post of miscellania
I'm thinking of doing two different fic projects: mmom (AKA Merry Month of May Masturbation -- write one 100+ word masturbation fic each day in May), and rpf_big_bang (AKA write 15,000 words of RPF in any fandom you choose). MMoM is a good excuse for me to branch out fandom-wise. I watch/listen to/read/think about a lot of fandoms that never get mentioned on this journal, so a short-fic per day would be a great excuse for me to get into some of those. Plus it would get me into good writing-every-day habits, which I've neglected lately. RPF Big Bang is a good excuse for me to plot and write something lengthier over the course of the off-season, which might help the off-season blues. So I might sign up for both. Anyone else feeling inspired should totally do them with me, we can cheerlead for each other!
My kitty's new favorite toy is a bookmark that reads "A cat's favorite place to nap is on whatever you're reading." The bookmark has a tassel, which she likes to bat at and chew. She also likes to lay on the bookmark. Who says cats can't have a sense of irony?
I've washed my car twice this week. I don't remember EVER having so much pollen in the spring before. It's literally turned my silver car yellow all over. I started parking the car in the garage at my building, just because it's easier than washing the thing constantly.
Playoffs are here. I can't afford to not-shave for job reasons (stupid girly expectations), but the fact that Kaner is growing a playoff mullet because he is also incapable of facial hair makes me laugh. Oh Blackhawks, never cease to amuse the everloving hell out of me. It's okay, Kaner, you and I will commiserate in non-facial-hair purgatory. As long as you keep scoring, we're okay. In other playoffs news, I'm presently listening to the Flyers-Devils broadcast, and I've come to really respect the Devils broadcast team. They're not hopelessly homeristic, and they seem to know what they're doing when it comes to the game. They've called this thing well, considering that the Devils are behind right now, and their play-by-play guy has been a real trooper. Props to the whole broadcast team (the camera crew has also been top notch when it comes to actually following the puck, and not giving us all motion sickness), they're doing a great job covering this game. I've watched a lot of broadcast teams this season, and I don't know that I've seen any that were more professional and well-called than this (Edzo and Pat not included, because I'm incapable of being impartial about those two). So good job to the broadcast, will happily watch again in future playoff series games. P.S. Mike Richards, that was sexy.
I'm not posting my playoff picks, mostly because I'm superstitious that way. I am, however, considering bribing my boss to take a day off next week so I can go watch the Hawks play in Nashville. Would that be wrong? It's the second-closest they've been to me all year, and it's the motherfucking playoffs (plus, semi-decent Nashville tix are pretty cheap). It's a seven-hour drive, but if I was careful and did it really cheap, I think I could go to a playoff game and sit in the 200 section for less than $150 round-trip. The more I think about it, the more I'm tempted.
My roommate D keeps getting royally fucked over by her job, but for various reasons (most of which aren't fair and aren't at all under her control, but are facts of life) she can't do much about it. It always makes me so frustrated. If a straight white guy went through half the shit she's endured, his problems would have been sympathized with by his management and solved. But the rest of us just have to settle for eating the crap life throws at us, I guess. D caught the extraordinarily short string with this one, but it still makes me really, really mad. I know, vague description is hopelessly vague, but for a lot of reasons I can't say more without compromising someone's privacy.
Okay, last thing. I'm somewhat decent who am I kidding, I shouldn't be modest. I'm a hell of a cook when the mood takes me, and lately I've been trying for cheap-but-tasty in my cooking. This means a lot of rice and beans, because both are ridiculously cheap per serving, and are very filling. A couple days ago, I invented a red-beans-and-rice recipe that took the concept of risotto (I used Arborio rice, AKA risotto rice, mostly because that's what I had on hand) and married it to the fundamentals of Cajun cooking. The ingredients are really simple: 2 1/2 cups arborio rice (2 1/2 uncooked, I have no idea how much it turned out to be cooked), 1 lb red beans, 3 cans of chunk tomatoes, and 3 liters chicken stock. Plus a HELL OF A LOT of spices, carefully calibrated for maximum effect (various amounts and pinches of: oregano, thyme, basil, ancho chile powder, salt, pepper, a hint of miso for the exotic factor, dried chiles, nutmeg, two bay leaves, powdered garlic, powdered onion, cumin, coriander, parsley, and a hint of Worcestershire sauce). My version of 'chicken stock' is actually bouillon cubes, because I'm cheap, so the whole recipe cost about seven dollars total, since I already had all the spices in my cupboard. It tasted AMAZING, and a single recipe lasted both me and my roomie for five days, eaten both lunch and supper. WIN. If I keep cooking like this for a few weeks, then maybe going to see the Hawks in the playoffs (plus the sacrifices and penny pinching on the menu front) may turn out to actually be economical.
