I had a big post earlier but my CPU fan is held on with paperclips.

Kitchens are awesome. We've been making salads, a nice change from eggs, and the other day was completely mediterranean--hummus, babaganouj, falafel (whoever the hell made that must've breaded it in salt, because it was fucked up bad), tabouleh, couscous, and the like. I was made one of the chefs de parties by Chef Clink and thus had to pay close attention during his demonstration of plating all that stuff. After he showed four of us how to arrange everything, I had to demonstrate to the guys at my table (once they'd returned from their smoke break--everyone smokes here and it's really unpleasant) how to pipe a three-tier rosette of hummus, stick onion petals in it vertically, top it off with olives, then make a little cake out of the couscous to garnish with baby chicory... you get the idea. I assigned each person tasks and we formed a real line, passing plates down with each cook in charge of one step of the plating process. It was cool. I felt like a pretty good leader for perhaps the first time in my life.

(above: a keyboardist jamming at the Urban Space Art Gallery. at right: my keychain lover, Sidney.)

Dorm life is going well. Ashley's away this weekend though, as are most people who actually live in the area, so I really need to make some friends to hang out with when she's not here. Don't get me wrong, I've made a lot of friends from this school--it's just that they're so damn negative and just generally emo. "The living conditions here are horrible." "It's hot in this kitchen." "My life is a worthless pile of shit due to a problem that I feel the great necessity to make into one of yours." "Pittsburgh is a dying city." "George W. Bush is still the president and lots of people are dying in the desert for no reason." I'll admit that last one was mine. But seriously, people; cheer up. You hate the dorm because all you do is sit around in bed. It's hot in the kitchen because there are stoves in it. You need to quit being passive with your life and do something about the things that bother you. Pittsburgh is no less dead than any other U.S. city. You should see Houston at night. And I need to register to vote when I turn 18 in 18 days. And I need to get milk for my cocoa puffs.