Lost, Thai Kebabs, and Way Too Many Parentheses

Hey, remember that time we all watched this show that was so cool with its plane crash and its crazy characters and its polar bears and its scenery?  Remember that time we spent six of our, what, 80 (?) years of our lives watching that show.  (Yeah, sure, we weren't watching the show for the entirety of those six years, but it was a long time nonetheless.)   Remember that time that show ended with some bullshit purgatory/it was a dream/autistic boy watches shit in a showglobe ending?  Yeah, me too.  I'm kind of pissed.

Here's the thing, though.  I didn't want to be pissed.  And I wasn't the obvious choice for "dissatisfied viewer of the year."  I really didn't care that much, or so I thought.  And most of the time, I enjoy a series finale.  West Wing, awesome.  Friends, awesome.  Seinfeld grew on me.  Arrested Development, I get it.  The Wire, awesome.  Cosby, awesome.  Roseanne, suckfest.

And here's what makes for a suckfest finale--when the producers give the viewers a season's worth (or more, you hear that, St. Elsewhere?) of shit that's apparently not real.

Back in our glory days (I say that because we were younger and thinner, and had the world by its balls, or so we thought) at JMU, Matt and I (and Best Friend) took a film class together.  It was a genre class.  You know, westerns, film noir, musicals, crazy, etc.  Most of the movies were pretty good.  In fact, one of my all time favorite movies of all time (cliche though it may be) is one I discovered during that class, Annie Hall.  (P.S., 500 Days of Summer is like a modern-day Annie Hall, and I want to watch it 500 times.)  But back to the point.

 So there we sat, in an uncomfortable room (that used to be a swimming pool--no lie) with a bunch of pretentious "film" students.  Now, if there's one thing more annoying than an English major, it's a film minor.  Vomit, vomit, vomit.  They're all "societal norms" and "that's not how Fellini did it" and yadda yadda bullshit bullshit.  But their bullshit is somehow more grating than the bullshit that I had to endure in, say, that masochistic Faulkner class I took with Dr. Cash.   But you know what's more annoying than just a film student?  A film student who says after every film we watch in class, "Are you sure that wasn't all a dream?"

NO, ASSHOLE, IT WASN'T A DREAM!  NO RESPECTABLE AUTHOR/WRITER DOES THAT!

What was I talking about?

Oh yeah, the suckfest disappointment that was Lost.

Lame.

Lame.

Super Lame.

The ending of Lost was terrible.  Yeah, maybe not as terrible as some of the other episodes this season, but terrible.  Suckfest suckfest.  Oh, heaven?  Oh, church?   Oh, Sayid loves Shannon more than Nadia?  Oh, Jack and Juliet suddenly don't care about their kid?  Kate's still alive?  Give me a fucking break already.

The first two hours or so were fine--nice even--but the last fifteen minutes?  Man oh man, that was stupid.  Matt came up with like three better endings during the finale, and he was drunk and sunburnt!

The only thing was made the season finale of Lost redeemable was that we had these Thai kebabs for dinner, and they're really delicious.

We've made these a number of times, they never disappoint, and they're cheap to boot!

Here goes it:

Spicy Thai Pork Kebabs

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup lite soy sauce
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon lime zest
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
1-2 pounds pork tenderloin, cut into 1-inch cubes
wooden skewers (soaked in water overnight)
Veggies and fruit of your choice:  we've used onions, pineapple, apple, red pepper--you could do even more

1.  Whisk together first five ingredients.  Reserve 3/4 cup for later use.  Put remainder in ziploc bag with pork.  Marinate for 8-24 hours.

2.  Preheat grill to medium high (350 to 400 F), and heat 6-8 minutes on each side or until done.  Remove from grill. 

3.  Serve with rice and use reserved sauce as a delicious condiment.  Then just eat it off a fork, because it's so salty and delicous.

 That's what she said.

This and That

1. How is it that I'm twenty-nine years old and still manage to get shampoo in my eye at least once a week?
2. Stefan is my favorite Jeopardy! contestant in eight years.  There's nothing like the Tournament of Champions to make me feel like a complete idiot.  (Except for, maybe, getting shampoo in my eye time and time again.) 
3. Went to the beach on Sunday.  Wore sunscreen.  Still managed to burn my ass.  Time to break out the satin pajama pants. (Landed a plane on the beach.  Oh, wait. That was someone else.)
4. Have been having intense hydrangea envy while taking Mitch for walks through the neighborhood.  Decided to take action by buying and planting my very own bushes.  I'm cautiously optimistic.  If this doesn't work, I'm getting a ski mask and skulking around the neighborhood at night cutting blooms.
5. I love thunderstorms.  So do my new hydrangeas.  Mitch, however. . .not so much.
6. Thirteen more days of school, but who's counting?  Me, that's who.
7. Went to Gap and bought two more cardigans.  That's five, for the high price of $15. 
8. Mitch, still the cutest and most snuggly dog on the planet.
9. AND. . .Lost.  What the hell?  Why did I just waste six years of my life?  To be fair, I didn't care all that much.  Once I found out what the numbers meant, I was good.  But it's probably good that I didn't care that much, because I might have been heartbroken.  Every time I think of the ending I want to vomit in my mouth and spit it at Kate.  Lame.

