(no subject)

I have two broken watches and zero functional watches. This is a problem. I have one watch with a dead battery but a functional watchband (dead as of yesterday), and one with a detached watchband but a functional battery (out of commission since freshman year). THIS IS A PROBLEM. I wear a watch all the time; I have a watch tan that I think can actually be seen FROM SPACE. I'm trying to work out if it would be cheaper + easier to order a new watch from Amazon (I have this one, which is the one with the dead battery, and a Seiko one that I can't find online. Given that it is probably $100+, I am not ordering that one) or to tromp down to one of the jewelry shops in New Orleans that the Internet says will replace watch batteries. There isn't one around campus; I think the nearest one is on Oak Street by Carrollton, which isn't too far -- oh, wait, it's about a mile, that's not bad at all; I walk further than that for groceries. The second nearest one is on Magazine, but it's way down, too far to walk; I'd have to streetcar.

Okay, important question: how expensive are watch batteries to replace? Or fixing the band? Like, I think it would be slightly more useful to have two working watches rather than two defective watches, or one working watch and one defective watch. And it doesn't usually take too long, right?

Also I am apparently sick (again) and I have a paper due Monday. FML.

win fail

GUYS GUYS. I went down to Carrollton Jewelry Shop (8127 Oak St., New Orleans, LA) to get my watch battery replaced, and they were so nice. Also they teased me for bringing my two watches in tupperware, but it was cheap! Like, to replace the battery was $7, and to fix the watch band was $2! And then right across the street was the MOST ADORABLE USED BOOKSTORE. With a very cute bookstore cat. And what should I find as I was browsing around but The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire. Which I have been lusting after, except new it's $27 and it's hard to find used for under $10+shipping. EXCEPT I GOT IT FOR $6 OMG! Also they had a huge stack of Bernard Cornwell books, though not Waterloo, alas, and also I don't have time to read them anyway but maybe later! Also various books that I pick up on instinct, despite the fact that I already own them. No Lindsey Davis, though. Also, why are all the Brother Cadfael books that turn up in used books the ones that are the seventeenth or eighteenth in the series, not the first? But one whole shelf of cookbooks! I narrowly restrained myself from buying anything except the Luttwak, since none of the cookbooks were on my wishlist. I also narrowly restrained myself from buying a Latin dictionary. Win, win, so much win. Totally made up for this morning.

(This morning: Texas, New York, and I had made breakfast plans to go to Loyola. I get up at 9:00, Loyola opens at 11:00. Waiting, waiting...and then at 12:00 New York says she doesn't want to go to breakfast anymore. Fuck me, this was the second time I'd been cancelled on after waiting for 2-3 hours in two days. I made sushi out of pure rage, and then I went to the jewelry shop, which was much closer than I'd thought.

Also Mona's, which is this amazing Mediterranean restaurant, was right there, I didn't know it was that close! Much closer than La Madeleine or the Jazmine Cafe, where we usually go. I came back to tell Texas this in great excitement, and she stared at me like I was a lunatic and said dryly, "You didn't know that?" Uh, no, sweetheart. Clearly not. If I had, I wouldn't have told you it in great excitement.)

And now I am going to attempt to make this, although with storebought broth.

(no subject)

Oh, yeah. Definitely sick again. It's probably the always winning combination of stress, not eating properly, being in a new environment/climate, surrounded by people. Ah, the back to school plague season. Nothing like it. Man, last year I mostly avoided getting sick: this is the second time. In a month.

(I'm getting some of my stress ticks back, too -- I'm picking my lips more often, for one, although sometimes that's just a bad habit. I haven't had any jaw-popping issues since the first week of school, but...well, I'm just hoping that doesn't come back, because that sucks like a son of a bitch. Same with the lockjaw. Maybe I'm not grinding my teeth anymore when I sleep? *hopeful*)

Random: I really want to buy long bamboo cooking chopsticks like these and these, but the price of shipping makes me really unhappy. Well, I suppose the second set isn't too bad, but still. Maybe they have something else that I can get at the same time so shipping isn't so high. Also, I haven't eaten furikake in years, but -- I kind of want it now. Must remember to mention it to my mother; maybe someone from the restaurant is going to Uwajimaya soon. Or maybe I can convince my roommate that for an adventure, she really does want to head out to the Asian Gourmet Market in Kenner, as they'll (hopefully) probably have both. Okay, now I'm seeing a reason to live in Seattle.

Okay, now I'm babbling. Shower, then sleep. I did a paragraph and a half on my paper, hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow.