Time and the desire to write

This may technically be on the same day as the last post, but I wanted to include a few more things in the record. As of now my neck injury sustained at eagle mountain is receding. This is good, as the neck stiffness was getting old fast. Thank science for adrenaline and the like to allow me to complete the day of tubing fun times.
Feeling better today, as I predicted, because of sleep, a steven king book i began reading and some decent breakfast. Not helped, of course, by the terribly buggy nature of fallout new vegas. Really wish I did not have to rely so exclusivley on auto saves. Maybe its for the best, I should continue reading my book. Oh, just remembered that my wrist also stopped hurting this morning, which is awesome because that was a major annoyance. I think thats all, not too much else to mention, good night and good luck.

elportalo updato

good day today, went to el portal with brianna marquardsen and andre under the pretext of getting new tires for my car, got some ink for my printer, finished atlas shrugged, also got a tea kettle and a sauce pan. Pretty sweet, am I right? Kinda tired now though, all christmased out because of the late night nature of our christmas-seafood dinner tonight and the resultant present opening. Also, andre, stop reading this over my shoulder because that is not even that funny. I am way more funny than you. No, in reality. The presents were great, I love being with the family and all that but I think I may just need some time to myself. I seemed to get that alot more in st. cloud than I do here, understandably, so I think the excessive human contact is wearing on me somewhat. Kind of bummed over all, hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow. Yeah, sleep and a new book will do that much for me. Nothing I cant handle.
Anyways, I am really looking forward to the yearly twilight zone marathon coming up on new year. I hope to go bowling as well, possibly as a family activity, but it may not happen...I dont know, it would be fun I think.
Oh, for future reference, by myself, I did really well this last semester, so I should do that again this next one. Straight A's in this critical semester before my summer REU applications go out is a great thing as far as my competetiveness in the selection process. I simply want to put this to writing that I must study just as hard as I did before, probably harder, in order to keep this up, because a 3.5 gpa by the end of my collage career would be a great acheivement for me. There, that is my goal I am embarking upon this very night: 3.5 gpa or better by may 2012.
Awesome, well, the writing wasint all that well...written, however I think I've decided that this is basically a record of MY life, so few people read this it may as well be a personal diary, I simply find this easier to do than writing in a physical one. In that sense I care less about my prose. It's theraputic in a sense, much like the meditation I do sometimes which I should really get back to doing. Right now, I think I'll just focus on my new book, my now aching wrist and sleep.

Holiday Spirits

What ho, my friends, I come bearing gifts for all! Yes, you guessed it, the gift is my prose; the prose which you have come to look forward to each day, due to my daily update promise, to bring your day to new, uncharted heights. I will say right now that I NEVER go back on a promise. Which is why I have been updating several times in a month, if you're lucky. Well thats all on that subject, lets move on to something new that happened to me recently. Lets take today, for instance.
I'm beginning to lose faith in my brother and his issues he's dealing with. Initially, he was standing ready to receive a loan of some notable sum from me to help pay for his engagement ring, however at the last minute he decided not to rely on my help but instead opt for getting the money from my father. I guess it is nice having all my monies open for eating at el portal many times for this next week, however I still feel off...as if I missed an important bonding opportunity with my brother, who has always been somewhat distant from me since childhood. As if this is some kind of expression as to how uncomfortable he is relying on his brother rather than the parents. I hoped to kindle this trust, as we had been associating much more ever since he came back from an academic year in St. Petersburg.
Well, in any case, I am very satisfied with life at this time. Of course, there could always be more family, more friends, more solitude, but as those factors often conflict, I should simply be thankful for what I have at this time of the year. Goddamn though, its really freaking cold in this house. I'd like to change that, haha.
Almost done with Atlas Shrugged. I know, I can almost hear you say "its about time! you first told us about that in september!" Yeah...After blowing through the first portion the second portion bogged down with excessive philosophical jargon. Slogging through that took some time, in addition, I had found myself working much harder at University this year than I usually do. And, as a result, I received top marks in all my courses. This I suppose is favorable to completing a book quickly, but none the less I would like to move on to another. I believe I will read a simple, trashy novel, possibly a tom clancy, steven king or dean koontz. Getting Shrugged under my belt is great, but I just need some time to relax with what I read for awhile; something I dont fall asleep after reading literally 2 pages. Ah! reading is so amazing. So is Fallout: New Vegas though.
Kind of upset about some of my older friends I havent had the chance to hang with recently. Over the summer I was with mike, zach and leah quite alot, however now they seem to deliberatly ignore or bypass my company. For instance, Mike went to Tron in theaters without even asking me if I might come with. Other than that he just seems to seldom return my calls. I dont know, I may have been a shitty friend throughout the semester, but I've been working my tail off in my course work and really havent spent time with much of anyone. I simply embraced my solitude. Hard to come back to a friendship after four months of virtually no contact, I guess. Oh well...I've done it before, I suppose I'll have to go through the favor song and dance once again, just like after spring semester '10. Buh. Well its been fun talking to you, oh intangible person whom shall never read this, wish me luck in my relationship frustrations. Oh did I mention my romantic illusions? I didint? shucks, well, for another time, I will be off to sleep soon.

