So I think I'm better on the things I posted in the last post, she saw it obviously and we hung out and talked and it was really nice. Thank you for that.
Now, I'm dealing with sooo much stuff. I took on more than I can handle this semester, with the SVAO Veep job and Buff State job and Buff State friends and UB and UB friends and the great new friends who seem like they've always been friends and making art works and hating assigned art projects because I'm sick of stupid art school assignments I just want to do my own work and stupid required classes for graduation and the responsibility of carting 7 other people off to a new city for a very short stay for a very important graduate school portfolio review that I'm not even prepared for because I've spent so much time actually tying up all the trip details instead of making my portfolio.... yeah.
And among all that, I set aside time to celebrate Michele's birthday this evening... which was an unprepared thing that I should have been over-prepared for. I do hope she enjoyed it though! In the end, after rushing and being late and doing things past the last minute, I think it turned out nicely. Good good friends, camp fire, foods, s'mores and veggie dogs galore, a pile of jacquified delicious peanut butter chocolate vegan birthday cake... you can't argue with that. Plus, after my late night bike ride home: I feel so good right now... although I should be stressed about this coming weekend and the pile work that needs to be done before tomorrow night. Not to mention the 9+ hour drive to Chicago Saturday and everything that goes along with being solely responsible for everything on such a trip.
So although I would love all your lovely distractions you wonderful friends, especially on this wonderfully distracting Friday holiday, I think it's time for Tim to focus focus focus...
Friday, October 31
Monday, October 27
This boy is remembering good things...
It's been weeks, perhaps more than a month... but today I just lost it and broke down. A combination of feelings: love, regret, nostalgia, sadness, happiness, memories, loss. Memories most of all... we had so many together. These were a few of such good things:
-geneseo weekends and squirrel mafia and dave matthews and that pizza place on main st.
-dancing nancies
-the 390, as awful as it was with its dangerous curves and snows and cops
-after the blue car and turning 18
-the blue apartment, tigger the orange cat, the beautiful photographs.
-comfort
-the broken window in the blue apartment
-the rescue of little grey and the lounging fat cat in the blue apartment
-every single time one of us was there for the other
-all the things that should be kept very much private
-comfort
-dinners with her family and the bbq sauce incidents
-holidays with her family, i really loved
-having an intermittent younger brother
-nothing else to do at home: mario's.
-every single guster show
-although a stressful time, every other weekend in albany
-getting lost finding that little greek place on niagara st when i turned 21
-elle and later sebastian
-sugar cookie 1's and 0's
-support
-comfort...
We were partners; best friends. And we came to an impasse... something I couldn't manage, but I want you to be okay and I want to just say hi and I want to be your friend and I still want to talk about the good things...
-geneseo weekends and squirrel mafia and dave matthews and that pizza place on main st.
-dancing nancies
-the 390, as awful as it was with its dangerous curves and snows and cops
-after the blue car and turning 18
-the blue apartment, tigger the orange cat, the beautiful photographs.
-comfort
-the broken window in the blue apartment
-the rescue of little grey and the lounging fat cat in the blue apartment
-every single time one of us was there for the other
-all the things that should be kept very much private
-comfort
-dinners with her family and the bbq sauce incidents
-holidays with her family, i really loved
-having an intermittent younger brother
-nothing else to do at home: mario's.
-every single guster show
-although a stressful time, every other weekend in albany
-getting lost finding that little greek place on niagara st when i turned 21
-elle and later sebastian
-sugar cookie 1's and 0's
-support
-comfort...
We were partners; best friends. And we came to an impasse... something I couldn't manage, but I want you to be okay and I want to just say hi and I want to be your friend and I still want to talk about the good things...
Sunday, October 26
This boy is a proud possum.