The Real World = Lots of Great TV

Weeeeeeeeeeee're baaaaaaaaack. 

Because all good things must come to an end, our perfectly-balanced-between-fun-and-relaxing spring break is over.  I spent nine days getting my body to adjust to staying up late and sleeping in, just in time to have return to work, just in time to have to force myself to wake up early again.  Boo for waking up early.  The good news is that there are only forty-five more school days until summer.  That's really not a lot of days.

And birthday week/month is over; we ate the last vestiges of it tonight.  (PS--Here's a great gift idea. Sneak Fresh Market ribeyes into your friend's refrigerator when you are house and dog sitting.  Your friend will be forever grateful.  Muchas gracias, Cris!)  Year twenty-nine has been pretty great so far, I must say.  If the next fifty point five weeks are as lovely, I'll be a happy, happy girl.

We don't really have anything exciting happening anytime soon, but there is a certain comfort in returning to our routine.  And since we are admitted television addicts, our routine includes way too much of the tube.  Here's what we've been watching of late:

• Breaking Bad.  We (and by we I mean Matt) have been hearing about how great it is for some time, but hadn't gotten around to watching it.  Why is it so good?  In case you haven't heard of it before, here's the premise: unsatisfied high school chemistry teacher finds out that he has terminal cancer, and begins cooking crystal meth to be able to leave money for his family.  And it's got the dad from Malcolm in the Middle, only now he's an evil genius.
• American Idol.  Psych!  We stopped watching this season.  It just sucked too bad and I couldn't stomach Cara.
• Amazing Race.  This season's coming to a close, but it's been great fun.  Plus, three of the five remaining teams are ones we chose: cowboys, gay brother/straight brother, and the idiot models.  Every time we watch Matt curses the models for still being in the race, even though he picked them.  If only the Buffalo Bills could be as successful as the stupid models.
• Top Chef Masters.  This hasn't actually started yet, but it does tomorrow, and we'll be watching and loving every second. 
• Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.  Hugh and Cassie recommended this show (and Christina was raving about it), and I think Hugh put it really well when he described it as being one of the best-edited shows on tv.  And Jamie Oliver is officially one of my favorite British people. 
• Jeopardy!.  Always.  We're watching it right now.  It's 1:28 a.m.  Matt is ranting about how he would have won this game.
• Lost.  I'm really  not that interested since I know what the numbers mean, and that's all I really cared about, but I watch it anyway.  Just looking for closure, I suppose.  Tonight's episode was pretty good.  I like how Desmond and Jamie Oliver always call people Brother.  It's so endearing. 
• 60 Minutes.  We're really, really old. 
• The Pacific.  Matt's watching this; I'm not.  I'm sure it's good and all, but all those army boys all look the same to me, and I have trouble figuring out who's who.  And, yes, I'm quite stupid.
• Treme.  I will be watching this one.  The guys from The Wire doing a show about post-Katrina New Orleans?  Yes, please.
• 500 Days of Summer.  It's not a tv show, but we just watched it last night and I loved every second.  A modern-day Annie Hall, if you will.  Charming and funny and bittersweet.  Plus, it had the girl from Elf!

And here's a hump day video to get you through the day: President Obama playing HORSE--I mean, POTUS--with Clark Kellog, who is good at basketball.  (Better at basketball than damn Kentucky, who is not as good at basketball as I thought.)

UniverSoul Circus, etc.

You ready to be jealous?  Tonight, Caitie and I will be attending the UniverSoul Circus. 

Matt and I went last year with some friends, expecting it to be awful, but discovered that it is. . .AWESOME.  F'ing awesome.  Except for the elephants.  That part was disturbing.  There were shovels involved, not to mention animal cruelty.

So this year I'm taking Caitie.  She's in for a treat!

In other news:

•  I am about to wage war against pollen.  I have learned that Sudafed only works when paired with two glasses of boxed wine from Target. 
• We're heading to Matt's parents' lake house tomorrow.  I'm excited to relax and visit and eat my body weight in cheese and crackers.
• I want to go shopping.  I'm thinking Gap hoodie.  What would you recommend?
• I need to finish our taxes.  There's something about owing the state of Georgia--the same state that has furloughed me for five days--about nine hundred dollars that's making me drag my feet on filing.  Hey, Georgia!  You know what would make it easier to pay you that nine hundred?  Oh yeah!  The money from those furlough days! 
• It's gorgeous outside.  Methinks we should visit a park today.
• Lost and I have a love-hate relationship.  I think I'm ready for it to be over.  Truth be told, I only cared about what the numbers meant, and now that I know that, I'm satisfied.  The rest is just for fun, except that it seems to bring more stress than fun.
• And speaking of fun, I'd highly recommend Hot Tub Time Machine.  It's an exercise in lowered expectations, and I loved it.  But I should tell you that I hated it so that you will love it.
• Still don't care about Tiger Woods.
• And, finally, something delightful stolen from Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish.

Happy hump day to you!