Today I realized with dismay that I had wanted to post something here this February, and then realized that thanks to it being a leap year, it was still February! Yay! The only unusual thing that happened to me was that my fortune cookie at lunch had no fortune in it. I don't know why I think weird things should happen on Leap Day, but I do. Which is perhaps not very nice to my cousin George, as it's his birthday.
So, what to blog about? My garden is coming along nicely, I have transplanted the seedlings into little pots. No mint came up, and only one rosemary, but my gardening books assure me that the rosemary is a miracle and never mention seeds where mint is concerned, so I feel pretty confident in my green thumb. However, now there is mold growing on the dirt in the pots, and I'm torn between continually watering the seedlings to keep them comfy and letting the dirt dry completely in the hopes of killing the mold. Any advice?
I have just discovered a vey cool website, Goodreads. I may have mentioned at the beginning of this blog that one of the numerous accounts I hoped to pull together was a record of what I read. However, I read a lot. I mean a lot. I read one book today, and two yesterday. I have read six books since last Friday, when I went to the library, and intend to read at least one more before I go back, next Friday. To be fair, most of these are for work, and therefore young adult books, and therefore fairly short and not too difficult to read. I also have a ridiculous reading speed that hovers in the 500-800 wpm range, depending on the difficulty and my interest. I spend a lot of my free time reading as I find it distracting and much better than narcotics (at least in terms of side effects) to deal with my chronic pain. But still, I think it would get boring for both of us if I was constantly posting "oh hey, I just read this book and this is what I think of it." I would like this blog to have a little more variety than that.
Then I stumbled on Goodreads, which is the fantastic answer to all of my half-filled reader's journals. You put in what books you've read, how much you like them (by a 5-star system, I would have really liked something more in-depth, but oh well) and then it recommends books you might like. You can also write reviews and sort your books into your own categories. I've got four: Paperbacks (books I read for pure enjoyment, including romance, fantasy, scifi, and magical realism to name a few genres), Classics (books I read as a sort of continuing-self education in literature), Comics (which conveniently combines comic books, graphic novels, mangas, and art-instruction books into one place) and Work, where I put all the books I've screened for my students to read in the hopes that I will get more ideas.
Best of all, you can share this with your friends! It's integrated into Facebook (which is how I came to hear of it). I have yet to fully use this option, but I only just discovered it today and spent way too much time cataloging the ridiculous number of books in my apartment, as well as trying to remember books I've read that I don't have any more. I encourage anyone who likes to read and discuss books to check it out.
So, there's my February post. I'm slowly pre-writing a post on "Why it sucks to be an artist in this town" but I haven't really hit on the right mood to actually sit down and write it. Which is probably a good thing.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Gardening, Kolaches, and Why I Hate Math
On occaision, when I have spare time and I'm lonely, I go over to my mother's house and "play house" as I call it. I still have a key to the door, and as the end result is usually a cleaner kitchen and goodies to eat, my mother has a wonderful "what's mine is yours" attitude when it comes to the kitchen. Typically this is a weekend activity, when my husband hangs out with his wrestling buddies and I'm off work.
However, today was somewhat of the same situation. It was a short day at work, and my husband's friends had managed to snag some tickets to the Smackdown event over in Omaha. So he would be gone all afternoon and evening and I would be stuck in the apartment alone. I decided to go play house. Not to imply, mind you, that I had nothing to do at the apartment. There are a number of chores and leisure activities with which I could have whiled away the time. However, likely as a result of being a Navy Wife, I am rather uncomfortable in my own home when Brian is not there. Reminds me of times I'd rather not remember I suppose.
