(no subject)

Last night, my host sat down with a pile of books in her hands and said “By the way, I do a little origami” and busted out like, A BUNCH OF GREAT ORIGAMI and some awesome books, and proceeded to show me the highlights so I could choose from among them.

I happen to have two decks of Captain America cards, and I had brought one with me because it’s always nice to have a deck of playing cards when you travel, and when I saw the “Playing Card Box” I knew…I had to make A CAPTAIN AMERICA CARD BOX.



I’m super duper pleased with how it came out. I’m going to make at least one more out of the deck I have with me. I have a collection of playing cards at home that I never quite know what to do with, so I might break into those as well when I get back.

(no subject)

I don't think I mentioned this, between the madness of travel yesterday and the madness of using this tiny broken computer that can barely load websites, but I heard back from the job I was interviewing for in Austin. They decided to offer it to someone else, which is always a bit of an ego blow, but on the other hand by the time I was done with the second interview I knew I didn't want it -- and I didn't want to have to decide between Austin and Chicago.

So I'm actually really happy they didn't offer it to me, and I think my folks are happy too. They'd like to have me in Austin, but Mum says if I'm coming home to help them in their old age I should wait another five to ten years, so I think she gets it.

In other news, I wanted to get my host something special for the party she's throwing, and she expressed an interest in Baiju, which is a kind of Asian liquor made from grains -- in much the same way that Terry Pratchett's "scrapple" drink was made from apples.

So I went to Chicago's Chinatown, to a liquor store where I was told I could reliably acquire it, but of course a lot of the signage and labels are in Chinese. So I approached the cashier, who was this older Chinese dude who clearly either owns the store or runs it, and I said, "I'm looking for some Baiju. It's a gift for lunar new year."

His face LIT UP for some reason and he got super excited, and he said, "Oh, you don't want normal baiju. For toasting! You want violent baiju!"

And what else can you say when someone suggests violent liquor to you? YOU SAY YES. So I said "Yes, show me the violent baiju!"

So I bought some Red Star Guo Tou Jiu, which is fifty six percent alcohol by volume. For reference, most vodka is 40%.

I cannot wait to TASTE THE VIOLENCE.