(no subject)

"Nerd" is generally accepted to mean somebody who's all geekish about computers, really good at/interested in science and math, incredibly high grades in every subject, etc.

I think it's possible to be nerdy in a completely different way.  In a thread on SA about "post the geekiest thing you own," in a page full of photographs of libraries of manga books and lifesize statues of video game characters, I posted a photo of the desk in my bedroom: a 1940s flourescent lamp, a 1940s Bakelite telephone (ok, THAT is a reproduction), an early '50s Speed Graphic, and my 1947 typewriter.  I think that layout is sufficiently geeky, you know?

Also, I know far too much about:
- Pre-1850s clothing trends
- Pre-1820s firearms
- His Majesty's Navy, Napoleonic era
- Everyday life and the general changes in society over the past 300 years, with particular interest in the 1930s through the '50s and the 1780s through the '20s
- Archaic English grammar and usage

I think anybody who's seriously considering having a Regency-themed wedding just so she gets a chance to wear a rust-colored wool and velvet spencer and her fiance has an excuse to get a naval captain's dress uniform is thoroughly geeky. 

Alterna-geeks represent!

(no subject)

Justin said "Why don't we make fajitas tonight?" and I said "OK!  Um... what are those?" and he said "Skirt steak cooked like a stir-fry and eaten with a tortilla.  Well, you're supposed to roll it up in a tortilla with bell peppers and stuff but I just eat the steak and the tortilla separately and you don't like bell peppers." So I bought some skirt steak.... and came home and found out that skirt steak is a very tough, fibrous cut that needs to be marinated.

Well shit.

I have:
Soy sauce
Worcestershire sauce
Coke, Dr Pepper, and rum
A premade "Herb & Garlic" marinade by Lawry's
Vegetable oil
Salt, pepper, that sort of thing
Two oranges that may or may not be slightly "off" by now (the outsides look fine, for what that's worth)

What to do?

(no subject)

I like listening to some of the Mexican radio stations.  They abound down here, you know.  Most of them play this particular style that has a definite "mariachi" feel to it, with horns and oom-pah and guitar.  A couple of them play your standard alternative rock, just in Spanish, which I find relatively boring. 

Most of the English radio stations around here play country music.  A few play alternative rock and then of course you have your oldies, but literally two-thirds of the stations I hear when I hit "scan" are country.

Which illustrates the point. The sort of Mexican music I like is apparently Mexico's version of country music.  It is most popular in the rural, agricultural areas of the country - which happens to be in the north.  The style of music is therefore known as nortero.

In America, country music is most popular in the rural, agricultural areas of the country - which happen to be in the south.  Country music could be (and has been) just as accurately summed up as southern music.

Right in the middle, where Mexico's north and America's south meet, where the radio stations play both country and nortero... there's Texas.

Texas is  obviously the center of all things country.