Rain

So as a final way to thoroughly confuse myself and my fellow San Diegans, the weather gods decided to give us a rather lovely and unexpected thunderstorm today, with rain starting and stopping in bursts throughout the day and the sound of thunder serenading us continually. This is a drastic contrast to the dry 107 + weather we had on Monday, and is further evidence towards my argument that not even planet Earth knows what's going on anymore. Some say that it's global warming, others a sign of the apocalypse, but I think it's confusion on the part of everything on and including the planet which we live on.

Rain always puts me in a reminiscing mood, which I don't understand since I have no emotional attachment to anything precipitation related. But as a result of this induced sentimentality, here is a clip from a song I once enjoyed in my youth.




... Yes I liked Hanson. Don't judge me, if you were an eight year old girl you would too.

Happy Birthday RHPS

September 26, 1975 - a legend was born, and he wore gold lame hot pants. It's interesting to think that a film that was so pivotal in shaping my growing teen years came out over thirteen years before I was even born. For 35 years, people have been doing the Time Warp and throwing rice at the movie screens, giving in to the Creature of the Night, and I am sure they will be doing so for 35 years more.



For those who do not know, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a parody of B-movie sci-fi films, and surprisingly has had the longest running theatrical release in film history, making it one of the most financially successful midnight movies of all time. Starring future celebrities Tim Curry (Legend, It, Wolf Girl, etc), Susan Sarandon (Thelma & Louise, Dead Man Walking, etc), and Barry Bostwick (who I remember as the Mayor of Spin City), RHPS tells the story of two young lovers whose car breaks down in a storm. They go to the nearby *Castle* (this is set in Texas people), where they dance the Time Warp, see Dr Frankenfurter bring Rocky to life, give themselves over to pleasure, and end up taking part in a rather entertaining floor show. Of course, the Dr isn't just a mad scientist, he and his servants are really aliens on a mission, and in the end handman Riff Raff and his sister Magenta kill Frankenfurter, let the humans go, and raise the entire castle to return to their home. What's not to love?

If you haven't seen RHPS before, go out and rent it!! Today!!

Curry Craziness!!

I have been a cooking machine!! The past couple weeks have been hectic as my schedules have not fully balanced out yet, but luckily I've had time to get some cooking in, as I am trying my best to eat healthier and relieve myself of my dependency on quick, frozen foods. I have broken out of my comfort zone and tried several new recipes, and as this is my blog and I can do what I wish, I'm going to talk about them here.

Japanese Curry
The first dish I experimented with was Japanese Curry. I had bought a box of S&B Golden Curry (Medium-Hot) several months back, but I was too nervous to make it, as I didn't know how it would turn out. Luckily, an excess of mushrooms in my refrigerator encouraged me to give this a try, and I'm glad I did. Going off of the veggies available in my fridge, I used a pack (8 oz) of mushrooms, one medium-large onion, a good amount of shredded carrots, and a bell pepper. What I found interesting is after cooking the onion and adding the other veggies you add water and boil them instead of cooking them in a pan like a stir fry, and while I was a little worried as to how that'd turn out I must say it was really good. After you boil them you add pieces of the boxed curry mix, which turns the whole concoction brown and thickens the liquid. I ended up using the whole box, but I probably wouldn't need to next time, as I think I added too much water. The dish was very flavorful, and my roommate and I got several meals out of the experience.

Biryani Masala Rice
The night after I made Japanese curry Alay came over and took over my kitchen, making Miriam and me some Biryani Rice. I had already purchased the spice mix earlier, and he decided that it was acceptable enough to use, though he added additional spices as well. We chopped half an onion and some green chiles, and cooked them with the cumin seeds and other spices until the onion was softened. Then we added half a can of diced tomatoes, then 2 cups of cooked rice, adding spices and such til we felt it was good to eat. I think if I was to make this dish again I would add some carrots and potatoes, and maybe garnish with cashews.

Daal
As I am not a fan of letting half cut vegetables sit in the fridge, the next morning I decided to make some daal. I rinsed a cup of Masoor Dal (an orangey-red lentil), then boiled it in 2 cups of water so it'd get soft. I chopped the rest of my onion and cooked it with some garlic, then added the rest of the canned diced tomatoes and some spices. After the daal finished cooking I mixed them in with the rest of the ingredients, adding spices until I got something half way decent. In retrospect, I should have also added the leftover chiles, but it was fine as is.