Circadian

I woke up at 230 am today. It is not as bad as it sounds, as I did go to bed at 8 pm last night. I feel like an elderly man, but really, waking up early is so much better than staying up late in every way, there is really no comparison at all. So, I did what any chemistry student would at 230 in the morning: put on a pot of coffee and worked the homework. I worked on my proposal, fleshing out my abstract, results and conclusion sections and, at around 430 am I walked downstairs for my 3rd cup of coffee to see my roommate chris still awake. Naturally, I realized this to be the perfect time to play axis and allies, as the intricate board game takes only 3-4 hours to play and I clearly had that time until 8 am, when I had to show up at wick science building to preform some science. However, he seemed to want to sleep! some people are actually tired at 430 in the morning! imagine that! So, alas, I as not able to play the board game crowding my obsession. I still have 3 hours till I must leave for campus...I am really at a loss, I suppose I will check out some of my AFST 250 materials. Thats my deal for today, hopefully I'll be able to stay awake until 5pm or so...but what happens of import after 5pm? Why not just change my schedule over completely to a ridiculously early morning one? It kind of fits for most of my classes, plus I can concentrate so much better at this time and it would totally screw with my roommates' nocturnal behavior. Food for thought, per se. Thanks for reading.

The Interblags

Well, not too much has changed on my front over here. I'm still reading Atlas Shrugged and it is still amazing. I forgot to bring it to my house for two days and it was missed dearly for both days we were parted. It's that good. Read it. Anyways, other than those two days,and I say this in complete seriousness, my life has been fan-freaking-tastic. There is really nothing that could make it better, save school starting sooner. Well, on second thought, I can't really say that the two days were totally terrible. I went down to the dugout with my roommates to make common decks of magic cards for about 3 dollars, which is always fun.

"Mr. Rearden," said Francisco, his voice solemnly calm, "if you ... saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood... his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down on his shoulders – what would you tell him to do?"

"I...don't know. What...could he do? What would you tell him?

"To shrug."- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

TITLE

My, my, what a titillating title. Anyways, I moved more things to my house yesterday, including all my favorite books, my desktop and another chair. Plus we hung up this massive picture in the living room which has been in the family for awhile, mostly in the sense of people desiring to get rid of it. In addition to all that, I may have found a solution to the whole terrible heat of the house, as is well known by Ryan, I know you're reading this. My dad and I pumped some R-22 refrigerant into an old A/C unit we had at the hardware store. The thing has a slow leak, on the scale of months rather than days or hours. Plus the thing will actually fit the wall unit on our house, wheras the current device is far too small in is most likely running inefficiently as a result. But enough of that, I almost died last night! The rain and wind was so terrible at around 830 last night that I almost came to a stop on I-94 because I had zero visibility. Needless to say, I made it home alive regardless, but while I waited for the storm to die I bought a copy of rise of nations for myself. When I went home I proceeded to LAN with my brother and nuke some computer nations senseless. Fun times. Hopefully D+D tonight, we'll see.

The Longest Update Wait

So, in my gracious magnanimity, I have decided to update this obscure blog among blogs. Much has happened since I last updated. I went to the greyhound bus museum in Hibbing, MN. I biked on the mesabi trail in northern Minnesota. I conquered the world, in both the modern age and in the classical age as Alexander the Great. I found some sweet glasses which perfectly match my prescription. I moved into my house. I did some research for Dr. Lidberg at SCSU. Well, that is most of what I have been up to. Oh, forgot to mention I'm reading an amazing book which I highly recommend to ANYONE. The title is Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. I have been addicted to this book for the last 11 days. The addiction is almost as bad as when I read The River of Doubt. Anyways, I am about 1/3 through and already I know the rest will be as high-quality as the beginning. Read this book. It will change your perception of the world. It's already done that to me. SO yes, I will try to update more often from now on, I really do like writing on this thing. It's almost like a journal. But, to whoever reads this still, adeiu.
PS, woah, did you ever have one of those days when you wake up, put something on and only realize what you're wearing like half-way through the day? That just happened to me. Hell, I could have been wearing a porcupine for hours and not noticed at all.

Watch

Thousands of watch alarms screaming in the night, as if to beg utterance to the horrors of night went un-witnessed by the inhabitants of this abode. The shrill piercing of the alarm drives deep into my soul suddenly, at much the same time it always does each night. However, with each watch found, there is another, in some deep corner of the house, which remains hidden, despite all mortal effort. Beep, Beep, Beep. Their tones are equivalent, but their mournful songs are innumerable. Each face broken, arms crushed, displays in shambles, but still crying out in the same ululating dirge for what seems like ages. It makes one consider, however fleetingly, how they got there. Who, if anyone, wore them? How their appendages were broken and left to scream in the darkness until their last gasp of H2SO4 within the battery carries charge. It quickly draws one to the human condition. Crying out simply to be heard; to give utterance not so much to a thought, but to be known, to be watched. To be known of, to be cared for, to be useful to someone other than themselves. A small malfunction separates the lonely device from the universe for the sheer reason that greater powers have decided that a watch is for nothing but to be watched. But the consistent answer is one of rage. The watch, they say, is beyond repair. Far too cheap to justify repair or individual attention. So the watch goes forth once again. Is it really any wonder why they are forgotten? It is set upon a table and forgotten, by all but the one who listens; who hears their sad, nocturnal pleas There is no solace for this listener of watches, for this listener would rather be a listener to television than to mournful watch alarms.

holy updates, batman!

