100th Post!

You know, I kind of wanted to save this for a special occasion, or at least have written something witty, but certain people have lightly pestered me for a new post. Hey, what are you going to do? So imagine here, if you will, a post of great wit and cunning. A tale filled with ancient mysteries and high adventure. Or something.

Speaking of adventure, Friday is my 25th birthday. And... Wait, let's try that again, this time, with exclamation points.

Friday is my Birthday!!! I'm turning 25!!!

That's right, I'm getting older, and to honor the occasion I'm throwing myself a party. There will be cake, and beverages, and a theme! Julia had a pirate themed party for her birthday. I've decided on a beachy/Hawaiian-esque theme for mine. Hawaiian Breeze if you will. ;) A few hours of fruity drinks and then we'll wander up to the bars. That's the plan anyway.

The only thing is that I have a lot to do to get ready and little time to do it in!

Easy Stir Fry Post

A continuation of the stir fry discussion.

Ok. I'm not sure how you're 'supposed' to make stir-fry. I think it's they type of cooking where you should just do it however you think is best. I just sort of wing it. Here's how I do it:

Go to the store. Buy ingredients.

Thinly slice the meat, like, a pound (that's what? a half kilo?). It doesn't matter what kind or what cut, I just pick something up that looks likely and is in my price range. In fact some of the cheaper cuts have worked out better. Beef, chicken, pork, whatever. You could do shrimp too I suppose.

Throw meat in some marinade (I like teriyaki with some szechuan) A couple hours is good. The bottle says 30min, but that is *so* not long enough. You can leave it overnight in the fridge if you want. This will insure that the meat is extra tender.

Chop vegetables. I always have some onion (I prefer white onion for stir fry), almost always green pepper, then mix it up with water chestnuts, carrots, bamboo.

Then I add 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil to the wok (I think it turns out better than in a regular skillet) and heat it up. Toss in the meat to cook for a few mintues. Then the veggies and some more sauce (I'm partial to the House of Tsang brand). The vegetables can be the tricky bit because you want them to be cooked, but crisp not mushy, and they all take slightly different times to cook. The recipe says to add the onions to at the same time as the meat, but I prefer mine a bit more crisp, so I add them later with the others.

Stir, cover, cook and stir occasionally for a few more minutes until the vegetables are done.

Serve. I've discovered I like brown rice better than white. It has a bit of it's own flavor.

Enjoy.

Two 'H' Things

I just got back from a showing of Harry Potter 5. Pretty good on the first viewing, but I was mostly taking in how they handled translating an 870 page novel into a two and a half hour movie. I'll have my final opinion after another viewing. Yes, I did reread the fifth novel, in, like, a day and a half, before watching the movie. I'm almost done with the six, so I'll be all caught up and ready for book seven on the 21st. I have a couple options on how to approach book seven. I can pick it up at midnight 20th/21st and try and read it before I have to go in at 6am. Probably not a good idea since I don't get off work until 8pm the night before and won't have time to sleep. I can pick it up at midnight and then go to bed without cracking it open. This is the stupid option. If I'm not going to read it right away there's no point in staying up late to get it when I have to work early. Plus I don't know how strong my willpower will be, and if I start reading I won't be able to stop until I'm done. Which leads me to my third and most likely option. I'll go after work on the 21st pick up a copy and some take out. Since I don't have to work the next day I'll go home and plow through it until I finish it.

...

Here's a weird random fact about me. I don't get the hiccups. I get a hiccup. Just one. This usually happens after I've had a small amount to eat or drink, but not right away. It sneaks up on me. And it's very loud. Like everybody-in-the-vicinity-turns-and-looks-at-you-funny type loud. I find myself explaining my problem about once a week. I don't mind people ripping on me for it, it is kind of funny, but I can't help it, dammit. And I'm not exaggerating it. People used to think that when I'd get a set of hiccups. They were so violent that if I kept my mouth shut and tried to suppress them my ribs would start to ache, but if I didn't they'd be so loud people thought I was faking. Either way I'd end up out of breath, being all loud and annoying. And they'd act like I was doing it on purpose.

The Verdict is in

Here is the post you've all been waiting for. It's the follow up to the Shappu Post. Julia, Colonel Eggroll and I took the Shappu Cleaver to a gently used tennis shoe, and we recorded the results for your viewing pleasure.

Part One



Part Two

Just a bunch of random sh...stuff

*Earlier this week I made the last payment on my car. It's mine now. All mine.

*What is the socially acceptable amount of time to allow to pass before removing the previous person's laundry from the dryer? I ask because the bulding I live in has 22 apartments and only 2 washers and 2 dryers. I figure if I wait a half hour after the dryer has stopped and you still have not come down to remove your laundry then it is fair game for me to pile it on top and dry my clothes.

*Special, collecter's, deluxe, ultimate, steel case, limited, anniversary, widescreen, 2-Disc, Criterion Coolection, full screen, director's cut, new line platinum series, unrated, uncut, uncensored, special delivery, extended........Seriously, I was browsing dvds the other day, and I found a new special edition of a special edition dvd I already owned. What is this? The special special edition I guess. I'd be irritated by the fact if that you never can be sure you have the final release of a dvd if it weren't for the fact that a lot of extras they slap on are just crap.

