[8:48 AM]

Turkey Day Depression

I used to love Thanksgiving, when I was young and full of energy. My mom would set out a snack table with nuts, chips, crackers, onion dip, salsa, and guacamole. She'd make the guacamole herself and it was amazing. I would sometimes fill myself up completely on the snackbar, only to have some of the most delicious food stack in front of me for dinner. My mom would make mashed potatos (that were delicious), turkey (that was soft and flavorful), creamed corn, rolls (that were sometimes perfect and sometimes slighlty burnt), a vege-tray (with olives, cherry tomatoes, celery, and some other things I can't recall now), eggnog, and all that jazz. I would then eat until I was so sick that I'd go throw up.

It was great.

And the thing is, my mother loved to cook. She loved it even more than she loved her job, her truck, her sewing, her friends, her pets, her garden, or well anything. My mom hated it when me and my brothers moved out, because she went from cooking for us nightly to cooking for us once a week. When that happened, she'd endevour to make each meal special. One week she cooked fajitas, something she had never done. Another time, she made french onion soup, and served it in special little bowls. She'd get puzzled when we'd compliment her food and then request that she make her wonderful beef stew or pot-roast sometime. She wanted to cook, and to try new things, whereas we just wanted something to eat while we socialized with our parents.

Anyways, my mom died last year, and for the first time ever we were kind of stuck as far as thanksgiving. My dad wanted to just skip it, grab some turkey dinners from the grocery store and just do that. Instead, Jaia and I pushed for having a homemade turkey dinner. After some pressuring, we got our way.

Now, I won't lie to you, the turkey was not great, the mashed potatoes weren't that great, and the rolls came to us frozen from the grocery store. We didn't have a single damn thing that shone as being wonderful or delicious. But at least we tried. We sat around eating our slightly-dry turkey, talking about my mom and how much she loved all this. We told stories that we remembered of her and in our own way, turned thanksgiving into a happy memory. We all missed my mom, but at least we were honoring her memory...

Well, a year passed, and Thanksgiving came again. This time, Jaia went to Michigan to visit her family, and my older brother decided that the turkey was too much of a hassle so we were just going to cook a ham. I decided that I would try to make guacamole and the onion dip, and my dad made mashed potatos.

I screwed up on the guacamole. I don't know how or where, but it didn't come out right. The onion dip comes from a baggy that gets mixed with sour cream, so I made that right easily. But the guacamole was too much lime and not enough...something. It was lacking the right flavor.

My dad's mashed potatos were delicious, though he makes them in a completely different way than my mom did.

As for the ham...well, this was the first year in my life that we had a ham instead of turkey.

I never want to eat ham again.

[10:17 AM]

Random Thoughts

Damnit, mini-muffins just don't last long enough.

I washed some dishes today, go me. I also got a fork stuck in the food disposal unit. It was fun to watch the handle of the fork spin around and around and around. It wasn't so fun to shove my hand down into that grimy dark hole to get the fork unstuck from the dull but persistant teeth. However, after five minutes or so of fussing I'm pleased to announce that the stainless steel fork came out entirely unscathed.

I'm supposed to be writing now, as per my promise to jaia. Before she left, she said, "Joe, I want you to write 20 continuous pages of something. I don't care what." I've written 2 so far, and owe her another 18 by Saturday. We'll just have to see.

That's kinda it. Ta.

[5:06 PM]

You Are a "Don't Tread On Me" Libertarian

You distrust the government, are fiercely independent, and don't belong in either party. Religion and politics should never mix, in your opinion... and you feel oppressed by both. You don't want the government to cramp your self made style. Or anyone else's for that matter. You're proud to say that you're pro-choice on absolutely everything!

[8:41 PM]

try to try something new

I've been trying to break out of my bubble. I am, by nature, a rather habitual person. I drink coke, coffee, water (occasionally), and iced tea. I eat canned pasta, cooked pasta, mac&cheese, shells&cheese, pizza, oranges, and breakfast cereals. When I go out, I usually have a cheeseburger without pickles or an italian sandwhich. I don't, by nature, spend much time outside my bubble. I don't make conversation with strangers, and I really don't hang out with people. I have one friend that I go to coffee with, and my wife. That's pretty much it. That's who I am.

Or at least, that's who I am if I don't force myself into new situations.

Today was a day of experimentation for me. Today I made a conscious effort to break out of the bubble in which I live. And while I was hoping to eat at some exotic resteraunt for launch (something that looked deliciously unhealthy or snobby and exotic), Jaia and I ended up eating at a bagelry from which we've purchased bagles from in the past. However, instead of a dozen bagels, we instead enjoyed sandwhiches prepared by some smiling blond who didn't seem to want to serve us very much.

But wait...the day of experimentation wasn't over yet...oh no, boy.

