First opportunity in a while...

to actually post something, that is... I'd been busy with my jobs (it was impossible to go to fencing, of course)... Monday and Tuesday were extremely difficult. On Tuesday, I called in sick to the morning job because I was feeling under the weather (very much so), but went into the afternoon job anyway... Biggest mistake ever... I ended up staying almost an hour after my shift had ended (not that there is anything wrong with that- it was expected and I was more than happy to help out my overwhelmed colleagues...) Went to the fencing center to pick up the boy and broke down into tears... Everything hurt, I was shaking... Definitely sick.... went to bed as quickly as possible and more or less devoured a handful of ibuprofen... as soon as the shaking stopped, I was able to go into a state of psuedo-sleep. just enough to be reasonably rested, but awake enough to know that I had to get up soon (and quickly) or there was going to be a mess very shortly... The next day, I got to call in sick to both jobs... I think the water bill for the next month is going to be astronomical... trying to take warm showers, getting rid of the sick in the toilet on a fairly regular basis...

Today is Thanksgiving.. I didn't get to leave the bed, but I was feeling a bit better.. stomach is still upset, but not as much as yesterday... Didn't get to have any tasty Thanksgiving food either. But, I am thankful that I am still alive (seriously, felt like I was gonna die), and very thankful for the handsome lad that was looking after me...

Longest (and most difficult) weekend

This week has been pretty tough. Trying to survive the fact that I don't know anything about meat and having to work in the meat department. Next week will be a nightmare (what with Turkey day and all, but at least I will only have to work three days in a row...) Yesterday was pretty stressful... started at 7:30, finished first job at 10:45, went to work at 11:00am, finished second job at 7:02, worked third job from 7:17 pm-9:00 pm, and took a lesson at 9:00 and went for an hour... Bed time at 11:00pm. Up the next morning at 6:00 and working the rest of the day.

Needless to say, I didn't get an opportunity to try any new cooking techniques  yesterday (ate the leftovers of the Oxtail stew- still delish) and had some dark chocolate chip cookies.

Tomorrow is the competition. I'm actually going to be fencing and I am already stressed out. I hope that I do well, but I'm trying not to put too much pressure on myself. It's been a while since I've been competitive and I want to do well, but I can't really (reasonably) expect great things after such a long time of not fencing.

The best part about today is the fact that I get to hang out with my fellow armorer and friend the entire weekend. ^_^

Tonight, I have no idea what I am going to cook- I think it should be high in protein in preparation for the competition, but not too heavy... I will have to ponder...

Le saumon a la teriyaki

Le diner hier soir etait le saumon a la sauce teriyaki. Although, I already feel pretty confident when it comes to cooking fish. The teriyaki sauce was great- it was something like "Veri Veri Teriyaki" and it had some delightful chunks of garlic and sesame seeds.

For dessert, I made dark chocolate chip cookies (well, technically, I made them for the competition tonight- to make armoring a bit more tolerable...)

For breakfast this morning, I cooked up some apple chicken sausage. It was sweet, but not overwhelmingly so.

Trying new things!

So, I've decided to become more familiar with the meat department. As such, I've taken to selecting one item from the department and I am attempting to cook it correctly. Yesterday was Lamb Gyro patties. I put it on a delicious slice of French bread- it would have been perfect if I'd had tsatsiki sauce. Tonight, I am baking a stuffed cornish game hen. I'll pair it with some potatoes (it would be nice to create a nice sauce, but I'm not that adventurous yet...) Tomorrow, I will attempt to conquer oxtail soup!!

merf

There are just these moments where my self-doubt is incredibly overwhelming.

It was probably made painfully obvious this weekend with one of my friends. They decided to remind me how much different I am from what I was in highschool. I think the worst part was that they made a point of telling me how scornful "old me" would be of "current me"... It's true. If I had've know what I would be like now, I would hate myself too...

