Jen Teaches You Shit

11 Feb

Yesterday morning I wanted to cook some eggs for breakfast. I can poach eggs the normal way, but Dish cannot and I had heard about this cling wrap method so I decided to try it and see if it really works* and to document the process so Dish, and all of you, can try it yourself.

1. Wake up and decided to eat eggs.

Yep, this is really me, 30 seconds after hopping out of bed actually rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I know, I know, who wouldn’t want to wake up to this?

2. Assemble your ingredients. You’ll need some cling film (make sure it’s ok to be heated, most are but I believe some don’t go well in the microwave, so just check), a bowl, however many eggs you’d like and a pot of gently boiling water. If you’d like toast then I’m gonna go ahead and assume that you’ll be ok to sort that out yourself.

3. Ok, so you get a bowl, then tear off a big piece of cling film. Lay it over the bowl and poke it down in  the middle a little bit so there is a little well. Crack the egg into the cling film.

4. Go ahead and gather up the cling film, making a little bag around the cracked egg. See if you can pinch a little bit of air into the bag and pinch all the ends together well. You can twist tie it all together, but I just gave it a bit of a twist and it was ok.

5. Drop that sucker into the water. Try and keep the water from going inside the pouch, you can just pull up the ends to keep it all bobbing upright every now and then. I try and stop them from touching against the sides of the pot, in case they melt. Make sure it’s not boiling too hard or you’ll melt the cling wrap **.

6. Let them hang around like this for a few minutes. It depends how runny you want them. I hate runny white bits so I left them for like four or five minutes, checking occasionally and pulling the plastic so they bob upright again.

7. Dunzo! Fish those suckers out and peel away the film. You might find a little bit of the egg sticks to the cling film, but that is ok. Make sure all the plastic is off and then dive in! Easy as pie!! Nomnomnonm.

* It worked beautifully yesterday morning. I went for a repeat performance this morning and it was an epic fail. I believe the water was boiling too hard and it ended up melting the cling film into the egg itself. I diced them, don’t eat cling film, it could be very bad for you :/

** This morning I sprayed some oil spray on the cling film before I put the egg in, as suggested by some sites. I won’t say it was the oil that made things go weird today, but just in case, I’d skip it next time. The film came away from the egg pretty well without anything yesterday morning, so i reckon you don’t need it….and watch the water temperature!!

All Filler, No Killer

4 Feb

  • I have officially killed my first mobile. Generally I replace phones because I am bored with them, but this morning when I got a new phone, it was because I kinda needed one (or as much as a person can need a phone anyways). I dropped it at work on Monday and it literally smashed into pieces. I put it back together but during calls now if it’s not dropping out, it’s making a loud hissing noise. It also doesn’t get some texts, delivers them six hours late or doesn’t send texts right away once I hit send on my end. My new phone is a Nokia E72, it does cool shit but doesn’t slide around, which I assume will be helpful in not having it break super quickly. I also now get email on my phone and there is FB too. Z.O.M.F.G.
  • Dish and I went out for dinner last night, and it was totally awesome. We didn’t go anywhere outstanding but we just had really long chats about everything, so it was fantastic. I won’t explain it, because it will be incredibly long and probably won’t make a lot of sense unless you know me fairly well, but she kinda cut through some of my bullshit which I really respect. A lot of people kind of let me just be dismissive and that won’t fly with her so I actually have to confront things. It’s uncomfortable for me to do, but ultimately far better for me to actually deal with things than pretend everything is ok. It was really, really good and I so appreciate her doing it. She is a really, really good person. She has so much integrity and is just super trustworthy. I always tend to assume I’ll be fucked over by people, unless they are in my very select group of people who I am cool with, but Dish is becoming one of those people. She has never given me any reason to think differently, I like that.
  • What is the go with today? It was almost cool on Monday but now it’s back to being disgustingly hot and humid. Queensland, really, it’s your last month of summer, traditionally things start cooling down just a touch to prepare for Autumn. Just a thought?
  • I should think about sorting out textbooks….I should also check what date uni actually goes back. I know it’s late Feburary, but I really couldn’t say for sure exactly when. Clearly very little has changed since I was last an undergrad. I do have a cool pencil case and two cool notebooks though, so you know, priorities.
  • There is a dude mowing our lawn right now. Freshly cut grass in summer has to be one of the best smells ever. I also really like the smell of ripe mangoes, and, more interestingly tinsel and chocolate and foil (like the way Easter Eggs smell, yumm!). Speaking of Easter, I’ve also come to realise that my Creme Egg addiction is actually a problem because I am not in control of it. If you put me in a room with a pile of Creme Eggs and left me to it, I can say without hesitation I would literally eat them until I fell into a diabetic coma and died. As much as I love them, they make my teeth hurt from being so sweet and give me a headache, but you can bet I don’t let that slow me down. There are very few things I wouldn’t do for a Creme Egg, if you could inject that gooey middle stuff, I’d have an IV strapped to me.

