Tuesday, November 21st, 2017
"Here we go!" That's what I thought as I jumped out of bed this morning. And indeed, it was so. I had about two hours to get packed and ready to go, for we were going to be leaving for Washington to spend Thanksgiving break with Isaac's family over there. I quickly packed eighty percent of my stuff, then decided it'd be a fine time to make breakfast. And, heh heh, to make things even better, I had some goat cheese. Fresh, fine, ready to eat goat cheese, I'm not kidding. Charli had given it to me yesterday morning, and now I planned to put it to good use. I threw some onions, mushrooms, and red bell peppers in the pan to get them going, then slapped a tortilla on a plate and spread some cheese over it. By this time the eggs were ready to be cracked, so three eggshells found themselves disposed of and three eggs found themselves in the pan. After a little seasoning I scrambled them up, let 'em cook till they were done, then scooped them onto the tortilla. Then I fried one egg and threw it on top of the pile, and finally placed the whole thing back in the pan to heat the tortilla up. I threw some more cheese on the fried egg, and then I was done. Except the eating part that is, but that was easy. It was SO good! Especially the fried egg part, because the yolk was at its perfect state of finishood, and combined with the nice warm goat cheese, was simply amazing.
After I had taken my sweet time in making breakfast, I still had twenty percent or so left of things to get ready for leaving, but I managed to procrastinate doing that until the bitter end, even getting to the point where Issac and Laura were waiting on me. Thankfully Luke was still not ready, so I finished first and then we all waited for him. By and by we pulled up to Rachel's apartment, and then she just waltzed on out of her door with all her stuff ready to go, and we took off. I was expecting her to be a little slower for some reason, but I was duly impressed. Especially so since she brought with her some awesome muffins she baked that morning. Muffins always bring me joy. And then we were off! Well not quite, because I realized that I'd left my phone at the house, so we stopped by real quick and I ran off to grab it up. And that was all, we were ready to go! But then we stopped real quick to fuel up, and on that final note we left Moscow behind. Pullman, however, not much more than six miles later, stopped us again as we went to The Daily Grind to pick up some coffee. Why did we need coffee? I'm not sure, but apparently it was important. We stopped at this particular place since Noel worked there and we wanted to say hi before we skipped town. After that we finally made good our retirement from well known lands and ventured out into the wide world that is beyond the fringe of Eastern Washington.
After talking for a good little bit, Luke fell off to sleep, and then soon after Laura. Rachel, Isaac, and I talked on for a good bit after that, and then Rachel too dropped off to sleep. Isaac and I continued on in wakefulness. This was great, because Isaac was driving and it'd've been a bad deal had he succumbed to slumber. Bout halfway there, the others woke up, and then we stopped for lunch and fuel. Then we hit the road again, and I napped on and off until about twenty miles or so out from our destination. It was then that we made our second restroom stop because of necessity, but the first exit we came to had some poor options. The only viable options was some patio/deck/furniture store, or Hooters. We took the furniture store. Isaac parked in the largely empty lot, and Rachel and I ran in. To get to the back of the store where our desired destination lay required walking past the clerk's desk, where two employees sat waiting for customers to come. We were the only ones in the store, so one asked us if we needed any help or had any idea of what we were looking for. Rachel said, "We're just looking." And we just kept on walking somewhat confidently, pretending to be interested in the lawn chairs and gas grills. But then we made it, and we escaped from view of the clerks. Business done, I waited while inspecting the gas furnaces and evaluating them for their suitability. Soon Rachel joined me and we discussed the pros and cons in hushed voices, trying not to bust into laughter the while. "I'm not sure if this will fit the measurements in the living room." "Oh yeah, and where would we out it in the car? We'd have to leave a couple behind if we brought it." So we then 'decided' not to buy anything and made a beeline for the door, laughing at our glorious success as soon as the door shut behind us. It was great.
Soon after that we made it to the house in about ten miles or so. We met the family, got situated, and Luke, Issac, his father, and I watched Bear's basketball scrimmage after dinner. There was a nice relaxing evening to follow, during which time I learnt how to find people on spotify. My whole world has changed, as I now realize that all I need to do is find somebody with good playlists and follow them! Revolutionary, I know.
