#then finally bought a pretzel for breakfast at 11

[ithinkheknowss]

What a fucking day...

#we had to drive my dad to the hospital cause he has a horrible stomach bug #then i went to my own appointment and finally i have a diagnosis for the pain I've been feeling #then walked like crazy around town to get my prescribed meds go to GP and get sick leave for both me and my dad #waited for over an hour there #then finally bought a pretzel for breakfast at 11 #went to my dad's work to drop off his sick leave note #went back home #all of this on foot apart from the initial drive to hospital #dad is home now too and slightly better #and i have to go out again in ~2 hours to catch my train and go home cause i got work tomorrow #annie talks

[love-takes-work]

I’ve recreated every food in Steven Universe

OKAY I THINK I FINALLY DID IT

I FINALLY RECREATED EVERY RECIPE FROM THE SHOW

Sooooo . . . what did I miss?

Now it’s your turn to help me be sure I got them all. Your mission, should you choose to accept it:

Reblog this post suggesting a food from the show (with or without screencap; just enough so I can recognize it). The weirder the better.

I will respond to you with my photo of when I made that food.

If I can’t deliver, I will like send you $10 or draw you a SU fanart or something. (We’ll negotiate.)

I will accept asks instead of reblogs if you prefer.

It’s fine if you have a fairly common or easy suggestion and you just wanna see it. ;)

I’m offering this incentive because I really want some help combing the show for foods I might have forgotten! Your help is appreciated!

Edit: Adding responses. :D 

Dog-Nut (Pilot!)

Classic Hot Dog (Intro)

Fry Bits (2 - “Laser Light Cannon” & others)

Together Breakfast (4 - “Together Breakfast”)

Popcorn for Onion (7 - “Bubble Buddies”)

Giant Strawberry (8 - “Serious Steven” & others)

Large Pizza, Extra Fishy (10 - “Steven’s Lion”)

Cereal to stop the Foot (11 - “Arcade Mania”)

Aqua Mexican Burrito (13 - “So Many Birthdays”)

Movie Snacks (17 - “Lion 2: The Movie”)

Crystal Lizards (17 - “Lion 2: The Movie”)

Hot Dogs & Hamburgers (18 - “Beach Party”)

Lars’s Lunch (20 - “Coach Steven”)

Fire Salt & Fire Salt Donuts (21 - “Joking Victim”)

Big Fat Zucchini with Linguine (22 - “Steven and the Stevens”)

Chaaaaps (23 - “Monster Buddies”)

Mi Torta (23 - “Monster Buddies”)

Durian Juice (24 - “An Indirect Kiss”)

Fish Kebabs & Giant Fish (30 - “Island Adventure”)

Cheeseball Cake (32 - “Fusion Cuisine”)

Breadsticks (32 - “Fusion Cuisine”)

Shrimp Appetizer (32 - “Fusion Cuisine”)

Onion Rings (33 - “Garnet’s Universe”)

Baby Melon (34 - “Watermelon Steven”)

Nice Spicey Pretzels (35 - “Lion 3: Straight to Video”)

Mama Sadie Lunch (35 - “Lion 3: Straight to Video”)

Garnet’s Chocolate Chip Cookies (37 - “Warp Tour”)

Mayo Sandwich (39 - “Future Vision”)

Bindle Lunches (40 - “On the Run”)

Marshmallows (42 - “Winter Forecast”)

Waffle Egg Sandwich (42 - “Winter Forecast”)

Caprese Salad (47 - “Shirt Club”)

Three-Way Sub (55 - “Say Uncle”)

Pizza Steve (55 - “Say Uncle”)

Tea and Cookies (55 - “Say Uncle”)

Pile of Food (57 - “Reformed”)

Snack Sushi (Season 2 Short - “Cooking With Lion”)

Biscuits & Jam (58 - “Sworn to the Sword”)

Smoothie & Orange Slices (58 - “Sworn to the Sword”)

Best Breakfast in the World (64 - “Keystone Motel”)

Noodles and Butter (65 - “Onion Friend”)

Potato Steven (65 - “Onion Friend”)

Lion Lickers (68 - “Nightmare Hospital”)

Amethyst’s Hoagie (79 - “Super Watermelon Island”)

Fresh Big Donut Donuts (84 - “Steven Floats”)

Guacola (85 - “Drop Beat Dad”)

Pepe’s Burgers (86 - “Mr. Greg”)

The Finest Steak and Brie (86 - “Mr. Greg”)

Corndogs (87 - “Too Short to Ride”)

Pizza Bagel & Fantastic Fries (90 - “Restaurant Wars”)

Fancy Orange Juice (93 - “Alone at Sea”)

PROTES Protein Bars (95 - “Gem Hunt”)

Pine Needle Tea (95 - ”Gem Hunt”)

Sugar Shock Shut Down (109 - “Last One Out of Beach City”)

Apple Sidra (109 - “Last One Out of Beach City”)

Gem Harvest & Wedding Cake (111-112 “Gem Harvest”)

Korean Lunch (114 - “Steven’s Dream”)

Zoo Fruit (117 - “The Zoo”)

Pumpkin-Shaped Pumpkin Bread (126 - “The Good Lars”)

Ube Roll (126 - “The Good Lars”)

Cool Kids Potluck (126 - “The Good Lars”)

Jungle Moon Alien Carcass (140 - “Jungle Moon”)

Meal for Stranded Humans (144 - “Lars’ Head”)

Everything Pizza (148 - “What’s Your Problem”)

Together Breakfast Wedding Cake (151-152- “Reunited”)

Bixbite’s Pizzas (SUF 2 - “Guidance”)

Snow Cones (SUF 2 - “Guidance”)

Crystal Drinks (SUF 3 - “Rose Buds”)

Carrot Bean Meal (SUF 3 - “Rose Buds”)

Tomato Soup on the Go (SUF 5 - “Bluebird”)

Clams, Peanut Butter, & a side of fresh-cut grass (SUF 5 - “Bluebird”)

Bluebird’s Cake (SUF 5 - “Bluebird”)

Fried Eggs (on Amethyst’s face) (SUF 7 - “Snow Day”)

Protein Shake (SUF 7 - “Snow Day”)

Spicy Chili (SUF 11 - “In Dreams”)

Together Forever Cake (SUF 13 - “Together Forever”)

Cookie Cat Ice Cream (SUF 14 - “Growing Pains”)

Cocoa (SUF 14 - “Growing Pains”)

Ice Cream a La Pie (SUF 15 - “Mr. Universe”)

Caveats and Rules (read if participating):

It counts as a recipe for the show only if it is eaten or to be eaten by a character (onscreen or implied to have been) or otherwise prominently featured. (e.g., Together Breakfast would count even though it was not eaten, but random food sitting around incidentally in a fridge or bake case does not count as a recipe.)

Food items that are only mentioned but not pictured don’t count.

Food items that are part of the background art don’t count unless they are significant or interacted with at some point. This includes mentioned or pictured items on restaurant menus.

Note: I HAVE actually made some things that have only been mentioned or pictured on menus! So feel free to suggest them if you really want to see if I made them! But for purposes of qualifying for a reward, I can’t commit to making the entire bake case, pizza joint menu, Spacetries display, or commercial cooler full of food if they’re more scenery than snacks.

If I have made an item once and it recurs, it doesn’t count as a different recipe if it appears in a different configuration in a later episode. (e.g., if I made an ube roll for “The Good Lars,” I don’t have to make a new one for Steven Universe: The Movie.)

Non-food items eaten by animals, monsters, and Amethyst do not count as recipes. (e.g., I do not consider it a recipe when the Big Bird from “Giant Woman” ate a goat and Steven. I do not consider it a recipe when Amethyst eats wrappers or garbage. Weird food she eats is OK. As long as it is food.)

YES, I count all qualifying food in Steven Universe, Steven Universe: The Movie, Steven Universe Future, and any official shorts as fair game.

NO, I do not count food in the comics, the video games, the official or tie-in books, Ronaldo’s blog, or the Crewniverse’s celebratory food as recipes I have to make.

There is a lot of generic popcorn, chips, and soda in this show. I don’t count it as a new recipe every time someone munches one of these as an incidental snack.

Very minor variations on common snacks don’t count as new recipes. (e.g., I don’t have to make every donut or flavor of Chaaaaps anyone was ever seen eating. Including variation options in my recipe is enough.)

Random messes made with food do not have to be recreated as recipes. (e.g., Onion smearing condiments all over the kitchen is not a recipe; pizzas that get destroyed or thrown around are not new recipes; Greg and Steven scattering food leavings around their Empire City hotel is not a recipe; a seagull with a banana peel on its head carrying pizza does not count; Steven scattering the contents of his kitchen on the floor while making Together Breakfast is not a recipe, etc.)

Yes, the foods will be prepared/arranged by me. In most cases they are homemade creations but in some cases store-bought elements will be used and that is also OK. 

Food-shaped items that aren’t actually food are not recipes. (e.g., game controllers shaped like ham do not count. Crying Breakfast Friends are characters, not food.)

Things made out of food do not count unless they are eaten. (e.g., Fish Stew Pizza is required; Jenny made out out of pizza in Kiki’s dream is not.)

Vegetarian alternatives, facsimiles designed to look but not taste like certain foods, and ingredient substitutes are permissible. (e.g., vegetarian pepperoni on a pizza that was REAL pepperoni in the show is allowed; a non-fish substitute for a real dead fish is OK; dishes representing disgusting food that are secretly delicious are all right, etc.)

Thanks for your help. :)

#steven universe #steven universe food #su food #food #long post #myblog

[purplesurveys]

1034

survey by tater-tots What is a fruit that you might eat in the morning? Hahahaha. That’s a pass for me; I can’t imagine regularly eating fruit at any set time of the day.

Do you enjoy any food combinations that others might consider to be weird? I like to eat fish with mayonnaise, which was always normal in our household but I realized was weird when I first saw the horrified expressions on my friends’ faces when they saw me use the combination. I like mayonnaise with a lot of other foods as well, which a lot of people generally find weird.

What is a green vegetable that you enjoy eating? Broccoli and asparagus.

Name something you might find in a salad. In my salad, you’ll always find tuna sashimi in it heh.

What is your favorite type of sandwich? Anything that’s like an Eggs Benedict or Monte Cristo. 

Which condiment do you use the most often? Mayo, for sure. Banana ketchup too. I also like sriracha sauce but my dad hasn’t been buying a new bottle of it for a while. 

Name a chocolate bar that you enjoy eating. It’s called Whittaker’s - just not sure what country it hails from; maybe Australia? - and I like their peanut butter variant. Google also told me it’s a New Zealander brand.

What is a meat that you do not eat - ever. Dog or cat.

Are you lactose intolerant, or have any other sort of food allergies? I’m mildly lactose intolerant but I ignore it because a lot of my favorite foods use dairy. Other than that, no food allergies.

What was the last food that you burnt your mouth on? Just plain rice, haha. I had been extremely hungry and I just wanted to dig in; but I ended up spitting it back out.

Which brand of soup do you eat? I don’t regularly have soup, much less buy canned brands of it. 

What are some flavors of ice cream that your enjoy? Cookies and cream, mint chocolate, coffee, chocolate chip cookie dough, queso real.

What is the best type of cookie, in your opinion? I like keeping things classic when it comes to cookies, and I’ve always been perfectly happy with chocolate chip cookies :)

Would you rather have popcorn, pretzels, or chips as your salty snack? Chips. I dislike the other two as I only like the softer, doughy version of pretzels.

Have you thought about going on a diet & actually went through with it? No.

--

survey by pinkchocolate

When you woke up today, was there anything on your mind? Kinda. I felt sad and I was aware of it instantly, compared to most days where the sadness will take a while to build.

Who was the last person you interacted with for the first time? Literally speaking, maybe the barista at Starbucks who took my temperature at the entrance before I was let in the store. I interacted with her yesterday.

What colour was the wrapper of the last snack you ate? White. It’s more of a tiny bag than a wrapper, though.

Do you have a favourite mug to drink from? What does it look like? Yeah, I’ve since claimed my mom’s mug for myself. It’s a copper mug with the Starbucks label on it. It looks super minimalist which I appreciate.

What was the last thing you used, that came in a spray can? It was a Lysol spray.

What colour is your favourite bra? Don’t really have one.

Who was the last person you went to for advice about something? I think it was Andi. I’ve been going to them a lot for help, advice, extra sanity, etc. lately. If it hasn’t been for them I probably would’ve left a few months back.

Have you had a deep conversation with anyone lately? Yes. I finally met up with Gab yesterday to discuss a lot things, iron some stuff out, figure out where to go from here.

What was the last compliment you recall receiving from someone? I’m not sure, I haven’t been receiving any.

And the last compliment you gave to someone else? It was most likely a compliment for Andi on how helpful they’ve been to me.

What kind of bread did you eat most recently? Flatbread.

What was the last sound you heard, that you found pleasant? We were watching a mass livestream earlier and I was delighted when they played the closing song.

How many books do you think there are in your house? Take a rough guess. I would guess around 60, the overwhelming bulk of them mine.

Of all the books you own, which do you think has the most pages in it? It would definitely either be Gone with the Wind or Les Miserables, but I’m not sure which one is thicker.

^ And how many pages is that? I checked both of my copies and they’re soooo close – GWTW has 1,440 pages while Les Mis has 1,463.

What was the last film you saw at the cinema? What did you think of it? Knives Out. I went to the mall yesterday and the cinemas were still closed, so it’s not like I’d be able to watch new movies at theatres anyway. Anyway, I’ve been vocal about the movie enough times on my surveys but I didn’t enjoy it. Whodunnits were never my cup of tea, but Gab had wanted to see it and I didn’t want to make her watch the film alone.

In the last book you read, what was the main character's name? Haven’t been reading.

What was the last song you heard, that meant something to you? Lose by Niki.

