Sailor Soldier of Love and Justice

I started classes again yesterday. I'm taking Java I this semester.

The teacher seems ok so far. She looks like she's going to be a much harder grader, but as long as I study and do the homework and labs, I don't anticipate that being a problem.

It looks like this is going to be another small class. There were seven people there yesterday, not counting the guy who go kicked out for not taking any of the prerequisites. 

We started the class with an embarrassing "getting to know everyone" exercise where we had to introduce ourselves to a person sitting nearby and then report to the class what we learned. At least I sorta lucked out because the person near me was interesting (if a little hard to understand). He's from Russia and used to work for the military, programming missiles. He's taking programming courses because no American employers will accept his Russian credentials, plus he needs more practice with english.

Since he mentioned he reads english better than he hears it, I wrote out the bullet point details about myself while I was telling them to him to make it easier for him. He seemed to appreciate it.

After that, we did an in class activity where we had to write out the directions for making a paper airplane. The teacher then swapped all our papers around so everyone got different instructions to follow to actually build the plane. The ones I received were very clear and easy to follow so I got a decent looking plane. (That flew TERRIBLY!) Someone else in class somehow ended up with a rocket...

I intended on checking out the rest of campus after class, but it had turned very windy so I headed home instead. Maybe next time. My next class day is Thursday.

Today I want to try to get some cleaning done. I'd really like to have a quiet spot to work on labs and homework. Right now I'm using Ben's office and I don't think he appreciates that. If I can get some of my sewing room organized, we can buy a desk for me to sit at. That would be pretty nice.

Tomorrow Noname goes to the vet for her after-surgery check up. She's healing super well, so this should be a breeze. 

Other than that, I need to think seriously about my CSA subscription. I really enjoyed it last year and would totally do it again, except I'm concerned I won't have as much time this summer as last. They've added a drop off point 15 minutes from my house, which is pretty sweet. But that means I would have to make special trips for the u-pick items. But then, if I'm not getting u-pick, I won't have as much food I'd need to cook. But if I'm getting less food, am I getting a good deal? The frustrating decisions! 

Life goes on. I fail to write about it. Bad on me.

Farm CSA stuff:

I had a theory that afternoons would be quieter than mornings. When I first tested my theory, I was absolutely correct. It was wonderfully peaceful. Second time I tested it, it was the usual nightmare. Perhaps things will improve when school starts. I am extremely tired of children throwing tantrums.

Speaking of tantrums, this week kids were crying in the fields cause their parents would not let them eat apples. What is the point of u-pick if you don't taste what you are picking? It's pesticide free, so there's no excuse. The kids were actually asking for a healthy snack and the parents were saying no. I ended up picking a delicious juicy apple and eating it in front of the kids as we waited for the tractor to take us back to the parking lot. The cries of disappointment only made the apple for delicious.

Did I post a picture of last week's haul? I don't think I did.




By the way, homemade grape juice is pretty awesome. I normally don't like grape juice.


Dog stuff:

Maggie is super annoying is she does not have someone to play with her every hour of the day. Until ben comes home. Then she's calm, relaxed, and well-behaved. I think I'm going to throw her out the window.

Somehow today she managed to push noname's empty food bowl under the placemat AND under the water bowl. It was impressive. Corgis are unstoppable.

Noname is a tomato thief. She can't reach any more cherry tomatoes, so she has started to steal my regular tomatoes. I am not amused. Next year, I will need to plant a sacrificial cherry tomato plant and not stake it. That way she can reach all the fruit as it grows along the ground and not take my plum tomatoes. (I need those for sauce!)

She just went upstairs to rest, and farted with each step up. I can't decide if I should laugh or be horrified.


School stuff:

I started my first day of classes today. It went well. I found the room without a problem. The teacher seems nice so far. He walked us through the entire syllabus to make sure everything was clear. The grading policy seemed fair, which is a plus. I used to have teachers at Tulane who graded based on how much you sucked up to them. I hate teachers like that with a passion.