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Monday, November 20, 2017
Of Goats and So Forth
Monday, November 20th, 2017
5:40. My alarm went off. My eyes opened, and I turned my alarm off. I was still in that state when you could decide to go back to sleep or actually get up. I wasn't quite sure which it would be, and I wouldn't know until I got downstairs and checked my messages. Best to go down there groggily in case it was a negatory, so that way I could fall back asleep. I flipped my computer open and waited for it to get started, then logged in. There was a message. What did it say? It said we had the all-clear, we were on! Now my eyes flew open I jumped to. Pulled on my boots, brushed my teeth, grabbed a jacket, and waited. Then I got another message saying the car was out front, so I switched the light off and walked out the door. Where was I going just a tad before six in the morning? To the land full of goats and their milk! Monday mornings Christy and Charli go over and milk goats for some people a little ways out of town, and today I got to tag along. It was just Charli this time though, since Christy was out real late last night and since I was coming she didn't have to and could get some more sleep. So we drove on out through the dark rainy morning, and by and by we got there. The various pails and stuff grabbed up, we headed down to the barn where the goats were and got to it. It's been so long since I've milked anything, and even when I did do it years ago it was only the occasional here and there and I never had a chance to get any good at it. As it was I was pretty stoked to get another shot at it. Charli milked the first one so I could be reminded of how's it's supposed to look, and after that we switched off every other one. It was loads of fun, and we had a good time to talk while doing it too. Gradually the sun rose up and you could perceive the light through the storm and rain, but it was still dreary out. That didn't dampen my spirits at all though, and I was still happy. Albeit a little more thoughtful and less prone to laugh boisterously because it was still fairly early, but still, it was a great time. Once we'd finished, we took the milk inside to filter and bottle it, and I met the people who own the goats. (They also have cows and ducks, and other things, but we just milk the goats.) We got to talking a little bit, and swapped stories about Black Angus cows among other things. Then the lady gave Charli some goat cheese that she'd made, and when we headed off to the car to leave, she gave it to me. This is going to be some amazing cheese, I'm tellin' ya! And then she dropped me off at my place, and that was that. Quite the fun morning, probably the best I've had in awhile! Would highly recommend.
5:40. My alarm went off. My eyes opened, and I turned my alarm off. I was still in that state when you could decide to go back to sleep or actually get up. I wasn't quite sure which it would be, and I wouldn't know until I got downstairs and checked my messages. Best to go down there groggily in case it was a negatory, so that way I could fall back asleep. I flipped my computer open and waited for it to get started, then logged in. There was a message. What did it say? It said we had the all-clear, we were on! Now my eyes flew open I jumped to. Pulled on my boots, brushed my teeth, grabbed a jacket, and waited. Then I got another message saying the car was out front, so I switched the light off and walked out the door. Where was I going just a tad before six in the morning? To the land full of goats and their milk! Monday mornings Christy and Charli go over and milk goats for some people a little ways out of town, and today I got to tag along. It was just Charli this time though, since Christy was out real late last night and since I was coming she didn't have to and could get some more sleep. So we drove on out through the dark rainy morning, and by and by we got there. The various pails and stuff grabbed up, we headed down to the barn where the goats were and got to it. It's been so long since I've milked anything, and even when I did do it years ago it was only the occasional here and there and I never had a chance to get any good at it. As it was I was pretty stoked to get another shot at it. Charli milked the first one so I could be reminded of how's it's supposed to look, and after that we switched off every other one. It was loads of fun, and we had a good time to talk while doing it too. Gradually the sun rose up and you could perceive the light through the storm and rain, but it was still dreary out. That didn't dampen my spirits at all though, and I was still happy. Albeit a little more thoughtful and less prone to laugh boisterously because it was still fairly early, but still, it was a great time. Once we'd finished, we took the milk inside to filter and bottle it, and I met the people who own the goats. (They also have cows and ducks, and other things, but we just milk the goats.) We got to talking a little bit, and swapped stories about Black Angus cows among other things. Then the lady gave Charli some goat cheese that she'd made, and when we headed off to the car to leave, she gave it to me. This is going to be some amazing cheese, I'm tellin' ya! And then she dropped me off at my place, and that was that. Quite the fun morning, probably the best I've had in awhile! Would highly recommend.
The Non-Steak T-Bone That Almost Was
Sunday, November 19th, 2017
Sometime I should come up with a really good start to a blogpost, but I suppose today is not the day. Oh well. You'll just have to endure a slow start, but it'll get better, believe it! It seems to me that I wrote about what I'm now going to write about five or six weeks ago, but perhaps its different this time and so it'll be worth it. At any rate, this is what's on my mind right now, so I'm going to write it anyways. Because that's how it usually goes. I find it difficult to write about something that's NOT on my mind. Well, enough of that, let's jump right in.
