The best laid plans of Dana DeRuyck often go awry.

But that doesn't stop me from laying them.

Wait, that didn't sound right.
Oh, forget it.
Here's my new idea.

I bought these really pretty bangle bracelets (4 for $1!) from a really sweet gas station attendant in Burbank. Apparently, she realized that her clientele could be easily distracted by cheap, shiny things. I couldn't resist, so I bought a set. They came in all kinds of terrific colors, and I chose a pale goldish-green bundle.


After wearing and ogling them for a while, I realized how cool they might look strung together into a garland or beaded-curtain-esque configuration. I dismissed this, asking myself, "Where the sweet blue Jesus would I put that?"

And then I decided I would make a "curtain" of them for the little window in my kitchen. They'll look pretty when the sunlight hits 'em, will add a splash of color, but won't block any valuable natural light.

Now I just need to go raid that gas station.

BEHOLD!!!!!

CUPCAKES IN JARS!!!!!!

"Want" is an understatement.

Damn you, Yummy Cupcakes!!!

I'd also like a pack mule!!!

I have a tendency to collect quotes. I just came across a computer file with a bunch I had cut and pasted, and I came across this one:

"You can't give up hope just because it's hopeless. You gotta hope even more and cover your ears and go 'blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!'"

Futurama was so awesome.

I also came across an email that I sent out... I think it was my sophomore year of college. Yeah, because I wrote it while working the front desk at Jewett Hall. Anyhow, this was my April Fools joke that year:

My dear friends and colleagues-
I have been doing a lot of thinking and soul-searching lately, trying to figure out who I am and what I'm doing in my life. Ive been kind of out of it lately and I apologize. I think I have found the solution.
All this time, I've been trying to be someone I'm not. I've been trying to be a serious academic, and it's making me crazy. I've been under a lot of stress lately and school is the reason for it. It has always been my belief that if something is making you miserable, there is no point in doing it. Therefore, I have decided to drop out of college.
At this point, you're probably thinking, "What are you doing? You can't just quit school? What will you do?" I have a plan. Sort of. I'm moving to New York to become one of the city's many out-of-work actors/waiters. Sure, I may not achieve fame and glory. Sure, I'll probably be broke for the rest of my life. But who cares? This is what will make me happy. This is what I need.
I don't expect you to understand. However, I would appreciate your support, as this is not an easy choice to make. This is something I need to do. After all this time of putting myself through hell, trying to achieve a dream I never wanted in the first place, this comes as a huge relief to my psyche.
Thank you for understanding.
-Dana

Ha. Ha. Ha.
Irony!

Tales from the Crypt Kitchen

I'm currently too full to write anything too coherent. Just know that I've been having way too much fun in my kitchen as of late. The food currently taking residence in my tummy (and in large quantities) is this:


Oh yeah. I made that waffle. And 3 others just like it. Here's the recipe I used in case anyone's interested. Very yummy, got nice and crispy. My ONLY complaint is that they were a little damn heavy. Maybe next time I'll leave out some flour and add another whipped egg white.

Here are a few quick snaps of my "new" kitchen. (Alright, it's not new, but that big long counter-type thing is.) This is from when I was making a winter veggie soup.

It was supposed to have farro, but I couldn't find any, so the recipe said to substitute barley. So I did.
My soup started out looking like this...



(Beautiful, eh?)

... And ended up in a solid gloop as the barley COMPLETELY OVERTOOK THE SOUP.
All your broth are belong to barley.

On Super Bowl Sunday, I made a bad-ass chili (as per usual), which got very promptly snarfed down by myself and the gang (Matt, Adam, Ileana, Mer, Rhett) along with the corn casserole Adam made. He made it last year and I requested it again, as I believe it may be the absolute perfect compliment to chili. All of this was gone far too quickly to photograph. It would have all been a blur of mouths.

Matt and I have also been hard at work making our apartment both functional and awesome. He's working on tables and the cord "situation" for the entertainment area. I need to go get curtains for the bedroom as I've finally had it with blocking the sunlight that leaks through the thin white blinds every morning.
And maybe today I'll finish the living room curtains today. A girl can dream. I also decorated this crappy mirror from IKEA.

(Pardon my PJ's.)

Not so crappy now, eh?

Alright, I think I've digested long enough to go be productive.

Ummm...

Why is this woman still on my television?

Ugh.

*pours one out for Jamie*

Verrry interesting... but stupid.

NO! Just kidding. Not stupid. I just can't say something is very interesting without saying that it was also stupid.

So I have a tendency to email myself links and notes while I'm at work so that a) I stay on task and b) I don't forget them once I leave. Oftentimes they are websites, craft/recipe ideas or restaurants I want to try. They frequently get filed into my "Random" Yahoo Mail folder... never to be seen again. I forget to even look in there.