The class is surprisingly small for an intro class. Not that I'm complaining. It'll likely get smaller too. One guy walked out halfway through class. Another showed up 15 minutes before the class ended. And another guy asked the teacher if the quizzes and tests were the same as last semester.

In class, we started talking about programming being problem solving. The teacher gave an example problem and asked how the class would approach it. I gave the right answer! :) Yay for being smart on the first day. Let's hope it lasts!

I must be getting old, because that ny trip left me totally exhausted. This was the first day this week where I woke up not feeling run over by a truck.

So other stuff in my life.

Tuesday was another farm day. Fruits and veggies were obtained. I even got some flowers this week, which was nice.

Some of the blackberries on the vine have started to turn a little too ripe. Typically I pop the overripe ones in my mouth when I accidentally pick them rather than throw them to the ground. This time, I left the field with a slight buzz. I am a lightweight though, so that might have been part of it.

On wednesday, I took a trillion practice tests for the math placement test at the community college. I was shocked by how much I had to re-learn.

And then on thursday I went in to take the test. It was supposed to take 2 hours but ended up taking 3. (I put 2.5 hours worth of change in the parking meter, but luckily did not get a ticket.) The test is set up in sections and you progress to the next one until you start getting a bunch wrong. Then the test ends. I completed 9 sections, which the proctor said was extremely good and rarely achieved by most people. Take THAT, math! She also said it looks like I easily tested out of taking a math course at all and I just need to talk to an adviser to formalize it in the system. Woo!

Unfortunately thursday and friday appointments were already full. I'll try going early next week. After I get more quarters for those stupid parking meters.

Today I did some house cleaning and food shopping because ben is coming home finally from his long long trip! I'm excited. I've missed him so so much! I'm counting down the hours until his flight lands.

I feel like I should have to roll in order to move. Tooooo much food.

This year's CSA has been ridiculously plentiful, to the point where I've had to can and freeze a lot of stuff to keep it from going bad. I haven't even started on this week's veggies.

For dinner we had the broccoli and green beans from last week. Stir fried broccoli with ginger and sesame and ginger lime green beans as a side salad. And then a small slice of zucchini bread for dessert. I mixed the mint with some green iced tea to wash it all down. Oof so full.

Last night I felt clever because I grated a ton of zucchini and squash in order to make zucchini bread. Now I can just scoop out what I need for each loaf. My goal is to make one loaf a day and freeze them. I found 3 recipes to keep me busy: Classic zucchini bread, chocolate zucchini bread, and chocolate chip zucchini bread.

I am planning a short trip to NY in the upcoming weeks, so I can bring some up for anyone who wants it.

I will be bringing the dogs for this trip too, so everyone can meet Maggie. She is disgustingly charming.

Current tentative plan:
Thursday - Drive to NY
Friday - No daytime plans. Possibly pirate dinner with HS friends.
Saturday - BBQ in afternoon at parents' house.
Sunday - Take Maggie out on the boat. (Assuming the life jacket I ordered ever arrives.)
Monday - Drive home

All plans subject to change.

I need community college classes to start soon because I am bored. And lonely. I need friends and hobbies or something.

Maggie is taking my being home for granted. She expects me to play with her allllll the time. It's pretty annoying. She's cute though. I was gone for a couple hours today (csa pick up day) and when I returned, Maggie was wild and crazy with kisses for me. It was super cute.

And taking the dogs for multiple walks all day is good exercise. For all of us. Noname is totally exhausted by the end of our walk. She's so tired, she can't even jump up the tiny step to get through the front door. Poor baby.