Stealing From Blind Kids

31 Jan

That’s a title from Dish, by the way. She told me she saw a student with a cute Hello Kitty hairclip the other day and she wanted to pinch it for me. (She didn’t just for the record, nor would she actually do it, I tend to avoid hanging out with petty criminals where I can).

Five minutes ago, I cracked the shits. With myself. I’ve got bags under my eyes, my skin is absolute shit, I feel really fat and gross and ALL of that is entirely my own fault. Since early December I’ve been fancying myself as a bit of a rockstar and have been eating, drinking, doing and spending whatever the fuck I wanted and it’s all caught up with me.

I hate having bad skin. I hate it so, so, so much! My skin is usually great, I am a confirmed soap and water girl but despite that, it’s always pretty fantastic. Right now I have blemishes and it’s just not looking good so obviously what I am putting in my skin is crap since I’m not treating the outside any differently. Anyway, I have made some plans for Feburary:

  • No more than a couple of glasses a wine per week! I’ve been drinking far too much and far too often, which leads to hangovers, which leads to hasbrowns, sooo….
  • No fast food. If I’m not hungover, I won’t need Maccas. Any other times I can avoid fast food without too much trouble, but if I’m hungover there are few things I wouldn’t do for Maccas. Not cool.
  • Three salads a week. Despite being a vege, I have been particularly crap at the actual eating of veges lately. Toast has again crept in as a major food group which is neither a proper meal nor nutrititionally sound. I eat toast because it’s easy and quick. I had lunch today at Gloria Jeans and it was a skinny Chai Latte and a piece of rasin toast. Grown ups should not eat like that.

I am not overly concerned by the amount of sleep I get. Overall it’s quite resonable and I generally get more sleep than I probably require so now I’m just getting the lower end of a normal amount of sleep, so it’s not like I’m the walking dead quite yet. I don’t really want to go out any less if there are cool things to go to, so that is all good. Spending, well, that’s probably always something I could do less of. My bills get paid, so that is important but I am pretty keen to make it to Japan in September, so that will mean far less spending and far more penny pinching…but that’s another post for another day.

A scoop from the Dish

25 Jan

Everytime I see her, which is kind of a bunch [which I kind of really like], Dish tells me to put something on the blog. Either something we’ve done or said or seen, which is awesome and makes blogging far more interesting for both you and I. I’ve decided to dedicate a little post every now and then to her most recent blog urgings.

  • So, the first time we kissed we were at a bar and there was karaoke on [80s karaoke, to be fair!]. While we were kissing I said “God, I love this song”. I didn’t really think anything of it at the time [It was an 80s song! I would be a traitor if I did not proclaim my love of 80s music whenever I hear a great song] but now Dish has taken to asking me if I like this song everytime we kiss. It’s funny, and for the record I have since been indifferent to most every song that has been played during more recent PashFests so I maintain it was an awesome song.
  • K, so that was my silly fan girl 80s music story, but Dish <3′s Lady Gaga. Like in that way. I am not a dancer, as most of you will know, I don’t like dancing – it makes me feel like a bit of a tool and I just don’t like drawing attention to myself. Dish and her Best will hear Gaga being played and immediate dump their drinks/bags and go dance. It’s super cute, I even kinda like being a Lady Gaga widow for a few minutes every once in a while during a night out, I like peeps who really love stuff.
  • There was something else today I was meant to blog, but I don’t recall it right now. Dish came and visited me at work, and I know where she was sitting when she told me what I had to blog, but I don’t remember what it is. I went to collect my bag when it was time to shut up shop and there was a little note stuck to it that she had left for me. It was the sweetest thing ever! We also did a bit of saying goodbye, which was awesome and definately lead to one of the best days at work ever! It’s kinda great to work alone in a quiet shop :D

Good Stuff

23 Jan

Can I just say that Thursday and Friday have both been really awesome days.

