Der Doppelgänger

Evidently, it's celebrity doppelgänger week on Facebook. I'm still trying to figure out how these things get started - first, the colors that began appearing in people's statuses (took me a while to catch on to that one...) and now this. Well, I can't think of anyone....actually, I just did. I have selected Matt Damon as my celebrity doppelgänger. Perhaps this is wishful thinking. Oh well. This trend reminded of Schubert's ominous rendition of Der Doppelgänger. Sends chills down your spine. Click the link for Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (my favorite) singing it. Whew!

Well, the chicken tikki-masala didn't turn out exactly as I had hoped. (This is what I had cooked as a surprise for Taneea.) Chicken tikki-masala is an Indian dish that we discovered while in Baltimore. The first time we went to Lumbini, an Indian/Nepalese restaurant, we asked for advice as to what to order. You guessed it, the waitress recommended chicken tikki-masala. It was so good, that every time we visited Lumbini after that day, (and I regret to say that it was more than a handful), we ordered this, along with buttered Naan. But it didn't turn out as I had planned. Perhaps, we should leave Indian food to the Indians. (How?)

OK, I miss Baltimore now. Not the parking, just the food. Oh, and the Inner Harbor was pretty nice, too. It was always nice to walk to and from school beside the ocean. Well, technically, it was the northwestern branch of the Patapsco River.

I am really glad to have had the city life experience for two years. I don't know if I could survive it long term, but it was nice while it lasted. As with many things, there are pros and cons. Pros: walking everywhere you go (good exercise and fun recreation), restaurants, shops, etc. at your fingertips, the beautiful cityscape scenery, the constant activity, the cultural emphasis, the dedicated "green-preserving efforts" (parks and gardens), and many more. Cons: you had to walk everywhere you went, there were restaurants and shops at your fingertips so it was entirely too easy and convenient to spend your hard-earned cash, the constant activity (including the shouting outside your door at 2 am from drunken bar hoppers and the sickening feeling you got when you watched your car get bumped [love taps as they were termed] from both ends as the same drunk bar hoppers pulled out of their parallel parking space), the rapacious city officials ("meter-maids") that mercilessly ticketed your legally-parked car, and the outlandish and ever-increasing property taxes and monopolized utilities. In the end, for me, the cons outweigh the pros. However, I think this depends on what city you live in. I am, though, very grateful to have lived in Federal Hill, an oasis from some of the woeful attributes of city life.

Well, we've been up near 60 degrees over the past couple of days and sounds like there is snow everywhere except for the deep south. If you look at this satellite photo, it seems as though Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia are immune to cloud cover. Poor Tennesseans. They're probably looking around at each other saying, "We got hosed, Tommy. We got hosed."

As you can see, this entry is very link-laden. Fortunately for you, I figured out how to insert hyperlinks into my posts. Anyways, I think I'm through for today. Hope all four of you enjoy reading this. At 593 words, each of you gets 148.25 words all to yourself! Speaking of words, did you find the word of the day?

Till next time.