My Life Today
So...
Texas.
Cooking School.
I love being here, it's much warmer than Michigan and I'm totally cool with that. In fact, it FEELS hotter than Taipei felt even though I know it is not. I SWEAT here and that was a notable occurrance in Taiwan, it didn't happen every day. I've gotten sunburnt already, and I'm getting tanned. Sunburn is not a new experience for me, but not peeling off to be albino white sure is.
The school is pretty intense. I'm in class 36 hours every week. I'm not the top of my class either, that spot is held by an over-achieving asian. Two of them actually. They are really only over-achievers because they are beating me, and not in the good way. I'm learning loads of material, though. More than I actually knew there was to know about cooking.
I have learned to like onions. I think my mother and grandmother will both have heart attacks when they find out, so please don't tell them.
I have learned to like mushrooms. At this point my mother will be wondering who went to the trouble of replacing me with an actor but not taking the time to find out that I mortally despise mushrooms and onions.
I have learned to eat celery without cursing. I don't know what to tell you about this one. I still make funny faces, but I'm sure that will change soon enough.
My most recent class is Nutrition 101, in which I'm learning how to write proper diet plans, and what foods contain what nutrients, what nutrients actually do what for you, what problems you develop if you consume too much or too little of certain nutrients, and how to replace traditional ingredients with healthier choices. I'm having to memorize what percentages of food has to be grown in what scenarios for the label to say "Natural", "Pure", or "Organic" and how that changes if it has the USDA stamp on it. It's crazy, really. Did you know that the pesticide used for bananas in the US and most of central America is a derivitive of a nerve gas developed during WWI?
So with so much time going into school, I haven't been concentrating on work as much as I should. I've still been putting in a lot of hours, just not doing nearly my normal quality of work. I think this is really not about the hours I put in at school, though, I think I'm just lonely. I thought I'd be able to work from home just fine, and I think I would if I had someone I liked living with me, but I freaking miss going into an office and working with the people you know... AT WORK. It's pretty serious, I'm considering finding a job here, it will probably pay less than I'm making now, but I kinda feel like I'm not really giving my old job what it's worth, and I think it's totally because of the office / home situation.
Aside from school and work, I've picked up karate again, and I'm running now. Except for the past two weeks, in which I seem to have ticked off the SpiderGod for the second time. When I was in Taiwan I got bit by some giant spider that started eating away at the flesh on my stomach. I got a cream from a pharmacist there that fixed it, but it took a long time. Now about two weeks ago I walked through a spider nest and got more than 150 little bites on my stomach and sides. It itched like CRAZY, and I swole up a bit, and I just stopped going to karate and running during that time. I'm starting up again Monday, and going to be somebody's personal trainer! Woo! As a personal trainer I really want to make my students LOVE running, and I think the only way they will do that is to see visible progress. So... my plan is to have her run with me the first day until she is exhausted, and then I'll write a running schedule based on how long she can run before she has to start walking again, running three times a week and each week increasing the number of seconds run and decreasing the number walked. Hopefully in 8 weeks I'll be able to have her running three miles without stopping to walk. Yay for goals!
Finally, I'm still working on the rope-woven sofa that I promised to post photos of. I took the two weeks of spider-bite itchy pain off from weaving as well, but I'm back on it now. I've completely unwoven it and started over once already, so it may be a while before I have photos I'm willing to show. Well there you have it folks, I'm not dead and DO still post to LJ when someone reminds me to!
Texas.
Cooking School.
I love being here, it's much warmer than Michigan and I'm totally cool with that. In fact, it FEELS hotter than Taipei felt even though I know it is not. I SWEAT here and that was a notable occurrance in Taiwan, it didn't happen every day. I've gotten sunburnt already, and I'm getting tanned. Sunburn is not a new experience for me, but not peeling off to be albino white sure is.
The school is pretty intense. I'm in class 36 hours every week. I'm not the top of my class either, that spot is held by an over-achieving asian. Two of them actually. They are really only over-achievers because they are beating me, and not in the good way. I'm learning loads of material, though. More than I actually knew there was to know about cooking.
I have learned to like onions. I think my mother and grandmother will both have heart attacks when they find out, so please don't tell them.
I have learned to like mushrooms. At this point my mother will be wondering who went to the trouble of replacing me with an actor but not taking the time to find out that I mortally despise mushrooms and onions.
I have learned to eat celery without cursing. I don't know what to tell you about this one. I still make funny faces, but I'm sure that will change soon enough.
My most recent class is Nutrition 101, in which I'm learning how to write proper diet plans, and what foods contain what nutrients, what nutrients actually do what for you, what problems you develop if you consume too much or too little of certain nutrients, and how to replace traditional ingredients with healthier choices. I'm having to memorize what percentages of food has to be grown in what scenarios for the label to say "Natural", "Pure", or "Organic" and how that changes if it has the USDA stamp on it. It's crazy, really. Did you know that the pesticide used for bananas in the US and most of central America is a derivitive of a nerve gas developed during WWI?
So with so much time going into school, I haven't been concentrating on work as much as I should. I've still been putting in a lot of hours, just not doing nearly my normal quality of work. I think this is really not about the hours I put in at school, though, I think I'm just lonely. I thought I'd be able to work from home just fine, and I think I would if I had someone I liked living with me, but I freaking miss going into an office and working with the people you know... AT WORK. It's pretty serious, I'm considering finding a job here, it will probably pay less than I'm making now, but I kinda feel like I'm not really giving my old job what it's worth, and I think it's totally because of the office / home situation.
Aside from school and work, I've picked up karate again, and I'm running now. Except for the past two weeks, in which I seem to have ticked off the SpiderGod for the second time. When I was in Taiwan I got bit by some giant spider that started eating away at the flesh on my stomach. I got a cream from a pharmacist there that fixed it, but it took a long time. Now about two weeks ago I walked through a spider nest and got more than 150 little bites on my stomach and sides. It itched like CRAZY, and I swole up a bit, and I just stopped going to karate and running during that time. I'm starting up again Monday, and going to be somebody's personal trainer! Woo! As a personal trainer I really want to make my students LOVE running, and I think the only way they will do that is to see visible progress. So... my plan is to have her run with me the first day until she is exhausted, and then I'll write a running schedule based on how long she can run before she has to start walking again, running three times a week and each week increasing the number of seconds run and decreasing the number walked. Hopefully in 8 weeks I'll be able to have her running three miles without stopping to walk. Yay for goals!
Finally, I'm still working on the rope-woven sofa that I promised to post photos of. I took the two weeks of spider-bite itchy pain off from weaving as well, but I'm back on it now. I've completely unwoven it and started over once already, so it may be a while before I have photos I'm willing to show. Well there you have it folks, I'm not dead and DO still post to LJ when someone reminds me to!