Thursday was a pupil free day for Dish, so she headed to school and I entertained myself without having our usual constant SMS conversation that occurs during every waking moment. I was super productive and drove into the city to dash to an army disposal store. (Did you know how fucking few of those bitches are around anymore?? Driving into the city during peak hour and paying for parking was the path of least resistence in going to an army disposal store, how mad is that??) After the city I went to my favourite cupcake place (the same place who never called me back *heartbroken*) and grabbed some cupcake for D’Mummy and a treat for Dish, then I  went to my tattoo shop for some quality inking time.

Three and a half hours later and we’ve got it colored but there is still some little bits to add in as well as the backgrounds. I think we’re working on another 3 or so hour session to get it done and dusted. I reckon the shading was less painful than the outlining, but today I am starting to grow some super attractive purple brusing. It’s sexy. Last night night I went out and a bunch of people complimented it (they also were fond of hitting my arm in conversation forgetting it was fresh or just touching the tattoos and being weird).

Can I just say, it’s poor form to touch someone else’s tattoos. Obviously, I have heaps of people who I’d let lick my tattoos if they so desired, but if I don’t know you please don’t come up and touch, it’s just a bit creepy. I don’t come up and fondle your skin, so just because mine is tattooed doesn’t make it ok. It’s still my skin. (If you’re thinking “ZOMG, I’ve touched it, she means me”, I don’t. If we are even merely FB friends it’s ok if you touch it, I more mean random people at shops and stuff. Middle ages ladies are the worst, in my experiences.)

So post tattoo I caught up for an “After First Day Back” debrief  with Dish and we unwrapped my arm together in the car. As a non-tattooed kind I was worried I lost her a couple of times when she felt how hot it was through the cling wrap, when I mentioned the seeping blood that had collected in the folds of the cling wrap and how it was all weird looking with the excess ink and stuff but generally she took it like a trooper. I did ask before wrapping it, I’m not all bad! that night I slept pretty well but woke up and had to peel my shirt off the fresh ink it had stuck to which is always a lovely thing to do.

Friday I made a bunch of brooches and had a bit of a disco nap because I didn’t sleep super well the night before. Met Dish for coffee after school and made our evening plans. She had to go do stuff and I came home and ate dinner and dicked around until I headed out. Going out Friday night is becoming a bit of a habit now, each week Dish and I assure ourselves it’s not gonna be a big night and that we’ll be home at a reasonable hour and each week we head home as the sun is starting to make an appearance. Last night was no exception. It was a little exceptional in the fact that I didn’t have quite the collection of friends I normally have on Friday nights so we had more time to…do other stuff. PashFest 2010 was definately a highlight of recent weeks. Dish is lovely and always smells pretty, I like her :)

Tonight? I am having a quiet one. Dish is camping with a friend and I am more than happy to have a nothing night at home. Tomorrow night we are going out to see MacHomer and I believe dinner was mentioned with Dish’s best and his partner, so it’ll be a bit of a double date, weeee!

Things are good, peeps. I know everything is temporary and that Dish is still going in a while, but for now, I’ll take it :D

