atomic_fungus (atomic_fungus) wrote,
atomic_fungus
atomic_fungus

#2628: I'm turning into a grilled cheese connoisseur.

I think I spelled that right. Anyway--

While doing a little desultory shopping yesterday afternoon, I found Borden "all natural" cheddar-bacon cheese. I put that in quotes because it's pasteurized process cheese food--each slice is individually wrapped and has the texture of partially-cured silicone caulk--but they had me at "bacon". I imagined grilled ham-and-cheese sandwiches with a slice of cojack, a slice of this stuff, and yummy ham, and wanted to try it out.

If only the texture were better! The flavor is good; but the cheese turns into goo when heated, the same way American cheese does (which is why I no longer eat it) and it's kind of a turn-off. I like using cojack because it has a mild flavor and good texture.

I used to like only sharp cheeses. Cheddar--"the single most popular cheese in the world!"--and the sharper the better. Oh yeah. But then I tried havarti and cojack, and haven't been back since.

...but I haven't had real cheddar cheese--sharp or mild--for a long time, not unadulterated. (There's cheddar in the four-cheese shred mix I buy for use in various things, like on salads or tacos, but it's not the dominant flavor.)

For all of that, my experince with cheeses is pretty limited. And I don't much like swiss cheese; feta's flavor is too strong and I hardly ever use romano.

I'm constrained in my cheese adventurism by a couple of things:

1) It's not predictable whether or not I'll like a cheese until I've tried it.

2) I don't like wasting food.

Since there isn't a good way to buy cheese in single-serving portions--a slice or two--without being a total dickhead at a deli, I'm stuck with either buying cheese I know I like, or running the risk of wasting food I don't like. (Or, third, having to eat something I hate, I suppose.)

I suppose I could go to a wine and cheese thing like they have around here once in a while, and eat cheese and drink no wine. Would that look bad? Besides, then I'd have to be all social and shit. WTF.

* * *

Tonight is "earth hour", at 8:30 PM local time. Mom's not here to be embarassed by it, so tonight I am turning on ALL THE LIGHTS at Casa Fungus.

I'm even thinking about getting out the 500 watt halogen work light and beaming it into the sky as a special fuck you to the people who think making idiotic token gestures will solve anything.

To the people who think there's anything to solve, anyway, in fact. WTF.

* * *

This made me laugh:



I saw it at this Ace of Spades post and the video they embedded before that one demonstrates how easy it is to write a popular song. Learn four chords and you're golden. Wow.

* * *

Oh, right after that--that must be a hoax video because it shows Bush giving a speech with no teleprompter in evidence. Everyone knows Bush is a lousy public speaker! How could he have given any kind of coherent speech without one, when he's such a dunce and Obama's such a brilliant and wonderful public speaker and he always has a teleprompter with him??

* * *

Dinner tonight will be my second attempt at lemon-pepper chicken. I found the lemon pepper in the cupboard and rubbed it into the chicken breast before inundating it with lemon juice and setting it aside to marinate in the fridge. Heh.

$5 says it's "meh", but I've got despairagus, so who cares? It was still on sale when I went shopping yesterday, so I bought some more. I also bought broccoli and lettuce--the lettuce I bought a couple weeks ago had degenerated beneath the edibility threshold--and had broccoli with leftover pork and au gratin potatos last night for dinner.

I just need to figure out what I'll have with the chicken and despairagus. Maybe I'll make mashed potatos.

* * *

Anyway, today I was supposed to be going with Og and Partner to a gun show, but about 10 or 11 last night the old gut sounded the "warp core breach" alarm and entered blowdown mode. Though I went to bed at 11:30, it kept me from getting any real sleep; by the time the alarm clock was to go off at 4:30 I'd managed about one hour of sleep. I shut the alarm clock off before it rang, e-mailed Og that I wasn't going to make it, and collapsed back into bed.

Got up long enough to give the cats treats at 9; then fell asleep again until 1. *sigh*

I have no idea what triggered the event, but there was evidence that the system was doing a total blowdown, from the stomach aft, and it had started sometime after dinner. Dinner was the same thing I had yesterday, but for the addition of broccoli, and none of that ever caused me trouble before. WTF. Maybe it was just some kind of timeout: "Hey, I haven't done this for a few weeks; how about now?"

The only warning I had was--now that I think of it--some lower-right quadrant pain a day or so ago. I remarked to myself, "I'd think it was appendicitis if I had one!" But I quickly forgot about that.

What I do know is that it sucks to be all set to go have some fun, and then get sick. *sigh* At that, I could have gone had I gotten any sleep, as the symptoms had disappeared by 4 AM--but the Fungus does not do well on a single hour of sleep. I would have been poor company at best.

Argh etc.

* * *

A couple weeks ago, Og suggested--and I've been thinking about this since then--that I see if I can't get some gummint money for job retraining, and take some robotics/CNC/Solidworks training courses. They're all over the place, and he's right that if I could point to the classes on my resume I ought to be able to get an entry-level job somewhere that isn't 100 miles away or run by a bunch of guys who don't know it when they're interviewing The Next Og. (That's not arrogance or self-aggrandizement; Og says I could be better than him. I doubt that, but I'd bet I could be as good as him...eventually.)

And "entry level", in my current situation, would be awesome, because the pay's pretty good and the skills are highly portable. Labor in the US is not going to get significantly cheaper and there are going to be more robots used here; it's only a matter of time.

(At the interview I quipped that Og is how robots reproduce: he goes somewhere and tells someone how robots could make their lives easier, and when the people try robots out, suddenly they want more and more and more...and there are more robots.)

Anyway, it's something worth pursuing; certainly I'm not getting anywhere trying to find jobs that I'm qualified for without additional training. At least if I'm in training I'll no longer be a NEET (Not involved in Education, Employment, or Training) and it'll keep me from being a hikikomori to boot. (Hikikomori=someone who is usually at home; otaku status is implied.)

And it might actually make me feel as if I'm worth a shit. That'd be a nice feeling, for a change.
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