I dreamed last night that I became a vampire. It turned out that it was more of a setback than an escape from reality into blood-tinted immortality. I wouldn't be charred to ashes from being out in the sun, but would burn badly and would want to avoid it (in the dream I was taking classes in the daytime, so I was going to have to drop out). Also, apparently blood wasn't necessary in great quantities, but was necessary, and most of the vampires I met had jars of it they refrigerated until it got nasty mold on it, but drank it anyway. It was a sideline existence, none of the romantic or kickass trappings of fictional vampirism. Also turns out it was much more highly contagious than I'd thought, more or less communicable by touch, even possibly second hand. That would be one of the main reasons for people who knew they were vampires dropping out of society. When I woke up, I was thinking of the idea of some form of disease that involved light sensitivity and iron deficiency being mistaken for vampirism. The concept of a 'vampire' stuffing him/herself with spinach and other foods high in iron all day in order to avoid blood made me giggle.

I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT!!!!!!

Nobody ever said freedom _was_ free.

hehee.

morning: a glass of kefir, and my usual gallon of yerba mate. Not really a gallon. More like a quart.

in between: water.

noon: tuna sandwich on (very partially) whole wheat roll, or peanut butter and honey, depending on mood. veggies. Once a week, fast food instead.

in between: more water.

night: before / while making dinner, a cup of high-fiber, high-calcium cereal and a calcium chew. Dinner, consisting of beans and/or pasta and/or frozen veggies, or sometimes eating out, or maybe sometimes just crappy nutritionless chicken nuggets.

in between: still more water.

later: I will use another cup of cereal as my snack during WoW / movie time, when I invariably get the munchies.

None of the changes are huge - mostly adding stuff. Why, you ask? (I know you don't really, but for the sake of argument) - Cos I'm getting old, that's why!

Why?

I don't know.

Wish me luck with the other 790.

Hi. I'm still here.

I'm bout to head to work (I'm really liking it, but it's temporary. Hopefully they'll hire me, or someone will, but if not, I'll have free time again to look for something else. Wateva.) I should never read comments at the bottom of news articles. They piss me off and I can't do anything about it except yell at my computer screen. When someone refers to liberals as 'bigoted' in response to this article? Oh, honestly. The people at work are nice. They are people, with people-type fallibility, but they are still nice. I am getting used to waking up obscenely early and driving on the interstate. I don't really eat breakfast anymore. I drink kombucha, which fills me up in its yeasty way, and 6:30 is too early for food anyhow. I am a bit sad that my kombucha has a slightly 'off' taste to it, which I read about on the best kombucha site ever, and isn't necessarily bad for you, but is unpleasant. I'll be trying to fix it. I'll be baking bread tonight because it's Lugnasadh! If I had gotten accustomed to my work schedule sooner I might have even tried to have another party :P Oh well. Muffins!

the next few days: I'll get the place cleaned up and looking nice and organized, so I can pretty much ignore it for a couple of months.

my dream job: gummint job, or bartending. I can't quite think what else I'd want right now. It's an odd combination. I would almost consider pizza delivery again, but my car sucketh the gas, and it's not as safe here, and I might as well do something that actually leads to something I want, along with the money.

my dream education: Ph. D. in English Language and Lit OR in Linguistics. Not sure yet. And maybe an Associates in Accounting or Bookkeeping. It seems I'd have to get at least that to understand basic concepts sufficient to run a business, and to get a job in that field so I have _actual_ experience.

my dream business: my bar, of course, but there's also the website, which I hope to make at least a little money off of by selling ads. I wouldn't mind selling a couple of my potions on the side if it could be done in an 'on the side' manner, after I get good enough at making them (years of practice ahead), and I wouldn't mind setting up a few new sites I have ideas for once I've gotten the hang of the one I have now. Also in the wings is the idea of selling web publicity services in the form of getting publicity for a person's site or business, i.e. listing them on directories, getting link exchanges, possibly publishing ads, but mainly getting as much free publicity as possible. I really also love the idea of setting up a web site that lets people comparison shop for various items in their area - restaurant dinners, clothing, groceries - not for online places that ship these things to you, but actual local stores, so you can go online and research it before you go out and spend your money. I've been looking for something like this for myself since I moved, and except for a couple of grossly out of date sites where some of the stores don't even exist anymore, there is nada-zip. It's frustrating that there isn't something like this, and though I think it would require a little maintenance and frequent updating, it doesn't seem like it would be that hard to set up.

