sugar cookie sans sugar, with a bit of honey.

So I couldn't tell you for sure how much of everything I put in this thing, because I didn't think much of measuring things out at 2am in the morning. Here's my guess instead.

1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp butter flavored Crisco

1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp honey powder

1 egg

2 Tbsp water

1 tsp almond extract

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

Whip the Crisco and honey powder together. Beat in the egg, water and almond extract. They won't combine well initially, but just keep beating anyway. Then mix the salt, baking powder and cream of tartar into the mixture. Beat together until it's mostly fluffy. Combine with flour and mix well, without over-stirring. Refrigerate overnight or for an hour or so.

Preheat oven to 350F. Arrange the cookie dough into cookie shapes on a baking pan lined with wax paper. Bake for 10 minutes.

lesson learned and the way things are

Do you realize in many other countries, kids as young as 4 or 5 have to take aptitude tests that determine what kind of careers they'll have as adults? That is to say...what color their collars are gonna be? Blue? White? Brown? Pink? Green even? Oh I don't know what colors they use these days.

Anyway it just hit me today that we have that here too. Except it's not anywhere near as explicit. We call it Advanced Placement/Gifted or Talented/Mid Year Programs here, designed, in a nutshell, to challenge smarter kids who are more likely to be successful in college and future careers.

Also, short notes on other things I've learned:

Numero uno:
It blows my mind but apparently measures of success have nothing to do with intelligence. We live in a society where people who daily use improper grammar in every sentence can work in the education system. Or you can have a completely successful chain of restaurants without knowing a whole lot aside. Or you can be incredibly smart as far as education goes--4.0 at a major university and be struggling to get a dead-end job or otherwise be completely at a loss to get a job.

Numero dos:
I have a very comparatively soft voice. My voice cracks when it attempts to get even half as loud as some of the more experienced teachers.

a continuation of part one

1. nostalgic
2. bittersweet
4. sentimental
3. cathartic

These describe a few of my favorite things.

On the video, I made for the Guster song and the running and the sepia and the karaoke words, I don't know that it's much of an inspiration. I just always pictured running with it. It's that song that's running through my head pushing me to go forward when I'm too tired with every repeat of

To tell you the truth, I've said it before, tomorrow I start in a new direction...
I look straight at what's coming ahead and soon it's gonna change in a new direction...

Oddly that gif of the runner I added in part one was taken from (of all places) the Dunkin Donuts website. Because...

Well in any case we just have to keep looking straight ahead. That's why those marathon runners--Akhwari and Wanjiru--are my chosen heroes for the video. One finished dead last by a long shot and the other first place. They're forever bound together in Olympic glory because neither quit. Albeit, that if you're looking for a spectator sport to watch, marathons are one of the dullest (right up there with sharp shooting). But the stories behind some of them are among the most inspiring. It's not any wonder then, that the Bible talks about finishing the race. We must persevere even when the road seems uncertain. It's all backwards and it doesn't make much sense to stay a course where things seems impossible. But the world's got it all wrong.

And on an unrelated note, did I mention that hearing certain opera songs and classical music sends chills through my spine and makes me teary eyed? I know, I know. I sound like a yuppie sap.

"...here i am a shade on the street, asking people for money to eat..."

Stereophonics - Lying in the Sun [acoustic]

Here's to social justice.

revisiting the slums

A friend told me I should prepare my heart for watching Slumdog Millionaire. I didn't think too much of it then. He was definitely right. I was heartbroken all over again for those kids. Everyday for a month, I walked those streets and there wasn't a time when I didn't come face to face with them. Singing, begging, just like that, carrying their babies and sporting their helplessness to appeal to the pathos of any unsuspecting stranger. I don't say that because I condemn their begging. They're real people. And they're the helpless victims of those who would take advantage of them.

I hope people who watch the movie can come face to face with their reality. It's not just Hollywood's world of make believe fictional characters. They are in real danger, some worse than others. And yet it blows my mind how we on this side of the world, on this side of the tracks can just watch the movie and then go home admiring the movie for its artistic genius and go on with life in our comfortable houses and our comfortable beds when they're still out on the streets a half a world away. We do it. I do it. How is that possible? And yet I feel helpless to do anything. If one day I could go back, all the things that I could do for them still wouldn't be enough.

But then it was never about doing a million things for them that may or may not make their lives any easier. It was about loving them. But how?...

a recant

So about the polaroid film rant. Ix-nay on that. Operation: "Life in polaroid film"is coming one day when the "Impossible Project" succeeds. Click on link.

I hope it comes soon because I don't much like the idea of just ebay-ing the film and possibly getting un-usable expired film after all that. Excited? I think so. Maybe not you, but I'm just crazy like that.

winnie the pooh

A horse got his head stuck in a tree a few months ago. She looks like Winnie the Pooh.

I almost feel guilty that I find the results ridiculously comical and adorably cute at the same time, because Gracie [the horse] was probably in pain for all that. Poor thing. And then I love how the news article about it ends with "It remains unclear why Gracie put her head into the gap."

Here's Gracie to the left.