My kitty's new favorite toy is a bookmark that reads "A cat's favorite place to nap is on whatever you're reading." The bookmark has a tassel, which she likes to bat at and chew. She also likes to lay on the bookmark. Who says cats can't have a sense of irony?
I've washed my car twice this week. I don't remember EVER having so much pollen in the spring before. It's literally turned my silver car yellow all over. I started parking the car in the garage at my building, just because it's easier than washing the thing constantly.
Playoffs are here. I can't afford to not-shave for job reasons (stupid girly expectations), but the fact that Kaner is growing a playoff mullet because he is also incapable of facial hair makes me laugh. Oh Blackhawks, never cease to amuse the everloving hell out of me. It's okay, Kaner, you and I will commiserate in non-facial-hair purgatory. As long as you keep scoring, we're okay. In other playoffs news, I'm presently listening to the Flyers-Devils broadcast, and I've come to really respect the Devils broadcast team. They're not hopelessly homeristic, and they seem to know what they're doing when it comes to the game. They've called this thing well, considering that the Devils are behind right now, and their play-by-play guy has been a real trooper. Props to the whole broadcast team (the camera crew has also been top notch when it comes to actually following the puck, and not giving us all motion sickness), they're doing a great job covering this game. I've watched a lot of broadcast teams this season, and I don't know that I've seen any that were more professional and well-called than this (Edzo and Pat not included, because I'm incapable of being impartial about those two). So good job to the broadcast, will happily watch again in future playoff series games. P.S. Mike Richards, that was sexy.
I'm not posting my playoff picks, mostly because I'm superstitious that way. I am, however, considering bribing my boss to take a day off next week so I can go watch the Hawks play in Nashville. Would that be wrong? It's the second-closest they've been to me all year, and it's the motherfucking playoffs (plus, semi-decent Nashville tix are pretty cheap). It's a seven-hour drive, but if I was careful and did it really cheap, I think I could go to a playoff game and sit in the 200 section for less than $150 round-trip. The more I think about it, the more I'm tempted.
My roommate D keeps getting royally fucked over by her job, but for various reasons (most of which aren't fair and aren't at all under her control, but are facts of life) she can't do much about it. It always makes me so frustrated. If a straight white guy went through half the shit she's endured, his problems would have been sympathized with by his management and solved. But the rest of us just have to settle for eating the crap life throws at us, I guess. D caught the extraordinarily short string with this one, but it still makes me really, really mad. I know, vague description is hopelessly vague, but for a lot of reasons I can't say more without compromising someone's privacy.
Okay, last thing. I'm somewhat decent who am I kidding, I shouldn't be modest. I'm a hell of a cook when the mood takes me, and lately I've been trying for cheap-but-tasty in my cooking. This means a lot of rice and beans, because both are ridiculously cheap per serving, and are very filling. A couple days ago, I invented a red-beans-and-rice recipe that took the concept of risotto (I used Arborio rice, AKA risotto rice, mostly because that's what I had on hand) and married it to the fundamentals of Cajun cooking. The ingredients are really simple: 2 1/2 cups arborio rice (2 1/2 uncooked, I have no idea how much it turned out to be cooked), 1 lb red beans, 3 cans of chunk tomatoes, and 3 liters chicken stock. Plus a HELL OF A LOT of spices, carefully calibrated for maximum effect (various amounts and pinches of: oregano, thyme, basil, ancho chile powder, salt, pepper, a hint of miso for the exotic factor, dried chiles, nutmeg, two bay leaves, powdered garlic, powdered onion, cumin, coriander, parsley, and a hint of Worcestershire sauce). My version of 'chicken stock' is actually bouillon cubes, because I'm cheap, so the whole recipe cost about seven dollars total, since I already had all the spices in my cupboard. It tasted AMAZING, and a single recipe lasted both me and my roomie for five days, eaten both lunch and supper. WIN. If I keep cooking like this for a few weeks, then maybe going to see the Hawks in the playoffs (plus the sacrifices and penny pinching on the menu front) may turn out to actually be economical.