Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Onyxrising's LiveJournal:

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Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
9:48 pm	I need a new towel. Towel day is fast approaching, and there will be festivities at work. _justlikeyou is ordering in a towel with ducks on it for herself. My boss appears to have her eye on the 42 towel over at Thinkgeek.com. I need to figure out what kind of towel I'm going to bring. A plain one just won't do. Suggestions? (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, May 10th, 2008
2:46 pm	My father called me this morning to let me know that my grandfather passed in his sleep. I'd feel guilty for not calling him or writing more often, but it really was for the best. That side of the family and I had decided it would be best, given his heart condition, if he didn't see me. I would have been too much of a shock. Especially if I brought up any aspects of my life, such as the whole being queer thing. I'd told myself I would call more often- but then I started, and he wasn't able to remember my voice. At least once on the phone I had to spend several minutes convincing him that I wasn't an imposter before he remembered who I was and what my voice sounded like. Dad's really broken up. I think I was prepared for this. After all, it was announced that he was terminally ill when I was sixteen. It's been seven year since we were told he was practically on his death bed, and would go any day. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
9:42 am	Anyone local need yeast starter? pegunicent has apparently been experimenting with it, and has perfectly good starter which she can give away. Current Music: Epica- The Phantom Agony (Comment on this)
Sunday, May 4th, 2008
12:41 am	I had dinner with heron61 and Becca tonight. John truly exceeded himself on dinner. I have no idea what the spicing in the morel mushroom pasta was, beyond fennel, but it was amazing. Jon, please remember to tell me what the ingredients were. Tonight I also learned why we don't call erelin when we need a character reference. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008
8:46 am	Your LJ Slut Stats! Out of your 110 friends, percentages you have: met 83.63% hugged 53.63% dated 3.63% kissed 13.63% seen shirtless 9.09% seen naked 8.18% had net sex 0% made out with 5.45% had oral sex 6.36% fucked 4.54% Get your LJ Slut Stats! (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, May 1st, 2008
9:50 am	Some nights, I love a housemate who comes in the door, says, "You look tense. Hard day at work?" and immediately starts working the tension out of my neck- before telling me what he plans on cooking for dinner. This was after he had to be in to work three hours early for a meeting. The man is a saint some days. And after all that? He did the dishes. Sven and I hope he never decides to move out. Current Music: Epica- Sensorium (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
9:51 am	Apologies to everyone I've snapped at over the last few days. At this point, I can't remember who I have and haven't been mean to. I've been in a foul mood, and it seems I've snapped at a few people without even remembering it. I finally got about eight hours of normal sleep. It wasn't nearly enough to get all the knots out of my muscles. Last night I sat around with a bag of hot millet on my neck, and then soaked in hot water, with little good being done. Yes, this is a sign that my boss's boss keeps coming around our desks and being pointy-haired. My boss, like the angel she is, keeps telling her boss to go away. Ahh, well. There's pointy-haired bosses at every job, and at least I don't directly report to this one. I finally tried Pandora out. I have no idea what took me so long to discover them. Current Music: Before the Duel- Dark Moor (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 28th, 2008
10:32 pm	Sven and Mr. Jessi appear to have caused no major issues- that I can see- in their mutual day off. This is despite their having some kind of super-secret plan which they couldn't tell me about because I'd try to stop them. Despite having a full day off, it seems those two couldn't be bothered to buy more toilet paper. I pointed out to Jessi that the store closes shortly, we're out of toilet paper, and unlike me he wasn't in pajamas. According to him, he can't do it right now- he's playing Warcraft. ... yeah. Remember what I said about him being way too obsessed with his gaming computer? (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 27th, 2008
3:13 pm	I've managed to go thus far today without breaking any more glass teapots on myself. Dinner for tonight is marinating. The gaming group is coming over. Having dinner with our storyteller can be rather harrowing, at least for whomever is doing the cooking. He's an eccentric millionaire/restauranteur. And yes, he does award additional xp based on the quality of the meal he's served. XP is, however, docked, if the meal takes the player away from the gaming table for too long to cook. He's become a bit of a challenge. He even gave mediocre ratings to my lemongrass chicken. I hit Stumptown comics fest today. A few weeks ago, angry_geologist reviewed Hereville. The artist's name looked familiar, but I told myself it couldn't be that Barry- until he posted a picture of himself. Indeed, it was. Last time I went to Stumptown, I kept running into friends of the Unholy Trinity. I couldn't remember which of their friends I'd threatened to feed, and which I hadn't, so I just brought extra bags of chocolate orange truffles. Barry really should warn me of dietary restrictions next time I threaten to feed him. Please note, people- if I threaten to feed you home-cooked classical French cuisine, I am quite serious. Barry has no memory. This is an endearing trait- you always know he's being about his compliments. He won't remember giving them, and if he really means it, the compliment will be reissued in short order. I'd run into Barry last time Stumptown comics fest happened, which was maybe six months ago. When Barry saw me today, he immediately greeted me with an, "It's been too long! What has it been? Two, three years?" "Only since Thanksgiving," I told him. "You were at Thanksgiving? I thought it was the year before." "No, it was this last year." In fact, I'd been seated next to him for the entire meal. I picked up a copy of Hereville in dead tree format, as well as a few other shiny objects. I even acquired, from another of the Unholy Trinity's friends, an airline safety guide-style pamphlet on the zombie apocolypse. My coworkers and I had been discussing making a few of those for the office. Luckily, it seems someone is already making them. (13 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, April 26th, 2008
