Hello again! & bill-pay logistics

So, I am more or less back online again. I have a functional computer and a connection to go with it. There have been a whole lot of things that I have thought about blogging while I was gone, and maybe I will get back to them eventually. However, I think the best plan would be to take stock of my situation again. A lot has changed since I started this. I got a lot done, and I made some good progress on certain fronts when it comes to being aware of my resources and maximizing them, but I also got into some less than optimal situations and in general there have been a lot of learning experiences.

I think I will try to put together something coherent along those lines for tomorrow. For today I will just say procrastination got the better of me and absent mindedness and a few other things and I have a grand adventure in store that involves finding where I put various checks, picking up my paycheck from work, and dropping off the rent at the property managers and going to the bank. This means taking the bus a number of awkward places and will probably take at least a couple hours. This is the problem with car free. Even if things are more or less in the same direction, if they are not on the same bus lines, I must wait for numerous busses and walk inconvenient distances for connections. And that is not to mention the challenge of remembering the secure location I put my checks in. And finally, there is the element that I only have half the rent collected at the moment, so until I can get that, I may be depending on my over draft protection.

I think it is likely that this will go smoother next month. Luckily the rest of the bills are not due for a few days and things should be in better order then.

Dairy Queen

These last few days have been the warmest of the year so far. As an ice cream professional this has been evident. The last few weeks I have pretty well got my bearings, but it did not prepare me for yesterday. I must be honest; it was at least this busy or moreso when I worked at the DQ in Ashland, but that was a really long time ago. It feels like a long time ago anyway. To add to the manic confusion was the fact that about half of the people we had working yesterday had been there less than a week. So I was running around taking and filling orders and at the same time explaining to the new people how to do their stuff too. I don't know if it sounds like a hard job. I mean, really it isn't I think it is honestly pretty easy. But there are a lot of things to remember and a lot of things to keep in mind. Especially since it is ice cream and if you aren't fast enough it melts. On a warm day, it gets pretty hot in that little store and any ice cream left out has a pretty short life span. Also confusing the matter for me is the fact that everything depends on little pieces of paper which are easy to lose and as soon as anyone opens a window to talk to a customer, all the little bits of paper that are not held down by something blow all over.

So anyway, there is a lot of being precise and being fast. It reminds me a bit of a game. In fact, I swear I played similar games in elementary school with my friends, that didn't involve quite so much getting covered in chocolate. Today I did pretty well and was enjoying myself. Yesterday though, I got up early to go to breakfast with my Dad who was in town to help my brother move. We also moved a lot of stuff up and down stairs at my house. I was already a bit worn out when I went to work and it was sooo crazy that by the end of the day I was a gibbering puddle of something not so useful and chocolate. I literally asked one lady the same question 4 times in a row because I was so out of it that it just wouldn't register. The fact that today was so much better is good.

Quicky

ok, this will be short since I spent the last few hours at the wifi-having bar playing my online games and reading my (up to 170 unread entries now) google reader blogs. It seems my left hand shift key is broken, or at least not working well. So I apologize for all the un-capitalizations that will no doubt be forthcoming.

But basically, I have all the money for my rent ready, and only a few things left to do. This week I made a giant pot of rice. I then ate it all week either fried with bacon and onions and peas or else mixed with cheese and rooster sauce. This second dish is something wonderful that i have discovered. I came across it a couple years ago and it is a wonderful treatment for left over rice. If you don't have rooster sauce, I recommend sweet Thai chili sauce or else just Tabasco at a pinch. I also like a variation of this where you put blue food coloring in the rice water and use jack cheese. In this circumstance your dinner looks like the sky with clouds. And hot sauce.

I am a big fan of pretty food.

On a somewhat unrelated tip, I am currently doing my internets at the North bar on Division. They have $1 pabst on Tuesdays and $1.50 between 3 and 7 everyday. They also have trivia on Mondays. It came to me recently that I will soon have a house full of gifted and talented types with all kinds of specialized knowledge from neuropharmacology to computers and politics. I think I should find out if these trivia nights have prizes. If so, I might need to consider starting a collection of them.

So far it seems like I am getting online every three or four days. I will be back on the 15th. So in the meantime, I will observe what the world would is like without and report back. It seems dangerous and exciting. But also filled with mysterious periods of boringness. And there are any number of subjects in which information is no longer at my fingertips. Like the preparation of Indian Naan bread. Luckily, I have emergency resources, for example friends who have computers. These resources will have to suffice for the next week or so.

