Tuesday, September 27, 2011
WHY DO I--
KEEP BUYING COOK BOOKS?! well, because it's kind of fun to look at all the recipes and ingredients and stuff. BUT STILL--
Honestly, I've got more recipes than I can possibly deal with right now. I think I've ended up cooking...about four of the now 100+ recipes I've got in these books and cards. I can kind of justify it in that some of them are quite old, and many of them are actually kind of gourmet (well, for me anyway), so the recipes tend to be quite in-depth and expensive to prepare. Also, many of them require, for example, '2 cups of lard.' So yeah. But anyway, I hope to make a few this coming week, and really all of this is for when I'm living on my own / with roomies and I / we get sick of cheap ramen.
On the other side of things, work continues to drag on. I say drag this time because some of these days in the last few weeks have been more than a little depressing. Honestly, pardon my French, but we get so, so much shit in the donations. We have a dumpster that's probably 6 ft x 8 ft x 15 ft, that we all take great care to pack evenly and efficiently. We filled it from 1/3 to over-full over the entire surface in one afternoon last week. 3/5 (filthy, torn, PISSED ON), clothes, 1/5 (broken, rotting, MOLDY) furniture, 1/5 other random stuff. As the lead donations processor (i.e. lifter of the heavy and awkward), I deal with just about all of it at some point. Man...we aren't a dump. Please don't treat us like a dump. Next time, I pack it into a box in my trunk and throw it on your front lawn! AND THEN MAKE MY CAT PEE ON IT!
But honestly, the people working are doing a great job of lifting morale during all this. Everyone is working really hard, making lots of jokes, being extra-nice, etc. It helps so, so much. So enough complaining! And swearing! On to the better stuff!
I haven't been writing quite as much as I'd hoped. The night when Mom and Dad were gone was the afternoon I talked about in the above paragraph at work, and the last thing I wanted to do was anything close to working. Seriously, I'm glad no one else was home, because I worry what I would have done when Mom and Dad would have cheerily greeted me at the front door. This face comes to mind. So yeah, cook super easy dinner and do nothing that night. BUT! the rest of the week has been better. I'm about 1/2 way through that big outline of it all I was talking about. Hoo, this is going to be big. But I'm looking forward to it! This weekend when Mom and Dad are at the Celtic Festival, I'm hoping to just sit down on Friday night, heat up a pizza I bought today, and just write my deliciously cheese-clogged heart out. I plan to get one full chapter done, if not more. So wish me luck!
Unfortunately, I've given up on the Iranian accent thing for my RPG character. I've found there's no way I can do it that either doesn't devolve quickly into something probably quite racist, or is a heck of a lot of work to keep up for the many hours our weekly sessions tend to take. On the other hand, he's already caused several zombies to explode with just the power of his mind (MIND-TAKING comes later, trust me), and flown around using self-made great big bat wings with someone on his back. All-in-all, a good time!
Well, I'm going to go make my lunch for tomorrow. Envy my salami and pepper jack cheese! ENVY THEM!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Movin' along.
H'okay, this time I promise this wont be too long, as their really isn't a heck of a lot to talk about. STILL! Enough for a post. So here we go!
Work continues to roll along. Today I helped a new employee move into his home out near the Riviera. I've never actually been over on that side of the lake (that I can remember), and daaang, I out to drive randomly out there more often. It's beautiful! Based on the houses, likely fairly rich too. Bleh. Anyway, I should climb a hill up there and have a picnic or something. WHOSE COMIN' WITH ME?! C'mon!
Also, Terry, a woman I work with who was hired at the same time as me, picked out a couple of books from the big (you should see it, it's ridiculous) pile she was sorting through and recommended them to me. See, I think that she and I kind of got off to a mediocre start when we were hired, since she was a laid-off nurse with many years of excellent experience and a serious, get-things-done attitude, and I was a fresh-out-of-college guy with no retail experience who generally tended to knock over precarious stacks of donated goods. But that wasn't the bad start so much as just how dang often I tend to do something goofy when I work around her. Just one of those things, you know? Like forget a piece of something, or miss something obvious, or knock something over. Why are the hangers always at my head level?! Anyway, while we generally get along, I thought it was a really nice thing for her to do. The books are The Hidden Messages in Water and The True Power of Water, both by Masaru Emoto. I haven't picked them up yet, but I'm looking forward to it!
