Weekly Update: 5-29-16 Potato Salad

Kitchen clean at last.

On sparkling counter, I mix

Potato salad.

Life Update: After letting my house go to pot for a month, I finally had the time to attend to my chores. I spent the week scrubbing, polishing and mopping the kitchen into an acceptable level of shine. Just in time, too; my cousin Mitchell was hosting a barbecue on Saturday. I whipped together my own concoction of warm potatoes, vinegarette, light mayo, fresh parsley, perfectly hard-boiled eggs, and the secret ingredient--raw, chopped apples soaked in cider vinegar and apple juice that gave it that surprise pop. It was the first time I'd been able to experiment with cooking for several months. Having spare time, I feel like I am discovering the simple pleasures of life once again.

Writing Update: Last week, I realized that Camp Nanowrimo, in July, was rapidly approaching, and if I didn't want to end up flustered and frustrated, I needed to start brainstorming now. In April, I wrote the first 50 pages of the second draft of Counterfeit Diamond, a trickster story of a girl with a diamond ring that can change her appearance. For July, I want to write the next 50 pages. As I brainstormed, I was amazed that the story practically plotted itself. I hardly had to do more than nudge it along. Also, for July, I want to type up a third draft of certain chapters of The Originals, the sequel to The Changelings. I'm currently hand-writing these chapters in my notebook. This week, one of my characters get into a battle of wits with the main antagonist. I spent Friday night re-writing said battle of wits 5 times before it looked remotely serviceable. To me, that's the definition of a fun Friday night.

Monthly Update: Aliens, Pies, and Way Too Many Words

In my last weekly update, I believe I hinted that I was feeling overwhelmed and if I had to cut one thing out of my schedule, sadly, the blog would be first to go. It proved to be prophetic, for during the month of November, I got no blog entries written at all.

What do you mean it's December? Where did November go?

Now it's December, and most of my Thanksgiving stress has been replaced with Christmas stress. (For stress, as we know, does not disappear, simply changes its coat to suit the season. It's festive that way.) However, I feel obliged to at least attempt to get back in the blogging spirit, so here I go again, with my long-winded, verbose, and just plain chatty update.

Nanowrimo

Let's talk about the big, hungry, time-sucking monster in the room: National Novel Writing Month, or Nanowrimo. If you were at all angry my lack of blog entries this month (the three of you who actually read them), you can narrow your eyes and shake your fist at Nanowrimo. (That's right, Mom, get all your fury out.)

30 days. 50,000 words.

What Nanowrimo feels like

Actually, at the risk of sounding braggy, reaching 50,000 words wasn't the hard part. Don't get me wrong, it's not easy, but I'd done it before--3 times in November, at least 3 times in other months of the year. What I had not done before was lead a group of people to Nanowrimo victory. This meant writing (almost) daily emails and meeting at Panera, Sunday from 12:00-6:00 and Wednesday from 7:00-9:00.

The best part was watching the other writers grow beyond what they thought possible. While I don't think anyone hit 50,000 words, they did reel in some massive word counts--15,000 words, 25,000 words, 40,000 words, and more. The hardest part was finding time to recharge. I'm an introvert. I love to be around my friends, but it does tire me out at times.

One of the many inspirational quotes I sent out in my emails

Still, I ended with approximately 56,000 and finished a second draft of The Originals, my sequel to The Changelings. So I call that a successful month.

Huntington Beach Trip (Saturday, November 7th)

Inspired by a Meet-up my friend brought me to (see Weekly Update: 9-15-15), I decided to throw a beach bonfire bash for my brother Tyler, before the army shipped him off to Korea for a year. I'd had this idea in my mind for a month, so of course, I decided to throw the whole thing together four days before the planned day. It's amazing it worked out as well as it did.

Last time I'd been to a Huntington Beach bonfire, I'd heard that people had gotten there at 6:00 AM to ensure they got a fire pit. At 7:00 AM, I was rushing my ride out the door to ensure we got a good spot. Well, apparently, that bit of wisdom doesn't apply to November, even if it's a Saturday and the weather is perfectly sunny. We arrived at 8:00 and no one was there. By noon, one other group parked about three fire pits over. 