All Filler, No Killer

20 Jan

  • Everytime I see Dish, she asks me if I’m going to blog about stuff. I love that she thinks my life is interesting enough to warrant putting everything online, much less having the skillz to make that shit sound worthwhile. Today we parked in the city to grab some Starbucks and were arguing about something and she asked if I was going to blog about it, yet another reason this plan would fail – I have a memory like a seive. I believe we were fighting about the parking meter,  but I can’t be sure.
  • I’ll limit myself to one point of gushing. Dish showed up at the store on Monday morning bearing a coffee for me. Such a sweet gesture! I was helping the dude I work with do something so she only stayed a bit, but after he finished his stuff and left she came back and chilled for most of the day. I can’t even begin to tell you how much funner it is to have a work buddy. As an extra treat SusieQ also dropped in a while! Not content with spending most of the day together, Dish and I had dinner and then went to my new most favourite place in Brisbane in the known universe. $3 “corkage” but this corkage covers any manner of alcohol, and you just kinda sit around and chill on the footpath. I am not sure of the exact legality of this arrangement, but police drove by a bunch of times and saw everyone drinking and did not stop so I presume it’s not all bad. Regardless, it was super fun and chilled and just awesome, I loved it heaps! Best night I’ve had in a really long time!
  • So, I’ve got another 3.5 hours of work booked on my arm tomorrow. I love it, but I am so sick of seeing it outlined, I need color!! I asked Dish to pick the color of my cupcake wrapper, I want her to be a little part of it so I gave her an element of one of my favourite bits. I learned from last time when I printed the outlines onto my pillowcases and sheets during the night as the excess ink blotted out, and this time I’m gonna sleep on a towel or something. I kind of want to press up against someone to see if I can print the tattoo on them (temporarily, of course) but the idea of  pressing my swollen, seeping, fresh tattoo against someone else isn’t the most attractive prospect, for either party…
  • I have tickets for MacHomer on Sunday night. It’s opening night, oooh la la. I love reviewing stuff and getting free tickets. I reckon I’d be great at being famous or even just behind-the-scenes kind of important, I’ll go to any opening night, I just love it! Taking Dish, yayyyy!
  • I am officially a student again! I have the card to prove it. I showed up at the counter, they checked who I was and asked me to sit on the little stool for my picture to be taken. The card lady was dicking around with the machine and in the peace and quiet of the big student centre “TAKE, TAKE, TAKE, TAKE, TA-TA-TA-TA-TAKE, TAKE” starts booming out of my handbag. I lean down and dive into my bag to reject the call (and silence Mel & Kin) before the entire floor was staring at me. The card lady asked if I was ready and I said “Yes, just one second” and then shoved my phone back in my back and lifted my eyes to see the camera. It was about that point that she took the picture, which has resulted in me looking like a gargyole or something similar in my photo. My hair is all falling forward, it looks like I have no neck and I have this creepy halfway smile. Aside from all of that, I have a sdtudent card in my hot, little hands so everything is once again right in the world.

Stuff and Things

17 Jan

  • Dudes, it has bee a while, right? Let’s catch up!
  • Blogging from a new Toshiba. For the last few months, the Mac was getting progressively worse – internet dropping out constantly, stuff freezing, being painfully slow to do anything, barely holding a charge and shitty stuff like that. I decided to bite the bullet and grab a new one. Wasn’t prepared to spend a buttload of money on another Mac so I went back to Toshiba. Got it home yesterday, took off the packaging, turned it on and …. nada. Packed it all back up, returned to JB and they swapped it over for a new one. New one works like a charm. As great as Macs are, there is nothing quite like running programs that have all been designed to work on a PC. I won’t turn down a Mac in future, but so long as I’m a dirty student, I won’t be paying for one :)
  • So, peeps, Dish is now amongst our ranks. I linked her, so any illusions of cool I may have been able to create are now well and truly blown out of the water. We’ve seen each other many days this week and I could still see her now and spend several hours hanging out without any difficulties. I just really like hanging with her, she’s really lovely and chilled and just fun to be around. No drama, just fun times. I am very happy. We got pissy together Friday night after a day at the coast, I was happy to just go out for a bit and just drive, and that became going out but having an early one, then we ended up going out and drinking (she stopped long enough to sober up) and driving us home at 3am. The second week in a row we’ve gone out until the wee hours!  She’s met most of my peeps (the ones who are in Brisbane, anyways) and I’ve met some of hers. As far as I’m aware it’s all peachy, so yay.
  • I failed on my ‘no buying” deal. It’s not clothes though, which is semi-ok! Joanne Mercer had a sale, they were $119 and with all the further reductions they came to $21.80 or something crazy. Beige, suede, kind of like Sunday school teacher sandals except with studs and things as decoration.
  • I feel a little vom worthy today. Not sure if it’s a little bit of a bug, or my tummy rebelling against two days of back to back drinking and eating very poorly and sporadically. Last night was a very tame effort, I only had a couple of glasses if wine. I ordered a Dominos veggie pizza after I woke up from the nap I started at 5pm (lame!) and it came with garlic grawns on it! Easy to pick off, but not what I ordered and they kind of tainted it will their own flavour so it was very ordinary. Fail train, Dominos!
  • So this week involves working, seeing Dish and finishing my tattooooooo (or at least getting very close to finishing it). I can also finalize my uni class allocations and get my student card!! Dish goes back to school (she’s also a teacher, not a school student, I’m not that dodgy ;) so that will reduce my texting to just a few a day. We normally send quite a number throughout the day, which is tops. It will be a little sad, actually, not to have little messages to look forward to .