Panang Curry

Finally, the other day I decided to try my hand at one of my favorite Thai dishes - Panang curry. In my usual style, I made WAY too much, and will be having leftovers for several days. I chopped 1 large onion, 2 potatoes, 1 green bell pepper, and added a lot of peas and shredded carrots. For the sauce I used 1 can of coconut milk, 1 can of coconut cream, 3 tbsp soy sauce, 4 tbsp peanut butter, garlic, ginger, a LOT of red Thai chili paste, and some lemon juice to cut some of the base heat. I also added in about 1/2 - 1 cup of cashews to help in adding some of the peanuty taste panang curry is known for, which also added the bit of salt that would have otherwise been added. If I was to make this again, I think I would buy some lemongrass and maybe add more peanut butter, but all in all it's rather yummy.

I don't know how this got so melodramatic

He stood at the helm, silent and reserved, ignoring the sting of the salty sea air on his skin and the blinding glare in his eyes from the sun reflecting off the ocean he has called home for so very long. As the captain of his vessel he would normally be on high alert, his eyes scanning the horizon for potential dangers both natural and man made as he would bark orders to the men who swore their loyalty to him, but today a somber tone tainted the energy of all the men aboard the ship, himself included. Yesterday's skirmish with a rival pirate ship resulted in loss of the young cabin boy whose job was to assist the cook, and while usually the loss of only one sailor would be seen as a blessing, no one felt much like celebrating.

Their rough lifestyle may have cost them the lives of many comrades over the years, but the lost of one so young was hard for the seasoned seafarers to bear. The young lad was no older than 12, and his passing caused a heavy melancholy to settle upon all those on board, each man taking this loss to heart in their own way, many recalling how young they were when they took to the sea, others thinking of the families they left behind when they chose this path.

The captain thought back to the family he left when he chose to be a pirate instead of being forced into the navy. His life as a merchant seaman was not glamorous, but it was simple, and he was blessed with a young and cheerful wife who gave him three beautiful children and filled his home with laughter and warmth. When he had left his oldest child was about the age of the young lad who died that day, and while he knew that over 10 years had passed since he last saw them, it was hard to think of his children as adults. He wondered how his wife fared after his leaving, if she married another and filled that man's home with happiness, or if she had to raise their children alone, struggling to make ends meet. He wondered as to the fate of his children, if they got their schooling and made something of themselves or if they turned to the hard streets and endured a fate similar to the young boy on board. Did his wife hate him for abandoning the family, or did she understand and managed to forgive him during all these years?

Shaking himself from these cyclical worries, the captain pushed the memories of his past back into the recesses of his mind and, taking a deep breath, traveled down the steps to his crew, ordering all the men to gather and for the quartermaster to have a few men go down and retrieve the body of their fallen ship mate. He said a few words over the body, as close to a prayer as these men could create, and the cook stood and said a few words about the character of the young man lost, as he knew him best. Then, after a moment of silence, the captain gave the signal for the body to be released over the rail of the ship, the young boy's body becoming one with the sea below them. The captain then released them, reminding them there was still much work to be done before the day was done.

Returning to his quarters for the evening, the captain removed his hat and lay on his bed, musing over what actions he would need to take in order to retain order over his crew. Though he longed to be like the other men, leaning on each other in hard times like these and being able to joke around when times were good, he knew that he must perform the role which had been assigned to him, showing no emotions and allowing no one to see how life affected him. There was no other life for him than that of a pirate, no matter how he may desire otherwise at times. He may live the rest of his days a fugitive from the law, never able to see his loved ones again, but he gained a respect and love for the freedom and passion of the sea that would remain with him all his days. For better or for worse, a pirate's life for he.

The Current Roomie

So this summer I changed roommates, going from party-girl Nevada to the super-quiet Miriam. While at first it was unsettling to be sharing my living space with a girl I had only met twice before, I've quickly become attached to the lovely Miss Miriam, and greatly miss her when she goes to her mother's house for weekends. While she may be quiet, she and I have much to talk about when we finally see each other after long days of school and work, and while our schedules rarely overlap, when they do we always seem to enjoy the time spent together.

