As opposed to...

...a Star of David?

"Six Point Star"

Hm. These should make up for the manger cookies that Larry ate, right?

A place to suff my things. Part 2.

So, I now have a cardboard box filled with this and that, trinkets and baubles. I have confirmed with myself that the things in this box—the things that I purposely put here and not in the trash can or recycle bin—have no material worth or practical use.

But, I still keep them.

These are the little things that take me back, remind me of a time, remind me of a place and remind me of a person. I keep them just so that every once in a while, I sit with the box in my lap and dig through the treasures so I can pick them up, look at them and smile.

Now, this is progress. I went from a room filled with this and that all over the place. I now have a concentrated space—a box—that is only overwhelming in the emotions I have by enjoying the little things in life.

A pretty popular price per gallon

That is one worn out button. I am thinking of getting my car washed...professionally? I am using my Caring Club card to get a car wash and such at Golden Touch Car Wash. Anyone have experience at that car wash? I'm pretty set on that though every time I think of it I also think, "What is a green way to wash a car?"

Water?

A place to stuff my things.

I have been called a packrat in more than one way and, guess what? It’s true. I keep. I keep things. But to me, they aren’t just things. They are the memories of things. They are the who, what, when, where and why of my life. I don’t know why, but I’d rather call them “things” than refer to them collectively as “stuff.” “Stuff” has become somewhat of a dirty word to me (thanks to commentary like that of another language lover, George Carlin) in terms of consumerism and such. All the same, it’s not all the same. And I realized that recently when I decided to re-evaluate my things.

I wanted to give away the clothes I promised myself I’d wear for years now. I wanted to streamline my bags and purses since I really only used the same two or three. I wanted to sort through all of my craft supplies that range from markers and paints to stray pieces from flower garlands I bought at Walmart a few years ago. I wanted to shred all of the paperwork that I kept since I started at UNCG in 2003 (the time before I could hoard—I mean, store—all of that info in my email inbox).

I made considerable progress in this not-Spring-Spring-cleaning. Rooms were bigger, brighter, and tidier. I knew what I had and where things were. I made mental notes—a plan—about how to receive and store things I’d get in the future.

And, I started up a treasure chest.

I don’t think that I mean to call it a treasure chest in the first place. As my intention quickly swam through a sea of words and phrases and fond memories of Muppets on the sea, I jumped at referring to this cardboard box as a treasure chest.

And this treasure chest is effective.

Troy!

Add falafel connoisseur to the list.

Maybe my life is just that lame, but I get a thrill out of the little things…like, finding new falafel.

Ok, well that wasn’t really the case, but my word-o-phile-radar went berserk a couple of weeks ago as I was getting lost on Piedmont Parkway. I discovered this:

As soon as I say “Troy” and “restaurant” in the same title, my mind quickly went from anxiety-mode from being relatively lost at the tip of afternoon rush hour to intrigue by the possibility of chickpea variations, pita bread, and the always far-reaching hope of pistachio baklava.

I decided that trying out the establishment would be a service to my fellow Greensborians (though that whole Greensboro/High Point/Jamestown area around Wendover gets me confused enough where I don’t even want to know where I am).

I got the falafel sandwich on pita (not in the wrap) and got the fried zucchini appetizer. The falafel was cut up into bite-sized pieces as opposed to the balls or patties that I often get (and those seem to be harder for me to handle). I think that I actually get offended at bad pita bread (which is… dry?) but this sandwich had the moist and salty bread that I love that is also totally different than the Neomonde pita bread that I also love (that is also…dry).

The zucchini appetizer was the real trial. I only discovered in 2009 that I love zucchini and until I recently went to Carraba’s, I did not know the awesome-ness of fried zucchini. Taste of Troy’s zucchini appetizer was different than what I expected. It tasted more fresh and was made into thick patties and then fried. It wasn’t as crunchy as I hoped it would be. It had less pronounced flavor and was softer than I would have liked, but I suppose the zucchini itself was still present and enough for me to still gobble it down.

Sorry for the Vevo, but...

...did this video come in a styrofoam container?

Ugh. I hate lazy videos. It's all subjective I suppose, but I can't stand when an artist or band makes a lazy video. What do I think a lazy video is? Well, off the top of my head, I can't list the qualifications. But, it's basically a video that seems to exist only because the artist goes, "Ah, what the hell. I've got some time tomorrow. Let's shoot a video for this joint."

I guess that even sadder are the videos that are pretty complex but still suck.

Timbaland's/Justin Timberlake's "Carry Out" song grew on me as one of those songs that have straight-up dumb lyrics/metaphors. It sounded pretty cool and I got over the fact that I can't tell without screen titles whether the song is by Timbaland, produced by Timbaland, or featuring Timbaland. Anyhow, I purposely searched for the possibility of a video for the song today, and I was about 3 ounces of giddy when I realized that one exists.

*Sigh* and it's lame. Honestly, the girls in the video are pretty good and not only relative to T and JT. The "carry out" theme is addressed here but...um, people don't get cake and such like that as carry out. I mean, sure, you can get a dessert with your meal or probably as carry out on it's own. But, until someone steals my business idea (with my pleasure) to open a take-out/delivery service of all desserts, this video missed the "carry out" mark. In my opinion.

Random note: I only recently found out that "opine" is a word. Embarrassing. (And I just spelled "embarrassing" wrong before spellcheck smacked me in the face with some red squigglies. For shame.)

And finally, what are T and JT doing? I mean, Timbaland is no dancer--or, at least, I don't expect him to dance. He and Justin already sort of did that coordinated thing that I don't know how to refer to where they dance side-by-side. I mean, I like the move, but it's very reminiscent of 2006's "Let Me Talk To You/My Love" (which was amaaaazing).

Wow. I'm a complainer. On the upside, I would guess that JT is having the time of his life. Or at least I hope he is!

Re-evaluating the relationship...maybe later...

Hotmail's sign-in page looks different. Different font. I mean, couldn't you just make the service better instead? Still love you, though. I caved in and got Gmail a while ago after finally getting a taste of it at my old office. I do love Gmail now and it is a better service than Hotmail, but, you know...I just can't break up with Hotmail. We're too attached. I've cleaned things up and tried to make it easy to migrate all of my stuff. But, that will just have to be a day that I set aside to do all of that. I almost don't think that I should delete it since it is useful for receiving e-newsletters and notifications from websites and organizations. I don't mind using the account for that communication. It's mostly all of the old things that I need to wade through.

I'm a packrat of sorts. Even with e-mail!