scordatura (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
scordatura) wrote2020-06-08 07:33 pm
scordatura) wrote2020-06-08 07:33 pm
Entry tags:
May Update
Hello, friends, it's only about a week into June, which is definitely an improvement on me getting these out, ha! I'm getting better!!
The world continues, uh, terrible and generally metaphorically on fire, which is very unfortunate in terms of trying to accomplish anything other than general existence -- but I continue to be doing my best, and attempting to figure out how best to consistently continue doing that. So below I will continue keeping y'all updates on that particular journey!
Writing
Gay Werewolves: 128,946 words (+2.3k), 126 pages into draft #1, almost two-thirds through chapter 13.
CMRN #2: 75,737< words (+2.6k), about three-quarters into Chapter 11.
Further projects. I once again have not managed much on this front -- computer woes and work getting very busy really fucked over all my motivation! -- but I'm trying to dedicate June, as much as possible, to creating better writing routines and thinking hard about what comes next. I'd like very much to be creating some consistent forward momentum on Urbomancers, and maybe next month I'll think even harder about what comes next in the long run for me writingwise!
Knitting
Friend projects: 7" on #1 (one new inch -- going a lil slow, but only one more inch till I can start finishing it up, aaaa!!), 12" on #2 (two new inches)!
Scarf: Done!!! Clocks in at a VERY NICE 69", whew, and still needs to be washed (since the yarn is acrylic and the pattern is simple I'm not going to bother with blocking), but it's absolutely exhilarating to actually finish a bit project right now!! And I'm VERY excited to see what I can make for donating next, aaaaaa. (I'm thinking it's going to be this guy, a pattern I found that both says it's great for charity knitting AND uses the exact yarn I'm trying to get rid of [leftovers from my baby Yoda], hell yeah hell yeah!)
Bookmarks and coasters for yarn store: No new bookmarks (since I'm making coasters on the needles I need for it, sob), but one new coaster in this pattern (in this color), two in this pattern with that yarn and this one held together, and one with just the lattern yarn! Four coasters and two bookmarks to go, and things are just starting to open back up, so if I focus up I can probably finish in a couple weeks and present them to the store! \o/
Mystery shawl: It's done!! The very last clue ended up being this wildly intricate lace border with a bunch of techniques I'm not particularly good at -- and I didn't think that it would look particularly good with the yarn I had even if I had the patience to figure it out, SO I just decided to skip it. :") And thus, it's done!! I finally finished weaving in the ends at the very end of the month, too (just in time for A BRAND-NEW MKAL SHAWL, FUCK YEAH!!), so all that's left is washing/blocking, which I'll do once I've bought a washtub from Target that'll fit it, HECK YEAH.
Cooking/Baking
Cooking: I made two brand-new chicken recipes last month: first, Southern-style stewed chicken and rice (sadly I don't have a recipe link for this, since the site decided to block their free recipes shortly after I first saw it, boooo), which is basically chicken and rice slow-cooked with broth and onion and garlic -- so simple but so, SO delicious, so satisfying and tasty!! And second, chicken chili, a recipe I approached with some trepidation, given that I'm usually not a huge fan of spice or beans, but how could I resist instructions like "throw everything in the pot and turn the heat on," especially from my goddess Deb Perelman?? And sure enough, this spice level adjusted for my taste and the final product loaded up with cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips -- and GODDAMN, did we feast in such a satisfying way. I really, really enjoyed this; the level of effort as compared to the level of deliciousness means I'm absolutely going to make it again.
I also made goulash from a Croatian mix I've been intrigued by for months, and it turned out super simple and super delicious!! Definitely going into the regular rotation for me, since all I need is egg noodles and meat (and water to combine the mix into). The ultimate comfort food for me!!