So off to Mom's it was. She had kindly picked up a little garden starter kit for me when she spotted it at Walmart, along with the seeds I had wanted. So that's what I set to first, only to discover my arch enemy: Math. Thanks to Rainman, when you tell someone you have Aspergers, they often assume you're really really really good at math and number-type things. This is not always true. More likely is that you are really, really, really good at something and not necessarily any better than anyone else at the rest. Oh, and probably terrible at social skills, at least until you figure out how to teach yourself things like body language and facial expressions that are supposed to come naturally. Anyway, in my case my "savant" area (as it's called) is the creative arts: drawing, writing, music, sewing, etc. I am abysmal at math. I can't even count very reliably, unless I can physically put my hands on the objects being counted and move them around like an abacus. There are a number of things, like Science and History, that I would be really great at if they didn't involve math and numbers. Oh well.
But today I had a dilemma: I had seven different kinds of seeds. The starter kit had 36 pods to put the seeds in. 7 does not go into 36. 2,3,4,6, and 9 do, but not 7. Fortunately, after several minutes of trying to hammer the square peg into the circular hole, I remembered 7 goes into 35, which is really close to 36. So I'd just have one extra of one kind of herb. Normally this would really bother me (another aspect of the Aspergers) but I know that I use oregano far more than any of the other herbs, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to have 6 oregano pods. I made a little diagram to figure out how to arrange this:
Solution in hand, I set out to start my garden. The little peat pods had to be expanded with water, and I was irrationally excited about this. "This will make great pictures for my blog!" I thought. "Maybe I can even do some kind of little time-lapse video!" You see, I thought this would take around an hour. In fact, the process pictured above took about 30 seconds. Oh well, I had fun laughing at myself as I tried to catch an in progress shot. I then made little holes in each of the pods and put the seeds in. The instructions said to put 2-3 seeds in each pod, but for the little ones I just scooped some up with my fingernail and dumped them in. Too much is better than too few, right?
Lastly, I just had to close up the little pods and pop on the lid. Now I wait. There's lots of interesting information on the seed packets, including suggestions on how to use the herbs. Unfortunately, that part of the packet was the part I ripped off to open them, and only noticed halfway through that there was something interesting on that part. Oh well, I know what to do with herbs anyway. I made a little table to show what the rest of the info said for future easy use:
The hardest part for me will be waiting until they're ready for harvest. I had this poor oregano plant a while ago that my mom nearly killed several times (actually, she did kill it eventually by putting it outside in early April. In Nebraska.). One of the reasons it never really took off is because I kept picking off the tiny little leaves whenever I made spaghetti, which is pretty often since it's one of my specialties.
Also interesting was the origin of all the seeds. The basil and oregano came from here in the states, the thyme came from Germany, and the rest from Holland. Who knew?
Next I decided to make Kolaches. I had asked my dad to get the fillings while he was at the grocery store (as the origin of my Czech blood, he is crazy for Kolaches too). I had planned to make them next weekend, along with my weekly bread. But I'm never sure if I'm going to have enough energy to make bread and something special, so I figured why not do it now when I have the time and energy?
But once again: MATH! The recipe I have for Kolaches makes 18. I have 4 different fillings I want to use. 4 does not go into 18 (sound familiar?). Fortunately, my previous battle with math had revealed that 4 goes into 36, and as 36 is 18 twice, I could simply double the recipe (or more likely, make two batches as breads don't like to be doubled). Yay!
Then my mom came home and pointed out that 20 is not all that much more than 18, and I could just make 20 slightly smaller Kolaches. This rankles for me a little, as it will involve dividing 4 dough balls into 5, which is really hard. But she insists that 36 Kolaches is too much, even for 4 people. She's probably right.
While the dough was rising, I tried to figure out how to pick which ones I was going to take home. Half of 20 is 10, and 4 flavors does not go into 10. Fortunately, I like apricot better than Mom and Dad, so I could just take 4 apricot and 2 of everything else. Finally Mom said "Why don't you just make two flavors now and the other two next time? The cans are so big I don't think you'll use them up otherwise." Well shoot. Then I can just do 18, 9 of each flavor, and take home 5 apricot and 4 cherry. Then, when filling them, I discovered that one can of filling was more than enough to make all 18 Kolaches, so all my figuring was for nothing. *sigh* Math is evil!
