darkfyre_muse | Reading

I had reason to dig up and link to this post while chatting with new-friend Alexander. They then said nice things about me doing things full and colourful even when my brain is being shit and I said NO STOP RUDE because I am good at making friends. Luckily they also speak internet, so they made me this meme in return:

And the thing it's making me think of most, irritatingly, is therapy a couple weeks ago and talking about the ways things aren't working and how I worry my brain was better n years ago, it feels like when I reread all these old posts I was doing so much better mentally.

Except of course in my love life, because like, I was way more struggling with jealousy and security and my role in 2019 and I really haven't had emo about that like that....well, since 2020, probably. Maybe 2021? It's not like my relationships are emo-free, just that like.

And like, okay, I'm worse at my job this year than I have been some years, but I'm also much more experienced and steady in my job just in general. And I've gotten a lot better at the union work side of it, and being loud there. And somewhat better at the comrade-not-cop side of working with the students (gods I love being better able to make relationships with the students, it feels so good.)

And man, one of the things I was rereading recently was all the wordsfile from when I ran Scottish Pinewoods in 2020, which was not *quite* the height of me feeling disconnected from the RSCDS but it was maybe the really sharp start of it, the part where it was really beginning to hit me how much my hobby didn't love me. And wow, all the work I have put into making my own dance class that I can have fun with and drag other people into and hopefully be a good time...that's really good work I've done, that's consistently good work, I'm super proud of that work.

Also like now I am learning how to knit and somehow that's a thing where I can force myself to just say the vulnerable words about it and not just lock up all the imposter-syndrome and rejection-sensitive-dysphoria deep in my heart where no one can see it, and so I've had some really lovely and thoughtful conversations with people who are *much* better at this thing where they just straight up explain the things kindly and happily and don't at all make me feel dumb for it.

And then there's the thing that happened recently, where I was chatting with someone about how I'm not relationship 101 material, that the whole polyamorous-kinky-genderqueer-HSV1+-ADHDnightmarechild thing should really not be your first serious relationship. Those are the parts I put in, the reasons. Long time readers might observe that there's something missing that you might expect from the list of why it's complicated to date me, and it's not that I'm _over_ being sexually abused as a seventeen year old by a man the same age I am now, you never get like, _over_ that, but I have put in enough work to make it a *lot* less relevant to my day-to-day.

...huh.

Okay. Fine.

Maybe I am allowed to accept a compliment on my personal growth once in a while. Don't you dare get all uppity and expect it'll work every time! I can still be crazy as sin, don't you worry!

But it's nice to be able to find evidence that I am growing. It's all I ever wanted. I hope you're growing too. The opposite is stagnation, you deserve better than that. So do I.

~Sor
MOOP!

nverland posting in

creative_cooks

Confit Tandoori Chickpeas
Serves 8

2 (15 oz/425 g) cans of chickpeas, drained (17 oz/480 g total)
11 garlic cloves, peeled, 10 left whole and 1 minced
1 oz (30 g) fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
14 oz (400 g) datterini or regular cherry tomatoes
3 small Fresno chiles, mild or spicy, with a slit cut down their length
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 tsp. cumin seeds, roughly crushed with a mortar and pestle
2 tsp. coriander seeds, roughly crushed with a mortar and pestle
½ tsp. ground turmeric
½ tsp. chile flakes
2 tsp. red Kashmiri chile powder
1 tsp. sugar
¾ cup plus 2 Tbsp. (200 ml) olive oil
⅔ cup (180 g) Greek yogurt
¾ cup (15 g) mint leaves
1½ cups (30 g) cilantro, roughly chopped
2–3 limes (juiced to get 1 Tbsp. and the rest cut into wedges to serve)
Salt

Step 1 - Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Step 2 - Put the chickpeas, whole garlic cloves, ginger, tomatoes, chiles, tomato paste, spices, sugar, oil, and 1 teaspoon of salt into a large, oven-safe sauté pan, for which you have a lid, and mix everything together to combine.
Step 3 - Cover with the lid, transfer to the oven and cook for 75 minutes, stirring halfway through, until the aromatics have softened and the tomatoes have nicely broken down.
Step 4 - Meanwhile, put the yogurt, mint, cilantro, lime juice, minced garlic, and ¼ teaspoon of salt into a food processor and blitz until smooth and the herbs are finely chopped.
Step 5 - Serve the chickpeas directly from the pan, with the yogurt and lime wedges alongside.

