in fact, i think no diggity was in my dream.
done signed up for VeganMoFo 2010. this means i'll blog more. hopefully, there will be a ripple of not only increased blog productivity, but increased all-around productivity.
to that end, i have homework.
Saturday, October 09, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
For years, I was convinced that I would write for a living. I mean, really write, man. Words with grace and dignity and brawn. Words that will kick your ass and make you want more. Words like the ones I read while hunkered for the night or while sprawled in a lawn chair. Necessary words. Honest words. Urgent words.
No dice. It turns out I'll write for a living, and the words will be necessary, honest, and urgent in a very different way than I could have anticipated even two years ago. They'll also be dense and dry, and I will have to labor to work my favorite words into my pleadings (not poems) and memos (not memoirs). The rules of style and citation that I can barely keep straight now will be what Strunk and White was to me when this blog got started.
But when I reflect on all the collected years of ambitions to Really Write, I come back to something that a judge told a roomful of young legal hotshots and a few tag-alongs like me yesterday: Words are your craft. He followed this statement with a screed on why it's necessary to polish writing skills, why typos are the super-poisoned kiss of death in federal courts, and why he hates cliches. I was checked out a that point because "words are your craft" is something I've heard before from creative writing mentors/professors and from my editors at newspapers too.
And words are my craft. (Notice that I began my sentence with a conjunction - it's not ignorance of the fine and revered rules of grammar, it's a device to get attention! Enough meta, though. You know I know how to write.) Words have never been my craft in any particular way, though, so signing my style away to the legal gods shakes me up a little. Going lawyer is a commitment to a writing style, among other things, that I'm not quite prepared to accept. I don't really have a choice, though. My emails are already shorter, more direct. My longhand letters lack the long, ponderous sentences they once had. That just might be a good thing.
Still, the effect of but one year of legal writing is not one of minced words per se, but ground words. Pureed words. They're made to be consumed and absorbed quickly. This, they say, is the big difference between legal writing and every other style of writing. I'm not sure there really is a huge difference. Simple writing will always rock, and simple writing will always be my goal.
No dice. It turns out I'll write for a living, and the words will be necessary, honest, and urgent in a very different way than I could have anticipated even two years ago. They'll also be dense and dry, and I will have to labor to work my favorite words into my pleadings (not poems) and memos (not memoirs). The rules of style and citation that I can barely keep straight now will be what Strunk and White was to me when this blog got started.
But when I reflect on all the collected years of ambitions to Really Write, I come back to something that a judge told a roomful of young legal hotshots and a few tag-alongs like me yesterday: Words are your craft. He followed this statement with a screed on why it's necessary to polish writing skills, why typos are the super-poisoned kiss of death in federal courts, and why he hates cliches. I was checked out a that point because "words are your craft" is something I've heard before from creative writing mentors/professors and from my editors at newspapers too.
And words are my craft. (Notice that I began my sentence with a conjunction - it's not ignorance of the fine and revered rules of grammar, it's a device to get attention! Enough meta, though. You know I know how to write.) Words have never been my craft in any particular way, though, so signing my style away to the legal gods shakes me up a little. Going lawyer is a commitment to a writing style, among other things, that I'm not quite prepared to accept. I don't really have a choice, though. My emails are already shorter, more direct. My longhand letters lack the long, ponderous sentences they once had. That just might be a good thing.
Still, the effect of but one year of legal writing is not one of minced words per se, but ground words. Pureed words. They're made to be consumed and absorbed quickly. This, they say, is the big difference between legal writing and every other style of writing. I'm not sure there really is a huge difference. Simple writing will always rock, and simple writing will always be my goal.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
pardon the whining
finals really, really suck. one of the many reasons is this: finals are not just the period immediately preceding finals and the finals themselves. law school finals encompass a period of weeks, if not months, during which every single thought ends with "I really should be studying right now."
Monday, March 29, 2010
food food food
In the ground: garlic (almost a foot tall!), a few onions, spinach and peas planted just this weekend.
After last frost: Carrots (in between our garlic grid - it's gonna be a delicious plaid), arugula, cilantro, strawbblies, zucchini, some kinda summer squash, kale, beets, pole beans, and maybe some cabbage if I can come up with a humane way to battle the slugs.
Later: tomatoes, jalapenos, tomatillers, basil, and whatever else we forgot.
As I announced to the world via facebook last month, I've gone vegan. Like, getting rid of leather shoes, haven't had cheese in a month, full-on. It's super, and I really enjoy not oppressing other beings as best I can. To that end, while I fully intend to post recipes I concoct and garden shenanigans, I plan to leave the vegangelical leanings aside. There are many, many blogs that are way more well-researched and well-written that can preach the benefits of veganism. That's not my goal with Champ of the Semi.