Baking: A few new adventures this time around! A more traditional dessert: SK's salted chocolate chunk cookies, which turned out looking entirely different than Deb's all three times I ended up making them, but as you could probably guess considering that clause, THEY WERE SO FUCKING GOOD, basically just a small puffy exceedingly chocolatey deliciousness that made me so happy each time!! Definitely going into the standard rotation. A less traditional dessert: I really wanted to make Serbian plum dumplings, another ultimate comfort food, and bought frozen plums for this purpose... but sadly they ended up totally impossible to de-pit, so I had to frantically contemplate other fillings. I went with a few more traditional options -- plum butter, rosehip jam, and Nutella, all rolled in breadcrumbs and sugar -- and a few creative options -- s'mores, chocolate peanut butter, and fluffernutter, all rolled in crushed tea biscuits. The latter ended up not too bad at all, but the former (especially the plum butter!) were QUITE good, and the dough was so simple, I really look forward to revisiting this with some actual fruit fillings!!
I'm also not sure whether this counts more as a meal or a dessert, but I also make kaiserschmarrn, which is basically Austrian pancake nuggets. :") I think my pan was a little too big to make them entirely true to form, because they definitely ended up a little thinner and more thoroughly cooked than it seems like they should be, but otherwise this was SUCH a fun Fancy Weekend Treat to make, and so so delicious with a dusting of powdered sugar; I also used the crappy frozen plums from above to make a sloppy version of the compote in the recipe, which was DELICIOUS despite its sloppiness, so I really look forward to revisiting this on future weekends!!
Yeast-based: This was the month that I finally actually used my starter to bake bread, !!!! I tried two recipes: first, this one, out of it seeming simple and easy/quick to put together with minimal actual starter (Brad is pretty small and we were fairly flour-limited, so anything requiring even one cup was out of the question at first). And I was pretty pleased with it, but I still haven't perfected it in terms of both texture and taste -- my second recipe, this one, has gone much better on both fronts!! I've made it twice now and it's been so easy and fun to work with, and I think I'm super close to getting it juuuuust right, aaaaaa.
Languages
Duolingo: I've decided, for June, to section off one day every week to dedicate to language practice -- I do French and Italian every day, because I'm familiar with them already and so I can do so more casually, but I think one day per week to focus on really intensely getting through some of them would also be useful. Most importantly, though, I want to do this for German and Russian, because due to my lack of familiarity I can't casually work on either and really need that dedicated time. I'm thinking I can ramp this up like a class of sorts -- one day per week in June, then two days per week in July and August, if that works, then maybe three days per week -- we'll see!! I'd really like to make this a stronger priority for me and I think sectioning off specific time for it will be how to do it best. \o/
Serbian: Haven't had the time or inclination to pick this back up, but I would really like to prioritize this next month!!
Academic/Professional Goals
Work: Soooo it's... a weird and depressing time to be involved in criminal justice reform work, huh? /o\ I don't really want to belabor the point here (maybe I'll want to get my thoughts about it down at some point, potentially stay tuned for that), but this past week or so has really, really made me think long and hard about the work my organization is doing and what its place ought to be and whether there even is a place for it, and if there isn't, what that might mean for the rest of my career (and life) moving forward. It's a lot to try to wrap my mind around -- if there's a way to reconcile the conviction that trying to improve the lives of the people currently involved in harmful and oppressive institutions is a worthwhile aim, since dismantling them won't happen overnight, and the fear that working alongside those institutions, whatever the end goal might be, is still contributing to their legitimacy -- and I'm not going to come up with any simple answers anytime soon. It's just something I'm going to have to keep sitting with and see where it takes me (which is an answer my anxiety brain hates, ha, but there's not really any other option for me right now! sigh!).
Dissertation: Sent my penultimate hypothesis to Katya a couple weeks ago and still haven't heard back, but I know summer is a weird time for her so it could still be a bit, so!! Still very exciting regardless!!! Might send her a follow-up question about the LAST HYPOTHESIS (!!!) SOON, AAAAAA.
Personal/Interpersonal Goals
Writing letters to friends: STILL NOTHING, I AM WAITING ON STAMPS TO START WRITING POSTCARDS, HOPEFULLY SOON?? GODDAMMIT, USPS. (I'm sorry, USPS. I know you're under a lot of stress and I love you.)
