Dicey Origins

24 Jan

Now that the website Dicey Weather is completely defunct and no longer on the internet, I am posting some of my articles here, just in the name of having it all in one place.

 

 

 

“What are you going to do in Reno?”

That’s the question I repetitively faced when I told my college friends and fellow Seattlites that I was moving back to my hometown. There really was no answer. I was a recent college graduate with a prestigious yet ambiguous degree in the all-encapsulating English department. After getting out of college, I struggled as a waitress, an intern and a salesgirl and ended up not finding that post-college job with the holy grail of benefits. I was broke and tired of eating Ramen and freezing to death in my subterranean apartment that had black mold growing underneath the carpet. So I gave up the jig and decided to move home.

I came back to Reno and quickly got a 9-5 job where I have my own cubicle, and I sound like a robot all day. In this economic climate though, it is impossible to complain. I bring home a paycheck, and that is really all one can ask for at my age. But, the frustration never left. What happened to being a kid and following a dream? Or being in high school and being the change you want to see in the world? Even in college, weren’t we told that first come the passions, and a paycheck will soon follow? No longer. We grow up and realize that before dreams and passions come shelter, food, and loans.

I was quietly feeling like a failure when my old friend Danguole and I took a road trip to Las Vegas. We talked about how much we wanted to explore our passions: photography, writing, poetry, music, art, nature. We didn’t want to be trapped in our day to day. We also spoke a lot about how awesome Reno is. It’s natural to rebel against one’s hometown. But now that we are older and wiser and have seen more of the world, Reno is an awesome place to be from, no matter what Comedy Central says.

There was no outlet for people like us, our age group, trying to figure out a way of life in the biggest little city. There was no publication we could really embrace. So we got to thinking about starting our own. What is truly unique and amazing about our generation is how technology has allowed us to embrace the American dream like never before. Anyone with a computer or even a library card can start their own website, their own business, do their own thing. We went from a country with local/national newspapers to a country with millions upon millions of blogs. We went from record companies and radio stations to home recordings on iMacs. You can even publish a novel at Kinko’s.

So why not us? Why not here in Reno? As Sean Astin put it in Goonies, “Up there it is their time; down here it’s our time!”

Our next step was to recruit other quarter-life crisis folks that we thought might be interested. We wooed them over casino buffets, returning from each buffet trip with more ideas to spring on them, to get them involved. So we had a handful of people who were just as excited as we were and many more who were hesitant.

How do we describe ourselves? What are we trying to accomplish? While considering a variety of names including “Hookers and Dice,” “The Legit,” and something along the lines of “Illegal Centaur,” we settled on Dicey Weather. Why? It felt right. It felt like a perfect metaphoric description of not just Reno but of our lives. You never know what the weather will be like in this town, and we do not understand or know what our lives will bring us. Maybe we’ll end up on some reality show or maybe we’ll die of swine flu. Plus, you know, Reno has gambling, so like dice. Yeah? Get it? We were tired and thought it was clever.

So similar to playing house as kids, we set up a headquarters complete with not one whiteboard, but two. We designed a logo and began to dream big. Launch parties, bumper stickers, special editions. Our lives were back on track dreaming big, and we were getting ready to rule the world.

So here we are, fellow Renoites.

 

January 23, 2011

23 Jan

Say what you will about winter. It’s cold. It’s dark. Nothing good happens. I agree. Winter kind of blows after the pizazz of the holiday season fades away. But it gives one time to work on hobbies. One of mine happens to be cooking. I’d like to be an amazing cook one day. Now I’m only so-so. I would be nowhere without All Recipes, but I’m trying to improve. I’m also trying to curve Seasonal Affective Disorder by getting back into knitting and writing. All I’m saying is expect more cooking and knitting talk for the rest of winter.

This is a chicken stir fry recipe which turned out amazing. It was just enough spicy. I added the sauteed onions and peppers to the recipe to make it more of a meal. I also served it over rice.

January 22, 2011

23 Jan

Saturday was rather hum-drum. We didn’t get home until late the night before, and it was freezing outside. So, late at night, while watching “Hook,” I got up to take a picture. The most interesting thing in the apartment at the moment was my boyfriend. He was camera-shy for probably the first time in his life which resulted in this paparazzi shot.

