Turning Southern

On the menu for our home cooked dinner tonight were:

• Grilled pork chop
• Sauteed mustard greens
• Red cabbage and carrots slaw
• Quinoa with onions and red pepper

I must be turning Southern.

And just yesterday, at Home Depot, I caught Scott saying "Just f-eye-ine" to an employee who asked how we were doing. I couldn't stop giving him a hard time.

At least I threw in the quinoa as a nod to my California roots. And the fact that we still only eat in twice a week speaks to New York's lingering effects.

But it may just be a matter of time before the drawl f-eye-inds me.

A New Year Kick

So the New Year gave me a kick in the arse, as it should, to get motivated. Finally, I signed up for a writing class.

It was another manifestation of what’s good about Charlotte. The 6-week class cost $142, vs. the $330 I would’ve had to shell out for a similar class at Hunter College in New York, or $324 at the Gotham Writers’ Workshop. Plus, the campus is 2.5 miles away from home, which means I could bike there if I wanted.

The class is offered by Central Piedmont Community College, which I hadn't realized had such an impressive selection of Continuing Education courses. The Spring catalog is 64 pages thick, 2/3 of which is dedicated to “Job and Career Enhancement” and the rest on “Personal Enrichment.”

I could change my career by taking courses in forklifting, carpentry, plumbing, bank telling, vehicle inspection or personal training. Who knows? I could become an adept emergency medical technician if only they don’t require me to see blood.

For now, I’d better stick with the second part of the catalog.

In the Home Improvement and DIY department, the Intro to Hand and Power Tools would come in handy, then I could move on to Build an Adirondack Chair. Scott would love nothing more than The Art of Sausage-Making but I’d be more in line with Indian Vegetarian Cooking.  For Fitness and Sports I could take Pilates, Tai Chi, Tennis, Kayaking, and even Guided Sleep. Scott would register me for The Art of American Football if there were such a thing. Thank goodness there isn't.

There’s also Planning Your Home Landscape Design, which would have to wait until we have more than a 4’x5’ patch of dirt. There’s also The Night Sky: Amateur Astronomy and Stargazing, and The Fine Art of Magic – Sleight of Hand, Skulduggery and Chicanery for Fun and (Maybe) Profit, which sounds like wicked fun. (Even if I have to look up what skullduggery and chicanery mean as soon as I get off this blog.) There’s even a Couponing Workshop for $25. What a bargain!

The possibilities are dizzying, and at less than $100 a pop for a good number of them, I want to take them all. But as Scott likes to point out, I shouldn’t try to do everything at once.

So for now, creative writing it is. In the next couple of months, you’ll get to see the results.