Huh, I've lost all capacity to write about things...Logged onto blogspot and end up with nothing interesting except describing my thought process. I have been reading alot lately. Read both Brave New World and The Emperor of Scent basically in the space of my last update. Both turned out to be great reads. The first I read out of a curiosity, the second I was effectively forced to read, with my mom pestering me nearly every day, I really had no choice in the matter. What I found remarkable with The Emperor of Scent is that it gives a detailed description of the scientific peer-review process. The book is about a man called Luca Turin who advances his theory on how the nose detects odors. His theory is that the nasal receptor proteins act like electron-tunneling microscopes in that they take a molecule and pass electrons through its bonds. The amount of energy the electron looses can be read as a wave number, thus rendering a unique smell. This is contrary to the well established theory that our nose contains receptors for each smell conceivable: one smell to one receptor. His scientific pursuit along with the common personal references and humorous dialog make this a great read. Brave New World was great, as I am a man of dystopian fiction. I feel as though I was connected with the 'savage' character in that I picture myself as a person between established societal extremes of solitude and communal-ism. In the old society in the book, the exclusion from community activities is looked upon as punishment, whereas in the advanced society, solitude and independent thinking is eliminated in favor of continuous activities involving more than one person. That alone horrified me about this dystopian novel. Being forced to be with people all the time under threat of expulsion from the community? Quashing all novel thought with mindless entertainment? Well, that is already on its way, its not being imposed through drugs and public policy yet, but it seems believable to me. That, my friends, is truly terrible. To me, at least. There, that was a pretty beefy update, I am quite proud of myself, readership. Until next time.

"daily"

The whole 'updated daily' thing has turned out to be more of a subjective item on this blog. Hey, but who's complaining? I sure am not. No complaints from abound, so we're good. Well, I've been cooking the last few days. I made a mean stir fry dish for the family, I plan on making it again tonight. I'll post pictures of that later tonight I think. Other plans for the near future are camping on Tuesday, no idea where, and the tour of saints bike ride on sunday. The Tour of Saints is a 50 mile bike trip around the area and every so often they have food and drink breaks, which are usually very well staffed and stocked. That being said, I should probably get back to work...yes...that would be favorable.

Black Beans, White Rice.

I made good on my previous post's promise. I have made black bean and white rice soup without using a recipe, save that I refereced a few ingredients off of the uncle ben's recipe. Taste-wise, it turned out great. The combination of spices I added really helped you forget you were eating something with absolutely no meat. But anyways, here is my recipe I have just developed for a very cheap and simple, meatless, hearty soup.

Zip's Black Bean and Rice Soup
1 cup dried black beans
1 cup dry white rice
2 tablespoons salt
2 cubes chicken bullion
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon cilantro (dry or fresh)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 onion

First, rinse black beans well, they come from the ground so they sometimes still have dirt on them. Using at least a 2 quart pot, add 8 cups of water, black beans and white rice. Bring mixture to a rapid boil. Maintain for 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently and uncovered. After this, bring the soup to a gentle boil uncovered, this will cook for around 40 minutes, stir occasionally. You should add all the other ingredients ten minutes into this process, including the bullion, salt, oregano, cilantro, garlic and onion. The onion should be very finely chopped. Then, as before, allow the mixture to cook for the remaining 30 mins. Test the bean's texture for softness at the end of the 30 minutes, if they are still tough, add a cup of hot water and continue heating, but cover the pot, continue stirring and checking until desired texture.

Well, thats exactly how I made it this time, the cooking time may be cut down by soaking the black beans overnite in water because I found myself cooking the mixture for a long time specifically due to the beans' toughness. The rice held up very well, and in the end, though it was very soft and squishy, it seemed to fit the bill for a soupy dish. Like I said before, this is a very inexpensive dish, and I'll bet the amount that I made could feed 4-5 people, just with a cup of rice and beans.

Mother Russia

Ate some borscht today, otherwise known as beet stew. It typically isint served as strictly beets, however. Most of the time a selection of vegetables are added, including carrots and tomatoes. The borscht itself turned out to be a fairly bright magenta color until you added a good dollup of sour cream, then it turned a vibrant pink color. With this meal, my brother who had spent the last year in Russia, insisted we take a shot of vodka and chase it with a pickled mushroom, as is traditional in mother Russia. The whole meal was really great, if you havent tried borscht, I reccomend it. In addition to the Borscht, for lunch I had a bowl of Uncle Ben's black bean and rice soup. The box was probably older than I am, but that did not seem to have any effect on the end product. It was quite delicious, which was very suprising, considering it needed no meat in order to accomplish this feat. I decided I need to find a decent recipe for this on my own, as its a very inexpensive and can be a very tasty meal. I might repost the recipe I find...maybe. If you deserve it...Oh of course you deserve it, loyal readership. Adieu!

UPDATE
yes, well, I guess im going to come up with something myself. Its pretty much impossible to find a strictly black beans and rice soup recipe on the interwebs. Maybe ill call up Uncle Ben...

once more with feeling

Well, that garden I planted waaaay back in post...I do not even know or care, Is coming along nicely. Got my squash and cucumbers growing swimmingly. Today I noticed the beginings of some flowers on them. I am super excited. Yesireebob.

In other news, I found out that the band, The Popo, is freaking great. The one problem is there is another band by the same name which is vastly inferior to it. This makes it very difficult to find the damn real band. But, anyways, it fits my musical tastes perfectly with all its fuzzy vocals, dark-tinged electronica riffs and heavy guitar entries. I had one of their songs for something like 6 months and never listened to their other stuff, I am quite happy I did, and you should too.

Of other things happening in my life...I need to decide which kind of reptile to get for the house I'm living in next semester. Right now I'm debating between a corn snake, Russian tortoise and a ball python. Oh, speaking of that, the pet store in the mall is moving. As of tomorrow they will be across the street from famous dave's I think. So, ima go check them out when they get nice and settled in there.

well, thats my blog, night.

lots of update for your buck

It may not end up being as long as one would expect from such a preposterous title, but I did make lots of food, so that counts for something. Plus, as you may have percived already, I have lots of pictures! To start out with, I made some hardcore stir fry for my family. I used mushrooms, peppers, chicken, brocoli, carrots, peas and raumen noodles. For my first attempt, it was very good, in my opinion. The only thing I'd change is the sauces I mixed in. I used a combination of soy, oyster and other asian sauces. If I were to remake this, I'd only put Hosin sauce on, becasue hosin sauce is amazing. It's basically the asian equivalent of barbeque sauce. Shortly after making this dish, I made for the woods on the outskirts of Avon to go campin' with Mike, Zach and Leah. Twas awesome, and we made alot of food on the campfire. I just want to get this out now, campfires make food taste better, no matter what. It must be some kind of magic...but its true without exception. We made macaroni and cheese with spam at night and played parcheesi until 230 in the AM. I then woke up at 530 with the sun and proceeded to remake the fire. Then, around 730, we made coffee, pancakes, bacon and eggs. Quite possibly one of the best breakfasts ever. The coffee astounded me the most, words cannot describe how great it feels to sit around a campfire in the early hours of the morning and drink coffee. I think that alone made it taste better.