Note:

Jarred or canned butter beans (lima beans) would be great here! No Kashmiri chile powder? Use an equal amount of paprika instead.

sorcyress

I spent Sunday scrobbling in the dirt, because my friend Apollo had a backyard work party! Another friend there described it as "well, we're really being Tom Sawyered right now" and that was a both charming and accurate way to sum it up. Apollo said "wouldn't it be fun if y'all came over and helped me move rocks and dig up weeds and shovel mulch" and you know what? It super was!

Also there was a fire going pretty much the whole time, and when we pulled especially obnoxious bittersweet or tree-of-heaven out we could go and put it on the fire in triumph and that was very satisfying! After we worked, we ate snacks and sang sad folk songs --it wasn't intentionally, sad, just wound up that way-- and it was a really lovely afternoon all around!

But the thing that's really standing out, was somewhere in the middle of dealing with the tree-of-heaven, after we'd gotten some of the bigger root clusters out but still had plenty to go, I wound up spending like...ten or fifteen minutes just digging increasingly deep and pulling out the rocks from the old rock wall the roots appear to have grown through, and trying to get one of the remaining big pieces out. And I just couldn't do it. I made lots of progress, but the roots were still in there.

So I wandered to Apollo, ready to switch tasks, and said "I give up." "I'm proud of you!" they replied, and when I tried to tease about it, they continued "both for trying and for giving up". That felt. Honestly real good. It feels nice in the way I hope it feels nice when I thank people for saying no to me. It felt nice in a recognition that setting boundaries and taking care of yourself is good. It felt like a kindness, being told that not only was it okay to give up on a frustrating task that wasn't working out, but a point of pride.

I like having the friends I have.

~Sor
MOOP!

sorcyress

One of the many charming moments about the like, 90 minutes I stood around post-dance in a little cluster of seven of us, sharing stories and chatting, was when Alexander and Willow, both here from Philly, said something lamenting the lack of Rita's in Massachusetts. "At some point we're going to go on an Adventure to visit the one currently open in like, Walpole" one of them said, and immediately I am grabbing Thrantar with one hand and Alexander with the other and near-shrieking "take us with you!"

The four of us then had to explain what on earth a Ritas is and why it matters so to the three New England natives. We almost managed? Maybe we'll let them join on our Adventure and then they can see what it's like.

~Sor
MOOP!

nverland posting in

creative_cooks

Burnt Strawberry Tamales
ACTIVE: 45 MIN TOTAL TIME: 2 HR 45 MIN PLUS OVERNIGHT MACERATING SERVINGS: 8

INGREDIENTS
2 3/4 cups evaporated cane sugar (see Note)
1 pound strawberries, hulled
8 large dried cornhusks
Boiling water
1 3/4 cup Bob’s Red Mill masa Harina
2 sticks unsalted butter, preferably cultured, at room temperature
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 vanilla bean—split lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved, pod reserved for later use
Eight 10-inch squares of thin sandwich paper, moistened
Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream with lime zest, for serving

( Read more... )

jazzfish

Good news: it seems it's the charging cable rather than the iPad that's dead. It charged fine on a couple of Steph's cables. Much cheaper to replace a cable.

Acquired a suit and a pair of shoes that will pass muster for "decent" at a distance, for under $500. I don't really expect to need a suit for any potential interviews in Vancouver, and my suitcase was pretty full, so I ended up leaving all that in Minneapolis. If I decide I want it I can bring my suit-board-thing next time.

The Mall of America is disconcerting in its scale, and at least on a Tuesday afternoon/evening in its emptiness.

I've also determined that I'd rather be wearing linen, and an open blazer rather than a suit. I'm quite fond of this look (a 'natural' linen double-breasted blazer and trousers, over a black polo with the collar over the blazer), but that's very much a "someday" kind of thing. File it away in the wishlist.

