Things I have learned from my first few weeks flying solo:

1. Getting the skin off a whole chicken is hard. Trackers and videogame cowboys make skinning animals look easy, but that is a LIE. Though in my defense, they likely did not have to worry about trying to cut around all the string so the chicken doesn't just fall apart in their crock pot. Just saying.
2. Finding bits of remaining viscera while doing said skinning is gross.
3. I've now also rummaged around inside uncooked poultry, with spices and sauces and things. Okay, so that's not actually something I've learned, but it is, I feel, still a landmark moment. What can I say, I usually just buy breasts or thighs.
4. Butternut squash is completely ridiculous, and probably contains less calories than it makes you burn trying to slice it.
5. Leeks are bigger on the inside than they are on the outside.

More things:

A] I made a Halloween costume! It was awesome. It was also more than a little annoying and uncomfortable to wear, but what can I say. I suffer for my art~. Unfortunately, I don't think I have any photos of it, so I shall just have to wait until someone else uploads some to Facebook.

B] Have I mentioned yet that I somehow managed to land myself on the committee of the Museum Society? It's the kind of thing that will look great on CVs, but sdkfksldfj horrifying. The entire society is run by Museum Studies MA students, of whom 100% are there on a one year program, meaning there is precisely zero administrative continuity, and each successive year is left fumbling around in the dark trying to figure out what on earth last year's committee has left them. Why... Anyway, we somehow have actually managed to register 50+ paying members, are having a fund-raising bake sale on Wednesday at which we expect to register more, are finalising the details for a day trip and personalised tour+talk to a museum in Oxford, and are In Talks with at least two possible guest speakers. What is this I don't even.

C] I have thoughts on some things I've seen going around LJ/Facebook/Twitter, mainly concerning the mocking and maligning of All Those Girls who dress up as 'slutty nurse/witch/fairy/cat/mouse/etc.' for Halloween. I doubt I can really articulate them properly, since it's 2am AGAIN HOW DID THIS HAPPEN I AM GOING TO BE AWAKE FOREVERRRR, but mostly it boils down to: not cool. It's the whole social/marketing combo... thing (see what I mean about articulation?) that deserves derision and scorn, not the girls for whom, in the absence of mega budget and/or sewing skillz and/or the time and ability to MacGuyver together household supplies into a costume, 'slutty [noun]' has become more or less the only acceptable way to dress up within their particular age bracket or social group. So... yeah. That's been bothering me.

D] Also bothersome: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. I genuinely hated both protagonists, and everything it seems like the movie was trying to sell me. I liked: Knives, Wallace, Stacey, videogame lulz, and Mae Whitman's well-deserved 'bi-furious'...ness? ...ity? whatever. Just, ugh. Nearly everyone in that movie deserved each other.

E] Also also bothersome: the way I have woken up late nearly every morning this week, with my phone clutched in my hand/under my pillow/jamming into my back and no memory whatsoever of getting up to turn off the alarm. Regular sleep schedule, please come back. I swear I'll treat you right this time. :((((