Yes, it was actually that empty.

If nothing else, I thought I'd get writing done, but that didn't really happen. I ended up looking for seashells by the ocean and then falling asleep on the sand.

The rest of the party began arriving around 2:00. We set up camp and all went down to look at the ocean. It was my two-year-old nephew Tyson's first time seeing the ocean. He liked the water a lot, but ended up getting soaked and running around the beach naked. My brother went to the car to get him a diaper and came back with dire news.

"Sea gulls are attacking the camp."

Never trust a seagull!

 They were eating our hot dog buns, pecking through the plastic. We all ran back to camp and scared them away. But the hot dog buns were ruined.

Mitchell had borrowed his cousin's sun canopy, determined he could set it up for himself. Six people later, no one could get the tent poles to stand. Then Shantel walked over and snap, snap, snap, had the tent up in minutes.

We set a campfire using kindling wood, lighter fluid, and a cardboard pizza box. The boys all competed in a game of ultimate frisbee, while most of the girls tried hooping, courtesy of my friend Ashley. We put Tyson in a hoop and spun him around and around, until he got dizzy. He squealed with delight.

Finally, we get down to the good stuff.

Pizza, bunless hotdogs, spam musubi, chips, a veggie tray, vegan pumpkin bread. And for dessert, s'mores and fire roasted marshmallows. I was just about to suggest ghost stories around the campfire, when I noticed everyone staring transfixed at the sky.

"What's going on?" they said.

"What's in the sky?"

It looked like there was fog over the night sky, except that it was only in one section, an all-too perfectly spherical section. An green light flashed through it.

This is the best photo I could find, but it doesn't do it justice.

"Aliens," someone said.

And I swear it did look like the cloud of smoke hiding the UFO in Independence Day.

 (For my cousin's blurry video of it, click here.)

Of course, none of us believed it, and muttered to ourselves about comets or something like that. But we didn't quite buy that it was a comet. And we couldn't stop staring. I swear, I half-believed it was aliens, and suddenly had a great deal more respect for ancient people going crazy at the sight of a comet. When something weird happens in the sky and you don't know why, it's damn scary. It makes you feel about eight, small and helpless. It was enough to send the party-goers near us packing for home.

Suddenly, this makes a lot more sense

The cloud eventually dissipated and our smart phones eventually told us it was some sort of military rocket test, although we didn't half-buy that either. "Aliens," we concluded. "Definitely, aliens." It made a better story, a bit of a legend for our family's annals.

As the fire died down, the younger adults tossed in whatever food we had left to keep it burning, including the seagull-pecked buns. Incredibly, they hardly burned. It seemed potato chips were the best fuel and kept the fire burning a few minutes more.

Disneyland (Sunday, November 15th)

My cousin Kevin and my cousin Mitchell's wife Krystal both work at Disneyland, and I guess they cashed in on all their free guest passes to get us in to the park. To wit, there was Kevin; Mitchell; Krystal; Mitchell and Krystal's two-month-old baby girl Leilani; Krystal's mom who we wheeled around in a wheelchair; Tyler; Shantel; little Tyson in his stroller; my cousin Alyson; my cousin Nathan; Nathan's girlfriend Cindy; my uncle   Norm; my aunt Sonia; my mom; my dad; me, of course; and, because we'd somehow gotten an extra ticket, my friend Ashley, whom I knew since I was five and who was practically part of the family.

The whole crew.

I was obsessed with snacks. That's just my thing. When I was a kid and we'd go hiking, I'd stuff my pockets with granola bars in case I ended up lost in the woods: at least I wouldn't starve. Same thing here, except, instead of starving, I was more likely to be price gouged. So I stuffed my backpack with pretzels, popcorn, clementine oranges (the small ones that peel easily), almond poppy seed muffins, and vegan banana muffins (for Ashley). I also brought sandwich bags to divide the spoils.

I never go on an expedition without proper food supplies.