The intervew felt fine up until the end, when I mentioned that I'm currently in Van in the process of relocating to Minneapolis, and the social temperature of the room dropped about ten degrees. It's government (unclear whether it's state, municipal, or something weird in-between) so it'll be a couple of weeks before I hear anything regardless.

A week or two ago I applied for a tech-writer job at some engineering firm. On Tuesday I got an email of "if you actually want a tech-writing job and are not trying to use this to get an engineering job, please reply with three times when a phone interview would work for you." I did so, and watched as the first of the times passed with no response. Friday I got "we're overloaded with responses, we've added more times, if your specified times have passed please tell us some new ones." This fucking economy, man. They're supposedly calling me at tennish tomorrow, "but please allow 5-10 minutes in case the prior phone screen runs over." I will not get this job and I will count it another bullet dodged.

My plane is boarding soon, so I should go navigate the ridiculously sprawling Calgary airport to get to my gate. Home to my kitten this evening. That will be good.

nverland posting in

creative_cooks

Chicken au Poivre
Total Time: 45 mins Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 6 medium thighs)
3 teaspoons coarsely cracked black pepper, divided, plus more for garnish
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
1/3 cup finely chopped shallot
1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme
3 tablespoons Cognac or brandy
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup crème fraiche
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Finely chopped fresh chives

Directions

Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Sprinkle evenly on all sides with 2 teaspoons of the pepper and 1 teaspoon of the salt, pressing gently to adhere. Place chicken skin side down in a cold 12-inch skillet. Cook over medium, undisturbed, until skin is golden brown and very crisp, about 15 minutes. Turn chicken skin side up; cook, undisturbed, until a thermometer inserted into thickest portion of chicken registers 165°F, about 10 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate and set aside, reserving drippings in skillet.
Add shallot, garlic, thyme, remaining 1 teaspoon pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to drippings in skillet. Cook over medium, stirring often, until shallots are softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat, and add Cognac. Return skillet to medium; cook, stirring constantly to scrape up any browned bits on bottom of skillet, until Cognac is nearly evaporated, about 30 seconds. Pour in broth, and bring to a simmer over medium. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly reduced, about 2 minutes. Whisk in crème fraiche and Dijon mustard until smooth. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, whisking often, until sauce is thick enough to coat back of a spoon, about 5 minutes.
Return chicken thighs to skillet, skin side up, and simmer over medium-low, swirling skillet occasionally, until chicken is heated through, about 1 minute. Transfer chicken to a serving plate and spoon sauce over top; garnish with chives and additional pepper. Serve immediately.

Make ahead
You can chop the shallots, garlic, and thyme up to two days in advance. Cooked chicken and sauce can be refrigerated separately for up to three days. Reheat gently before serving.

nverland posting in

creative_cooks

LENTIL WALNUT VEGAN CHORIZO STUFFED ZUCCHINI
Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 30 mins
Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS
For the Zucchini
2 large zucchini
About 1 tsp. olive oil

For the Lentil Walnut Chorizo
1 tbsp. olive oil
½ medium red onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups cooked brown lentils
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 tbsp. smoked paprika
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ancho chili powder
1 tsp. dried thyme
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. cayenne chili powder (or to taste)
½ tsp. black pepper
¼ tsp. ground cloves
3 tbsp. red wine vinegar
Salt to taste
¼ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

For the Cashew Cream
½ cup raw cashews, soaked in water overnight, drained and rinsed
½ cup water
¼ cup lemon juice
Salt to taste

( Read more... )

jazzfish

I want to be reading What We Are Seeking (Cameron Reed's new book). It is extremely brain-intensive, though. After a week of gaming and not-sleeping-super-well on a hotel pillow, I am just not there.

Midway, aka Not O'Hare, is a perfectly decent little airport. I seem to be the only person I know without at least one O'Hare horror story, but then it's been over a decade since I've gone through there. Regardless, Midway's probably nicer. Also it seems that all airport wifi now has "watch a thirty-second ad before we let you connect," which both irritates me and makes me a little sad. And the glory of the world is less than it once was.

