Yo
It’s now been over thirteen months since I sent “Stormhunter” to Publisher B. I wonder sometimes if they’ll ever reply. Oh well. I have other books at Publisher A, E and F anyway.
I’m eating WAY too much, but I am still confident that in a few days I’ll be back on the wagon, and I will reach my goal of 76.5 in the next three and a half weeks. I still exercise six days a week.
Today I’m going to start reading “The Gay Dolphin Adventure” and a Trixie Belden book (same era, as you may have guessed). How wonderful and terrifying.
Are you a writer? You could enter this free competition and help raise money for The Lupus Alliance.
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/05/30/fanfic-contest/
This is the third time I’ve posted that picture on a blog. I also have it as my desktop. I’m in the process of editing my story, and everyone on my “Felicitations” list will read the result at the beginning of July (I send the list a free flash story each month – if you want in, email me on fellissimo[at]hotmail[dot]com).
S#72: Play Board Games
As a continued celebration of my five thousand writing hours, I gathered several friends to play “Up and Down the River”,
Take Two,
and the world’s best board game, Settlers of Catan.
You can actually see the cogs of my mind whirring in the above picture. Settlers takes up just enough of my mind to stop me thinking about other things, which is very very useful for people with anxiety or depression. If I don’t play it for a while, I get cravings. I will refuse to play most other board games (one side-effect of being born into a family who own literally hundreds of games). It’s not just me, either – Settlers has been voted the world’s best board game several times.
Incidentally, do you hate scrabble? I do. “Take Two” uses scrabble tiles plus any flat surface. Everyone takes seven pieces at random and builds their own crossword. Whoever uses up all their letters first calls out “Take Two” and everyone takes two more tiles. Then everyone frantically rearranges their crosswords until the cry of “take two” rings out again. You keep going until you run out of pieces, and if you care about such things you can add up your scores (letters that are used twice get counted twice). My family plays that you can use “q” with or without a “u”.
It was a fabulous afternoon/evening. Special thanks to Ben for bringing his thinkgeek remote control helicopter (although the word “control” isn’t entirely accurate). As its spinning blades of death attacked each of us in turn (generally beginning with whatever poor sod was holding the remote), I laughed so hard I cried.
Observe the expression of manly joy on CJ’s face:
Coming soon:
S#68: Silly Slippers
S#82: Old School (featuring a book called “The Gay Dolphin Adventure” – what could possibly go wrong?)
Three-Ingredient Thursday: Lunch.
Visit my godparents (yep, I have them)
Go to a wedding.
And a surprise or two.
#156: Celebrate a Milestone (with Yum Cha)
Ni hao!
In his tips for writers, Ian Irvine says, “Remember the 10,000-hour rule. That’s roughly how much work and practice it takes to become accomplished in any field, whether it be sporting, creative or professional.”
According to my calculations, I am now halfway there, so I devoted this whole weekend to “Felon’s Five Thousand” (Felon is my new nickname). Writers, artists and sportspeople all have hideously unreliable incomes, so we need to find ways to celebrate progress that don’t come from outside ourselves. And we also need to take videos of our cats (see below). (No reason.)
Yesterday, CJ and I went to Yum Cha at Ginseng in the Hellenic Club in Woden (yes, here in Canberra we name our suburbs after gods and prime ministers. No reason). Yum cha is also called “Dim Sum” but I think the word “yum” sends an accurate message.
I did actually blog about yum cha not long ago, but the post wandered through the aether for several days before it appeared, so I decided to redo it (oh, woe is me) before I realised the post was not actually lost after all. https://shootingthrough.net/2010/04/21/yum-cha/
For a total of $56, CJ and I ate:
Fried won tons (each had a single shrimp wrapped in a won ton sheet tied in a knot)
Radish cakes (I took a bite and almost retched, but CJ liked them)
Steamed pork buns (sheer deliciousness – there’s something about pork that gets on great with yum cha-style bread rolls. Both wonderfully sweet.)
