International House of Style and Pancakes

Bored bored bored bored. That’s been my mantra for most of this weekend. Just couldn’t figure out what to do, where to go, or even if getting off the couch was a good idea or not. Hell, even the Nascar race got rained out so I couldn’t even lie on the couch and watch that all afternoon. I ended up watching grade school kids play Scrabble on ESPN2 for crying out loud.

(I’m not making that up. They were literally showing a Scrabble tournament. At least in the spelling bee you get to see kids have mental breakdown. Here there is more of a lazy rainy afternoon sort of vibe. Personally, I can see a whole string of shows based on this concept. How I Met Your Mother already broached the subject of Strip Battleship and I’m pretty sure The World Series of The Game of Life will be a sure-fired ratings hit.)

(Also, my boredom did result in my figuring out how to embed YouTube videos. Basically I ignored the instructions from both Blogger and YouTube and went my own route. Hence, the Beth Orton music video sitting somewhere below this post for all to enjoy. Or at least I’ll enjoy it.)

It’s been an odd sort of weekend. I took Friday off based on my mental health day principle. The idea is that while sometimes you take days off to travel or for an event there are certain times when you take a day off just because you don’t really want to do anything. Just sleep in, relax, watch some daytime television, maybe do some shopping when there are no crowds. I do this every couple of months, a nice three day weekend with no specific goal in mind. Why this resulted in my doing laundry on a Friday morning and trying to program the names of every player in NCAA football on Saturday is beyond me. The good news is that I’ve caught up on my sleep, have prioritized my projects for the next few months and should hopefully be able to completely change my schedule over the next few weeks.

I guess the one other interesting note is more of an observation of my life as of late. For some reason, I have become slightly obsessed with cooking. Less my personally cooking and more of the entire foodie vibe that is going on right now. I’ll try to explain. Dinner tonight for me was cooking Shrimp Scampi done by taking one of those Bertolli bags, plopping it in a pan, and coming back when it is done. Not much in the way of cooking outside of the occasional stir. But, I watch Top Chef religiously, have argued with people about the very nature of The Next Food Network Star and am currently plowing through Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. I’m really fascinated right now by the restaurant business and high end food.

This is strange coming from someone with absolutely no palate. Not in the medical sense but from a practical standpoint fast food has dulled my taste buds into submission. It was only a few months ago that I had my first dinner with a proper cheese course to which my reaction was “What the hell? Why should I be forced to select something that smells like ass?” Even so, I do realize that this is one of those cultural standards that I’ve completely missed the boat on. Plus, reality cooking shows are extremely interesting. You have talented people doing something that you know that you could theoretically do given enough time, patience and practice. It’s why I’m such a big fan of Top Chef. While other shows focus on backstabbing, lying and having the least likable person win on Top Chef the winner has to have shown some talent. It’s a nice change of pace. Sure, my dinner tomorrow will most likely be microwaved but at least now I dream of a day when I might actually use my oven.

The five random CDs of the week (still behind from last week but should finally catch up):
1) Arc Angels “Arc Angels” (Dude! I’ve been looking forward to this since I started the random CD project. Best CD I haven’t listened to in almost a decade.)
2) Sarah McLachlan “The Freedom Sessions”
3) The Shins “Oh, Inverted World”
4) Robbie Fulks “The Very Best of Robie Fulks”
5) Neko Case & Her Boyfriends “Furnace Room Lullaby”