notes on a febrile february

having spent the first week of this month with the flu & the latter weeks with an overwhelming sense of...being overwhelmed, I'm glad it's over. it brought with it a few good things, though?

first, TALK TO ME ABOUT: battlestar galactica, first & foremost. & always. much of the latter half of the third season was a drag. "maelstrom" included. (blasphemy? never!) I had a feeling that that wouldn't be the last we'd see of Kara Thrace. but! CROSSROADS. "all along the watchtower," the version I'd heard even before I heard the real thing, was everything I expected, just as lovely as I expected -- but the courtroom with Lee & Romo Lampkin & Baltar, Adama judging, Roslin on the other side was absolutely something. it's not in the least cheesy, as I'd feared it would be. not even when Lee has his Big Ol Monologue about Justice and Guilt and Accountability and all the most important things in the world, no, it's wonderful. it's wonderful & you will feel so righteous & so proud of what Lee's grown up to be. the Adama Drama of the entire season comes to an end; Lee's doing what he ought to have been doing all along. that is, showing the rest of the fleet how to do the right thing instead of being holed up as CAG.

RAZOR: didn't expect anything, was (as usual) completely surprised. there are few things I wish the show would do better: one of them is expand on the commander-xo relationship between Lee Adama & Kendra Shaw. also: Kendra + Kara, the friendship we deserve, the friendship we barely got to see before we said goodbye!

THE FIRST reading block of the year presented itself. usually, I enjoy jo nesbø's writing. COCKROACHES, however, was a drag. like, more of a drag than the all the tyrol-centric episodes of bsg combined. gillian flynn, on the other hand, has been a godsend. gobbled up SHARP OBJECTS, gobbled up GONE GIRL almost as fast (if only I hadn't totally spoiled it for myself). DUNE & its sequel DUNE MESSIAH proved far better than I thought they were upon my first reading of them at age 12; I still think the plot's pretty capital-B Basic, but what Herbert has to say about religion is killer. more later.

pictured: blackberry oat muffins (highly, highly modified from the linked recipe, which'll lead you to smitten kitchen's blue sky bran muffins. among other things: I didn't have any bran), mom's strawberry beignets,

winter scenes

from the top: the best snickerdoodles, blondies (or simply blondie batter, if you want to stop at that point -- I nearly did) | lavash bread (will leave the pizza to your imagination; ours were heavily inspired by all the lavash & otherwise pizza we ate in Pasadena!)

long time, no see; have some photos from Pasadena. (click to enlarge; justify the third of my savings I spent on a nice camera + lens.)

thxgiving

we've never been good at Thanksgivings: I mean, we certainly know how to be grateful, but when it comes to big family dinners ("big" re: both family and dinners), we're at a bit of a loss.

my closest extended family is my uncle, in Leeds; everyone else is in India, a day-long flight away. we're pretty good at eating, but not that good, and neither of my parents like pumpkin pie. (as a consequence, I've never even tried it -- though I'd very much like to. pumpkin spice lattes be damned, I want the Real Deal.) 

I also have never been to a Thanksgiving football game, though I've watched several on television. I can't stand watching football on television; it's no good unless you're there in the flesh. I lamented not being at the A&M-LSU game until I remembered 1) what befell me after the last Aggie game I went to (hint: sneezes, fevers, all-around misery) & 2) HOUSE OF CARDS, which I have since ceased watching because [everyone is terrible, give me some BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.]

so: Thanksgiving is often just another day. my parents weren't even home for most of the day, off chasing various early Black Friday deals. (as much as they enjoy railing against what Black Friday's become -- ridiculous! tell me, how is it Black FRIDAY if it starts on a Thursday? perhaps it's just fraudulent, comme the BLACK SOX. perhaps that was too far. it's late.) we ate a quick Thanksgiving pineapple, baked in various ways, for lunch. I stayed home & finished some college essays, then went for a walk later in the afternoon, Zinn's A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES in hand.

(I find the first chapter particularly appropriate for this holiday. I hesitate to call it "Genocide Day," as some will -- it's harder to get away with such things if you're not white -- but still.)

reading while walking is not advisable. I walked into a streetlight & I fear it was caught on camera.

note that I have done very little aside from college applications this break, which I hope means that I'll have submitted all of them by tomorrow & thus will have little to worry about for the rest of the year. & the following year. it's not in my hands anymore! presently sustained by excitement for PIZZA FRIENDSGIVING tomorrow.

from the top: coconut macaroons, baked pineapple (lovelier with ice cream, of course) & coconut-stuffed holige. all courtesy of my mother.