My iPad's charging port is dead yet again. The Enter key on my keyboard is failing to register sometimes. Bah, technology.

I'm in Midway for another couple of hours and then I fly to Minneapolis for a week. And on Friday I have an interview for a "document analyst" position, which sounds like "tech writer with extra steps." The interview is in-person, which I wasn't expecting; I'm just glad it's coming at a halfway convenient time. Sometime this week I shall have to go out and acquire Interview Clothes. This is less annoying than it might be since I don't actually own much in the way of Interview Clothes, at least not that fit.

I'm trying not to think too much about the interview. Not til I'm someplace where I can relax a bit more, anyway. It's with the Twin Cities Metropolitan Council, so it's an In to Local Government which is where I'd like to be. Per the job description it's got some GIS-esque stuff going on; and by my back-of-envelope calculations it pays enough to live on and save a bit. It would be nice, I think. It would certainly be nice to have one of my two Big Immediate Problems solved.

My fingers have been vaguely itchy for the viola the last several days. This is... it's new. I'm enjoying it. I left my violin at Steph's last time so I'll have some outlet / ability to practise, at least, and I've got a flashcard app so I can see how many tunes I can actually remember.

I wish I'd realised sooner how... how good musicking is for me? How it's something that can actually call to me? Something like that. I'm honestly a bit startled that anything does, let alone music. I'd just sort of assumed that Feeling Drawn To A Thing was yet another thing about me that doesn't work like everyone else.

And I don't know how I could have possibly gotten here, not just from where I was but from any plausible diversion from that. If my folks had let me take bass instead of cello, like I wanted to, I'd probably wind up playing bass guitar, which would be pretty cool but not really the same. If one of my early cello teachers had offered something outside of Standard Classical Repertoire... I might have gone somewhere with that? I really don't know. Water under the bridge, regardless. I wish I'd gotten to "here" sooner; I'm pretty happy with where I've gotten to.

Ann C--, a violinist who shared a teacher with me for several years in Fayetteville, pinged me last month to let me know that our teacher had died. I'd been vaguely intending to reach out to Dr Boyce and let her know that I'd picked up viola, but never got around to it. Every so often I try to look up Ms West née Wiley, the bassist/cellist that Dr Boyce handed me off to once I'd gotten past her level of expertise on cello, and I never manage to find anything on her. Tegen, my pre-plague viola teacher, has gotten married, moved down south, and started cranking out babies, Jesus aphorisms, and MLM crap, which is disappointing but not surprising. Musicians: just as human as everyone else. (Ann, incidentally, is also Jesusy, but she appears to at least be the kind of Jesusy that's appalled by the current mask-off Republican party.)

No real resolution to this, which seems fitting for something written in a liminal space. I think I shall go and try to find some tea, and sit and think and zone out for awhile.

My centre is collapsing,
my right is in retreat.
Impossible to manoeuvre.
Situation excellent.
I am attacking.

--Marshal Ferdinand Foch, First Battle of the Marne

sorcyress

Iiit's still NEFFA!

Gosh I am suddenly weirdly tired! I can't imagine why this might be! What could've possibly caused this?

Actually, the thing I want most right now is like. Playing video games or something silently by myself. It's been a great day but also a _very_ social day. I have had so many wonderful discussions! Short and long, in snippets across a set or hours wandering and hanging out. Real damn good!

(Highlights include a very rewarding bit of convo about the ways SCD is a little too insular sometimes with Jenny Beer, an extremely illuminating fun fact of learning that the concept of clothing that doesn't fit the people wearing it is even more recent than I thought (it's a post WWII factory conversion thing!), and a glorious two hours hanging with Alexander and Willow, including an amazing reading of the most nonsensical academic paper abstract that has ever been written.)

In terms of actual official things I did:

*I started the day by wandering down to Observe the Morris dancers! Muddy River has a zillion people I know on it! WhistlePig has fewer people I know but as I mentioned offhand to one of the other people watching, it has an extremely high proportion of people I have Big Idle Crush Feels For, which makes a lot of sense for the dedicated queer team. I had good morning chats with bunches of people and also got to see an *extremely* new babby, just two weeks out of his mother and small and neato!