The story is moving along, albeit slower now. I've finished the first chapter (draft!), and, after fiddling about with a few false starts, decided to change tactics a bit. I'm now writing an outline to it all, basically a quick prompt to each chapter. I've gotten about five more chapters planned out this way, and it's really helped my codify the story better. I've had all these great ideas about things, and this has been a good way to keep up the enthusiasm while I muck through all of the necessary bits to get to them. Also, on that note, I've got a question for y'all. Would you prefer it that I keep giving you bits of the story and plot as I work on them, or would you prefer me to wait and keep it mostly a secret until a chunk of it is done enough that rereading it doesn't make me facepalm at what I was thinking? I LEAVE IT TO YOU!
On the RPG front, I didn't feel confident to try the accent yet, but I DID give my character a ridiculous awesome mustache, so...yeah. Victory, I think!
Wow. Lots of caps lock this time. Better stop before it gets WOOORSE OH NOOOO--
Work continues to roll along. Today I helped a new employee move into his home out near the Riviera. I've never actually been over on that side of the lake (that I can remember), and daaang, I out to drive randomly out there more often. It's beautiful! Based on the houses, likely fairly rich too. Bleh. Anyway, I should climb a hill up there and have a picnic or something. WHOSE COMIN' WITH ME?! C'mon!
Also, Terry, a woman I work with who was hired at the same time as me, picked out a couple of books from the big (you should see it, it's ridiculous) pile she was sorting through and recommended them to me. See, I think that she and I kind of got off to a mediocre start when we were hired, since she was a laid-off nurse with many years of excellent experience and a serious, get-things-done attitude, and I was a fresh-out-of-college guy with no retail experience who generally tended to knock over precarious stacks of donated goods. But that wasn't the bad start so much as just how dang often I tend to do something goofy when I work around her. Just one of those things, you know? Like forget a piece of something, or miss something obvious, or knock something over. Why are the hangers always at my head level?! Anyway, while we generally get along, I thought it was a really nice thing for her to do. The books are The Hidden Messages in Water and The True Power of Water, both by Masaru Emoto. I haven't picked them up yet, but I'm looking forward to it!
The story is moving along, albeit slower now. I've finished the first chapter (draft!), and, after fiddling about with a few false starts, decided to change tactics a bit. I'm now writing an outline to it all, basically a quick prompt to each chapter. I've gotten about five more chapters planned out this way, and it's really helped my codify the story better. I've had all these great ideas about things, and this has been a good way to keep up the enthusiasm while I muck through all of the necessary bits to get to them. Also, on that note, I've got a question for y'all. Would you prefer it that I keep giving you bits of the story and plot as I work on them, or would you prefer me to wait and keep it mostly a secret until a chunk of it is done enough that rereading it doesn't make me facepalm at what I was thinking? I LEAVE IT TO YOU!
On the RPG front, I didn't feel confident to try the accent yet, but I DID give my character a ridiculous awesome mustache, so...yeah. Victory, I think!
Wow. Lots of caps lock this time. Better stop before it gets WOOORSE OH NOOOO--
Monday, September 5, 2011
The bits so far!
Hey y'all! Not a whole lot to write at the moment, but hey, I promised. So! Here's what's going on.
Right now, I'm working on two separate pieces. The first is the story I was talking about in the post last week, which has now reached about 2000 oft-rewritten words.
In a nutshell, so far it's about an old man with a very set, uninteresting life (a secluded fisherman who fishes for survival rather than trade) who, after a bad storm, stumbles across a drowned body in the small harbor where he beaches his boat. He tries to pull it to shore to give a proper burial before the 'body' proves it's still alive in a suitably surprising (still revising this part) way. The formerly dead body says several things in foreign languages before surprising the old man by speaking his own, then collapses into a fit of laughter upon hearing where he has ended up before falling unconscious.
I have a lot more planned, but I don't want to give up too much of this until after I've gotten some of it down, and tt's likely the general plan will change somewhat between drafts. Soon, hopefully, I'll have a version of it to send around to all of ye. It's nothing particularly original, but I think it'll be interesting all the same once it's been fleshed out a bit. Who is this mysterious man washed up on the shore? And what could those odd tattoos over his back and shoulders possibly mean? Should the old man take him in and nurse him back to health?