Fact: Week long breaks from school make me melancholy. Why? I don't know. Christmas break is great, and summer break I'm working so much I don't have time to be melancholy, but it's those short little week long breaks that get ya. Like Thanksgiving. It's kind of strange and oddly inexplicable, and I'm still not sure why. I'll get back to you if I ever figure it out. All that to say, I was spending this Sunday trying not to fall into that slump and to really enjoy break and make the most of it.
I went to the early service at church today, which was great. Got to hear the story of David, Nabal, and Abigail, and then a sermon on it too, and we also sung some of my favoritest songs too! After that I walked Jex around for a bit, then went back home and... did something. I think I just wasted time mostly. Oh well. But then at three I left to go to dancing, and brought Jex along too. My sister made her a cute little red scarf, so Jex was wearing that as we were driving along. And then, it happened. There I was, driving happily along, petting Jex in the shotgun seat with one hand while the other stayed on the steering wheel and with a good song thumping on the radio, when all of a sudden, the traffic light turned green. This may not sound shocking, but consider this: I was driving up to the light, going bout twenty-five, and had not yet got to the point where I needed to apply the brakes when the change occurred. Since green means go, I continued on toward the intersection with the intention of going straight through. Shocking, right? Well, at the same time, there was another vehicle sitting at the light waiting for it to change so he could make a left turn. As soon as it was green, he decided it'd be a grand time to turn left while I was heading straight for the intersection. Note that he had no green arrow, but a green light, meaning he needed to YIELD and wait for traffic to clear before turning. Well, like I said, he went for it anyways. Perhaps he was feeling really gangsta that day. So there I was driving with one hand and bopping to the beat when I see a vehicle accelerate, quickly going into a turning maneuver. Straight. For. Me. I was going to get T-boned. Except I swerved into the other lane just in time to avoid the pending collision and so made it safely through. And then I laughed. That was great. Jex slipped due to the swerve, then got a little nervous and jumped up in my lap, so I brushed her back to her seat and we continued on and I laughed a little bit more. And then I made it to the dancing place.
It was definitely a slow day with so many people out of town, but there was still a handful of people there, with a few more coming but were gonna be late. Since there were so many new dancers there was a little East Coast lesson, and then Jana taught us a new dance called... I forget. It was a line dance, but slow and stately. It was alright, but I still prefer the faster paced ones. Charli and Christy came about halfway through this one, and so they petted Jex whilst waiting for the dance to end. Once it had, Benjamin put on a happy, clip along East Coast song and so I went and asked Christy to dance, and we skipped along till we got to a suitable spot on the dance floor. We were the first ones out there since the few guys who were there were either slower in getting partners or, in the case of Benjamin, on the other side of the room getting the music done up before returning to where the people were at. At any rate, there we were. By the time we stopped in our place, the intro part of the song had just finished, and the exact moment the dramatic actual start of the song rung out, we both put our first feet down and started. It was perfect timing, and we both laughed aloud! With such a great start, what could possibly go wrong? Well, with that line it may seem like I've set it up for some striking disaster to befall us, but nothing happened, and it ended as well as it began. After that there were various other dances, and then there was a polka. Those are always fun. Ruth was teaching her brother Sam how to do it, and as Rachel and I passed by them I got my face as close to Sam's as I could considering the circumstances and sounded *tchht! Nothing. He has a really good deadpan. It almost seemed like he didn't notice me at all, and I'm half inclined to believe it. A little after that Benjamin called out that we were going to do a Virginia Reel, and he started the music for it. As it was, it just so happened that nobody heard him and the song got a little ways through before he stopped. He called out again, "Guys! Are you going to dance this or not?" Then he started it again, so then I took Ruth's hand and we skipped out to the floor to start the line. But as we went we kept skipping higher and higher and more pronounced, and then everybody started laughing the further we went. It was great, fantastic even. And even then, by the time we got there, nobody else was making a move! With much arm waving on our part and some prodding by Benjamin, we finally got some people to come out. Usually that's not a problem, but with most of the guys being new to dancing they were still a little slow on the draw. And then we did the Virginia Reel, and it was great too. We did lots of exaggerated arm movements, and laughed as we went.
