try not to spend it all in one place...

just received my $13.86 settlement check earlier today. it's in fact just more than slightly offset the cost of buying Puffy AmiYumi's Nice yesterday after work! yay! XD

also bought tickets to Franz Ferdinand on the 26th this morning, as well as more orchard grass from Oxbow for Diesel. ah, productivity~~!

this just in...

only 121 days until MiniMeet2004~~~!

Blackhawk Farms Raceway is really cool, too. i can't wait. <333

big bad(s)

i suppose that there are currently two rather large things going on in my life right now. if hard-pressed, i might even say three (if including the hardcore inundation of The Yummy Fur a certain individual has been flinging my way, haha ;) ). what are they?

biggest one---of this very evening, in fact---is that i can SEE! well, not right this second. right this second, i'm typing with my face a whole lot closer to the screen than is really advisable. but that's because a few moments ago, i took out my contacts. my first-ever contacts. they are RGPs, and although they will definitely take some getting used to, i don't believe i ever fully appreciated just how bad my vision was until i wore them for awhile.

the sheer, unbridled joy at being able to read silly things like bumper stickers on other cars! street signs from far away! and, heavens forfend, some modicum of (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) peripheral vision!

it's truly unbelievable. very strange indeed, and i have a whole little schedule that my optometrist gave me that i have to stick to to get used to wearing these. i really hope my eyes don't freak out and i become unable to wear them, because it's really nice to be able to see. that and this is the best chance i have of slowing down the misshapenness of my eyes---have a nasty astigmatism and even nastier keratoconus. hee.

onto happier topics, however---the Franz Ferdinand full-length is really, really good. really good. great, even. the "Darts of Pleasure" EP was good, but as i've said in other places, the album is fucking great. i was listening to it practically nonstop from the time someone let me borrow it until i had to give it back this morning---now i have to go hunt myself down a copy of the special UK version with the live CD in, because a) LIVE CD BONUS!! and b) no way i can live without it till the 9th of March, when it's officially released domestically.

i can't wait till the show on the 26th. cannot. wait. seriously have not been this excited about a new band in ages. and i've earned the right to say that, i feel---i've read not a whit about the band until earlier today; all of this is based on actually LISTENING to them. not reading about who they allegedly do or do not sound like, or who it's suspected their influences are or are not.

lazy (music) journalism pisses me off like almost nothing else. i've gotten much better at letting it go in recent time---there are, after all, far more important (and worse) things to get angry about. this is but a minor thing in the grand scheme of things. but the fact remains, oh yes.

now, onward to sleep---have a hardcore 3 hour stint o' contact wearing in the morning followed by 2 hours of rest for my eyes followed by another 3 hours with contacts in. they aren't just going to hop in my eyes by themselves, either. to sleep~~~!

soup or sushi?

got a bit of both for you today, and i'll not waste more time apologising for my lack of here-ness. things are mad hectic as usual. go me. XD

there's a new recipe for lentil soup up at Licking the Spoon, though. hope you enjoy it. it's not vegetarian the way i made it, but could easily be altered if you so desire.

also, check out Koo-ki Sushi if you're looking for a most unusual and beautiful chocolate gift for yourself someone. yes, you read that correctly. go look if you don't believe me.

now, off to wreak havoc with my sewing machine, some lentils, and my tax return~~~!*

* = no, not all together. amnae that crazy. yet.

where can you see lions?

...only in Kenya!

...i so need one of their t-shirts. really. XDXD

p.s. HOLY CRAP. LIONS!

i go away for a week, and look what happens...

we knew the 2004 Chicago Auto Show was going to start while we were away, and while HSL has in the past gone and had quite a bit of fun (especially last year, when the MINI and Subaru booths were placed conveniently right next to each other, so it was like a mini-playground in the midst of the wasteland of yicky SUVs and other such overly-offensive-to-the-eyes items), we knew we probably weren't going this year.

which, of course, is why MINI USA chose the 2004 Chicago Auto Show to unveil the MINI Cooper S MC40.

it's amazing that this is being put out here, but what's even more amazing is that it seems (and please correct me if i'm wrong and have missed something) that it's only coming out here. it completely blows my mind that this wouldn't get released elsewhere. i mean, i'm not sad it's coming out here, but i almost feel as though it's cheating---how many people here would really care about the history this is meant to honour? the limitedness of it will probably ensure it goes to people who truly care. at least, so i hope. but it still feels weird to me.

not bad, just weird. :)