Good things that happened today

• Very good sandwich at lunch, and part of a combo that came with a drink and chips. What I especially liked about it: thin sliced cucumber and tomato, but lots of slices. This is good sandwich construction technique. Also, the multigrain bread had flax seeds, looked dark and full of fiber, yet was able to bend instead of breaking. Another sign of good sandwich construction. And the bread wasn't so thick I couldn't get them it my mouth. Riskily, I got onions on it too, but they had been rinsed or brined or exposed in such a way that they didn't leave a bad after taste in my mouth when I was done eating; just a transient crunchy sweet/pungent experience. These three things, especially the first one, are pretty rare when you buy a sandwich but they are part of my platonic ideal of a cold sandwich.

• I got into a class with limited enrollment that I really wanted to take.
  

• I wrote down the days/times for all my classes and....there were no conflicts! None were at the same time! And it doesn't look like an unmanageable load: 2-3 classes on Tue/Thur and 1 on Mon/Wed.
  

• I went to the grocery store. I always enjoy that. The (from what I hear) most convenient store (and the one I went to) is called Shaw's and I think it's pretty much like a Safeway. But there was plenty of hippie food, including a wide selection of soymeats (though sadly no Soyrizo. But yes to stripples). Also, I think that food is slightly cheaper here, as in things that I expected to cost $4-$4.50 cost $3-$4 and much of it was on sale for a dollar off. Also, before I went into the supermarket I found a stand with local produce, so I got some of that. So now I can probably make my breakfasts and lunches for the next week. Oh, and I got a discount card.

• Oh yeah, speaking of discounts, my student transit pass won't start until Oct 1., so I was trying to figure out what to do in the meantime. I figure since I live close to the T but two stops away from school (20-30 mins if I walked the whole way, I think) I'll make at least 2 trips a day, 5 days a week, a probably 2 extra trips during the week (e.g. from lab to school, or to the grocery store, or whatever). So that's 12 trips/week at $2/trip= $24. The weekly pass is $15. Score!

• Speaking of labs, I had my introduction/interview at the lab where I'll be working. I contacted the head of the lab shortly after I found out I was accepted to this program (so, 3-4 months ago). You know what is great? A job interview when you already have the job. I highly recommend it. Also, most of my classmates are just now starting to look for their internships. Bwah ha ha ha ha! So long, suckers! It's nice to be ahead of the pack for a change.

• Got home before the roommates, so had the TV and remote to myself while I had my dinner.

• When I was at the grocery store, one of the songs from the new Cat Stevens (aka Yusuf.. um...Yusuf Ali? Yusuf Islam?) album came on. I like that song. They used to play it Radio 2 sometimes. I hope it doesn't start getting played all the time everywhere, though, and especially not in a commercial. That Feist song I like(d?) is everywhere now, even in a commercial, which makes me a little sad or annoyed or something.

• Iron Chef Mario Batali used kale. Kale! On TV! w00t! Go kale!

• Oh, speaking of food, I was reading the package of a loaf of multigrain bread at the store and one of the grains was triticale! I didn't know that was a real grain. I thought it was just something tribbles ate.
  

In other news, I finished Volume II of Mansfield Park and Fanny has yet to blow her stack, even though she gets more and more reason to. In fact I had just come to the sentence "Fanny was becoming angry" when it was time to get off the train. I wonder what will happen. I am starting to get a little frustrated because I do agree with a lot of Austen is saying (using Fanny as a role model or moral ideal) but the girl needs to have some self-esteem and stand up for herself, really. It is getting ridiculous. I wonder what enlightenment thinkers at the time thought of her moral lessons, though I suppose they probably agreed where the lessons applied to women. I am becoming more and more curious what the story would be like if it were told from Mary Crawford's perspective. Or perhaps she really is the one Austen identifies with, but for the sake of the appearance of propriety at the times she makes it about Fanny? Not that I don't like Fanny, don't get me wrong. And I do find it hard to believe that the change in Henry Crawford goes all the way through him and not that it's just another manifestation of his own self-involvement.
- posted by k @ 4:30 PM