Illness Drink:
Ample splash lemon juice
Teeny squidge maple syrup
1/2 tsp cayenne
As much fresh ginger root as can be foraged in my present mess of a kitchen
Hot water
Combine ingredients. Drink while wishing your nose would just f'ing drain already.
After last frost: Carrots (in between our garlic grid - it's gonna be a delicious plaid), arugula, cilantro, strawbblies, zucchini, some kinda summer squash, kale, beets, pole beans, and maybe some cabbage if I can come up with a humane way to battle the slugs.
Later: tomatoes, jalapenos, tomatillers, basil, and whatever else we forgot.
As I announced to the world via facebook last month, I've gone vegan. Like, getting rid of leather shoes, haven't had cheese in a month, full-on. It's super, and I really enjoy not oppressing other beings as best I can. To that end, while I fully intend to post recipes I concoct and garden shenanigans, I plan to leave the vegangelical leanings aside. There are many, many blogs that are way more well-researched and well-written that can preach the benefits of veganism. That's not my goal with Champ of the Semi.
Illness Drink:
Ample splash lemon juice
Teeny squidge maple syrup
1/2 tsp cayenne
As much fresh ginger root as can be foraged in my present mess of a kitchen
Hot water
Combine ingredients. Drink while wishing your nose would just f'ing drain already.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
where there's smoke, there's burnout
Some way, some how, I have to spend a certain number of hours on this exercise in masochism I'm told is law school. When that certain number of hours is not met because, say, I want to see my girlfriend and friends and maybe cook a nice meal or two, nights get late and mornings get earlier.
I didn't realize that last night was Daylight Savings Time, and I'm still lamenting the loss of that hour. Talk about a need for perspective - I'm fussing over an hour of my life that I spent sleeping curled up against M (or didn't spend at all - DST gets a little metaphysical for my taste) instead of poring over my Con Law.
If I had a time traveling DeLorean, I'd just bop ahead to next week: Spring fuckin Break.
I didn't realize that last night was Daylight Savings Time, and I'm still lamenting the loss of that hour. Talk about a need for perspective - I'm fussing over an hour of my life that I spent sleeping curled up against M (or didn't spend at all - DST gets a little metaphysical for my taste) instead of poring over my Con Law.
If I had a time traveling DeLorean, I'd just bop ahead to next week: Spring fuckin Break.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
What happened?
roughly chronologically:
Girlfriend.
Bike accident.
Work.
Garden.
Backpacking trip.
Law school.
Winter.
Holidays in AK with above girlfriend.
Summer job secured.
Veganism.
No promises on further, better posting. Still and all, I could use the outlet here. More to come, in messy bursts.
Girlfriend.
Bike accident.
Work.
Garden.
Backpacking trip.
Law school.
Winter.
Holidays in AK with above girlfriend.
Summer job secured.
Veganism.
No promises on further, better posting. Still and all, I could use the outlet here. More to come, in messy bursts.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
garden update
Beets!
Hops!
Peas on my genius trellis! (Twine and a curtain rod)
Spinach!
Jalapeno!
Kale!
Mustard greens!
Wear a damn helmet
Before I am chastised by the awesome hair set about my new Bike Helmet Evangelism, learn this: I was in a crash two weeks ago yesterday that woulda killed me had I not been wearing one. So wear a damn helmet. I've hashed and rehashed this story, so check it out elsewhere, please.
So the accident and the attendant Oxycodone haze explain the lack of posting, right? Yep. That and the garden taking over my whole life. Pictures at eleven.
So the accident and the attendant Oxycodone haze explain the lack of posting, right? Yep. That and the garden taking over my whole life. Pictures at eleven.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Virus attack - don't click on links from me
Hi folks,
I got virused. Please don't click on any links from me for the time being.
Best,
Erica
I got virused. Please don't click on any links from me for the time being.
Best,
Erica
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Monday, May 04, 2009
Enter Turbo
The Scene: A birthday party for a friend who answers to "Creepy"
The Time: About a beer into it
The Cast: Myself, my roommate, a couple buddies
Enter TURBO THE CAT, who looks like my mom's cat, if my mom's cat had been left outside for a couple months.
TURBO
Meooow!
ERICA
Well, hell-O! (Starts petting TURBO. TURBO immediately starts head-butting ERICA, and showing a desperate need for affection)
ROOMMATE
(coos at TURBO)
TURBO
(works her way onto our laps)
FRIEND WHOSE APARTMENT WE'RE AT
Take that cat! She's my neighbors, and he's going to abandon her. On account of his eviction and his laziness, you see.
ERICA AND ROOMMATE
Oh great heavens! We must adopt her!
TURBO (From ERICA'S arms)
purrrrr.
Once said friend confronts the cat's neglectful owner, Turbo is all ours. Turbo is a new name. Old Owner called her Macaroni. Unacceptable.
Also, I've been at work for more than 2.5 hours and just now noticed the box of doughnuts on my desk.
