by a rude network outage, I was going to post this poem. But now that the (E:strip) chat has revived, I guess the poem is somewhat out of context. Regardless, I seldom waste my poetic efforts at drama.

So endure, you must.

---

So, farewell then, (e:strip) chat.

---

So.
Farewell then
(E:strip) Chat

You were
a good
friend of mine

Figures. You
And I were
usually ignored

Except that
Unlike me you
don't go to grad school

(e:Jim) perhaps
realized this
and spoke

But mostly
it was
a lonely soak

The other woman
does have
more curves.

But then Keith's mom
thinks you
might revive again.



With apologies to EJ Thribb (17.5)

---

References
1.
2.
3.
4.

Felt like a really light supper today and threw this together in 10 minutes. It's so simple, it takes almost zero effort.

1. Heat 1/2 tsp of peanut oil on high heat - 10 sec
2. Throw in some whole cumin and black peppercorns
3. Wait for the cumin to sizzle - 20 sec
4. Roughly chop red onions, toss in seasoned oil for 2 min
5. Chop green bell peppers, toss with onions for 2 min
6. Add a generous tablespoon of red chillie powder. Toss well.
7. Chop one big tomato, toss with the rest for 5 min
8. Add chopped fresh mint, cooked black-eyes peas/navy beans. Mix.
9. Squeeze half a sweet lime in and toss.
10. Serve and layer with hot tomato juice from the pan.

Yesterday's Twitter stream made me realize that, though people (well, okay, I mean (e:paul)) talk about Kuni's regularly here, I have never actually eaten there. I considered this rather anomalous behaviour and a couple explanations came to mind.

I have walked past it innumerable times so given my defective mind, I must have checked it out at some point, not liked it and thus erased that memory from my consciousness. Or maybe like one of those Tralfamadorians, not chosen to focus on the experience because of the expense or just the blandness of the food.

But the fact of the matter is I really haven't ever been there. Since I can't justify going there today, I made this for lunch.


Steamed French Beans fast-sauteed with garlic, dried red chillie flakes, Thai green chillies, split yellow lentils, white lentils, homemade spicy hummus and soy sauce. Served with a light sprinkle of coconut and lime juice.

Prep time: 20 minutes
Around $3 for 5 servings

Yes, this is exactly why eating out feels like such an unsatisfactory and unacceptable rip-off.

In fair crazyland, where we lay our scene, medicine doth not exist. There exists only faith. Heal thyself.



Now, that's some strong stuff. Hahaha

My twitter experience started out as a slightly staggered instant messaging/helpdesk/news-update platform for the online services and news sources I use for my school/professional work.

However, quite inevitably it has spilled over into a duplicate twitter account for non-work-related interest areas such as (e:strip), Buffalo and then overflowed to other virtual Buffalo denizens not on (e:strip). My mind has an (almost certainly) inaccurate map of these crazy online connections I am making. They are all over the place:



The green ticks are the people I have met in non-virtual worlds and the question marks are the unknowns. The connections are people or news sources whom I have connected to online.

I am not sure where all this twittering and friend-feeding is going (an element of time-wasting is almost certainly involved). However, my school work is definitely benefiting through my twitter window. I don't like the whole Facebook culture of one-line breathless status messaging and will always prefer wordy run-on blogs but there is an indescribable quotient of "cool" in being able to message myself with a link or post an observation and have a focused, relevant, informed and witty social commentary tacked on to it.

There is also this thrill in being able to address anyone and everyone on the network with no prefaces. It feels like a huge party conversation in which you can join or from which you can drop out anytime. I am finding that some of these conversations (especially on the school front) are involved, funny and lead to insights that are quite impossible in a formal single-track interaction with just the source material (without added benefit of a social commentary).

Overall, I feel like I have a flashy but useful tool in my school toolbox. But the strange fact is somehow Buffalo is becoming even more intimate each day even as the whole area of unknowns steadily gets bigger.