Crickets, you're on in 5

From The Ephemerist, who lifted it from the Powell's blog:

From the blog at Powell’s Books — it’s the winning word in their OED contest — comes crytoscopophilia: the urge to look through people’s windows as you pass by their houses

Probably one the things I miss the most about New York right now. Walking home from my subway stop at 86th and Lex, then walking the 4 blocks south and 3 or so blocks east to get back to my apartment. Walking the streets of the Upper East Side at dusk, before the rich people in their townhouses have drawn their curtains for the night.

It was kind of amazing (and on certain days, a little soul-crushing) to live in that part of New York and still be so irrevocably removed from it. I will never have money like that. I will be paying off my student loans until I am middle-aged. I say 'paying off' as if I'm currently contributing to that pile of debt. I'm in the middle of a deferment... reason? Income: zero. Awesome.

The snow keeps falling. When I was in Portland in the fall, tempertatures were high and it hardly rained at all. Everyone kept saying what a phenomenon it was that the weather was so nice even in to November. I experienced a damn near 70 degree day in New York, and here I am in Michigan, in what has to be record snow fall. All extremes, all the time.

Things I did yesterday:
*Ventured to Target and bought a pair of stretchy black pants. Because I've been wearing the same ratty pair of sweatpants since I came home for Christmas (yes, I've washed them - but they still make me feel gross). You know, the pair I brought because I would only need one pair, because I was only coming home for six days.

*Attempted to make rice pudding from scratch. In a slow cooker. Slow cookers are supposed to be fool proof! This according to Judy Finlayson, author of a book slow cooker recipes that I found laying around the house. Listen, Judy, don't tell me to put the slow cooker on high and leave it for 4 hours when that is going to turn my delicious rice pudding in to a glob of dessicated rice and crusty cinnamon. This is what a rice pudding fail looks like.

*Further slashed my cooking confidence by making falafel out of a box. It was gross. Out of a box! I should have known.

*Took the online Jeopardy contestant test. For the second time in my life. It was much harder than last time. Little known fact about me: One of my ultimate life goals is to be on a game show. Specifically, a trivia-related game show. But I don't think I'll be hearing from the Jeopardy producers anytime soon.

*Watched the movie "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints" because it was free through On Demand. It was really good, I would definitely recommend it. Shia Lebouf is in it, which almost made me not watch it. He bugs me, something about the shape of his head. But he did a really good job.

I need a good book to read. I started reading Pillars of the Earth a couple of days ago, simply because it's very lengthy and I knew it would take time to read. But I just cannot get in to that sort of historical fiction. Plus, the author is primarily a mystery writer, and it shows in his lame descriptions of characters. "She had long brown hair and piercing golden eyes that seemed to see in to your soul." Setences of that nature. No thanks.

I just finished a memoir by Joan Didion. I'm kind of feeling that genre right now. Suggestions welcome. (Hey, crickets -- that's your cue to start chirping to demonstrate that no one reads this.)