End of Days Thursdays

I was planning on making some stir fry with the frozen chicken I found in the freezer. This changed when my brother andy and his wife candice came over, offering to make some chicken qesodillas for us. Not complaining or anything, the grub was good. In other news, I finished my book I was on for awhile, Steven King's The Stand. Post-apocolyptic novels always entertain me. Readers, I would like to let you in on a private fantasy of mine. Some days when I'm knee deep in work/homework, I would like nothing more than to be a minority survior of some cataclysm which has befallen the human race. Zombies, robots, plauge, or nuclear winter, it doesent matter. Is it so wrong that I'd rather live in a scenario like that than what I have now? My answer, no. Hell, I'd actually like to think I would be doing the same kind of work as my homework which causes me to fantasyize about this. I could totally be the chemist in some kind of close-knit, post-apocolyptic society. Due to this I would like to propose a weekly tip service, provided by this blog, to prepare you for the impending end of the world. I shall call it End of Days Thursday.

End of Days Thursday: Doctors are always in high demand, regardless of the scenario. In the cases of both plauge and nuclear situations, all makeshift societys will demand a doctor. As a consequence, you will have an asset which only a small minority will be able to provide. However, in the case of plauge, you will be the most vulnerable during the weeks of outbreak due to your title. I advise hiding in a bomb shelter until the coast is clear, theres no hope of curing the super bug causing this disaster anyways, we all know this. So, in conclusion, go out and become a doctor before the end of days, then you're in the clear. So, that is your assignment, go out and get your PH D, good luck!

Rant

yes, well, I dont think I can really update that well tonight, as I am too busy rocking out to various musicks...soz. Plus I feel kind of emo. Although I suppose that writing your feelings is supposed to make you feel better in some way. What was that cool word I learned recently? Catharsis, that was it. It refers to a cleansing or purging of the mind. Also, since this is pretty much a journal since I have so few readers, I dont really have to give a damn what I write. I suppose I should have known this a long time ago, but you know how the saying goes, I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but at least I got the f*ck up and used my sharpness to its extent, unlike those fancy paring knives that can cut through boots and cement but never do. Yep, just an old-fashioned steak knife here. Although this steak knife likes bloody steak. We had steak for dinner today and, again, despite my requests, it was almost thermo-nuclear by the time it came out of the grill. Crissake, I dont even know if I will like the rare steak that much, how should I? I never get to have one! Guess one of these days Ill simply have to go out and cook my own bitchy self one of those and see. Maybe then I'd learn something as well...Hmm, intriguing. Acually, I lied, writing is making me feel a little better. I also like how this post is essentially stream of consciousness with no regard for structure whatsoever. Other than that, my life is rather lacking in the annoyances department. Maybe I should complain less. Come to think of it, complaining is by far the stupidest thing about this world. People complain about the stupidest things all the time, and yet they never take concrete steps within themselves to make the change lasting! You can change your environment all you want. You can alter the people you surround yourself with as well, however the change in your situation will only come when you achieve a new outlook yourself. And this does not come from developing new ways to word your problems to get more sympathy. I dont care if my life was cushy and distanced from the realities of life. fuck. I rolled the celestial roulette table and landed on the right square to be distanced from everyone I have ever associated with personally and economically from everyone else. I guess you could say I need to put some more points into CHA, rather than INT and STA next level. But STA is the only thing that has driven me through all this, when others fizzle, I shine. When others bitch, I work harder. When others have fun, I dont. Simple as that. Having friends or relationships in general has affected my life very little. Woah...well, shit. Hope nobody gets the impression that this is some kind of suicide thingy. My self-esteem is waaaaaay to high for that. Not that im religiously opposed to anything like that, its just not my cup of tea. My cup of tea is really more like an Earl Grey. MMMMMM, that actually sounds very good right now. I may just make myself a cup now, in fact.

*UPDATE*
Also, happy 20th post to me, and also happy longest post ever!

Fun times on the front lines

As far as food is concerned, not really much happened today...I know this must come as somewhat of a disappointment to you, my loyal readership. Probably the best thing I ate was a ceasar salad with chicken, romaine lettuce and croutons. I made a decision on my life, however. I decided I would never eat plain raumen noodles again and resolved to always add something to it to make it respectable. I had some chicken raumen, but before I put it into the microwave I cut up some celery and cooked it with the soup. This turned out very well. I think that when I finally decide to make stir fry I'll use raumen noodles for the noodle...portion of the fry. In other news, I watched pulp fiction for the 5th time. That is quite the movie. The music especially. I'm currently obsessed with the song they play when Vincent and Mia enter Jackrabbit Slim's, Rick Nelson's 'Waitin' in School'. I just love the early 50's kind of styling ever since playing fallout 3. Also, I've been listening to alot of Old Crow Medicine Show, a kind of bluegrass revival group, very string focused, and highly recommended by me.
In yet other news, my garden is coming along nicely. The squash and cucumbers I planted seem to be flourishing. So thats all good. I hope to be making some awesome pickles by this fall. Oh well, thats all folks!