When I took them out of the oven, this is what they looked like:
For those of you not familiar with traditional central European cuisine, Kolaches are not supposed to look like that. They are not supposed to be round and puffy, with the filling spilling out of the top. They're supposed to look like flat little doughnuts with the filling in a little well in the middle. WHY DON'T MY KOLACHES LOOK RIGHT??? So my dad walks in, takes one look at them, and says "Ya gotta punch 'em down twice, you know?" *headdesk* I thought they seemed awfully puffy before I put them in, looking almost like they should when done. I thought maybe the yeast was exhausted, and it wouldn't rise very much in the oven. Oh well, live and learn. Next time, I'll punch them down a second time before putting in the filling.
They were still very tasty, although fluffier than they should be (most Czech cooking is quite dense--don't ever eat the chicken and dumplings). So I know I have the right ingredients, I just need to perfect the method!
However, today was somewhat of the same situation. It was a short day at work, and my husband's friends had managed to snag some tickets to the Smackdown event over in Omaha. So he would be gone all afternoon and evening and I would be stuck in the apartment alone. I decided to go play house. Not to imply, mind you, that I had nothing to do at the apartment. There are a number of chores and leisure activities with which I could have whiled away the time. However, likely as a result of being a Navy Wife, I am rather uncomfortable in my own home when Brian is not there. Reminds me of times I'd rather not remember I suppose.
 |
| Thanks, Mom! |
So off to Mom's it was. She had kindly picked up a little garden starter kit for me when she spotted it at Walmart, along with the seeds I had wanted. So that's what I set to first, only to discover my arch enemy: Math. Thanks to Rainman, when you tell someone you have Aspergers, they often assume you're really really really good at math and number-type things. This is not always true. More likely is that you are really, really, really good at something and not necessarily any better than anyone else at the rest. Oh, and probably terrible at social skills, at least until you figure out how to teach yourself things like body language and facial expressions that are supposed to come naturally. Anyway, in my case my "savant" area (as it's called) is the creative arts: drawing, writing, music, sewing, etc. I am abysmal at math. I can't even count very reliably, unless I can physically put my hands on the objects being counted and move them around like an abacus. There are a number of things, like Science and History, that I would be really great at if they didn't involve math and numbers. Oh well.
 |
| And of course, 8 would have been better for this picture. :( |
But today I had a dilemma: I had seven different kinds of seeds. The starter kit had 36 pods to put the seeds in. 7 does not go into 36. 2,3,4,6, and 9 do, but not 7. Fortunately, after several minutes of trying to hammer the square peg into the circular hole, I remembered 7 goes into 35, which is really close to 36. So I'd just have one extra of one kind of herb. Normally this would really bother me (another aspect of the Aspergers) but I know that I use oregano far more than any of the other herbs, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to have 6 oregano pods. I made a little diagram to figure out how to arrange this:
 |
| This will also help me figure out what is what once they start sprouting. |
Solution in hand, I set out to start my garden. The little peat pods had to be expanded with water, and I was irrationally excited about this. "This will make great pictures for my blog!" I thought. "Maybe I can even do some kind of little time-lapse video!" You see, I thought this would take around an hour. In fact, the process pictured above took about 30 seconds. Oh well, I had fun laughing at myself as I tried to catch an in progress shot. I then made little holes in each of the pods and put the seeds in. The instructions said to put 2-3 seeds in each pod, but for the little ones I just scooped some up with my fingernail and dumped them in. Too much is better than too few, right?
 | |
| Don't they look cute? Ok, no, they look like creepy pods that little aliens hatched out of. But they will be cute when they sprout. |
The hardest part for me will be waiting until they're ready for harvest. I had this poor oregano plant a while ago that my mom nearly killed several times (actually, she did kill it eventually by putting it outside in early April. In Nebraska.). One of the reasons it never really took off is because I kept picking off the tiny little leaves whenever I made spaghetti, which is pretty often since it's one of my specialties.
Also interesting was the origin of all the seeds. The basil and oregano came from here in the states, the thyme came from Germany, and the rest from Holland. Who knew?