my current most-wanted toy: an Arc Trainer. (*sigh*) There was one at the KU gym, and I fell in love...

my dream home: Still in the UK, I'm afraid. Happy 4th :P

Okay, so I _sort of_ have a job now. I'm set to start working as a secretary for a shipping company with practically no training, and if I work out alright and I like them, they might hire me permanently after two months. It's scary.

So now I have some breathing room. What will I do?

Monday: work, then go home. When home: apply for one dream job, then do something with the website, then do some organizing, then do something on the list, then do an errand, then relax for the rest of the night.

Tuesday: work, then go home. When home: apply for one dream job, then do something with the website, then do some organizing, then do something on the list, then water the plants and do the kombucha, then relax for the rest of the night, possibly taking Phil out to some strange exotic place to eat.

Wednesday: work, then go home. When home: apply for one dream job, then do something with the website, then do some organizing, then do something on the list, then do the kombucha and work out, then go out with Phil.

Thursday: work, then go home. When home: apply for one dream job, then do something with the website, then do some organizing, then do something on the list, then hang out with whatever friends (real or imaginary) I can find.

Friday: work, then go home. When home: apply for one dream job, then do something with the website, then do some organizing, then do something on the list, then do some cleaning, then play some WoW.

Saturday: Work at pizza place. While not working at pizza place, apply for one dream job, then do something with the website, then do some organizing, then do something on the list, then do a craft project or similar, then play some WoW.

Sunday: apply for one dream job, then do something with the website, then do some organizing, then do something on the list, then write an eHow article, then go shopping at the downtown farmer's market and pick up three videos from Video-Mania. Get home and start watchin' :)

As for where I'm going to find these dream jobs? Well, I'll just have to think about that. I know I got turned down for one of them already. They kinda crop up without me knowing they're there, but I think if I really thought about it, I'd know what I really want. It's quite nice to have the luxury of really thinking about what I want to do (career-wise or job-wise) before having to do it. I agree with E***** - yay for staffing companies!

For entertainment on the nights when I have the freedom to do so, the following will be the designated activities:

Mon: ??
Tues: ??
Wed: go out with hubby (yay, hubby!)
Thurs: do something sociable (I'm going to start throwing soirees)
Fri: WoW (yes, I am still addicted)
Sat: WoW (it's his fault)
Sun: Movie Night - Video Mania downtown has 3 for 2 deals, AND the farmer's market downtown is open :)

Until I have a job, my life will go thusly:

Apply for about ten conventional-type jobs from conventional-type websites/newspapers
Apply for any available government jobs I qualify for that are under a month old
Check on work-at-home and freelance opportunities to see if any happen to have popped up that aren't scams (HAHAHAHA!) (no, I'm really doing this. P**** did it, I can too.)
Organize a boxful of stuff or a disorganized pile of stuff or a piece of furniture sitting around the apartment in the wrong place.
Do something that is on my refrigerator list
Do something relating to the day-of-the-week goal (see below)
Relax just a bit.
Repeat.

ALSO: my weekly plan!

Monday: Errands and shopping (food etc)
Tuesday: Plant care (plants include mushrooms, too!)
Wednesday: Exercise
Thursday: Fun (at least a bit)
Friday: Cleaning (over and above the my-stuff-is-all-in-boxes-must-unpack type of cleaning) & laundry & car maintenance
Saturday: Crafts & Potion Brewage!
Sunday: Internet writing day (when I make a much more major push to go freelance)


You must not discourage me. Seriously. I know the odds I am up against already here.