Here's a given, circumcised dicks are prevalent across the American landscape. So in terms of new sexual encounters, it's understandable to get a little weirded-out if you chance upon a Johnson pushing up through a skin turtle-neck. If you do encounter a blind Willy, here's a few tips:
1. Get educated.
2. Pull it back!
Seriously, if you pull back the foreskin to expose the head, it will look every bit like a circumcised ("normal") penis. Yay! No more weirdness. It's almost a requirement for safe sex anyway. Now support the cause and join our increasingly popular facebook group!
Circumcision is genital mutilation. Period.
Our western culture is shocked and apalled (as am I) at the idea of female circumcision in other cultures. Yet, we consider male circumcision as healthy and normal? Give me a break.
Modern day circumcision is the result of the constant perpetuation of an antiquated cultural myth started by fears of *gasp* masturbation and sexual pleasure. Victorian society believed that in order to enforce its moral code upon the individual, it needed to do so with a swift punishment at birth; a sexual preemptive strike.
"Doctors in the English-speaking countries started circumcising babies in the mid-1800s to prevent masturbation, which some doctors claimed caused many diseases, including epilepsy, tuberculosis and insanity." (more on that here)
This historical medical ideology enables current day parents to modify their son's genital aesthetic; often so he can "look just like daddy" or so "the boys won't pick on him in the locker room." This sickens me. Parents (with the support of American hospitals everywhere) are willing to put their infant through trauma-inducing pain and bodily mutilation just so their little boy can have a pee pee that looks like the rest.
It's scary how much us Americans fear individuality.
It is true though, circumcisive surgery has a few medical benefits. All of which are remedied simply by common sense: proper hygiene and safe sex. The risks of scarring, botched surgery, and infections are much higher and potentially worse than the uncircumcised medical risks. It's also true that the foreskin contains the most sensitive parts of the penis. And even in the face of conflicting studies, there's no denying that there is lost sensitivity (duh!).
My conclusion: circumcision at birth is a political and social attack on the sexual freedoms of the individual. You are evil if you still support it.
1. Get educated.
2. Pull it back!
Seriously, if you pull back the foreskin to expose the head, it will look every bit like a circumcised ("normal") penis. Yay! No more weirdness. It's almost a requirement for safe sex anyway. Now support the cause and join our increasingly popular facebook group!
now,
This boy is going to rant.
This boy is going to rant.
Circumcision is genital mutilation. Period.
Our western culture is shocked and apalled (as am I) at the idea of female circumcision in other cultures. Yet, we consider male circumcision as healthy and normal? Give me a break.
Modern day circumcision is the result of the constant perpetuation of an antiquated cultural myth started by fears of *gasp* masturbation and sexual pleasure. Victorian society believed that in order to enforce its moral code upon the individual, it needed to do so with a swift punishment at birth; a sexual preemptive strike.
"Doctors in the English-speaking countries started circumcising babies in the mid-1800s to prevent masturbation, which some doctors claimed caused many diseases, including epilepsy, tuberculosis and insanity." (more on that here)
This historical medical ideology enables current day parents to modify their son's genital aesthetic; often so he can "look just like daddy" or so "the boys won't pick on him in the locker room." This sickens me. Parents (with the support of American hospitals everywhere) are willing to put their infant through trauma-inducing pain and bodily mutilation just so their little boy can have a pee pee that looks like the rest.
It's scary how much us Americans fear individuality.
It is true though, circumcisive surgery has a few medical benefits. All of which are remedied simply by common sense: proper hygiene and safe sex. The risks of scarring, botched surgery, and infections are much higher and potentially worse than the uncircumcised medical risks. It's also true that the foreskin contains the most sensitive parts of the penis. And even in the face of conflicting studies, there's no denying that there is lost sensitivity (duh!).
My conclusion: circumcision at birth is a political and social attack on the sexual freedoms of the individual. You are evil if you still support it.
Wednesday, October 22
This boy is loving the unexpected snow!
Buffalo snow started last night, unexpectedly. I was unprepared, and super cold while I rode Bruce on my way home... this was after completely bombing that Chinese art history mid-term and having no sleep because of studying for said bombed mid-term. No worries though, this will just be high school chemistry all over again. (more on that another time)
But oh snow, I love you so! So while riding home, two aspects about cycling in snow became coldly apparent:
1. Windy snow in the eyes stings so bad...
2. and Warm mittens are a must.
