Of course my tart shell was nowhere near as perfect as the one in the picture, nor would I chance to balance the entire thing on the side of a counter like Mr. Lebovitz does.
It was my first time making a lemon curd from scratch (as opposed to using condensed milk as a base) and it turned out pretty well. Mutant Man seems to approve. The tart recipe that is suggested is fairly easy to do but tends to shrink and crack quite a bit. I suspect that either I need to use small tart molds, make more dough or use a smaller pop up mold as opposed to the suggested 9 inch one ... this way there would be dough to spare. Mind you with fairly solid fillings it doesn't seem to matter that much.
Angels and Demons possibly today. Then note replies and preparing for my presentation to Council Members tomorrow ... basically the stuff that my crazy officemate who recently left usually does. I don't particularly like Council meetings because it involves talking for 15 minutes while spending the rest of two days listening to people argue about things that they sometimes don't really understand. But I usually use that time to write the media for ObN ... my handwriting is so bad that people can't read it ... so I look like I'm busy taking notes.
It's been ridiculously long since I posted. Things have been rather busy in my personal and professional life. At work I'm part of some sort of scheme to take me from ES-05 to ES-06 without a competition ... sort of. I'm applying on a process to become fully qualified as an ES-06 but I have no intention of taking the job if I get it. Instead my boss can do as he did before and just pluck me from the pool and appoint me.
I don't think my work would change a lot but the pay would. My crazy blow-up prone office mate has left, leaving me with peace and maybe the hopes of a window sometimes soon. But on the other hand, the number of meeting including some starting at stupidly early times (7:00AM and the likes) has increased. Now I'm aware that if I get "promoted" it will mean more time at work and unpaid overtime. But the possibility of one day making that mythical six figure salary is well ... pretty darn sweet. We shall see.
Earlier in the year Wombie and Badger passed away. Wombie was especially heartbreaking since he fought for so long. I thought I would lose him last August but he soldiered on for more than six months. You can hardly ask more from a tiny ball of fluff. But at the same time, I guess the hardship makes you grow fond of them.
So now I have 3 new rescues: Boxi, Scar and Monkey. I'm happy I got these guys because one of them has teeth problems, meaning he will need to get them trimmed very often ... something which I can easily afford. Not so for every pet owner. His teeth are not growing well after the first trim ... there was the faint hope that they would realign on their own but I don't think that this is going to happen. He also has the odd white teeth like Wombie ... just with wonky angles. And last week we had to go to the ER for a respiratory infection. The vet was nice and left me with some emergency Baytril just in case. I appreciate the confidence he has in my ability to decide when to treat. I probably won't need it but it's sort of easier to have it and not use it than the opposite.
It's been well over a year now since I became ST for the game http://www.ottawabynight.com/ (yes shameless self-promotion) and it just keeps growing. I still haven't gotten over the more than 30 notes I received this week. Crazy stuff. I'm happy that people are having fun and bringing friends though. We're a long way from back when 10 players was a "large" game and we have fairly sound mechanics for most things and we are having fun going away from Canon on several things ... this way even if people have read all the books, they can still be surprised.
On paper we are at about 40 players and if we grow much larger than that we might have to consider finding a bigger location. But right now what we have is nice and affordable. Sometimes I feel very discouraged by the petty infightings between some players or having to push back on players who constantly strive to obtain or create game-breaking things. I also hate to have to say "no" to some players but it gets easier with time. I DM'ed for the first time in years last month. It was interesting ... but I'm not sure I can do it regularly while still doing all the things that I need to do for ObN
Other than that, not much really. It's like an endless work / rpg cycle thing. I'm off to Moncton next month and maybe Saskatoon later in the summer for work. I've never been to either places. Hopefully I will see more than I did when I went to Halifax in the dead of winter.
When one of my friend brought me "cajeta de leche de cabra", essentially caramel made with goats milk as a souvenir from Mexico (she always brings edible souvenirs), I truly didn't know what to do with it. It almost has the same texture as other caramel (a bit more liquid) but the pungent taste that you find in ripened goat cheese. It's also not overpoweringly sweet like dulce de leche.
Today I got inspired and pan seared some apples until the were soft ... along with a bit of water, cinnamon, lemon juice and sugar. I toasted some rye bread (forgot I had nut bread ... will try that tomorrow) and put the caramel along with the still warm apples on ze bread.
It's like a more refined version of of a caramel apple ... and you can have it for breakfast.
