Walter Mitty, Gattaca, and Daydreaming about Fish

This morning I woke up ridiculously early (it's vacation week here in MA) and I started making meal plans for the day.  Let's see I bought those tasty looking red snappers yesterday on my Costco run and those are dying to be eaten (literally!) for lunch.  What do we have lying around that could get thrown in there? Slices of tomato and oranges strewn atop them as they roast in the oven with just the mildest of seasoning.  Yes that will do nicely.  Now, that won't be enough for the four of us, there are some potatoes that need to be eaten.  Nah, too heavy for lunch and it doesn't look right as I picture it in my head.  Oh!  The one-off because-its-on-sale premade tagliarini dish I bought on the same run - also not enough for the four of us.  But put them together and, voila!  

As I lay there in the predawn debating whether I should go ahead and get up, I had a nice meta moment of reflecting how much fun I was having in my head from the comfort of my bed.  The rich inner life one can have.  Now, it's always a shame to simply throw away those tasty fish bones and heads, what to do with those?  Since the fish is for lunch, I can make a simple fish stock from those bones and then use that for dinner.  CousCous?  I played out a few possibilities in my head and discarded them.  I know there are several green peppers getting old in the fridge.  Chop them up fine with a few stray mushrooms and an onion of course.  Where to go from here?  Mental finger snap (I'm still in bed half asleep).  Risotto.  Just a few shrimp chopped finely as well to complete the dish.  I pictured it served and some freshly grated parmesan sprinkled on top.  I stretch and decide it is time to start my day.  Exercise time!

My junior year, we read The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  I think it was the first time I read something for class that really struck me (well, there was Jack London's "To Build a Fire" in middle school; okay - second time).  This rich inner mental life is a thing?? I think I relate to that book in a way not intended by the author or the critics.

While running on the treadmill my thoughts, inevitably, turn to Gattaca.  I realize that one of the reasons the movie has staying power in my head is that the protagonist is Mitty-esque in that his exterior is a false projection of his own devising and in contrast to his real inner self (symbolized in that moment, on the treadmill, where his own erratic heartbeat is masked by the recording of the "metronome" beat of his friend's heart).

Then I realized one of the reasons I fantasized at length about cooking food this morning was because we just recently watching the movie Délicieux which is an origin myth of sorts for restaurants (a fantasy complete with actors pretending to cook). Then I realized the connections between Walter Mitty and Gattaca and myself. There are always two worlds playing out: The exterior one (the 'real' one) and the internal one. One informs the other - they are intertwined, but they are separate too.

And then I thought, hmmm... maybe I should blog this before I start implementing today's culinary plans?

Les Artichauts - Hearts and Minds

It wasn't until quite recently that I fully realized just how much of an impact having a French mother has made in my life.  Friends from my youth that I've recently reconnected with talk about how coming to my house was 'exotic'.  I knew that we ate differently and that other kids didn't travel overseas quite so often, etc.  But since French culture is adjacent to and heavily appropriated into 'sophisticated' American culture, it never felt so different to me!

While shopping today, I made an impulse buy so as to have something special for my upcoming birthday:

As the saying goes, if I had a nickel for every person I've introduced the humble artichoke to in my life, I'd be a rich man.  I actually ate the whole artichoke at home well before I found out about jars of artichoke hearts or having it as a pizza topping.  Irene was just telling the kids about how she'd never had one before she met me (perhaps it was this very tale that planted the idea that manifested in my so-called 'impulse buy'?)

In my French family's lore, there is a tale passed down about watching American soldiers ordering artichokes (by accident?) in a French restaurant and, after deliberating amongst themselves and entertaining the French people watching with their perplexion, they finally decide to cut the entire thing with a knife and fork right down the middle.  This punch line would invariable send my French relatives into hearty laughter.  As a kid, I laughed along at those uncultured louts.  As a young adult I was indignant and judged the French for being so judge-y.  Now, I think a people who were conquered and then freed in back-to-back conflicts on their own soil probably have a lot of issues to work out.  What I'm saying here is that artichokes are more than just some delicious vegetable to me.

I did a bit of research on the etymology of the word because in my mind the 'choke' part must be because Americans choke on it when they eat it the wrong way, right? But, alas, it is Arabic in origin and no such word play is in the history of the word.  I did however, run into this French expression which I either never learned or never properly processed:

Avoir un cœur d'artichaut ("have the heart of an artichoke") means "To be a hopeless romantic"

Well, here I am buying myself some artichokes to share on by birthday with the fam.  What does that say about me?