So last night, I gave Bruce some much needed tlc, and then pulled out all the extra winter bike wardrobe stuffs I've been stocking up from thrift stores (Amvets!) for the past month and a half. And then this morning, super early two dollar breakfast at Amy's Place with Jacquie happened (but sadly no Michele). There were beautiful morning flakes flurrying about, so it was the perfect time to test all my warm things out.
Boring Details:
The $5 super wool mittens I got on etsy kept my hands so toasty warm. And to solve stinging eyes, I slipped a thin skull n bones dollar store knit cap under my awesome artsy hat and put my helmet on over that. The brim kept 85% of the stinging snows from getting to my eyes. Also worth mentioning, comfy wool socks + fantastic $3 winter work boots from Amvets were so good, along with old peacoat and layered yoga pants + cheap Amvet's nike warm pants.
The point of all that:
You know that feeling you get when you've got cozy slippers and flannel pj's and a roaring fire and a cup of tea/cocoa and a giant comfy chair and its snowing outside? That's exactly how it felt on my ride to Amy's this morning...
But oh snow, I love you so! So while riding home, two aspects about cycling in snow became coldly apparent:
1. Windy snow in the eyes stings so bad...
2. and Warm mittens are a must.
So last night, I gave Bruce some much needed tlc, and then pulled out all the extra winter bike wardrobe stuffs I've been stocking up from thrift stores (Amvets!) for the past month and a half. And then this morning, super early two dollar breakfast at Amy's Place with Jacquie happened (but sadly no Michele). There were beautiful morning flakes flurrying about, so it was the perfect time to test all my warm things out.
Boring Details:
The $5 super wool mittens I got on etsy kept my hands so toasty warm. And to solve stinging eyes, I slipped a thin skull n bones dollar store knit cap under my awesome artsy hat and put my helmet on over that. The brim kept 85% of the stinging snows from getting to my eyes. Also worth mentioning, comfy wool socks + fantastic $3 winter work boots from Amvets were so good, along with old peacoat and layered yoga pants + cheap Amvet's nike warm pants.
The point of all that:
You know that feeling you get when you've got cozy slippers and flannel pj's and a roaring fire and a cup of tea/cocoa and a giant comfy chair and its snowing outside? That's exactly how it felt on my ride to Amy's this morning...
Monday, October 20
This boy is finding a way to be obsessed with Chinese art hisory, or else...
In order for me to graduate, there are only two requirements:
1. Pass the super-easy and almost mindlessly intuitive (for me anyway) computer science class.
and
2. Pass Chinese art history.
So I'm a bit worried about number 2 on the list there. You see, it's awful to say this, but I just can't bring myself to care enough about art history. It's boring; just like art history-only majors. (Exception is made to art history majors who also make art, or do some other cool and fancy stuffs for their other major.) Honestly, I can't stand dates and names and slide comparisons and the intellectual academia of it all.
Honestly, I DO love it when the slide of a transcendental ancient Chinese painting goes up and my jaw drops. I love those moments.
But now, it's dreaded mid-term time. Tuesday. 6pm.
The thing is: I tend to invest my time in the work I care about most... and since I haven't cared about any of my work recently (except silly things like the Dickie's Donuts obsession), little Chinese art history mid-term doesn't even have a leg to stand on.
In the past, I have leveled hardcore A's and B's at such daunting challenges. The tried and true Tim solution: abandon all friends, responsibilities, and sleep for 48 hours to focus and cram cram cram pointless art and academia into my head. The problem is: it seems there's no way I can make that completely happen this time. This mid-term is seriously important, and I'm worried...