Next I decided to make Kolaches. I had asked my dad to get the fillings while he was at the grocery store (as the origin of my Czech blood, he is crazy for Kolaches too). I had planned to make them next weekend, along with my weekly bread. But I'm never sure if I'm going to have enough energy to make bread and something special, so I figured why not do it now when I have the time and energy?
But once again: MATH! The recipe I have for Kolaches makes 18. I have 4 different fillings I want to use. 4 does not go into 18 (sound familiar?). Fortunately, my previous battle with math had revealed that 4 goes into 36, and as 36 is 18 twice, I could simply double the recipe (or more likely, make two batches as breads don't like to be doubled). Yay!
Then my mom came home and pointed out that 20 is not all that much more than 18, and I could just make 20 slightly smaller Kolaches. This rankles for me a little, as it will involve dividing 4 dough balls into 5, which is really hard. But she insists that 36 Kolaches is too much, even for 4 people. She's probably right.
While the dough was rising, I tried to figure out how to pick which ones I was going to take home. Half of 20 is 10, and 4 flavors does not go into 10. Fortunately, I like apricot better than Mom and Dad, so I could just take 4 apricot and 2 of everything else. Finally Mom said "Why don't you just make two flavors now and the other two next time? The cans are so big I don't think you'll use them up otherwise." Well shoot. Then I can just do 18, 9 of each flavor, and take home 5 apricot and 4 cherry. Then, when filling them, I discovered that one can of filling was more than enough to make all 18 Kolaches, so all my figuring was for nothing. *sigh* Math is evil!
When I took them out of the oven, this is what they looked like:
They were still very tasty, although fluffier than they should be (most Czech cooking is quite dense--don't ever eat the chicken and dumplings). So I know I have the right ingredients, I just need to perfect the method!
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Blog Name and Future Topics
Here's a little comic explaining the origin of this blog's name:
I drew this ages ago when the idea of running my own webcomic occurred to me. It's a true story. I actually had to clean part of my studio to find it, so now I feel nice and productive. I drew it much too small (at print size) much too quickly, and was trying to imitate Jennie Breeden's style (of Devil's Panties fame). Never try to imitate another artist's style except as an exercise. Unless you understand the methods that got them there, it's always going to be a pale imitation. Also, my handwriting is not appropriate for things where people will actually need to read.
Now that I'm done abusing my own artistic talents, I'd like to post a list of topics that I plan to start off with. Mostly this is a reminder to myself, so I don't lose any good ideas. But if there's anything on here that sounds interesting, leave a comment and I'll be more motivated to post that topic. Maybe.
Starting my Garden (when I start it)
The self-imposed "social" pressures to A) Be a Grownup B) Be a Good Wife
Why Tea is Awesome
Why My Home Town is not Conducive to Being an Artist
This Year's Resolution: Bread Every Week!
The Struggle to Cook Often, Healthy, and Cheap
What I Mean when I Say I Am a Medium
Current Art Projects
If there are topics you would like to see posted, that would be a great thing to suggest in the comments. Basically, I am asking people to comment. Because I'm insecure like that lol.
I drew this ages ago when the idea of running my own webcomic occurred to me. It's a true story. I actually had to clean part of my studio to find it, so now I feel nice and productive. I drew it much too small (at print size) much too quickly, and was trying to imitate Jennie Breeden's style (of Devil's Panties fame). Never try to imitate another artist's style except as an exercise. Unless you understand the methods that got them there, it's always going to be a pale imitation. Also, my handwriting is not appropriate for things where people will actually need to read.
Now that I'm done abusing my own artistic talents, I'd like to post a list of topics that I plan to start off with. Mostly this is a reminder to myself, so I don't lose any good ideas. But if there's anything on here that sounds interesting, leave a comment and I'll be more motivated to post that topic. Maybe.
Starting my Garden (when I start it)
The self-imposed "social" pressures to A) Be a Grownup B) Be a Good Wife
Why Tea is Awesome
Why My Home Town is not Conducive to Being an Artist
This Year's Resolution: Bread Every Week!