By and by though, five o'clock rolled around and with it an end to dancing. I asked around and it seemed that there wasn't a ton going on tonight, so I invited everybody over to my apartment for pancakes. About half ended up coming, so we had Isaac, Sam, Charli, Nik, and Christy, and then some other people joined us from the 6th street compound, adding the other Isaac, Froh, and Luke to the mix as well. We cooked up some good pancakes, throwing in some scrambled eggs too, and Charli even brought some real maple syrup. I have no idea where she got it, but it was amazing. We ate in the living room and sat around and talked for a while, then played this weird hand thumpy game that involves laying on the carpet and thumping your hand at the right time to stay in and not get eliminated. It's an interesting game for sure. After that it was seven fifteen, and Isaac, Luke and Christy had something in fifteen minutes, so they headed out. Sam was gone already too by this time. Then the other Isaac, Nik and Charli and I stayed a lil longer and cleaned up, and then we talked for a bit longer before they too left. Funnily enough, it was at this same time that John showed up. (He'd texted me earlier to see if anything was going on, and I said there were people over and to come too if he wanted, but unfortunately he got there just as they left) So we just sat on the couches and had a great conversation, and around two hours later he headed back home and I went upstairs to sleep.
And so ended another great Sunday. It's amazing to have so many good friends to share it with, and I'm glad that they're around. Thanks guys!
Sometime I should come up with a really good start to a blogpost, but I suppose today is not the day. Oh well. You'll just have to endure a slow start, but it'll get better, believe it! It seems to me that I wrote about what I'm now going to write about five or six weeks ago, but perhaps its different this time and so it'll be worth it. At any rate, this is what's on my mind right now, so I'm going to write it anyways. Because that's how it usually goes. I find it difficult to write about something that's NOT on my mind. Well, enough of that, let's jump right in.
Fact: Week long breaks from school make me melancholy. Why? I don't know. Christmas break is great, and summer break I'm working so much I don't have time to be melancholy, but it's those short little week long breaks that get ya. Like Thanksgiving. It's kind of strange and oddly inexplicable, and I'm still not sure why. I'll get back to you if I ever figure it out. All that to say, I was spending this Sunday trying not to fall into that slump and to really enjoy break and make the most of it.
I went to the early service at church today, which was great. Got to hear the story of David, Nabal, and Abigail, and then a sermon on it too, and we also sung some of my favoritest songs too! After that I walked Jex around for a bit, then went back home and... did something. I think I just wasted time mostly. Oh well. But then at three I left to go to dancing, and brought Jex along too. My sister made her a cute little red scarf, so Jex was wearing that as we were driving along. And then, it happened. There I was, driving happily along, petting Jex in the shotgun seat with one hand while the other stayed on the steering wheel and with a good song thumping on the radio, when all of a sudden, the traffic light turned green. This may not sound shocking, but consider this: I was driving up to the light, going bout twenty-five, and had not yet got to the point where I needed to apply the brakes when the change occurred. Since green means go, I continued on toward the intersection with the intention of going straight through. Shocking, right? Well, at the same time, there was another vehicle sitting at the light waiting for it to change so he could make a left turn. As soon as it was green, he decided it'd be a grand time to turn left while I was heading straight for the intersection. Note that he had no green arrow, but a green light, meaning he needed to YIELD and wait for traffic to clear before turning. Well, like I said, he went for it anyways. Perhaps he was feeling really gangsta that day. So there I was driving with one hand and bopping to the beat when I see a vehicle accelerate, quickly going into a turning maneuver. Straight. For. Me. I was going to get T-boned. Except I swerved into the other lane just in time to avoid the pending collision and so made it safely through. And then I laughed. That was great. Jex slipped due to the swerve, then got a little nervous and jumped up in my lap, so I brushed her back to her seat and we continued on and I laughed a little bit more. And then I made it to the dancing place.
It was definitely a slow day with so many people out of town, but there was still a handful of people there, with a few more coming but were gonna be late. Since there were so many new dancers there was a little East Coast lesson, and then Jana taught us a new dance called... I forget. It was a line dance, but slow and stately. It was alright, but I still prefer the faster paced ones. Charli and Christy came about halfway through this one, and so they petted Jex whilst waiting for the dance to end. Once it had, Benjamin put on a happy, clip along East Coast song and so I went and asked Christy to dance, and we skipped along till we got to a suitable spot on the dance floor. We were the first ones out there since the few guys who were there were either slower in getting partners or, in the case of Benjamin, on the other side of the room getting the music done up before returning to where the people were at. At any rate, there we were. By the time we stopped in our place, the intro part of the song had just finished, and the exact moment the dramatic actual start of the song rung out, we both put our first feet down and started. It was perfect timing, and we both laughed aloud! With such a great start, what could possibly go wrong? Well, with that line it may seem like I've set it up for some striking disaster to befall us, but nothing happened, and it ended as well as it began. After that there were various other dances, and then there was a polka. Those are always fun. Ruth was teaching her brother Sam how to do it, and as Rachel and I passed by them I got my face as close to Sam's as I could considering the circumstances and sounded *tchht! Nothing. He has a really good deadpan. It almost seemed like he didn't notice me at all, and I'm half inclined to believe it. A little after that Benjamin called out that we were going to do a Virginia Reel, and he started the music for it. As it was, it just so happened that nobody heard him and the song got a little ways through before he stopped. He called out again, "Guys! Are you going to dance this or not?" Then he started it again, so then I took Ruth's hand and we skipped out to the floor to start the line. But as we went we kept skipping higher and higher and more pronounced, and then everybody started laughing the further we went. It was great, fantastic even. And even then, by the time we got there, nobody else was making a move! With much arm waving on our part and some prodding by Benjamin, we finally got some people to come out. Usually that's not a problem, but with most of the guys being new to dancing they were still a little slow on the draw. And then we did the Virginia Reel, and it was great too. We did lots of exaggerated arm movements, and laughed as we went.