In the old days, we had to sneak food in clandestinely, like a secret ops mission. Nowadays, no one cared. Security opened my backpack, saw all the food, and waved me through. It turned out to be good I brought so much snacks, because it was all we had to eat until dinner. Tyson survived on a steady diet of popcorn and pretzels.

I thought we'd all split up, but as it turned out, we mostly conquered the amusement park together. We were a slow, amorphous mass rolling through the park. Ashley had never been to California Adventures, so first we hit up Flying Over California. While we waited for The Tower of Terror, a group of five of us hit up Star Tours and got a special preview of the new Star Wars themed Hyper-Space Mountain. Maybe I'm getting old, but that ride seemed fast. My glasses nearly whipped off my face.

Space Mountain + Star Wars Holograms

We reconvened at the Tower of Terror. Ashley was terrified of drop rides, but we peer-pressured her into it. Her leg was shaking uncontrollably as soon as the ride began. She screamed, I screamed, we all screamed. But we survived, and Ashley was glad she'd gone through with it.

Back in Tomorrow land, we hit the Buzz Lightyear ride Galaxy Blasters. Of course, we had to go on Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion, which had been decked out in Nightmare Before Christmas decor. Ashley and I wanted to hit up the Indian Jones ride, but it was having technical difficulties, so we had to skip it. In the end, we might not have hit the most rides, but we got on a lot of the good ones. 

And this was where the Haunted Mansion broke down mid-ride. Sigh. Good times.

And we did it all as a family.

Thanksgiving (Thursday, November 26th)

One full week of no school. You'd have thought I'd get much writing done. But you'd have thought wrong. Chores had taken a backseat for Nanowrimo, and the house looked like a typhoon of papers had blown through. Not to mention 3 week old grease griming the sink and that gray ring around my bathtub. Ick! I had to clean. And with the Christmas holidays looming, it was now or never.

This was me, but with a brown braid.

 Monday: cleaning. Tuesday: cleaning. Wednesday: cleaning. Dusting, mopping, vacuuming, scrubbing toilets. 6 rooms! Tons of laundry! Grocery shopping! Paying bills! And when I finished that, it was time to make dessert: 4 pies (custard, pumpkin, apple, and s'more) and 2 batches of tapioca pudding.

Not really my pies, but I was too tired to take a picture.

I just wanted to eat turkey and zone out. But Shantel, my sister-in-law (who's living with my parents since my brother's been deployed to Korea), wanted to do black Thursday shopping. So we huddled in a line outside Target, freezing, as we waited for the store to open. My 2-year-old nephew Tyson played on a bench with a girl his age sporting a blond ponytail and a pink bow.

Sadly, I took part in this.

The line began to move. In we went. It was actually pretty organized and civil and not at all the feeding frenzy sensational news coverage would have you believe. But it was still as jam-packed crowded as a Disneyland ride, and I had no desire to shop. I hadn't made a list or a budget. So while Shantel and my mom maneuvered the crowds, I baby-sat. I pulled Tyson into the children's book section (amazingly, no one was there) and read him all the books I could find. Then I amused him for a half an hour with nothing but the pens from my case.

On Friday, I took advantage of Black Friday sales to pick up some much needed clothes. (Work pants for $15 at JC Penny's. Great deal.) We watched The Good Dinosaur, and Tyson howled with the cave boy. Saturday it was down the hill for a Peruvian food "Thanksgiving" with my cousins and dessert featuring a massive bowl of shaved ice.

Notice how Tyson is the first to reach for the dessert...

...and the last to scrape the bowl clean.

To conclude, Thanksgiving passed and I got nothing done.

Odds and Ends

I had multiple substitute assignments throughout the month. Apparently, the Placentia-Yorba Linda School District has a lack of subs and an abundance of sick teachers. A few years ago, my November tally was a sad 3 jobs the whole month. I got more than that the first week of the month. And it didn't slow down.

You're welcome.

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) ended their Family-to-Family classes mid-November with a potluck (I made apple crisp) and an award's ceremony (I got perfect attendance). It was not always easy dealing with the topic of mental illness. In fact, the first four weeks were excruciating. (See: Weekly Update: 9-30-15) But at the very end, I did feel connected with the group, bound together by a common cause. As much as I rejoice having my Tuesday evenings free again, I will miss the classes.

