i've had another dry spell; i most certainly haven't felt like writing. and maybe this is connected? i've started having those going-to-school and teaching-but-nobody-is-listening nightmares again (which finally subsided a few months ago, after a year of being "retired" from university life). but they're back. uggggh.

so here i am 10 days later, writing finally, and wondering how stress and school and teaching and writing all tangle up in that warped head of mine. how many others who engage in the university and teaching game are haunted by similar bad dreams? frustration at the forefront, closely followed by indignation and anger? any others ending up back in high school, forced to study basic math and diving against their will (with protestations of "but I have a Master's degree!!!") from 8am to 1pm? hmmmmm.

so, yeah, writing... here goes my attempt at it.

first: mayonnaise.

a week ago i made some mayo from scratch. and who knew? it is surprisingly simple! I felt accomplished, which is to say, i recommend trying it yourself. that is, if you're into mayo. here's the recipe (which comes from New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant):

1 egg
5 tsp vinegar or fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp Dijon mustard
dash of hot sauce or cayenne
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp hot water

Place the egg, vinegar/lemon juice, and seasonings in a blender or food processor. Turn it on and begin adding the oil, slowly. Gradually increase the flow of oil to a thin stream, continuing until all of the oil is used or the mayo is at the right consistency for you. Blend in a tablespoon of hot water to stabilize the mayo.

It stays fresh in the fridge for up to a week, or thereabouts.

Also, you can play with the flavor by adding other herbs and spices (scallions, chives, basil, dill, tarragon, garlic, chipotle seasoning, and so on).

second: the bisbee blues fest.

last saturday we volunteered at the festival, so we could get in for free. it was fun, but . . . well . . . very bisbee-esque. in a new location this year, it's fifth year, the festival seemed a little homemade and patchwork to us, even though The Bisbee Observer reported that it was "a smashing success." It rained on and off throughout the afternoon. and it seemed funny, but The Observer didn't mention the rain at all in the quite lengthy article, although, the stormy downpours did have a certain consequential impact on an integral part of the festival: namely, the music. though this kind of weather is typical for Bisbee, I guess the people in charge of the festival didn't take it into consideration when planning. the stage remained uncovered throughout the day and the evening, and because of this, not many bands got to play between 11am and 5pm; they covered the microphones and other instruments with plastic and waited for the rain to pass. unfortunate. good for the beer tent, though, since lots of people took cover with us while waiting for the music to start back up.

So, snark and I volunteered in one of the two beer tents from 11am to 3pm. Our tent just had the two of us; the other tent had five people, same amount of beers on tap. And we were definitely tired of serving over-priced, too-foamy budweiser to quickly-becoming-drunk people who thought they were being funny when they weren't. actually i felt endeared to most of them, but i was ready to be done when 3pm came.

the best part of the blues fest was definitely the 96-year-old Pinetop Perkins who played piano and sang, "my mojo working" in his soothing-but-gravelly blues voice.

third (which is more of a sidenote than a third, but i need a third to make this list worthwhile): weird al.

weird al yankovic just came on our play list, "A Complicated Song" from the album Poodle Hat (parody of Avril Lavigne's song "Complicated"). it's pretty funny and reminds me of my older brother who listened to weird al a lot when he was a teenager (and maybe as a grown up too). i didn't really see the humor in weird al's songs when i was a teenager (that's because i was a lame-o); now i recognize him for the amazing parody genius that he is. thanks to my brother for introducing me to him. and to snark and dan for re-introducing him to me.