Standing Ovation

Things That Make You Clap (For Applause):
-A good performance
-Actually, just about any performance in America in the world
-A child performing a talent
-Magic tricks that are cool
-Talent shows, even if they are more non-talent shows
-Speeches (unless they're insulting/ ridiculously bad)
-For some people, good movies

Things That Make You Clap (For Negative Energy Expulsion):
-Bad karma
-Anxiety attacks
-Contention
-Bad spirits/ houses built over Indian cemeteries
-People with bad additudes
-Paparazzi

Other Things That Make You Clap:
-Really really funny jokes
-Extreme happiness/ amusement
-Sing alongs/ a good beat
-Insects (most the flying kinds)
-Figuring out the sound of one-handed claps
-Scaring creatures smaller and/or more stupid
-Sometimes an alternative to light switches
-Calling an animal/person to attention/ to you
-In olden times, calling students to school
-In some countries, an alternative to knocking on the door
-Dancing

The End of a Year

My Favorite Christmas Day 2008 Memories :
-CNN Season 1 on DVD (unedited and unexpurgated)
-Three of my nephews playing with a clone trooper helmet
-Reading Kafka and taking a long nap
-Roxy (the German Shepherd) hiding under the dining room table
-holiday txtmsgs
-My brother, who is 31, getting excited about getting a lightsaber for Christmas
-He also gave a bunch of Star Wars themed presents to my nephews, making it a Star Wars themed Christmas overall
-My oldest niece and nephew playing spies together, and labeling my brother and I as "two really really bad guys" who stole 62 pounds of diamonds the size of an adult's heart.

My Christmas Presents:
-clothes
-CNN season one on DVD (actually it was Columbo season 5, which I had to give back to my Mom)
-fondu set
-pink flamingo slippers
-jewelry
-money
-purse
-boots
-coco mix with 2 mugs
-Trivial Pursuit

Other Memorable Moments from Christmas Break So Far:
-Reading The Great Wall of China by Kafka to my nephew Charlie as a bedtime story
-Visiting target about three times in four days
-Dinner with high school friends I haven't seen in four years
-Seeing Valkyrie and Bolt
-Showing Mom that there are bathrooms in Borders
-The lack of cooperation between myself and my hair
-My niece Quinlan's birthday party dinner with the missionaries
-My nephew Braxton whispering that Quinlan was opening my present (psst... this one is yours..!) because I didn't know what I was giving
-txtmsging my brother-in-law in binary

Christmas Break

Things That Are Awesome:
-Drifting
-Dogs
-Cats (to a lesser degree than dogs)
-Academia
-Europe
-Asia
-Books (excluding Twilight, obviously)
-Good Music
-Silence
-Good meals
-Dark chocolate
-Good friends
-Being content
-Good teas (I really like Twining's Orange Tea right now)

Things That Suck:
-Dirt/litter/trash
-Bad meals
-Bad friends (frenemies)
-Bad internet connections
-That overly full feeling after a large meal
-Soda (seriously, it tastes kind of good and that's where the good in soda ends)
-Realizing something you thought is/would be meaningful is actually empty
-Bad grades
-Not being content

The End of a Semester

Music I Listen To Regularly As of Late (AKA the Past Two Weeks or So):
-The Great Escape (Blur)
-Parklife (Blur)
-The Essential Leonard Cohen (Leonard Cohen)
-A mixed CD of classic Francoise Hardy songs
-A recording of the Grateful Dead concert on 3/31/86 at Providence, RI
-The Fats Waller Centennial Collection
-The Pan's Labyrinth soundtrack

What I Do in My Spare Time (Even Though I Technically Should Have None):
-txtmsg people
-Watch TV
-Sleep
-Eat
-Do my hair
-Clean my room (not so much lately...)
-Clean the kitchen
-Clean the front room
-Go for walks (not anymore because it's too cold)
-Call my mom
-Surf the internet (does the term 'surf' seem passé to anyone else?)
-Homework

Frustration

Things That Make Me Upset:
-Being treated like I'm a child
-Being treated like I'm ignorant
-Being told that I'm wrong
-Not being listened to when I'm explaining something
-Too much noise/confusion/business
-Being ignored
-Being told what I'm like
-Being stereotyped
-Being misunderstood (unnecessarily)
-Not being recognized
-Being insulted on particular subjects, especially with accidental insults or too much honesty

When I'm Upset:
-Silent
-Argumentative
-Avoiding (anything from the topic to the situation to people)
-Tense
-Louder laughter/ louder in general
-Sometimes more outgoing (in an attempt to ignore the problem)
-Overly emotional (especially once alone)
-Stubborn
-Mean (especially when very upset)

Procrastination

Dishes I Like to Cook:
-Chicken and Wine Sauce
-Rice (I cheat because I have a rice cooker)
-Pies (technically not a dish?)
-Quiche
-Crepes
-Cakes (from scratch)
-Oatmeal (this shouldn't really count, since I prefer recipes I've had from other people, and I only ever eat instant oatmeal...)
-Cabbage soup (I really only ever made this for a few months a couple years ago...)
-Leek and potato soup (which my roommates that year said made the entire apartment smell like leeks)
-Various mixes (anything from cake to couscous to I don't know what)
-Pot roast

Dishes I Often/Always Mess Up On:
-Pizza (something about home-made dough eludes my culinary understanding, although I was good for a while)
-Pancakes
-Cakes (from scratch)
-French Toast (I really just messed up this one time in the dorms, but it was quite awful)
-Gravy (I've only made it three times or so, in various forms, but I always do something wrong)
-Lots of other things I've apparently blocked out of my memory
-Whipping Cream (I'm too impatient to wait for it to be completely whipped, so it's a voluntary mistake)

Things I Prefer Others To Do At Meals (Especially If I Cooked):
-Cut any dish that needs it
-Pray
-Decide where to sit
-Start serving themselves/ Help themselves to seconds/thirds/whatever
-Ask for whatever I forgot to put on the table (I don't put salt/pepper/butter on my food and I forget that people do)
-Offering to help clean up, but letting me do the real work in the clean-up process
-Listening to my story about whatever I've cooked (there often is some story to tell about anything I cook)

Things I Like About Cooking:
-Feeding others
-Experimenting
-Creating something (hopefully) pleasurable
-Cleaning before and after (as long as it's my own mess)
-Coordinating and organizing a meal
-The smell of freshly baked goods
-Learning about what tastes good and what doesn't
-(For some) The history of a dish
-Eating

Things I Don't Like About Cooking:
-Being subjected to others' tastes/likes/dislikes/allergies
-Making a mess
-Messing up (it always happens, but it's usually easy to fix/hide)
-Smelly kitchens/apartments/houses from smelly ingredients
-Not making enough for everyone
-Worrying about feeding everyone (usually I actually end up with a ridiculous amount of food because of this)
-Hard-to-find ingredients

My Favorite (Home-Made) Meals:
-Grilled Sardines (at a Provencal restaurant in Paris)
-Most sandwiches from Study Abroad
-Galettes in Brittany
-Chicken and Wine Sauce (with rice, rolls, bananas)
-Home-made pizza
-Tartine with chocolate milk
-Tomato soup with a tuna melt
-Peas and Tuna (I think I'm the only one I know who likes this. You do add salt and pepper...)
-Fondue
-Pretty much any meal with friends, and most with family