Did Someone Mention Food?

Since I've been so terrible at updating, I'll give it a shot now. This week has been going well; I didn't have class yesterday so I went home and had dinner with – get this - a female! in my hood! Never before has this kind of opportunity presented itself. Usually every girl I meet either a: is mocked by me, b: doesn't want to be friends with me, c: lives hundreds of miles away or d: all of the above.

Our dinner was both supremely awesome and supremely lame. I don't have a ton of food in my fridge right now, so we had turkey dogs (with toasted buns), heated bagels and cream cheese, and an entire bottle of the finest Charles Shaw shiraz. Then I was still hungry so I cooked an egg.

I still have a lot of eggs. But oh god, ewwww I didn't realize that potatoes went bad so quickly (I was thinking that you could store those for a month at least) and reached my hand into the bag yesterday. Has anyone ever smelled wet, gooey, rotting potato? Does anyone know how long one can keep potatoes before they mutate into that mess?

Oh, I shouldn't have kept them on top of the microwave. Would it have helped to keep them in a slightly cooler environment? Forget it. From now on I am going back to my normal, highly preserved foodstuffs.

I have a bone to pick with Trader Joe's. Three of the four times I have gone there I ended up being so frustrated with their checkout line that runs around the perimeter of the store and totally blocks the shoppers from anything they want to look at. I put down things I intended to buy rather than wait in that congested mire. And it's not just a space issue, which I could understand. From their website FAQs:

6. Can I order your products online?
No. We're just old-fashioned. We set up our stores with care, finding just the right crew and adding a flavor of paradise. After considering the options, we're still just big 'ole fans of the neighborhood grocery store where we can say hello when you're looking around wondering - what's for dinner?

Correction: you are not old fashioned, you're lame. I'm a big ole fan of the neighborhood grocery store too, but I have never, ever interacted with anyone else in a Trader Joes except to wish death upon them. You cannot just wander around aimlessly there and wonder what is for dinner. You need a plan, and a spear, and infinite patience. Why can I not shop online? Leave me that option and my sanity, please! I'll pay delivery charges! Just keep me out of that store!

Moving on to less stressful topics, my job is okay. The tech guy (oh god, don't call him the tech guy!) never responds to my emails so I spend a lot of the day just whistling and twiddling my thumbs. I should start reading eBooks or something.

I have found a tasty lunch that does not produce an offensive odor – hummus on a sandwich pita, and unflavored yogurt with a handful of grapes stirred in. Tonight, since I have my class, I brought a meal replacement shake and put it in the fridge. I asked Travis to bring me up two six-packs of the delicious Safeway off-brand shakes, and I found that they were even more delicious than I had remembered. I looked at the label and found out why: they are intended for weight gain or maintenance. Let's hope for maintenance here, folks.

Oh good lord, I just spent this entire post talking about food. Holy crap. I'm not even hungry. So, what else is going on…..?

Our across-the-hall cute neighbor is having a party that I may or may not attend. He's really attractive but has fallen into the habit of speaking with this incredibly fake Eastern European accent, which is only funny when Travis and I do it and no one else. He started this at our party last week with one of the girls (not my new friend, luckily) from across the street. He continued this when I stopped by on Saturday night. I fear it shall not end.

Saturday I am totally crashing this Columbia international student group mixer, which allows one to 'invite friends' and 'get free food'. Ack, the food again!

In more boring news, on Saturday afternoon I am required to attend a student-mentor mixer at St. John's so I can be paired up with someone who is deeply invested in my life and career path for about two hours.