How many people do you know whose name begins with Z? I can only recall one such person at the moment; it’s one of my mom’s aunts who also doubled as a principal sponsor for my mom and dad’s wedding.

What do you expect to be doing at this time tomorrow? Maybe doing my embroidery (my package finally arrived!!) or surveys or watching Start-Up, because tomorrow will be a holiday :)

--

survey by luckforlemmy

Did you start listening to more Michael Jackson after his death? I can remember that there was definitely a brief period after his death that I caught up with his discography and listened to MJ nearly everyday; I read up on him and his life as well. 11 year old me figured he must’ve been an interesting figure because of the big reception around his death, so I wanted to know the reasons behind it.

When was the last time that you played hide and seek? I can vividly remember the day when Nina and I played hide and seek when the house was newly-built and still devoid of furniture, back in maybe ‘07 or ‘08. I’m fairly certain that was the last time I played hide and seek.

Who was your first celebrity crush, if you can remember? It was a tie between Ashley Tisdale and Zac Efron, though the older I get the more I’ve been convinced that I ‘crushed’ on Zac only because I was surrounded by girls who went crazy over him in school. I’m pretty sure my first real celebrity crush was Ashley, hahaha.

Do you worry about money? Yeah, especially now. I can’t even enjoy my first paycheck because most of it’s gonna go to Christmas presents, but oh well; at least I can finally buy gifts for my loved ones who’ve always gotten me presents.

Have you ever had to beg for a second chance? Kind of, when I was trying to convince Gab to let our relationship have another shot four years ago. Beg is a strong word for what I actually did, though. It was more of me pitching the idea, not begging.

When was the last time that you sent an actual letter through the mail? I don’t think I even ever did that, not even when I was younger and snail mail was still kind of a thing.

Are you excited to return to school? There’s nothing to return to anymore. Unless I decided to take up a post-grad course in the future, I’m done with school.

Do you hate Internet abbreviations? It can just feel a bit jarring when they’re used excessively in a single sentence, but I honestly don’t mind it for the most part. It’s understandable especially now that most, if not all, of my interactions whether personal or for work happen online.

What was the last insult you gave out? I was never really the roasting type of person, not even towards my friends.

What'd you last look up on YouTube? Hahaha I looked up ‘skynwallz.’ I was looking for the episode of Rhett and Link’s vlogs where they painted the rooms of their offices in the color of their entire person – hair, eyes, and skin. They were joking about starting a new business for it called Skynwallz, so that’s what I looked up.

Are you texting someone really awesome right now? No, I prefer to be alone today.

Do you know when to be serious and when you shouldn't be? Er sure, it’s not that hard.

Do you think that you're funny? I like my sense of humor, yeah, but I know it’s not always going to translate to everybody’s tastes. For example, I’m still figuring out the dynamic in the team I was put in at work, so I can’t make the same jokes that I would normally say with my co-interns with whom I have a more comfortable relationship.

Have you ever sent a secret to Post Secret? I don’t know what this is, so no.

What movie do you really want to see in theatres right now? They aren’t showing anything at the moment. A movie I want to see badly, though, is Ammonite.

Have either of your parents shown affection for you today? My mom made breakfast for us, if it counts. She also gives each of her kids a kiss during the peace-giving portion at mass, so there’s that as well.

What's the last thing that you sang out loud? I watched Start Up before this survey and was humming to the song that was being played at the end of the episode. I couldn’t sing along to it because it was in Korean, but I knew the melody so I hummed.

Is there a word that you always misspell? Rhythm is one of my worst enemies for sure. I also have a love-hate relationship with accommodate.

What was the last thing that you bought that someone else benefited from? I met up with Gabie yesterday and bought her her favorite meal from Yabu to break the ice – menchi katsu with brown rice. I originally got mozzarella sticks for myself but when we got to talking, she mentioned her sisters at one point; I remembered how much I miss them, so I gave up my food and told her to just give my food to her sisters since I hadn’t touched it yet anyway.

Has someone ever made you a really great mix CD? Andi gave me one before she made the flight to New Zealand 10 years ago to permanently live there. I believe I still have it, but I’m just not sure where it currently is.

Have you ever been on Omegle.com? Yes, when I was a teenager and it was new.

Did you talk to someone cool there? Not really; most seem to exit our chat after we did the whole asl thing. I also avoided the webcam option because my anxiety for video calls has always been present.

What song reminds you of your best friend? Any song by The Maine.

Who was the last person to hit on you? Some creep on Facebook.

What's on the paper nearest you? It’s the guide for my embroidery kit. It tells me what stitches to do and the colors of thread to use for the different parts of the template I was provided with.

Do you have a set of lyrics that you really love? From Paramore’s Pool: “As if the first cut wasn’t deep enough, I dove in again ‘cause I’m not into giving up Could’ve gotten the same rush from any lover’s touch, But why get used to something new When no one breaks my heart like you” I scream those lyrics every time they come on. I know I often showed the good, shiny side of my relationship on these surveys; but it was very much toxic at a lot of points and those lyrics - and that song - served as a nest for me, something that told me someone understands how I sometimes felt about my own relationship.

Did you get an A in your last English class? I got a 1.25 instead of a perfect 1.00, but I think that’s still equivalent to an A so yes.

What did you last use scissors for? Cutting thread.

Did you ever secretly hate a friend of yours that thought you liked them? That makes me sound shitty lol, but yeah I’ve acted nicely to people I don’t particularly like.

What do you think of when I say "boat"? That episode of Friends where Joey bought himself a boat at an auction; and Canadian accents.

Would you ever get a tattoo sleeve? Nope. I planned on getting one as a teenager, but I grew out of that phase.

Do you know any really fake people? Yep. I think everyone’s got to be at some point.

What does the last blanket you used look like? It’s pink and has multi-colored polka dots on it.

Do you have appreciation for graffiti? Sure, especially if it’s for political purposes (that I agree with).

Why don't you drive? I do. I just have done it a lot less because I have had little need for driving and traveling to places throughout the pandemic.

Does it annoy you when your printer runs out of ink? I think we have the kind of printer that never runs out of ink, but I’m not exactly sure about the terminologies or how the technology works. I let my sister do the printing hahaha.

Have you ever drank anything from a thermos? Yes, mostly water and coffee.

When was the last time you played in the snow? Never.

Do you know any ignorant people? Sure, mostly Gen X-ers and Boomers.

What is the coolest name you've ever heard? Thylane.

What did you last argue with someone about? Relationship stuff. It wasn’t a full-blown argument, but when Gab and I talked yesterday it was natural for us to disagree on a few points.

Is there anyone that you dislike for no real reason? Hmm, I don’t think so. If I feel that strongly about someone, I usually have a reason otherwise it wouldn’t be fair to them.

Have you had a good day? It was okay; it was nice. I got to do my embroidery hoop art thing, got to watch a couple episodes of Start Up, played with Cooper, and now I’m doing these surveys and am planning to continue my embroidery later. It’s nice to feel productive about non-work things :)

Are you going to have a good night? I hope.

#survey #surveys #multiple surveys – chop em up if you wish

[anonsally]

Day 11 of holiday trip to Europe: Bolzano

This was our last day in the South Tyrol.

We had run out of milk, so we joined the in-law-in-laws for breakfast at their apartment. Then we all split up: the two girls stayed home to do homework. Wife, her sister, and her brother-in-law went on a tour/tasting at the local wine co-op, given by a local who’s an old friend of Wife’s sister. The rest of us, after a longer-than-expected stop at a schnapps store to taste and buy schnapps for friends back in Germany, drove about a half hour to Bolzano.

I would’ve liked to ride one of the three “cable cars” up into the mountains surrounding the town, but given that one of the in-law-in-laws gets motion sickness very easily, I knew this wasn’t an option. So I hope I go back someday. 

We spent a couple hours wandering around the old town admiring the buildings and shopping in little shops and markets. I, very characteristically, found a chocolate shop and spent some money there! But I also did a lot of waiting while the others chose local meat products to bring home for friends. We were planning to go to the archaeology museum but had to wait for the others, whose wine tour turned out to be longer than they had expected. We eventually got sandwiches at the Christmas market--mine was a grilled cheese-pretzel sandwich, and quite delicious. The same stand also sold what looked to be doughnuts in the shape of pretzels, but I knew we were planning to have a sweet dinner so I didn’t get one. 

Finally the others showed up, but they still needed to eat something. Wife and I went to a supermarket to get her something gluten-free, while the others bought sandwiches in the Christmas market like we had done. We told them we would meet them at the museum. We arrived there first. By the time we got there it was about 3:00 or so, and there was a long line out front. The museum guard estimated it would be an hour’s wait. Wife hates waiting, and even I thought that was a pretty long time, but on the other hand, the museum was one of the main things I wanted to see in Bolzano and I was frustrated with how little I’d gotten to do. When the others finally joined us, we told them the situation. But the line had started moving a bit faster, so in the end most of us agreed to go in. (I think we only waited less than a half hour.)

I’m so glad we stayed. The South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology is entirely dedicated to Ötzi the iceman--the mummy discovered in a glacier in 1991 by hikers in the Alps, in Italy but about 92 meters away from the border with Austria. It’s a great museum! Just the right size, and with engaging displays and great nuggets of just the right amount of information. There are cases displaying his clothing, shoes, hat, and possessions (including an axe, a longbow, some arrows, a belt with a pouch, and more), but the “main attraction” is the mummy itself. To be clear, this is not a person who was mummified as part of a funereal ritual. This is a man who died in the mountains and got buried by snow and ice so that his body was preserved for millennia. It is kept in what is essentially a freezer with a window you can look in. The mummy is sprayed frequently with sterile water in order to maintain the conditions that preserved it all this time. 

Studies are still being done, as technological and scientific advances have allowed us to find out more and more about him. He is about 5000 years old, and the copper axe he had with him implied that the Copper Age began at least 1000 years earlier than had previously been thought! He apparently ate his last meal less than an hour before he died, because it was still in his stomach (ibex meat and grain). There’s an arrowhead lodged in his shoulder. He was shot from behind, and the resulting blood loss is what killed him. But he was very well equipped, so this must have been an intentional murder rather than a random killing by bandits after his stuff. He also had a very deep cut on his hand from about 24-48 hours before his death, which seems to be a defensive wound. Other interesting facts they’ve learned: he was lactose-intolerant; he had atherosclerosis; his tattoos may have had a medical rather than decorative or spiritual purpose. Genetic testing showed that his maternal line has died out but his paternal line has not. Based on the presence of various minerals in his body, they were able to determine roughly where he was originally from (further south in Italy). 

Anyway, it was super interesting and we all enjoyed it. Then we headed back home for a dinner of salad and kaiserschmarrn, which is a shredded, thick, sweet pancake normally served with plum compote, but we used plum jam instead. It was delicious.

We played some more Ultimate Werewolf and then took a group photo with a timer, and then we hugged everyone goodbye and went back to our hotel to get ready to leave the next morning.

#personal #travel #ötzi the iceman #food #even though there is no picture of food here

[pbandjesse]

Today was a pretty good day off. Mostly lazy. It started with a lot of anxiety for me though.

I slept all right and I woke up at around 9. I wanted to go to the mall. I was determined to go to the mall. But I also knew that the landlord was going to be coming around in the afternoon. I wasn't sure what time but I wanted to make sure it was here. So I started getting ready.

One of the issues that I'm having in this apartment is that there's too much space. So when I'm going from the bedroom to the bathroom I have to pass through another room which then reminds me that I need to do something else and then I go to the kitchen to start doing that thing and then realize that I'm passing another room and I see something else that needs to get done. And then it's just a horrible cycle. I get very stressed out by how many things that need to be done. I had to get dressed I had to water the plants I had to feed the cats I had to eat breakfast so many things. All of them got done though and it was fine I was just stressed for no reason.

James texted me and told me that there was a package over at the other apartment I had to go pick up. So I left here around 9:30 and did that. I got the mail there and package which turned out to be a cat stuffed animal for me. And I came back here. I was very overheated though. There's not a lot of Hills but it's hot outside and I had a lot of trouble picking an outfit today cuz I was too hot. And the shorts I decided on hurt my legs when I was biking. So I got back here and I got changed. And just kind of stood in front of the air conditioner. It helped but I was very uncomfortable.

I only stayed here long enough to cool off and then I left again. I biked to the subway because I thought that would be my best bet for getting to the mall. That's how I've always gotten to the mall. Turns out it's only like a 12 minute bike ride. I'm very annoyed about this because I waited for the subway for almost a half an hour. I felt very stupid. And I didn't even have cell service down there so I didn't realize how short of a bike ride it was until later on. At least I have an interesting podcast to listen to. It could have been worse.

But because of the long way and the Heat by the time I got to the mall I was kind of just sad and felt kind of weird. I want a Forever 21 but I didn't really want to look at clothes. And that Mal has not got a lot of things in it. Did you have a Claire's though. And they were having their 3-4-3 sale. And I went in and wasn't going to get anything but then I saw that they had the Platypus Beanie Baby that I had seen on the boardwalk. The one that I couldn't find. And so I got it and some nail polish and a present for Jess. It was nice. Help me feel a little bit better.

I got a pretzel. Finally. I actually got two pretzels and brought them home with me. I've been kind of snacking on them all day. Say microwave pretty well. And then I just kind of wandered. I started to leave and then I realized it was 11:30 and I hadn't had breakfast yet. I was saving the pretzels for later. So I look to see where I Burger King was because I had seen someone with a cup from it. Turns out it was in the mall just kind of setback so I didn't see it. I went in and I want to order the veggie burger always get. Only to find out that even though it's on their menu they no longer carry it because of the impossible Burger. Wonderful. I can't eat the impossible Burger. I've tried it multiple times now and two of the three times I've tried it I've gotten sick. So I don't trust it. And I really like the veggie burger at Burger King. Explain the girl why I can't have it and she told me I should fill out the survey. So we did and just said that I was disappointed. I got fries and a soda and sat down. But I just felt very sad. I just wanted to go home.