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Mama's Artichokes

(full disclosure, I just make 'em this way, not sure if Mom did it this way exactement or not)

-Weigh down (or wedge in) the artichokes so they are covered in water
-Throw in a garlic clove or two
-Gentle boil for longer than you think you should (leaves should come out with the gentlest tug)
-Serve centered on a plate with a vinaigrette dip on the side
-Eat the leaves one by one, slight dip and then scrape the yumminess at the bottom of the leaf off with your bottom teeth
-Lay the discarded leave in a circle around the artichoke.
-When you run out of leaves, gently brush away the yucky stuff on top of the heart with the side of your knife
-Quarter your heart and eat each piece after dipping
-offer to help your neighbor who is likely struggling

Fun Times

Here's a truth so simple that I don't usually admit it:  Working with teenagers is fun.  I mean, like, a couple of teenage boys (JK and WM) see me taking a selfie with another student and they want in on the action kind of fun (can't count how many random BeReals I've been in this year):

Handsome Gentlemen

Earlier in the year these same gentlemen grabbed some graph paper and asked me what my favorite colors were and created these works of *ahem* art.

Artwork (?)

My favorite story however is that one day I was being observed by an administrator and these two were so engrossed in their computer games that they never even noticed.  (I was going over a quiz they had  both aced hence no need to redirect them from my point of view).  Afterwards, I berated them both "Thanks a lot, guys - you couldn't be bothered to pretend to pay attention for a few minutes?"  They were both genuinely perplexed about what I was talking about... that's how absorbed they were in their games.

When I asked them if they were okay with my making this post - perhaps implying they were fans, they responded with "Oh, you have a blog?  Is it public?"

Hmmm... maybe not fans then... but still fun...

The Burden of Modeling

 "I've never turned down a modeling gig" I said to my students the other day.

Truth be told, I was asked (by SS from the Green Team) if I would like to model some repurposed, up-fashioned, recycled, hand made or thrifted clothes.  I said sure without much of a plan because I think it's cool that we have a Green Team and a Sewing Club and that they co-conspire to showcase that fashion doesn't have to be slave-wage, high turn-over, cheaply produced, environmentally unfriendly etc.

Luckily my student NC adopted me and offered to stylishly up-fashion an old pair of torn jeans of mine with some sweet patches.  Then SL loaned me a hand-made shirt she had fashioned for her husband.  Ta-Da, my slow fashion look was complete:

please do not note how this noob must look at where to put his feet during his 'walk'
Thanks to DE for providing the picture

The day before, an email was sent out to teachers to dismiss students early who were participating in the show in order to get ready.  For whatever reason, I was listed right alongside of all the students as if I needed permission.  My office-mates were mightily amused and posted this on the wall inside our office:

Fame has its price I suppose...

Day Trading, The Creation of the Universe, and Relationships

The other day, I traded a couple of stock options on margin for the first time.  I did it as an experiment to see how it worked.  I borrowed money from my broker to buy a couple of Call Options and then sold them an hour later at a modest profit.  I only made $22.95 net on the transaction but, here's the thing, I did it with nothing. In a sense, I conjured $22.95 out of thin air. Neat, huh?

While grading a recent test in my Astronomy class, I had took a moment to appreciate how cool it was that I was grading student responses to my question "What did Alan Guth mean when he said 'The Universe is the ultimate free lunch?' "  I mean, seriously, how cool is it that I get to teach about this stuff?  (And, bonus, most of the student responses were quasi-coherent!).  The answer to the question is that the conserved quantities of the universe (energy, momentum, charge, etc.) all seem to add up to a grand total of... zero.  All the energy needed to create mass seems to be compensated for by the creation of negative gravitational potential energy between the masses.  That's really profound, right?  

When you meet someone for the first time, there are no bonds of relationship initially.  No debts, credits, obligations, past practices, expectations, mutual support, love, what have you.  Over time, through conversation and shared experience, the two of you may actually create some of the most valuable items in your entire life:  a deep friendship or a loving relationship.  It's really quite amazing when you think of how impactful that intangible relationship can be!

AI generated art based on my prompts for this post

Something from Nothing: It's really a thing!