If you would be so kind

Kindly move your Readers, links, and bookmarks to http://www.bipolarlawyercook.com. With the tremendous assistance (OK, he did ALL the work) of my Better Half, I have moved to a self hosted site and will no long be blogging at www.bipolarlawyercook.wordpress.com. Look forward to seeing you at the same site, different host.

E.

Subway Scenes

A little boy, Japanese, barely bigger than his backpack, clad in a mish-mash of colorful prints I’m sure he picked out himself, accompanying his dad, weighed down himself in front by a platter of takeout from the sushi place.  As the train bends and sways, the boy tips back, dad tips forward.

* * *

The new turnstiles on the T, with the clever electronic innards, mean nothing– at least to the fare-jumper whose arms are long enough to allow him to lift his pack, up and over, and wave it in front of the exit motion sensor.  The doors part, the alarm sounds.  By the time any help arrives, the fare-jumper has sauntered into the throng.

* * *

The clown?  The storyteller? in a yellow T-shirt, red plaid pants, All-Stars and a bowler– telling the tale of Androcles and the Lion to a group of disinterested travelers, waylaid at Downtown Crossing.  He takes advantage of my passing to cringe, mouselike, in my lion-like presence.

* * *

The college-aged girl, heedless of others, as she sobs into her phone, describing some lover’s spat to the friend on the other end of the line– she may be unconscious of surrendering her privacy, or of simply not caring that others must hear, but I’m embarrassed for her and for us that our sense of privacy and public dignity is so eroded, by whatever means, that the rest must sit by, unwilling party to her halting, crying “whys?”

* * *

A group of high school kids, ending their after-school-programmed day, still wound up.  Yelling, singing, dancing, laughing at the top of their lungs– with looks they think are sly toward adults sitting near, ignoring them.  They’re hoping we’ll be shocked.  Instead, we’re amused, or merely bored, since we remember our own callow youths.

* * *

Everybody’s reading, chatting, plugged in.  No one just looks, just watches the trees pass or the lights dip and flash as pre-summer dusk sets in.  It’s late, they’re tired, and focused on home, soon, not here, now.

Mrs. BLC’s Secret Girlfriends, Part 2

Ok, this is the unabashed Cover Girl edition of Mrs. BLC’s Secret Girlfriends, because really, how can you not love Queen Latifah and Drew Barrymore? I mean, really…

Picture courtesy of Google Images.

Did you not see Chicago, and her show-stealing number? Mama’ll be good to you, indeed. She was the first rapper I ever liked, before M.C. Lyte or Salt N’ Pepa– “Ladies First” was all about the positivity, y’see, and the Queen has never stopped being about that. You never hear Ms. Owens talking smack about anyone in public, or ever taking the “woe is me” track when talking about her own life– she doesn’t need to. She is a lady, and she just glows. She is savvy, and has parlayed her singing and rapping into successive TV shows, movies, and albums. She works, and she works it– she just keeps going, moving forward. I don’t always like her movie choices, but hey– they keep coming, and she keeps succeeding. And I love seeing her as a model, since it’s clear she’s not a Q-Tip of a woman. The Queen is someone who, if someone brought you down, she’d cheer you up in a second and tell you a dirty joke to make you laugh. And her presence drowns out all those sorry bastards who made you sad. All Hail the Queen!

Then there’s Drew. As my husband says, “She can rescue any movie she’s in. She can act opposite a paper bag and still make it worth seeing.”

Google Images, again.

I love Drew for the same reason I love the Queen. She is not afraid of living, even if you don’t always agree with her choices. She has a zeal for life, and while she makes mistakes, sometimes in really public ways, she picks herself up, dusts herself off, and gets going all over again. She knows what she wants, tries to stay true to her ideals, and if she blows something, she admits it and moves on, while trying to learn from the experience. Drew is also someone I’d love to call if I was feeling blue– she’d send me a stripper-gram, or bring me burgers, if that’s what was needed. Plus? I really want her hair. Sorry, I know that’s shallow, but really, with baby-fine, mousy-brown hair? I want her wavy locks. And her advice and laugh, but really, the hair, too.

