Because it bears repeating: Happy Birthday, Deena!

I'm also reading Julie & Julia, watching the Food Network, and thinking about Michael Pollan's article in the Times yesterday claiming that nobody cooks anymore and the country is going to hell in a handbasket because of it, so I'm having a rather foodie day.

By "nobody" Mr. Pollan refers to The Womenfolk, it seems to me.

I hereby rent. God knows it has been ages.

Re: asking me out

Dear guys,

It's nothing personal, really. I'm pretty much unsynchronized with reality, because my alternative inner world is so much more fun, so my almost non-reaction when your trying to make a move? Trust me, it's for your own good. Seriously, I'm on the basic "need to know" and "tell me what you want from me and go away ASAP" mode with strangers, and not the "OMG LOL YOUR LIKE MY NEW BEST FRIEND LET'S BAKE COOKIES" one. I know one of these days I'll have to embrace a new protocol regarding this, but geez, I'm kindda hoping I wouldn't have to.

In other words: don't talk the talk, walk the walk. And timing, dammit. Appropriate timing is just SO FREAKING IMPORTANT.

With somewhat of a feeling of fondness,
Myself

Happy Birthday, Deena!

{{{{{Shir}}}}} it's good to see your pixels. What a sad, sad, shameful thing those attacks were. I hope that your friends can find a way to feel safe, along with the rest of the LGBT community there.

Yes, this, a thousand times.

Also, {{{{Vortex}}}}. I'm so sorry for your loss. I know its been a year, but that doesn't make it any less painful in many ways.

I did eventually sleep from about 5:30 to noon. If I can fall asleep at a reasonable hour tonight and sleep through the night, I'm going to be psyched.

Also, WOOT Sean and date-girl! Remember, take it slow, slow, slow.

Yes, this, a thousand times.

Thank you. Regarding this, for those of you who don't follow Natter, there's my post there about those events: Shir "Natter 64: Yes, we still need you" Aug 2, 2009 8:10:18 am PDT

Also, I'm not sure if I'm over the shock, but now I accept that indeed, such a thing happened here, just a mile or two away from where I was partying my ass off. And that's one of the things that made it so hard, when I caught up with the news afterwards.

Also, WOOT Sean and date-girl! Remember, take it slow, slow, slow.

It's like Risk. You want to limit yourself to incremental gains and avoid overextending yourself at the beginning, until you're trading in sets for 40 or more reinforcements in one go and you can lay waste to all of Asia.

Oh, and it helps to start from Australia. I don't know how to help you there.

You also want to roll a lot of sixes.

Happy birthday Deena

Nice to see you Shirl

I read the article. And I would say that about 50% of the people I know cook. And when I say cook -- I mean more than a sandwich.

But what is really interesting -- the amount of money people spend on remolding a kitchen. Why do it if you don't cook?

y'all crack me up.

You also want to roll a lot of sixes.

Thanks for linking to your Natter post, Shir. I am so sorry they haven't caught the guy yet. Much get-the-bad-guy~ma to your police force.

I read the article. And I would say that about 50% of the people I know cook. And when I say cook -- I mean more than a sandwich.

I cook. My sister doesn't. She knows how to, and will make stuff for parties, but on a regular night, she either orders in or buys something that she can just microwave. (Last week, I was mocking her mercilessly, because her dinner, on a night when I went out to a fabulous vegan restaurant and had invited her and she declined, was dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets.) My mom cooked when I was a kid, but lately she hasn't been cooking much, mostly ordering in. She keeps saying that she needs to cook more.

I wonder how that statistic that the average American spends 27 minutes a day on food prep was measured. Like, if I'm making lentil soup, I might spend 15 minutes peeling and chopping vegetables and getting everything into the pot, then another 30-45 minutes sitting on the couch watching TV while getting up every 5-10 minutes or so to check on the soup and maybe stir it a bit. What do those 30-45 minutes count as? Would they count differently if I spent the time sitting in the kitchen staring at the pot?