Thankfully waiting for the Subway on the way back wasn't as long. It was still really hard to bike home and the Heat. And I promised myself I would get a cold bath as soon as I was home.

And that's exactly what I did. I got him cold baths and I had my pretzel. Eventually I had a burrito. I just tried to enjoy my afternoon.

Our landlady, Tina, texted me that she was running late. Originally when she had called me when I first got home she said she would be there around 3:30 or 4. But her sister's car had broken down and she had to drive her somewhere so she would be here closer to 5. That's cool I wasn't planning on going anywhere.

But then I hit kind of a mid-afternoon slump and I got incredibly tired. I set an alarm for 4:30 just in case I fell asleep. I just felt exhausted.

I went downstairs to get a package. It was a bunch of small stuff from my mom. But she also apparently sent me an envelope. And that wasn't there yet so later on a little bit before 5 I open the door to go downstairs. But when I did I saw that the office door that is the apartment next door to me was open and there was a huge bag of peaches on the table in the hallway. I assumed that meant the landlady was there so I just went back in my apartment.

And I was right! Tina knocked on my door a couple minutes after 5 with the big bag of peaches. She brought them for me and James. She is so sweet. I want to give her a big hug. She reminds me of my dad's Aunt Ellen. An older lady probably mid-70s. Crepe paper skin and glasses. She had earrings and a necklace and a bracelet on. She has short blond hair that was kind of curled. And I just think she's so sweet. We sat and talked for about a half an hour. She gave me the lease and she told me the history of the building. At least what she knows.

Her and her ex-husband bought this home years ago. They lived here on the first floor and in this apartment before she had kids. And after they had kids they moved West Virginia and started renting the place. The building itself was built in 1904 and I was right about it being a family that owns a department store downtown. They commissioned the building when they got married. And then they left for 6 months. When they got back they started their life but the wife died a few years later they think in childbirth. He was very sad and so he moved to the building next door. The one that's an old person's home now. At least we think it's an old person's home. But that building was filled with artists and art collectors at that time. Just filled with that kind of energy. He continued to own the home for a while and rent it out. It changed hands two more times at least before Tina and her husband at the time bought it. And my favorite thing that you told me was that turns out the apartment I'm living in was the original owners Billiards room. I think that is hilarious.

It was really nice to talk to her though and she said the sign the lease when we get a chance. To contact her if we have any questions. The only real question I have now that I've read over the lease has there's a clause in it that says we can only have white curtains. And I want to check about that. Cuz that seems bizarre. But it is a standard lease that she just got from the library so maybe she doesn't know that it says that.

After she left I ate one of the peaches and it was incredible. Like I literally ate the entire thing it was falling off of the pit. It was great. And then I just kind of hang out for a bit. Enjoyed being in the apartment.

Eventually I worked on some art. The kitty cat James gave me I went to pick up earlier had very strange eyes. So I tried to call her the man. But that looked worse. So I removed them and put new ones on. At least fixed the size and placement. I like it a lot better now. And then I worked on some aren't and I had pizza for dinner. I just had a nice night. I miss James. He's at a baseball game right now. The whole reason for his trip. I hope he's having a good time up in Boston. He sent me pictures of the museum he was at today. And he promised me a souvenir. I look forward to having him back.

I'm laying in bed now. Sweet pea is manhandling my stuffed animals. And being a nuisance. But I'm really just ready to get some sleep.

I work at the Museum tomorrow. And then James comes back. And then it supposed to be D&D. I look forward to seeing our friends. I hope you guys all have a nice day tomorrow. Be safe. Take care of each other.

#ootd #day off #saturday #plush #in progress #moving #happy

[365-money-diary]

DAYS 8-14

DAY EIGHT [JAN 8]

9:00 AM - Wake up still feeling full from yesterday’s black bean burgers. Make a chemex and start working. I have a performance evaluation today and as well as an after-work happy hour so I want to try to get everything done before the review and then workout after before HH.

10:30 AM - Eat a banana

12:30 PM - Have a short break before my performance review. Make a Greek-ish salad and drink a Seltzer before my quarterly performance review which I am slightly nervous for since I was very slow in both November & December.

3:00 PM - Performance review went well. No criticism from my boss, though I should’ve known. She is the most direct supervisor I’ve ever had so I always know where I stand. Eat some grapes. I’m not super sore today but there’s something in me that’s saying to take a breather from exercising today (probably my “reward” for a good performance review), so I slowly finish my work for today.

4:00 PM - My best friend (let’s call her T) from high school calls and we catch up for 45 minutes. Pour a mezcal soda while we chat. I let her go attend Happy Hour and realize this after work HH thing isn’t happening. Today is David Bowie’s bday and I get sentimental about the annual David Bowie Nights I would do with H (I never gave him a name in my last diary, but we’ve remained pals over the years and he will probably come up more this time around). I FaceTime H kinda drunkenly and he goes to the corner store and joins me with a bottle of wine. I pour a second mezcal soda. We chat until 7:45 and I lowkey make dinner towards the end.

8:00 PM - K and I eat veggie sandwiches with potatoes for dinner. He slinks off to work more and I facetime another friend, J to chat about H’s latest drama. 

10:00 PM - Go out on the couch to find K already falling asleep. I’m kind of drunk anyways and there’s no point staying up so we decide to turn in.

DAY EIGHT TOTAL: $0

DAY NINE

2:00 AM - Wake up sweating. This is my new hangover thing and has been happening throughout quar. Drink some water, turn on the fan, and stay up for an extra 30 minutes until I pass out again.

9:15 AM - Wake up feeling ok! Make a chemex and watch the latest episode of Dessert Person on YouTube.

10:30 AM - Get started on blog stuff for the day. I have a stacked list of stuff I want to shoot this weekend. I’m only one ingredient spread in before I start to feel light-headed from last night’s alcohol, so I break to make breakfast – tofu/egg scramble tacos with soyrizo. I still feel a little weird after so I drink a nuun and things start to improve.

3:30 PM - I shoot thousand island dressing, Russian dressing, cauliflower leek soup, and the first half of seitan corned beef. Tomorrow I’ll finish that, and shoot rubens, italian dressing and a greek salad. I don’t usually shoot 7 recipes in one weekend, but I’m very much out of content. 

4:30 PM - Finish shooting for the day and eat a small bowl of cauliflower leek soup. 

6:00 PM - Working out on the weekends is always hard because of lack of routine / structure, but I suck it up and do a barre live stream. Shower and watch the last of the Suns game and import photos. 

7:45 PM - Make veggie sandwiches with miso butter green beans for dinner. This is the last of our veggie sandwiches which is sad. I love them so much! Spend the rest of the evening with K. We watch part of the 76ers game where they only had 7 players, a few episodes of Letterkenny, and then I read Remain in Love while he played RocketLeague.

DAY NINE TOTAL: $0

DAY TEN

8:45 AM - Doomscroll in bed for a bit and finally make myself a chemex. Put on an old episode of The Challenge. Buy a very belated birthday present for a friend - mamafuku seasoned salts. $34.95

10:30 AM - Pump myself up for shooting for the rest of the day. I have to finish the seitan, then shoot a greek dressing, a greek salad, and reuben sandwiches. None of these things should take too long but I also shot all day yesterday so I’m dragging ass. 

3:15 PM - Finially finish! I ended up also taking a decent break to chat with my sister on the phone part way through. I think everything looks alright though. 

4:00 PM - Import photos, eat a cup of cauliflower leek soup with a La Croix, watch an episode of The Challenge, try to hype myself up to exercise but by the time I am ready to play DDR, K says we’ll be zooming with his parents in just a short while.

5:30 PM - Drink the last of the wine in the house – a true bummer – on zoom with K’s parents. Cook dinner after – reubens with miso butter broccoli with more La Croix. We watch some Letterkenney and then K plays RocketLeague while I read some Remain in Love / zone out on fone. 

9:00 PM - K finishes playing and I assume the DDR position. My tracking has already improved quite a bit since Tuesday. I play most of the tracks on standard and close my Apple Watch rings after 30 minutes. Rinse off, put the Challenge back on and edit photos of Russian Dressing. 

DAY TEN TOTAL: $34.95

DAY ELEVEN

8:30 AM - Ugh Monday. I actually have a lot to do already today. Make a chemex and do the dishes leftover from yesterday’s cooking adventures. Pure barre charge comes through. $15

9:45 AM - I have a giant stack of packages and mail in the house from the past few weeks. Open up one of them and it contains a phone case I bought from a “tech company” that is probably just a fancy version of Wish. Slap it on my phone. I honestly can’t believe I went over a month without a case without cracking anything. I’m amazing.

10:00 AM - Missed a call on Friday afternoon from an appraiser scheduler, so I call them back to get something on the calendar for next week after MLK day so I have the 3-day weekend to clean. Eat yogurt for breakfast.

12:00 PM - Make a greek salad for lunch with a La Croix. It’s really good but not very filling. I have a feeling today is going to have a heavy snack vibe.

2:00 PM - Eat a handful of pretzels. 

3:00 PM - Eat 2 clementines

4:00 PM - Eat a handful of tortilla chips. Start thinking about dinner. Don’t want to do reubens and burritos sound really nice so I start the process of making chile de arbol salsa and instant pot refried beans.

5:30 PM - Do a Pure Barre livestream. My focus is a little better than Saturday, so I’ll take it!

7:00 PM - Make rice on the stove while I clear some dishes and make burritos for din. Spend the rest of the eve watching random YouTube videos with K. He falls asleep at some point on and I turn on The Challenge. 

11:00 PM - Gently wake K up and we head to bed. Put on the Suns game from earlier and cuddle up. By the end of the first quarter, I’m asleep.

DAY ELEVEN TOTAL $15

DAY TWELVE

8:30 AM - Wake up to find a couple of weird charge notifications. One is from Instacart for the exact amount of my last order – a duplicate charge. And the other is an auto-ship from Thrive market but it was supposed to charge my mom. I text her to let her know she owes me $20. I won’t include either of these charges since I’ll get reimbursed / refunded. The autoship also reminds me to look at the account and cancel my next one with Thrive.

9:00 AM - Get the stuff sorted out with Instacart. They’re going to email my sister (we share this account) the deets and she’ll forward to me. Make a chemex and make my way through the stack of paper mail before starting my workday. One of them is a confirmation of my credit score – 749. Sign a bunch of papers and put them in a giant envelope to send back to the loan company.

10:00 AM - Eat plant yogurt for breakfast and try to focus on the outstanding tasks I have this AM which is surprisingly kind of a lot.

11:45 AM - H texts me saying he forgot his wallet to buy lunch and asks me to place an order at Chipotle that he can pick up. Always happy to help! Place the order online and it’s $10.43. He PayPals me $10 for the damage. $0.43

12:45 PM - Make a greek salad for lunch with a La Croix. This salad has like 5 calories since the dressing is oil-free and leaves me wanting more. 

1:00 PM - Eat a handful of mini pretzels. 

3:00 PM - Heat up a small bowl of cauliflower lentil soup. Officially done snacking until din.

5:15 PM - Done with workie. Make a nuun and do barre live stream. The class recording this time is actually “easy” which is nice – my body must be adjusting to the new moves. Make leftover bean cheeze and rice burritos for din.

7:00 PM - K and I watch King of the Hill for a bit and then he plays RocketLeague while I read some Remain in Love and then work on a post for Russian dressing. Watch some of the Challenge in the background.

DAY TWELVE TOTAL: $0.43

DAY THIRTEEN

8:30 AM - Good morning to me! See a charge come in from Blueland for soap & dishwasher tablets. Kind of a bummer because I don’t need them at all right now. Move my next delivery date to November 1 and put a note on my calendar a week before to check my stock. Note that the Instacart charge is gone. Hooray! Make a chemex, do the dishes and spray down the counters. $25.19

9:30 AM - Not sure what it is about today, but my calendar is clear and I know tomorrow is going to suck with meetings, so I really take my time and ease into the day. I don’t feel super confident posting the Russian dressing all over the interweb and would rather stage it as a thousand island vs Russian dressing kind of thing, so I just decide to post on Insta, Pinterest, and one Reddit forum before deciding that’s good enough. 

10:00 AM - Eat a yogurt. These Oui ones are really too sweet for me, but I’m at the mercy of whatever is on sale because honestly yogurt is a giant rip off. I should learn how to make my own.

12:30 PM - Make another greek salad with La Croix for lunch. Fully prepared to snack again since this guy is just not very filling. 

1:20 PM - Eat a handful of mini pretzels

2:30 PM - Eat a cup of cauliflower leek soup. I’m actually caught up on work for once which is nice. Looking forward to knocking out barre before 7 PM - hah. We’re still a week out from needing groceries, but it takes a while to plan/prep. With the appraisal on Tuesday, I know it’s not going to be a fun weekend so I start thinking about what I want to make for the rest of the month.

3:30 PM - Find a bougie polenta recipe I want to give a go as well as shoot oil-free instant pot refried beans and nacho cheese with potatoes and carrots. And use all of that to make sheet pan nachos. Should be a fun weekend of shooting there. Eat grapes. 

4:30 PM - I can’t hang with how hungry I am. Eat tortilla chips and salsa. Do a barre live stream and do a peloton 10 minute low impact ride. 

8:00 PM - K isn’t hungry for dinner so I heat up a Philly burrito and eat it with more tortilla chips and Sweedish Fish for “dessert.” I watch some of The Challenge and then K and I play Mario Kart and watch Letterkenny before turning in.

DAY THIRTEEN TOTAL: $25.19

DAY FOURTEEN

8:30 AM - I hate 9 AM meetings. Get my shit together enough to make a chemex before I have to be on the call.

10:00 AM - I can’t handle how many snacks I keep eating throughout the day. Toast a bagel for breakfast with Earth Balance, everything but the bagel seasoning, nooch, and salt. Eat some Sweedish Fish while I wait for the bagel to toast.