4:30 pm	For anyone who's potentially interested in splitting one, one of my favorite farmer's market vendors had a sign up advertising whole and half pigs available by preorder. He said he can start such bulk orders around 100 lbs, at $3.50 lb, and that includes sausage, bacon, and everything. And of course, his pigs are anything but hormone fed and cage raised. He's also carrying duck eggs this year, at a price way lower than everyone else's. I have two dozen of them. Free range duck eggs from him ended up being cheaper than free range chicken eggs. I am pondering brandied morel mushrooms, and a duck egg souffle. Of course, there were morels (at reasonable rates, even) and sheep cheese. I remember as a kid when locals would run up to areas burnt out by fire to gather morels. It was a way to get fast money. Relapses on and off all week meant I was sick when I got home, and so didn't re-do my resume for the internal transfer I was hoping to apply for. It's a position that will come open again. Lately, my department's been blissfully quiet. My present position also has the advantage of an awesome manager. I was walking by goodwill today, and thought to go through the book section. While I was in there, I noticed a glass tea pot with a small French press inside- the same kind Jessi has at his desk for strong fire oolong. Of course, I picked it up. It shattered in my arms about an aisle over, covering me in tiny fragments of broken glass. I'm checking my clothing carefully. I think we all remember my tendency not to notice broken glass lodged in my body. I've been devouring anthropolgy books lately. I'm not sure why I suddenly want to read so many of them, but I certainly seem to have a stack of freshly read ones. Sushi with Mr. Jessi tonight. He sounds like he needs the pick me up. He has to be in on his day off this week for some rather dry corporate trainings. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, April 25th, 2008
2:26 pm	So, my PDX peoples- does anyone have a canner? And if so, would they be willing to let me borrow it at some point for a portion of the foodstuffs? (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 24th, 2008
10:01 am	I've been going through this morning and evaluating the canning supplies which I have on the shelf. So, just to throw it out there to my PDX peoples- if we were to do so, would anyone else be willing to go in on the purchase of a cow? A lot of the farmers outside of Portland will sell a pre-dead (internal organs and skin removed) cow, and it's usually pound for pound cheaper than buying the meat. There's also the advantage that it's not, y'know, factory farmed meat. I'm sure I'm not the only one who can taste the difference. It is, however, a lot of meat, and certainly more than we could sit down and eat at a time. Why, yes, this does mean that I finally got a respectable recipe for corned beef brisket. By respectable, I mean it's scaled to the 100 lbs of beef, and is given on the assumption that the user needs to break down and preserve an entire cow at once. Sadly, since I'm not back north, I don't have a smokehouse or the means to do dry curing. I need to get around to organizing the dry storage area this weekend. I miss the 5 gallon jars and buckets that seemed to be available for storage everywhere back north. Sven and I are still in the habit of buying dry goods on the same scales we did growing up- and those assumed that the roads into the store might be too dangerous (or in Sven's case nonexistant) for lengths of time. We're running low on flour and rice. It was time to buy more anyways. I suppose buying it by the 50 lbs isn't a bad habit to be in with grain and oil rationing being done by some retailers as demand outstrips supply in certain cities. Regardless, actually organizing things means I need to find containers to stick about 30 lbs of dried beans in. And then I'll need to order in a fresh round of everything we need more of. On that note, we could kind of use more beans. (Most of what we have his garbanzo, mostly useless to us since the food processor broke and there can be no hummus.) It still feels weird to me not to have the jars of barley in storage that my family used to keep. I wouldn't have the same use for it now. The hand crank flour mills we used to use are expensive down here, seen as a curiosity. I don't brew beer, so I'd not have use for barley in that. (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
11:07 pm	An Engineer's Guide to Cats (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 21st, 2008
8:05 pm	I seem to be mostly lucid now. I also seem to have made Amazon.com purchases sometime while I was fevered and delirious. Well, it'll be interesting to see what arrives in the mail, at the very least. I should not read anthropological works on religions similar to Voudoun while delirious. It makes the mind go in very, very odd directions. I'm cooking rice, because I think it'll be gentle enough for me to keep down. I think I'll even be ready to go back to work tomorrow, if I don't strain my digestive system too much. It didn't help that Sunday, before I was sick, I managed to pull just about every muscle in my legs, abdomen, and even some in my back. Violent heaving is not helped by the abdomen muscles being already in bad shape, and a light head when standing up is not eased by pain in the legs every time they move. Pulled muscles will heal. I think I'm mostly better, at any rate. (Comment on this)
