today
- gym gym gym
- shower and change
- 4-10 PM work

Hmm. In a rather weird mood. My peach pie yesterday morning came out delicious, albeit not necessary as aesthetically-pleasing as a lattice-top pie or in general, since all I did was punch a hole in the center and cut eight vents/slits. I'd forgotten to brush the bottom crust with part of the one beaten egg to "keep it from being soggy later," and the top crust wasn't as evenly brushed with egg as I'd've preferred. *shrugs* It was my first true double-crust pie, so give me a break.



Plus, I was lucky that I just felt that 8 peaches, not 10 as the recipe recommended, would be fine because the crust was bursting at the seams prior to baking. With vanilla ice cream, it is delicious, just sweet enough that I think I enjoyed this pie more than I did the apple pie I made last. The filling's syrup (peaches' juice, nutmeg, cinnamon, brown sugar, and flour) was also just right. I was also happy to say that absolutely no butter was used in this pie, even in the organic whole wheat crust purchased from Whole Foods. Mmm. I know what I'm eating for breakfast... I think, however, I will wait until school resumes to eat/make any more pie.

I look forward to baking a friend two dozen cupcakes (flavors to be specified soon) in exchange for the New Jerusalem Bible he's sending me for my theology course this semester :) It's a win-win situation because I get a textbook almost for free, he gets cupcakes, and I get to add up to two more new flavors to my repertoire.

Gym time was good earlier, and I had my favorite salad for late lunch. But I learned that I am indeed scheduled to work the very last two days I would be employed by the company, grr. I mean, at least I'm being paid, and they're 7- and 6-hour shifts, respectively, but still. *shrugs* I guess it's not bad considering that I get Friday and Saturday off for the wedding this weekend.

Brideshead Revisited had, of course, beautiful locations and costumes -- I found myself wanting to be back at school in the beginning when they were at Oxford -- and despite my friends' complaints that it was "the worst movie ever" with "no plot," I didn't think it was nearly three hours long. Strangely, the music from the trailer was never in the film itself, and I noticed that the scene in the trailer in which Sebastian accuses Charles of only wanting his sister, in the actual film the phrase is more akin to "all you ever wanted was to sleep with my sister."

The film was thought-provoking and made me want to read the novel immediately, since I figured, if I didn't go see it tonight with my friends, I'd not watch it with my friends ever before school resumes. Perhaps it was because I couldn't gauge the almost-three-hour running time, but I thought that the interaction between Charles and Julia when they were in their early twenties wasn't enough to make them automatically want to passionately rekindle their relationship ten years later... but I'm hoping the novel explains this better. And why Charles' father is droll and detached. I also want to see the BBC miniseries.

From just reading basic plot outlines, I could see why people would criticize the film for not remaining faithful to the storyline of the original novel, e.g., highlighting the romance between Charles and Julia, making Charles' and Sebastian's relationship more than just a strong platonic one (the novel is ambiguous as to how "intense" their relationship is, but Sebastian isn't overtly homosexual).

I felt like being alone and doing something creative (um, hello, finishing my card?!?) after the movie, especially because we ran into some old classmates = awkward, "How have you been? What are you up to?" conversation that resulted in some silences, standing, and blinking, but we went back to Donna's house to watch Olympic coverage. Donna poured us Cheez-Its party mix, made us finger grilled cheese sandwiches on white and wheat, sliced peaches and apples, and put out some chocolate-covered strawberries and truffles (I only had the berries) from work, so it was like an Olympics party. I was disappointed in the US women's relay, but we had fun watching and adding our own commentary to the men's all-around finals. I was disappointed to realize that tonight is the women's all-around, meaning I will be getting off work just before it starts. I don't want to miss it.

Note to self: I need to stop going out with my friends because this invariably means spending money on eating out :P D suggested sushi for lunch, but that still costs money. As much as I enjoy the Chargrilled and Fruit Salad, I realized that with tax ($6.08), it costs about 43 minutes' worth of work to buy it O_o Everytime I think I want to spend my money on something, I think about how many hours it took to earn it. A lot of the things on which I'm spending my money, however, have to wait until I return to school.