12:30 PM - Make the same greek salad with a lemon La Croix. I eat quickly as I have to present at 1 so I eat quickly in prep for that.

2:50 PM - It’s over! It went well and got good compliments on my presentation skills by all parties. AND I’m not starving. A win for all! I realize half the lights in my bedroom & bathroom are out which is a bad scene for appraisal. Buy some replacements on Amazon. $27.98

3:10 PM - Start building the grocery order for next Wednesday. I realize I’m doing this really far in advance, but I’m worried I won’t have the gusto for it this weekend. 

4:30 PM - Heat up a small cup of cauliflower leek soup for a snack. Debate to myself about whether or not I want to do barre and for whatever reason an hour of it sounds boring. DDR sounds fun though so I go for that instead. Get a good cal burn and even AA Kind Lady on Heavy. It’s coming back baby!

6:00 PM - Rinse off and make dinner – we’re doing Reubens tonight with roasted potatoes. Really really delicious dang. 

8:30 PM - Drink a yellow chartreuse with Lagunitas Hop Water and play Mario Kart with K. Then edit photos of cauliflower lentil soup for my blog.

DAY FOURTEEN TOTAL: $27.98

[umnachtung]

Finally, a real fucking survey

1. What’s the last thing you ate? bread buns with cheddar and ham and a croissant filled with nougat

2. What’s your favourite cheese? cheddar

3. What’s your favourite fish?

trout, i believe

4. What’s your favourite fruit? 

Raspberry?

5. When, if ever, did you start liking olives?

Pretty early on. With 12 or so?

6. When, if ever, did you start liking beer?

I don’t exactly like beer all that much.

7. When, if ever, did you start liking shellfish? in my teens.

8. What was the best thing your mum/dad/guardian used to make? pasta with vegetable and trout sauce

9. What’s the native specialty of your hometown? Döner

10. What’s your comfort food? soft pretzels (?)

11. What’s your favourite type of chocolate? peanut butter chocolate

12. How do you like your steak? rare.

13. How do you like your burger?

juicy? uhh... meat shouldnt be dry. i take it with all ingredients except for onions.

14. How do you like your eggs?

scrambled -> same

15. How do you like your potatoes? 

as puree.

16. How do you take your coffee? the weakest cappuccino or latte,with sugar

17. How do you take your tea? Black and green tea with milk and sugar, usually.

18. What’s your favourite mug? I have too many, but probably my batman mug and seal mug.

19. What’s your biscuit or cookie of choice?

spice biscuit.

20. What’s your ideal breakfast? bread rolls, several cheeses and meats to put on, some veggies and fruits for snacking

21. What’s your ideal sandwich? cheddar, salad(chicory), butter

22. What’s your ideal pizza: spicy salami + mozzarella

23. What’s your ideal pie (sweet or savoury)? blueberry pie

24. What’s your ideal salad? white beans, tomato, onion, mint(`?) and lemon juice, salt+pepper 25. What food do you always like to have in the fridge? cheese

26. What food do you always like to have in the freezer? idk, bread?

27. What food do you always like to have in the cupboard? Muesli

28. What spices can you not live without? cumin, bay leaf, garlic 

29. What sauces can you not live without? uuuhhh... tomato sauce?

30. Where do you buy most of your food? real, edeka

31. How often do you go food shopping? once a week

33. What’s the most expensive piece of kitchen equipment you own? not really owning but i think the espresso machine

34. What’s the last piece of equipment you bought for your kitchen? I never bought anything for this kitchen.

35. What piece of kitchen equipment could you not live without? electric kettle

36. How many times a week/month do you cook from raw ingredients? 3 - 4 times a week 37. What’s the last thing you cooked from raw ingredients? 

rice with chicken in curry, peanutbutter and coconut sauce with  Kaffir lime leaf 38. What meats have you eaten besides cow, pig and poultry? deer, rabbit, lamb

39. What’s the last time you ate something that had fallen on the floor? probably a couple of days ago, idk what it was.

40. What’s the last time you ate something you’d picked in the wild?

The wild is a bit stretched but I used to snack on black berries that grown in a park nearby.

41. Arrange the following in order of preference: Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Sushi –

Italian, Indian, Thai, Chinese, Sushi. Mexican (mostly because i never really had many dishes from there so  i cant quite compare)

42. Arrange the following in order of preference: Vodka, Whiskey, Brandy, Rum – Whiskey, Brandy, Rum, Vodka (I think i hate everything here except whiskey) 43. Arrange the following in order of preference: Garlic, Basil, Caramel, Lime, Mint, Ginger, Aniseed – Garlic, Lime, Ginger, Mint, Caramel, Aniseed, Basil

44. Arrange the following in order of preference: Pineapple, Orange, Apple, Strawberry, Cherry, Watermelon, Banana. – Orange, Strawberry, Cherry, Watermelon, Apple, Banana, Pineapple

45. Bread and spread: grey bread or whole wheat bread with plum jam 

46. What’s your fast food restaurant of choice, and what do you usually order? None, I would rather grab a Döner.

47. Pick a city. What are the best dining experiences you’ve had in that city? Camiore in Italy, really good pizza and it was like take out pizza.

48. What’s your choice of tipple at the end of a long day? none. I would rather have tea.

49. What’s the next thing you’ll eat? pasta with bolognese sauce

50. Are you hungry now? surprisingly not.

51. Do you eat your breakfast everyday? no, I usually have tea.

52. At what time do you have breakfast? Too late for most people to call it breakfast.

53. At what time do you have lunch? Never.

54. What do you have for lunch? Nothing, I usually snack some bread and cheese??

55. At what time do you have dinner? 5 - 7 pm

56. What do you have for dinner? self cooked meals

57. Do you light candles during dinner? sometimes.

58. How many chairs are there in your dining room and who sits in the main chair?  3 and my mother sits in the best seat since you can overlook the kitchen from it. strategically  best seat.

59. Do you eat and drink using your right hand or the left one? left

61. Mention the veggies that you like most: Zucchini, Pak Choi, Cucumber, Beetroot

62. What fruit and vegetable do you like the least? cabbages and pineapple.

63. You like your fruit salad to have more: I dont have fruit salad tbh.

64. You prefer your vegetable salad to contain more: mozzarella : P

65. What’s your favourite sandwich spread? butter...

66. What’s your favourite chocolate bar? Wunderbar

67. What’s your favourite dessert? cheesecake

68. What’s your favourite drink? most juices with spritzer, black tea with milk and sugar

69. What’s your favourite snack? baby needs snack, snack of cleaner. uuuh.... chips

70. What’s your favourite bubble gum flavour? I don’t like bubble gum -> same

71. What’s your favourite ice cream flavour? berry mix, lime,  mango

72. What’s your favourite potato chip flavour? salt and vinegar

73. What’s your favourite soup? greek rice chicken soup

74. What’s your favourite pizza? spicy everything you wont finish it because its too spicy pizza...

75. What’s your favourite type of dish? IDK something with all the right flavors but not making you feel like you just ate a cement block afterwards

76. What food do you hate? most German cuisines with cabbage and ugly brown sauce, roulades

77. What’s your favourite restaurant? None.

78. Do you eat homemade food, or food delivered from outside? homemade.

80. Who cooks at home? Mom, Dad, Me

81. What kind of diet (e.g. low-fat, high-fiber, high-carbohydrate, balanced diet etc.) do you have? I dont have a diet. I just eat whatever i want to.

82. How do you keep yourself fit? I dont.

#food #survey

[rosequartz-and-agate-blog]

Leavenworth 2019

We just got back from our second trip to Leavenworth, this time with Brandon and Maddie. It was definitely needed, I think for both of us.

Friday,

We got there a few hours before they did, so we got to wander on our own for a little bit and take pictures of stuff to show our parents. We had lunch at the Bavarian Bistro and Bar- a German pretzel with Beechers cheese sauce, and some sweet potato fries. You had a mule, and I had a pomegranate vodka cocktail of sorts. We finally got to check in to our room, took advantage of our privacy 👉🏻👌🏻 and then had a nice soak in the jacuzzi together before watching Fast and the Furious. Our friends finally got there, so we met up at Visconti’s for dinner. You and Brandon had some red wines and a port(?). Maddie and I had the only moscato they offered. You had oven roasted Wild Ocean Prawns with lemon basil butter, and I had probably the best Pollo alle Parmegiano I’ve ever had. Maddie and Brandon both had their Salmon special of the day, of course we had to have dessert. I got their raspberry cheesecake - which was delicious - and the three of you had their Crema Carmella, which was basically Crème Brûlée before the torch - also delicious. We followed our dinner with a walk to the Leavenworth Cider House, where we each had a flight of 5 ciders, and played cornhole. We beat them. Your favorite cider was One Tree Staycation - a pineapple and mango cider. My favorite was Locust Vanilla Bean - I think that’s self explanatory. We called it a night after that.

Saturday,

We woke up around 8:30, took a shower, and walked around the corner to the Argonaut Sidewalk Cafe to get some coffee. I got ready, and we met our friends at the Renaissance Cafe for breakfast. You had the biscuits and gravy, and honestly could’ve shared it with someone and still been full. I had the Kristienne - some dollar size pancakes and scrambled eggs. You shared your bacon with me since I don’t like sausage. After we got some food in our tummies... it was time for wine tasting.

We took them to the Woohoo Winery room. We ended up getting 3 bottles- (of course) our 2017 Late Harvest Riesling, a Berry Sangria, and a mulled red wine with Cabernet Franc and Merlot, spiced with Cinnamon Nutmeg and Cloves (that we’re saving for the holidays) to serve warm, called Gluhwein.

Then we made our way to D’Vinery Eagle Creek Winery, where nothing stood out, but Brandon needed a break after this one because he’s a weak bitch lightweight. We went to a few shops: one being Schocolate, where we got apple butter for my sister; another being Krampus games, where we got our long awaited D&D dice and a book for it. We stopped at the Sausage Garten for Pretzels. You found a habanero sauce that you really liked there, but I forgot to ask what it was before we left. You didn’t know I wanted to, but I’m sorry that I didn’t anyway.

We found another winery to do a tasting, but I can’t remember which one, and I was so excited that I forgot to take pictures. We also went to Viadolce Gelato and got some sweet treats to cool down, and walked through the Art Show that was going on. Eventually we made our way to the Icicle Ridge Winery, where we shared Sweet Flights, Purple Haze goat cheese (with lavender and fennel pollen), and crackers. All 3 of the wines in our flight were delicious- but we both liked Apple of my Eye the best, versus Cheery Cherry and the Blackberry Riesling.

Next was Milbrandt Vineyards tasting room. This is where we met Deborah, but she told me I can call her Debbie. We bonded over drinking wine alone, but with our cats. She kept giving you more tastings so she could talk to me more and I kind of silently adopted her as my grandma - which is ok since her grandson is our age! She gave you a little taste of their special “Members Only” fancy red wine and oh my god. I hate reds, but I loved that one. I wish we could’ve bought a bottle. Anyway, we had to leave. Maddie needed food.

We ended up back at the cider house, where we got flatbread pizzas, fries, and a couple ciders. This is also where our awesome game of Giant Jenga took place. We even impressed ourselves with it, since most of our moves shouldn’t have worked. Brandon and Maddie both have headaches at this point because they’ve started slowing down on drinking. We are still fine and comfortable because we’ve been steadily drinking since 11am. But now it’s dinner time...

At Mozart’s. We went in not knowing how much anything costs, because their online menu didn’t show prices. Turns out, it’s not cheap - surprise, surprise! We all got the same thing; Filet Mignon. Correction: $50 Filet Mignon. None of us got actual drinks, just water, and our bills were still about $100 each couple. But fuuuuuuck that was some GOOD steak. No regerts.

After dinner, it was past our bedtime. We went back to our room, you passed out pretty much immediately, and I fell asleep 20 minutes into the Goblet of Fire.

Sunday,

Our last day in Leavenworth. We woke up at 7:30 - and that was after forcing ourselves to sleep in a few times - and got ready for the day. I had to wear shorts instead of a dress today since I have a painful rash from my damn power thighs chaffing. Yesterday’s sunburn had already healed, but within 20 minutes of being outside, I had a new one starting. We got white chocolate lavender mochas from Argonaut again, and played Pokémon Go around town while we waited for Maddie and Brandon to get ready. We looked in a couple shops that opened early for some different apple butter, but couldn’t find any. But oh, this weekend had gone so smoothly... it would be a shame if I’d forgotten my purse in the room that we already checked out from. You can count on me to mess something up. We got about half way back to our room when they said they’re finally ready. It was a struggle, between my thighs and my ankles, but we didn’t keep them waiting too long. Louie’s was our breakfast spot this time. We left sad, though. It wasn’t as good as last time we were there.

After breakfast Maddie and Brandon had to check out of their hotel. We got taffy in the meantime, then met back up with them by the art show. We walked through town again, this time checking out the parlors, knickknack shops, and chocolatiers. We didn��t get anything. By the time we got through all of the shops, it was about 11:45 and we were ready to go home. We grabbed our wines from Woohoo, and made a quick stop at Rocky Mountain Chocolate for some caramel apples - 2 cheesecake and 1 peanut. We parted ways with our buddies, and made the journey home.

