I just made the best cookies of my life, and they're made with BEER! Dogfishhead Palo Santo Marron beer to be exact. Here's the recipe:

Gingerbread Beer Drop Cookies

1 stick and 3 tbsp. butter
1 cup sugar (1/2 cup splenda)
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
4 oz Palo Santo Marron Dogfishhead beer
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsps ginger
1 tsp cloves (heaping)

Directions:

* Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and spices and set aside
* Cream sugar and butter
* Add egg, molasses, beer and beat well
* Add the sifted ingredients
* Mix until the batter is smooth
* Drop by small spoonfuls until cookie sheet
* Bake at 350 for 10 mins

Makes over 3 dozen cookies.

Out in the desert in the last light of day
We searched for the footprints of Bobby Beausoleil
And there in the desert past the LA county line
Bobby buried the canister in the middle of the night

- "Scorpio Rising," John Vanderslice

So lately I've been listening to the John Darnielle/John Vanderslice EP Moon Colony Bloodbath on repeat. It's the old tale of boy goes to Moon to guard secret clone organ banks, boy comes back to Earth and is sequestered in a luxury chalet in Colorado until he returns to the Moon, boy goes crazy on the moon and starts eating the clones. You know, you've heard it a million times before.

But this post is not about the album's high concept. It's about a verse, reproduced above, that got me thinking about one of my own high-concept and now indefinitely defunct games: my contribution to the "Nexus Hat Trick," three intertwined World of Darkness games that rayan4d2 (Werewolf), ioianthe (Vampire) and me (Mage) were running, set in the present day. None of us ever got to finish our parts of the Nexus Hat Trick, but if I had, it would go something like this:

( Spoiler space for those of you who don't want to know how Mises et Metteurs would have ended )

Obviously, one of the big inspirations for this game was Flicker, which contains a very thinly veiled stand-in for Kenneth Anger, and I think at some early point in the prep work for the game I noted the proximity of Kenneth Anger, Bobby Beausoleil, and Charles Manson in L.A. in the 60s and took note of it for The Devil session.

Anyway, to see more of my game planning notes, this entry has the early workshopping. Also spoiler-heavy:

http://mgrasso.livejournal.com/1299084.html

Ok, so, this is gonna be a longish post, I think.

A few days ago, I got an e-mail back about the zookeeper position I applied for at Happy Hollow Zoo. I didn't make it even to the interview process. I was bummed, mostly. I never imagined I'd get the job, given how scarce keeper positions are, and how many people there are (right now, especially) looking for steady positions and who have more experience than I do (two years is really just a drop in the bucket in this field), but I had thought I'd at least get an interview. The e-mail seemed to indicate that I didn't meet the minimum qualifications for the job, so I looked back at it, and I actually exceed the minimum, so I was a little confused. I wrote an extremely polite e-mail back to the person (who wasn't a zoo staffer, btw, just a San Jose city jobs HR person) thanking them for their time and consideration and asking if there was anything specific I could do to improve my chances next time. I still haven't heard anything back from that. I don't really expect to, either, but I took the chance, anyway.

Then yesterday, I wrote an e-mail to the zoo director/curator, and the person I worked under while I interned there. I figured, well, if I can't get the job, at least maybe I can help someone I know get the job. A person I worked with at the WCSV (initials JB for those on my flist who volunteer there) was really great to work with, and honestly I think she's my twin (at least in terms of how we think and our sense of humor). She was employed as a seasonal worker at the center, having to be there several days a week from open to close (no mean feat!), whereas I was only a volunteer. She also was a relief keeper for Coyote Point's little zoo. She was also applying for one of the keeper positions (either the regular one or the senior one that was available -- I only applied for the regular one). So, I wrote a little e-mail reminding the director who I was, thanking her for considering me, and then I said that since I wasn't in the running anymore, I wanted to throw my support toward JB (who I'm not even sure applied in time, but hopefully she did), and mentioned a few great things about her. I figured it's always nice to have good references, but it's probably a surprising coup to get a good unsolicited reference. :-) I haven't heard back from that e-mail, either (and I don't expect to). I hope she gets the job.