Well he'd better, or else the story ends here, and I'd be miffed to say the least. >:C
The other is a bit of what's known as 'fluff' for a character I'm working on for an RPG campaign a friend of mine (Max Brooke for all you who came down for graduation) is running this fall. Without going into it too deeply, in RPG terms 'fluff' is character background and explanation that generally has a negligible effect on the overall abilities or mechanics of the character itself beyond how the person playing the character should act (as opposed to 'crunch', which would be all of the character's traits, abilities, equipment, etc. and affect how effective the character is in moving through the world.) It's all done on paper (or in this case, via computer), and it's a load of fun with the
Anyway, the campaign basically has the player taking the role of either a famous legendary figure from history or a modern-day wizard folks who summon and control the hero. The goal is to have them beat the heck out of both each other and various characters the creator has made until one is left as the victor. Some examples of heroes that have fought before (it's one of those 'happens-every-decade-or-so' things that the participants work hard to keep secret from the public) include Hercules, King Arthur, Cú Chulainn, Medea, Gilgamesh, Medusa, and many, many more.
I tried to find something off the beaten path, so I'll be playing as Jābir ibn Hayyān, the most influential Alchemist of the age and one of the first practical alchemists ever to live (remember the Philosopher's Stone from Harry Potter? One of the biiig goals of alchemy was making that, among other things.) Don't feel bad if you don't know him, I didn't either. Real interesting guy though, have a look. Anyway, using the bit I've found about him, I need to write a brief story of his life and experiences from his point of view, filling out the bits that aren't known and generally just making him into a real human character. You know, someone you'd want to buy a beer with after a hard day at work. I'm almost done with the first draft of this, and really enjoying it. I'm debating whether or not to learn an Arabic accent for when the campaign actually starts though. Thoughts on the matter, anybody?
Whew. On to real life! Work continues to grind on at Hospice, nothing real exciting to say there. Tomorrow's likely going to be nuts as people bring in all of the post-Labor day garage sale leftovers, so at least it'll move along pretty fast! Here's hoping for slightly cooler weather. :)
Also had a wonderful time at the Sonoma Mountain Zen Center Bazaar this Saturday. I'd been meaning to go to the center for literally like half a year now (apologies to Kate for that), and it finally worked out. Mom, Dad, and I drove down there to meet Kate, eat some tasty food, gawk at the beautiful, terribly expensive wares, and generally just have a heck of a good time. Mom keeps talking about how it was way out in the boonies, but it didn't feel like we were that far out to me, and honestly I kind of liked how quickly one could get out of the city of Santa Rosa into such lovely scenery. Oh well, hopefully I'll be able to spend the night over there and go to a real program soon.
Today (Monday) Uncle Doug took us out on a tour of the Cobb Geysers and facilities, which he had a major part in building from the ground up in the 80's. It's pretty incredible up there, both in just how pretty the landscape is and in just how much work has been done up there. He says it's incredible in the winter, when the cold air makes all of the steam from natural and built steam releases condense into these huge clouds that just cover the landscape. Could you imagine just walking along a pine valley and having big gouts of mist and steam flowing out from under rocks and dead needles? Sounds amazing, hope I'll be able to go some day. Then we went back and barbequed, which is, in my opinion, the best (and ONLY) way to end a good trip like this one.
Weeelll, I guess that was actually plenty to write about. Think I'll put off finishing that last bit of background work for Jabir until tomorrow, and go make my lunch. Talk to you all soon!
(A Buddhist monk walks up to a hot dog cart. The man selling the dogs asks, "What'll it be, buddy?" The monk places his hands together and respectfully bows his head before replying, "Please, make me One with Everything." Bah dum tish!)
Right now, I'm working on two separate pieces. The first is the story I was talking about in the post last week, which has now reached about 2000 oft-rewritten words.
In a nutshell, so far it's about an old man with a very set, uninteresting life (a secluded fisherman who fishes for survival rather than trade) who, after a bad storm, stumbles across a drowned body in the small harbor where he beaches his boat. He tries to pull it to shore to give a proper burial before the 'body' proves it's still alive in a suitably surprising (still revising this part) way. The formerly dead body says several things in foreign languages before surprising the old man by speaking his own, then collapses into a fit of laughter upon hearing where he has ended up before falling unconscious.