*I managed to miss all of the pre-noon things that were otherwise on my "maybe I'll do that" list, but I hung with Lucretia some and had a lovely-but-sad chat with Val about the state of public school education (grr). I did manage to wander back up the hill in time for Susan dG's "Jane Austen's Squares" session, which surprised me slightly by being not Regency (the period in which Austen's books are set) but in fact late baroque (the period Jane would've been dancing as a 15-20 year old!) It's been a hot minute since the last time I've been in one of Susan's classes, and I found it very pleasant to realize just how much my teaching style is cribbed from hers. (I don't know that anyone else would see the parallels, but yeah, there's some stuff there about how to make hard dancing accessible).

*From there was lunch (more siopao!) with Justin dC and Charis, then Justin and I realized we were both interested in Scott Higgs and Jenny Beer's panel on "Better Dancing is More Fun!". Which like. If that wasn't already inherently enough to catch you, they also had Joanna Reiner give a 3-5 minute spiel about some of the good stuff she intentionally does for her floors. MORE AMAZING TEACHERS OKAY?! It was really good vibes!

*Had a half hour of chatting time with friends, where I confirmed a band for my GenderFree SCD class party in June (yay! This was starting to get slightly urgent! I also confirmed a band for the 2027 party, which I hope will be a Bigger Shindig¹!). I also exchanged Important Baby Gossip with Beth, which was extremely fun to do!

*Off we all went to the beginner SCD session, which was quite well taught (nice job Charles!) and also extremely beginner-filled, in a way that feels heartening and also makes me more annoyed at myself that I forgot to bring my flyers. Sigh! But it was fun! And then I didn't bother to change my shoes, just swapped sides of the hotel for the regular-type SCD, except I forgot that the two events were on opposite of the "sometimes events start on the hour and sometimes they start on the half-hour" thing that NEFFA does, which means I danced three _very_ good waltzen first! Okay fine, technically what Bret and I did was some variety of tango, but Monya and I did an _incredible_ Waltz with lots of lead switching and intensity and good non-verbal communication and it felt soooo goodoooo! And Teah was excited to let me lead, which felt good --leading waltzes was like the single dance skill I really felt like I _lost_ during 2020/2021, and I'm extremely pleased to feel like it has come back some.

*SCD was fine! Howard made some _wild_ choices dance-wise, but he fit the pieces together pretty well. And then I found myself outside chatting with Alexander and Willow, and I guess checking the timestamps on the schedule, that's then what I did from about 6:30 until 10. Huh. Nice job!

Ben stopped by at one point which was Very Good, and Tuesday joined for a bunch of it, and it was really lovely. And we did eat dinner-type things, and I did not successfully buy them gelato this time around, but that will be a future adventure maybe.

*Anyways, I had a hard cutoff of 10 because that was Michael Karcher's "Stream of Contraness" 41-dance hash. To Torrent, natch! Apparently they all signed up together and everything, which is very sweet. I happened to encounter a wild Anna Rain, at exactly the right time to ask her to dance and she said yes and I said "but I prefer not too wildly flourishy" and she said "oh yes that's perfect" and it was SO GOOD!

And then I never made it back to the hotel half of the festival like I intended. I chatted merrily with Keira and Charis and Annie and then with Hannah and Ian and then saw Sammy-the-new-musician-we-like-so-much-at-Scottish who was bubbly and enthusiastic and excited to ask me to do the last contra. How could I say no to that? We did an extremely chaotic and energetic dance and it was grand! (oh to dance with nineteen year olds!²)

I wrapped with a lovely conversation and walk with Apollo, and then it was time to drive back to the AirBnB! The fomo is real, but counterpoint, it's incredibly valuable to not accidentally stay up singing until three AM when I've got rehearsal at 9 tomorrow. Speaking of which...off I go to bed, goodnight!

~Sor
MOOP!