Father (pronounced faith-er) 's day

What a relaxing day, not? On this year's father's day, unlike mothers day, the plan was simply to chill. I woke at noon-thirty, put on what I was wearing yesterday and shuffled upstairs for my daily dose of NPR. My dad suggested at this time that I prepare for him my special dish: spam and eggs. I, however, decided to take this a step further, concocting a spicy, spam and rice dish with vegetables. I still have no idea what to call it, but it turned out great. I began with a can of hot and spicy spam. From there I picked ingredients I simply thought would look/taste good in the finished product, including rice, peppers, onion, eggs, and mushrooms. Firstly, I cooked the rice in the microwave. I had to get that started first because it would take roughly 30 minutes to finish. This gave me plenty of time to chop up all the veggies and spam into small pieces. When the rice was just about done, my dad and I put 12 scrambled eggs into a large skillet and began to cook that. As the eggs neared completion, we dumped all the veggies and spam into the mixture and proceeded to cook it on a low burner, covered and stirring often. After about 5-10 minutes of that, we mixed the rice into the finished product and bam, it turned out great! I swear I invented this...I must name it...Apart from that, the rest of the day was spent reading in solitude, watching my bro play fallout 3 and yet more sleep. waaaah, good times.

The tortured sadwich artist

I am looking forward to spunk days in Avon today. I don't really know why, as the last couple years they have not had my only real motivation to go there: fett kuchen otherwise known as fry bread. Next to that, all the other attractions simply don't stack up.
Oh, my, I had an awesome experience at subway today! I went in with my brother this morning to get a couple sandwiches and were helped by the most pessimistic person I have ever met. She had long, flowing black and bleach blond highlighted hair and heavily shadowed eyes. I ordered the three sandwiches, with pepperjack cheese. That was three sandwiches and twelve slices of pepper jack too many. To my cheese request, she remarked to her coworker, "Ugh, on all of them?". Shortly after this, I also requested that the veggies be added prior to the toasting, at the other worker's suggestion. To that our heroine remarked,"really!? *sigh*". This lead to our heroine's next trial: ingredients running out. First went the green peppers. "UUGH, we better have more peppers". Then went the chipotle sauce. "are you serious?". At every turn, her day was sabotaged by slap in the face after slap in the face. Our heroine survived this encounter, barely. Good times in Melrose: city of dreams.

I might update later if they have fett kuchen...or if they dont I will update about how disgusted I am.

*UPDATE*
Wow, thats right, zero fried bread to be spoken of. I cannot express how dissapointed that made me. That and seeing practically no one I know at this failtactular celebration. Meh. I think next year I might just do everyone a big favor and set up a fried bread stand. Soneone's got to do it, right?

Teh spam 2 ( teh spam 4?)

Today I was lounging about reading outside; enjoying the weather when hunger came a'knocking on mah door. I answered this call with the same can of spam I had used for the last 3 spam meals I've eaten. I boiled around 3 cups of water on the stove. To this boiling water I added cubed spam, roughly a quarter can, and raumen noodles. After about 3 minutes I cut the heat and added the spicy chili flavor included in the raumen pack, in addition, I added cilantro and about a table spoon of Tapito hot sauce. It turned out great, the spam was as tender as the chicken in canned chicken noodle soup, however it was better, as it was spam. The spicy chili flavored raumen is good enough as is, the ingredients kicked this up a notch, so to speak. BAM. This meal did in my spam can, only after providing me with meat for four separate meals. Next time I hope to add celery and diced carrots to add some somewhat healthy elements to the soup. I did try to counteract the saltiness of the raumen by using low sodium spam, which I highly recommend if you make this.

Teh spam

I figured I should enlighten you, my readership, with what I neglected to add on my last post today, as the food I ate was exceptional. I woke up at around 1130 yesterday and made myself some spam and eggs for breakfast. This meal is by far my favorite breakfast option, as it takes roughly 3 minutes to make and is automatically delicious, as it contains spam. For dinner, I had spam burgers. These were not any standard spam burgers, however. I sliced the cube into squares of spam and heated them on the skillet, as normal, however after placing the spam steaks on the buns, I added not lettuce, but sauerkraut as I could not find any lettuce. To this I added cheese, spicy brown mustard, and relish. It turned out to be very good, however next time I would like to make it into a more German spam dish with the addition of red cabbage and maybe Swiss cheese rather than the Kraft singles which I used.
So I was looking through our most recent sales flyer our doit best hardware store is running for the month of June and noticed that not all of the 'made in the usa sale' claims can be confirmed. One such item, a roll of electrical tape, was clearly labeled in bold 'made in usa', however upon closer inspection of the picture provided yielded a made in Taiwan label upon the actual product. Makes you wonder about corporate marketing. I was thoroughly amused, but thats just me.