I never realized "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" had all the letters of the alphabet! (blush)

$&%@!@*&#&^#)%&@^%$*#&wedding*&#^$&^@&*#^*@&$^%%#@@@$!^&^#!!!

Yes. Er. It was a bit too sweet, but I think I may add tabasco sauce to the leftovers and see if that works - it works w/ baked beans on their own :) Also, I think I will refrain from using parm as a generic 'cheese' because it has such distinct flavor.

I looked around at the profusion of useless foodstuffs in my kitchen, and despaired. Then, inspiration struck. Why not create new food from that food which has passed from this life? The provisions which line these shelves are not dead - only resting, I told myself. Along lines similar to my smoothie formula, I could devise formulas for various casseroles which did not require any specific ingredient. Thus it was that I ventured onto Recipezaar.com and requested from it an assortment of casserole recipes. With these, some ingenuity, and a small casserole dish, I could then develop a selection of casserole formulas which would serve to rejuvenate even the oldest of my preserved and not-so-preserved foods, and make them fit to eat again.

Experiment 1:

1/3 lb meat (in this case frozen tofu), 4c mushy stuff (baked beans), 4c sweet veg (frozen mix of carrots, peas, lima beans and corn), 1t baking pwdr, salt/pepper, 1/4 lb cheese (parmesan), 1 hr @ 350. I quartered this recipe so it would fit in my dish, mixed it all up, and hoped for the best. It had a vague dog-food smell when inserted in the oven, which was not encouraging. For further details, see my next post, where I pull it out and taste it...

http://www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/tigris/567/id19.htm

It appears to have some very nice info. I might just copy/paste the text to somewhere safe, because it also looks kinda fly-by-night. And I had to go to the page source to find some of the menu links :(

I get to manage a store

Downtown

During the KU victory parade

Downtown

someone KILL MEEE!

I've been using this for a month or so now, and it seems to work no matter what the actual fruits/flavors are - of course, it doesn't always taste good, but it works :)

1. Lubricant: I always add this first because it helps to mix faster. It can be any liquid - tea, juice, water, beer, etc. - I put about 2/3 cup in for a one-person smoothie.


2. Frozen Stuff: I use frozen fruit. Ice cubes might work too. I have never quite had the guts to put frozen veggies in there, but who knows? Maybe I'll make a V8 smoothie one of these days. I think I put about as much of whatever frozen stuff as liquid.


3. Fresh Stuff: One piece of whatever fruit or vegetable, or one 'serving' in the case of something large like a pineapple or small like radishes (I don't recommend pineapples, by the way. They are much too sweet!)


4. Primary Gloop: This should be just a little thicker than you want the smoothie to be. Ice cream or sherbet is good if you aren't too concerned about sugar. Yogurt is perfect if you don't mind yogurt (you can always use flavored) - kefir is an option, peanut butter or other nut butters if you swing that way, hummus - pretty much anything of a gloopy consistency. Again, about the same amount of this as of each of the first two items.


5. Powdered Additives: These can go in anytime after the lubricant, but I add them closer to the top because I think there is less chance of them getting stuck to the side of the blender. My only additive right now is powdered calcium pills. Whatever vitamins, etc. you want to add in powder form are great. I used to add ground flax seeds, but I got sick of gritty smoothies!


6. Secondary Gloop: This would be closer to liquid than the Primary. I use Aloe Vera gel because I love its refreshing qualities. Apple sauce might be another good one, but it would make the smoothie pretty sweet. If you *want* the smoothie to be sweeter, you could use honey or molasses or maple syrup. You could also use a juice concentrate, but beware of too much flavor! Any kind of sauce, gel, syrup, etc. works well. Make sure to cover the powder additives if you put them on top of the Primary Gloop.


7. Set the blender on 'Blend,' and it should whip everything right up! If it doesn't, try putting it on 'Mix' for a couple of seconds and wait for the chunks to go down, then go back to 'Blend.'