[beatyoutothepunchline]

A Dumb Girls Guide to Dinner for One

When I was a kid, I was given "A Smart Girls Guide" a series of practical advice books created by American Girl for helping tween girls navigate the awkward transition from childhood and becoming a young adult. These books covered everything from friendship troubles to boys, manners, middle school, and sticky situations. (As if that entire phase of my life *cringes at the awkward 7th-grade first-day-of-school photo* wasn't one in and of itself). For being such a "smart girl" you'd think some of these things would have come naturally to me, but apparently not because I was given seven of these books by different family members. Most of this information (if not entirely lost on me) was eventually rendered irrelevant. I am no longer in middle school, my friendships no longer are angsty and problematic, I slowly acquired manners, and have given up on men. That being said, as I now make the transition from a college student to grown ass woman, I wish there was a series of books with advice on things like, What to do when it is just you... in an apartment and you hate cooking but should probably eat something other than a gigantic Rice Krispie Treat. Because, hahaha... that definitely isn't what's happening right now... As the old saying goes, you only learn by doing. And I've only ever used an oven when it was absloutly necessary for my survival or to impress a man (Which, unless you enjoy/know how to cook is a monumental waste of time, speaking from personal experience). Luckily though, I've managed to come up with a few "dishes" along the way that are quick and easy enough for my dumbass to get by. NOTE: Before I get too far into this, I just want to say that this is all stuff I've found works for me. You can swap out or add anything. I'm not saying this is healthy (God knows I could use some more fruits and vegetables) and it might not be for everyone. So take what you want and leave the rest. Breakfast: I am occasionally a breakfast person. Only when I'm hungover, am on vacation, or am near Wheatfields in my hometown of Omaha, NE. On these such occasions, I splurge and get the croque madame and sangria, or the Nutella crepes and fancy coffee. However, every now and again, there is that weird Tuesday morning I want to eat but want to be economical, and in that kind of situation, this is what I do: Peanut Butter/Coffee/Protein Shake --1 Chocolate Premier Protein shake. (Or any protein shake/power of your choice. I like this kind because they sell in bulk at Costco. It's high in protein, low in sugar and is Keto friendly for those folks out there that are into that.) --1 spoon of peanut butter. I don't measure. I use the au natural PB from TJ's because it's cheap and a little better for you than Jiff or Skippy, but you do you man. --3 shakes of cinnamon. --A splash of vanilla extract. --1 Cup of coffee. If you are fancy this can be some Cold Brew, but if you are cheap like me I'm usually good with sticking some day old Folders in the fridge the night before and throwing that in there. (Optional) --1/2 a frozen banana. Gives it a little something extra in the taste department and can work like ice cubes if nothing else is chilled or frozen. Because breakfast shakes, like soft serve, gazpacho, and revenge is a dish best served ice cold. Then just blend it together whatever way you see fit. The stick blender your mom bought you exactly for this purpose that up until last month you only used for margaritas, a food processor some family member gave you when you graduated high school as if you'd be whipping up pesto on a nightly basis. "What a score! Thanks, Aunt Karen!" A hand blender, a KitchenAid mixer (assuming you took this whole cooking thing to the max and want to pretend your Martha Stewart). A bowl and a fork or a Ziplock bag (if your broke and or don't want to make the investment and/or missed the arm day at the gym). Lunch: At this point in the day, I'm usually getting done with a class or am about to wind sprint to one because I'm running late. I wish I was one of those people that was motivated enough to precut my imperfect produce shipment on Sunday night and make five perfectly portioned salasd to put in mason jars and drizzle on a homemade dressing, but I would be BS-ing you if I said I did that. Honestly, I've made it through most of college on vending machine lunches and have been totally content, but at some point, my Cherry Coke and pretzels are going to catch up and I'm going to lose all my hair or something. So I've got a few things I usually do for lunch that are quick and painless. Recently I rediscovered the simple quesadilla (or in my weird family we call them...) Torcheetas --1 handful of whatever kind of cheese you like. I personally dig the "Mexican blend" from TJ's. --1-8 tortillas (depending on how hungry you are). Let's get real, there's a healthy way to make this and then there is a drunk at three AM way to make this dish. --Saracha (or whatever salsa/sauce you're into) (Optional) --1 serving of frozen peas (for vegetables) --1 serving of beans (for protein) --side salad? (I don't usually do this, but it's something my mom would do to make it extra healthy. Doesn't have to be fancy, just lettuce, maybe some baby tomatoes.) If you have time turn on the skillet on low, throw some oil in the pan, gently swirling it until it evenly coats the bottom until toasted to perfection. But if you're in a hurry or just incredibly hungry a microwave will do just as fine. Dinner: Again, if I'm being perfectly honest most nights it's two slices of pizza from the 7/11 next to my building and a green tea or La Croix I keep stockpiled under my bed like an extreme couponer. So I usually do that or if I'm feeling it I'll do a salmon sandwich (which sounds gross but can be made to taste halfway decent. --Do yourself a favor. Buy yourself a decent loaf of bread. None of this off-brand Wonder Bread nonsense. It's weak and if it doesn't entirely fall apart in your hands as you eat it, it will stick to the roof of your mouth. Wheat bread has some health benefits but is dry as hell, bland, and usually more sugar than you think. Buy yourself a nice sourdough. It'll put you out three ish bucks. --Get yourself some canned salmon or tuna. Target usually has a 5 for 10 dollar deal on the Starkist Tuna. Costco sells really high-quality stuff canned stuff like the Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Pink Salmon. But if you're like, "Ew, no. I don't eat anything from a can," then there's always stuff in the deli. If you happen to live in a big city, I highly recommend small mom and pop deli shops because they sell things you can't get anywhere else and it's usually a little fresher. --MUSTARD (to taste). Okay, for real though. Personally, I am a dijon fiend but the generic stuff will do the job. (But you went the distance so far, so why half-ass it now?) Toast the bread. (Again, this small step makes a world of difference in the final product). And assemble. Add a side salad, peas. (A vegetable of some kind?) Then get realistic and pair it with a beer or a scoop of Cherry Garcia (and by scoop I mean accidental pint :/ whoops) because you are human, and maybe because it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, your year... I'll be there for you cause I've been there too. Look, this isn't going to turn into a Julie and Julia type situation because I hate cooking. I find zero joy in it. But, I'd also like to eat something other than gas station delicacies until I die, so... I'm going to try a few things out. While I'm off burning tortillas, I'd love to hear your half-assed meals and how to make them diversify my menu.

#theblondefiasco #writing #blogpost

[atravelersseoul]

Flight and First day in Seoul

6.24.17~6.26.17

Our flight to Toronto left Columbus around 10:30. It was a fairly small flight, seating no more than 50 people. It was a pretty fast and easy flight, which was lucky because the bathroom was broken on that plane, so that could have been disastrous.

We got into Toronto and the airport may have looked small from the outside but the inside was very big, fancy and artsy; they had mini art galleries and shopping boutiques; there was a coach store and a Victoria secret store. Our connecting flight to Seoul was delayed by about 25 minutes so we all decided to get some snacks and whatnot since we were all hangry.

After about an hour and a half we boarded the connecting flight to Seoul and the take off preparations/safety instructions were very interesting; they were repeated in about 5 languages: English and french because we were in Canada, and then Korean, Chinese and Japanese because we were flying into Seoul. i can’t really remember, but there might have been Spanish too, for some reason. For about the first few hours we were very excited about the flight: the food, the mini television screens that had everything you could want on them. We all watched a movie together but towards the end of that one I was starting to doze off every now and then. During that movie we got our first meal which was a dinner. It was surprisingly very good, especially for being airplane food. The main part was rice with marinated beef, cabbage and lettuce. There was also a salad, bread, and a brownie.

 At this point it already felt like it had been forever since we had been on the plane even though it had only been roughly 3 hours, so I decided to try and get some sleep even though we had all been playing on staying up so that we could been on the time zone when we got there. It was not a very deep or comfortable sleep but I did what I could. When I woke up I looked through some more movies and shows and found some episodes of the middle so I watched all of those. I then found an episode of fairly odd parents and watched that. With nothing much else to do I watched the latest bourne movie. Somewhere in the middle of that we got a small snack that had a mini sandwich, pretzels, some type of cracker/cookie, and I ended up getting some coffee to help me stay up. I finished the bourne movie and finally picked a Korean movie to watch. Id heard that it was really good so I decided to watch it…I ended up crying at the end, it was sooo sad…even though it was in the comedy section. towards the last few hours of the flight we got a breakfast and that was even better than the dinner. We got an omelet with sausage and potatoes and a spinach sauce. There was also a fruit cup and bread.

The descent and landing was a bit rough; there was a lot of turbulence, probably the most I have ever felt. There were a few times that you could actually feel the plane drop for a second or two and you could feel your stomach drop. It was almost like we were on a roller coaster. The landing itself went pretty smoothly though.

After we landed we had about 3 hours until the shuttle bus left to take us to the dorms so we exchanged currency, got some food and other little things we needed to do. at that point we were all just so exhausted and wanted to get back and sleep as soon as possible. once we got on the shuttle we had about an hour drive from Incheon airport back to the dorms which are about half an hour outside the very middle of Seoul. The drive there was very interesting, the way people drive here is insane, especially the bus drivers. People just weave in and out, and change lanes so fast and seemingly without a care. When we got to around the campus the driver had no idea where our specific building was or where to drop us off so he just stopped the bus in the middle of the road to call someone and ask where to go…that was very mind boggling. When we eventually figured out where to go, walking to the building was a whole other adventure in itself. I don’t think there is a flat piece of ground anywhere in this city, so we had to lug our bags up and down multiple hills to get to the dorm. On one very steep hill one girl accidentally let go of her bag and it went flying down the street and almost took someone out. that gave me so much second hand embarrassment, it’ll last me enough for a lifetime.

We got to the dorm around 10pm and had to do some stuff for check in and whatnot. Once we got to the rooms we realized there were several things that we were all missing, so we all went down to the convenience store that is right around the corner. Let me tell you, the convenience stores in America have nothing on the ones here, they are amazing. They literally have everything you could need and everything is so cheap. They have an entire section just dedicated to different types of ramen and they even have a ramen making station, complete with a microwave. They know what they're doing here. One big thing was that none of the rooms had toilet paper so we bought two giant packs to share with pretty much the entire hallway, but we have not really given them to anyone yet so I currently have about 15 rolls of toilet paper sitting under my desk.

Once we got everything we headed back to the rooms because everyone was pretty tired. I ended up just taking a shower and then going to sleep. Another thing that is awesome is the shower. The whole bathroom itself is pretty much the shower; the floor in the bathroom is about an inch or two below the floor in the rest of the room, and there is a drain in the shower but also in the middle of the floor outside of the shower door. That way, it doesn’t matter if you get water everywhere…it stays in the bathroom and drains.

Waking up the next day was kinda hard because we had to meet the program staff outside the building at 8am sharp to head to our orientation at the program office in the city. The trek there was the first time we were all going to be taking public transportation to the city, and the transit system here is very intimidating at first. In the Seoul metropolitan area, I believe there is a total of 18 subway lines and I don’t even want to think about the buses. Despite it being scary, the transit system is sooo nice and it works so well, so much better than in the US. To ride the subway and buses you have to buy a card, called a “T-Money” card. You basically just load money onto that card every now and then to scan and pay at the stations. Whats really nice is that if you need to take the bus after the subway, it doesn’t charge you for the bus if you get on it within 30 minutes of getting off the subway.

So getting to the office wasn’t too hard but it was really frustrating. The third party program that we went through that brought us to Korea University had a total of 66 students in it. taking 66 american students on the subway is very complicated and very headache inducing. Especially when a lot of these students are heavily reinforcing the stereotype of loud obnoxious Americans by being so loud to the point of being disrespectful. But we mad it there in one piece without being scolded so I guess that’s a mission accomplished. From the subway we had to walk quite a ways to get to the building and it was scorching hot. From what I recall it was around 85 degrees with 80% humidity: I was literally dripping sweat. While we were all dying of heat, there were so many people that we saw walking that were in pants or long sleeves that looked perfectly fine, not a drop of sweat on them.

Once we got to the building they told us that the office was on the 11th floor, which was somewhat shocking. That is one very cool thing about the city, everything is just stacked on top of each other. Since Korea itself does not have a lot of land, (apparently the entire country is smaller than Minnesota), things are built upwards instead of outwards. The building however only had one elevator and only took like 6 people at a time, so at some point we just decided to take the stairs, which was a bad idea. By the time we got to the top, I felt very American. I was sweating buckets, breathing like I’d run a marathon and it made me realize how long it’s been since I last exercised.

The orientation itself wasn’t too interesting, just going over stuff we needed to know about classes and safety and whatnot, and it lasted way too long. After we got done, they took us to Gwanghwamun market that was nearby for lunch. We didn’t have a lot of time so we found a little place to just stop by and get some food at. We got some ddeokboki which is spicy rice cake and I got naengmyun which is a buckwheat noodle soup. It took longer than expected so we had to leave before we could finish all the food so we felt pretty bad, but we were gonna be late if we didn’t.

after lunch we headed to Gwanghwamun square that is a big plaza in the middle of an eight lane highway that leads up to Gyeongbok Palace. In the square, there are two statues, one of Admiral Yi Sun Shin and one of King Sejong, who invented hangul, the written alphabet during the Joseon dynasty. Across from the square in the main gate of Gyeongbok palace, which was the royal palace of the Joseon dynasty and was built in 1395. It was really just incredible to see this beautiful old palace right in the middle of the city among huge modern buildings. Inside the palace it was amazing to see a lot people in hanbok, which is the traditional Korean dress. It seemed like a lot of people, especially couples go there to take pictures in their hanboks. The architecture was absolutely breathtaking and it was hard to take in how big the whole place was. It really made me wonder about what it would have been like when it was built and what life was like inside of it. everything about it was just so beautiful and incredible, it was so amazing to be able to walk around and experience it.

one funny thing was we actually met someone from ohio while we were walking around. We wanted to take a group picture next to one of the buildings and the person we asked to take our picture was from here. He was actually a part of the broadway tour that was performing the musical Chicago in seoul, so that was just very interesting to meet someone coincidentally like that.

