Dumpster Season

Holy crap, I really do love where I live and this wonderful time of year. I would contend that this is the hap-happiest season of all. Let me tell you a story; a tale filled mostly with the triumph of dumpster diving and the joy resulting in sharing of loot. It all began one sunday morning, the sunday after finals at scsu to be exact. I walked to the bathroom at the crack of 11:30 and glanced out of the window from my throne only to see the most delightful golden chair. Of course, I promptly grabbed it and brought it inside. This find spurred my imagination, "What treasures are currently residing on campus if this beuty was in my own back yard?" So I sallied forth on my bicycle to scour the campus dumpster fare. By this time, however, they were all fairly picked over. I did however find a pretty solid set of computer headphones which I gave to my roommate, Andre. The next day, the very next day, I was seated at my throne once again only to see a fantastic TV stand. This was fortunate, as the TV in the living room was always seated on the bed side table I brought from home. This all pales in comparison to the dumpster-fest I experienced today.

While cleaning the house up after research, I took an armload of trash out to the dumpster only to find two bad japanese horror dvds and an unopened can of beans. If that was not enough, my colleage called me, expressing a desire for me to take a 32" TV off his hands. HOT DAMN. So we go to pick up the TV, and they offer us a fine table as well! Now we have a bangin' table and a new big ole' TV. Plus, they also offered me a 25' coax cable to boot. What a day, and dumpster season isint even over yet!

Chicken Curry

There is really no doubt within me anymore about my cooking ability. I can, with great certainty, make an amazing chicken curry. In my most recent batch I used some hungarian paprika and even more curry powder than usual. In addition, I used milk instead of half and half, which made the sauce turn out much less viscous than usual, which is definately a good thing. They say nescecity is the mother of invention, which is excatcly how it happened here. I only used the milk because the half and half came out of the carton as cottage cheese, and thus, innovation. Besides this most recent culinary breakthrough things have improved drastically since last I posted. School goes well, research exists and I will be going to memphis on my REU this summer. June 17th, to be precise. I'll be down there for 10 weeks doing science. So thats certainly exciting. Also, I recently found this blog called Equestria Daily which does a great job of fueling my My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic addiction. Also, started reading lord of the rings. I have been having a massive craving for fantasy type stuff, and since pretty much everyone on the planet apparently read the series in elementary school I figured I should catch up.

Tis the season of marathons

I planned on watching much of the twilight zone marathon on sci fi channel this new years weekend, however this plan changed abruptly when I realized that at the exact same time TCM was having a Marx Brothers marathon. The night was pretty amazing over all because I got to play axis and allies mono e mono with my brother, Andy, which is always a blast. Secondly, I got to play some left for dead with andre and wii with austin erickson. Then, the night got even better with the Marx brothers marathon. Andre, my dad, austin and I all watched the 1st 3/4 of 'Duck Soup', my favorite of theirs, I might add, and, after austin passed out on the couch, the remaining group watched 'go west', 'a night at the opera' and 'a day at the races'...necessarily in that order. We ended up staying up past 6 am, missing the ball drop early into this foray during 'Duck Soup'.Upon completing this marathon andre and I ventured to play some Left for Dead 2 on our computers...We ended up failing at a mission several times (understatement) so we gave up at around 830 am and that was that, the zombies won.
Now, you may ask why I was staying up this late, as I know it is very uncharacteristic of myself. Well, this was due fact that for some reason, austin had to be in st. cloud by freaking 12 noon to catch a bus back to his place. UGH. So I felt like I would be more drowsy trying to drive if I had slept than not at all. Almost should have not invited him. Would have felt annoyed by it if mike, zach and leah all decided to bail on me because of the "weather", which was bad earlier in the day but by night had been reduced to a steady breeze of dry snow. Bah. Fuck em. I dont need them if they dont need me. I dont think ill really venture to communicate with them so much for the rest of this break period as it seems to me they just blew me off because they were lazy or wanted to smoke weed which they cannot do at my house. I get so tired of the terse phone conversations with mike nowadays. Its really beginning to bother me because I really would like to be his friend, but he just seems to drift away from me each time I go back to school for a semester and it takes weeks of effort to gain back his trust, it seems. But, maybe its like that for all friends. Who cares anyways? God, I need to focus more on my research and reading anyways because they never really begin to bother like some people do. So it leads to the question, why should I even have expected him to show up? This thought really goes against my selfish, pessimistic life philosophy I am venturing to develop. Bad thoughts, its a new year. I wish to pursue my life exactly how it comes to me this year and if I desire human contact, I will get it, either from family OR friends, and if i do not desire it, I will focus my efforts on my occupation. I know this will work because I have achieved everything I every desired to achieve in the past four years, and that will not change so long as my goals are always kept to heart. Also, fuck you, austin, fuck you and you holier than thou perception of you god-awful, piss for brains university, also, fuck you worthless, inane choice of occupation. I really wish I would just tell you this in person when you crack at SCSU, but for now, it will only be here. All I know is that I WILL be able to find a well-paying, satisfying job wherever I wish to work it, and you will be stuck suckling off the teat of us driven, practical folk for the rest of your miserable life.
Well, that was fun, I really think keeping this journal is fun, hopefully no employer will dig in here too deep and take this too seriously, as it is only harmless venting. And when you cant yell and fight, thinking it out loud and putting it into perspective is the next best thing.

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!