After having sent myself several links today, I decided to take a poke around and mention a few things that have caught my interest and, therefore, may catch someone else's too:

The Little Knittery in Atwater Village. They have free beginner knitting and crocheting classes on the weekends and more advanced classes for a bit of dough. Sounds AWESOME and I'm totally going. (I've got purple knitting needles and a spool of rainbow yarn. I'm ready.)

ReForm School, with their funky "home-ec classes", like Power Tool Empowerment for Women. Fucking rad.

The poutine at Animal (mid-city LA) sounds like basically the craziest, fanciest gravy fries (or "wets") in the area. And I want it inside me.

My apartment is ripe with tissue boxes. I saw this awesome tissue box cover and thought, "I want it!... No, wait, I can make that myself." So I'm gonna.

AK Restaurant + Bar in Venice (on Abbot Kinney, natch) has Scandinavian food. I don't think I've had much of that, but I love me some meatballs. WANT

The Saugus Swap Meet. I want to go there. It sounds cool. THAT'S RIGHT! I THINK SWAP MEETS ARE COOL!

The Wood Cafe sounds all cool and locally-grown, fair-trade, free-range and stuff. And they bake fresh bread all day. I want to go to there.

I'm gonna make myself one of these robes. I warrant very few people will actually see it.

This place, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab has some CRAZY interesting sounding scents. You could spend a very long time trying to read through all of them. Not that I did that. (OK, I tried to do that, but it took too damn long.)

And of course, there is Nata's Pastries, a Portugese bakery which is probably a whole 5 minutes walk from my apartment. I have been meaning to go for eons now and I always talk myself out of it on the grounds of "Do you really need pastry for breakfast?" I need to schedule to go WITH someone else. THEN it feels more like an occasion and less like me, being a pig right before I shuffle off to write about how many calories are in a Carl's Jr. cheeseburger (which is, by the way, a LOT; don't eat there). But this place sounds incredible.


Alright, enough of that. I'm off to raid my fridge for leftovers.
(Leftover Zankou shawerma and leftover Super Bowl chili = one bad-ass dinner!)

Mariah Carey? What are you doing here?

I've been having one of those days.

Well, I've been having a few of them.
(You know how days are. Always coming one after the other. Shut up, Dana. Get to the point.)

I've been thinking about what I want. You know? Every now and then, you've got to step back, review the situation (thank you, Fagin), and ask yourself "Am I on the right track to get where I want to be?" And every time, I inevitably end up saying, "No, probably not." That's probably what leads me to ask the damn question in the first place, because I know what the answer is already.

I have a really cool job. It's very neat and very fun and I like it more than I've ever liked any other paying job I've ever had. Except, of course, for that one show I got paid to act in and that one day I spent recording for World of Warcraft. Of course. Sure, one of those jobs lasted a whole 2 hours and the other about a month... but that's not the point. I was finally being paid to do what I REALLY wanted to do. You know, like if someone asked me, "If you could do any job in the world...", I wouldn't even have to let them finish the statement. I'd say, "I would like to be able to make a living as an actor."

So, I started thinking recently. I think it's partly because I've been actually working on a show for the first time since September (it was a cold, hard Fall and Winter) and it's snapped me out of my complacent, go-with-the-flow, take-what-you-get frame of mind. I've been stagnant. I need to get myself back into shape in terms of making the time/effort to audition and not worry all the time about work. "It will all work out." I've got to remember that. Just today, I was thinking about something my buddy Brian used to say: if you're feeling down and shitty, if you say "erry-tins gonnabe arry", out loud and in that horrible fake Jamaican accent, you can't help but smile and believe it a little.

Anyhow, I sat down at my computer, feeling a little bogged down by everything that I want and want to accomplish. All of a sudden, this flashed through my head:

If you believe in yourself enough
And know what you want
You're gonna make it happen
Make it happen

Mariah?
Dude, I haven't heard that song forever.
But, you know, she's right.

My boss said once that she knows that my current job is not what I want for a career. (She said this in a totally cool and accepting way, though.) I need to remind myself of that every now and then. And I've always kept myself in the "don't get your hopes up" frame of mind... but what does that accomplish? You don't hope or aspire to anything, so you don't try too hard to get what you want. I recently came across an audition posting for a show I'd love to go and read for. It's pretty out of my league and the chances are turbo-slim that I'll even get called in, but even still, I'm doing the leg-work just in case. And hell, even if I never hear from them, I'll still have brushed up my Irish accent and read a new play. So even though THAT one may not come through, I'll be more prepared in the future.

I may not have a ton of money to take a ton of classes, but the world is PACKED with knowledge. I've just gotta tap in.