Osmosis

I have been in a pretty good mood lately and I am happily filling my days with crocheting, blogging (of the hockey variety), and cooking.  What I have not been doing is practicing.  Oddly, in spite of this long stretch of non-practicing, I feel like I am playing better than I have in a long time.  This has created a weird psychological situation.  I am currently convinced (CONVINCED) that by not practicing I am getting better at the viola.   

This new technique for improvement fits very well into my leisurely lifestyle and I plan on implementing it in many areas of my life.  In the next few months I intend to lose weight without dieting, fall in love without dating, and increase my site stats without blogging.  I’ll let you know how it goes. 

I’m pretty sure it’s going to work. 

Clutter

Last night I had one of those intense dreams where you have to go back to college, but you aren’t prepared.  Unlike the typical back-to-school dreams, I mostly had my shit together.  I mean, I knew where all my classes were, I had all my books, I knew my locker combination, and I was fully clothed.  The trouble in this particular dream was that I didn’t know where I was going to store all the stuff that I currently own once I moved into a dorm room. 

I had an anxiety dream about owning too many things. 

Only in America.

Babies Eating Lemons

This is totally the type of parent I would be.

Blogging is Hard!

Listen, guys, I’ll be back, I promise.  It turns out I only have enthusiasm, energy, and time for one blog right now, and the blog is The Willful Caboose.  I’m sorry.  Don’t fret, I’ll be back.  I’m still paying the bills, so Oh For Fun won’t go suddenly dark.  I promise. 

One of the things I have come to realize over the months of writing Oh For Fun is that I start to resent blogging when I feel obligated during creative lulls.  I’m not willingly forsaking Oh For Fun.  It’s just that when I sit down and try to write, I draw a total blank.  But I promise, I’ll snap back into things.  Maybe even tomorrow!

Until then, please enjoy these Japanese game shows:

Human Tetris

How much fish can a cat lift? 

I am a Badass

I have an old-fashioned bike that I use to scoot around Buffalo. It is old and heavy, but I look kind of cute on it, and it gets me where I need to go. Because I don’t have a garage, I have to lock my bike up behind my building, which I don’t mind except for when I get home at night. There is something about the back of my building that freaks me out. It’s all locked up, and I’m sure it’s safe, but still, I get the creepers when I am in the backyard in the dark. Remember when you were a little kid and you didn’t like going in the basement? It’s like that back there. So, when I when I come home in the dark on my bike, I usually lock it up at a nearby business with a bike rack, and transfer it to the backyard the next day.

But sometimes I forget.

Sometimes, I leave my poor little bike locked up on a busy street for days at a time. I just got home from a week long trip to Minnesota, and my bike was parked on the street the entire time, which is pushing it, even for me. I pretty much deserve to have my bike stolen, which is why when I saw last night that it hadn’t been stolen, I was quite pleased. The plan was to wait until this morning and transfer it to the backyard, where it belongs.

Well, last night I was in my car, looking for a parking space, and I saw two kids trying to steal my bike. I happened to drive by at the exact moment they had the pruner/bike lock clipper thingy out! With a burst of uncharacteristic bravery, I slammed on the brakes, opened my car window and yelled, “That’s my bike!” at the thugs. Oh, they tried to intimidate me, but I was not scared (I was on a busy street in full view of several people). I whipped out my cell phone and threatened to call the cops if they didn’t step away from my bike right this instant. They had no choice but to flee in the face of my unstoppable fury! It was awesome. I saved my bike and I realized that I am a HERO!

You can call me, “Kate, Awesome Defender of Bikes”, from now on.

Minnesota State Fair 2007

It’s that time of year again, folks! Last week I ventured out to the Fair with my dear friend Sam to brave the heat, animals, and deeply fried foods. It was, as usual, amazing.

There were, of course, the usual food stands. You had your fried cheese curds, your mini donuts, your “hotdish on a stick”, your Pronto Pups, and your Scottish Eggs and Meatballs (Actually, I’ve never been too sure about what those are, but rest assured Scottish Eggs and Meatballs were represented at the 2007 Fair.). All the old favorites were there, but there were two new stand-out foods at the Fair this year, neither of which I tried, because…..ew.

The less said about the new Spam booth the better. I mean, honestly.

There are so many things to love about the concept of “Fresh Fried Fruit on a Stick”. First of all, could this booth be more spangley? I mean, could Fried Fresh Fruit be any more totally outrageous and radically awesome? Look at all those blinking lights! Look at that impossibly bodacious signage! Secondly, why the f**k would you want to deep fry FRUIT! And doesn’t the act of deep frying fruit somehow make it less “fresh”. I think it does, people.

As for oddities, it was a relatively slow year. I mostly ate and tried not to die of heat stroke, but I did manage to catch one new, totally bizarre Fair product.

Meet the “Make Your Own Hands” booth. Yikes! I guess this is for people who think their hands are really hot and want to make sure their hot hands are preserved before old age steals their beauty. I dunno. They give me the super creepers.

And I would be failing you a a blogger if I didn’t show you this weird, anti-Cheney seed art. Yes, it’s made of seeds and beans, and nothing but.

Oh, and here are some ginormous pumpkins for you to enjoy:

We didn’t spend a ton of time looking at animals this year. Mostly we were eating animals, but here is a harrowing true State Fair Animal story: On the morning that we went to the Fair (but before we got there) an angry bull escaped from its handlers. The bull set his sights on a man in the crowd, and charged. (Dude! How freaky would that be?) Then, when the man managed to escape, the bull charged a fire hydrant and killed itself. Then, hundreds of Minnesotans took pictures of themselves standing next to the fallen bull before he was carted away by veterinarians. True story.

We didn’t see anything that excited. All we really saw were a few funky chickens.

That does it for another year at the Fair!