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August 22, 2006
Postcards in Words
There's still a little too much going on to distill into well-crafted, personal life prose. I submit, instead, verbal postcards:
A large, dimly green glass aquarium fed by a dripping pipe and filled with heftily proportioned live frogs
All that and much more in the first of three Asian markets we've explored. The tank below held three large, tube-snouted turtles. Behind us, little Chinese men dipped long-handled nets into tanks full of fish, scooped out a likely victim, and then swung the net over the counter for the customer to examine.
A ziploc bag full of slender syringes with hot pink plastic caps on the needles
No, we haven't become junkies. But Whittier had an unfortunate accident with a falling windowsill and had to be taken to the vet here. The combination of pain and Whittier's uncompromisingly wretched personality necessitated her placement in "The Box" to be temporarily anesthetized. She turned out to be fine -- just a bruised leg -- but we're shooting anti-inflammatories in her mouth for the rest of the week.
A box of mochi ice cream, a pint of passion fruit sorbet, a package of pork and vegetable shumai, a package of frozen edamame, a ziploc of thin, golden brown wonton noodles, and a bag of steamed char siu bau
A vertiable cornucopia of tropical and Asian cuisine sitting cheerfully in my freezer. My stomach has not been this delighted since I was back in Hawaii for Christmas.
My little white MacBook sitting, closed and disenfranchised, on the dining room table, battery by its side
He's waiting for a special box to arrive so that he can take a trip to the magic, shiny white land of Steve Jobs where real geniuses -- rather than the flustered, unhelpful man wearing a genius shirt at the Apple store here -- will replace his stained top case and, more importantly, talk him out of shutting down intermittently but without reproducible cause.
A stack of papers, a manila envelope, and three paperback publications of various sizes, messily gathered in a pile
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences oriented me today. Now that I know that all the other students are just as confused as I am about taxable fellowships, optional prescription drug plans, and the logic of registering so late in August, I already feel a sense of community. It's a uncertain, fact-hungry, wondering kind of community, but hey. Or maybe that's from the wine they served at the GSAS reception...
A colorful striped card in Noel's wallet that says City Museum member
Possibly life threatening but ridiculously cool warehouse-cum-explorable art. We're members now; come visit us in September and we'll take you for free.
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August 17, 2006
We Re-enter the 21st Century
Internet access has arrived at the new Weichbrodt household. Huzzah.
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August 09, 2006
Nutshells
Sporadic internet connectivity does little to inspire prose. Still, we update.
How We Save the Environment: Noel has begun taking the train to work.
How Elissa Keeps Busy: translating her German book on Paul Klee and painting the edges of the living and dining rooms a lovely "Winter Garden".
Appliances Still Needed: washer and dryer.
Furniture Still Needed: more bookshelves, desk, and chest.
Largest Annoyance in Kitchen: lack of shelves in pantry.
Effects on Diet: without internet access and tired of her cookbooks, Elissa has taken to making things up. She has since reinvented the St. Louis classic, toasted ravioli, and discovered the funny herb tarragon.
Out of Town Visitors (but not House Guests) in the Last Week: 4.
Impending Out of Town Visitors (but not House Guests) in the Coming Week: 7-9.
Covenant Seminary Students in the Church Small Group We Visited on Monday: 0. (!!!)
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August 03, 2006
Elissa in St. Louis: Intentional Daily Excitement
I never considered my life in Chattanooga to be particularly dull. But, St. Louis life thus far -- all six days of it -- has certainly one-upped my former southern home in terms of excitement. Consider:
On Saturday we (with the help of one Zach Wood) unloaded our truck in the middle of a thunderstorm. Also, Whittier, still a little tipsy from her sedatives, slid down the stairs before anyone could grab a camera.
On Sunday we (again with ZW and the sweet-saw-that-belonged-to-his-friend) quite literally cut out the bannister and wooden bars that were encasing our extremely narrow stair case. For Noel, this move was driven primarily by aesthetics. On a purely utilitarian level, the eradication was necessary if we ever wanted to furnish our second story.
On Monday I tried to wreak havoc on the interstate and succeeded at least partially. Events that require too much back story to relate conspired and left me sitting on the shoulder of Highway 40 in a friend's pick up truck that had previously been piled high with plywood. I was unharmed, the truck was fine, and the little green VW that had leapt out irrationally before my barreling mass of steel had disappeared, apparently healthy. The interstate fared least well, littered as it was with wooden beams and boards.
At this point in the week, I started telling Noel that I was trying to "do one exciting thing every day." I have not had to try very hard.
On Tuesday we had our first overnight house guests in the form of two Chattanooga friends who had just arrived, moving truck in tow, in St. Louis but were rendered temporarily homeless by the findings of a housing inspector who essentially deemed their prospective home a whitewashed sepulchure. We squeezed our queen air mattress into the box-filled back bedroom and ate dinner on the living room floor.
Wednesday was designated cordless drill day. I spent a happy afternoon assembling our "audio pier," installing hooks in our closet, and discovering a poorly patched hole the previous owner had hidden with a towel rack. I also used our broiler for the first time, an event of particular note since our previous house's oven -- along with its uncertain temperature issues -- also declined to broil.
On Thursday, while removing paint from the stairs, I tried to blow myself up, but succeeded only in shorting out the brand new heat gun and subsequently setting off the fire alarm with its replacement.
While living a life packed full of excitement is a worthy endeavor, it also leaves little time for unpacking. On the other hand, our lack of in-house internet for two more weeks (thanks to Charter's inexplicable dearth of technicians) does open up some free moments, as yet unoccupied by further death-defying adventures...
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