I finally paid off the $23,000 school loans I took out for my Bachelor's Degree! Woo hoo! Now that I'm free of my University of Redlands student loans, I can take out new student loans for Cal-State Fullerton in order to get my credential. Sigh. Oh well, that's life, I guess.

Do you have any idea how much it cost to get enough education to educate students?

By the way, just applying to Cal-State Fullerton has been stupidly expensive. I applied to Cal-State Fullerton, learned I applied for the wrong semester, and had to apply again, in the process incurring two $55 fees. Fingers crossed it goes right this time and I actually get in to the prerequisite fall classes. I applied for CPR classes in December (another $50) and the CSET in January ($297). So if anyone wonders why their Christmas presents are crappy this year, blame Fullerton.

I've been trying to study for the CSET exam, by brushing up on my rhetoric. I found a lovely book by Sam Leith called Words Like Loaded Pistols. It's definitely liberally-biased, but it does a good job of breaking down the study of persuasion and making it accessible for a modern audience. I also read Tartuffe by Moliere and Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, which, I think, are on opposite ends of the genre spectrum, but kept me amused nonetheless. Reviews pending.

Reading now. Don't bug me!

Weekly Update: Easter Family Reunion

It felt strange being back at home again, even if it was only for three days.

By the time I arrived in Victorville on Thursday night, everyone was already there. My sister-in-law Shantel had flown in from Oklahoma to visit her grandfather before he died. She'd brought her one year-old-son Tyson, whom I'd seen twice before in all my life. I wanted to spend time with him, but so did everyone else.

My sister Jaime and her wife Paola drove in from Seattle, bringing their new dog Selina in tow. The black fluffy chow mix made fast friends with toy poodle Lincoln and formed an uneasy alliance with the old pitbull Shadow. While the dogs slept in the yard, Tyson ran around the house with Jaime and Paola, having already made friends with them. My mom, of course, had fallen in love with her new grandbaby. I had to somehow squeeze myself into the mix.

Selina sleeps through all the fuss.

I wanted to spend time with the adults, too. But Shantel was caught between funeral arrangements and meeting old friends. Jaime and Paola were constantly going back and forth between their two families. Mom was running all over the place, and Dad was trying to get everyone committed to a single activity (ultimately failing). Sometimes it felt like our family was pulling apart like taffy, literally stretching to accommodate the different geography. It was hard to realize that I was now on the periphery, instead of in the center.

But, you know, right as I was at the height of feeling frustrated and miserable, I just chased around the baby and the new dogs. And that helped me feel like part of the family again. This Easter weekend had moments of stress, moments of frustration, moments nostalgia, moments of laughter, and moments of peace. In the end, it was all about family.

* * *

We knew Tyson was probably too young to dye Easter eggs, but we'd already bought the egg dye and we had nothing better to do. I went to work boiling fifteen eggs. (Or rather, sticking them in a pot of water on the stove and forgetting them until Dad yelled that the pot was boiling over.) There were six adults and one little baby, so I reasoned we'd each have about two eggs each.

Unfortunately, Tyson decided that all the eggs were his. He grabbed them and dropped them into plastic cups.

Sometimes Tyson dyed two eggs at once.

The dyes splashed on the table. Jaime had the enviable task of both holding Tyson up and trying to clean the mess with a white cloth that very quickly became multi-hued. The whole time, Tyson stared at the eggs with the intense expression of a tortured artist.

It was also Paola's first time dying eggs. Not that Tyson cared. He took her still-drying eggs from their cardboard holder and dunked them into new colors with his bare hands. I managed to protect my one egg that I'd patterned with bunny heads. But almost everyone else fell prey to Tyson's artistic vision.

Admittedly, his eggs came out looking pretty good.

* * *

For the last two weeks, Mom kept telling me we'd have to figure out what to do for our Easter meal, but the conversation never progressed beyond that point. Suddenly it was the Saturday before Easter, and we needed to go grocery shopping. Mom was harried.