1. Pass the super-easy and almost mindlessly intuitive (for me anyway) computer science class.
and
2. Pass Chinese art history.
So I'm a bit worried about number 2 on the list there. You see, it's awful to say this, but I just can't bring myself to care enough about art history. It's boring; just like art history-only majors. (Exception is made to art history majors who also make art, or do some other cool and fancy stuffs for their other major.) Honestly, I can't stand dates and names and slide comparisons and the intellectual academia of it all.
Honestly, I DO love it when the slide of a transcendental ancient Chinese painting goes up and my jaw drops. I love those moments.
But now, it's dreaded mid-term time. Tuesday. 6pm.
The thing is: I tend to invest my time in the work I care about most... and since I haven't cared about any of my work recently (except silly things like the Dickie's Donuts obsession), little Chinese art history mid-term doesn't even have a leg to stand on.
In the past, I have leveled hardcore A's and B's at such daunting challenges. The tried and true Tim solution: abandon all friends, responsibilities, and sleep for 48 hours to focus and cram cram cram pointless art and academia into my head. The problem is: it seems there's no way I can make that completely happen this time. This mid-term is seriously important, and I'm worried...
Wednesday, October 15
This boy is deliciously saving a few animals.
As a part of my recent obsession with Buffalo's wonderful signature foodstuffs, I got to thinking: one of Buffalo's most famous wonderful signature foodstuffs is based primarily on deep frying dead animal flesh-wings. Now, we all know that this is a cruel yet delicious Buffalonian practice.
So I was curious: is it possible to take the cruelty out, yet keep the delicious Buffalo-ness in?
Voila! Non-cruel and delicious BUFFALO TOFU WINGS!!!
Recipes for everyone!
Okay, so here is exactly what I did, only now it's all second person perspective:
You'll need...
Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce (the kind with butter already added, adjustments to this should be pretty easy for future veganified wings)
Block of Hard/Extra Hard Tofu from Wegmans (not sure of what kind)
Canola Oil
Corn Starch (I'm sure any flour-like stuff will do)
Bread Crumbs
Frying Pan (I used Desirae's super awesome wok, perfect for submerging tofu pieces)
1. Cut up the tofu fairly thin like (like slices of cheese) and marinate with Frank's in a container for a day or two in the fridge. Make sure tasty hot sauce is touching every millimeter of tofu for maximum deliciousness.
2. Bread crumb + flour into two bowls. Grab the marinated tofu several pieces at a time and toss it into one of the bowls. Make sure the flour won't completely cover all the tofu... the exteriors of the pieces should be a red slimy tofu mess! Mix it up a lot... and mash the tofu together using the flour and stuffs to turn everything into chicken finger-esque pieces. Save the left over sauce!
3. Take each piece and separately coat them even more with flour/crumbs in the second bowl. Each tofu piece should be completely covered in flour now. Put them into yet another bowl.
4. Now hopefully you were heating your oil in the pan this whole time, it should be good by now (I used number 4 on our stove). Place your pieces into the oil and fry 'em until they look tasty.
5. Pile your pieces into a bowl when they're done. Microwave a portion of left over sauce and pour it all over those bad boys. And make sure to place all the pieces in one more bowl (exessive? I know!) so they don't over-soak-up all the pooling sauciness at the bottom.
6. That's it! Eat and share them with a roommate who isn't hungry but can't help themselves because these things look and taste so freakin good. Good luck with the clean up too... 4 bowls, 1 tupperware container, an oily wok, and a flourey/hot saucey counter top later.
So I was curious: is it possible to take the cruelty out, yet keep the delicious Buffalo-ness in?
Voila! Non-cruel and delicious BUFFALO TOFU WINGS!!!
Recipes for everyone!
Okay, so here is exactly what I did, only now it's all second person perspective:
You'll need...
Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce (the kind with butter already added, adjustments to this should be pretty easy for future veganified wings)
Block of Hard/Extra Hard Tofu from Wegmans (not sure of what kind)
Canola Oil
Corn Starch (I'm sure any flour-like stuff will do)
Bread Crumbs
Frying Pan (I used Desirae's super awesome wok, perfect for submerging tofu pieces)
1. Cut up the tofu fairly thin like (like slices of cheese) and marinate with Frank's in a container for a day or two in the fridge. Make sure tasty hot sauce is touching every millimeter of tofu for maximum deliciousness.
