Brown Bulletin October 2012

Brown Bulletin October 2012

It has been wonderful having Taika Sedai as our Head of the Brown Ajah, but alas, all good things must come to an end. They come to an end so that even more good things can happen! Welcome to the herding of cats Sela Sedai! We look forward to your leadership and ongoing awesomeness!

October Birthdays in Brown

• Zashara Sedai
• Eilastri Sedai
• Wil Gaidin

What's Your Favorite Hot Beverage for Autumn?

• Hot Tea 3 20.00%
• Coffee 1 6.67%
• Apple Cider 3 20.00%
• Chai Tea 3 20.00%
• Pumpkin Spice Latte 1 6.67%
• Hot Chocolate 5 33.33%
• Other 2 13.33%

The winner in this month’s poll was Hot Chocolate… However that is only because we did not include any alcoholic choices for the Ajah to choose from :lol In order to appease those that would rather have a spiked beverage I give you the…

HOT BUTTERED MAI TAI Like any good Tiki drink, this one is a little complicated to make and requires a two step process. First, you have to whip up a batch of the “mix”. Combine 4 tablespoons of softened butter with 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract. Stir in 2 tablespoons of orange zest. This is your “mix”.

• 2 oz. good dark rum
• 1 tbsp. “mix”
• 2 tsp. honey (to taste)
• hot water

Combine rum and “mix” in a coffee mug or cocoanut shell. Add a small amount of hot water at a time. Allow the “mix” to completely dissolve before adding the honey. Please Note: Don’t scrimp on the quality of the rum. Just because this is a hot drink doesn’t mean you can get away with any old rum. Just as with a regular Mai Tai, you need a rich, full-bodied dark rum, or even a blend of rums.

This month’s article is all about what the Brown Sisters are researching. While it is a stereotype that Brown Sisters are all nerdy and academic, it is not a stereotype that we love the pursuit of knowledge. Each Sister has her own interests and research projects. Here are some of the current research projects the Sisters are immersed in.

• Cassie Sedai: I'm still working on learning Swedish. I'm to the point now that I've got most of my Facebook games in Swedish now and only have to use Google Translate occasionally. I got into it for absolutely no reason at all aside from a fascination with languages.

• Guesting Accepted Mirandha: I'm researching a few different things in a quest to improve myself. I'm researching makeup and skincare, financial planning, and Jewish cooking.

Makeup and skincare because it's just something that interests me. I've always liked paying attention to my makeup, but I think I can improve in my application techniques.

Financial planning because my husband and I want to buy a house and we need to change our spending in order to save more.

Jewish cooking because I'm interested in Jewish holidays. My husband's family is Jewish (although soooo not observant) and I want to keep part of the culture in the family (even though I, myself, am not Jewish).

• Sela Sedai: For my novel, I research a lot about PTSD, the Black Plague and about the assassination of Julius Caesar. But I create my novel around the subjects that fascinate me anyway. And of course, I research the heck out of writing theory, story, heroism and literary criticism.

I also enjoy researching Abraham Lincoln and slavery--both American and international throughout time. I love stuff on Roman slaves. I actually have an epic fantasy story that explores slavery but it's on the backburner.

I love Greek mythology (tying in with heroism research) and Greek literature in general. I especially enjoy exploring the feminine archetypes throughout time, and how a female became villainized through specific actions and reactions. Clytemnestra, the goddess Hera, the Gorgons etc.

• Narysse Sedai: Well, since I've already written about it for the TVT I'll say that I got into squatching originally because I was a big fan of deciphering legends. Usually legends have a grain of truth. Well, when I saw my first squatch at Llys y Dail, and then another one in my headlights at the shop where I work.....yeah, I realized it really wasn't just an urban legend. I still have to take a giant step away from the skepticism, though--for a while after my second sighting I was convinced that it had been a feline. Right now, I'm 99% convinced one of the most severely haunted wilderness areas in New York State actually isn't haunted, but a sasquatch hotspot. Makes sense since there are loads of sightings very close to it.

I've already stared down one sasquatch. One of these days I'll get into a first contact situation.

Hopefully.

And I just realized how much of a nutter that makes me sound.

• Taika Sedai: When you're researching something as many-faced as history (or music history accompanied with music style analysis - which is what I'm doing for my doctorate) like a job, it doesn't leave much energy, or willpower, or even interest to really research anything just for fun of the learning. Or maybe the phrasing or wording makes it so: I wouldn't call my random info searches (which include reading books and searching the nets about the subject) really researching. For me that word is reserved to the thorough and deep research I'm doing for my dissertation or articles that I write about the subject. I'd use the word learning for the less thorough stuff.

What I'm learning, that doesn't specifically connect with my dissertation right now: Political history of Finland, because I feel ashamed that the details are so foggy for me. Nutrients specifically in vegetables and grains, because it got branched from my interest in gluten (that was discussed in another thread). The base reason for the interest is that I'd like to learn to eat healthy and stay healthy.

Right now that's it.

• Lillian Sedai: Right now I'm trying to find time to research ways of searching my eyelids for holes.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

• Laithean Sedai: Right now I am researching all sorts of DIY projects, survivalism, and sustainability. I’m not a big, “OMG the appocolips is coming!” kind of person, but I believe our country (yes I am specifically blaming Americans, though I know there are wasters all over the world) is extremely wasteful. There are so many projects I have seen and done, and so much we can do to make our households more self sufficient. It really is an amazing topic when you dive into it. So many of the projects my daughter and I have done so far save so much money too it is absolutely ridiculous! :lol

Alexstrasz: “Shawn pets Oz with his beard”
Shaerlyn: "Boys are fine: T sniffed W. W hissed a couple times, then T said come on I'll show you around and W said okay."
“I'm gonna be pursuing orders like a boy on prom night's pursuing.. something.”
“Youtube vortex of doom”
Keara: “I always forget that Columbus Day is a Federal holiday. Why is that? We are essentially celebrating the domination and destruction of indigenous populations by European Christians.”
Alaria: “comes from having to argue almost continuously against people who bitch at the B.C. Romans for not being Christian enough”
Keara: “I need a clone...”
Alaria: “that strange cat had never tried to get in that way - had actually never been seen on the property before - and was never seen again”

Kairina: So, I was at work today, and had a bottle of soda sitting on my desk...and normally I'm one to just take the cap off and not put it back on but apparently today I must have done so because I went to take a drink and the lid hit my lips and all I could do was wonder why the soda wasn't coming out...
Keladria: This morning I tried putting a measuring glass full of sugar into the cupboard rather than the oats that I was done with...
Alaria: I had a great Brownout the other day... But I forgot what it was before I could post it
I poured a mug of tea and wondered why I didn't smell the tea brewing... only to realize I had forgotten the tea bag
Laithean: Not sure if this is a Brown Out, or just exhaustion. This morning I grabbed a mug and poured my coffee. Onto the bottom of the upside down mug.

I hope you have all enjoyed this months Brown Bulletin. Be sure to look for the November edition for more crazy Brown antics!