Spring rolls (which featured kamikaze vegetables attempting to escape at every mouthful)
Fried lobster dumplings (with shrimp too – like the best battered fish ever, but with lobster inside)
Chicken buns (the chicken inside was tender and delicious, the bread was exquisite as always – thick and light all at once – and the bready icing was fantastically crumbly and unique)
Later on we took another photo. You can see: some fried shrimp dumplings; one last, doomed, chicken bun; one steamed combination dumpling (I like to call them “mystery” dumplings, despite the fact you can see inside); and a plate of fried spicy chicken wings. *sigh of bloated bliss*
The down side of yum cha is you often can’t easily tell how much you’ve spent until the end. But when you want a SERIOUS feast, there’s nothing better.
It’s usually offered two or three days a week at lunch time.
*resists urge to link two blog sections using a reference to cat meat*
And here, as promised, is the video of ultimate cuteness (the sound you hear is CJ working on the marshmallow cannon from last Sunday). If you like it, tell a friend.
Three-Ingredient Thursday: Pea and Pork Soup
Time for lunch!
I confess, I don’t know the difference between ham, bacon and pork. Can anyone enlighten me?
In the meantime, I made Pea and Pork Soup. I needed to use up some green lentils, so that was all my three ingredients!
As you can see from the above picture (just before I roasted the pork), I went nuts on my freebie ingredients – fat, salt and pepper. I figured I’d need all the flavour I could get (next time, I reckon I’ll fry some onions instead of the lentils. Or use potatoes, so protein, vegie and starch are all covered. But I’ll actually probably use both – and herbs. And store-bought stock. But I digress).
After roasting the pork chops (which had bones, which I gather is important) and letting them cool, I chopped off chunks of meat for later and boiled the bones and fat with more salt and pepper. When it was as pulverised as possible, I took out the solids and added the rest to the soup – which was, quite simply, boiled peas and lentils. Then I blended the green mix & stock mix together, and put it all back in the saucepan with the pork chunks. When it was all hot again, I ate it.
I should confess I panicked (green food and I don’t get on, as a rule) and baked some potatoes. I also added cream to the soup later, but I couldn’t taste any difference.
It cost $7 (three pork chops) + $3 (2 packs dried peas) + $2 (lentils) = $12 altogether, and it serves six. The great thing about simple meals is that they tend to cost less (plus it’s less ingredients to remember at the grocery shop).
If you want to know how to make a truly expert 3-ingredient soup (for under $2 a serve), go here:
http://peaslovecarrots.blogspot.com/2009/11/10-days-10-recipes-3-ingredients-day_15.html
Did I solve the soup dilemma – the human feeling that if you haven’t chewed something, you haven’t eaten?
Conclusion: I think so. The pork chunks were good and solid. Generally speaking, this tasted surprisingly good (particularly considering I don’t like peas). Three cheers for the freebie flavours of salt, pepper and butter. But ultimately I think my attempt at making stock did actually work.
Next week: Lunch again – but this time, it’ll be Steff Metal style. I’ve already tasted the deliciousness, and it was incredible.
#46: Writing Binge
Yesterday I spent over ten hours writing. Wonderful!
I finished the current twittertale, wrote one-third of the next one (which is currently called “When Good Libraries Go Bad”), and wrote an entire story for that kitten/pegasus/unicorn/Wil Wheaton/John Scalzi/clown sweater painting – oh, you want to see it again? Okay.
A writing binge is a lot easier for single people to do, since it’s tempting to talk to one’s spouse or kids if they exist. Resist the urge to join humanity! Don’t speak more than a grunt in response to any outside stimulus.
The best part about writing ten hours (other than hopefully getting some writing jobs done and/or dusted) is the feeling at the end of the day.
I once (if I remember correctly) wrote 20,000 words in one day. It was the first day of the three-day novel contest, and I reached my aim of 50,000 words altogether. Bizarrely, the book actually worked (it’s my realist novel), too.
Every phase of life has its advantages. This one goes firmly in the “being single” category, along with freedom to travel and to spend all your money on pay day (even if that may mean no food for thirteen days).
To do a fabulous binge, you need to begin over breakfast, cancel all but one thing in your day (one thing keeps the pressure on before you do it, and refreshes you when you do it, even if it’s vacuuming), and have food and snacks on hand (and throw all non-writing self-control out the window to write at any cost). Anything you have to do – clean your teeth or brush your hair – is a reward for an hour’s work.