After touring the palace, we went to a shop that rented out hanboks and had sessions for people to try them on and take pictures. It was definitely a new and interesting experience, but it was towards the end of the day so we all were tired and sweaty and probably smelled really bad. but after we finished there, we were done with group activities so they just released us into the city to do whatever and then find our own way back. Amanda has a friend who lives in seoul and owns a brewery/restraurant so we headed to one of his restaurants in Hyundai Mall for dinner around 6. I ordered some chicken and ended up getting what seemed like 2 whole chickens, I think there was around 20 wings, so I definitely did not finish them all. While we were eating we saw a mini stand that was serving drinks in lightbulbs. It was the cutest thing and we simply could not pass it up. It was called “Bulb Smoothie” and for some reason that just cracked us up. The guy working the stand was very cute and charming so that made it even better hehe. We ended up staying until the mall closed at 9 and then made the long ride back to the dorms and pretty much knocked out as soon as we got in our rooms. We had early morning the next day for another orientation so we all wanted some good sleep.

I think i’ll save the next day for a different post so this one doesn’t turn into a novel, although it’s already pretty long by now. So if you made it this far, all the way to the end I applaud you.

-Bea

[theliterateape]

Hope Idiotic | Part 26

By David Himmel

 Hope Idiotic is a serialized novel. Catch each new part every week on Monday and Thursday.

CHUCK’S MOTHER WAS SICK AGAIN. A massive heart attack. She was in the I.C.U. for three days. Chuck arrived three days later. Neither his father, nor his brother thought to call him with the news that his mother was on the brink of death.

“She got home all right,” Darryl told Chuck over the phone.

“You people are unbelievable,” Chuck said. “I’m coming home.”

Lexi bought his ticket. He had exactly six hundred and fifty-four dollars to his name and although the creditors were hot after more than twice that every month, he spent it on his family. The house was a mess. Every surface was covered with a thin layer of dusty slime, and it reeked of bleach. It was a biologist’s wet dream for sure. There was no natural light. The blinds had been closed so long that opening them was like trying to open an eyelid decked in conjunctivitis. The only food in the house was processed and precooked. Not a single vegetable or piece of fresh fruit to be found.

“We got this magnet of a strawberry,” Darryl said.

“Can you eat a strawberry magnet, Darryl?” parried Chuck.

“I wouldn’t want to. No.”

“Then shut up.”

Chuck threw all the food away. He replaced it with more healthful food that was still prepackaged enough that the three of them could handle it. Bags of salad, salad dressing, eggs, milk, apple juice, apples, bananas, strawberries that weren’t magnetic, instant oatmeal, chicken breasts, steak, potatoes, spaghetti, spaghetti sauce, onions, tomatoes, spices.

He used his laptop to create a weekly menu and recipes with step-by-step photographic instructions. He had them printed at Kinko’s and put into a three-ring binder organized as breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. He gave Cal and Darryl cooking lessons for each and every menu item. He made a shopping list with pictures next to the items so they knew exactly what to buy. Chuck understood that variety was not something his family cared about. Survival was a matter of routine.

He bought his mom a used iPod and filled it with music. He told her that she should walk around the house, or outside if she can make it, for at least three songs every day. She should try to add a song every week. This was the closest he’d ever get her to exercising. And he did this with her each day he was there.

By his fourth and final day, Chuck was exhausted and emotionally drained. He’d done the most and best he could. On the drive to the Indianapolis airport, he had an overwhelming desire for a drink. It had been a month and a half since he had touched the sauce and nearly as long since he had had the craving. He figured, “What’s one? I’ve earned it.”

He pulled into a small place just outside of the city. It was a Saturday afternoon, and the joint was empty, save for the bartender and two patrons. They sat at the far end eating stale pretzels and chatting with the bartender while nursing bottles of beer and watching the baseball game on the small television in the corner. These guys looked like regulars. They were in their forties; maybe their late thirties. It was hard to tell, but it was clear that they were dedicated drinkers.

“Who… In the fuck... Is playing Johnny Cash?”

Chuck took a seat at the opposite end of the bar. The bartender made his way over. Chuck ordered a Miller Lite.

“You want some pretzels?” the bartender asked as he popped the cap off the cold bottle and set it in front of Chuck.

“No, thanks,” he answered. He looked over his left shoulder at the jukebox in the corner. “You guys mind if I play some music?”

The bartender shrugged and walked back to the regulars.

The jukebox was the only thing in the bar that had been updated, and likely even cleaned, in what was probably decades. But that didn’t matter much. This was a regulars’ kind of place, and Chuck was grateful to be a stranger so close to a place he used to call home. He inserted a five-dollar bill and chose his six songs—all of them Johnny Cash.

As “A Boy Named Sue” began, Chuck perched himself on his stool and took a long sip of his beer. It felt good going down. His body instantly relaxed. He closed his eyes as he guzzled down another gulp, then released the bottle from his lips with an “Ahhh.” He looked at the bottle in his hands and listened to the song, and for a moment he was at absolute peace.

“Who in the fuck is playing Johnny Cash?” The younger-looking regular said as he slammed his bottle of booze on the bar and looked around as if the place had more than four occupants. “Who… In the fuck... Is playing Johnny Cash?” he repeated as he stood up.

Chuck looked at him, then around the room wondering whether more people had instantly appeared or if the loud drunk were seeing things. “I did,” he said. “Did you have something coming up next? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to play my song first.”

The regular walked down to where Chuck was sitting and got right in his face. “We don’t play Johnny Cash in this bar.”

That was a strange thing to hear. Never in all of his travels had Chuck been to a bar that didn’t have Johnny Cash in the jukebox. And he’d certainly never been to one that outlawed the playing of the Man In Black. And if there were ever a bar that was anti-Johnny Cash, it sure as hell wouldn’t be a rundown regulars’ joint in Red State Indiana.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t know.”

The regular leaned in closer. His breath was hot, and his eyes were bloodshot and filled with drunken hate. He made a fist with his right hand and grabbed Chuck’s coat collar with his left. The regular was about Chuck’s size. Picking fights in bars was probably his pastime. The friend and the bartender were still watching the ballgame on TV, not interested in the pending violence.

  Chuck stood up, grabbed the back of the regular’s head and slammed it into the bar with all of his strength. The regular’s face crashed against the wood and sent a tremor across the bar. There was a loud pop when it hit. His head recoiled as teeth and blood sprayed back in an arch—the blood streaked against the drop-ceiling tiles; a tooth landed on a table in the middle of the room. The regular let out a nasal-sounding yelp as he grabbed at his broken and bloody nose, split lips and fast-bruising gums. He fell into a heap on the floor at Chuck’s feet. The friend and the bartender stood stunned at the other end.

Chuck sucked back the remaining two-thirds of his beer. He pulled out his last twenty-dollar bill and threw it on the bar. “Sorry for the mess,” he said, then turned away and walked out. 

✶

“I JUST WANTED TO HEAR SOME GODDAMN JOHNNY CASH AND HAVE A FUCKING BEER. Seems that’s too much,” he told Lou on the phone as he drove to the airport in a panic. “I guess this was God’s way of telling me I shouldn’t have had that beer. What the fuck! If I never come back to this goddamn place it’ll be too soon.”

God. Like God gave half a shit about Chuck and his drinking. Weren’t there wars going on? Wasn’t something terrible happening in Darfur? Wouldn’t God be more interested in sorting out those problems before taking time to check in on Chuck Keller and his bottle of Miller Lite? Oh, yes, the omnipotent God. The God who knew all and could be everywhere at all times. Sure, maybe that God gave a shit about Chuck and his drinking. But Chuck didn’t believe in that God. That God lacked all reasoning, at least, believing in that God lacked all reasoning. Belief, religion? Those were things left to those who didn’t require hard facts to prove evidence.

Chuck was a journalist, a fact man, a man of reason. And a God that gave a shit about him and his drinking was preposterous. The reason shit went down in that bar outside of Indianapolis was because there was an asshole with a point to prove drinking there that afternoon. Simple as that. God could not care fucking less.

Part I Part II Part III Part IV Part V Part VI Part VII Part VIII Part IX Part X Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25

#Hope Idiotic #Bildungsroman #Fiction #Dark Humor #Las Vegas Fiction #David Himmel Author #David Himmel Novel #David Himmel Fiction #Novel #National Novel Writing Month

[glanzer2]

You probably want to read it, so here it is… EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED ON OUR ROAD TRIP!!!!

Day 1: Austin-Dallas-Tulsa

The trip got started bright and early Thursday morning. In a very rare instance of John out-sleeping me, I woke him up. “John, wake up, it’s time to go on our trip!” The boy leapt out of bed and threw his clothes on. We said our goodbyes and were on the road by 8am.

The first item on my to-do list was brunch in Dallas at the acclaimed Maple Leaf Diner, a Canadian themed breakfast spot. Johnny opted to eat only a scone, while I snarfed down an eggs Benedict. The most difficult driving I encountered on the trip was in southern Dallas on 35-E, where road construction had the interstate down to two very narrow lanes. I was in the left lane attempting to get around a semi, going 75mph, with literally two inches of space on each side between a concrete barrier and the truck. White knuckle driving, indeed.

North of Dallas, things cleared up and it was a pleasant drive to the small town of Denison, TX. I stopped to see the birthplace and museum of 34th president Dwight Eisenhower. Johnny screamed, pouted, and threw a fit that we stopped because it interrupted his watching of Ghostbusters cartoons. He perked up though when he remembered he had $50 of souvenir bucks for the trip, and bought a cheaply made army tank kit from the gift shop. Onward we went into Oklahoma, where I came upon a famous peanut shop, the Peanut Shoppe. We loaded up on peanuts, pretzels, taffy and jerky and hit the road again. Later, I slammed on the brakes and pulled over to buy the boy some fruit at a roadside fruit stand. Even then, the shop proprietor gave him a popsicle. He fell asleep as we headed up the turnpike to Tulsa.

Upon arrival in town, we checked into our cozy little Airbnb and relaxed. The boy would have been highly content staying at the house for the rest of the day, but I coaxed him into the van and over to Tulsa’s renowned park, The Gathering Place. Wow. This park had it all. Apparently the heir to an oil fortune donated $600MM to construct the most amazing playground I’ve had the pleasure of visiting. We played in 100º heat for two hours and left with both of us soaked to the bone. We returned to the Airbnb and showered, and planned our dinner. Johnny wanted pepperoni pizza, so I texted my company’s CEO and asked if he knew a good spot. My company, ConsumerAffairs, is based in Tulsa, after all. That was part of the reason for stopping there overnight. Rather than direct us to a good restaurant, he instead invited us over to his house for dinner. John played with my boss’s two kids while I enjoyed a couple beverages with the adults. Good but late night! We were asleep around 11:30.

So long, suckers! Road trip ahead.

That’s why this place is famous.

Big silverware

John enjoys breakfast at the Maple Leaf Diner in Dallas

My tasty Canadian eggs Benedict dish

John and a patriotic horsey

The boy pays his respects to Dwight Eisenhower

The Eisenhower house

The boy was saying “I like Ike!” by the end of this visit.

Peanut Shoppe sign

The Peanut Shoppe was a fun stop for some road snacks

Roadside fruitstand. Yes.

All tuckered out by 3.

Wow, cool Airbnb!

The American Pie family in the Airbnb house was a nice touch.

The Gathering Place in Tulsa is le-GIT. Coolest playground/park I’ve seen.

Day 2: Tulsa-Independence-Topeka-Auburn

We awoke and headed to my office first thing in the morning, where every Friday they cater breakfast and have an all-company standup meeting. I was called to the front to say a few words, and was surprised when my colleagues pulled out masks of my face, forming a Glanzer flash mob. How welcoming! We had plans for more Tulsa stops, but it was raining heavily so we just hit the road north into Kansas.

I stopped near the small town of Independence to check out one of the Laura Ingalls homesteads. John again showed zero interest of this roadside attraction and sulked on the front porch, refusing to budge. As we were there alone, way out in the country, I left him to sort out his feelings and explored on my own. He later perked up and wasted a few bucks in the gift shop on a log cabin toy and a cowboy that grows in water. In town, we spotted a free zoo, so I pulled over. Turns out it was the zoo where the original monkey blasted into orbit was from! A bit of space history. We motored on north through miles of rolling prairies of eastern Kansas with virtually nothing to stop and see.

Finally we made it to Topeka, where I had a handful of items to check out, but we wound up visiting only one—the Evel Knevel Museum, which is inside a Harley dealership. If you ever get to Topeka, it’s worth a visit! We each took our turn on a virtual reality 4D bus-jumping motorcycle experience. While it made me a little nauseous, Johnny loved it and went twice! We were running a little behind schedule, so I skipped plans to see the Brown vs Board of Education building and state capitol and ventured on into Nebraska, where we arrived at the home of Dorrie and Ken Heronimus, parents of my good friends Jason and Jeff LaPlant.

The Heronimuses and LaPlants were very welcoming. We enjoyed a home-cooked shrimp boil dinner and caught up. Once nearly inseparable, I had not seen either LaPlant brother since at least 2012. Johnny was wound up on sugar and caffeine and put on quite a display of silliness in the basement, whacking people with pillows and stealing socks. In the morning, we enjoyed a tasty biscuits/gravy breakfast and headed out.

First to work! John enjoys breakfast at ConsumerAffairs in Tulsa

Johnny poses with the Glanzer masks made by my colleagues

Ingalls gift shop

Ingalls porch

This Laura carving is guaranteed to haunt you in your dreams

John was furious with the stop-off and vowed to stay on the front porch.

Pa built that with his own two hands!

The Ingalls’ shanty

The Ingalls post office

The Ingalls schoolhouse.

A very interesting exhibit – home to the first monkey in space. In… Independence, Kansas? Apparently so.

Angry like a lion

You guessed it – another stop, buddy boy!