I have a lot more planned, but I don't want to give up too much of this until after I've gotten some of it down, and tt's likely the general plan will change somewhat between drafts. Soon, hopefully, I'll have a version of it to send around to all of ye. It's nothing particularly original, but I think it'll be interesting all the same once it's been fleshed out a bit. Who is this mysterious man washed up on the shore? And what could those odd tattoos over his back and shoulders possibly mean? Should the old man take him in and nurse him back to health?
Well he'd better, or else the story ends here, and I'd be miffed to say the least. >:C
The other is a bit of what's known as 'fluff' for a character I'm working on for an RPG campaign a friend of mine (Max Brooke for all you who came down for graduation) is running this fall. Without going into it too deeply, in RPG terms 'fluff' is character background and explanation that generally has a negligible effect on the overall abilities or mechanics of the character itself beyond how the person playing the character should act (as opposed to 'crunch', which would be all of the character's traits, abilities, equipment, etc. and affect how effective the character is in moving through the world.) It's all done on paper (or in this case, via computer), and it's a load of fun with the
Anyway, the campaign basically has the player taking the role of either a famous legendary figure from history or a modern-day wizard folks who summon and control the hero. The goal is to have them beat the heck out of both each other and various characters the creator has made until one is left as the victor. Some examples of heroes that have fought before (it's one of those 'happens-every-decade-or-so' things that the participants work hard to keep secret from the public) include Hercules, King Arthur, Cú Chulainn, Medea, Gilgamesh, Medusa, and many, many more.
I tried to find something off the beaten path, so I'll be playing as Jābir ibn Hayyān, the most influential Alchemist of the age and one of the first practical alchemists ever to live (remember the Philosopher's Stone from Harry Potter? One of the biiig goals of alchemy was making that, among other things.) Don't feel bad if you don't know him, I didn't either. Real interesting guy though, have a look. Anyway, using the bit I've found about him, I need to write a brief story of his life and experiences from his point of view, filling out the bits that aren't known and generally just making him into a real human character. You know, someone you'd want to buy a beer with after a hard day at work. I'm almost done with the first draft of this, and really enjoying it. I'm debating whether or not to learn an Arabic accent for when the campaign actually starts though. Thoughts on the matter, anybody?
Whew. On to real life! Work continues to grind on at Hospice, nothing real exciting to say there. Tomorrow's likely going to be nuts as people bring in all of the post-Labor day garage sale leftovers, so at least it'll move along pretty fast! Here's hoping for slightly cooler weather. :)
Also had a wonderful time at the Sonoma Mountain Zen Center Bazaar this Saturday. I'd been meaning to go to the center for literally like half a year now (apologies to Kate for that), and it finally worked out. Mom, Dad, and I drove down there to meet Kate, eat some tasty food, gawk at the beautiful, terribly expensive wares, and generally just have a heck of a good time. Mom keeps talking about how it was way out in the boonies, but it didn't feel like we were that far out to me, and honestly I kind of liked how quickly one could get out of the city of Santa Rosa into such lovely scenery. Oh well, hopefully I'll be able to spend the night over there and go to a real program soon.
Today (Monday) Uncle Doug took us out on a tour of the Cobb Geysers and facilities, which he had a major part in building from the ground up in the 80's. It's pretty incredible up there, both in just how pretty the landscape is and in just how much work has been done up there. He says it's incredible in the winter, when the cold air makes all of the steam from natural and built steam releases condense into these huge clouds that just cover the landscape. Could you imagine just walking along a pine valley and having big gouts of mist and steam flowing out from under rocks and dead needles? Sounds amazing, hope I'll be able to go some day. Then we went back and barbequed, which is, in my opinion, the best (and ONLY) way to end a good trip like this one.
Weeelll, I guess that was actually plenty to write about. Think I'll put off finishing that last bit of background work for Jabir until tomorrow, and go make my lunch. Talk to you all soon!
(A Buddhist monk walks up to a hot dog cart. The man selling the dogs asks, "What'll it be, buddy?" The monk places his hands together and respectfully bows his head before replying, "Please, make me One with Everything." Bah dum tish!)
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