The BaRou Experiment

Morning all--Typepad is starting a new interface with a percentage of their users and seems to have lost the intro front-page parts of my past few posts since the new interface began. Guess what, Typepad, PROBLEM.
Lemme try to reconstruct that intro quickly. Grumble.

This first week of relative isolation has been another busy one full of lessons, challenges, and surprises.

For one, I wandered into the living room the other night and rested my chin on the sill of a high open window. That cat has an odd gait, I thought. It was a raccoon. Oh, the suburbanity! I haven't seen one of those since Jersey. I watched him make his silent rounds from yard to yard.

I  was not expecting nature to be so in my face (and in my house) when I moved down here. So far Little Pink has been the unwitting host to a lizard, colossal flying cockroaches, dragonflies, fleas, spiders, uh...various colors and textures of mold I've never seen before. I wouldn't be surprised to find an alligator squatting in the tub one day. Maybe that's what was pounding on my door the other night.

Anyway here's the latest indoor visitor.

On the lesson front, Amy made red beans & rice at Christy's and they invited me over to watch the Gossip Girl finale. She's here for a month nursing bff Christy back to health from major surgery. (Yay for both of them! You should've seen the bff tenderness.) They all started throwing out regional terms like "tump," which is a blend of "tip" and "dump," meaning to shove something over, and "making groceries" (as opposed to just getting them), then Christy's mom busted out a crazy Cajun innovation: cane (sugar) syrup poured over cornbread in a bowl, then eaten as a treat. (Are Cajuns stoners? Because that snack is a stoner invention if ever I saw one. Maybe add some sprinkles if you have 'em.)

I hadn't seen Goss Girl before and won't go out of my way to see it again. I could barely tell the females apart, including the MILF one, who must've reproduced at age ten to have a high-school-aged daughter (and who hooked up with the rocker DILF who also must have reproduced at age ten because he looks all of 30). I'll stick with my 90210 stories.

Another discovery is that it's a lot easier to keep the house in semi-order without fiance around. Ahem. And there's more quiet at night, which is good for writing.

But this week of solitary has also had moments bordering on being filed under CoKane's Dark Carnival of the Soul. A few can't-sleep, 5 a.m. emails to friends I miss, and generally trying not to get weird from lack of human contact. But so far it's been kept mostly in check.

The peaceful night view of the raccoon was somehow soothing. Also helpful was this great show I just found, The Alaska Experiment. Sit me in front of any program about Alaska and I'll be mesmerized, but this show is insane--I'm still not clear on the whole premise, but the one I saw had one group of regular people trekking through the brutal wilderness for days, running out of food and water before reaching their goal, and another pair enduring cabin fever (which rather put my own temporary isolation in perspective). The team hiking through the wilderness thought their trip would take four days. It ended up taking like seven days of obstacle after obstacle, they were delusional and dehydrated by the time they made their goal, but they made it. Through seven days of harsh weather and toil and trouble, no one mentioned giving up as a real option (unless it was edited out, but they all seemed to be super-determined). It was also refreshing to see a reality show with people with good character rather than complaining neurotics and psychos. Also, at least two were from New Jersey. Represent!

Anyway, all of this could probably be tied together in some more cohesive way, but what do you want. I'm busy.

Comments

[jason]

Here I was lamenting my missing of "Gossip Girl" (which I've never seen, but which seems so hyped as to make me feel like I'm missing something), and now I'm almost glad I did.

(I don't know what that means, but I'm sticking to it.)

Oh, and I think cajuns are definitely "stoners" at heart.
(Again I don't know what that means either, but I'm pretty sure it's true)

[amy]

Sounds like we need to have you over for a slumber party. I made groceries last night so next week i'm fixing to tump black beans in the rice sans ham hock. No Gossip Girl. XOXO

[Kitty]

Jersey in the house!

We spent the weekend in Seaside Heights for a music festival that the husband was involved with.

Typepad is making me miss your last 2 posts which I hadn't gotten to read yet. Didn't Blogger give you the same probs?

[Elizabeth]

OMG Cane syrup!!! That is Southern, not Cajun and it is delicious. I wish I could find it up here. We used to eat like this: you take a yeast roll and poke a hole in it with your finger (but not all the way through) and mush the inside down so you have a little hollow, then you fill it with syrup and eat. You have made me want that so badly.

I love raccoons. We had one in our building a while ago (for those that don't know I live in Brooklyn - not exactly the wilds or even the suburbs). He came in from the roof somehow (and some jerks in our building leave the roof door open all the time). There's actually a bunch of em down by the waterfront. The dogs were pretty excited to see him and I thought about getting him and keeping him for a pet since he was pretty young, but that probably wouldn't have been a great idea. They are cute, though.

Do not be sad Co. Fly up this weekend! We're going to Coney Island Monday. Come on, it'll be fun.

[Amanda]

Ha ha! Stoner food inventions. Remember our best summer recipe when we were roommates?

1 can Grand Union (HA!) Iced Tea Mix
1 spit-moistened finger

Dip.

Yummmmmmmmmm!!!!

Sorry for the tangent.

[JDizzle]

I thought I would never grow out of the teen angst shows. I loved 90210, Melrose, Dawson's Creek. You name it! Then one day I tried to get into the OC and that was the end. I haven't been back since. Although I did hear good things about Gossip Girl.

[Emily]

I was in London recently, and came across a show on BBC that follows a group of disabled teens who endeavor to trek across the Andes. Seriously, they're dragging wheelchairs up muddy rainforest-y mountains. It was insane: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/tvradio/beyondboundaries3/

[Lioux]

My lil' sis and I used to host 'Melrose Science Theatre' on Monday nights back in the day.

We'd have like 20 of our closest BFFS over, drink some beers and comment on the episodes...

*sigh*

I miss those nights.

[Meryl Sheep]

I thought at first that moth photo was a sky-view shot of a dancer in a multi-paneled skirt. Dooooood!

[Kartek]

I too an watching the alaska experiment. I think the producers encouraged the groups to meet each other. otherwise why on earth would you hike 40 alaska miles one way just to meet some other sad folks. did i mention it was the beginning of winter and there are a ton of bears of wolves that are very hungry? yeah...i'll be sticking by the cabin thank you.

[therese]

I am still on the Teen Angst Train- I rode it all the way through the series finale of the OC, though I wish it could have ran express through season three, because that one really stunk. Give Gossip Girl another chance- the season finale didn't do it justice. Chuck is far more smarmy, amoral and awesome and Blair is a tiny Joan Collins in the making.

[sunta73]

Raccoons are such beautiful creatures. I have some awesome shots of one that got stuck in our empty dumpster out back. Poor thing, we had to aid him out with a 2X4.
In any case, I am totally addicted to watching 90210 reruns on SoapNet. LOL.
I've never seen Gossip Girl, but the commercials intrigue me...
I wanna go to Alaska one day...
Hope fiance gets home soon so you can get some of that contact you are missing...
:)

[Joshua]

Cane syrup (Steen's brand holla) and cornbread is a Southern treat, I agree. Just damned tasty.

Cajuns aren't stoners. They just love food. It shows.

Racoons are cute and all but can quickly become an annoyance. They are quite cute at how they get fat and happy living off of dumpster fare around the LSU apartments.