Some Knevel jackets

Outside the refurbed Knevel bus

Evel’s cushy lounge in his bus

Evel himself

Ready for his first VR experience

Johnny loved the VR Knevel experience

Some Knevel toys

Jeff meets Johnny

Jason meets Johnny

I reunite with the LaPlant boys after far too long

Day 3: Auburn-Vermillion

The long drive along I-29 through Nebraska and Iowa was uneventful. Sure, I could have stopped off and done some fun stuff in either Omaha or Sioux City, but in the end the boy was sick of stopping, and I am already quite familiar with that area of the country. So, we cruised straight into Vermillion, SD, home of my sister’s family. Jordan and her boys Hudson and Colton were eager to take Johnny to the town’s new pool. Johnny had a blast swimming with the cousins all afternoon. In the evening Jordan left for a photo shoot and Abul and I were in charge of heating pizzas for dinner for the kids, but wound up with black smoke billowing out of the house. 13-year-old cousin Emmy graciously volunteered to babysit the younger kids so the adults could enjoy a trip to the bars. Some of Jordan’s co-workers joined us and we were out til around 1am. I’d venture to say not everyone woke up feeling terribly perky, though I was A-OK.

What’s this, daddy?

Swimming, swimming, swimming… so much swimming.

I later found out I was using the little kid tubes.

High dive, no floatie… what could go wrong? Yes, I did have to jump in and rescue him.

Vermillion pool

Vermillion pool

Fun in the cousins’ room

Big dog

Cousins and dog

Pizza and cousins and screens

Trampoline time! I guess this beast was laid to rest after we left.

Abul stokes the flames

Dessert on the trampoline

Bar fun in Vermillion with the old gang!

c

Abul bought a growler to pass around AT the bar… I like this guy!

Vermillion bar

Day 4: Vermillion-Sioux Falls-Watertown

We made the quick drive north to Sioux Falls primarily so I could get fitted for a tux for a friend’s upcoming wedding—I had to get fitted there or Des Moines, so it worked out well that it happened to be on the path. We also wandered the mall, ate lunch at Huhot Mongolian Grill, and I saw Falls Park for the first time. Afterwards we headed north to Watertown, specifically Lake Kampeska, where good friend C.M. Walsh allowed us to stay at his family’s lake cabin free of charge for two days. I could have just headed to the family farm in Carpenter, but I figured this would be more fun. Brother Alex and his family joined us at the cabin Sunday night, and we enjoyed dinner at The Prop and then swam off the dock until dusk. There were no late-night shenanigans this time!

The legendary DakotaDome, last thing we spotted leaving Vermillion

John climbs the rocks at Falls Park. An adventurous little scamp.

My first trip to Falls Park. Some South Dakotan I am.

Taking in the beauty of the falls

John was getting a little too close to the water for my taste

Nice.

Lunch at Huhot. Sioux Fallsians love this spot.

Shirt shopping for Luke’s wedding

Culver’s at the world’s largest single story mall

Cute little niece Auden sucking down some lemonade at the bar

4 of the 5 cousins who bear the Glanzer name. Edie not present.

My dollar bill (borrowed from Alex) immortalized on the Prop’s ceiling.

What’s a trip to a SD bar without some video lottery? Alex won big.

Some evening swimming off the Kampeska dock

Swimming at Kampeska

Swimming at Kampeska

Swimming at Kampeska

Swimming at Kampeska

Swimming at Kampeska

Look there, nephew John, a beached whale!

Swimming at Kampeska at sunset

Sun setting on Kampeska

Cousin hijinks at bedtime

Not at all edited sunset

Day 5: Watertown

The first day totally off the road was spent at the Walsh family cabin. I did, however, make a quick trip into town for breakfast groceries. There was more swimming in the morning, and around noon my parents arrived. The original plan was that Dad would be bringing his boat and we’d spend the day zipping around the lake tubing, but due to mechanical problems the boat was left at home. Instead, it was just a lot more swimming and a little kayaking. Some of the adults did some quality day-drinking, otherwise things stayed pretty calm and some of the kids even napped during the day. At night, all the family left for home. John and I were faced with a tough decision of following them out to the farm for the night or just staying in Watertown at the cabin. Seeing how going to the farm would have added 125 miles of driving onto our trip, we opted to just stay by ourselves at the cabin and bid the family adieu.

Breakfast fixins from HyVee

Lunch moments later!

No boat, so… more swimming!

Grandma Marcie and Grandpa Dick bask in the hot summer sun

The view from the kayak

Not our first or second kayaking adventure

Alex wears a very small life jacket to kayak

Me in the kayak on the rough waters

Toss the kids in

Farewell for now, grandson

Grandpa and John say goodbye

Ouch! Back injury for boy

A safe return to shore

Day 6: Watertown-Minneapolis suburbs

After packing up the cabin in the morning, John and I embarked eastward for the first time on the trip, heading into Minnesota on backroads due to road construction. As I approached the Twin Cities, we stopped in Chanhassen at the site of my first job, Microboards Technology, better known today as Afinia. There, we were given the tour of the changes to the building since I last was there in 2011. It was a very weird feeling being back there—in some ways it felt like I had been to work just yesterday. So little had changed. The personnel was almost all people I had known from before. I walked into a bathroom and immediately remembered every word to the Abraham Lincoln poster hanging on the wall. Johnny, needless to say, was bored senseless.

Next, we had a pretty wide open agenda. It was only 2pm, and we had a couple hours to kill. There were numerous friends, restaurants, bars, or attractions I could have taken the lad to, but he wanted to see his Grandpa Steve and Granny Anne, so off we went to Bloomington to visit with them for a couple hours. After being carted around for 1,300 miles and stopping for many piddly things, John looked perfectly content to just stay at his grandparents house and play Legos all night, but it was not to be. I loaded him back in the van and headed to Eden Prairie to visit friends Liz and Curt right before their big move. John was forced to acclimate to more new friends in short order, and just as they were getting acquainted, we loaded up and headed further west!

We arrived in Minnetrista where our friends the Walshes were enjoying National Night Out, serving root beer floats on the street corner. After Johnny and his old buddy Lorenzo got reacquainted, they attempted to have a sleepover. Naturally, Johnny wound up in bed with me again. I was up relatively late catching up with Walsh and Sarah, but we just ain’t as crazy as we used to be. Midnight was about all I could handle.

Microboards still looks about the same as I left her

Amuk the elephant, Microboards’ famous mascot.

John got some brief Lego playtime in with the grandparents

Popsicles with the Burke-Assmann kids

More new friends

John and Lorenzo get reacquainted

National Night Out in Minnetrista… it was a par-tay!!!

Bedtime for the boys

The boys’ sleepover lasted all of six minutes

Day 7: Minneapolis

This day was 99% based around the Twins-Braves day game at Target Field. It was a scorcher, too. Our seats were in the direct path of the sun and there was nowhere to hide. Before the game even started, we were seeking shade. John burst out in tears in the top of the first. I assumed it was because he was hot and uncomfortable, but it was due to the Braves hitting a pair of solo homers! This poor kid, what have I set him up for… The boy pleaded to leave early many times, but was bought off with sno-cones and mini donuts. As we departed the stadium in the eighth inning, we popped into a lower-level section to see if a friend was sitting there. He wasn’t, but we snagged some seats near the playing field and immediately had a foul ball wiz past us, and were spotted on the JumboTron. As we left the park for good, an usher asked if the boys wanted to go on the field and run the bases… of course we did!

The kids seemed to enjoy the experience, but I am sure Walsh and I were even more eager to step foot on the sacred grounds. I attempted to film ourselves running the bases, which was a mistake… I should have just enjoyed the moment. The kids were both out cold in the car on the drive home, and it was an early bedtime for me on the couch as we attempted to watch TV with Mr. Bradley Feeney.

Lorenzo and John at First Ave

In our seats, in the sun’s direct path

Me at my favorite place on Earth

Popcorn and a cap were first on the order for the boy

Grainbelt Nordeast, a Mpls favorite

Popcorn in the shade

The kids were being filmed for something… I wonder what?!

The boys meet TC Bear

Cooling off at the Bat & Barrel

Braves and Twins duking it out

The Twins rallied a little while we were sitting here

Just after the Twins turned a triple play

The boys stack hats on Walsh

Walsh and Lorenzo on the warning track

Me touching home plate

The boys at the Twins dugout

John and I on the field

Walking the field

Me at the dugout

Day 8: Minneapolis-Wisconsin-Iowa-Galena, IL

We said goodbye to the Walshes and headed to the Minneapolis airport to pick up Lauren and Edie for the Poulter family get-together. This was the part of the trip we probably would have done in some form, week-long road trip leading up to it or not. Johnny sure missed his baby sister! We loaded them in the car and made a quick pit stop for breakfast at Hot Plate Diner. The road to the northwestern corner of Illinois took us through Iowa and Wisconsin where we saw some surprisingly nice scenery.

The ride with the baby in tow certainly slowed things down compared to just the boys. We had to stop off fairly often as she was screaming and sick of the car. Around 4:00 we got to the small town of Galena and headed out into the country to the Eagle Ridge Resort. Lauren’s family arrived from around the Midwest throughout the night and we hung around chatting and such.

Good to see Pops again!

Siblings reunited after a week apart

Edie at a random Iowa gas station

Edie and I enter Wisconsin briefly

Edie frolicks in the meadow

Our townhome at the resort

The Farmstead townhomes at the resort

The van reached the elusive 55555 on the way to Galena

Edie makes her Wisconsin debut.

Day 9-10: Galena

The time at the resort was mostly very laid-back and relaxing. There were a couple of connecting townhouses rented out, a floor for each family basically. We ate all meals in, with different groups in charge of preparing each meal. Activities during the day ranged from swimming and pontoon rides to horseback riding and board games. But swimming at one of two pools seemed to be the kids’ preference. One day while Lauren was out with Johnny and the cousins, I took Edie into town on my own and saw the home of former president Ulysses S. Grant. Edie, unlike her brother, was a good sport and posed nicely for all of the pictures I asked for without making a fuss.

Baby hanging in jammas

A hearty breakfast

The cousins

Swinging

Cousins on a swing

Giant checker board

Baby swimming

Family swimming – man I’m getting sick of typing captions, can you tell?

Grandpa Steve and Edie

Tim and kids

Baby on daddy belly

Caption

John and great uncle Dave pontooning

The navigator

Pontoon

Resort pool

Edie getting a history lesson

Ulysses S. Baby!

Edie and the first lady

Birthday cake time for Julia

Happy birthday

Poulter siblings and offspring

Three girl cousins born within about a year of each other

Glanzer family normal

Glanzer family crazy

Day 11: Galena-St Louis-Rural Arkansas

When the Poulter family fun was through, the Glanzers hit the road around 10am and started south towards St. Louis. At one time, it was believed that the drive home would be just as leisurely as the first two days. John and I would dump the gals in St Louis at the airport to fly home, and we’d take our time seeing fun sites, and grazing parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Unfortunately, we received word too late in the game that John had to be back in Austin by Monday at 4pm for kindergarten orientation, which did turn out to be very important and something we would have regretted missing. So out went the fun and it was pedal to the metal. We dropped Lauren and Edie at the airport around 5:30pm Sunday, giving us 22.5 hours to make it 14 hours back to Austin. Even though there was a more direct route through Missouri that connected back with I-35, I decided to do something different and see a part of the country I’d never visited before.

So, we went south of St Louis through Mark Twain National Forest. It was very nice scenery and very minimal traffic on a 4-lane divided highway for hours. When we finally hit the state line in far northeast Arkansas, however, the roads turned to two lanes, the sun went down, and towns were very sparse. At this point, John was sick and tired of the trip and regretted not flying home with the girls, which at one time was on the table. He bawled and bawled. So I gave in and let him grab whatever junk he wanted at gas stations to calm him down—he bought a toy gun, Gatorade, and M&Ms. It quieted him down for a while, but soon he was bawling again. He cried himself to sleep as we continued through Arkansas well into the night.

I had made the decision earlier in the night to try to pull an all-nighter, so I stopped for coffee at every McDonald’s on the way. But at 1:30, even though I was still feeling alright physically, I was getting blown off the road by semis on I-30. I kept spotting deer in the ditches, and was afraid of hitting one, so I was going at best 58mph. I guess the semis wouldn’t have cared too much if they hit one cause they kept blowing around me at 80mph. So, I finally vowed to pull off at the next lodging sign I saw. It happened to be a random motel called the Southfork Inn, outside a town called Gurdon, Arkansas. I buzzed on the intercom holding a limp child, asking for a room. I got the key and tossed him on the bed. Despite being wildly caffeinated, I quickly went to sleep. I got about four solid hours before waking at 6 to continue onward.

Day 12: Gurdon-Texarkana-Austin

The final push was Monday morning. A road-weary Johnny was promised fresh donuts for the drive, but had to settle for pre-packaged powder mini donuts from a dumpy truck stop. We reached Texarkana, and I had the option of heading south towards Shreveport or heading on west towards Dallas. It wouldn’t have been too much further to hit the Louisiana border and then drive over to Austin, but I decided the quickest route was best, and continued on towards DFW, site of the worst traffic of the trip. And once again, upon reaching the giant metro, it was more white knuckle driving. I regretted the decision to cut a few miles off and visit a new state only to wind up back in that mess. With a brief stop here and there for snacks, we finally reached Austin around 1:30 and had arrived home with 3,008 miles on the van. So close to a round 3,000!

The IA/IL border

Roadstop rest

Bye girls! Dropping Mama and Edie at St Louis airport

Sun setting somewhere on the road

A fricking exhausted kid

Wiped out at the rural Arkansas roadside motel

HOME AT LAST

Post-Trip Thoughts

Unlike last year’s Black Hills trip, I returned home from this trip feeling very good about the things we were able to do and see. I upped my game tremendously in terms of pre-trip research this time around. I had about three possible attractions in every town between Austin and Vermillion to stop off and see, and every time the mood struck, we pulled off and saw one of them. The trick for researching fun road trip to-do items is not to rely on sites like RoadTrippers.com or RoadsideAmerica.com or whatever. Strictly Google the town, and Google provides a “travel guide” with top attractions. That’s where I found almost everything fun we did. No, we didn’t do everything on my list due to time constraints, but the fact that we did even half of them is pretty amazing.