Looking up

According to Rosen Properties, the house I intend on renting this august is in our grasp. And there was much rejoicing. I cant even exaggerate how awesome this will be. No more dorms for the rest of my life and I would be a happy young adult. In other news, my fellow adventurers and I have successfully slain the insidious spider in the depths of his sinister cave, thus acquiring the famed ruby apple! But seriously, the battle on Lufia 2 against the Tarantula boss took me hours. Time after time I was destroyed, until I realized that it made a difference where your party members stood. If they are in the back, they take and deal less physical damage. The opposite holds true for the front rank. Making a quick exchange, I swapped my plate mail-clad warrior and my cloth armored caster from front to back. This resulted in far, FAR less possibility of my caster dying, while my warrior did remarkably more damage. I am not embarrassed to say that I did a victory dance at around 130 in the morning consisting of punching and kicking imaginary objects and jumping up and down; all the while squealing in a giddy, high-pitched voice of victory. Pictured that yet? Good.
Apart from the successes in squiring housing and defeating malevolent arachnids, I also have decided to pursue a new project for myself: a CRT aquarium. The plan is to get a CRT monitor and empty it of all its essential components, and, using some glass and waterproof caulking, transforming it into an operational aquarium. I have decided this is the only way I would own fish, as I find fish inherently boring. The monitor aquarium intrigues me so much that it appeals to me.
Thats all for today, auf wiedersehen

back in the day

I was playing alot of old games today, including Lufia 2, Chrono Trigger, and Donkey Kong Country 2. All I can say is that Lufia 2 and Chrono Trigger are 1st rate RPGs by all standards. I am completely blown away by their style and smooth gameplay. I've been nerding out all day, essentially. The aspect I really admire in a well made RPG is that of challenge. Im not saying it should be so difficult you have to level for several hours prior to a boss, as that is ridiculous. If sheer stats are the only reason for triumphing over enemies in an RPG, then there is something wrong. The two aforementioned RPGs most definately take the perfect balance of this. I spend as much time thinking about how to defeat a boss as I do leveling in between attempts, and I really hope they can keep this up. Fabulous, thats all I have to say about those. Now with Donkey Kong Country 2, its more of a love-hate kind of thing. I spent about an hour on the game, clearing some 6-7 levels, when, "oh, sorry, that wind shifts when you're trying to jump over that mother-f*cking bee, and, oh, you had no lives left, you're done." Yep, wash that hour down the tubes and start over. Almost as big a waste of time as raids on WoW. I suppose it wasint all that bad, I did get better at the game, and I was able to marvel at how well-made it all was, all hearkening back to my childhood exploits associated with it.

This brings me to another point, it seems like so many games that I played as a youth are so damn difficult as an adult. I think it must be some kind of genetic trait which recedes upon maturity. One thing small children simply excel at, regardless of practice and strategy.
Speaking of ridiculously difficult old games, I might just go and play some megaman X. I feel like screaming at inanimate objects; megaman games really help me do that. Again, though, something I seemed to have no problem doing when I was a youngun.
Toodles!
Wildanimals

spam spam spam spam spam spam spam white castle and spam

Readers, today I made my third pilgrimage to the Spam Museum in Austin, MN; it was glorious. The sheer enormity and grandeur of the establishment is difficult to explain in words, but fear not, loyal readership, I have taken pictures of all kinds! You may be chuckling to yourself at this point. "Why place so much importance on spam?" you may ask yourself. I think the license plates in the parking lot speak for themselves. Among the plates I saw Arkansas, Florida and Texas. That is, out of the first and only cars we actually looked at in the parking lot. Thats right, people travel hundreds, nay, thousands of miles to see the glory that is spam. Needless to say, I was still excited for my third time seeing it.
The museum was great, once again. I picked up a few new recipes involving spam and I tasted the newest spam flavor, cracked pepper, before it has even been released in the US. Also, it was great seeing my brother and friend, Mike, go through it for the first time. The tour ended on a sad note, though, as the restaurant which served spam dishes across the street had closed down. Alas, only samples of spam at the museum for me today...hope to try and make some of the recipes I learned however.
I did not mention this earlier, but both on the way to and from the museum we ate at the White Castle in Shakopee. If anyone ever needs to know, White Castle is my favorite fast food establishment ever. Having it twice in one day was truly a treat. Big day, ill be happy to fall into bed soon...Good times.

leftovers

I ate a very uninteresting food assortment today. So uninteresting that I may not exactly remember all of it. So, my friends, lets work backwards, for my sake. At around 1 o'clock I ate 2 crunch bars and a can of green tea. That was my LAN food for the marathon 5 hour game of Asian Vampires 2 we accomplished. Before the LANapalooza, I had chicken raumen noodles. That is all. I am a hungry person at the moment. All is well, though! Tommorow I will make my pilgrimage to the spam museum. And by tommorow, I mean today, as I always do. That is just part of my forward thinking at work. I promise, I will take a multitude of pictures, finally. My readers, you will not be dissapointed.

Use it, lose it.

Yes, my readership, this fact is the truest I have ever heard. I went from being able to hold my own in chess games and actually winning a few, to utter failure in the space of three weeks of neglect. It is really not the fact that you win games of chess which makes you feel good about playing. The key component is feeling like you can actually put up a fight, regardless of how the game turns out. Well, for me that is. In my latest game I was destroyed so utterly I felt I had no sway in the matter; I felt as if I had not even come close to carrying out a plan of my own or foiling my opponent's. I suppose thats where my old friend chess titans comes into play...sigh. I'll have to work myself back up from the ground once again. In other matters, however, my mind is being set at ease.
The house deal actually seems to be going as planned for the moment, which is a good thing for me, as I am tired of thinking about it. The whole issue has been on my mind all week. I've been working like crazy to get everything coordinated, but finally everyone is on the same page as I am, and the deal looks like it will all turn out. I am aware that life rarely lets things which look good to turn out well, so lets just say I am crossing my fingers.
In other news, my brother has been playing Fallout 3 for a few days now. He has yet to use VATS a single time. Eric, if you are reading this, please press the 'v' button. That is all. Onto my latest facination.
I started playing a modded version of SMRPG which has all the enemy stats multiplyied by 2. I love it because it adds a good measure challenge and replay value to a beloved classic from my childhood. I guess I probably will not have as many good things to say about it when I have to fight Cluex in Monstro town...That, my friends, is what we call a Hum-dinger in Texas.