Personal life newsletter: Honestly going to table this for now, considering how on-fire everything feels both in the world and in my brain! Maybe will come back to it at some point, but let's take this off the agenda for now. :")
The world continues, uh, terrible and generally metaphorically on fire, which is very unfortunate in terms of trying to accomplish anything other than general existence -- but I continue to be doing my best, and attempting to figure out how best to consistently continue doing that. So below I will continue keeping y'all updates on that particular journey!
Writing
Gay Werewolves: 128,946 words (+2.3k), 126 pages into draft #1, almost two-thirds through chapter 13.
CMRN #2: 75,737< words (+2.6k), about three-quarters into Chapter 11.
Further projects. I once again have not managed much on this front -- computer woes and work getting very busy really fucked over all my motivation! -- but I'm trying to dedicate June, as much as possible, to creating better writing routines and thinking hard about what comes next. I'd like very much to be creating some consistent forward momentum on Urbomancers, and maybe next month I'll think even harder about what comes next in the long run for me writingwise!
Knitting
Friend projects: 7" on #1 (one new inch -- going a lil slow, but only one more inch till I can start finishing it up, aaaa!!), 12" on #2 (two new inches)!
Scarf: Done!!! Clocks in at a VERY NICE 69", whew, and still needs to be washed (since the yarn is acrylic and the pattern is simple I'm not going to bother with blocking), but it's absolutely exhilarating to actually finish a bit project right now!! And I'm VERY excited to see what I can make for donating next, aaaaaa. (I'm thinking it's going to be this guy, a pattern I found that both says it's great for charity knitting AND uses the exact yarn I'm trying to get rid of [leftovers from my baby Yoda], hell yeah hell yeah!)
Bookmarks and coasters for yarn store: No new bookmarks (since I'm making coasters on the needles I need for it, sob), but one new coaster in this pattern (in this color), two in this pattern with that yarn and this one held together, and one with just the lattern yarn! Four coasters and two bookmarks to go, and things are just starting to open back up, so if I focus up I can probably finish in a couple weeks and present them to the store! \o/
Mystery shawl: It's done!! The very last clue ended up being this wildly intricate lace border with a bunch of techniques I'm not particularly good at -- and I didn't think that it would look particularly good with the yarn I had even if I had the patience to figure it out, SO I just decided to skip it. :") And thus, it's done!! I finally finished weaving in the ends at the very end of the month, too (just in time for A BRAND-NEW MKAL SHAWL, FUCK YEAH!!), so all that's left is washing/blocking, which I'll do once I've bought a washtub from Target that'll fit it, HECK YEAH.
Cooking/Baking
Cooking: I made two brand-new chicken recipes last month: first, Southern-style stewed chicken and rice (sadly I don't have a recipe link for this, since the site decided to block their free recipes shortly after I first saw it, boooo), which is basically chicken and rice slow-cooked with broth and onion and garlic -- so simple but so, SO delicious, so satisfying and tasty!! And second, chicken chili, a recipe I approached with some trepidation, given that I'm usually not a huge fan of spice or beans, but how could I resist instructions like "throw everything in the pot and turn the heat on," especially from my goddess Deb Perelman?? And sure enough, this spice level adjusted for my taste and the final product loaded up with cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips -- and GODDAMN, did we feast in such a satisfying way. I really, really enjoyed this; the level of effort as compared to the level of deliciousness means I'm absolutely going to make it again.
I also made goulash from a Croatian mix I've been intrigued by for months, and it turned out super simple and super delicious!! Definitely going into the regular rotation for me, since all I need is egg noodles and meat (and water to combine the mix into). The ultimate comfort food for me!!
