Freud, welding, and me

Today a series of small, non-dangereux mistakes has kept me from learning how to weld. Since I've been terrified of welding since I first heard (on a visit to MCAD three years ago) that I'd have to engage in metal-melting, I wonder if what Freud would say is correct. (I think the famous psychoanalyst would infer that I purposely--though not consciously--left the project instructions at home, for example. Along with my protective gloves. Of course, I think my husband, who knows me better than Freud does, might say that I just forget things. Which is true, I do.)

Accident or "accident," I now have several hours to kill before class, with no welding project to keep me busy.

You probably know this already, but a Freudian slip doesn't just have to be a slip of the tongue, and it definitely doesn't apply just to sexual-type stuff (e. g., "Hi, Prick! Um, I mean Nick..."). Or, hearing a word incorrectly because we are obsessed with something else could be a Freudian Slip. These slips are different from simple mistakes without meaning, because Freudian Slips reveal something of our true feelings and thoughts, know what I mean? Another example might be unintentionally (but maybe a little intentionally) leaving your welding equipment at home because you secretly don't want to do the welding project.

A great take on the Freudian slip as it relates to sending e-mail (the Freudian Send!) can be found here.

Blogger catches cold, is easily irritated

I came down with a cold Friday afternoon, then slept like ass every night for several nights. Worked through the sneezing to produce two shitty collages (don't even get me started on the subject of paying close to $30,000 a year to go to school to make collages), apply multiple coats of spray primer to my three aspen sculptures, finish a comic, and all but complete this week's illustration--a cute, dollhouse-themed ink and watercolor illustration that turned out okay except for a badly-rendered set of fingers.

Mostly, I'm grumpy tonight. Just 'cause I worked like crazy this weekend and still couldn't finish everything, and am exhausted just in time for my studio classes to resume. And I lost my iPod. And it's autumn, and I already miss summer. Oh, and I have to find time to go learn how to weld sometime in the next 38 hours.

But an evening walk with Ben and the dog should whomp that grumpiness outta me, largely.

P. S. Above is a photo of a recent bento that was yummers: couscous salad with roasted red pepper, chocolate chip cookie bar, orange slices, and spicy cannelini patties with fresh spinach and tomato.

Not photogenic, but I like it

Not everyone likes split pea soup, but thankfully none of those haters live at my house. The delicious, smoky flavor of split pea soup satisfies my rumbling stomach and takes me back to my midwestern childhood; Mom used to throw a big old ham hock into her pea soup (here's where I went to find out if "ham hock" was really the term I was looking for), and I use either liquid smoke or half a teaspoon of Bacos* to achieve that smoky flavor in my soup.

If you're on the fence regarding whether or not you like split pea soup, I hope you won't factor my photograph, above, into your deliberations. Split pea soup tastes so good, but looks so ugly!

* They're accidentally vegan! And they completely dissolve into the soup.

My civic duty

Al Franken won the DFL nomination in the primary!

No time for cutting out ravioli with a wine goblet

Since classes resumed a few weeks ago, weeknight dinners have been like nightly hit-and-run accidents in our kitchen. We still cook like mad and use good ingredients and enjoy the result, but the Process becomes a little less joyful when Ben and I are both exhausted and hungry at like 7 PM. So, we've been cooking a lot of our old, quick standbys, like this and this and something similar to this.

Our bentos haven't suffered, though, because they're quick to assemble from the store of savories and salads we whip up on the weekends. Above, clockwise from top left: grapes and orange slices, ginger-peach muffin, vinaigrette coleslaw, and falafel with tahini sauce. Below: couscous salad with roasted eggplant and red pepper, grapes, chocolate-chip banana muffin, and black bean patties with fresh tomato and spinach.

Cubed

Studio classes are keeping me fruitfully occupied. Pictured above is a cube I created for my 3-D design course, and I'm fascinated by the discovery that one can remove almost the entire substance of that form without destroying it. Of course, it depends on the building material. But this windowed cube is just made from some thin cardboard! Magic.

The note Ben left for me on the mirror this morning

Back-to-school bento

Our bento boxes arrived, and Ben and I took them to work and school, respectively, all week! I don't have time to discuss the benefits and challenges of bento right this moment, because now that school's in I have about twenty seconds of free time a day, but
I do have some lunchtime photos to share.

Below (clockwise from top left):
Couscous salad, chocolate chip zucchini muffin, half a kiwi, and Thai summer rolls with peanut sauce.













Below: Carrot sticks, half a kiwi, chocolate chip zucchini muffin, and three-bean salad.













Below: sweet potato chips, chocolate mini-muffins, half a kiwi, spicy dan-dan noodles.













Below: Blueberry-peach summer rolls, zucchini bread mini-muffins, carrot sticks, and three-bean salad.