October 2016
I have perfected the egg.
In any shape, way or form, I'm pretty sure I've mastered the art of cooking eggs.
It is but a humble talent, but one I wield with great pride.
Whether you want scrambled, sunny-side up, over easy, hardboiled or softboiled, I can definitely do it. Ramen eggs where the white is just cooked and the yellow is still gooey and runny? No problem, brah. I gotchu.
In general, I excel at camp cooking because I've more experience with it than others and because people tend to eat my cooking in the middle of the woods combined with spending all day climbing, and guess what it turns out the greatest seasoning of all is a delicate and precise blend of absolute starvation and pure desperation.
However, as many people can tell you, my actual in-home cooking skills are quite lacking. I'm imprecise with a lot of things and don't actually understand the interplay between different vegetables and seasonings.
I also don't buy meat so have no idea what to do with it.
When people buy meat for me to cook, I most often throw my hands into the air and flail about wildly until someone comes by and gently reminds me that flailing is not the appropriate response to meat.
Who knew.
At least I'm not eating a bag of boiled green beans for dinner anymore, like I used to in college.
However, I am confident in my baking. I've reached a point with a lot of my baking where I feel comfortable modifying and winging my recipes. I tend to do a fair bit of hippie shit like throwing in chia seeds, ground flax seed, substituting fats and cutting sugars for natural sweeteners.
I definitely hope to improve more, especially in the bread and less-sweet pastry realm. As I get older, I definitely enjoy sweet things less and just want to do things like sit around drinking tea or plain hot water.
I've also started to embrace other Old Lady Activities like walking with my hands on my waist and swinging my arms.
I can't wait for the day I get visor rights. And hitting people with my purse rights.
(Side note: I edit these photos pretty quickly after I take them, but often write these comments weeks later. Why did I not straighten the photo above? It's really crooked... Past Me is really a jerk and Present Me is apathetic... sorry Future Me.)
Anyway, these photos are from a trip to Yosemite because I love it.
Second trip of the year to the Grotto, and I couldn't have been happier! I didn't manage to send Rawhide, the 10c which I'd hope to send, but I did manage to reach my personal goal for the year-- to send a 5.11 crack!
Not pictured here, I'd toproped Snakebite during our first Grotto trip in late spring, and though it was hard, I definitely felt like it was possible to do! After toproping it once and leading it once on this trip, I was able to get the send on my second lead attempt! Very... cathartic, is that the right word? Almost a relief, because of how badly I wanted it!
The gear was definitely kinda finicky in the first bit after the roof, but it felt great to do! Very pleased with my work and excited for more cracks in the future! Winter is the season for bouldering, so I probably won't get to do much more crack climbing in the season, but I'm excited for spring!
Remember when I said that Past Me is a jerk and Present Me is apathetic? :|
I had so many opportunities to just... fix the angle on this photo... but I didn't.
I just left it here in its slightly-crooked-glory.
Let's call it Art.
We had a Pizza + Cheese Fondue + Sushi + Pie Party.
It was delicious.
I may have brought the sushi.
It may not have fit in.
It was still delicious.
San Francisco is really beautiful.
I feel like I'm always at odds of what I want to do next, but at the very least, I can say that San Francisco is beautiful.
There's a lot you can learn here-- it's so dynamic-- and I definitely think it's pushing society to grow a lot.
I also think this photo is slightly crooked :|
I went slightly crazy this month and spent 17 hours straight cleaning my simple 10' x 10' space I call home.
No item went untouched.
Unorganized.
Uncleaned.
I got rid of things.
My goal is to reach a point in my life where every year I can reevaluate my belongings and confidently say that every item I have is needed. I want to be at a point where I am no longer buying unnecessary items.
I think I do a pretty good job of not buying things, but I can do better.
It's funny-- I think I'm pretty fiery, often trying to prove myself and assert my independence. 'Fuck the patriarchy!' I say.
But sometimes I find myself falling into some stereotypes-- I like to bake and craft.
I'm not sure how this makes me feel, but I like crafting so craft I do.
I also cut my hair this month.
This doesn't sound like a big deal, but according to my calendar, it's October 2016, and the last time I had my hair cut was in December 2013 (when Sarah trimmed it for me while we were on Koh Yao Noi, Thailand), so 34 months-- almost 3 whole years. In that time, I didn't trim my hair once.
I actually have really thick hair, so it grows super slowly. When I had my hair cut in 2013, it went up to my shoulders. By the time I cut if off this October, it was only down to my waist, which is really only a total growth of 18 or so inches-- so just over half an inch of growth a month.
I tied it up and mailed it into to Pantene Beautiful Lengths as a hair donation for wigs. Hopefully some of the hair is usable, though I'm not sure it was. 3 years in the sun hasn't been the best for it, so I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they just tossed it as useless.
I will try to keep my hair in better condition to make it more usable for next time.