footprints in the sand, change of plans…

9 Jan

Right, first up, let’s call the newest lady date – Dish. Last night I was getting my drink on and Dish and her Best joined up for several hours. It was great, no pashing though. Many of my friends were being less than discreet about my need to hook up with her and it was a little bit awkward. I apologised about it last night, she said it was no worries and this morning we caught up on MSN and got everything sorted. I didn’t know if she was into me, I know she is moving OS and doesn’t want to commit to anything so I didn’t want to make anything awkward or weird for her by making any moves and putting her in an uncomfortable position. She said didn’t want to lead me on or make things seem like more than they are so she just held back, despite wanting to make a move. I am totally ok with this and more than happy to just enjoy the ride and appreciate things for what they are. I am really happy going into things with eyes wide open and knowing exactly what it is. This is a mutually agreeable arrangement. I wouldn’t say we are together by any means, but we aren’t not together. It just is what it is, I think now that has been sorted things will be less confusing and will just evolve naturally. My peeps adore her and her Best had an awesome time hanging with us last night so it’s all just gravy at the moment. We text several hundred times a day and I saw her three times in the last week. I just booked tickets for us to see Polyphonic Spree in February and we have about a million other “dates” planned. It’s just fun :)

I have also decided that for the next month (for starters), I am not going to buy any new clothes. My wardrobe which was half full when I moved back to Oz is now bursting at the seams in less than a year of being back. I feel like a dirty, rotten consumer. So much of what I own is not stuff I need by any means, but stuff I have just liked or because because I could. I have so many clothes I don’t even remember what I own anymore. It’s not good. So for one month, I make do with what I have. I can sew stuff from fabric I already own or refashion existing clothes, but no more new stuff. This goes for shoes too. I have an obscene shoe collection. I figure after a month I will have a better idea of what clothes I do have, and if there are any glaring gaps in my wardrobe. I know I am lacking in winter clothes to a degree, but I have at least four months before I need to start even thinking about that, so let’s just focus on the task at hand.

P.S. I can get my new uni student card on the 19th of this month. I wonder how lame it will be if I am weeping with joy during my picture? Is it even possible to be this much of a nerd??

Here We Go Again!

8 Jan

So, dudes, 2010. How’s it all travelling?

I was ready to see the arse end of 2009 as it was, but as a parting shot I spent midnight sitting next to D’Daddy’s bed in the emergency ward. Turns out NYE was the night a couple of his gallstones decided to go for a bit of a wander – cue acute pain, major discomfort and an ambulance ride for D’Daddy. The gallstones went or whatever else they do to stop hurting, but his gallbladder was infected and they were planning on taking it out. After a few days in hospital the antibiotics fixed him up and he was allowed to come home and have the actual op in a couple of weeks. Drama til the very last second, I tell you.

So I’ve been “seeing” my date every couple of days now (probs time to give her a name, leave it with me…) Had ice-cream last Tuesday, then breakfast Saturday and then dinner on Tuesday night. There are tentative plans to catch up for some drinks tonight. I really don’t know how this is gonna play out, she’s really fun and lovely and just chilled about everything. She is planning on going OS mid year, but not indefinately and has also said she’s not against long-distance relationships. I am kinda happy to be involved with her under whatever situation will work, but I am not entirely sure if she’s keen or she’s not sure what she wants or if she’s not sure where *I* stand on things. I am just having fun, I like hanging out with her so even if it doesn’t evolve into pashing then whatevs.

