c'mon ride the train

Holy crap! Do you guys realize that there are only three weeks until Christmas? Well, I did. And though most media sources are focused on how difficult the holidays will be this year, what with the recession and all, I say that there are still simple and fun ways to catch the spirit of the season. I am talking, of course, about gingerbread creations.

Last year, I made a gingerbread house, and I found the process quite inspiring. I even brainstormed the things I would do if my time and money and talent were not a consideration. Unfortunately, my talent is still a consideration, as I didn't really practice the art of the gingerbread in the off-season. So I had to go with another pre-packaged gingerbread kit. Since I already mastered the house, I decided to go with the gingerbread train.

First off, the train proved a little trickier than the house because you have to break the gingerbread into the little pieces that make up the train. One of the pieces of gingerbread broke in this process but luckily I was chewing some gum so I held it together with that. The icing was still as hard to manage as last year, but I think it was a little more delicious. Sadly, this gingerbread kit did not include any people, so I tapped into some items around the house to make it a little more special.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, I present today's Picture(s) of the Day, my gingerbread train!

As you can see, the train is covered in icing and candy. It looked quite magical on its own. But then I decided it would be a celebration train of sorts, and so it's carrying Barack Obama as a passenger. Luckily for me, my dad recycled the issue of time that had this cover image the night I did my gingerbread house, or who knows who that train would have carried. The train needed a driver, or a "conductor" as it's known in the biz. While I really don’t think inanimate objects should drive, I fortunately had a toy frog that is just the right size. Then, because there was a weird hole in the tray, and I didn't know what to do with it, I made a sign that is similar to roadway signs you may see as you travel. While any train carrying Barack Obama is probably headed for DC or Chicago (or I guess Delaware if he's catching a ride home with Joe Biden), this is a CHRISTMAS train, and as such there were only a few places it could be headed: North Pole, Bethlehem, or my hometown of Candler. And because every railroad tracks has a "wrong side of the tracks," I labeled one side of the tracks as such (not pictured).

I hope you've enjoyed today's Picture of the Day as well as the creator's commentary on it. Clearly, if James Lipton ever runs out of actors to interview, he should consider talking to gingerbread artists.

chewing gum for something to do

Trident Splash gum is becoming kind of a problem for me. Here’s the thing. I don’t even really like chewing gum. I mean, I am very good at bubble blowing, and every now and then, I like a piece of cinnamon or minty if I don’t have access to my toothbrush. But Trident Splash pulled me in with their alluring combinations of fruit flavors, such as strawberry and lime, or apple and raspberry. Here’s the twist, or the splash, if you will: The shell of the gum is one of those fruit flavors, and on the inside is a burst of the other flavor.

This gum is pretty tasty, BUT ONLY FOR FIVE SECONDS. The time in which you get the flavor splash is really the only enjoyable thing about this gum. But that part is soooo good, that I’ve become like a drug addict trying to get that hit, that little burst of satisfaction. But it’s gotta be the shortest high ever. I’ll chew the gum for five seconds, spit it out, put in another piece of gum. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

I just can’t stop. Sometimes I’ll chew the gum for a little bit, but I just think it gets so tasteless and gross, and all I can think about is another burst of flavor. One particular complication to my addiction is that I don’t have a trash can in my cubicle right now. I don’t want to be constantly reaching into this other girl’s cubicle to throw away my gum, so I’ve been adopting sort of gross ways of storing the gum until I’m in the vicinity of a trash can. I won’t really write too much about that.

Apparently this gum cleans your teeth after eating and is low in calories, so it’s better than snacking. I don’t know. My teeth hurt.

Tonight I went to a reading by Rob Sheffield, who wrote the book “Love is a Mix Tape,” which I read last year (here is my review: http://iwiggleitjustalittlebit.blogspot.com/2007/03/book-11-love-is-mix-tape.html). It was pretty fun, but low-key. He barely did any talking other than reading from the book. Readings are kind of a mixed bag when it comes to audience questions…there’s nothing worse than someone dumb asking stupid questions that just reflect poorly on your city as a whole. But no one asked any questions tonight. Is that worse than dumb questions? I don’t know. Rob Sheffield is so funny in Rolling Stone; I wouldn’t have minded hearing him wax rhapsodically about Britney Spears or reality television for awhile. But that’s kind of an odd request to frame.