2. Bread crumb + flour into two bowls. Grab the marinated tofu several pieces at a time and toss it into one of the bowls. Make sure the flour won't completely cover all the tofu... the exteriors of the pieces should be a red slimy tofu mess! Mix it up a lot... and mash the tofu together using the flour and stuffs to turn everything into chicken finger-esque pieces. Save the left over sauce!
3. Take each piece and separately coat them even more with flour/crumbs in the second bowl. Each tofu piece should be completely covered in flour now. Put them into yet another bowl.
4. Now hopefully you were heating your oil in the pan this whole time, it should be good by now (I used number 4 on our stove). Place your pieces into the oil and fry 'em until they look tasty.
5. Pile your pieces into a bowl when they're done. Microwave a portion of left over sauce and pour it all over those bad boys. And make sure to place all the pieces in one more bowl (exessive? I know!) so they don't over-soak-up all the pooling sauciness at the bottom.
6. That's it! Eat and share them with a roommate who isn't hungry but can't help themselves because these things look and taste so freakin good. Good luck with the clean up too... 4 bowls, 1 tupperware container, an oily wok, and a flourey/hot saucey counter top later.
Tuesday, October 14
This boy is obsessed with Dickie's Donuts.
I'm quietly known for my rampant infatuations, but for once it's not for a human being. (Well, there IS always someone(s) on my mind, it's always been that way with me, but this will just add to that.)
I am embarking on an obsession with Dickie's Donuts; and seriously considering dropping all serious art endeavors to address said obsession. And you say, "but why oh why Tim? That's so silly!" And I say, "I know right, that's the point!"
...and also, there's something about it.
Something Buffalo.
Something nostalgic.
Something economic.
Something tasty.
Something sinister.
Something curious.
Something lost.
Something about survival.
It seems college-aged Buffalonians remember their [insert elder relative here] taking them to a Dickie's, and years later it's become this nostalgic memory that has lodged itself down into the deep crevices of their brain folds.
But now: Niagara Street. Hertel and Elmwood. Niagara Falls Boulevard in North Tonawanda. Orchard Park. All of them are empty, taken over, gone, brick donut shop skeletons of memories all... all but one. Dingens and Ogden, Cheektowaga. This is the mecca of Buffalo donut worship. 24 hours. Half stools complete with half diner. It's still alive. Amazing.
So I'm obsessed! Even better is that I think there is something really substantive worth researching and making art about. In the economic Pastry-Coffee War between corporate canadian Tim Hortons and corporate american Dunkin Doughnuts, it's the local all-america shop that becomes a refugee in its own city. It seems Dingen's Dickie's has only held on in large part to the local pigs and truckers stopping in off the 90. It seems they still want to invest in something with local substance, while the rest of us squander our hard-earned cash into hollow donut holes.
Ellipsis...
I am embarking on an obsession with Dickie's Donuts; and seriously considering dropping all serious art endeavors to address said obsession. And you say, "but why oh why Tim? That's so silly!" And I say, "I know right, that's the point!"
...and also, there's something about it.
Something Buffalo.
Something nostalgic.
Something economic.
Something tasty.
Something sinister.
Something curious.
Something lost.
Something about survival.
It seems college-aged Buffalonians remember their [insert elder relative here] taking them to a Dickie's, and years later it's become this nostalgic memory that has lodged itself down into the deep crevices of their brain folds.
But now: Niagara Street. Hertel and Elmwood. Niagara Falls Boulevard in North Tonawanda. Orchard Park. All of them are empty, taken over, gone, brick donut shop skeletons of memories all... all but one. Dingens and Ogden, Cheektowaga. This is the mecca of Buffalo donut worship. 24 hours. Half stools complete with half diner. It's still alive. Amazing.
