05 December 2011

I moved!!

Check out my overstuffed bookshelves at
needmorebooks.wordpress.com

12 November 2011

A Satisfying Good Meal

Just because I am a poor college student doesn't mean I eat like one.

Some people have standards. Mine for food are quite high.
What I made:
pork chop marinated in apple cinnamon barbecue sauce
homemade mashed potatoes
sage flavored stuffing
and a glass of milk for chase it down

Where it came from:
pork chops from the store, frozen in a freezer for a few weeks (I freeze all my meats so they can last)
potatoes were in the drawer. They keep very well, so they've been around for a while
stuffing from a box
milk from a jug

End Results:
The pork chops were good. They were so thick, so I had them cook on medium-low heat while the potatoes boiled. I flavored them with a new seasoning mom told me to get, and I liked the end result. The potatoes could have used butter or gravy or another type of flavoring, they were quite bland. And not mashed that well. But it was my first time, so I forgive myself. The stuffing was great! I love stuffing. I need to start making stuffing for every meal. And I love milk. Milk and stuffing for dinner tomorrow? Perhaps.

Recipe?
Nope, sorry. It's all really easy to make -- the trick was juggling everything.

01 November 2011

Traitorous Cats!

So my little brother and his roommate came to visit for Halloween weekend.

The first night they stayed over, Squee (the friendly cat) walked out from my roommate (codename) Rick and slept at my little brother's feet. I'm sure Lil Bro was slightly nervous about this, being eye-swellingly allergic to cats, but at least his feet were warm.

In any case, Rick walks out to see her cat sleeping with the guest and she makes and goes "Traitor!" Because Squee always sleeps with Rick. And if he doesn't sleep with Rick because she's not around, he sleeps with me.

And Squee looks back at her like "What? I do what I want; I'm a freaking cat."

So the moral of the story is, your cats may or may not sell you out for no discernible reason. Disheartening, isn't it?

20 October 2011

Warm Penguin is Warm

I can't get enough from this picture:


According to this article from Animal Tracks on Today, a knitting shop in New Zealand called out for local knitters to knit sweaters for blue penguins who get caught in oil spills. The shop is called Skeinz based in Napier, New Zealand (link to Skeinz home page).

I find this adorable and heartwarming. New Zealand's TV3 News says there are now more than enough sweaters for the penguins (link to TV3 News Report).

Here are some more pictures of penguins wearing sweaters.

http://www.adorablog.org/2005/11/how_to_knit_a_s.html
http://www.adorablog.org/penguins/

All together now:

d'aaaawwwwww

14 October 2011

Life's Too Short

  • to read bad books
  • to listen to your parents
  • to hold back at karaoke night
  • to NOT kick your roommate in the balls
  • to clean your room
  • to panic
  • to under-appreciate everything you have
  • to listen to just one album at a time
  • to silence your inner child
  • to do homework
  • to not post on your tumblr/twitter/blogger/etc.
  • to worry what others think of you if you sing on the street
  • to not hum to yourself
  • to not submit your story to the journal
  • to anger your cat
  • to play fair
  • to finish a crossword puzzle
  • to live cheaply
  • to drink cheap booze
  • to scare your cats from the counter
  • for writer's block
  • to live in a plain room
  • to not buy that piece of jewelry
  • to make excuses
  • to say no to anime
  • to walk past the man with a "FREE HUGS" sign
  • to cancel the furry convention
If life is but a dream, it better be lucid.

08 October 2011

PubCom Challenge

When I'm not doing schoolwork, I spend the majority of my time with the organization WUD Publications Committee, that which we call PubCom. WUD stands for Wisconsin Union Directorate and is pretty much the umbrella organization for all student programming in the Union, including the outdoor and recreation clubs, the movies shown at Union South, the programming for the Union Theater, the bands that perform on one of three stages, etc etc etc. PubCom spearheads the literary aspect of this with three online journals, a creative writing workshop, and four printed journals. It's a big group.

My own involvement includes leading two things: the creative writing workshop Working Title and the fiction blog UW Flash Fiction. In addition, I participate in weekly PubCom meetings and only recently signed up to help with a scary storytelling event for Halloween. It's a busy life, but I love it.

Last meeting, we were introduced to two programs that will help us students on a professional level. The first is a mentorship program that partners an interested PubCom member with a professional in the field they wish to go into, and it doesn't have to be in publishing. The second is a program that will help interested members build a professional portfolio. This second program is called the PubCom Challenge, which also suggests it's a bit of a competition. I will admit I suggested we have awards at the end of the school year for most professional, best design, most content, etc. Awards add to the "challenge" that comes with the name.

What does this mean for me and this blog? My plan is to use this already existing blog in my own professional portfolio. That means one of two things will happen to this site. The first is that it goes over such extreme renovations you won't even recognize it anymore. Well, you might, but there's the possibility that it won't be recognizable. The second is that it will be discarded altogether for me to start from scratch and create a new space for myself.

This is just a warning, so you readers know. If you suddenly see a tab with my resume/CV and another with things I've designed and yet another specifically for writing samples (both creative and professional), don't be alarmed. I'm a senior on the cusp of graduation, and something like this may or may not be helpful for my future career.

Speaking of careers, I have an interview with the senior editor at Tor Books on Monday. As in, an interview for an internship. An internship under the senior editor at Tor Books.

Life is a field of opportunities. If you look for the right ones, you will find them.

11 September 2011

So Today Was My Birthday

I had spent my entire weekend at Geek.kon, so I was already there when I woke up. My friends and I signed up for a Tea Party where we had to solve a mystery. The Tea Party was on an airship with a time engine. The Time Engine broke so the airship can only go back in time and not forward and the professor who created and manned the airship disappeared into the time stream. So it was up to us, the guests, to figure out where and when the professor landed. I take pride in the fact that I was the one who guessed correctly.

What made it better was my having my sonic screwdriver on me. People asked why I couldn't fix the engine with that, and I said it didn't work on gears. Even so, I felt like the Doctor. And the family sitting next to me agreed. It was a good way to start the morning.

Then we went to the boffer room, where we got to hit people with foam weapons. Hitting people with foam weapons = all sorts of fun. Enough said.

Earlier in the weekend, my friends and I were oogling Tasty Peach Studios. I had my eye on three pairs of earrings but could only buy one. My friends bought the other two as presents for me.

Aren't they all sorts of adorable?

Other cool things at the con involved my playing Mega Man II in the game room. Mega Man is the video game of my childhood, so it was all sorts of nostalgic (and an excellent distraction for my friends to sneak away to buy said presents). Then there was a concert by I Fight Dragons which was fun. This was cut short by our need to return to campus.

Upon arrival to my room, I found several things. The first was my Computer Actual, with printing capabilities and a DVD drive and a really big screen and kind of in need of a new keyboard. But I love it even though the webcam is glitching. I didn't realize how much of a luxury a  large screen is until I was using a Netbook for a long time. Mom and Dad also sent along an antique tea set from Japan they got as a gift when they got married. You could call this a form of regifting, but I think after so many years it becomes a moot point. Either way, I had half a pot of green tea as I read for creative writing after dinner. It was good tea in a good pot. And now I have to host a tea party.

My roommates also gave me a few presents. I love my roommates. And I love my friends. But most of all, I love my family. We know each other so well.