January 21, 2011

23 Jan

Fortuitously, I had an interview with a temp agency. They came highly recommended by my friend Kayla, and I was so miserable at the Dentist’s office that I’m willing to find any way out. Things went extremely well with the Agency. My recruiter is fantastic, and he was introducing me to practically everyone in the building. We talked about what kind of work I ideally want, what I would be good at doing in the meantime. He even introduced me to the Direct Hire team which helps place people in permanent positions. One of them mentioned a job that my experience is ideal for. Frankly, it is also a DREAM job, but I won’t go into too much detail because I don’t want to jinx anything. They had me sit in the waiting area while they tried to get a hold of the direct contact person for that position. Sitting there, I had a huge grin on my face, and I felt like doing a happy dance through the entire office. This meant I could quit the dentist office. This meant I never have to go back. This meant I AM FREE! The direct contact person was not in the office that day, but my recruiter set up an appointment for me Monday morning. As he walked me to the elevator, he told me that even if that doesn’t work out, he’ll get me a temp job at the very least, and I’ll be working right away. For the first time in months, I felt like I was finally on the right track. As I walked outside, it was freezing, the wind had picked up and snow was rushing by. But it was all beautiful! I am not petty enough to mention the dentist’s name on my humble blog (which not many people read anyways), but “Screw you, dentist-man. Screw you!”

This was the picture I took in the midst of my exhilaration on my way to the subway. The mighty Chrysler building and Grand Central lightly dusted in snow.

January 20, 2011

23 Jan

I was in that limbo of half-asleep when I realized I hadn’t taken a picture. I hate taking last minute pictures. I mean I’ve been so good about not doing that lately! Alas, here is the cheesy (no pun intended) pizza box that was sitting on my counter waiting to be recycled.

January 19, 2011

23 Jan

When it’s not deathly cold outside, I prefer to walk the extra five blocks to the 6 train instead of catching an N, Q, or R to transfer. This time on my walk, my ipod played some Billy Joel for me, particularly “Uptown Girl.” I remember when I was little, my parents made a VHS tape of Billy Joel music videos from VH1 which I watched all the time. I remember thinking how pretty Christie Brinkley was dancing around the gas station. I wanted to be an Uptown girl without knowing what one was. Now, I technically am one.

January 18, 2011

23 Jan

I sometimes find that one of the key things I look for now in a recipe is if it makes good leftovers. Being so busy with work and everything, it makes life easier if there is something at home to reheat. On Sunday night, I had made a healthy Minestrone in order to offset the tater tots and burgers we had earlier in the day. It lasted us almost the whole week! The recipe made so much that it wouldn’t all fit in the crock pot. I had to put half of it in a stove top pot. Add some Parmesan cheese and some hot sauce, it tastes like new!

January 17, 2011

22 Jan

For Christmas my mom had sent me a Gingerbread House making kit. We had just gotten so busy with holiday parties, gift shopping, our trip to Maryland that we completely forgot. So we FINALLY got around to putting it together. It was a fun little Arts and Crafts project. We each took charge of one half of the house. This is my half. I miss doing things like this. I would like to start knitting more.

January 16, 2011

19 Jan

For breakfast we tried out a diner in our neighborhood called “Big Daddy’s.” It was kitschy with good food. Their specialty is their tater tots which I quickly ordered a basketful of along with a breakfast burrito. I also saw an array of milkshakes on their menu, some of which were alcoholic. I tried making an alcoholic milkshake on my own (actually under the influence of a friend of mine) while in college, and it was disgusting. But, I am willing to give it another shot, another day, when it isn’t my first meal of the day. Anyways, Big Daddy’s gets my seal of approval.

January 15, 2011

19 Jan

For Christmas, my mother bought us tickets to go see “The Lion King” on Broadway. It was a great gift, because it is an ideal tourist activity that we would never think to investigate. I have only been in Times Square during daytime. It was strange to step out of the cab and feel like it was the middle of the day, it was so bright from all the glowing signs. The show was fantastic! This is the view  from the theatre.

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