Mutant Man and I opted for a Halloween weekend filled with bad horror movies watching with friends. This movie was stumbled upon by accident. I could tell you to watch it over and over but I thini, the synopsis will do a better job than I ever could.
A lone samurai walks the countryside. His name is Kibakichi and his mouth hides sharp fangs. When he reaches a desolate village he finds it occupied by Yokai, including geisha who turn into giant carnivorous spiders and man-eating demons disguised as humans. Their hunt for human flesh was in fact a contract with the town crime boss. What is the boss's plan? When the secret is revealed, Kibakichi goes into a rage and his body starts to mutate. Limbs will fly and heads will roll in a final showdown between good and evil.
I'll add a small spoiler: it involves a lot of PVC and leather, portable gatt guns with tracer rounds and monsters which will test your knowledge of the old D&D Monstrous Manual. Blockbuster on Bank has the movie ... for those who might be interested.
Well, the RKEM mobile has been purchased and so far both Mutant Man and I are quite happy with it. The gas consumption is almost funny. Cost $30 to go from pretty much empty to full and we did more than 200km on less than half the tank. I'm used to the other car where it would take $70 to fill it and you could only do 300km on a tank.
Well, if all goes well, tomorrow night I should be taking delivery of my very own first car. It feels rather unreal ... perhaps overdue as well. It is used mind you but not too much so and still on warranty.
I still won't let myself feel excited over it. Everything went way too smoothly. I'm still expecting something to go horribly wrong for some reason. I expected financing to be a bitch ... and it didn't. I expected the insurance to be prohibitive ... and it wasn't.
Asking for advice was kind of amusing. Someone said I should get a Honda, another person said Toyota, another Mazda, another Volkswagen and so on, each with very compelling arguments as to why. In the end, I went with Hyundai and got something exceedingly basic but all I wanted was something small, reliable and which has AC ... and which did not smell of smoke.
Once this is done, the all important question will be: what to put on my custom plates? I figure my first vehicle deserves at least that.
Still defying the odds at more than 3 weeks and actually seeming more active and happy. Picture taken pretty much blindly over my shoulder some two days ago. I'm so happy he's still with me.
And Mr. Badger ... who for some reason can smile ... don't mind the nose gunk ... someone had been "inhaling" the yummy mushed up lab blocks and ensure ... which probably explains the silly grin.
Tomorrow, it will be two weeks since I found Wombat in the cage, listless, his sides sucked in with each breath and feeling thin and frail. I kicked myself for skipping a day in changing his cage and not seeing this earlier.
When I took him out, all he wanted was to cuddle with me and be pet. From a generally hyper animal, this a bad sign, a very bad sign. When rats get cuddly and clingy, they don't have much longer to go. I listened to his lungs and they were clear. Nothing else seemed wrong other than him looking out of breath an on the verge of collapse after a few steps.
I mean, I expect it. He is over two years old and has some clear genetic defects ... so I am not expecting him to live all that long. His health so far has been great, much better than I expected.
I looked him over, bawled my eyes out for hours ... not wanting it to be "this time" again, when the rats grow old and get sick and eventually die.
He was a little dehydrated so we (me and Mutant Man) gave him some sub-cu fluids. He didn't struggle much against the needle, another bad sign. I changed the cage, put everything within reach of his hammock and made soft, ensure-laced food for him, trying to get him to eat some which he did but got out of breath quickly and lost interest. I fully expected to find him dead Saturday morning. When I woke up, he was still alive so I picked him up and like the night before he just wanted to cuddle so he stayed hidden between my t-shirt and bathrobe for the better part of an hour that morning, peeing on me but otherwise seemingly content while I cried. That night, more fluids were given along with more soft food and anything he would eat.
By Sunday, he seemed somewhat better ... walking about more and I finally got confirmation that he was eating (it's hard to tell when you have more than one rat in the same cage) ... and he bruxed ... and proceeded to climb the cage. Now this may not mean much on any old cage ... but the cage I own is 5 feet tall. For a rat it's one crazy climb and he just did it in about 10 seconds and decided to go perch on one of the open doors. When the time for fluids came, he fought me like a little hellion showing that yes, a 400g ball of fur can send two grown adults scrambling.