Play along at home: What phase of life are you in – kid, teenager, independent and single, married no kids, married with kids, empty nest parent, or retired? What can you do now that you couldn’t before, and won’t be able to do again?
Tomorrow: “Felon’s Five Thousand” party, including yum cha. (The five thousand refers to my estimate of how many hours I’ve spent writing. It adds up to five hundred writing binges, if that was how I always wrote.)
#48: Breakfast in Bed
A few days ago I bought English breakfast muffins (much like hole-less bagels if you’re wondering).
This morning, after instructing CJ to stay in bed when he woke up, I grilled three muffins and spread them with real butter and honey, golden syrup, jam, and crunchy peanut butter.
I took them downstairs and we ate them. In bed (hence the title).
It was a brilliant way to start the day, and I highly recommend you play along at home.
Weight loss: Success! This morning I weighed 77.9 kilos (my aim was 78). That was HARD. I plan to weigh 76.5 by 9 July (four weeks from now).
Fish: I’m still working out how to do this fish thing. My tank water has been yellow for some time, so I’m changing the water more frequently, adding more water to the tank (one cause is overcrowding – my fault) and I removed one of the plants (another cause of yellow water is rotting plant matter – probably the main cause). I think it made Gandalf sick, though, so I’ll be buying him medicine today.
And here’s “THE VAMPIRE DIARIES” so far:
3
Woke up totally gross. Had a shower then realised I’m, like, a vampire now. My friend Sammy’s gonna be SO jealous!
*
Spent all day looking for a mirror that works. This sucks! Also I feel super hungry, and I get the feeling celery won’t fix this craving.
4
Killed a guy. He was, like, totally delicious!
5
Killed an old lady. Yuck, now my breath smells of mothballs.
6
Called Sammy. Said I’m totally a vampire.
She giggled, “You mean a vamp, right?”
“No! Well. . . that too.”
*
Sammy brought her new boyfriend over. SERIOUSLY yum. I know it seems rude to eat him, but I’m, like, evil now. He was finger-licking good.
*
Sammy had a totally unfair tantrum over me eating Bill. “I’m going to tell on you!” she said.
I said, “Who to? I’d sure love to eat a cop.”
7
Went outside. Got serious sunburn – like, with charring. I’m so buying spray tans from now on.
*
Sammy left a message on my machine. “My new friend Bunny’s totally going to get you. AND I have a new boyfriend, anyway. So there.”
*
Too embarrassed to go out with my skin looking so bad. Put off eating Sammy’s hot new treat until tomorrow.
8
Misty day. Went to Sammy’s house. The boyfriend was there, and BIG. They fought me off with frypans and a cricket bat. Stupid humans!
*
Hungry. Soooooo hungry. Almost as bad as doing the Atkins diet all over again. Stupid sun is out!
*
Ate Rover. Feel sick to my stomach, but I think that’s indigestion. Bad dog.
9
Short blonde at the door. My stomach rumbled. “Won’t you come in?” She smiled sweetly, and showed me what she had. A pointy stick.
*
I asked, “What’s that for? Making a tiny fence?”
She smiled, “I’m Bunny. I hear you don’t like sunshine.”
“But I do like visitors.”
*
I leapt for her throat. She slapped me aside, laughing. I grabbed for her pointy stick and she drove it into my belly. Ow! I ran.
10
Great. Now I’m stuck in a sewer hiding from someone called Bunny. I’m totally hungry, and my top is RUINED.
*
So hungry for so long, and no weight loss. That’s IT. I’m going to kill Bunny. And Sammy. And her big cricketer boyfriend.
*
I creep to Sammy’s house and Bunny is there. They’re sharpening weapons and laughing. I feel scared. Luckily, Sammy has a dog. Had.
11
I realise now that hiding in Sammy’s treehouse wasn’t a good idea. Sammy and whatsisface are climbing the ladder – and the sun’s out.
*
I kick the boy in the face and he flies backwards. Sammy screams, but no one hears. He doesn’t get up. I drag Sammy inside by the hair.
*
Sammy punches me right where Bunny stabbed me – and it doesn’t hurt a bit. I knock her out against the trunk and drink deeply. She’s spicy.