In between time

Well, my living situation is pretty unusual recently. I have found people to live at my house, but they are not moved in. My brother has moved out and taken a lot of his stuff with him. My other roommate has some manner of plans but I guess is waiting til the last minute. My ex who was storing stuff at my house came and got most of it. I have a line on a new bed that will fit my new room, and a backup incase that doesn't go through. Honestly its all over but the shouting as they say. We shall see what happens next exactly.

Part of the fun at the moment is that I need to pay the rent for the whole month dispite the fact that none of the new people are actually on the lease. I guess I basically get paid back when the time comes and the new people move in. Another part of the fun is that since all the bills were in Dan's name, I opted to have C transfer his internet over here instead of starting a new account of my own. What this means practically is that I don't have internet at my house. It's crazy! I forget how much time I spend on line. I am at the library currently and my google reader after three days without checking it, has 112 items for me. I think I may end up missing a bunch of them. It has really messed with my routine, well the whole situation has. I have spent the last couple days trying to balance the stuff that I need to get done or that I have planned and my predisposition to wander around aimlessly when I don't have anything in particular going on. I actually spent most of my day off playing a computer game in a kind of post-stress daze.

What I should be doing is moving stuff upstairs to get the room ready for new occupant. This will involve things that are heavy so I will see if I can get Dan over. I havn't even seen his house yet. Actually, I have all kinds of things going on in my mind. The visit from the ex was really odd and a bit emotional for one thing. And work is going pretty well but it is a bit of a soap opera in some ways. And I found myself spending money on some stuff I didn't expect, but I somehow feel like it is ok, since that money might have gone to the apartment if I hadn't found renters. It all feels a bit like a dream. Honestly, I am about the worst person ever dealing with changes. As a young child I used to sit in the car for an hour before I would come in after driving home from school or errands. It just took me that time to adapt to a new location or a new program. Luckily, it is all in motion, so I can ease up a little finally. I am so glad... My digestion was beginning to bother me, and I had been in a mental fog for like a week. That is what stress does I guess.

So anyway. This wasn't too coherant, and it is two days late, but I guess that is how things go. I am still enjoying myself so that is a good sign. Thank you to those who are reading this, I do appreciate it.

Waste T-shirts? Never!

With all the packing and moving going on at my house recently, there was a time yesterday when we all gathered around the large pile of clothes that my brother decided to get rid of. A lot of these things were stained wife-beaters, but there were definitely some shirts and stuff that were in very good shape and that he was getting rid of either because he didn't ever wear it, or because it no longer looked brand new and therefore made him feel like a slob. By and large, I let it all go, with a couple exceptions.

There is a T-shirt that my Dad used to wear when I was a small child. Another one is one that my Mom brought him as a souvenier from the cruise that I went on with her and my Dad and my Grandfather to Norway. And then there is a shirt that I gave him a few years ago, and that someone gave me. All of these have sentimental attachment for me. One of them fits me pretty well, but the other two really don't. And even the one that does fit, isn't really something that I would want to wear all the time. Right now, after a post-simplification binge I have a rotation of three tops and three skirts/jeans, along with 3 long sleeve tops that I use mostly as undershirts and three sweaters. I really have been enjoying this limited selection, because I can wear anything with anything else, when I don't do laundry it doesn't pile up and make my room a mess, and I more or less am forced to do laundry in a timely fashion because I run out of clothes fast-ish.

For me, getting rid of stuff is a big struggle. I get easily attached to things (like my brother's T-shirts) and the thought of getting rid of them becomes emotional. I also have a hang up about waste. I realize that if I donated stuff, someone else would likely be able to use them, but I have this urge that I should be the one using them, cause otherwise I have wasted their potential right... right? Pat of me feels I should be using them until they are completely gone. I suppose I could allow myself to sell them, but really, most of the stuff I feel like this about is pretty far gone anyway. I have a whole box of shirts that for one reason or another wearing them is no longer a good option, and I have convinced myself that I will alter them, or make a quilt out of them, or else use them to make underware or any number of other projects that I may or may not ever get around to.

So now I am really torn. I can justify keeping the stuff I already have, and I am happy with my limited wardrobe as it is, but I just hate to either add these new items to the scrap box which is already more trouble than it is worth, or to supplant any of the things I am now wearing. I suppose I could take a couple hours and make stuff out of them now, but I almost, as absurd as it sounds, feel like the stuff in my box has seniority. Also, while I could make something out of them, what I would do with whatever that might be is a good question. A lot of what I think I need I already have.