He's been like that ever since. Not back to his old healthy and I know that his heart is giving out ... but he's eating and bruxing and giving ME heart attacks climbing the cage and perching in precarious spots. Attempts to reduce the fluids at less than 10cc a night didn't work, he clearly needs them not to dehydrate but other than that, it's two weeks I didn't expect to get. I'm not going to subject him to the stress of a vet trip at this point. He's eating, he's exploring, he's bruxing ... I just want him to enjoy however long he has as comfortably as he can. He's ok with the fluids now, lets me put in 5cc then struggles ... then I can usually get another 5cc in and then he gets all the nutrical he wants.
Here is the silly little bugger last week. Don't mind the bump on the shoulder, it's just the sub-cu fluids before they have a chance to be absorbed.
Rat are very fragile and often times, even with treatments and meds by the best intentioned vets doesn't work and there is nothing you can do and it can be very discouraging. But all it takes is one thing like this to make it all worth it.
And I am off for an entire week and a bit. Which is good. So ... very ... tired and there are plenty of things that need to be attended to here which requires me being here during "office hours".
On Thursday went with the Strategic Eating co-creator and other friends to "Build a Bear" and created "Rule Monkey" ... aka my alter ego on certain forums. He has more snacks than me ... so I am a bit jealous though the selection of food at the store sorely lacked toast and coffee, which would have been preferable I think. It was expensive but in the end it was fun. Surprisingly, Wendigo has not attempted to kill him yet.
Then on Friday I stayed up until Saturday at 6AM prepping stuff for game. Last week was just too darn busy for me to do game notes at work so I had quite a bit of catching up to do.
Amusingly enough, me and Mutant Man were worried that we had very little planned for game. No NPC showing up beyond one character making a phone call, attempting to meet with the Sheriff to hand over a sheet of paper and that was it. We were worried that the players would get bored. Boy were we wrong. First one kindred was left to hang for an almost breach of masquerade and then the Primogen Council demoted the Harpy and then proceeded to vacate Elysium to meet elsewhere and plot the downfall of the current tyrannical regime. Fortunately for us, the place we play at, even though we only rent on room, is always deserted after 7PM so we have several rooms that we can use.
The rest of the evening was spent running back and forth between groups of players, doing challenges for summons, phone calls who didn't go through, people gaking people's retainers, people trying to track each other down etc. I must say that I have never, in my entire larping life, seen a game so chaotic. The nice part in this is that it is 100% player induced. It is them and them alone pushing this through, which is great.
I suspect things will come to a head in the next rounds of notes, which I really am looking forward to ... though also grateful that I have off work next week which will give me time to resolve what will likely be very complex interactions and influence moves.
The game is approaching its 1 years anniversary though we (Mutant Man and later I) only jumped on board as STs since this year. We still have a fairly stable player base which is good. The finances are more than stable, the list of "things" that need to be fixed is slowly diminishing and I think players are starting to get used to our "style". It is certainly not a political game and I doubt it ever will be ... more of a mix of social and investigation type thing. Many larps pride themselves in being highly political but in the end, I think I'm ok with what we have because players seem to enjoy it. I think that this is more important than living up to some ideal of what a Cammie larp should be.
I will shave all my hair off within a year or two. At least that's what Bernard Derôme would say if he were here. Right now, the longest hair on my head is probably 1.5 inch long on top and on the sides, maybe a quarter of an inch long. I actually think that if I were in the army it would be considered "regulation" in terms of length.
It all began some 3 years ago. I was exasperated with my long hair, not knowing what to do, it being long and unwieldy and requiring large amounts of maintenance for very little return. So I went to a Salon, sat into the chair and declared "do something with my hair, shave it off, cut it, curl it, just something ... something dramatic". On that night hair went from below shoulder level to jawbone level. On subsequent visits it has gone progressively shorter ever since, thanks to a high priced hair dresser which I trust to do a good job every time. I don't tell him what to do beyond "short" or "spiky on top" and he does the rest.
Now I go every 4 weeks or so and every time on the floor I see locks of hair approximately one inch long, which I know is longer than the normal hair growth rate. Ergo why I think that one day Antoine will declare "let's just shave it off ... it's the only place you can go now" and I'm not even sure I would object.
I used to be a victim of the "I like long hair" type comments, generally from men who have short hair. I think I also had issues with my sexual identity at the time ... and from feeling that I was overweight.