We next went to Wild Oats, a natural food grocery store that tries very hard to take all those unpleasent things from the brown isle and make them "main stream." Jaia wanted to find some exotic fruit, and instead we found wheatgrass, which we didn't buy. We next tried Dead Freds, which used to be Fred Meyer, but now is Smith's. There, happily, was a fresh new selection of fresh new exotic fruits. Jaia bought a Quince and a Tamarillo, knowing nothing about either except that they were new. I bought black-berries cause I had never eaten whole un-jellied/jammed black-berries. I like black-berries.

The Quince is apperantly very much like a lemon, except much more difficult to prepare. The Tamarillo is also known as a tree-tomato, and apparently is very tomato-esk. We haven't tried either yet.

But we also bought steaks. Now I've eaten steaks in my life. My dad cooks them, my brother cooks them. You can go to almost any decent establishment and ask for one, and you'll find them happily served with a baked potato and a salad. But never, in my entire life, can I remember actually cooking one.

So I did. I called my brother to get some pointers, then, mustering up all this newfound experimentalism, I began. I cooked Jaia a steak (using barbecue sauce), and then I cooked myself one (using worcestershire sause). They both came out amazingly well. I am so full, and so happy.


Maybe we can just smash this bubble after all...
or not.

[11:27 PM]

I knew it.

I saw a trailer recently for The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. And It struck me as seeming very much like another movie I had seen in recent times. Sure enough, a few well spent moments at IMDb confirmed it.

Wes Anderson, we salute you.

[11:12 PM]

Depresses Me

Learning that my managers at work have just about the same amount of control over the work environment that I have.

[10:30 AM]

Not in the mood

Current Song: On The Bound - Fiona Apple []
Current Mood: Eh.

I'm an hour from having to go to work. I'm not in the mood to go to work. I'm not in the mood to even stand up or put on my shoes. I'm not in the mood to move.

I'm not in the mood for those pissy people who bring in 10,000 of their screaming annoying kids, whom they prompty abandon in the kid's section so they can sit in the cafe and talk about "that guy." I'm not in the mood for the old man who wants to argue that he should get a discount cause he's old, or maybe because the book's damaged. I'm not in the mood for the scowling old hag who can't find her damn credit card because she changes purses over and over and over again and can't seem to figure out which cards are important and which arn't. I'm not in the mood for management bullshit, employee-interrelationship-bullshit, what guy that girl slept with, what computer game those guys are all playing, or anything like it. I'm not in the mood for the homeless, the teenagers, the kids, the single-moms, the mormon-moms, the business men, the business women, the dweebs, the nerds, the losers, the barely literate jocks, the loud-mouthed lawyer type, the smiling creepy guy, the crazy guy with glasses, the fat crazy guy with glasses, the crazy guy in his motorized wheel-chair and his damn bubbles, or in fact anyone who walks into the store.

I'm just not in the mood to deal with people.

oh well, off to work

[9:54 PM]

The Incredibles. Verdict: IT WAS ACTUALLY FUN

Current Song: Get A Move On - Mr.Scruff []
Current Mood: Feelin' Fine.

So, The Incredibles was actually a good movie. Not necessarily a great movie (not like the amazing Sky Captain And The World Of Tomarrow ), but much much better than I had been expecting.

First off, there was violence. Not just normal Disney Things-Explode-But-Nobody-Dies type violence either. People actually died. Granted, you don't ever see any blood, but there are a lot of people getting engulfed in flames, sucked into turbines, falling, getting crushed, etc. It was a joy to watch.

Also, it stayed true to its material. Rather than being a happy-go-lucky "wouldn't it be funny if superheros were also a family" type movie. It was a serious super-hero movie. It didn't shy away from questions about right and wrong, nor did it obsess over them unnecessarily. It just told a good story. It wasn't preachy, mostly. It wasn't dull at all. It was just fun.

And the best part is...IT HAS JASON LEE IN IT! How geek can you get? Brodie is in the fucking movie.

And they say "God". A lot. And not in the "praise the lord" kinda way. It was more like, "God Forsaken Island..." and "What in God's Name..." type of stuff. It was fun.

It made me happy, anyways...

I think I could make this post longer, talking about the shithole that is work, but I don't think anyone really wants that. Instead, I think I will leave you with this totally random thought:

"man, I'm tired."

bye all

[8:47 PM]

New Design

Current Mood: Feeling Like I Did Something!

Check out the big happy new blog. Redesigned for my pleasure. Now with sprinkles.

[please note: there are no sprinkles]

this blog will stay this way until such time as I decide to change it again.
In the meantime, I welcome any suggestions for what should go into the "amuse/confuse/amaze/depress" slots on the left side. I put them in but I don't know what to put there.

anyways, time to go look at hentai...bye