The Time: About a beer into it
The Cast: Myself, my roommate, a couple buddies
Enter TURBO THE CAT, who looks like my mom's cat, if my mom's cat had been left outside for a couple months.
TURBO
Meooow!
ERICA
Well, hell-O! (Starts petting TURBO. TURBO immediately starts head-butting ERICA, and showing a desperate need for affection)
ROOMMATE
(coos at TURBO)
TURBO
(works her way onto our laps)
FRIEND WHOSE APARTMENT WE'RE AT
Take that cat! She's my neighbors, and he's going to abandon her. On account of his eviction and his laziness, you see.
ERICA AND ROOMMATE
Oh great heavens! We must adopt her!
TURBO (From ERICA'S arms)
purrrrr.
Once said friend confronts the cat's neglectful owner, Turbo is all ours. Turbo is a new name. Old Owner called her Macaroni. Unacceptable.
Also, I've been at work for more than 2.5 hours and just now noticed the box of doughnuts on my desk.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
the verdant hills of north portland
I do love these tiny beet sprouts and their purple stems. 
DINO KALE! RAAWWR! If only the leaves were dinosaur-shaped.
These peas are growing so quickly that I don't think I can afford to wait until the weekend to put up the trellis. Uh oh. 
The chard is the only green in the self-watering containers that is still going strong. Perhaps we didn't trim the mesclun mix back enough (too much?), but they're bolting like banks from Bernanke. (Does that make sense? Topicality isn't my strong point these days. Bolting like hysterical tourists from Mexico?)
Hops! Mt. Hood variety. I biked them home and they've been reacting well to the transplant. A home-spun dry-hopping this fall? A girl can dream.
Remember when this strawberry was but three leaves and no flowers? They grow up so fast...
Garlic.
Pretty little spinach, row on row.
Arugula! Better, cheaper, pepperier than the store-bought stuff by a mile. Verily, by a hectare.
Monday, April 27, 2009
bikus
woodpeckers rattle
as dogwoods slink into bloom
how alive we are
wafts of hops and malt
as I pass widmer's mash tuns
a shame their beer sucks
as dogwoods slink into bloom
how alive we are
wafts of hops and malt
as I pass widmer's mash tuns
a shame their beer sucks
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
In your face, Houston!
That's right, suckas. 107-103. In your collective face. Even you, Brooks, although I secretly hope you and Pretty Boy Roy will swap someday soon.
Monday, April 13, 2009
it's true
The greens taste better when you grow them yourself. These salads were picked about 30 minutes before dinner. Subsequently devoured with just a hint of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The mesclun had a thickness and - dare I say it? - meatiness to it that I seldom encounter in salads. Our baby rainbow chard is downright sweet. Yum.
food not lawns!
Sugarless Update: Easter ain't easy without sugar. I allowed myself a little hit of celebratory dark chocolate, but have been otherwise confined to agave when sweetener is needed. This has been a great excuse to avoid the peanut M&Ms at work. I can be strong. Aiming to drastically reduce my intake of refined sugar has been a far more manageable goal than cutting it altogether, but I've still gone over a week without any at all. Again, major progress.
Garden Update: We kick ass. Here's the 7'x4' raised bed in the front yard. Contains (left to right) arugula, oregano, mesclun mix, bitty kale starts. (I had a dream about tupperware cloches for the little things - that will probably happen today.)
The backyard. Note the raised beds and tomato planters on either side of the door. Also note the buckets, which are the self-watering containers that I may have raved about recently.
Detail of the left side. Left to right: directly sown peas and spinach in the large bed, strawberries in the repurposed peach crate, empty bucket, lavender in a pot, future site of tomatoes. In the right bed (not shown), we've sown beets and will plant jalapenos and broccoli later.
We made this raised bed yesterday out of cinder blocks that our landlord had just abandoned in the backyard. Soon to house tomatoes and basil. It didn't take too long, and I think it looks rather awesome, especially since we had to build it up around the rosemary. Salvaged materials are beautiful.
Self-watering containers! There are holes in the upper bucket that allow water to wick into the soil and condense back into the lower bucket reservoir. Here's a better description of how they work.
Mesclun mix and rainbow chard are totally BFF with their SWCs.
Tomatoes and jalapenos. We have more seedlings than we know what to do with. The little blue house has experienced a bit of a population explosion.
We may need to start a CSA once all this gets rolling! We're not even done planting, and I haven't yet made the bean poles.
ETA: Forgotten link for SWCs
Garden Update: We kick ass. Here's the 7'x4' raised bed in the front yard. Contains (left to right) arugula, oregano, mesclun mix, bitty kale starts. (I had a dream about tupperware cloches for the little things - that will probably happen today.)
The backyard. Note the raised beds and tomato planters on either side of the door. Also note the buckets, which are the self-watering containers that I may have raved about recently.