"Make a brunch menu,"she told me as she ran out the door. "Ham!" she added as an afterthought. So, aside from the dead pig centerpiece, I had complete creative control over our meal, which is, honestly, just the way I like it.

That was how, at 6:30, before I'd even gotten dressed or made my morning coffee, I found my self finger-deep in sticky dough, rolling out homemade chocolate scones. They came out warm from the oven and everyone ate them as a kind of pre-brunch snack--including Baby Tyson.

I think he approved!

But I had only just begun to cook.

My Easter brunch menu included blueberry crunch coffee cake, made-to-order omelets, French toast, the obligatory ham, scalloped potatoes, and both fruit and vegetable salad. The vegetable salad was a simple mixture of spinach, cucumbers (soaked in salt water to take out the bitterness), and sliced orange and red bell peppers, with optional toppings of almonds and dried cherries and a Bordeaux cherry vinegarette. (I used the thick, syrupy vinegar I bought at Taste It!) I mixed blueberries, kiwi, mango, mandarin oranges, and pineapple to make a rainbow-hued fruit salad.

The Fruits and Flowers of my Labor

Somewhere in between sticking the potatoes in the oven and mixing up the salad dressing, I took a detour outside into the brisk morning air, maneuvered around scampering puppies, and picked the biggest roses from my dad's garden for the centerpiece. (I considered picking the irises, but only two were blooming and I didn't want to cut them.) I accessorized the table with two eggs (one stone, one hard-boiled) and crystal glasses with napkins inside made to mimic the flowers' shape. It was simple, but very spring-like.

It took 4 hours to prepare this elegant feast and all of about 20 minutes to consume it. This didn't bother me, though. I had fun playing restaurant and I think I pulled off a pretty darn good brunch. And the best thing was that Mom and Dad happily did the dishes, leaving me with all the cooking fun and none of the clean up.

* * *

My brother Tyler, who's in the army, had been in the field for the last few weeks, making communication impossible. So when his name showed up on Mom's cell phone Saturday night, it was a bit of a surprise. Mom was brushing Tyson's teeth, but as soon as she'd learned I was talking to Tyler, she yanked the phone out of my hand mid-sentence and unceremoniously left me with the baby. (Who, by the way, promptly grabbed my toothbrush and popped it in his mouth.) Tyler said he'd take a plane to Victorville. We'd see him for Easter.

He came in the middle of the afternoon, still in his fatigues and looking very brown-baked from the sun. We got about five minutes to talk to him before Shantel grabbed him to take him to her grandfather's wake. While Tyler would be home for a couple more days, I was going down the hill.

"See you in two years," my brother said.

Sadly, it wasn't a joke. Tyler's scheduled to be stationed for Korea for at least a year, possibly two. And since it was hard to visit him in his base in Oklahoma, this was it. We hugged and said goodbye and that was all. The brief family reunion had come to an end.

Travelogue: 3 Mile Hike. Again.

What: Family Walk
Where: Fort Sill, Oklahoma
When: Saturday, August 9, 2014

It's the same track of land that, two days earlier, had reduced our puppies to panting fluffballs. But the setting sun has softened the land. Yellow grasses blends with the green, and shadows stretch luxuriantly over the hills. Though the humidity remains, the temperature has cooled to just bearable.

Same course, different mindset.

The whole family is together: Mom, Dad, me, my sister Jaime, my brother Tyler, his wife Shantel, their baby Tyson in his new red stroller, and puppies Bella, Mia, and Lincoln. I'm feeling mellow and in no mood to race.

But Tyler is. He steals Mia from me and makes her run with him. Some how her chunky little legs keep up with his long strides. They go off the road, down the pokey grass, and toward the dried creek. Jaime and Lincoln follow their trail. Bella wants to run with them, but she's stuck with me and I hold her back.

Jungle gym equipment sits at intervals along the roads with signage to explain how to exercise. My brother, fitness buff that he is, decides to do the sit ups, pull ups, and whatever crazy aerobics the signs advises him to do. I'm not really paying attention. The sun is setting, and its orange glow highlights every seed pod in the wheat grass.