I think one of the things I like best about this new roomie is that she and I never have to argue for shower time, as she's always waking up super early in the morning. I hated planning my morning out for a certain schedule only to have Nevada waltz in and take a super long shower right when I was planning to. Going to school with wet hair is not attractive. It's also nice that the friends who have met her all seem to like her, feeling she is a much more put together and mature gal.

I was going to write a lot more about the new transition, but I seem to have blanked on all the other stuff I was going to write. All I want to say is that I love my roomie, and am glad to have found her.

ZOMG Poem Time

Basking in the heat of the sun high above
My heart is warmed and turns to thoughts of love
I wonder where my true love may be
And how long I must wait until he finds me
Will ours be a love instantaneously fierce,
Or will time need to pass before Cupid's arrows pierce?

Soon I will find my lover who I can hold and kiss
And whenever we'd be apart my touch he would miss
But most importantly he'd desire to talk for hours
Sharing our minds, our chats time will devour
And when night falls he will hold me close
Showing me it is my closeness he desires the most.

I yearn for a love which will flourish in time
Letting me know he will always wish to be mine
Of my attentions he would never be tired
The heat of our passion matching the hottest of fires
Upon seeing him beside me my love will overflow
And our mutual desires we'll never fear to show.

Ouchies!!

So around this time last week I had started to feel like there was a bruise on my upper left arm, but brushed it off because I probably DID have a bruise, considering how often I get injured at work. And when a rash appeared on my arm and bumps on my back on Monday, I ignored that as well, thinking the arm rash was from the heat and the bumps on my back merely being the result of a particularly dimwitted decision of mine involving a passionate encounter and the floor of my bedroom. However, as the week went on the rash on my arm developed rather painful bumps, and the bumps on my back began to itch as well as hurt.

Unfortunately I worked Monday - Wednesday, so I had to wait until Thursday to reach a doctor to see what was up. I still assumed it was a heat rash gone wrong, and was hoping that he'd prescribe a hydro cortisone cream to help with the itchiness or something. I was very wrong. Once the doctor heard all my symptoms (rash with painful bumps, headache, nausea, etc) he took one look and said with confidence "it's shingles". He checked them over again just to be sure, then prescribed me some anti virals, not to cure me, as shingles is a condition which must run its course, but to prevent postherpetic neuralgia, or lingering pain in the nerves where shingles took place.

For those who don't know what I'm talking about, shingles is a condition caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox. After one has chicken pox, the virus can remain dormant in certain nerves of your body. When you're exposed to great amounts of stress, the virus can be reactivated, causing varying amounts of pain depending on which nerve it hits and how severely. I was relatively lucky in that it's not in a very obvious and painful place, like my face, and that it is easily covered for when I go to work. It's not contagious for people who have ever had chicken pox or the chicken pox shot, and if you never had the disease then don't touch my rash because then you WILL get chicken pox.

Of course it is after I get sick that I learn there's a shingles vaccine now on the market, so I recommend that everyone go get it, because this sucks. I only hope that it takes the average 2-3 weeks to recover and not any longer - sometimes it can take months or years to get better!! :(

School Has Begun

So I have just begun my second week of classes, and I feel I am in an odd space where I feel things are busier now than they will be later in the semester, which is usually not the case. Work last year was incredibly scarce on my part, so this recent influx of hours is both a blessing and a curse. I am glad to not be suffering from a lack of financial security that existed in my 6 hour work weeks, but last week's 22 hours were rather exhausting, especially when you take into account that these are all evening hours, keeping me from doing homework except in the morning hours before classes. But I know that once the newbies are trained for their posts the work load will decrease significantly, and I will reach a more reasonable 12 hours, which will definitely help me feel more relaxed.

I also started my early class observation for my teaching last Friday, as I don't have classes then. At first I thought I would be very bored sitting in a high school classroom all day, but I learned a lot about classroom dynamics, and Dr Cole was very helpful in showing me the new programs and telling me his rationalization behind a lot of the things he does. I think I'll be able to write a lot more than the 5 pages needed for my post observation report, as I truly enjoyed all I learned in the class. I believe I will visit Mr Peterson's class this Friday, and I greatly anticipate seeing all I will learn in there.