as a current worcester resident, i can say that you're certainly coming to an interesting town. have you thought about coming here and doing some volunteer work for a few months? this is a really affordable place to live, you'll get to know the city, maybe meet some of your classmates, and there are a lot of opportunities to help out here. plus, volunteer work always looks good on your applications- it's probably what got me into med school.
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 10:55 AM on April 25, 2008

antonio's pizza in massachusetts makes pizza using refried beans as 'sauce' with feta cheese, avocado and peppers. it totally rocks. they also make buffalo chicken with bleu cheese dressing pizza.
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 7:29 PM on April 8, 2008

i think you have a really great impulse to go out and get experience and help people- but i would urge you to be careful. this is a really sticky ethical situation that a lot of people struggle with, but you don't want to be seen as an unqualified person practicing on poor third world people because they can't access anyone better. don't do anything to anyone in a third world country that you wouldn't to do someone in your homeland. please be conscious of this and good luck on your adventure!
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 2:35 PM on April 3, 2008

obviously there are a lot of disturbing things going on here, but i think that you have to accept that adolescence is a time when people experiment with different personality traits. i can remember in jr. high/high school people totally changing their taste in clothes/friends/music - just trial and error before they figured out how to be grown ups. since he doesn't seem to have too much in-person interaction with others, maybe he's just trying it out online.

around this... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 2:38 PM on February 10, 2008

you need 'help me mary' by liz phair off of exile in guyville. it even has roommate-appropriate lyrics. awesome song!
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 6:04 PM on January 31, 2008

if you really think this is the best way to go about this, you could try the kind of paint sold at feed and grain stores to mark livestock. it comes in day-glow colors and is totally completely permanent and non toxic. it comes in a container like a giant magic marker. having used it on goats running around in a dark barn, i can say it works pretty well.
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 7:38 AM on January 12, 2008

garden state?
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 6:33 PM on January 6, 2008

ANYTHING by MFK Fischer. she is absolutely one of the best 'food writers' anywhere, but her stuff really spills over the genre and is just about life. she also has fantastic descriptions- not just of eating fancy stuff like escargot, but also simple stuff like tangerines....reading her stuff totally changed the way i think about food.
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 5:06 PM on January 5, 2008

i think it's all about smell. if you cook something, you've been smelling it forever, and you get used to it. so go for a walk outside or even into another room for a while once the food is ready- just to get out of the smell. you'll be more interested if you get a break from it before you eat. i realized this because my family traditionally takes a walk while the turkey is resting on thanksgiving. even though i've been smelling it all day, it smells WAY better after a break.
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 3:32 PM on January 4, 2008

ojo caliente. there are 4 or 5 natural mineral pools to soak in, plus pretty setting way out in the desert, good restaurant, and mud baths. it;s also pretty close to abiquiu, which i spelled wrong, but is an absolutely gorgeous area well worth exploring.
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 6:49 PM on December 30, 2007

my favorite tradition is to listen to dylan thomas' 'a child's christmas in wales' (on the record player- cds are NOT traditional!) and drink port/eggnog/hot chocolate. it makes you feel all literary.
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 3:49 PM on December 10, 2007

whoolly crap! i remember seeing this on sesame street when i was like 4 years old! amazing! now check out the way things go.
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 9:37 AM on December 8, 2007

i can't believe no one has said this yet: POPCORN! it's cheap, low calorie and can have any number of fantastic flavors. and by popcorn, i mean the kind you buy in a jar as corn kernals and then either make;

1. in a pot on the stove (shake kernals around with some veggie oil on high heat until they pop- a good arm workout) or

2. with one of those air popper machines that you plug in. new these are pretty cheap but you can get them at thrift... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 1:17 PM on December 4, 2007

this was the guy who coined 'robot' according to my literature professor. it was an interesting play to read- i bet it would be wicked cool actually produced. especially all art deco-ish.
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 5:10 PM on November 19, 2007

if you're driving on highway 61, listen to 'highway 61 revisited'. i can personally attest that this is an awesome experience.
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 4:55 PM on November 3, 2007

make sure you see the huge "1894" style statue of the dude with the machete and the AK47. i don't remember exactly where it is, but it's in a traffic circle of a central intersection. it's commpletely surreal. You could also read "the jaguar's smile" by salman rushdie before you go
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 4:13 PM on October 26, 2007

dude. this described my exact situation last year (but no big sister to watch out for me.) but there is actually another option that you can explor: TCA treatment. basically you get your cervix washed with weak acid solution a few times (in the doctor's office, doesn;t hurt or anything). this stimulates the cervix to slough off the bad cells, supposedly. i don't think there's really any downside to it- if it doesn't work then you can go ahead and get the leep. hope that helps.
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 3:58 PM on October 26, 2007

if you can't move...a dehumidifier, maybe an industrial strength one, would at least knock it down a few notches
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 7:08 PM on October 25, 2007

i, a young woman, have sold one thing on craigslist- a dead laptop. the seller struck me as a bit creepy so i met him at a nearby borders. did i think he would DO anything creepy? no. but i don't like having creepy people in my house. sometimes piece of mind is everything. if the buyer seems wierded out by meeting you at a neutral place, you can always say that it's too complicated to give directions to your house.
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 9:09 PM on October 24, 2007

a clarification: between when we made the first agreement and when she 'changed her mind" i agreed with my new landlord to move in oct 20...mostly because i'll be away the first two weeks of oct. ..plenty of time for her to get up to all kinds of mischief with my stuff...now that rent is almost due, my roommate probably realized that she'll have to cough up twice this month as well as find someone new to rent a room.
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 4:55 PM on September 24, 2007

i would say anything on us 14- the 'turquoise trail' between santa fe and albuquerque. these places aren't as yuppiefied as santa fe but still have a lot of cool stuff going on. plus their pretty close to the big city if you need to get your strip mall fix. i turned down a job offer in lordsburg, however, because i was worried that there would be no young educated people there for me to hang out with.
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 6:48 PM on September 23, 2007

n-thing exercise- but do something you like. running makes me feel horrible about myself. swimming makes me feel great.

also, getting the right amount of sleep at consistent times: no staying up late, but also no sleeping in! this makes sense if you consider that depression is linked to the neurotransmitter seratonin which is also involved in circadian rhythms.

good luck!!!
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 4:43 PM on September 18, 2007

please tell me this is on youtube
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 4:33 PM on September 18, 2007

the way i learned was to get the car moving on level ground without touching the gas- just by lifting the clutch sloooowly. this gets the point across about how the clutch feels with no other distractions and no speed at all. once you can do it in first gear, the advanced technique is in reverse. remember to tell her that accidentally grinding the gears a few times won't break anything.

i also liked learning about the physics of how it all worked (this was especially... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 7:33 PM on September 17, 2007 marked best answer

lots of interesting answers here. especially daver and megatherium and co.
one aspect that hasent been adressed: what if the decision is between known (my apartment and crazy housemate) and unknown (another apartment and possibly crazy housemate)? that makes it hard to make lists or consider consequences. in these instances i tend to go for the unknown just for the hell of it, but this has led to disastrous consequences in the past. what would you do?
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 5:22 PM on September 11, 2007

i am currently in a crap-tastic roommate situation, so i feel your pain. but i think you're stuck. if you're gonna be there long term, you should definitely try to re-negotiate after the 6 mo are up. good luck...
posted to Ask Metafilter by genmonster at 5:27 PM on September 9, 2007