Marital Resonance Imaging?

I was listening to NPR this morning while getting ready for class, and heard a story about a possible alternative to the lie detector test, which uses a functional MRI to track a lie while it's taking shape in the brain. I know, what a boring thing to post about. But, then I heard this little bit, about the type of people who are actually lining up to prove their innocence:

"We have had a huge number of people contact us with regard to sexuality," he said. "In other words: 'I am being faithful to my partner, but he doesn't believe me.' That's a common complaint. Interestingly, it is mostly women who are calling and asking to do this."

Hmmm, so you're willing to pay about $10,000 (the approximate cost of a session), to prove to someone that you're not stepping out on him. Gee, what a healthy relationship. Seriously, if you had to pay TEN GRAND to prove to someone that you're not lying, would you stay with that person? Because, ummm, isn't trust supposed to be one of the cornerstones of a loving relationship, or something like that? I had this one boyfriend, who among other totally fucking crazy things, wanted me to actually show him my paystubs to prove that I was waitressing instead of, I don't know, prostituting myself on the corner. Needless to say, we're not together anymore. I certainly didn't shell out $10K to prove to him that I wasn't getting dressed up in my sexy apron and tie every night for a hot date. Someone who is willing to do so just baffles me. I mean, for you, lovely readers, is there anything that would possibly make someone so attractive that you're willing to go to such lengths?

P.S. Yes, I know that the title of this post is really lame. Just getting that out of the way.

Oh, the mysteries of life

That thing, right up there, above this sentence, is my heater. And the very tips of my toes, but those aren't important to this post. As you can probably see, it's dusty, and it lives under my hardwood floor. My flammable hardwood floor. And it gets really really hot, and clangs and bangs under my floor like it's going to explode at any moment. This is how I heat my house, which has suddenly become important, since it went from summer to "holy shit, it's really cold out there" in about five minutes flat. I haven't turned on said heater yet, because despite all the clanging and threats to explode, it doesn't actually do much. This, to me, is one of the mysteries of New Orleans. In a place with such a crazy climate, there's little to no climate control in these old houses, of which mine is one. Yes, it gets to over 100 degrees here, and yet I only have two little window air conditioners. And despite popular belief, it gets cold too. For example, the other day when I woke up it was only 58 degrees in my bedroom. And yet, despite my house being a six-room shotgun, there is only one little heater, which basically means that my bedroom feels like a sauna, and the rest of the house like a freezer. Can someone explain this me?

Holy crap!

So, I know that I said I was going to train for a marathon (or a half-marathon. Brief aside: if I'm going to do the training and everything, is it a cop-out to only run halfway? Or does that make me a slightly saner person?), but I haven't run since Saturday. I have good excuses though. For one, I keep getting shin splints. If you don't know what they are, it feels like you cracked your shin bone in half. It's a small bone, and it hurts when it feels broken. And I have a midterm coming up tomorrow. I thought that it would only involve about 300 pages of reading, but it was more like 500, or possibly 600. So, I've been busy and cranky too. But anyway, the other day I picked up a friend at the airport, and I thought to myself "let's just use our little mileage thing, and see how far it is." So I did, and I drove to the airport, and then back to her house near Broadway, and it was only about 28 miles. I say "only" because I thought it would be a lot further away than that, and I was discouraged to know that if I did a full marathon, I would have to run to the airport, and back to Broadway, approximately. Because that's a long f-ing way to run. And now I think that maybe I was crazy to think that this was possible, especially with a leg bone that feels broken. But, I signed up for law school, so that makes me crazy anyway. So why the hell not?

Thursday Thirteens!

So, we've arrived at Thursday Thirteens, where you get 13 random facts, tidbits if you will, about whatever I'd like to tell you about. This idea certainly isn't mine, and originates with this blog, which I found by way of another. So, for our first Thursday Thirteens, since I'm currently starving and thus only really interested in eating, I give you thirteen restaurants that I must visit before leaving NOLA. This is, of course, not an exhaustive list, because I plan on eating my way through the city before I'm done. But, to start:

1. Crepe Nanou - as CJ said on Top Chef, if there were another Spice Girl, she'd be Crepe Spice, because the ladies love crepes. As I am a lady (what? I am, stop laughing), I'm no exception to the rule, and plus, I've heard good things about this one.

2. Mr. B's Bistro - I've had a gift certificate to this restaurant since August 25, 2005. Well, that worked out really well, as you can imagine. And since they didn't reopen until quite recently, and since trying to get Max to dress up even a little is an exercise in futility, I still haven't used it. But, I have a promise that he'll come with me next week, so things are looking up.

3. Sucre - maybe this isn't technically a restaurant, since they only serve sweet things and dessert, but it just looks so pretty! And sugary! And I love pretty, sugary anything (except for marzipan, that stuff just tastes a bit odd), so there ya go.

4. Cafe Atchafalaya - it has a giant frying pan on the side of the building. I mean, how cool is that?

5. Lola's - Mmmmm, sangria. Oh, and I hear the food's pretty good too.

6. Crabby Jack's - everyone keeps telling me that they have the best po-boys, and yet, I have yet to try them. So, it's on my list.

7. Upperline - it's just such a cheerful looking place, and I hear that the duck there is fantastic. And I love duck, especially when it's done right, because otherwise it's just sort of tough and boring.

