Happy Day!

Today started with dragging myself out of bed at 8am and it isn't over yet since I'm still at work. But so far my mother had a successful surgery, I got a 104 on a test in my CNA class (perfect score plus 4 points extra credit), and the film I helped out with last weekend had its official debut. So I'd say it was a pretty darn good day. Huzzah!

Starting announcements.

Blurry picture of me and Cupcake and our popcorn.

The voting sheet - our film is "The Humbled Hobo" by Black Chick Watching.

So. Busy.

I started my Certified Nursing Assistant course yesterday! And today I caught the cold from hell. Oh, the irony.

Cartoon of a boy sneezing.

In more exciting news The Humbled Hobo (aka the movie I worked on last weekend for the 48 Hour Film Project) is premiering Thursday evening! It's at 7pm at Somerville Theater in Davis Square and if you come to the premiere you can vote for us! Yay! 

I Made A Movie!

Today I helped to make a movie for the 48 Hour Film Project. Basically the idea behind the project is that filmmakers sign up and then everybody is given 48 hours in which to make their films. The resulting films are shown at a mini festival where the audience votes on their favorites. Additionally, there is a separate competition where winning entries are chosen by a panel of judges on artistic merit, technical merit, and adherence to the assignment. We're in it to win it but on a personal level I was just excited to have something new and interesting to do with myself on a random Saturday.

More about the project: Our team was led by Director Amber of Black Chick Watching. She's passionate about the representation of black women in all forms of media because, as Viola Davis said "You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there." Amber saw this film project as an opportunity to make a film centered on black women so we had an all-black cast and a crew consisting mainly of women of color. I was excited to meet so many interesting folks!

I can't act and have no experience making movies, but I'm crafty so I was head of craft services. That meant I took charge of random odds and ends like: finding some props and wardrobe items, food styling for the dinner party scene, driving lots of stuff to and from the location, providing a first aid kit, fetching medicine when two crew members fell ill, and keeping the cast fed and entertained while the filming happened. I met a bunch of neat people and had a nice time. I also got only four hours sleep because I worked the night before, which I kind of regretted after the fact. Oh well. C'est la vie.

Me, ready to film.

Makeup!

Action!

Filming.

Filming.

Food break.

Playing games in the break room downstairs.

Filming.

Filming.

Film equipment.

Dating

So I'm dating. Or rather, I'm trying to date. I found some decent photos of myself, went online, and wrote three profiles: one for Grindr, one for Scruff, and one for OK Cupid.

Logo for Ok Cupid.

Clearly I am aware that Grindr and Scruff are primarily hookup apps, but I do know that men sometimes manage to find partners on there so I figured it couldn't hurt to try. So far Grindr is full of conventionally attractive men looking for instant hookups and sending penis pictures to each other, Scruff is full of more bearish men (which is something I'm into) and some of them have responded to me with decent conversations but I haven't met anyone I've been really into yet, and Ok Cupid is mostly full of men on the nerdy side who I am not physically attracted to but who seem very compatible with me in terms of personality so maybe they'd make good friends?

I did go on one first date with someone who was introduced to me via a mutual friend. He was cute and he seemed like a nice guy, but then he ghosted me. Better luck next time?

Easter!

In honor of Easter, here's a fun youtube video that answers the question: how do monks who have taken a vow of silence sing the hallelujah chorus? (The "monks" are actually a group of high school students.)

Holy Thursday

In honor of Holy Thursday I'm posting a slam poem by Karen Grace called "Push: On Holy Thursday":

April Fools' Day Party!

April Fools cake with mashed potato frosting, cherry tomato garnishes, and vegan meatloaf interior.

Today Aquafabulous and I hosted an April Fools' Day Party at her house. The initial idea came from her daughter, who learned about desserts that look like savory foods and asked to have a party where we eat savory-looking desserts. Aquafabulous mentioned this to me, I suggested April Fools' Day as our date, and a party was born. Here's the invite text:

April Fools! This party is actually on April 2nd :)

Join Aquafabulous, Tony, and Daughter-of-Aquafabulous for a potluck feast of mysterious wonders. Bring your best "food impostors" to share - anything goes! Here are some examples:

* Desserts that look like savory food
* Savory foods that looks like desserts
* Vegan foods that look like meat, eggs, etc.
* Any food that looks like something it's not.

See how realistic you can get, and whether you can fool the other attendees.

Aquafabulous' daughter with fake burritos. Aka crepes filled with
crumbled brownies, chopped strawberries, and green-colored coconut. 

It turns out we're a pretty creative bunch! We had a small but friendly group of people there and while the adults gorged ourselves on tasty food and played cards, the kids ran around the backyard. Here are some more pictures of the food:

Vegan deviled eggs by Aquafabulous. 

Falafel cupcakes with hummus frosting and olives on top. 

Bruno with his fake bird in a nest made with seaweed, cherry tomatoes, and squash.

Savory sandwich cake with sour cream frosting and vegetable garnish.

Cake with a rainbow interior.

Another picture of the meatloaf cake with Aquafabulous showing it off.

Cupcake made fake hamburgers using brownies for burgers, cupcakes for buns, and frosting for condiments but I didn't get a photograph of them because the kids devoured them very quickly. The two of us teamed up to make candy sushi, but it was so tiresome to do that we didn't make much of it. The rice is rice krispie treats, the nori is fruit roll-ups, and the fillings are candy:

Cupcake's and my fake sushi.

I also made a savory cake with cornbread for the cake layers, vegetarian chili for the filling, and a hot sauce and honey cream cheese frosting. I decorated it with limes and cilantro:

My savory cake.

A slice of my savory cake so you can see the filling.

I realized I also don't have a photograph of the sweet sandwiches made of pound cake, frosting, and jam. Oh well.

Overall, I thought this was a great theme for an April Fool's party! I would happily do it again. It was really neat to see the creative ideas people had for their potluck dishes and I was pleased that we had a good balance of sweet and savory foods.