Lighter than Air

Still jobless. This isn't a surprise; it's only been a week, and even if I'd been lucky enough to get an interview anywhere last week, the turnaround time for jobs, in my experience, is 2-3 weeks from the time of application, if you get anywhere at all.

So I still have plenty of time on my hands at the moment.

I've been cooking more, which is good for me, since it gives me something to do that makes me feel accomplished, and lets me try out potentially tasty new recipes at the same time. I found a recipe for udon made from scratch, actually making the noodles by hand instead of using pre-made ones, and as soon as I can figure out what kind of soup I want to put them in, I'm going to make some for supper, probably later this week. Considering the noodles themselves consist of flour (I have plenty), water (definitely have plenty) and salt (not as much as the others, but still a lot), I can make a lot of tasty meals really cheaply that way. A definite bonus when money is an issue.

And now the window in the kitchen opens, so I can make soup and bread without dying of the heat that having the stove and oven on generates! This makes me very happy, and comes at a good time, since turkeys are currently $1.99 a pound at a nearby grocery store. If I get a $15 turkey, that's a meal or two with roast turkey and vegetables, plenty of leftover meat if I want to make sausage or stuffed turkey buns or any number of things that don't take too much meat, plus the bones and leftover meat also makes a delcious soup. If I buy carrots and potatoes, I can easily stretch $20 of food into a week's worth of meals, using a few others things that I have in to supplement (mostly spices, flour, and water, so I don't tend to count those things in the overall cost of the food I make).

Turkey omelettes are also delicious, and I need to use up the eggs that are in the fridge before they're good for nothing but hard-boiling.

Making slow but good progress in Persona 3 Portable. I abandonned Hard Mode because it was frustrating me too much and the repeated dying I was doing prevented me from doing any decent level-grinding or plot advancement. They're not kidding when they call it Hard Mode! I'll give it another try eventually, but I want to play through more of the game without tearing my hair out. Right now I'm just past the part where Fuuka joins SEES, so now I've got Mitsuru to train in Tartarus, while I try to get enough money together to get everyone's equipment up to snuff. There's not much left that I need to buy, but I like having everyone in top condition as soon as I can.

More specifically, I like being in better-than-top condition; I always overlevel in games if I have the chance, because I'm one of those people who enjoys level-grinding. Always been a little bit weird that way.

Celebrated my birthday on Saturday, which didn't go over as planned but it was still fun. The ice cream cupcakes I was going to buy didn't work out since the store's freezer was broken so they just didn't have any. Then the debit machine was wonky at the second store I went to when I decided, "Fuck it, I still want ice cream, so I'm getting some pumpkin cheesecake frozen yogurt from Yeh!" But I still had a great day, ate a delicious meal at Boaz (and got hooked on edamame), spent time with friends, had delicious strawberry-custard layer cake, bought some tea bags that are specifically designed to make ice tea (the tropical sangria one is delicious, and I haven't yet tried the strawberry basil) and overall had a good time turning 30. There are worse ways to spend a birthday, that's for sure!

Today, though, I'll be spending most of the day off line, since there's a high possibility of thundershowers this afternoon and I don't like using my computer then. A holdover from the desktop days, I suspect, since I can just unplug my laptop from the wall and still have it function perfectly and not worry about the power going out or power surges or anything of the sort. It's just habit.

And since the next 2 weeks are largely free of responsibility (at least work-related responsibility), I've challenged myself to a readathon! I'm planning to read 6 books, finish a 7th that's been half finished for over a month now, and catch up on last month's and this month's Apex magazine. I'm about a third of the way through Julia Mary Gibson's Copper Magic right now, and enjoying it a hell of a lot! It's a quick read, not because it's so short (though it's under 400 pages, so 'short' is relative anyway), but because it's just so engaging. I can't help but keep pushing onward because I'm loving the story and the tone so much. Another one of those cases where I'm surprised that this is the author's debut novel; Gibson is definitely an author to keep an eye on, I'm thinking.

But now I shall vanish into the depths of my To Read pile and enjoy what's left of the merely semi-clouded sky before the rain really starts to roll in.

Why yes, I am up ridiculously early on a Sunday morning. Even excusing the fact that I've been making an effort to get up earlier these days, I'm definitely up earlier than I want to be. This is due partly to the fact that my cats seemed to want to spend their night visciously attacking the new bedsheets, but mostly because my lungs are extra twitchy today. They've been getting worse over the past week, but it's been a while since I've actually woken up in the middle of the night feeling congested and wheezy.

I don't like it.

Maybe it's because of the fact that the weather's getting colder. Maybe some of the stress I've been under with work and my mother leaving and the worry over Tuesday's ultrasound and a hundred and one other niggling little things. Maybe a combination of everything. But I just plain don't like it.

So I'm going to have to start being really careful with my health if this is the way the winter will go. I can't afford to get sick, especially in my lungs. Lung infections always take their toll in horrible ways.

So I was considering going out to the large weekly flea market that's held on the other side of the city today, but in light of a bad night of sleep plus lung problems, I think I'll give that a miss. I really shouldn't have gone anyway, because a lot of crafters have tables there, and as much as I love supporting local artists, I really don't have the money to do so right now. And I would have found the money to do so, even if it meant getting a smaller order of groceries. Which doesn't always work, and has sometimes left me mealless.

So yes, financial wisdom plus health wisdom equal me not going out much today. I'll take a day to recover, to relax, maybe make some headway on other projects. I keep getting distracted away from books I should be reading by books that I don't actually have committments to read. Bad book reviewer, bad! (Or, more accurately, "Damn you, A J Jacobs, for writing another hilarious memoir!")

Maybe I'll do some cooking today. I made a really delicious quiche the other night. Hame, cheese, and spinach. It was my first time making quiche, and it turned out pretty well. I think I'll avoid store-bought pie-shells next time, though, and just experiment with making my own. If I can learn to make a nice light flaky crust, then that would go perfectly with the quiche.

But since I already made the quiche, I'm not sure what I'll make today...

I want to make a batch of baked beans this week, so I'll put the beans on to soak tonight and do the cooking tomorrow before my therapy session. I might also get really daring and try for a loaf of bread. It's been years since I last made any, but I remember that I did find it to be a lot of fun. Punching the dough down, kneading it. And the way it makes the place smell, too! Very therapeutic!

Maybe I'll make the bread today, if I feel up to it. Really, if I bake two loaves of bread a week, that will probably get me through the rest of the week without needing to purchase any from the grocery store. Which will save me money in the long run. Flour's cheap from the bulk store, yeast lasts for quite a while, and the only really expensive parts would be if I decide to make any specialty breads, like that buttermilk garlic bread I made years ago. Delicious stuff (a couple of friends and I ate the two long loaves almost before they had finished cooling completely, because it was so tasty), but since it involves extra ingredients like butermilk, I don't think I'll be making it very often.

Might be a nice Samhain or Yule treat, though. Both of those days I have booked off work, so if I want to make special bread for the evening, there's nothing to stop me! (Assuming I could afford the ingredients, of course.)

But enough babbling about food. I think it's time I went and built my Druid back up in Diablo II. I miss my old wolfbrother Druid. So awesome. But the only question is what to name him... I wish I could remember what my old Druid had been named. That would solve the problem easily! Ah well, I'm sure I'll find something. And the hordes of darkness shall tremble!