And. . . *scene*
I made it! I’m under 78 kilos (77.9 to be precise). I’ve lost over five kilos altogether, so that’s proof that I can still lose weight (despite being married, which makes life easier and weight loss harder). Dieting has a huge effect on my ability to function, though – particularly on my writing and my socialising. But I’ve discovered that it doesn’t particularly effect my tutoring ability, which means I can eat healthily every Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday without causing problems.
I have utterly lost it today – I’ve been awake about an hour and eaten a ridiculous amount of chocolate already – but oh well. In the next four weeks, I plan to get down to 76.5, which will be genuinely in the healthy weight range. There shall be some fluctuation in the meantime.
CJ is a public servant, which means all kinds of wonderful things – steady pay, excellent sick leave (he’s actually allowed to come home and look after me if I’m sick), automatic life insurance, flex time (if you work longer than the required seven and a half hours, you can then take days off *squee*), and so on. Today he’s applying for a better position in the same department, and it’s tremendously exciting for both of us. It’s a job that’s better suited to who he is, AND better paid. Wish us luck. We’ll find out if he gets the job in a month or so.
#155: Three-Ingredient Thursday # 1
I love food. No really, I LOVE food. The fact that God designed us to eat three times EVERY day says all kinds of wonderful things about him.
So, based on this challenge (http://peaslovecarrots.blogspot.com/2009/11/10-recipes-10-days-3-ingredients.html) I’ll be dedicating Thursdays to recipes with just three whole ingedients (cooking fat, water, salt and pepper are permitted freebies). Hopefully there’ll be every imaginable type of food – breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, dessert – eventually. There shall be ten altogether.
First up is something that looks a whole lot better than it tastes. I’m probably not the first to invent it, but I’ll call it “Shouldn’t you be green?”
Ingredients: Lemonade, lemon juice and blue curacao.
Play along at home: almost any soft drink tastes better with a squeeze of lemon juice. I particularly recommend lemonade or coke.
Tomorrow: Breakfast in bed, and the twittertale so far, and the answer to the question: Can I get down to 78 kilos in three weeks? (This morning I weighed 78.3 kilos.)
#99: Rediscover Winter clothing
There comes a point in the year when a girl has to wrestle open the Bottom Drawer and dig out the clothes that can only be worn when the air outside is cold enough to flay skin. It is at that moment the aforementioned girl goes, “Ooh! I remember that scarf! Hey look, my favourite jacket!” etc.
Although you can’t tell from the picture, I’m wearing hobo gloves here (as I am at this very moment).
I love that beanie. I love that scarf (thanks Mum). And most of all, I love that jacket. It has a mysterious smear of yellow paint on one elbow, several scratches from when I rode a motorcycle, a cuff sewn on backwards (oops), and one entire sleeve appears to be gradually detaching. It cost me $10 at a fair, and it is Da Bomb. Since one of my students is also a family friend, I was even able to wear this outfit to work. Double awesome. (And boots, of course.)
Play along at home: Rummage in your own Bottom Drawer of Doom and you’re sure to find something wonderful. Enjoy it with all your heart, and come tell us all what it is. Mittens? A hat with a bobble on top? Earmuffs? Ug boots? A hand-knitted jumper? Spill!
Tomorrow: Your first Three-Ingredient Thursday. Nom nom.
S#68: Gratitude
I love sunny days. I can’t believe I’m still comfy in crocs.
I love having two cats to glare at me in shifts 24-7. (My older cat is currently attacking the couch, which is made even more entertaining by how self-conscious she is about being so silly.)
I love that I now work (partly) from home three days a week.
I love my jobs – writing, and tutoring.
I love avocados.
I love that I’m going to eat CJ’s lasagna for dinner tonight.
I love that CJ earns enough that I can spend too much on groceries and it’s okay.
I love furniture. I love being surrounded by the homely things I’ve built up over several years, piece by piece.
I love being married. It’s only been a year and a half, but it’s clear I’m incredibly lucky. CJ is the best company there is.
And I love that I’m almost sort of in the healthy weight range.
And I love chocolate.
Play along at home: What do you have, that you love? The above list is what makes my life good.
Felicity Banks 