The Struggle to Cook Often, Healthy, and Cheap
What I Mean when I Say I Am a Medium
Current Art Projects
If there are topics you would like to see posted, that would be a great thing to suggest in the comments. Basically, I am asking people to comment. Because I'm insecure like that lol.
Welcome to The Happy Medium
As you may have noticed, this is a blog. There was a time when I thought blogs were the height of stupidity, nothing more than a public diary. The vanity of it! But then I read some really good blogs, like Gurney Journey, and some really funny blogs, like Hyperbole and a Half, and I changed my mind. But I still didn't think I would write my own blog, after all, what would I have to say that anyone else would be interested in reading?
The answer to that question probably still hasn't changed: nothing. But I do find myself wanting to write a lot of things. I wanted to keep a variety of journals, one about the things I cook, another for the things I draw, still more for my adventures in gardening, bread baking, and tea drinking. There are a number of spiritual and supernatural subjects my friends and family have often requested I write down at some point. I have also long wanted to start a webcomic, which is where the title The Happy Medium comes from, but I felt I didn't have enough material or the conviction to follow a regular update schedule (which is vital to the survival of a webcomic).
Of course, I could just post all of this stuff on Facebook, but that didn't seem cohesive enough. These are things I want to refer to later, or perhaps share with others. Also, some are on topics which Facebook may not be the appropriate forum to air them. So, what to do?
Then my mom made a blog. My mom! She wanted a place whre she could discuss her politics with others without the rediculously rude attitude that seems to possess us all whenever we log on to Facebook. Posting a politically themed status update on Facebook is just asking to start an unpleasant argument, especially since our family includes radical members of both the far left and the far right. You simply can't make everyone happy. However, if one is going to take the time to actually visit her blog, then you enter a sort of unspoken social contract: we are here to discuss things in a polite, adult way. Sure, there will be people who ignore the unspoken rule, but at least no one can make the excuse that they simply reacted to what they saw in their news feed.
This, I thought, is the sort of environment in which I want to present my ideas. So a blog it is. If no one reads it, I don't suppose I shall be very put out. I also refuse to make any promises as to how often I will update it. The last thing I need right now is another Thing To Do, this needs to be something I do because I want to and enjoy it.
So welcome to The Happy Medium, I hope you enjoy perusing my random rantings. I certainly enjoy writing them.
The answer to that question probably still hasn't changed: nothing. But I do find myself wanting to write a lot of things. I wanted to keep a variety of journals, one about the things I cook, another for the things I draw, still more for my adventures in gardening, bread baking, and tea drinking. There are a number of spiritual and supernatural subjects my friends and family have often requested I write down at some point. I have also long wanted to start a webcomic, which is where the title The Happy Medium comes from, but I felt I didn't have enough material or the conviction to follow a regular update schedule (which is vital to the survival of a webcomic).
Of course, I could just post all of this stuff on Facebook, but that didn't seem cohesive enough. These are things I want to refer to later, or perhaps share with others. Also, some are on topics which Facebook may not be the appropriate forum to air them. So, what to do?
Then my mom made a blog. My mom! She wanted a place whre she could discuss her politics with others without the rediculously rude attitude that seems to possess us all whenever we log on to Facebook. Posting a politically themed status update on Facebook is just asking to start an unpleasant argument, especially since our family includes radical members of both the far left and the far right. You simply can't make everyone happy. However, if one is going to take the time to actually visit her blog, then you enter a sort of unspoken social contract: we are here to discuss things in a polite, adult way. Sure, there will be people who ignore the unspoken rule, but at least no one can make the excuse that they simply reacted to what they saw in their news feed.
This, I thought, is the sort of environment in which I want to present my ideas. So a blog it is. If no one reads it, I don't suppose I shall be very put out. I also refuse to make any promises as to how often I will update it. The last thing I need right now is another Thing To Do, this needs to be something I do because I want to and enjoy it.
So welcome to The Happy Medium, I hope you enjoy perusing my random rantings. I certainly enjoy writing them.
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