Surviving a second day

I made it through a second day! I learned some things that were very surprising (and not so surprising)- Surprising things included:
-   People abandon the food that they asked for pretty much anywhere in the store. Why this surprised me: If you ask for something, I would suppose that the intention was to buy it and eventually consume it. This is horrible, because it is a waste of food (I mean, you can't really sell meat if it's been sitting randomly in the store and you don't know how long its been sitting...)

- It's really easy to separate chicken thighs from the drumstick. How, you may ask? There is a little line of white tissue that marks (generally) where the chicken-y "kneecap" would be. You just slice there and it's done... Easy! I did five of those- I totally felt like an actual cook, lol!

Things that weren't so surprising:
- Little, old ladies can be really awful... and some of them I want to glare at. There are eight-million things going on in that department, there is a lot of noise... I can't hear you when your nose is stuck to the glass cabinet. Also, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm new and I haven't memorized where every type of sausage is (yet)... I promise that I'll be better soon, but please be a little understanding.

- My right wrist hurts. A bazillion repetitive wrappings. Inevitably, my wrist feels like I've been doing eight lessons with horrible technique. On the plus side, though, I am feeling more capable of wrapping things and doing things more efficiently (even after only two days).


It was a great learning experience and I feel like I am becoming more familiar with and understanding the product that is being sold. huzzah! I just have to keep thinking about how to properly wrap awkward things like fish, skewers, ribs, and things that are long and jabby. The thing to do today is call in and try and resolve scheduling issues for this weekend. I hate having to do this during my first week, but I know that I'd discussed it when I was hired. le sigh. I have to make sure that I am able to direct the competition on Saturday (earning my entry for Sunday.) So many scheduling things that I have to work out!!

New Job!!

Today was the official first day of work. There is so much to learn!!! I'm a bit nervous because I'm not all that great at cooking, and I don't understand all of the terms that are being thrown at me... Also, I definitely feel "math-tarded" 90% of the time... well, that's to say when people ask for anything other than a pound of something (ounces are stupid and useless.. I do love the metric system... as long as I don't have to convert)

Tomorrow, I get to do it all over again. ^_^

On the knitting front, it's been going pretty well... Stuck on the thumb of the mittens- I think it's mostly because it isn't very fun to knit and I've got a long thumb. Instead of doing the different pattern on the "right side", I'm just doing the stripey-bit. It looks pretty nice (my opinion).

Feeling sick

Finished work and started to feel like I was made of 'ick'. Decided to stay home tonight (I don't like to go to fencing on Wednesdays anyway because team fencing is not my favorite.) I've been trying to find books with either craft projects that are environmentally friendly and found some pretty interesting things:

"Eco-chic home" sounds the most promising to me- there is a recycled magazine bowl that I think will be a lot of fun to make and will look pretty nifty around the appartement. There a lot of other projects available as well and I think it would be fun to go to a second-hand store (or, of course, use some of my old junk) to create new, nifty projects.

Also, I'm continuing with my mittens and I've woven in all the ends on the vest. It is now a simple matter to add buttons and re-block the vest. I can't wait to wear it!!

A Trek-tastic day

Decided not to go into practice today. Instead, Deep Space 9 was thoroughly enjoyed and comics were worked on. I've come to the bitter realization that I will never be able to draw like Jim Lee... lol... such is life. However, I am pleased with how the second page is coming along. I wish that I could draw at a faster pace and still make it look decent.... and also a better drawing of backgrounds would be nice... or just non-human entities... like rocks and trees and things.

On the plus side, with practice, it's going to get better and better.

Training

So, instead of providing pictures, I decided to head over to fencing practice. It actually went pretty well and I'm feeling a bit more confident about the upcoming (local) competition. I still have to keep moving my feet (which always seems to be problematic) and the only thing that I'm feeling a bit frustrated about is the fact that I feel winded. My lungs don't seem to be doing their job properly... It feels like there is no air and that I'm being crushed from the pressure of my jacket. Usually, it helps if I take off my mask and unzip my jacket, but I know that won't fly in a competitive environment. We'll see how that goes...