The sky grows indigo, and a big full moon hangs in the sky. The man in the moon looks sad. Puppies, water bottles, and baby are getting shuffled. Tyson toddles and I end up pushing an empty stroller. Shantel takes her dogs off their leash, despite my many protests that its illegal.

Tyler gets bored of running the normal way and starts jogging backwards. "It's good for the calves." Shantel complains that she's tired. Tyler says we can get 59 cent slushies after we finish, and that cheers her, so that by the end of the hike, she's running with him.

Near the car, I hear a good deal of chattering from one of the trees. Everyone says its birds, but they have a strange way of flapping and I swear I their wings are made of diaphanous skin, not feathers. I say they're bats. But everyone is too busy loading pooped out puppies and fussy baby into the cars to care.

Travelogue: Puppy Races

What: Three Mile Hike
Where: Fort Sill, Oklahoma
When: Thursday, August 7, 2014

The Contestants

Bella

AKA: "Bella-pie," "Bella Button"
Breed: Jack Russell Terrier/ Chihuahua
Age: 3 Years Old
Weight: Moderately Fat
Specialty: Leg Nester
Handler: Irene (Mom)

Mia

AKA: "Mufkin," "Chunky Monkey"

Breed: BostonTerrier/ Chihuahua

Age: 2 Years Old

Weight: Very Fat

Specialty: Ferocious Eater

Handler: Becky (Me)

Lincoln

AKA: "Lincoln-berry," "Mr. Logs"
Breed: Toy Poodle/ ???
Age: Almost 1
Weight: Scrawny
Specialty: Pack Leader
Handler: Jaime (Sister)



The Track

Three winding miles of asphalt road with bridges, hills, and construction work. A few spread out oak trees provide poor cover amid the relentless grass. Facing 100 degree heat and humidity, almost no shade, and limited water, can three energetic puppies complete the course? Or will they fall victim to the harshness of nature?

And They're Off!

Right out the gate, Mia decides to lighten the load, and we lose valuable seconds while I wrestle with the plastic bag. But she's off again. Her feet go patter-patter on the asphalt. We take the lead. Lincoln comes up behind us. We pass him. He passes us. We're right on each other's heals.

Bella begins to snort and huff. She's down and out and resting in Mom's arms.

We break in the shade of an oak and Jaime pours the dogs. Mia doesn't want to drink. The heat is immense. Lincoln starts to tucker out. Will he make it? No. Jaime swoops in to pick him up. And its Mia, fat sturdy Mia, who crosses the bridge independent of human assistance. Look at her, waddling like a champion.

And They're Out!

But the heat takes its toll. Mia's tongue lolls out, and she pants and pants. We're veering off course. No, Mia. She throws in the shade and refuses to budge. Bella and Lincoln, well-rested now, trot on past her. Get up Mia. We're almost to the halfway point.

She gets up and slowly patters down the road.

I believe in you Mia. You're a strong puppy. You don't need to be carried like those wimps!

Or maybe you do. Mia plops down on the hot road and pants so hard spittle froths from her teeth. I pick her up and walk her to the shade. There she drinks copious amounts of water.

We think the dogs are well-rested and can complete the course. We're wrong. Barely an eighth of a mile and Mia keeps stopping for breaks. The judges consult. Ladies and gentlemen, the race has been called off due to extreme weather conditions. We will have to resume this race at a later date.

Dad (yes, he was here, supervising the whole race) and Jaime walk ahead to pick up the car. Mom and I shade the puppies under a concrete shelter. Mia gobbles down the last of the water and flops on her side with all the majesty of a humpback whale breaching the surface of the ocean.

Commentary

The crucial mistake happened before the race even took place. Originally, the hike was scheduled for the morning. But constant delays and the inability to get it together caused the whole party to leave the house at almost noon, the hottest and bleakest hour of the day. Inadequate water supplies added to the troubles. In the future, such mistakes will have to be corrected if the puppies have any hopes of completing their circuit.