Well, anyway, today I got a call from someone else at the zoo, asking me to come in for an interview! For the Wildlife Educator position that I also applied for! Woohoo!! I am so excited I could explode. I know it's only an interview, and I really do not expect to get the job, but it is such great validation to be asked to come to an interview. I haven't been asked to come in for an interview in I don't know how long. I'm nervous, excited, pleased, bouncy. I am going to take this weekend and just enjoy the positive emotions involved in that. Then I'll worry about being nervous, and figuring out how to focus that nervous energy and not seem like some desperate wild-woman in the interview.

I need a new outfit. I'm hoping miss_mimsy can help me find something that is not only flattering but looks professional and educator-y. I also need to get my hair cut and maybe colored. Anybody in the bay area have a good stylist that knows white-girl fine-but-dense hair? (I know it's a long-shot.) I wish I was thinner. I wish I could remember everything from my resumes and interviews class. (Ok, breathe, Jenn, you'll do fine!)

So, I have to say I am a little bit confused that I wouldn't get called to interview for the keeper position, but I would get called for the wildlife educator position. I mean, you'd think way more people would apply for the educator position, and my educator experience is pretty limited, really. Honestly, I am way happier to be a wildlife educator than I am to be a zookeeper, and who wouldn't be? As a wildlife educator, the cleaning is pretty light (compared to a zookeeper), and you get to train and handle animals all the time. That is the dream job for most people in my line of work. Ok, sure, there's that whole public-speaking thing, and the whole being-social aspect to it, but it's the counter-balance to not shoveling poop and having a sore back every day.

Oh, and here's a little view inside Jenn's Head: After I got the call, I had this little fantasy that both the wildlife educator folks and the zookeeper folks got my applications, and they had a little fight about who would get me, and wildlife educators won. If my brain was really exciting, it would have been a girl-fight, in bikinis, in jello, to the Ride of the Valkyries. But it wasn't. In my head, the wildlife educator folks just said to the zookeeper folks, "Just look at her Web site! She's all about the education." And the zookeeper folks said, "Ohhh, fine, you win," and walked away in a huff.

Anyway, I just can't believe it. Not only do I get an interview, but I get an interview the job I'd rather have, and it's at Happy Hollow Zoo, where I will probably keep trying to get a job with them until they get tired of me and just hire me already. :-)

Tim knows how much I love muppets, so he sent me this link. Enjoy!

Twice in recent days, putting a small amount of money on hand to a good use, I realized something: I am bad at drawing attention to worthy causes I believe in and have given to.

I'd like to give you a nice, well-considered message reflecting detailed consideration of the issue. Alas, the issue boils down to my issue. Notably, I have no grasp on how to focus on what the need is, because I am looking for things to be fixed and not necessarily credit for doing so, and I am usually fearful of self-aggrandizement, even if that's not actually how anyone but me would perceive my actions.

Perhaps others of you have thoughts? Or is the issue, fundamentally, just that I am broken?

EDIT: My mistake -they're actually just wishing complete and total misfortune on him, his children, his wife, and any descendants - complete suffering and misery, not a speedy death. YAY CHRISTIANS! Because Jesus told us to love - except black people in power. FUCK THEM!

Seriously. How many times is this?

I hated Bush - I stand firmly by my belief he was one of the WORST leaders the U.S. ever had. I think we'll be trying to fix the damage his cronies did for a long time. I never hoped for his death - and I'm one of them thar atheists who allegedly can't know any morality because you can only be a good person if you love Jeebus.

This shit is insulting. A lotta Christian leaders seem to have pulled similar shit in the last year and it's also something that can rightly rip away tax exempt status from a church (I'm guessing the site referenced is just some asshole cashing in on his Jesus-based bigotry). There is absolutely no excuse for this. And $10 says that, during the Bush years, if someone had pulled the same shit with the president these same people would be screaming about treason and hating America.