Today we had a scary walk because a stupid neighbor a few houses down did not care that her child was running up to my dogs, shoving small filthy fingers in their faces.I kept telling the kid that my dogs were scared and she needed to leave them alone, but the stupid kid totally ignored me. To make things more stressful, their dog was running around the front yard barking and scaring my dogs. I finally had to yell to the mother, "My dogs are going to bite your kid if she doesn't leave them alone." Even then, the mother only half-heartedly called her kid back. It was scary because I know if my dogs bite, the law was going to side with the kid and stupid parent. My dogs are very sweet, but they do not like things suddenly appearing and being shoved in their faces. Finally I got my dogs away from the kid and was able to continue my walk. On the trip back, I carried them past that house of stupidity.

In happier news, today was a csa pick up day. Check out all the goodies!

Most of the stuff from the csa is picked by the farmers, but the annoying stuff (berries) is left in the fields and you have to get them yourself if you want them.

It took forever to pick the black raspberries. They are pretty much at the end of their season. Barely any good ones left on the vines. It was super windy while I was picking too, so I got all scratched up as the vines were swaying around wildly.

Blueberries were super easy as they are at peak of season. I filled my entire box with the berries from just one bush. And they're super sweet like candy. I picked a handful just to eat as I walked back to the main building. I'm probably going to finish the rest off like popcorn while I watch a movie.

I didn't know what I was doing when I picked the plums (what does a ripe plum look like?), so I had to guess based on how easily the fruit came off the trees. I took only the fruit that came off with a gentle tug. That sounds about right, right?

Then I had the embarrassment of having to google chives because I did not know they grew in bunches around flowers so I did not know I was looking at chives in the herb garden. And I only knew what the mint was because I was able to pinch and smell it. I am filled with shame because I don't know what my foods look like.

Actually, a really good thing about the farm is that they offer tours for schools and camps on where our food comes from. There were a ton of summer camps at the farm today on that tour. A lot of the kids seemed totally blown away with concepts like "eggs come from chickens" and "you can pull food right off of trees." And these weren't all little kids. Some of them looked to be in middle school ore maybe even a little older.

When I had finished picking all my fruit today, I took a small detour to the barn area because their miniature horse recently had a baby. It was very cute. But not as cute as the BABY GOAT. The baby goat almost killed me with adorable. It was so bouncy! And as it nursed, it wagged its little tail a million miles an hour. Then when it was full, it crashed straight to the ground for a nap. Only to wake up shortly after to bounce around again. I think I need to convince ben to buy me a baby goat.

The adult goats were cute too, sticking their heads out through the fence to beg for food. I bought a little bit of goat food and they ate it out of my hand while I pet them. Sooooo cute! Unfortunately many small children saw my army of tame goats and swarmed over me to pet them. I had to say goodbye to the goats for the time being. (Unless ben buys me a goat.)

Now I need to come up with more recipes for summer squash. Considering what a plentiful summer food it is, there are shockingly few recipes out there for it. Grill it, stew it, stuff it, or bake it into a bread. Ben doesn't like summer squash so I need to get creative.

I had to go to work early this morning because I had to set up for an early morning meeting. I had hoped that the incompetent art company would have sent me the production schedule I needed before the meeting but no such luck.

I shot them a nasty email "reminding" them that the schedule is due monday afternoon, not tuesday morning. (Or later as the case was this morning.) Then I walked down the block to pick up breakfast for the meeting. It came with super adorable baby muffins.

The meeting itself was very boring. I was glad when it was over. When I got back to my desk I found the production schedule had been sent to me about 15 minutes before the meeting had ended. That company is so useless.

Once I had the schedule, I could focus on real work. Which I did until my next meeting. During that meeting everyone got to once again witness the art companies incompetence. Not only because they didn't actually update the schedule (WHY did they have it so long if they weren't updating it!?) but they also didn't tell us that they needed data in 2 days. Data that takes about 2 weeks to compile. Madness!!!

Everyone was cranky after the meeting because of the incompetent art company. I busied myself with more work. There was a mystery code I had to track down. Never did though. I have no clue where it came from.

