Saturday, April 17, 2010

Saturday, with Generosity, Hope, and the Color Green

Hello, weekend!  I’m so glad you’re here.

My weekend is already off to a fantastic start.  Yesterday I found a huge bag of lettuce sitting on my desk at work.  It was a gift from Christopher, our lab manager, whose garden is full to bursting with leaves right now.  Also included in the bag were a few frilly wands of dill.  Having had mixed experiences with fresh dill, I was under the impression that I didn’t really like dill, but last night, inspired by Christopher’s generosity, I sprinkled some chopped fresh dill on top of my enormous salad, and I liked it.  It was herbal and earthy, green and a tiny bit punchy.  I really, really liked it.  Also, it occurred to me this morning during my photography session that dill looks a lot like Sideshow Bob’s hair.  Yes?

Dill Impersonating Sideshow Bob

I feel like I’m in really good shape to have a relaxing weekend.  Not only is my fridge now filled with gorgeous lettuce, but I have also stocked up on the usual suspects for the upcoming week: yogurt, bananas, oatmeal, carrots, eggs, cheese, peanut butter, a loaf of whole grain bread.  I also have two bowls of split pea soup chilling in the fridge, as well as a leftover chickpea dish that I’ll toss with pasta, tomato sauce, and some kale.  It’s nice when cooking is optional, something to do for fun, not survival.

Dork that I am, I’m also excited that last night I got a bit of cleaning done.  I am not what you might call an enthusiastic cleaner; I would much prefer to read or cook than clean.  But I love how it feels after the cleaning is done, like everything is nice and fresh again.  Yesterday I received Real Simple’s 19-Minute Speed-Cleaning Guide in my e-mail box, so I decided to let it inspire me to spiff up the homestead.  Looking over their timeline, I’m pretty sure their times are ridiculously inaccurate.  15 seconds to wipe the toilet seat and rim?  15 seconds to wipe the mirror and faucet?  Maybe I’m just an arthritic sloth when it comes to cleaning, but my hands cannot move quickly enough to speed-clean my bathroom in two minutes.  I can, however, clean the bathroom in about five minutes, and oh my, it feels good to have a clean bathroom again.  Today I shall tackle the kitchen and the living room, which, according to Real Simple, I should be able to speed-clean in a total of 10.5 minutes.  Excellent.

On an unrelated note, have you been watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution?  I watch it via Hulu on my computer, and it is such a great show.  I really had no opinion about Jamie Oliver before his show other than thinking that he’s kinda funny-looking (oh, the shame of admitting my inner dialogue to you!).  Now, I still think he’s kinda funny-looking, but he’s also hilarious and generous and deeply concerned about the same food issues as I am.  The last episode I watched made me want to dance, laugh, and eat noodles, which, as a combination, is pretty hard to beat.  I highly recommend it.

A short list of a few other things I’m loving today:

* The new Gentle Hatha Yoga #3 class from yogadownload.com.  Heavenly!  Jackie Casal is my favorite yoga instructor.

* A spring breeze tickling my bare shoulders.

* The birds chirping to each other on this foggy Saturday morning, otherwise steeped in peace and quiet.

* Dried cherries!  One word: wow.  These things are too good.  My idea of a perfect dessert right now is a handful of dried cherries and some bittersweet chocolate chips.  So simple, so right.

* The Trouble with Normal by Michael Warner.  This book is about queer ethics, and I heard about it from a dear friend of mine.  Until recently, I thought that my connection to queer ethics was through my queer friends.  Then a friend said to me, “You’re the queerest straight person I know.”  At the time, her statement made me laugh and scratch my head, but the more I read and talked to people, the more I realized that yes, indeed, I am queer.  I date men, but I’m not interested in marriage or having children, and it’s impossible for me to know if someday I will be interested in those things.  That attitude makes me queer.  But what really makes me queer is that I resent how married people are granted all sorts of luxuries and privileges that are denied to us single folks or people who are in unmarried relationships.  Marriage does not make one relationship superior to another.  You are not a more upstanding citizen if you have a spouse.  You’re a person, just like me, just like my queer friends, just like my unmarried straight friends.  One of the things I love about The Trouble with Normal is how Warner agitates to knock marriage off its pedestal.  I don’t know if I would go so far as to say that the institution of marriage ought to be abolished, but I certainly think that as a culture, we need to get a grip on the idea that being unmarried is a perfectly acceptable way to live one’s life, no matter who we’re dating or not dating.

I’m done ranting now.  Suffice to say, Warner’s book is blowing my mind.

Will I see you here tomorrow in spite of my ranting?  I’ve got a wonderful recipe to share with you, simple and healthy and bursting with flavor.  In the meantime, I’ll be riding my bike around town, buying cans of crushed tomatoes and a new dish rack and maybe even a pair of tongs.  I hear they are an awesome kitchen tool!  May your weekend be as lovely as a carpet of Texas wildflowers, as beautiful and different from each other as humans.

So Much to See Down There

2 comments:

Raquelita said...

I came to this post from your 7 links (which I will comment on momentarily). I identify as gender queer (and when I blogged at Fashionable Academics) I wrote about it more, but I'm not sure I ever have on my other blog. I have dated and loved both men and women, and struggle with the heternormativity of being married to a man (though I love this human being deeply and it made sense for many reasons to get married).

Rosiecat24 said...

Raquelita, thank you so much for your comment. I know that there are other people out there like us, people who can easily pass as straight but don't feel that we fit into that category for a variety of reasons. It's interesting to me that for you, being married to a man you love is challenging for heteronormative reasons! I find that people have weird reactions to my relationship's long-distance quality, and it's sort of bothersome to assure other people that it's fine. It's like, what do you care? It's not YOUR relationship, and I'm not looking for your sympathy here. I think that living together is a standard heteronormative assumption for long-term relationships, but there are definitely other couples out there who are happily "together" even though they don't live together.

I think every relationship has its own parameters, and it takes maturity and thoughtfulness to figure out what really works for you. From what I've read on your blog, you do seem very happy with M., and that's what matters most. Love is a beautiful thing!