I think I was using my hair to "hide". Keeping long hair was perhaps also a way of re-affirming my being a woman and "feminine". But looking back, I would do it again because I see lots of benefits and few disadvantages:
Each morning I spend maybe 5 minutes on my hair instead of 30 When I run, it doesn't get in the way I no longer hate wind I can wear a tuque in the winter and not freeze my brain off I can wear hats Lets face it, long hair did not suit me at all I no longer have split ends My head doesn't look huge like it did with long hair You can see my neck and shoulders My head doesn't get all sweaty during summer When I change outfit, making the hair "match" with it takes about 2 minutes and some hair varnish Doing my hair dye is beyond easy and takes only 1 box of the stuff instead of 2
Granted it probably makes me look boyish ... but does it matter? It is not as "feminine" as long hair and perhaps in the workplace it has an effect but frankly, I'd rather be treated as "one of the boys" than the "ditzy but cute wallflower". Perhaps it is also me being comfortable with the fact that yes, I am a tomboy. Always have, always will ... dressing up otherwise won't change that fact. If I want to feel feminine I'll just put on some makeup, a tight dress and some high heels and that's it. Screw what grows on my skull!
So yes, yay for ever shorter hair, especially in this weather.
Went to what used to be Papagus with Mutant Man yesterday. The food was ok but the new decor really kills it. What I used to like with that place was the warm atmosphere, it felt like a family sort of place. Now it is very cold and stark. Trendy but stark ... and they put quite a bit of nutmeg in the moussaka which did nothing for the overall flavour of the dish. Mutant Man enjoyed his meal though. I was surprised to see Jack Layton eat there, wouldn't have thought of the place as a politician haunt.
Work has been disappointing so far. I mean I love the promotion and being ES-05 for real as opposed to acting, but I'm not having "fun". I find myself thinking back to my days at ABC where I would remain hidden in my cubicle poring over my xls worksheet, absorbed in the numbers yet feeling competent at what I am doing.
Now I am slowly turning into "presentation girl". The big boss keeps having me do the presentations to the Chairman, on various topics. Flattering to some degree but annoying as well, moreso when I learn late Monday afternoon that I need to prepare a deck for Thursday afternoon ... and with all the approvals needed it really means that the deck has to be ready for Tuesday afternoon. I am also caught between a big boss who thinks very highly of me (likely because we have the same kind of mind so we often see things the same way) and a bunch of old timers who feel threatened by me. I anticipate sabotage by them will begin at some point, even though I really have absolutely no desire to take over their files ... zero ... none ... because it involves icky interactions with other human beings, something I do try to avoid whenever possible.
***
In other news the game in Belleville (yes Mutant Man and I are crazy enough to go to a larp 3h away two times a month) is fun although I do not know how long he will be willing to put up with the commute. Hence why I temper my optimism
***
As for ObN, I kind of hopped in as co-ST or whatever you want to call it to keep the game going. The problem was not lack of player interest but Mutant Man's lack of desire to deal with all the bookeeping and the notes, which are time consuming.
Basically I deal with rules and doing notes. It is fun to do and I believe that we are done cutting out the majority of the cheese that was introduced by the former STs due to their inability to say no. Now we have house rules, we have set ways of dealing with influence moves, we have a list of approved (and disapproved of) merits and flaws. Character creation rules, templates and a definitive "how status works" document will follow.
I won't lie though, it has been and still is a test of my patience. When you have to, for the 10 time tell a player that "I don't care that the former STs let you take "insert abusive item, trait, merit" ... we are not allowing it anymore and you need to pick something else", it can be hard to remain patient. Not the player's fault mind you, rather, as I said, the former STs rarely said no to players, maybe they were afraid of scaring them away yet in the long run, not saying no hurt the game a lot by creating imbalance.
It is also frustrating to realize the amount of "house rules" that must be created in order to avoid the serious imbalances or abusive things or downright lack of rules for things in Laws of the Night. The lack of consistency and clarity often irks the bureaucrat in me.
Thankfully the players have been very patient and willing to adapt to the many chances we have introduced. They are also starting to seriously mess with each other, which is another good sign.
So we will see what comes out of it. A fun learning experience if anything.
***
Well, time for work ... another day, another deck.
Well, I wish I had my camera but it is checked in ... so I give you this, the "twilight zone" tunnel of their airport. Really fun to go through, if you actually have the time to walk through it as opposed to running between two gates. (p.s. the light reacts to the music so crank up the volume)
I don't know what they smoked when they came up with that concept, but I want some ... and then I want them to come and re-do the decoration of my apartment.
