Questionable

What do you call a convenience store?

One of the weird effects of chemo are the vivid dreams and meandering thoughts. Recently, I was thinking about a place about a block from my childhood house which was then an Open Pantry (it later became a restaurant and then a fraternal organization), where we would run for my dad's cigarettes, some extra milk, or, very rarely, candy or Tiger Beat for me. I don't know why I was remembering the Open Pantry. It was just a little convenience store. Then, today, Boing Boing is talking about what people call the store on the corner and I wondered what I called them. I know when I was still living in Sheboygan I called them mini-marts. Jumping forward to living in MN, I've noticed that they don't often exist without being attached to a gas station. What are they called here? Gas stations? SA? Super Americas? Holidays? We have a little store in my neighborhood, which is more like a grocery store because it includes a butcher and large foreign cheese selection and doesn't include a slurpee machine, lots of periodicals, or burritos and a microwave oven. We refer to it as the corner store. Calling these generic little shops, "the corner store", has served us well in other places, even outside the US, as people seem to know what we're talking about. So, I guess, that's what I call them now. Of course, nothing compares to a good NY bodega, which, to me, cannot be called a "corner store", because they often have an okay, cheap, quick, restaurant and seating area in addition to the grocery items.

What kind of pillow do you use?

I use the buckwheat kind of pillow for under my head. I love that I can prop up a ridge of the pillow under my neck. I also like that I can make it almost completely flat if I have a headache. I even have a tiny travel version. 

Is anyone watching the Emmys?

Why do I put myself through this?

This might be the worst Emmys ever. Except I kinda liked the Josh Groban part.

Are you going to watch the Olympics?

I have such a love/hate relationship with the Olympics. I love watching certain events like gymnastics, swimming, and track and field, but I can't stand watching NBC nightly coverage. Commercial after commercial after commercial. Last time, I taped everything and watched it late at night or the next day, but then I had to avoid all media so I wasn't spoiled. I'm guessing there is real-time coverage on some cable channel that I don't have. But, I have discovered that Macedonia is live streaming something each day. Of course the announcers are not speaking English, but if you want to check in to see what's happening live, it is an option.

What were your summer activities?

The twins are going to something called Tot Lot two mornings a week. Supervised pre-school kids hang at a park and play games and do crafts; parents are not allowed. It got me thinking about some of my summer activities (which greatly depended on age). Here's a quick list that doesn't include all the unstructured time just playing with the neighborhood kids.

Tennis lessons (which I hated and sucked)
Swimming lessons
Girl Scout day camp
Girl Scout overnight camp
Yearbook camp (The summer before my senior year; I was the editor)
Softball team
Hanging at the local park, which was staffed with older teens. We could make crafts if we paid for the materials. They also lead us in organized games. This was just something the city did and anyone could show up.
Lots of camping with the family
Spending time with my grandma and uncle (and sometimes my aunts). Grandma looked after us when my mom worked (very part-time)
Watching the boys play league softball

What were yours?

Have you ever grocery shopped in your freezer?

After the previous night's nightmare of a meal, I was dreading grocery shopping on Sunday. Even though I write about our night's out here, we eat out only on the weekends, so we do need to grocery shop. Grocery shopping has become shocking. Each time we go, it seems it gets more and more expensive. So this past Sunday, we started cleaning out the freezer looking for things to eat. We found two pork chops and a pack of organic chicken breasts. Well, that's two meals (actually more, the chicken is going in soup) we didn't need to shop for this week. Sadly, after finding these two really good things, we don't have that much expensive stuff left in the freezer. There are vegetables, vegetarian burgers, some Lean Cuisines, and maybe some frozen soup (which I think wasn't very good, which is why it got frozen in the first place). Our cupboard has already been cleaned out. We still have pasta, cans of beans, some croûtons (which I shouldn't buy, but really love), and some other staples, but not much to make a complete meal out of.

I am dreading that I'm actually going to have to start thinking about really cooking. Right now, it is easy. We have some meat, made in the oven or now on the grill, and then eat a grain like cous-cous, and a salad or fruit or nothing. But cutting back on the meat will come soon enough and then I'll have to think about more beans and such, which I like, but require more forethought. Yes, I know we could skip one of our weekend night's out, and it may come to that, but for now, we're trying to preserve our weekends and make cuts during the week. Stupid ethanol, stupid oil companies, stupid president.

What's the most embarrassing music on your MP3?

When I got my ipod, I put almost every CD I own onto it. There's a lot of embarrassing stuff on it. What's the worst? I don't know. Maybe lots of Barry Manilow. I'm sure some people who read this blog would think it is the 80's heavy metal, but I have no shame about that. Plus, now it is retro.

What about you? Old Britney Spears? Maybe the Backstreet Boys?

What do I have in common with Bono and George Clooney?

Any guesses?

What activities were you involved with in junior high?

I was watching Ugly Betty tonight and there was a tiny bit about the activities she participated in while in middle school. It got me thinking. What did I participate in? I remember high school, but what about junior high?

Let's see. I'm pretty sure I had something to do with the newspaper (more like a mimeographed newsletter). I was on the track team. I skied a lot, but that wasn't a formal club. My friend's older brother wanted me to join debate. I didn't. I should have. I'm pretty sure I refused to join student council. I know I did for the first two years of high school. Maybe that's it.

What did you use to search pre-Google?

Back in the day, I used Netscape then maybe Yahoo.

I also remember Dogpile, but my favorite was Mama (the mother of all search engines), which still exists.