So I'm obsessed! Even better is that I think there is something really substantive worth researching and making art about. In the economic Pastry-Coffee War between corporate canadian Tim Hortons and corporate american Dunkin Doughnuts, it's the local all-america shop that becomes a refugee in its own city. It seems Dingen's Dickie's has only held on in large part to the local pigs and truckers stopping in off the 90. It seems they still want to invest in something with local substance, while the rest of us squander our hard-earned cash into hollow donut holes.
Ellipsis...
Monday, October 13
This boy is not usually concerned with current events, BUT...
Conn. high court rules gay couples can marry.
I can't express to you how good this makes me feel. No civil union bull shit, straight up rights for gay couples to marry: just how it should be.
I can't express to you how good this makes me feel. No civil union bull shit, straight up rights for gay couples to marry: just how it should be.
Friday, October 10
This boy is finding a new way to express his vanity!
Life and happiness and kittens everywhere! But I'll save that for later.
The chief concern here is just what the hell am I doing with a blog? Vanity, of course! But I will try to entertain you, dear friends and interweb otherlings.
Firstly this post must bore you with personal seriousness and maybe-need-to-knows. Let's do it list-like:
Seriously #1: I already keep a journal (the current one is named Stratosphere), all the good stuff that is really on my mind is in there! You'll be lucky to get any of that here. It's quite repetitive and involves love, friendships, and current infatuations about eighty-seven percent of the time. In other words, no cool artsy shit. The cool artsy shit will go here, of course!
Seriously #2: I am four months coming off a long relationship with an Ashley who in the past, I loved very much and enjoyed much quality companionship with. Sadly life and changes occur and that ceased to function. Now our interactions, when they happen, are strained and awkward... a familiar past hanging sad, joyful, disappointing, and heavy in every word and gesture.
Seriously #3: My bicycle's name is Bruce. We go everywhere together!
Seriously #4: My current life is split between two colleges in Buffalo: I am employed at one as their web site's photographer and an art student at the other. The situation feels unique and wonderful. My friends at both mean everything to me.
Seriously #5: I am merely pretending to be an upcoming artist; my ambitions are vague and allude even me.
Seriously #6: Although I am enjoying the happiness and joy of these past many weeks, I am starting to fear the near future. I feel and know I am very under-qualified for my future art endeavors. I am going to have a very hard time finding meaningful employment when I graduate this December. I will miss this college life. I also fear the loneliness of change and the inevitable move elesewhere that will occur in less than a year.
That's all!
The chief concern here is just what the hell am I doing with a blog? Vanity, of course! But I will try to entertain you, dear friends and interweb otherlings.
Firstly this post must bore you with personal seriousness and maybe-need-to-knows. Let's do it list-like:
Seriously #1: I already keep a journal (the current one is named Stratosphere), all the good stuff that is really on my mind is in there! You'll be lucky to get any of that here. It's quite repetitive and involves love, friendships, and current infatuations about eighty-seven percent of the time. In other words, no cool artsy shit. The cool artsy shit will go here, of course!
Seriously #2: I am four months coming off a long relationship with an Ashley who in the past, I loved very much and enjoyed much quality companionship with. Sadly life and changes occur and that ceased to function. Now our interactions, when they happen, are strained and awkward... a familiar past hanging sad, joyful, disappointing, and heavy in every word and gesture.
Seriously #3: My bicycle's name is Bruce. We go everywhere together!
Seriously #4: My current life is split between two colleges in Buffalo: I am employed at one as their web site's photographer and an art student at the other. The situation feels unique and wonderful. My friends at both mean everything to me.
Seriously #5: I am merely pretending to be an upcoming artist; my ambitions are vague and allude even me.
Seriously #6: Although I am enjoying the happiness and joy of these past many weeks, I am starting to fear the near future. I feel and know I am very under-qualified for my future art endeavors. I am going to have a very hard time finding meaningful employment when I graduate this December. I will miss this college life. I also fear the loneliness of change and the inevitable move elesewhere that will occur in less than a year.
That's all!
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