There you have it, another day in the life of a man amoung filthy humans.
Yours truely,
wildanimals1997

Housing

I have been having difficulties getting all my potential roommates to get on the same page about the houses we're choosing from for next year. I hate it because im so involved in this and it really seems like a good place which I found, however I can't contact the stupid people we need to seal the deal, let alone simply having them check out the property. WUUUUG. Oh well, whoever doesn't respond soon will probably be dropped from the deal. There, I wont think about it anymore. Thats a lie, but whatever. Well, I'm going to play some chess I think, so I'll make this quick. Raisin bran, fried chicken, and zombie sausage. Haha, aaaaah, I'm exhausted. G'night.

The Miasma...

Well, today's post is not so much about what I ate, as it is about what I failed to digest. I Woke up early to cancel a meeting with a landlord and to schedule another. Following this, I had time to shower and eat some fruity pebbles before heading off to my meeting with Dr. Maroof-Tamir about my research. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Maroof was not able to make it to my meeting at 11 am, so we rescheduled a meeting for 1 pm instead. I thought to myself, "hey, I have some time to blow, I should check out the Electric Fetus." So I did. I walked in and looked at used cds for roughly 45 min. Little by little, I realized I was feeling very nauseous; the incense was particularly strong. In a way, it was a kind of terrible miasma, sapping my strength. The feeling got so bad I staggered out without getting the cd I wanted. The fresh air helped immediately, however that did not stop me from leaning over the dumpster behind the Fetus 2 minutes later horking the most gay pride vomit id ever seen. I think ill stay out of the Fetus for awhile. Still so much day ahead of me...
I found myself at the Super America station not 7 minutes after the Fetus experience. I grabbed a gas station turkey sandwich and a 22 ounce blue raspberry slushy and it was absolutely delicious, as I was ravenously hungry. Feeling better, I made my way to mega media xchange and the computer renaissance to check out the merch. Having blown sufficient time, I made my way back to campus and spoke to my professor. That went well, the research is for the most part a go, so good deal. Then I decided to do yet more with my trip our county's metropolis.
I called one of the three houses I am interested in renting in the near future to schedule a viewing. I ended up having to kill time until 4pm, so I went to see my friend Jim from SCSU to check out the house he is renting. Finally, I was able to look at the house I was looking to rent. Turned out to be pretty awesome, very affordable rent, decent facilities and everything, plus it is very close to campus. Now I only need to contact my three prospective roommates once again to confirm everything and check out a few more. But thats for friday, nooo worries.

post-humorously...

So, the blogspot web site was down the other day so I have, regrettably, failed you, my faithful readers. The good news is you did not miss much. However, I use this lightly as I did not post my experience of spam and eggs. Breakfast on Sunday consisted of spam and sunny side up eggs cooked in a skillet. I must mention that the spam was Tabasco spam, very tasty. The rest of they day honestly has congealed in my memory. The only food I can pick out of it is the frozen pizza I had after I got home from some Asian Vampires 2 LAN. Today turned out to be for the most part unremarkable as well. It began with some imitation fruit loops, onto donuts from the Melrose bakery, and finally a "black forest ham" subway sandwich. My taste buds were not entertained in the least! In addition, this is bad for you, as it is most definitely not entertaining at all! As for other exciting topics... I saw 'and viewers like you' and 'sarcasm radio' on Saturday. For all my international readers, these bands are the next big thing. The show was great, highly recommended. As I was writing this update I ate some steak my dad cooked up. The steak was really great, a little lacking in the blood department, but otherwise very good texture and marinated flavor. Well, valued readership, I'm off to search for apartments/houses tomorrow! Should be fun. And while I am there I will talk with one of my chemistry professors to try and schedule some research opportunities for fall semester. Wish me luck!

Tour de Wobegon

I decided to update earlier than usual, mostly because I know I will have the shrimp fettucini again for dinner, but also because I'm stuck at Schulzeteberg's Hardware for and hour and a half longer than usual waiting for our weekly freight shipment to arrive. Readership, a shocking realization hit me today; I should be taking pictures for this blog! Keep checking back for updates and you may find some pretty pictures to accompany my more interesting food experiences and I suppose whatever else I feel like putting on here. In any case, my dad, brother and I biked into work today: a grueling 20 miles to the hamlet of Melrose. In anticipation for this, I ate a bowl of "tootie fruitis", the malt-o-meal mimic of fruit loops. This so called "breakfast" held me over until we reached the hamlet and we got some solid 'fast, or subway breakfast subs.
Lets be real here, pretty much any subway sandwich slathered in southwest sauce seems superb, but their breakfast subs are especially good. Pretty much just add lettuce, tomato, onions and green peppers to a ham and egg sub to get my ideal composition. These really hit the spot after a long bike in though.
I've decided its my responsibility as owner of this here blog to check out all the latest celebrations and their unique foods this summer in order to keep things interesting. I am in the process of making up a schedule of events I will attend, so that you may follow wildanimals1997 on his quest to experience food! Just as you've always dreamed of. Look for that in coming updates and also more pictures! In addition, I plan on making a trip to the spam museum in Austin, MN. It will be my third such trip, so expect a spam-themed update soon as well! over and out.

Free Food, the Stearns County Way

I'm quite sure that you all must know this already, but for those of you who live in a cave; June is dairy month. Further, for you cave-dwellers, dairy month is avidly celebrated by the Central Minnesota Federal Credit Union. In years gone by, they celebrated by offering both free food and ice cold milk dispensers in each branch location. Sadly, however, milk has gone the way of the dinosaurs, but the free food remains, like some tenacious bladder fluke. The Stearns county tradition of free food is likely to nurture this so called invertebrate holder-on as it has nurtured since the good-ole' days. However, before we reach this fascinating free-food feast, there exists a not so free breakfast.

