On panicking, geeks and cooking
So, I am leaving for my trip around Japan tomorrow and have discovered that my planning skills are made out of death doom and destruction. God knows what I was thinking when I put one trip only 4 days after the next. I still haven't recovered from my jet lag, have pretty much no food in the house and also (which is worse, considering I am leaving soon) am running out of both shampoo and soap. At the same time, my skin is violently protesting against the change in water and diet and my period has decided to start early for reasons unbeknown. I tried to wake up at 7 today and get up at 8, but ended up falling asleep instead and only just forced myself out of bed, still feeling zombified and downing unhealthy amounts of tea in order to stay awake. Scarily enough, I woke up at half past three this morning and couldn't go back to sleep to save my life. Part of me is actually blaming myself for not getting out of bed there and then, but on the other hand, I desperately tried to adjust my sleeping pattern. I really do feel, as if I have been nothing but sleeping over the last 3 days.
Anyway, in an attempt to wake myself up and also to suppress the growing panic which has been attacking me since I've realized that I will actually be travelling around Japan ALL ON MY OWN very, very soon I had a nose at one of my favourite cooking communities in order to find myself at least one nice recipe for this evening before I leave tomorrow. I found one for pancake salad, which sounds both divine and highly interesting and will hopefully be my dinner - if I actually ever manage to get ready today that is. Another entry though lead me to a list of "simple and fast recipe books" and through that to a (German) cookbook entitled "The Geek's cookbook", which sounds hilarious and will be ordered when I get back to the UK. At the same time I went on a hunt for vegetarian "fast and simple" cookbooks as, even though I have quite a few vegetarian recipes, most of them seem to take forever and a day to cook, which often puts me off cooking them altogether unless I have a lot of time, which really I just don't. Also, a recent article I read about a food plan developed for people living of Hartz IV (German unemployment benefits) and hence having to survive on a minimum has lead me to want to try cooking cheaper myself, as it was the first time I saw that it was actually possible. Somehow if I cook, the weekly shopping tends to end up more expensive, rather than less. Hence two cookbooks joined the list which are intended for people on a budget and one further one which follows the seasons (and will join the gorgeous cookbook my mum gave me when I moved out, which also sticks to the seasons and hence makes shopping at the farmer's market a lot easier). To make a long story short: I already have quite a long wish list of yet more cooking books which shall be bought once I have brought all the books over from my mum's and have sighted what I have actually got (due to having chronically not enough space in any student house and especially kitchen, I have so far shrunk back from taking them, which has resulted in me being delighted and surprised every time I return at the amount of gorgeous cookbooks I already own).
Anyway, I also had a look to see if the "Geek's cookbook" existed in English (as it would be a great present for quite a few of my British friends) just to make a rather surprising discovery: The word Geek is often seen as an insult. The amount of books I found which gave advice on how to "stop being a geek", gave parents advice on how not to bring up a geek and social studies that noted geeks not as being "the people who do not care about the so called cool kids, but instead develope their own counter culture away from brand names and obsessive dieting", but more "the sad people who are not cool". What the hell? I have called myself a Geek since school time and have always taken pride in the title. That does not mean that I am a sad, lonely individual with no sense of fashion and too thick glasses though. That also does not mean that I have been spending most of my life contemplating how to become one of the "cool" kids - mainly because I have always seen most of them as incredibly shallow and boring (not to mention giggly and annoying when it comes to the female variety). I'm not too sure if I could be one of them, because I have blatantly never tried and don't think I will any time soon either. Also the assumption that Geeks are sad lonely individuals struck me as bizarre. I happen to know for a fact that last year in the society for Wargames and Roleplaying at Oxford Brookes University well over 50% of the members were either in relationships or had just come out of one. Speaking for myself, I have never had particular trouble getting a partner, if I wanted one. Yes, I am a female geek, which makes me a woman on (mainly) male territory, but from all the people I have been with, none of them could have been described as real "Geeks". Some of them had geeky interests of one kind or another (Manga, Anime, Computer/Video games), but not to excess. Even Garry, who plays Video games, has a slight tabletop Wargame obsession and enjoys p&p RPGs is generally regarded as the least geeky person in my group of friends. So where on earth did these people get the impression from that geeks are sad and lonely and in general calling someone a "geek" is a derogative term? Or am I the only one who is surprised by this?
Anyway, in an attempt to wake myself up and also to suppress the growing panic which has been attacking me since I've realized that I will actually be travelling around Japan ALL ON MY OWN very, very soon I had a nose at one of my favourite cooking communities in order to find myself at least one nice recipe for this evening before I leave tomorrow. I found one for pancake salad, which sounds both divine and highly interesting and will hopefully be my dinner - if I actually ever manage to get ready today that is. Another entry though lead me to a list of "simple and fast recipe books" and through that to a (German) cookbook entitled "The Geek's cookbook", which sounds hilarious and will be ordered when I get back to the UK. At the same time I went on a hunt for vegetarian "fast and simple" cookbooks as, even though I have quite a few vegetarian recipes, most of them seem to take forever and a day to cook, which often puts me off cooking them altogether unless I have a lot of time, which really I just don't. Also, a recent article I read about a food plan developed for people living of Hartz IV (German unemployment benefits) and hence having to survive on a minimum has lead me to want to try cooking cheaper myself, as it was the first time I saw that it was actually possible. Somehow if I cook, the weekly shopping tends to end up more expensive, rather than less. Hence two cookbooks joined the list which are intended for people on a budget and one further one which follows the seasons (and will join the gorgeous cookbook my mum gave me when I moved out, which also sticks to the seasons and hence makes shopping at the farmer's market a lot easier). To make a long story short: I already have quite a long wish list of yet more cooking books which shall be bought once I have brought all the books over from my mum's and have sighted what I have actually got (due to having chronically not enough space in any student house and especially kitchen, I have so far shrunk back from taking them, which has resulted in me being delighted and surprised every time I return at the amount of gorgeous cookbooks I already own).
Anyway, I also had a look to see if the "Geek's cookbook" existed in English (as it would be a great present for quite a few of my British friends) just to make a rather surprising discovery: The word Geek is often seen as an insult. The amount of books I found which gave advice on how to "stop being a geek", gave parents advice on how not to bring up a geek and social studies that noted geeks not as being "the people who do not care about the so called cool kids, but instead develope their own counter culture away from brand names and obsessive dieting", but more "the sad people who are not cool". What the hell? I have called myself a Geek since school time and have always taken pride in the title. That does not mean that I am a sad, lonely individual with no sense of fashion and too thick glasses though. That also does not mean that I have been spending most of my life contemplating how to become one of the "cool" kids - mainly because I have always seen most of them as incredibly shallow and boring (not to mention giggly and annoying when it comes to the female variety). I'm not too sure if I could be one of them, because I have blatantly never tried and don't think I will any time soon either. Also the assumption that Geeks are sad lonely individuals struck me as bizarre. I happen to know for a fact that last year in the society for Wargames and Roleplaying at Oxford Brookes University well over 50% of the members were either in relationships or had just come out of one. Speaking for myself, I have never had particular trouble getting a partner, if I wanted one. Yes, I am a female geek, which makes me a woman on (mainly) male territory, but from all the people I have been with, none of them could have been described as real "Geeks". Some of them had geeky interests of one kind or another (Manga, Anime, Computer/Video games), but not to excess. Even Garry, who plays Video games, has a slight tabletop Wargame obsession and enjoys p&p RPGs is generally regarded as the least geeky person in my group of friends. So where on earth did these people get the impression from that geeks are sad and lonely and in general calling someone a "geek" is a derogative term? Or am I the only one who is surprised by this?