealistic, there is almost no ambiguity about each character's role - the bad guys are thoroughly despicable (in many and varied ways), and Speed and his family are unequivocally good, honest, and wholesome.

So much of what I'm exposed to in the media these days seems to promote and rely on themes of confustion, uncertainty, and powerlessness. The Matrix is a contemporary cultural icon, and shows that decieve both their characters and their audiences (like Lost, and to a lesser extent the pantheon of CSI shows) are notoriously popular. By contrast, Speed Racer is simple, straight-forward, and unambiguous. Sometimes it's refreshing to have a hero who's just that - a hero.

Anyways, as far as Speed Racer goes, a fine piece of cinema it ain't. It's a ton of fun to watch, though, and I'd recommend it to anyone who can let loose enough to let themselves enjoy a fun and fast-paced movie, even in spite of the sensory overload you may experience!

PLUR!

Barefoot in the kitchen

This is a bad habit of mine. When I'm inside the house, I have a terrible aversion to footwear, unless I'm bitter cold and can't feel my toes already. And so, when I cook (which is more often than it used to be, but still probably not often enough), I tend to do so barefoot.

Some time ago I embarked on a similar endeavor, and with disasterous results. I was frying something in a skillet,and a drop of hot oil *popped* out of the pan and landed right on the top of my foot. After that time, I vowed never to cook whilst barefoot again.

Quite naturally, I was good on my word for all of 2 months before falling back into my old habits!

This time, however, things were a bit different. For one thing, I managed to avoid injuring or burning myself. More importantly, though, was the content of the food. In a lot of ways, I'm true to my roots - I grew up eating lots of meats and breads and potato starches, and so when I actually get myself into the kitchen, it's as natural for me to think "casserole" as just about anything else. Well, my sister is a vegetarian, and at her suggestion I used Morningstar brand "crumbles" (a vegetable-protein-based meat substitute) instead of the lean ground beef I would have normally cooked.

All in all, it was a good choice - the Morningstar defrosted and cooked quicker than the meat would have, and I didn't have to go through the additional step of draining that ground beef usually requires. And whilst the Morningstar did have a noticeable texture difference from regular ground beef, in the context of the casserole, it was hardly a problem at all.

I've not experimented with other Morningstar products, but so far they've received a positive opinion from me. I wouldn't use the crumbles to, say, make burger patties...but I imagine there's another product that's better suited for that purpose.

I am not vegetarian, and have no real intention of adopting a vegetarian diet, but I do try to monitor my meat consumption, especially red meats (this is both easy and difficult for me to do - the menu of the restaurant I work at is very meat-heavy, but we prepare far more poultry than red meat). It's nice to know that there are viable substitutes out there that are both readily available (the Morningstar came from the nearest grocery) and easy enough for a lazy cook like me to prepare.

...Because when one spends all day cooking for other people, the last thing I want to do it come home and have to cook for myself! ;-P

PLUR!

Venture by Night team structure graph, v.2.2.1

This is a social network graph I created with GraphViz to represent the team structure within the Venture by Night Requiem game. This graph is an updated draft. It may contain non-current information, but is close to complete. Click on the image to enlarge it.

blue = team mates
solid blue = reports to
green = upper management
dashed line = no longer works with listed individuals
red box = inactive