8. Commander's Palace - well, that's an obvious choice.

9. La Petite Grocery - I've heard SO MANY good things about this place that I must try it. And hopefully it'll be around for a while, since the building has already housed a flower shop and a grocery store.

10. Acme Oyster - I just feel like it's one of those institution-type places that I have to visit. Plus, the last time that I had a raw oyster I was 10, and you can't reallly appreciate that sort of thing at such a young age.

11. Cochon - I dunno, I drive by it every other day or so, and it looks good.

12. Brennan's - I was supposed to go here two weeks ago for brunch, but then my visitors realized that they hadn't brought the necessary clothing choices, so I didn't. But I want to, darnit.

13. Bennachin's - little West African place in the Quarter. Since I believe in trying everything once, and since their menu looks quite interesting, I'd like to visit this place sometime. Plus, I once read in a "review" of sorts on a local site that it was a great place to refuel after a little afternoon delight. Interesting.

Progress!

Sort of. My second "I made a crazy decision and will be sticking to it" run was today, and I ran...the same amount that I did yesterday. But it was better! I didn't feel like I was gonna pass out, and I sprinted the last few blocks. So, progress. I'll take it where I can get it.

Update: Marathon (Wo)man

Woot! I have started "training." As my friends Abs said of her own start last week, it really just involved running while thinking about the race, so not really a training program as of yet, more like my normal Tuesday afternoon, but with different thoughts. But anyways, I managed to run a whole 1.45 miles (per this website, which is actually pretty nifty), which is, well, not that impressive. I will point out though, that the always brilliant me decided to go at 4:30 in the afternoon, when the "feels like" index is still at 89 degrees and the humidity is 80%. This must be what they mean by "working smart."

Marathon (Wo)man

Hola readers! Look at all these posts that I'm writing! After such a long absence! And so enthusiastically!

Okay, enough of that. Suffice it to say that I'm in a better mood today. And I've decided...to run a marathon! Well, a half-marathon actually. We'll see how it goes. The idea of 26.2 miles kind of makes me want to run away in fear. Probably the not the type of running people envision when you say "marathon." But 13 miles sounds manageable. Or at least not terrifying. So I've decided to run the Mardi Gras Marathon, which, as it turns out, isn't actually during Mardi Gras season at all, but afterwards. Because, let's face it, even the most serious fitness nuts are either (a) hung over, (b) burnt out, or (c) both, on Mardi Gras, or the two weeks preceeding it.

Am I crazy? You might be wondering that (or maybe you're not. Maybe you don't care about my state of mind. In that case, why are you at my blog? Because I talk about myself, a lot). Well, maybe I am. After all, my last post on running was less than enthusiastic. It took the promise of Bloody Mary's and silly costumes to even get me up that early. And then I walked, and it was only a 5k. And I smoked the whole time. And yes, it's possible that I only have a vague idea of the definition of cross-training, and up until about 6 months ago my only exercise was some variation of cigarette-to-mouth lifting. But I've taken up jogging recently, and I've found that (gasp!) I like it. So why not?

Plus, it'll make me exercise, and god knows that I need to work off the excesses that I've been indulging in since I moved here two and a half years ago.

Just one of them days

I'm having a bad day. I just thought I'd put that out there. As much as the phrase makes me die a slow death inside every time that I hear it, I think I'm just having a case of the Mondays. Like one of those days where you have no bullshit tolerance, it's gone before you even get up in the morning, and then little by little you're beaten down by the smallest bullshitty things, that normally wouldn't even bother you. Like when I went to the Sav-A-Center today on Tchoupitoulas, and it was closed, for no real reason that I could discern, and I actually screamed in annoyance. And then I had to go across town to the other Sav-A-Center, but it's now a Rouse's, or something like that, and in my irritated state, I immediately disliked it because they wouldn't take my Sav-A-Center card, because they have "Everyday Low Prices" and dammit, I like my little keychain card, and I felt like I was getting a raw deal. And it was crowded, and two people ran into my cart and didn't even apologize. And then I got stuck in traffic, and almost got into an accident because the douche in front of me was driving like a douchey tool. And then my dinner, that I worked on for an hour and twenty minutes, was so spicy that I couldn't even eat it, and I really like spicy food, so it must have been really really spicy and it didn't even make me feel better that Max said he liked it. It was one of those days. So thanks for listening. I sort of feel a little better now.

You can blame the cable company this time

Okay, so I know that I said I'd have a new post up on Thursday, but for once, I actually have a good excuse for my lateness. See, on Wednesday afternoon the cable line outside of my house fell down, and it didn't get repaired until about an hour ago. So, I couldn't post, or check my email, or watch TV (horror of horrors! Does Cox not know how many good (trashy) shows are on between Wednesday and Thursday night? I mean, seriously, my TIVO is busy). So, in short, ya gotta wait till next Thursday, because it wouldn't be Thursday Thirteens (where I give you, lovely reader, thirteen facts about whatever I please, which in most cases, will be thirteen facts about me, because this is my blog and I am my own favorite subject) on a Sunday, now would it?

Smooches!
Liza Jane

Sweet Anticipation

What am I? I'll tell you what...busy. And a crappy blogger, because I haven't given my half-dozen readers anything to look at for a very long time. Since September 8th, as a matter of fact. So I'm here to tell you that I'm coming back on Thursday, because I've found a sweet posting idea to steal, and since I've had too much to do to also have an original thought lately, that's as creative as I get for now. Until then, fare well, lovely readers.