Soup, underdainties, diners, "the meadows," and doing my part in shaping the federal government (in whatever insignificant way I'm allowed)

          So it's been a while. Things have happened.
          The first meeting of Soup Club last Saturday was a qualified success. We made lentil soup.
          List of ingredients (because I'm proud of myself and love sharing recipes I invented that turned out to be pretty bad ass):
carrots, celery, garlic, onions, olive oil, massive amounts of salt, black pepper, cumin, ginger, allspice, lentils, pearled barley, apple cider, and cinnamon.
          Yeah! We served it with freshly baked French bread and hot apple cider with cinnamon and cloves. A good day all around. The next Soup Club meeting is spending the day at an apple orchard, and making pumpkin-apple soup. We also decided on another future meeting, which will debut the fondue pot that Ezra and I bought. There will be some ritzy, pretentious dessert soup or another (chilled champagne-infused strawberry bisque, I think) and cocktails, and cocktail dress will be required. Fancy!
          I'm glad Soup Club is finally happening. It's been in the works for about a year now.

          On Sunday, Patricia and I decided to have a day of feeling good about ourselves. We got up at eight in the morning, which is normally something dreadful and to be avoided at all costs, but was weirdly exhilarating. We went shopping for cute underdainties, of which Patricia found many. I had less luck, but managed to find sparkly fake eyelashes to wear for Halloween (which will be spent in Vegas, baby! more on that later). Then we got our hair cut. We were tired of feeling disheveled and lank because our hair was awkward. An hour and two cheap (but quality) haircuts later, we drove back to campus in a fantastically cheerful and annoying mood. We put on ridiculous music, rolled down the windows, cranked up the volume, and rocked out while singing along to Walking on Broken Glass, attracting perplexed and irritated looks from the other drivers and pedestrians on the sidewalks.
          It was great.

          Last night, the guys and I went out to Perkins, fairly spontaneously. We just piled in the car and went. Really awesome. It's always fun hanging out with the guys, despite the fact that most of the conversational hilarity comes in the form of Mock Leta a Lot or games of Who Can Make Leta the Most Uncomfortable. I guess growing up with older brothers conditioned me to be perfectly fine with this. I always get a little stressed and high-strung when I spend too much time around women. Stereotypically female women, I mean - gossipy, scary, shallow, shrieky, astringent bundles of estrogen and PMS. It occurs to me that most of my friends (who are ladies) are women who prefer hanging out with guys.

          And tomorrow I'm flying out to Vegas. I've got an academic conference out there. I'm excited to go, which is strange, because I have virtually no interest in visiting the city. I'd probably never go myself, but with the college footing the bill and several of my friends also going - why the hell not. Halloween in Vegas ... it'll be interesting.

          Oh - and I felt all grown up and bad ass today. I filled out my absentee ballot and put it in the mail. I can now justifiably complain about the country, because I have done my part and voted!
          Nice. Get out and vote! You know you want to.