Kelly St. Clair

"Sometimes it seems like everyone knows about this other Jim Kirk. The man I could have been, the things I'll do or should have done. All my life I've lived in my father's shadow, his legacy, and now I'm also living in my own. Do you... do you have any idea what that's like?"

Spock merely raises an eloquent eyebrow, and after it sinks in a moment, Jim nods. "Touché."

I have been on a cooking odyssey this week. And much like that story, there were many twists and turns but everything turned out all right in the end.

Having gathered (I thought) all of the ingredients for a batch of one of my favorite self-made dishes - something I call "jambalaya-ish", as it's missing most of the vegetables and some other things a purist would insist on - I started browning the sausage and cubed chicken late Tuesday night (the 13th, of course), opened the cans of diced tomatoes and sauce... and only then realized I had no chicken broth in the house. Oops. Well, nothing for it at 10:30 pm but to press on, with four cups of plain tap water. The result was predictably bland underseasoned, and also slightly undercooked, because in my haste to be done and get to bed (and my desire, from previous attempts, to avoid burning/sticking any of the rice to the bottom of the pot), I didn't let the sauce, meat, etc get up to a proper boil before adding the rice and turning it down to simmer. So it was watery and "al dente".

Yesterday, after the market opened, I set about correcting my first mistake. I acquired both a few boxes of fresh broth (for the second batch I'll make in a few days with the rest of the browned meat, and another pair sometime soon) and a jar of bouillon powder (for this and any other future emergencies). What I really should have done was added two spoonfuls of the latter, stirred it in thoroughly and sampled that before proceeding; what I did instead, naturally, was to go directly to three. The result was... edible, but rather strong.

Despite my hubris and this fresh reminder that you can't "un-add" things, I was fortunately able to rebalance the mix by adding one more cup of water (the rice having soaked up a little in the interim) along with another sprinkle of cajun seasoning to keep the spice level up. The final result was a bit more "soupy" than I might have wished, but still within parameters, and quite tasty.

Now, as I said earlier, to wait a few days and try again, with a bit more care to keeping it all to plan from the start...

[PyroICFF] Whether time-travel counts [as isekai] is a subject of vigorous debate.
[me] "Trapped By A White Sphinx In The Year 802701! My Life Among The Eloi"

from an online review (of Everything Everywhere All At Once, if it matters - great movie, by the way):

Definitely another movie to put in the growing pile of the chief post-Boomer fantasy: Boomer parents actually owning the fuck up to their mistakes, admitting they were wrong, and apologizing. Such a fascinating thing to see becoming a mainstream thought, even if it's generally as unlikely as [spoiler redacted].

... and while we're at it, I'd like free healthcare, fair elections and for COVID to really be over. :p

Like the old joke: aside from the occasional bout of anxiety and existential fear re the future, and the (still-ongoing) pandemic, and oh yes the attempted coup, 2021 was actually pretty decent for me. Definitely an improvement over 2020, most of which I spent almost literally hiding in my apartment (from disease, forest fires, etc etc) and collecting unemployment.

This year, I got to be "part of the solution", working back-office support for the county health department's COVID-19 response team. Like the graph of case counts, as the original strain steadily declined (thanks to the roll-out of the vaccine, which I was unexpectedly fortunate to get early on) before giving way to Delta and now Omicron, it's been quite the wild roller-coaster ride; at times it's felt like we were building the track just ahead of the train. My daily tasks and responsibilities are very different now from what I started the year doing, but most of that is just details. What's remained constant through all of the organizational and process changes, the comings and goings and moving from one workstation to another, is the sense of cameraderie, the "all in this together" team spirit in the face of ongoing challenges. My job is literally "admin support" (and I'm good at it and glad to do it), but they support me as well. That feeling, and knowing what we're doing for the community, has often been a balm for my soul and helped to carry me through my darker and bleaker moods this year.

It's been a great gig, above and beyond the regular paycheck, and I hope to continue working for the county - in whatever capacity - as long as possible.

This week, after dithering and putting it off most of this year, I finally canceled my landline and DSL in favor of cable internet, at less than half the price and multiples of the speed. These days I don't get any calls on the former except surveys and spam. But if anyone out there does want to reach me, please do so by email or mobile, as the old phone number (x2833) is going away for good as of next Monday.

[poster T] Did I imagine this? Did I get Berenstein Bear'd?
[poster P] Do you mean the Derenstien Deer?
[poster T] How dare you, when I've reached my lowest point?
[poster T] Also I'm proud of you.

[poster S] Are you sure you aren't thinking about (other thing)?
[poster T] I am sure of nothing. I'm not even sure we're having this conversation.
[poster M] What conversation? Are you talking to someone? There's nobody there.

I accidentally left some mushrooms in a paper bag in my fridge for a week or so and they dried out. Then I made stew with them. I should do this on purpose, they're amazing.

That's most of the history of cooking.

> Not to get too technical, but according to Civilisation: Call to Power, tanks will only become obsolete once the Fusion tech advance is researched

[me] so, (always) 10-20 years from now.