I left work early because I came to work early. It was veggie day so I picked up my share and went home. Ben helped me make dinner and now we are watching d.gray-man.

My dog is smelly and annoying.

Today was veggie day. We got potatoes (purple ones), a tomato, eggplant, a pepper, garlic, basil, and zucchini. The zucchini made me sad because only tonight did I finish off the zucchini my mom gave me last week.

After work, I pickled two cucumbers. I had wanted to pickle the rest of them plus the eggplant, but I ran out of vinegar. Curses.

Then I made zucchini fritters to finish off that zucchini I mentioned. Oh, and last night I made zucchini bread. I think I forgot to mention that.

When not cooking I've been doing crazy disney planning. I made a map.

I want to go to sleep because I have a long day of driving tomorrow, but I have to finish washing my clothes. Silly me wore all my black clothes recently.

I had grand plans this morning to be up and out of the apt by 11:15, getting to the csa farm right on time at noon. We actually left at 11:45. And then sat in traffic most of the way there. And then missed our exit. And then got mildly lost. We arrived at the farm right around 1:30.

We picked up a pumpkin, some tiny apples, walnuts, peppers, and ONE okra. I'm very proud of that okra because I was told there were none left. So after all that horrible driving, at least we had a successful day on the farm. Until we tried to leave. :(

My car was stuck. I couldn't turn the key, the wheel, anything. Couldn't even get it out of park. To add to my misery, I kept accidentally opening the trunk and honking the horn. I was horribly embarrassed. :( But the sound of my car attracted a couple who asked if we were ok. I told them my problem and the guy was able to turn the wheel enough to get the key to turn. After that, my problems were solved. I thanked them very much. They were very nice people. (A rare species in this state.)

Driving back wasn't nearly as awful. Didn't get lost at all, and very little traffic at all. Since we were in the neighborhood, we stopped at the mall for bubble tea. We got honeydew this time, rather than taro. It was surprisingly good. Ben didn't like it because the bubbles weren't frozen. I think frozen bubbles are nasty though, so I was very happy.

After the mall, we stopped at target so ben could check out the wii merchandise he was told was being sold. We got there just as it was being set up, which made ben very happy. He picked up a wii starter kit, which comes with two skins for the wiimote as well as a wii holder and some other things. Then a quick stop at chick-fil-a for dinner. They had a very nice clean bathroom. It smelled clean like oranges.

We ate dinner at home and then took a nap. I was having bad dreams though. I woke up in a bad mood and felt really dizzy. After drinking A LOT of water, I felt a little better. For the rest of the evening I played lunar: dragon song. I would like to finish it soon so I can go back to playing lost magic. Lunar is the easier game, so I always choose it over lost magic.

I'm feeling tired again. I hope I don't have bad dreams again though. :(

Today is the last veggie day of the season. It all went so fast! Ben and I will need to decide if we are going to do it again next year. On one hand, we did cook more and made a lot of interesting recipes. On the other hand, a lot of food went bad before we had time to cook it.

Anyway, this week we are getting honey, sweet potatoes, sorrel, pac choi, radishes, bell peppers, hot peppers, eggplant, thyme, oregano, and walnuts. There's also cider, which I may or may not get. The cider we gotlast week was super tasty, but I still haven't finished it! A gallon goes a long way!

Today is also comic book day. I'm going to get Fables #54, 1602: Fantastik Four #2, and Sandman: Special Edition #1. I'm also going to look for the 1602 tpb so I can figure out what happened between neil gaiman's 1602 and peter david's 1602. Hopefully ben will be able to go with me, but I don't know when his bus is going to get in.

Today is veggie day again. We didn't even touch last week's stuff. We've been too busy to cook!

Anyway, this week we are getting sweet potatoes, parsley, sorrel, bell peppers, hot peppers, eggplant, basil, garlic, oregano, sage, and (hopefully) apple cider. He's almost out of cider, so I may not get any. :(