By and by though, five o'clock rolled around and with it an end to dancing. I asked around and it seemed that there wasn't a ton going on tonight, so I invited everybody over to my apartment for pancakes. About half ended up coming, so we had Isaac, Sam, Charli, Nik, and Christy, and then some other people joined us from the 6th street compound, adding the other Isaac, Froh, and Luke to the mix as well. We cooked up some good pancakes, throwing in some scrambled eggs too, and Charli even brought some real maple syrup. I have no idea where she got it, but it was amazing. We ate in the living room and sat around and talked for a while, then played this weird hand thumpy game that involves laying on the carpet and thumping your hand at the right time to stay in and not get eliminated. It's an interesting game for sure. After that it was seven fifteen, and Isaac, Luke and Christy had something in fifteen minutes, so they headed out. Sam was gone already too by this time. Then the other Isaac, Nik and Charli and I stayed a lil longer and cleaned up, and then we talked for a bit longer before they too left. Funnily enough, it was at this same time that John showed up. (He'd texted me earlier to see if anything was going on, and I said there were people over and to come too if he wanted, but unfortunately he got there just as they left) So we just sat on the couches and had a great conversation, and around two hours later he headed back home and I went upstairs to sleep.
And so ended another great Sunday. It's amazing to have so many good friends to share it with, and I'm glad that they're around. Thanks guys!
Friday, November 17, 2017
Sometimes Finding A Title Is Simply Too Laborious
November 17th, 2017
Well... it's Thanksgiving break. How time flies! Now, some of yall might remember me saying at some point a little over a month ago that I decided to take five classes, and that I thought I'd somehow have more time because I'd be forced to manage my time better? Well, that turned out not to be a true thought. In the slightest. It seems to me that only just now am I getting a hold on managing five classes well, and that all the weeks leading up to now were consumed in getting the immediate next assignment done, or doing fun things with friends. So between the extra class, trying to still have a social life, whilst still getting enough sleep, I wasn't able to keep all the balls up in the air so to speak and something had to drop, and that thing was writing for fun (nearly) every night. Thus, as we see, I haven't written anything for some three odd weeks. Ughhh... Well, like I said, it's Thanksgiving break. That means I have time to write again! But I must be careful though to make good progress on my ongoing papers that all need to be turned in in a few short weeks. There always seems to be something on the back burner! At any rate, I'm looking forward to this coming week, it'll be great; I'll be going to Washington to Isaac's folks place along with Luke, Laura, and Rachel. Can't wait to get gone!
Well... it's Thanksgiving break. How time flies! Now, some of yall might remember me saying at some point a little over a month ago that I decided to take five classes, and that I thought I'd somehow have more time because I'd be forced to manage my time better? Well, that turned out not to be a true thought. In the slightest. It seems to me that only just now am I getting a hold on managing five classes well, and that all the weeks leading up to now were consumed in getting the immediate next assignment done, or doing fun things with friends. So between the extra class, trying to still have a social life, whilst still getting enough sleep, I wasn't able to keep all the balls up in the air so to speak and something had to drop, and that thing was writing for fun (nearly) every night. Thus, as we see, I haven't written anything for some three odd weeks. Ughhh... Well, like I said, it's Thanksgiving break. That means I have time to write again! But I must be careful though to make good progress on my ongoing papers that all need to be turned in in a few short weeks. There always seems to be something on the back burner! At any rate, I'm looking forward to this coming week, it'll be great; I'll be going to Washington to Isaac's folks place along with Luke, Laura, and Rachel. Can't wait to get gone!
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