Baking: A few new adventures this time around! A more traditional dessert: SK's salted chocolate chunk cookies, which turned out looking entirely different than Deb's all three times I ended up making them, but as you could probably guess considering that clause, THEY WERE SO FUCKING GOOD, basically just a small puffy exceedingly chocolatey deliciousness that made me so happy each time!! Definitely going into the standard rotation. A less traditional dessert: I really wanted to make Serbian plum dumplings, another ultimate comfort food, and bought frozen plums for this purpose... but sadly they ended up totally impossible to de-pit, so I had to frantically contemplate other fillings. I went with a few more traditional options -- plum butter, rosehip jam, and Nutella, all rolled in breadcrumbs and sugar -- and a few creative options -- s'mores, chocolate peanut butter, and fluffernutter, all rolled in crushed tea biscuits. The latter ended up not too bad at all, but the former (especially the plum butter!) were QUITE good, and the dough was so simple, I really look forward to revisiting this with some actual fruit fillings!!
I'm also not sure whether this counts more as a meal or a dessert, but I also make kaiserschmarrn, which is basically Austrian pancake nuggets. :") I think my pan was a little too big to make them entirely true to form, because they definitely ended up a little thinner and more thoroughly cooked than it seems like they should be, but otherwise this was SUCH a fun Fancy Weekend Treat to make, and so so delicious with a dusting of powdered sugar; I also used the crappy frozen plums from above to make a sloppy version of the compote in the recipe, which was DELICIOUS despite its sloppiness, so I really look forward to revisiting this on future weekends!!
Yeast-based: This was the month that I finally actually used my starter to bake bread, !!!! I tried two recipes: first, this one, out of it seeming simple and easy/quick to put together with minimal actual starter (Brad is pretty small and we were fairly flour-limited, so anything requiring even one cup was out of the question at first). And I was pretty pleased with it, but I still haven't perfected it in terms of both texture and taste -- my second recipe, this one, has gone much better on both fronts!! I've made it twice now and it's been so easy and fun to work with, and I think I'm super close to getting it juuuuust right, aaaaaa.
Languages
Duolingo: I've decided, for June, to section off one day every week to dedicate to language practice -- I do French and Italian every day, because I'm familiar with them already and so I can do so more casually, but I think one day per week to focus on really intensely getting through some of them would also be useful. Most importantly, though, I want to do this for German and Russian, because due to my lack of familiarity I can't casually work on either and really need that dedicated time. I'm thinking I can ramp this up like a class of sorts -- one day per week in June, then two days per week in July and August, if that works, then maybe three days per week -- we'll see!! I'd really like to make this a stronger priority for me and I think sectioning off specific time for it will be how to do it best. \o/
Serbian: Haven't had the time or inclination to pick this back up, but I would really like to prioritize this next month!!
Academic/Professional Goals
Work: Soooo it's... a weird and depressing time to be involved in criminal justice reform work, huh? /o\ I don't really want to belabor the point here (maybe I'll want to get my thoughts about it down at some point, potentially stay tuned for that), but this past week or so has really, really made me think long and hard about the work my organization is doing and what its place ought to be and whether there even is a place for it, and if there isn't, what that might mean for the rest of my career (and life) moving forward. It's a lot to try to wrap my mind around -- if there's a way to reconcile the conviction that trying to improve the lives of the people currently involved in harmful and oppressive institutions is a worthwhile aim, since dismantling them won't happen overnight, and the fear that working alongside those institutions, whatever the end goal might be, is still contributing to their legitimacy -- and I'm not going to come up with any simple answers anytime soon. It's just something I'm going to have to keep sitting with and see where it takes me (which is an answer my anxiety brain hates, ha, but there's not really any other option for me right now! sigh!).
Dissertation: Sent my penultimate hypothesis to Katya a couple weeks ago and still haven't heard back, but I know summer is a weird time for her so it could still be a bit, so!! Still very exciting regardless!!! Might send her a follow-up question about the LAST HYPOTHESIS (!!!) SOON, AAAAAA.
Personal/Interpersonal Goals
Writing letters to friends: STILL NOTHING, I AM WAITING ON STAMPS TO START WRITING POSTCARDS, HOPEFULLY SOON?? GODDAMMIT, USPS. (I'm sorry, USPS. I know you're under a lot of stress and I love you.)
Personal life newsletter: Honestly going to table this for now, considering how on-fire everything feels both in the world and in my brain! Maybe will come back to it at some point, but let's take this off the agenda for now. :")