Have had Best back in Brisbane for the last couple of weeks now. Between her, new date and seeing my other friends I have become quite the social butterfly. At the start of next week though, she’ll be pissing off to London so things will quieten down again. I love the couple of weeks that I get to see Best and Jac every year, but they are always so hectic! It’s hard to fit a year or so worth a quality time into just a week, occupational hazard of being the one who is left behind, I guess.

Tonight I am gonna get my drink on. I am feeling a little too full of brain cells so it’s time to thin them out again. I have made three different kinds of jelly shots. One is Love cordial and vodka with heart shaped sprinkles, the other is pear juice and Pears Absolut and the last type is Bacardi and guava. I have gone slightly overboard and made 50+ shots for what may end up being about six people, but it’s so fun. Soon I will slice up tiny pieces of pear to set into the pear shots and maybe find some other decoration for the guava ones. The Love ones turned out amazingly, I am feeling very excited because it’s kind of like cooking and I didn’t fuck it up. Fingers crossed for one random pash, I don’t even care who, just feel like pashing :)

Revision of ’09

30 Dec

Sorry the posting has been a bit light around the traps. It’s been Christmas, D’Nanny was in hospital for a bit, and for a while it was just really hot, so handling a hot laptop was very unappealing. It’s not all bad though, my first piece is up over at GTS, I went on a date last night and it was super fun and there is every chance we’ll do it again soon (I resisted the urge to gush about it on FB, because we are now FB friends. Playing it cool is hard work!) and 2009 is almost over!

Right, so let’s see what I got up to this year, and if anything matched up with what I had hoped to get out of 2009:

  • Learn guitar or uke – No, don’t even own a musical instrument.
  • Get one paid writing gig – Yes, however not paid in cash but repaid with tickets to events and stuff, so I am still ok to check this one off.
  • Get my first aid cert – Not even close.
  • Define my personal style – wear more dresses and skirts – Yep, not so much skirts, but dresses for sure.
  • Return to Japan to visit Osaka and Hiroshima - Hellz no, but I made it to NZ. That’s worth half a point, right?
  • Visit Adelaide (I want to visit every state in Oz and I have decided to make Adelaide my place for this year) – No, but I’ll be in Melbs next weekend so at least I’ve left the state.
  • Save at least $2000 by Dec 31st. (This means I must have $2000 by next NYE – not save it then spend it on a holiday or something, just have it there) – Technically there is still time, but I am skeptical. Considering my saving are currently nil.
  • Become a one-drink wonder. (I was going to stop drinking all together this year, but I decided that being a “one drink” person would actually be harder for me. I am not going to drink to get drunk at all this year. I am going to have a glass of wine to appreciate the taste or a cocktail to try one I’ve never had before – no dirty pre-mixed drinks, no spirits!) – Yep, I can do this now. I think I’ve only be really messy once this year!
  • Change my hair – not big cuts! (Nothing drastic but I want a new style and I’m never commited enough to grow out my hair so I have some options. I’ve not had my hair cut for like 3.5 months now so it’s getting kinda long which is good!) – Yep, I’ve got something that is quite different for me and it’s fun. I like it.
  • Get my bees and Sarah Silverman tattoo (Not a tattoo of Sarah Silverman, that would be weird. It’s a tattoo of something from her show) – Not techincally, but I started my half sleeve so that is equally as exciting. I still want the bees though, a bunch, but will probably wait until it’s a bit cooler. Having gladwrapped knees during 36 degree weather would be the worst thing ever.
  • Launch the new blog/site – Yes, then lost the motivation/inspiration soon after! One blog is enough fr me.
  • Score a real teaching gig – Done, I’ll be ok if I never do it again :)
  • Stop impulse buying – To a degree, but I’ve gotten a little bit worse lately.
  • Buy more recycled clothing – Not a great deal, but I shop at op shops on a semi-regular basis, it’s just finding stuff I LIKE that is tricky.
  • Try roller derby – Nup, never even attending a bout. “Whip It” really proved I don’t have the balls for it.

So, it’s a bit of a mixed bag, I did some stuff, did some other stuff in kind of a round about way and other stuff didn’t even get a look in. Overall, 2009 was balls. 2008 was a great year, so it is only fair that 2009 was a bit shit, fingers crossed 2010 is epic!

Catch you on the flip side!

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