*My dad and I were wandering around Sam's Club the other day. If you've never been to one, let me tell you, it's kind of a weird place. Sam's club and walmart are the same company (or one owns the other or whatever), so they have the usual senior citizen greeter at the door. Except this greeter checks everybody who comes in to see if their a memeber of sam's club, because that's how you get the deals. You have to flash your card. It's like a cult. And there's no rhyme or reason to the stuff they sell. Bulk food, clothes, plasma tvs, pools, mattresses. I probably should have let my dad buy me groceries, but honestly my cupboards were stocked. We're totaly compulsive grocery buyers in my family, and my dad is always offering me food. For the twenty-fifth consecutive year I'm awarding my dad the Best Dad in the Universe Award. He's my freakin' hero. :)

*You know what term I don't like? Senior citizen. I just think it sounds dumb. I realize that it might be 'politically correct', but it seems patronizing. What's wrong with calling old people old? They are. Barring illness or injury we're all going be old some day. We're all going to be wrinkled and old, shuffling around probably with our hear aids cranked and our ipod earbuds still jammed in our ears. I don't have a problem with getting older.

*It seems that the warmer the temperature the stupider pedestrians become. I saw a bunch of them practically stop in the crosswalk to discuss the length of the crossing signal time. They just kept walking out into the streets. Like bugs to a bugzapper.

*Has anybody else seen the sour skittles commercial where the guy has a milking machine attatched to his torso and it's just pumping away? So fucking wrong!

Interview with a Blogger

I was over at MissE's Blog and volunteered for an interview. So, here are my answers to the questions she gave me. :)


Okay, Winter, you asked for it… *grin*

1. I notice we have a few authors and books in common on our faves lists (Tolkien, Pratchett, Gaiman, etc). What would you say was the first novel to truly impact upon you as a reader and why?

I think the first novel I ever read was “Little House in the Big Woods” in second grade. It was a good introduction to the world of reading for a little girl. I was totally enthralled by the adventures of Laura Ingalls, a girl about my own age at the time. When I was eleven I read “The lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe.” I picked the book off a shelf at random in school, and though the title sounded familiar I didn’t know anything about the book. I loved it. I think that was the first novel to impact me as a reader. I wanted to go to Narnia! Lol. It really sparked my love of fantasy and made me want to create my own stories. It made me believe in magic and look for it in the everyday.

2. You’ve just won $1 000 000 – tell me about how you’d spend it.

Ok, I’d do the boring part with some of it and save it/invest it, and pay off my bit of debt. Then I’d take all my friends out for a night out. Maybe a little shopping to pick up somethings on my need/wish list. Then I’d take a leave from work and do a bit of traveling. I’d take a road trip around the country and drive through all 48 contiguous states. I’ve always wanted to do that since high school. After that I’d do some international travel, maybe Ireland, London, Italy, Greece, New Zealand. And, of course, Australia because I’ve always wanted to visit, and now I have a few people down there I’d like to meet. ;) I’d have to bring Julia (Colonel Eggroll) along too!

3. If you were given the opportunity to work your “dream” job, what would it involve?

My dream job would have to involve creating things. Several years ago I realized how much I enjoy drawing, and I’ve known for years I love to write. Making things is just so rewarding for me. So I guess if I could get paid to draw (especially my comics), paint, write, maybe put out some of the ideas I’ve had for clothing designs for real shaped people that would be my dream job.

4. I think your inner child is alive and well – what toy of recent times do you wish someone would buy you?

Oh man, I’ve always wanted the k'nex roller coaster building set. I see from searching for an image that they have new, and bigger ones, now. I’ve always liked making things out of Legos, and what’s cooler than making your own roller coaster? I’d also take some of the new Lego sets they have out (esp. Star Wars Legos). They have so many different pieces than the ones I had as a kid!

5. And finally, as a teacher I believe that I can have an impact on my students’ lives – hopefully for the better; did any of your teachers shape the person you are today? How/Why?

It was really hard to narrow it down to just a couple. I could do a whole post about all the good teachers I’ve had.
Many of my middle school teachers made a big impact on me. They got me involved in extracariculars. Mrs. C seemed to genuinely care about me at what was a very rough time in my life for me. They really helped me regain an interest in school after my horrible fifth grade year (at a different school). In lieu of my home room period my eighth grade year I was teacher’s aide for Ms. St J and the two other special needs teachers. I did everything from tutor other students, grade papers, run copies, make bulliten boards, etc. It was very rewarding for me to help out (and be appreciated for it).

Mr. G, ninth, tenth, eleventh grades and beyond – If I had to pick the best teacher I ever had it would be hard, but he’d be in the top few. I can say without a doubt though that my freshman biology class with Mr. G was the best class ever. We learned a lot, but it was also so much fun! He treated me like an equal, not like some little kid. Also, he ran a gaming group for a bunch of the students and they invited me to that. I might never have gamed otherwise, and I’ve met a lot of friends and had so much fun doing it. Mr. G left the school in the middle of my junior year, but we met up a couple years later and became good friends. He’s such a cool guy that it was only weird for about five seconds.





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2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.

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