12:18 pm	I know I'm running a fever, because there are chills. Three quilts, and I'm still shivering. Well, two quilts and one of those sleeping bags that's good to about forty below. At least my stomach quit hurting, for the most part. It's the first time I've had it be ill with such a vengeance. I feel somewhat delirious, and sleep won't come. I've got the crazy urge to start calling random people in my phone book and talk to them. The rational part of me knows that this is a bad idea. Bleh. With the way Jessi and Sven are fussing over me, I'll be amazed if I'm not better by tomorrow. They both make excellent nursemaids. Even if Jessi will deny having done something so domestic as make chicken broth from scratch when it's over. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
10:13 am	Sick. Not just a little bit sick, but very. I always feel bad calling in sick on a Monday. Your boss will never quite believe that you're genuinely ill. Jessi and Sven both have a regularly scheduled day off today, which is proving very nice for me. They're amiably fetching hot water bottles. Last time I was sick, Jessi made chicken soup from scratch. I don't know what I could stomach soup, but I'm really hoping he'll make chicken broth again. (Comment on this)
Saturday, April 19th, 2008
1:12 pm	angry_geologist asked me for my recipe for apple marinade. After doing it again, with pork this time, I've given up on trying to write a recipe down. As with many of my things, it just doesn't have one. The closest I can come is: 1) pour a bunch of apple juice in a bowl 2) add apple cider vinegar until it tastes like a marinade should 3) add fresh rosemary 4) add honey till it tastes right Sorry, but me attempting to write much of this down ends up with instructions such as "cook until done". (Comment on this)
Friday, April 18th, 2008
11:09 pm	I'm going to sulk. One of my favorite authors has utterly ruined herself for me. I bought another one of her books, and nothing seemed amiss- until I saw her cite a particular reference book. Said reference book is the second biggest load of feminist revisionist bullcrap I've ever laid eyes on. I used to own a copy- it may still be around here somewhere. A well meaning person gave it to me as a gift. She'd heard my religion had female deities in it, so I must be into things which have "feminist spirituality" come up on the Amazon.com terms search, right? Said reference book seems to function on a few basic principles a) men are evil b) there was a prehistoric time when everyone worshipped the mother goddess and there was no war or starvation or strife and c) research is an evil tool of the patriarchy. Naturally, when I saw that show up as cited reference material, I started checking up on the other citations. Our dear author had, in some cases, gone so far as to liberally misquote or add to passages in order to support her point. Given that she was one of my favorite authors, it's a huge let down. I think I may have ice cream and sherry for dinner over this. (7 Comments |Comment on this)
12:18 am	About once a year, I get a craving for cardiac meat. There are some issues with this- I get about half way through a cooked animal heart, get my fill of whatever nutrient I needed, and then can't stand the texture. Also, the free range organic ones at the farmer's market tend to be sold in packages of three- and I've nothing to do with the leftovers. I finally broke and ordered in some books on Amazon.com which may help. I may know what recipes to use bits and pieces of random meats, but I really don't know how to use up organ meats, or change the texture. I know, in theory, how to make sausage, but I've never actually done it. Jessi insists you need a meat press. I insist that if my friends' little old grannies could do it by hand, I certainly ought to be able to. While shopping around for said book, I did also see that there an instructional manual on fermented meats and poultry. Even with my adventurous tastes in food, that might be a bit much. Taktuk insists that I need his mother's recipes for moose and caribou heart, and is asking her for such on my behalf. I wonder if I could slice it thin enough that the texture wasn't noticeable, and then mix it into a mushroom stuffing for bao. It could be an interesting experiment. I know I won't be able to get Sven's help with any such projects. He's sick of making sausage from dead animals. The wolf pack used to leave decapitated dear on the doorstep for them. They had to be used quickly, and Sven & co wasted nothing. Sven got very sick of making sausages very quickly. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 17th, 2008
10:05 am	How he can eat that stuff is beyond me. On the island Sven grew up on, fresh vegetables or meats (other than those you hunted or poached yourself) were hard comeby, expensive, and had always aged a bit more than what a normal grocery store must endure prior to reaching him. As a result, he got used to eating canned meats from a pretty early age. He has a disproportionate love of them. His grandmother, knowing this, sends all sorts of canned meats (even canned bacon) in her care packages. To properly imitate grandma's home cooking, the pork or beef has to be tinned. There is chicken with an apple gravy in the refrigerator. I made up a fresh pot of it. And he's eating a meat that I'm nor sure I could identify as ham if it weren't for the label. On some level, I feel as if I've failed as a cook. I really don't think I grasp that man somedays, at least not his appetites. I should get the meat for Lupa and Taylor's thing marinating tonight. I've defrosted pork, or what seems to be a decent cross section of an entire pig. I'm going to have to try to pick out which part is which part of the pig, and start dividing it up into cuts. At some point, I'd really like to get one of the books Powell's has on smoking meats, making sausages, and the like. I know a little of it, from watching it done back home, but I've never actually had to do such things. I wonder if I could still talk Eliot out of his grandmother's blood sausage recipe. They reportedly smelled hideous while cooking, but once done, everyone who ever tried them swore that they were amazing. (Comment on this)