On a separate note: though my back has been doing much better, it still hurts tonight (another reason why I called it a night pretty early today...)

Hopefully, the next post shall include photos.. although, I will include a picture of the camp that happened this last weekend.. Well, it was more of a training session than a camp. A lot of great people showed up.

Sometimes it is just so frustrating to remember how far I went in this sport and to realize how much more I will have to work to get back to that point, let alone get better! It's important to stay positive and it's proving to be difficult. I know that I can do this: it will be tough, but there are a lot of people that believe in me. It's unfortunate that there are people that don't believe in me- this is made even more difficult because that particular individual's opinion is something that I value. Oh well... whatcha gonna do? Gonna tough it out and listen to my music and to all the wonderful people around me and just work hard... I don't really know how to do anything else. :P

Day of Finishing

I intend for today to be a day of finishing projects. Essentially, I have several more-or-less finished products that are in need of woven-in ends, buttons, or other such things that have been sitting around the appartement. Today will be a good day to fix that.

I've got my gloves, vest, mittens, corgi, and a couple of other projects to finish. Plenty of things to do today. At the end of it all, I hope to have pictures because, let's face it, no one is really interested in what I have to say about such and such project, but are more-so interested in the finished product of hours of agonizing (at least, I would be anyway.)

I think my favorite project was the Knotty gloves. They were done in Trekking, which is a sock yarn. The gloves remind me of summer time and watermelons. Honestly, these are probably the only pink thing I would ever wear (and actually look forward to wearing...)

The alpaca mittens are coming along nicely- I just have to finish the thumb of the left mitten and weave in the ends.

Encore un jour spectaculaire

Today went well. Filled out paperwork for a temp position that I've been trying to get for a while.

Also, practice went well. But that isn't what I'm most happy about.

No, indeed, I am most content with the fact that I am making such great progress with the mittens (and, even better, took pictures!!! I'm noticing that the stitches between each of the needles are either a bit too loose or a bit too tight, which is a little frustrating, but I am hoping that when I block the mittens out that it will even out a bit. This alpaca wool is so luxurious!! I almost wish that the days would get colder faster so that I could wear these mittens justifiably. Not only are they warm and soft, but the mitten that I'm working on looks fantastic. Initially, I thought that I wasn't going to enjoy the fluffiness of the alpaca for this knit (in fact, just because I am curious, I will probably knit these gloves in some sort of sock yarn. The pattern is fun and I think it would be a great gift for people...) but I am delighted to report that it is most enjoyable. I'm using a yarn from Sherwood, Oregon from a farm called "Alpacas of Oregon". Each skein is about 230 yards of super soft, super warm alpaca luxuriousness. I'm apparently using yarn from "Glacier" and "Black Opal". ^_^ Actually, the only thing that I haven't liked about this yarn is the fact that it is so easy to split. But, that might not necessarily be the yarn's fault- as it is two-ply and very fluffy (thus, difficult to see the stitches...)

Les Mittens

A substantial amount of progress was made on the Kitsune mittens. This stranding technique is actually quite challenging (I found it especially difficult and slow when working the stitches for the thumb. At some point, I might try to figure out a better way to do it.) I'm halfway through the fox and should be starting my decreases soon. I'm really pleased with the way that it is looking (despite the fluffiness of the alpaca) and can't wait to try on these toasty warm things- just in time for the nasty, cold weather of the Pacifc NW. No pictures as of yet (sorry, adoring public- that is to say, all two of you), the camera is at the club at the moment and I haven't had a chance to take any pictures to show off some of my work. I would like to try to do that more consistently, but it's proving to be difficult and will be even more so when I start my second part-time job. I'm looking forward to the new environment and extra income, but not enjoying the fact that this will be cutting into practice and I'm not sure how I will be able to squish everything into one day. ah well.. c'est la vie...