om nom nom (gyoza edition)

I made Gyoza tonight! Whoo! Llyw gave me a recipe and I thought it would be a good thing to make for my birthday. Spent a lot of time shopping at Fred Meyer, probably more than I should have. I was buying vegetables and I became aware of the fact that I wasn't really clear what certain vegetables look like. Namely green onions. I found them eventually, as with all the other ingredients. All in all, it didn't cost too much to get the supplies for a quadruple recipe that will last for hundreds and hundreds of gyoza. I'll probably run out of wrappers first...have to pick up some more tomorrow. Took me about an hour from boiling the cabbage first to frying up the initial batch. A long time sure, but the second batch took about fifteen minutes to make. The time consuming part is mixing the filling, and if you make tons of it then you are set for a week's worth of tasty gyoza. And let me tell you, they were TASTY! Fried up quick, came off hot and juicy. I'll have to make up tons of them tomorrow so they will be ready to fry up day of. Whoo!!

Today I rolled out of bed with the aid of my alarm clock. I have to get myself on a schedule again. I rolled out of bed and then made a nest for myself on the couch and started reading Persepolis. Before I knew it, I was over halfway done and it was 3:00pm. I had stuff to do! So I got cleaned up, wrote up my grocery list, and nabbed my paycheck to deposit. Easy enough to deposit it at key bank. I was planning to go to Trader Joe's for the gyoza fixings but Fred Meyers was right there.

Persepolis is fantastic. I wish I knew more of the history that went along with the story. Brilliant and poignant and very important in the terms of right now. Highly suggested for anyone who reads.

After the gyoza I watched some Twin Peaks. I am so sick of the James story line right now, every time it switches to him I wish I could fast forward but I have no idea if all this stuff will end up being important or not. Only a couple episodes left.

seriously

Felt a little ill at the start of the day but I think that was due to lack of food. Once I got a banana and sandwich in me I perked right up.

Mum woke me up with a call and not too long after her call, I got one from PNCA. Apparently they had a package for me. From mom.

I was already planning a trip to PNCA today and the package gave me another reason to go down. I severely miss-gauged how cold it was outside and even with three layers, a scarf and gloves, I was still freezing. Still a nice ride, what with the tires being inflated nicely. Mom had put my apartment number on the package, but the schools address instead. Still, they were nice about holding it for me and I chatted with Rachel Allen a wee bit. I picked up my paycheck and headed off to Big Finnegan's. There I bought an Apples to Apples expansion set. Love that game.

Once at home, I proceeded to waste another day of my vacation. But I am feeling better. It is a cross between a chill and spewing out the phlegm I acquired while being back at home. Watched Hard Candy. Yeah...that movie really sticks with you. Crazy intense and the two actors were brilliant, considering the quality of the film rested on how they interacted (as there was a grand total of five characters in the whole movie, the other three barely getting more than two minutes of screen time). The color of the film was just beautiful, it really made me uneasy with all the strong reds and blues. Amazing. Can't say it is for everyone but still...wow.

Also I am once again in the mood for Twin Peaks. Yay for Dale Cooper!

Had a serious talk with Lindsay tonight. About serious stuff. Hhmm.

who would want to rent a chicken?

Whee today was fun. Like I said, Michael was going to come over and he did. He showed up near to seven but he stuck around till 1:00 am so it was a good visit. We watched Mystery Men and he lent me a couple movies (I am lending him some Red Dwarf as well). I made fettuccine with Alfredo and shrimp sauce for dinner and it was almost as good as before. The shrimp were not perfectly fresh anymore. Not bad but...not great.

But yeah, we hung out and chatted. Nice to be in the position where hanging out with friends is easy to do. Don't have to travel an hour and a half to Seattle or brave the ice of Seabeck. Cities are awesome for friendships.

Before that I just cleaned up the place a little. Felt woozy in the morning. Stayed up late, slept in. Might start getting some work on projects done in the next couple days.

Oh, and my birthday. It is sort of coming together a little...maybe.

wibbly woobly woo

I got out and exercised today. Boy am I sore! Had a slow start but the day went pretty quick once I finally left the apartment.

Road down Couch to Floating World Comics. Jason wasn't in, that other guy who I remember from Stumptown Comics Fest was there instead. I picked up Persepolis (discount because I am awesome), The Boys and Doktor Sleepless. The most recent Boys story arc hasn't really interested me. Lots of tack, not a lot of butt kicking. I think the next one will have more. Oh and where is Daniel Robertson? He can't just...draw two pages and call it quits! Okay sure I know he is doing another comic now and still finds time to do covers for the Boys...but still! Wee Hughie doesn't look like Simon Pegg without him.

After the comic shop (I also ordered some sleeves and boards, can you believe it, I'm out!) I filled my tires up at the bike shop. Went from 20 whatevers to 50-60 whatevers. They were really deflated.

My legs were all wibbly after the ride and now they are sore. Need to get back into bike shape.

Karen stopped by and we talked for a bit. She is the new RA. She won't take no guff from no one!

Two days in a row I munch and munch all day long and I never seem to get full. The banana bread I made (see above photo, taken by my Pa) seems to have topped me off though.

Michael is coming over tomorrow.

teen countdown: one week left

Egads! I just looked at myself in the mirror and surprise surprise...I look twenty! Blimey. Only a week left to be a teenager. I should steal a car or something.

Lazy day spent inside. It was also raining so that wouldn't have been much enjoyment to go out in.

I watched Shoot Em' Up. Really enjoyable actually. Lots of gun fighting and one liners. Generic over-the-top action but executed really well and with lots of enthusiasm. Before that I watched a British documentary about Autism.

After all that I finished reading The Mourning Star volume one. I really should email Kaz...ehh. I will eventually.

Lindsay brought home some Cinnabon for breakfast. I horfed down my whole bun. It quite amazed her. She is so cool to feed me like that.

Also watched some Whose Line is it Anyway. Yay for Youtube.

sloooowing doooown

Dad caught his train outta here just fine. A little better than fine as we got to the station super early. He played Tetris while we waited and did quite well. Nice to have visitors in quaint Portland.

Slacked off for the rest of the day. I visited PNCA and pulled my comic from the wall and walked a little more than half the way home before catching the streetcar.

Munched on food and watched Dreamcatcher. Like the original novel, I lost interest in both at the same point but because the movie would have only taken me an hour to finish, while the book about 10...I finished the movie. Disappointing ending, well...the whole movie is sort of lame. They kill off likable characters once they have served their purpose and then introduce intolerable characters to finish off the movie. I guess I'm glad a few people survived but ultimately...meh.

Nice to relax and not be out and about.