1: This year is "Flights of Fancy" (Emily and Dirk Tiede, Beth Murray) and next year will be Torrent (Sarah and Ross Parker, Nadia Gaya). Hellll yes for all these musicians!

2: I am, first of all, too young to be any sort of "gosh did I have that much energy when I was that age" and also yes _yes I did_. And let's be real, yes I _do_, because there was a very good climbing tree at the NAFest a couple weeks ago, and weirdly no one else was in it at any point.

nverland posting in

creative_cooks

Potato-and-Mozzarella Croquettes
Active Time 50 MIN Total Time 1 HR 50 MIN Yield Serves: 4

Ingredients

1 pound baking potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
Kosher salt
6 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/3-inch dice
2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium tomatoes (3/4 pound), cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons finely chopped basil
1 cup plain dry bread crumbs
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 garlic cloves, minced
Vegetable oil, for frying

How to Make It
Step 1 - In a saucepan, cover the potatoes with cold water. Bring to a boil, add a generous pinch of salt and simmer over moderate heat until tender, 20 minutes. Drain and let cool. Pass the potatoes through a ricer into a large bowl. Stir in the mozzarella and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Shape the mixture into 8 oval croquettes and transfer to a plate. Cover and refrigerate until firm, 30 minutes.
Step 2 - Meanwhile, in a saucepan, heat the olive oil. Add the tomatoes and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until softened and saucy, 8 minutes. Stir in the basil and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl.
Step 3 - Spread the bread crumbs in a shallow bowl. In another shallow bowl, beat the eggs with the mustard, garlic and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Dredge the croquettes in the bread crumbs, tapping off the excess. Dip the croquettes in the beaten egg mixture to coat, then dredge again in the bread crumbs, pressing lightly to help the crumbs adhere.
Step 4 - In a large saucepan, heat 1 inch of vegetable oil to 350°. Working in 2 batches, fry the croquettes, turning, until golden and crisp, about 3 minutes per batch. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Serve with the tomato sauce.

sorcyress

Iiiiit's NEFFA!

I've spent most of the week fucking around in Providence and doing nothing, which has been quite lovely and probably necessary (it's always many bad sign when I don't do anything for a week off) but now I am pleased and excited to be at NEFFA! I am here on my usual performer badge, but that's not really relevant until Sunday morning, so tonight was just lots of wandering around and stopping every fifty feet to say enthusiastic hellos to another person I know and adore.

In terms of official scheduled things that weren't just hanging out and chatting with people or working on my knitting¹ or eating extremely delicious SioPao² here is what I managed tonight:

*Charis and I did the contra medley together! The sound balance was a little off, which is mostly a shame because the band was _phenom_. Whirlwind is Alex Cumming and Jeff Kaufman and my beloved SCD brother Stephen Thomforde. Fuck yes contra dancing to bagpipes! The last dance in the medley was Michael Karcher calling a dance called The Carousel --a rare instance of me liking something enough to actually ask what it was! I should do this more often with contra dances, really³. The progression was a left hand allemande for the Robins that changed the focus between hands-four _really_ marvelously!

*I loitered outside long enough to hear the tent pub-sing going through Rattlin Bog, and decided it was just chilly enough that I would prefer the indoors, so instead I went up the hill and attended...

*Flat Footing Percussive Waltz! What a great concept for a workshop! I like waltzing and I like percussion! I was sadly disappointed by the ratio of saying things to doing things, which is especially frustrating because I did enjoy and appreciate the things that were being said! But it was much less physical lessony than I would've liked and we only got through like 2.5 fairly simple variations.

We did end with time for one freestyle "practice what we've shown you" and I made enough eyes at Susan dG to get to dance with her, which is always fairly delightful. She's got a cross-step workshop on Sunday that I am hoping to go to, it's been ages since I've done either one of her basics classes or cross-step.

I think that was it! I rounded out the evening adjacent to the hotel-bar-pub-sing and talking with new-friend Manya and newer-friend Leee! I mostly didn't sing, but it was very nice to listen to!