Detail of the left side. Left to right: directly sown peas and spinach in the large bed, strawberries in the repurposed peach crate, empty bucket, lavender in a pot, future site of tomatoes. In the right bed (not shown), we've sown beets and will plant jalapenos and broccoli later.
We made this raised bed yesterday out of cinder blocks that our landlord had just abandoned in the backyard. Soon to house tomatoes and basil. It didn't take too long, and I think it looks rather awesome, especially since we had to build it up around the rosemary. Salvaged materials are beautiful.
Self-watering containers! There are holes in the upper bucket that allow water to wick into the soil and condense back into the lower bucket reservoir. Here's a better description of how they work.
Mesclun mix and rainbow chard are totally BFF with their SWCs.
Tomatoes and jalapenos. We have more seedlings than we know what to do with. The little blue house has experienced a bit of a population explosion.
We may need to start a CSA once all this gets rolling! We're not even done planting, and I haven't yet made the bean poles.
ETA: Forgotten link for SWCs
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
morning commute chronicles: signs of.
There's a difference between year-round bike commuters and the fair weather variety, and it's not just the self-righteousness, although that's certainly the most strident feature of Portland's rainy cyclists. The faded raincoats and worn panniers belie the sunglasses and shorty-shorts. We've been eroded for months; our rust and mildew, resistant to scraping, is starting to dry and fall away with the sun. Our bikes stay clean longer, and look shinier and newer than the garage-protected sleeping beauties that took five months off. Looks of confusion - when did the Broadway Bridge get so crowded? why are there so many cruisers? I didn't know they made saddles that wide! It's like a surfboard! - pass over our faces (which, I'm certain, are slightly more aged due to weather-beating) on sunny days like the ones we're having now. Timid riders who have forgotten the fearlessness with which bikers can own the roads look askance at the bikers who juke in and around traffic with ease. The bike racks of Portland will soon be over capacity, so I'm enjoying this shoulder season with all the human signs of spring. Welcome back, prodigal bikers!
Monday, April 06, 2009
Sugarfree Day 4 again/Victory Garden 2009
It occurred to me when a friend offered me cookies sweetened with maple syrup, and as I considered agave-ing my oatmeal, that I should probably define this project as a No Refined Sugar situation. Cutting sweets entirely ain't gon' happen in a month for this girl; that would most definitely be a set-up for failure. That said, the above cookies (cashew butter crunch somethings) are badass, and I'll post the recipe once I make the suckers.
But back to not setting myself up to fail. Cutting refined sugar is manageable in some ways. I can at least identify which foods are likely to be sweetened with refined sugar or high fructose corn syrup. "Baked goods and anything processed" has been a pretty handy rule of thumb. Drinking a cup of mint tea or just a big glass of water have not been entirely satisfactory fixes, but they've worked well enough to get me through two three-day stretches without sugar.
Enough blah blah blah, though. Victory Garden 2009 is well on its way. I (with intermittant help from friends and girlfriend) built three raised beds. The tomato and kale seedlings are going to town on our kitchen table, and the peppers are starting to sprout. The starts (so far: oregano, lavender, strawblies, arugula and mesclun mix. to come: mustard greens, beets, collards, leeks, onions, potatoes, garlic, runner beans, basil, mint and cilantro) are hardening off in the glorious sunshine that we've been getting. The chard and salad greens in the self-watering containers are doing smashingly. I plan to make a vaguely propagandistic sign for the raised bed in the front (it's the big one - 7' x 4') about victory over economy, food not lawns, or something like that. Any suggestions on the text are welcome.
Pictures of the garden and seedlings and the rest of it to come. Really this time.
But back to not setting myself up to fail. Cutting refined sugar is manageable in some ways. I can at least identify which foods are likely to be sweetened with refined sugar or high fructose corn syrup. "Baked goods and anything processed" has been a pretty handy rule of thumb. Drinking a cup of mint tea or just a big glass of water have not been entirely satisfactory fixes, but they've worked well enough to get me through two three-day stretches without sugar.
Enough blah blah blah, though. Victory Garden 2009 is well on its way. I (with intermittant help from friends and girlfriend) built three raised beds. The tomato and kale seedlings are going to town on our kitchen table, and the peppers are starting to sprout. The starts (so far: oregano, lavender, strawblies, arugula and mesclun mix. to come: mustard greens, beets, collards, leeks, onions, potatoes, garlic, runner beans, basil, mint and cilantro) are hardening off in the glorious sunshine that we've been getting. The chard and salad greens in the self-watering containers are doing smashingly. I plan to make a vaguely propagandistic sign for the raised bed in the front (it's the big one - 7' x 4') about victory over economy, food not lawns, or something like that. Any suggestions on the text are welcome.
Pictures of the garden and seedlings and the rest of it to come. Really this time.
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