Inquiring minds

A black wrap dress, a b & w scarf at the neck, pearl studs, hose, & black strappy mary janes.  I was overdressed, compared to the other female associates, which is fine with me.

I had kielbasa and mashed potato leftovers for lunch.  With an apple.  Sorry– dinner isn’t always exciting around here.  At least the potatoes were mashed with fresh parsley butter.  : )

And… everything was fine, nice, busy.  Lots of cases to wrap my head around and memorize.  I do have a great office with a HUGE window.

Love Thursday

My Better Half has many sterling qualities that are admirable and serious.  But one of the most continuously endearing is his baby oranguntan hair in the morning.  Every time I see it, I get melty all over again.  What silly thing makes you fall in love all over again?

Happy Love Thursday.  You can find other LT links here, at Shutter Sisters.

Back to school jitters

I have…

cut my nails and dithered over whether to paint them
swiffered the floor
dithered over what to wear
bought groceries for the week
dithered some more over what to wear
and
dithered over what to wear

I know they are business casual in the office, so I don’t need to wear a suit tomorrow but I want to make a good first impression on the folks I haven’t met yet, so maybe I ought to wear something dressier than I might otherwise? Argh. And I don’t know whether to paint my nails or not. I usually only do when I am going to trial.

At least my lunchbox is packed.

Revolufried, poodelate, and vacake

Poodelate.  Well, it made sense at the time.

Revolufried?  We couldn’t decide if it meant some newfangled frier machine that revolves, or some wonderful new fried food that was so revolutionary that it was, well, revolufried! (And really, it’s all my fault, because I was the one who played Wii on the second turn and got the “that’s not really a word” ball rolling.)

Missing from the pictures?  Vacake.  As in, you bring a cake to a party, but then leave early and take the cake with you when you go, instead of leaving it for the rest to enjoy.  As in, “Aw, man, Shelly made this awesome Angel’s Food, but then she went and vacaked before Stan got any.”

Hope your weekend was full of drunken scrabble goodness.

Today’s Real Mental post

Today’s post, “Purge,” is up at Real Mental.

Green Couscous Salad

Green Couscous Salad, originally uploaded by BipolarLawyerCook.

I made this for a BBQ our friends A. and P. threw. Quite yummy– we chowed it all down while the boys went out for more propane.

Take some israeli couscous (pastina would work fine, too), cooked 15 min. in olive oil and double the amount of water. Put chopped thin asparagus on top the last 7 mins., uncovering the pot halfway to make sure the water is absorbed. Pour the hot couscous and asparagus into a bowl, add one bunch chopped raw scallions and one julienned (Boston Organics) zucchini. Stir. Dress while warm with a fresh herb pesto made of olive oil, 1 branch rosemary, and generous amounts of parsley and basil, the zest of one lemon, and the juice of 1 1/2 lemons. Adjust for salt and pepper– I added a fair amount of lemon pepper seasoning. When cooled, stir in chunks of goat cheese or feta. If the salad absorbs all the liquid as it cools, add the juice of another 1/2 lemon and a splash of olive oil just before adding the cheese, to moisten.  If you leave the cheese out, you might consider putting in more herbs right before serving.

This should be a more-vegetable-than-couscous salad, with the starchy couscous just a hint of sweetness against the predominating flavors and crunch of the vegetables.

Geeks rising

Paul Krugman has an interesting column in the NYT about this election and geek civilization– he uses the term “culture,” but in the context of the article, and considering the ways in which geeks commune, sharing information and identity on the internet, I think “civilization” more properly captures the contrast with anti-intellectuals who disdain individual thinkers, and who prefer demagoguery to democracy.  Geeks don’t necessarily care if you think something different than us; we just care that you think.