We also had a blast catching up with old friends, colleagues, family and strangers along the way. Special thanks again to the Carmans, the LaPlants and Heronimuses, the Krogmans, and the Walshes for their hospitality!

What might I do differently if we were to do this trip again? For the first three days, nothing. Those days were perfect! Day 4 where we went from Vermillion to Sioux Falls to Watertown, I rushed things a bit. We could have easily found more interesting things to see on the way. I was anxious to get to the Walsh cabin, believing the whole family would be there when we arrived. But it turned out we had several hours alone. I might also have gone out to the farm for a day instead of spending two nights at the cabin. We were sad to not get to see Grandma Bell! Same goes for the drive from Watertown to Minneapolis… we made great time and got into town early, but didn’t really have a plan. I should have thought that out a little more and capitalized on a rare free afternoon in the greatest city on earth. After that, there wasn’t really much room to rethink things. The Galena part was pretty well structured, and the drive home left for virtually no lallygagging. I think it was the right amount of time to be away… Johnny was sick and tired of it by the very end, though, so I wouldn’t have extended it any. And I came back to work very refreshed.

Future Trips

Oh, my 2019 does not slow down at all. In the coming months are trips to Tulsa, a mystery Luke Katuin bachelor party destination, Des Moines for Luke’s wedding, probably Tulsa a second time, and maybe even a 10-year wedding anniversary trip in November if we can make it work. But for road trips like this? I fully intend to do something of this nature every year from now on. The kids have long breaks from school and daycare, and I work remotely and have a great PTO plan at my job, so it should be easy to get away. Also, I kind of enjoy driving in general. I get to drive outside the Austin city limits so infrequently, it feels very good to just hit the open roads for an extended period of time. I just wish I could avoid Dallas! The kids probably won’t actually enjoy long car rides for a while yet, but they will learn to like them eventually. I remember distinctly in 1991, nearly 9 years old, so stoked to go on the 7-hour drive to the Black Hills. I sat in the backseat of the Oldsmobile with a notebook and wrote down everything I saw on the way: every town name, every attraction, etc. But to that point in my life trips were extremely rare/nonexistent, so of course it was a thrill.

I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing every detail about my journey.

Road Trip 2019 You probably want to read it, so here it is... EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED ON OUR ROAD TRIP!!!!

[opepin]

may: week one

01: it was an interesting morning. i worked out in the yoga studio today because hillary and daniel were sleeping in the living area. i finished my hip hop cardio and when i started my hiit workout, a lady came in to spin and she just watched me suffer LOL. i made it though! then i showered and started my work day. i just needed to mentally prepare myself and write some notes to prepare myself for my customer call. phil was not going to be on it so i was pretty much solo. i think i did alright though. hillary and daniel packed and left before my call and then later, hillary told me that they missed their flight because spirit moved up the flight time and they had to catch tomorrow’s -__-” wtf spirit? i started doing laundry so it’s a good thing i didn’t wash their towels yet! i did start washing the bedsheets and pillowcases though. meh. haha. i think they can sleep with the sofa pillows and without the sheet for one night, right? x__x;

my day was very chill and when they came back, daniel and hillary took my car to fat cat and i got on my standup. they left me some cajun fries, which were sooo delicious. i snacked and talked to hillary while daniel fell asleep on the couch. hillary eventually fell asleep and then i went back to work. kevin came back and then we talked a bit before daniel and hillary woke up. daniel took like a 3 hour nap. damn. bae and i went to the yoga studio and she did cardio kickboxing with me. right after the workout, she downed a ton of water O_O” haha. kevin was cooking oyakodon at this time while daniel was watching dota streams in the apartment. we came back, ate, chatted, and then hillary and daniel did dishes while me and kevin went back on our computers. he gamed and i did a bit of work before showering, making the bed together, and me sleeping at around 11 pm. zzzzz. it was a nice chill day with the bae and phanpy :)))

02: i took it “easy” and did very little jumping during my morning exercise. then i washed up, ate breakfast, and said good bye to hillary and daniel! :) they were awake but still a little sleepy haha. i sat at john’s desk for the morning and was anxious to see when he would come in and felt a tad bit bad that he had to sit at my desk for a bit. i happened to be in a call when he came in and needed to talk to steve. x__X; we went to tenoch and i got a pollo torta. it was better than last time so i think tenoch is a bit better than i had initially thought. steve and haowei really liked it. i was very productive today and cole helped me set up actions in photoshop to fix something very tedious that i had to do. it was luls seeing him use photoshop though. i finished all of my work at around 4:40 pm and then took it easy until 5 pm. i walked to cvs with cole on the way to south station and i introduced him to all-dressed ruffles! apparently, they are a flavor in the east coast that’s here to stay ahha. he really liked them. boo yah!

i took the train home and then ate fruit and decided to gorge myself on snyder’s honey mustard pretzel pieces T_T it was a terrible choice because i ended up with a stomach ache and it was a bit harder to do my ab workout. i showered and then i made dinner. kevin came back, i played some bravely default and finished the episode of reign i watched while daniel and hillary were here, he cooked some veggies, and then we ate dinner without watching tv. it’s been an eventful weekend and start of the week so we needed to reset a bit. it was a fun weekend though with bae and phanpy <3 kevin gamed and i went to sleep at around 11:30 pm. i wasn’t sure if i was going to work from home -- my heart rate has increased these past few days so i might be a bit sick or getting sick? or maybe i’m stressed? i think the true cause is that i’ve been working out a bit too much with not enough rest. so it’s a toss up of whether or not i’m gonna feel up to it in the morning. 

03: it was such a nice morning T_T the weather seemed great outside but my body was super sore and my stomach was not feeling too hot. i decided to work from home. i also skipped on my morning workout because everything was sore basically. i’m taking it sort of easy today in terms of working out. i started my morning by watching the latest episode of jane the virgin and then woke up kevin. then he left for work and i did some work~ i spent the day moving around and splitting my 30 minute workout that i was supposed to have in the morning, into 15 minute sessions. it was a pretty chill day again because i’m kind of in between projects but a lot of new things are gonna happen for me in design mainly so i’m excited about that. i did a 25 minute dance routine to keep my exercise pretty light today and then showered and made rice and defrosted shrimp. when kevin came back from work, we went outside to chill in the courtyard. i played bravely default and he read a book on his kindle. it got chilly so we went back inside after finishing the grapes we brought out with us. 

then we chilled some more and kevin started cooking. i grinded so hard today. i’m now level 84 and i bought the golden egg and golden whatever it was so i get more job points and exp. we ate dinner while watching some gordon ramsey videos and then we basically wrestled for a bit because he said i made too little rice and was complaining about it and i said he eats too much and then he said i was trying to starve him LOLOL. i got real worked up and then calmed down, gamed, got ready for bed, and went to sleep at around 11 pm. zzzz.

04: i woke up pretty tired today but i did my workout and i wasn’t exhausted from it like i usually am? woot for progress! the video that i followed was one of the ones i had to pause at 3 sets and then continue with the last one, but now i can do it all in one go! after that, i showered, ate cereal and toast and then went on my way to work. i felt pretty dead though so i don’t know if it’s still because i’m not resting? or if it’s something else??? i haven’t been sleeping well again... even though i’m sleeping earlier, waking up earlier, exercising earlier, etc. @_@; it might be kevin’s gaming that’s disturbing my sleep now or maybe i should stop going on my phone right before bed...ahhh, i don’t know -- i’ll test it out. sigh. i thought this was going to be better; i mean, it is in a way but i want this to help balance my life out.

the day was pretty busy and i got a headache because of the new project i’m working on. i forgot how tedious it is to sort through a bunch of unorganized data... well, kind of organized but not organized on a super clean level. i had a bunch of mini chats with mathew about both of our projects -- we helped each other out. i took a walk after eating lunch and then went back to work. cole had to vent a bit so when he was done with his last meeting of the day, we headed to starbucks and he vented and got a venti chai, which he demolished even before we got back to the office o_o he also kindly got me the honey chocolate that’s in starbucks right now. i’m so glad i have a friend like cole :D we finished up the bit of work we had and then headed to south station and took our trains home. i snacked a bit and then did my workout. i also prepped ingredients for dinner and then kevin messaged me saying that he didn’t know his belay class would be so long. so he got back late and i just ate bread for “dinner.” i ended up eating the stir fried noodles anyway but not as late because i wanted to see if that was bothering my sleep. i slept at around 12 am because i was going to wfh tomorrow and i just gamed before sleeping.

05: i was very all over the place today. i managed to do my hiit workout in the morning and then work on my new project the entire day. i took a lot of breaks though to move around, game, and also read! i got my botm in the mail and just started reading it like crazy. now i have a game and a book to read :) my stomach was also just all over the place because i kept feeling nauseous and then gassy and then hungry and the cycle kept repeating. merp i don’t know what’s wrong?! i need to get more fruit for the upcoming week though haha. kevin got back home and we just cuddled and rested after a long week of work. then i did a new 30 minute work out and found out during the workout that one move just hurts my hip like crazy. i don’t know if i like this new video. then i showered while kevin cooked and we had a pretty late dinner while watching supernatural. the characters in supernatural are pissing me off now. @_@; we did a good amount of reading and then gamed for the rest of the night.

06: we got out of bed around 11 am and then i went straight to kickboxing. i was sore from yesterday so i didn’t do my best at it but still got it done ;) then we ate breakfast and chilled for a bit until it was time to get our massages! i got a great deep tissue massage focusing on my legs and then a bit on my back. then we went into the steam room for the first time to try it out! it was basically a shower room with a steam system built in and it was super foggy when we got in. o__o; the temperature rose from 80 to 105 before we rq’d. after getting out of there, we felt so relaxed and refreshed though. we also showered because we thought it would be a bit gross to steam and then leave rather than utilize the shower there too haha. we got boba from oh my tea after; i got the jujube tea and kevin got the mango smoothie! the mango smoothie was the best mango smoothie we’ve ever had... so good. we came back home and chilled. i gamed for a bit; i’m finally getting the vampire asterisk! then i finished reading my book of the month, ‘since we fell’ (it was aiight), and then we took the ‘t’ to back bay to meet up with jenny and her friends.

i met jenny’s friends: effie and monica, and kevin and jenny’s mutual friend from northwestern, derrick. we had to wait 45 minutes get seats at a restaurant called, ‘the salty pig’ so we just talked inside a mall. the service at the restaurant was below average and the wait for the food was too long and not worth it. the food portions were TINY as well. i was excited for their gnocchi but it was super mushy and too sweet. we won’t be coming back here. after dinner, we walked over to ‘the beehive’, a jazz bar/restaurant. there were no available seats and everyone was pretty tired. we did stay there until 12 am though and near the end, we managed to get seats. kevin got poutine and ate at the bar counter while standing lulz. we just talked and then we walked effie and jenny back to effie’s apartment and then derrick went the opposite way to get his bike, and kevin and i took the ‘t’ back home. i drank a pimm’s cup at dinner and by the time we got home, my stomach hurt (it could have also been some of the cheese i ate) and i had a pinching headache. kevin started meal planning with me and i just had to ko on the bed after using the bathroom x_x; i woke up at 2 am, brushed my teeth, and went back to sleep. kevin was finishing up a game and went to sleep at around that time as well.

07: i woke up feeling a lot better! my back was sore from the massage but that means she worked her magic on it. we got out of bed at 10 am. i went to shower, kevin ate breakfast, i ate cereal, started reading ‘ready player one’ while kevin used the washroom, and then we headed to kam man, lucky fortune, and bj’s. apparently, all the produce was fresher this time (maybe because we went there early). then we went to get asian buns from the bakery at lucky fortune as well as some red plums. we stopped by bj’s to get english muffins and then unpacked everything, filled water bottles, and headed out. we stopped by a mcdonald’s because we were craving it. i got 4-pc chicken mcnuggets and an order of small fries and kevin got a mcdouble and mcchicken. both were mcpick 2′s so everything was just $5. <3333 we ate as kevin drove to the hammond pond reservation to meet up with matt and megan (sp?). the boys were outdoor climbing today and we came along to watch, enjoy nature, and take pictures of them ;P

megan used her cool lens attachments for her iphone to take pictures and they were so high quality! it got super chilly but i took a short walk around the place. the reservation is right next to a large movie theater and strip mall so the views weren’t all that great / no hiking trails were defined. i had to pee when we got there but kevin and i got there late so we felt bad for making them wait T_T nearing the end of the climb, i could not hold it in any longer. walking to the car made me want to pee my pants and i felt like i had super bad cramps. kevin rushed to say goodbye to them and then hurriedly drove me over to the strip mall and went outside to ask if there were restrooms i could use. we stopped at a cupcake shop and when i went in, the cashier said someone was in there -__-” then kevin went to the place next door and luckily, no one was in there and i got to finally pee. tmi, but i literally had so much pee, i had to like push it all out @_@ LOL anyway, kevin used the restroom as well and then we drove back home. kevin went to shower and i just chilled, snacked on some snyder’s, and continued reading ‘ready player one.’ then i did laundry and continued reading the book and playing games. the book is really interesting to me so far. it’s very sao-eqsue and log horizon-esque... oh and dot hack-esque ahah.

kevin cooked and i was about to clean the bathroom, but i was talking to winston about staying over at his place when we head to new york for my birthday. winston initiated a video chat with us so we got to catch up :) kevin was still cooking but it was nice to hear from winston <3 we talked while we ate dinner and then winston went back to reading and doing his thang. kevin washed dishes and i folded clothes and then we booked our amtrak tickets (omg thank you, effie for all the tips and tricks for going to ny for cheap!!!) and then i started looking for a hotel (we decided with winston’s encouragement to get a hotel instead) and then i got tired and i went to bed at around 12 am.