Turns out that Northwest is even worse than I thought ... they make me miss my flight ... so I have to pay an additional US$259 to be re-booked. Thank god this is all paid for by work :/
So far my flight is on time and the weather looks decent ... so hopefully I will get to leave on time. I anticipate that my luggage will not make it there though ... which sucks given that my winter boots are in it. But at this point all I want is to be home and be with my pets. The rest can wait.
I missed my connection because the flight from Washington DC to Detroit was late. Then I was told that they would take care of accommodations since there was no flight until tomorrow.
So I get sent from gate A1 to A46 (that's a long fecking walk) only to wait 45 minutes to be told, sorry, it was because of the weather, therefore you have to pay for your own room, call this number. I do that and they get me a room in some Holiday Inn in the boonies with a supposed shuttle.
So I call for the shuttle only to be told (at 10:30) sorry ... the shuttle only runs after 11 ... it will only be there at 11:30 (what you have to realize is that at this point I have been in a conference or in an airport all day from 7:00AM)
*twitch* *twitch*
So what do I do? I march my snobbish little butt to the only hotel attached to the Airport: a nice five star Westin ... for US$240 a pop ... no governmental rate. But instead of "sorry we can't help you" I get "yes m'am, right away" ... and so now I am sitting in this pretty room, wearing a plush bathrobe (to make things better I don't have my luggage and thanks to those silly new rules that means no liquids, no gels, no cosmetics ... nothing. But there is a bathrobe ... and $5 bottles of water and it makes it all better.
Even if my boss throws a fit at the room rate, I don't really care at this point. I tried the government help line shtick and it was no help so there. What was I supposed to do? I'll pay the darn thing out own pocket if I have to. And honestly, she will lose in the end because with the additional meals it will be at least $75 and me traveling on a Saturday is technically double time ... and one and a half time for Friday from 5PM until 11PM.
Hopefully by tomorrow I will be back on blessed Canadian soil.
It recently dawned upon me that over the past two months or so, I have been doing things which I thought myself incapable of ... usually blaming said incapacity on the pd.
I find myself having to (well I don't have to but I do it to be helpful) share my living space and resources with another human being for an undetermined period of time, one of my rats is ill and only marginally responding to treatment, my money was stolen, someone is about to default on the end date of a loan and will require an extension ... thereby decreasing my RRSP contribution, the renovation dudes ruined the caulking and paint job in my kitchen while replacing the counter, I work in the middle of a psychological war where I must manipulate both sides to exist, dishing out the lies and fake compliments and pretend empathy ... and yet through all this, I feel kind of neutral.
Granted, there are times when I feel like pushing everybody away to retreat into my sacrosaint solitude, but not to the same level as before. Not in the form of crushing depressive nihilistic circular reasonings. The same circumstances, maybe two years ago, would have left me paralyzed with anxiety and sent me depersonalizing on a daily basis. Yet today, without any pills and defective personality be damned, I feel zen about it.
Maybe it's true after all. We suffer because we desire and when we cease to desire for the suffering to cease ... it does.
Well, that $30 spent on a safety deposit box to stash some emergency cash and important papers just paid for itself.
I came home to find a phone message from my bank calling about my "canceled card". This seemed odd given that had not even used it today. It turns out that a bunch of not so cool person stole card information Ottawa and then proceeded to make clones and use them in Montreal.
The thieves withdrew 280.00 from my account (no doubt to see the balance) and then went to go to a high end clothing store and blew another 900.00 ... at which point the bank stopped the flow of dough. Yay for that daily purchase limit.
Anyhow, back to the point. My bank is in Montreal ... and when you get your card stolen or cloned, you need to go sign papers and get a new card and such. I don't relish the thought of 4h of transportation that this would entail. The bank and the fraud branch people we very nice an accommodating and they will mail me a new card. This means that I will be without any access to my bank account for 5 or 6 days.
Enter the mighty safety deposit box which I decided to rent some 6 months ago, on a semi-paranoid whim. The emergency cash in there is enough to tide over for months if need be.
So overall, this was a mighty good idea and I find myself far less annoyed or stressed by this than I would have thought.
As an aside, since I trust that it was not my hairdresser that cloned my card ... I suspect the TD machine at Minto Place on Slater Street ... so if you used it ... you might want to check your bank statements.
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kookiemaster's journal
tired
accomplished
amused
hopeful
calm
chipper
surprised