My breakfast consisted of raisin bran. Hey, what can I say, I value regularity. Plus, it has two scoops of raisins! Cant really argue with that. Then, when lunch arrived promptly at 1130 in the village of Melrose, I ventured forth to consume the free goodness provided by our beloved credit union. This meal included hotdogs, brats, pickles, chips, potato salad and, of course, milk, for the whole dairy month thing. You, faithful reader, will never guess who I met in this humble event taking place in our humble town. That is right, the dairy queen herself was there! Gracing us with her presence and distributing beverages, as is the burden borne by all Stearns county dairy queens hailing before her. The food itself was meh, but the flavor of free enhanced the flavor of the potato salad far more effectively than any spice known to man. Now, if I could only experience free German food or sushi...That may be a sensory experience of epic proportions.

My dinner consisted of mere leftovers of delicious shrimp fettucinni. This hardly justifies a paragraph. I am, however, endevoring to add sentances to this paragraph until it satisfys the english language requirement. I like seagulls. There you have it, a complete paragraph. Until tommorow, adeiu.

Vitamin Water

No, my faithful readership, I did not drink vitamin water today and nor shall you...ever. I am proposing a boycott on the dastardly product until they rethink their ad campaign, as it seriously bothers me. So, there you have it, if you've seen the commercials, you know what I'm talking about. I thank you in advance for your support. Now, onto what I ate. I began the day with a bowl of lucky charms, woo, exciting, right? Thats why you're reading, my valued reader. For lunch, I was fortunate enough to be in the Melrose area. Thats right, I ate El Portal for lunch. Better yet, it was Thursday, taco buffet day, for all those who do not know. The delicious, made-from-scratch tacos was truly something to "write home about" or in this case, the blog. You know, I'm not even going to try to explain it. My vocabulary, the English language even, cannot explain the sheer greatness I taste when I eat their tacos. The day was concluded with the consumption of some shrimp fettuccine my mother made. Very good as well, however a good measure of pickles and mint ice cream balanced the meal out. In other news, I found a nickel when I was working today. This will most surely effect the results of the mid-term elections. Come to think of it, I have not deposited that nickel into my piggy bank yet...to the bank! Thats all, prized readership, thanks for reading, over and out.

German Food?!

Yes you heard me right, I did say German food. However, that was dinner, you will have to wait through breakfast and lunch first, you little eager devils, you. Got up this mornin' and i had a bowl of lucky charms. nothing really surprising, however I found myself wondering why the marshmallows in the cereal were so small. Back in my day, they were roughly the size of a dime each, now they're at least half the size. One more example of The Man taking away our right to delicious marshmallow goodness. Food for thought, so to speak. Anyways, lunch was rather boring, even by my standards. Basically I found an old hot dog in the fridge, so i heated that up and ate that. However this was not nearly enough, so I also had a slice of sausage tombstone pizza i found in the fridge. Then, after playing Resident Evil 5 for a couple hours, my brohter calls me and asks if i want to meet him at Charlie's Cafe for dinner. I know that wedensdays are German nights at Charlie's so, as you can imagine, I'm super excited. We ordered the "Große Platte", which was all of the German meats, including but not limited to, sauerbraten, wienerschnitzel, bratwurst and eisbein, and all four sides they offered, including sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, red cabbage and spaetzel. There were seven meats in all and let me tell you what, that was some good eating. The spaetzel was tender and chewy, the wienerschnitzel was juicy and cooked to perfection, the sauerbraten was sweet and flavorful. Just thinking about it gives me chills. Highly recommended, i give it 5/5. Oh, and have you guys heard about the situation with Israel and the flotilla? Wow, all I can say is we have to stop funding Israel. They simply need to know that the industrialized world does not want them with the heel of their boot on Palestine. Why? because that is the single greatest cause of hatred aimed against the west in the middle east. As long as the European nations and the United states supports Israel in its shameless oppression of Palestine, we will encounter endless resistance in the middle east. If this can be remedied, then it will be a giant leap towards reconciliation and peace in that war-torn region. Well, thats whats on my plate today, thanks for reading, if anyone really does, but oh well. Feel free to post comments about anything discussed hereabouts.

Exciting!

woke up this mornin', had myself big bowl of chile and rice from a couple days ago. put some cheese in there as well, turned out to be pretty darn good. Let my brother eat the last half of my rueben from Applebees because it was kinda meh. but enough of that, this is about what I eat! finally, for dinner i had a couple slices of frozen pizza: sausage and supreme. It was great, hit the spot by all means, but i had been looking forward to some kind of shrimp meal because my mom had left out a bag of frozen shrimp to thaw...guess that will have to be for another day. also, im considering making some kind of chicken stir-fry tomm because i found a crap ton of chicken breast in my freezer. Ill just need to grab a few of the vegetables from dahlin's... that sounds good to me. sorry, only two meals for you today, ill try to eat three, maybe even four tommorow, science willing.

1st!

so, lets get down to business. today, i started out on a large bowl of reese's pieces. It was one of the most delicious things i have ever ate. that is until lunch rolled along. then i ate some blts my mom made. sooo good. the bacon was so supple and great. then, well, here's the kicker, we ate at applebee's. im not exagerating, i did not enjoy my rueben i got at that establishment, it was too freaking big. otherwise, it wasint too bad. but i wasint that hungry, so yeah. then, when i was laning at the ehlichman residence, i ate a holiday breakfast sandwich from, you guessed it, holiday. It was the best thing i ate all day, which is pretty good, because it was at like 1230 am. then i got some arizona green tea. gooood stuff, only a dollar. FTW. that is all. give me money to keep brightening your days with my engaging discussion at you. questions and comments are encouraged, as well as cash.