I am looking forward to the many things I have circled for tomorrow (including what sounds to be an excellent late-night contra sesh called by Michael and played by Torrent! And lots of Scottish Country Dancing! And getting to observe the Morris Dancers! And other good things!)

I hope you are well, whether you are dancing, or singing, or just resting at home this weekend. <3

~Sor
MOOP!

1: Several weeks ago, at demo team, I was working on something in between dances. I happened to have hit a frustrating point just as Cathy brightly asked "oh, what are you making?"

"Mistakes."

Anyways, I think about that response a lot. I'm very proud of it, even though it's not necessarily a good conversation continuer.

(this footnote is relevant because among other problems, I found that my scarf had slid mostly off one needle earlier today so I had to get it back on and then I did a row and then I realized I had knit when I should've purled so I had to tink it and recount the stitches about thirty times and augghhhhh. But I prevailed! It is good! And soon I will run out of this _awful_ particular yarn and be able to do something soothing and nice like the ten inches I did of lovely blue seed stitch.

2: I asked the Filipino food booth "do you still have your, uh, steamed buns" and they said yes and a very enthusiastic Big Mom Energy woman explained how it was pronounced and confided that her daughters (helping work for the first time apparently) had been calling it a _dumpling_) and I thanked her for the correction and also it was _so good_ damn.

3: On the one hand, I really don't have the time to become a contra caller as well. On the other hand, the barrier to entry is _much_ lower (you just need a kitchen and some suckers) and I would probably be good at it, and it would be _unbelievably funny_ to get good enough that I could eventually get hired at ESCape as their contra caller. I mean, hell, if I'm gonna invest in The Bit I should do this with ECD as well.

This entire paragraph is a joke, but it would be nice to collect the names of good contras and ECDs I like to go with my collection of SCDs.

vvalkyri

Earlier today I got a birthday notification from Facebook for someone from the theater group who moved away a bunch of years ago and died fairly unexpectedly from complications of the pancreatic cancer it had seemed she had bested.

I wrote a birthday message including that Facebook tells me you would have been 44 today and I hope you're somehow aware of all the elegies folk have written in your honor.

I lost count of how many people said something along the lines of she was one of the best people they knew.

There were, as there always are, some basic happy birthdays and I did drop the obituary on one but didn't spend the time to do a lot more.

A couple hours later I got a call from someone who had discovered via birthday greetings or rather birthday 'wish you were still here' on a good friends profile that the reason he hadn't been able to reach her the last several days as she was moving out of a home with her ex-partner was that her ex had killed her then himself this past Saturday.

What ties these together is of course Facebook's birthday system.

I'm thinking a lot about how the most dangerous time for a woman in an abusive relationship is attempting to leave it. I'm thinking a lot about how no I don't really know how someone several states away could have done anything to help prevent that. I'm thinking a lot about how preventing felons from having firearms did not work in this case. Thinking a lot about how I can't really think of how she could have been better protected other than possibly only being in the ex's presence with escort. But for all I know perhaps she thought it was amicable. I did not know her.

I know a couple of other people in her city but I have no idea what sorts of things random strangers can do to help at this point. Although there were kids in their twenties.

Speaking of birthdays, I had been sort of thinking of trying to have a birthday picnic like object at DCLX like I have in other years. But the weekend is so very full. I have someone who would very much like some help from me out toward Dulles at some point on Sunday but I will have been so non-stop tomorrow and Saturday.. and somehow, I haven't even been through all of the messages on Facebook.

Did I mention it ended up being a really good birthday weekend after all? How has there already been so long? 10 days past.

Argh I had a whole lot of phone calls that I was going to try and manage today.

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November 2021

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The Musings of a Wandering Soul

An rud is annamh is iontach

Reading

Growing up isn't mandatory it's fucking _wonderful_

Confit Tandoori Chickpeas

Giving up

Hometown flavour

Burnt Strawberry Tamales

the mall is a cold place in the middle of the afternoon

Chicken au Poivre

LENTIL WALNUT VEGAN CHORIZO STUFFED ZUCCHINI

liminal

Further adventures in NEFFA!

Potato-and-Mozzarella Croquettes

NEFFA Friday

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November 2021