A thought strikes me though. I wonder if my brother would appreciate some treasured apparel memories in the form of throw pillows. This would be easy and fast, I wouldn't need to buy anything and it might be a legitimate housewarming gift. (Or maybe I am a psycho.. That is also a possibility).

Roommate Search Angst

All week, I have been able to think of nothing but how much I need a roommate soon or I will be in trouble. It has been so preoccupying that yesterday I thought it was Wednesday and didn't go to work. Then that caused a lot of angst and I came reaaally close to crying in front of my coworkers, which might have made them more forgiving about the lateness (I was 25 minutes late, luckily my brother had his girlfriend's car and gave me a ride). But I figured it would not be so classy. Possibly a positive, there was another guy, a new person in training that didn't show up at all. So my lateness was maybe overshadowed. Also, they were totally dead when I got there, so I don't think they missed me too much.

Anyway, It occurred to me, that even if I don't find another roommate by the 10th, I will still be able to manage because C, (my for sure roommate), will be buying half of the security deposit from me. So I will have an extra 300$. And the roommates that are leaving are paying through the 10th, so between them, that will be another 320$. I get payed on the 4th, And should get 400$ then, so combined with what I have in my account now, and C's quarter of the bill, I should be able to pay the whole thing. So, worst case scenario, we don't find anyone to move in until the end of April, I should still be able to manage. I may have to be late with the insurance, or else put it on the credit card until I get my 2nd April paycheck, but I am finally relaxing a bit.

At the very very least, I won't be evicted and me and C will have a home for another month. At the best, we will find someone awesome who wants to move in right away and none of this will be a worry. I am reposting my CL ad every other day, and I am telling everyone I meet about it. I think I even have a good prospect who is interested.

On the CL tip however, It is somewhat interesting that I have gotten at least 3 spam replies to the ad. I am fairly certain that they are not real responses. They are all from people from other countries. Two say they don't speak English well and two of them say they are currently living in North Dakota, which is a fairly obscure place for foreign nationals to be living. The picture that one of them included seemed a bit model-y to be real, and the one I responded to ignored the questions I asked and basically repeated what she said in the original e-mail. The way they use language is very Nigerian spammer, and almost seems to borrow from legal writing conventions, referring to their employer as The Company. One of them infers she is a secret agent of some sort. Very interesting, although I would MUCH prefer real responses.

Food is on my mind

I notice lately, I have not been eating very healthily. I am a bit embarrassed honestly at what I just had for breakfast. Bacon, a banana and a donut. (Although the donut is a bit stale and I only ate part of it). And I ate fast food at work twice despite resolving not to. And even the days I was good and brought food, what I made was quiche with bacon and asparagus, which although delicious is full of fat. And then, some friends came by from out of town and wanted to see Voodoo doughnuts. So, being all thrifty I got a GIANT BOX of day olds for five dollars. I sure got my moneys worth on that one. As did my roommates. Anyway, I tend to think of myself as someone who is conscious about eating well, and lately I have been conscious of eating not very well. I am not sure exactly what is going on. I think it is a combination of wanting comfort food, of buying cheaper food than normal, and of being busy and distracted and not cooking.

It is a shame that bacon is so bad for me. It is cheap, it keeps for a long time, it is so good, I have a million recipes for it. Actually, I have a Hebridean cookbook of my Mom's. It turns out that the traditional food of the Hebrides is things that don't go bad. So basically oatmeal and bacon. There are a dozen recipes that are a variation on onions, potatoes, cheese, and bacon. And then like I mentioned before, I have been reading the food rationing WWII cookbook, which is also full of bacon. So, I buy bacon because of the recipes I want to make, but it turns out that a package of bacon is meant for, well, more than one person. So I use the six or so pieces in the recipe that I intend to eat all week, and that is fine, but then there is two thirds of a package left. I have actually had it go bad on me recently, so I feel obligated to use it. I wonder if it would work well to wrap up two pieces in plastic and freeze them like that. Because if I freeze the whole package, I have to defrost all of it when I want some, which sort of defeats the point of not eating it all at once in the first place.

Oh well. I am thinking that this week will be about rice and possibly beans. I have a whole lot of ramen packets that I want to use up, and rice made with broth, with currants and grated fresh parmesan is delicious enough to be basically a main meal. I also have beans, and if I got some sausage, possibly of the turkey variety, and maybe one or two vegetables, I could make something yummy and stew like. Maybe I will bake a loaf of bread for bread and butter and get some pickles or olives for lunch, and I have oatmeal with pecans and caramel syrup for breakfast, and that will counteract the bacon from this week.