Geek Grub: Peanut Butter Crunchies

Another classic create 'n crunch while you mow down Goblins (or Vampires, or space marines, or whatever). They're a bit hit with my friends and family, and SUPER easy and cheap.

YOU NEED:
1 cup of creamy peanut butter
1 cup of corn syrup
1 cup of sugar
6 cups of Corn Flakes OR Rice Krispies OR Cocoa Krispies. Whatever your cereal preference/availability may be.

Age restrictions may apply.

1. Mix sugar and corn syrup in a pot, and bring to a boil. 

2. While it's heating up, put the cereal into a glass baking dish. 

3. Turn off the heat, and mix in the peanut butter until melted. 

4. CAREFULLY pour mix over cereal and stir in.

5. Clean up spilled cereal. YOU WEREN'T CAREFUL ENOUGH!

6. Once they're hardened, slice and serve. Or eat in warm gobby handfuls, whatever floats your boat. Who am I to judge? They're delicious either way.

Geek Grub: Easy Cheesy Potatoes

Here's a modified recipe that's easy, quick, and can be made with stuff on hand. Perfect for those Sunday Afternoon Gaming Sessions that need something more hearty than pizza and pop. Original unaltered recipe is here.

Just remember this on those extra-long dungeon crawls...

Easy Cheesy Potatoes

• 5 potatoes, peeled and sliced OR 2 cans of pre-sliced potatoes
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cheddar cheese soup
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• Olive Oil (to grease baking dish.)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x9-inch baking dish with olive oil. 
2. Layer the potatoes into the prepared baking dish. Mix together the soup, milk, garlic, pepper, and melted butter in pan until thoroughly combined; pour the mixture over the potatoes.
3. Bake uncovered in the preheated oven on a lower rack until the potatoes are tender, about 1 hour.

The Desolation of Smauglock NO SPOILERS

You know what's not easy? Being  Sherlock fan. Not only is the show utterly heartbreaking, it takes literal YEARS between series, due to how the BBC operates. Here's a handy list of things that have happened before Sherlock Series Three came out:


N'Sync came back.

Agent Coulson came back.

The U.S Government shut down AND came back. 

Harry Potter came back.

Moriarty came out. 

So yeah, it's been an eventful few years in between series, and the fans are getting impatient. I only saw the series about a year ago, but for a viewer used to 3 months at most between seasons, it's hard.

Then there's The Hobbit.

 Not only does it star Martin Freeman as  Bilbo Baggins, AKA Dr. John Watson, Arthur Dent, Oliver Chamberlain, Tim Canterbury, Declan,  and many others, but Benedict Cumberbatch, AKA Very Silly Name Sherlock is Smaug!

"Beachbody Compasstrap!"Also, try the name generator! I got "Butawhiteboy Cantbekhan"

And in Desolation, these two get to talk to each other for a WHILE. Seeing as the book is 75 years old, and most fans have read it, this has led to a rather interesting phenomenon. A phenomenon called SMAUGLOCK. Smashing Sherlock and The Hobbit together has created some rather intresting stuff...

There's less savory NSFW stuff too, but that's true of LITERALLY EVERYTHING on the internet. For the most part, you've got a lot of dragons whining about mysteries and wearing purple scarves. No harm done, right?

Well, the problem is, John and Sherlock are friends, and Bilbo and Smaug are not. Duh. But for fans of both, Desolation is the first time in literally years when their favorite actors are back on screen together. And some are having a wee bit of a hard time processing the fact that not only is Smaug a straight up villain with no redeeming qualities, HE GONNA DIE!

Seen here in this strangely leaked footage.

There's a LOT of talk about how 'sad' it is, and how they're 'rooting for 'Smaug'. The only sad part for me is that the fans can't separate two great actors who just HAPPEN to be working together again without making it mash with another fandom. I'm glad the filmmakers didn't put in any little nods or winks: the word 'Deduction' is NOT mentioned by either party during Smaug and Bilbo's meeting. It's exactly as it should be. AWESOME.

It's not wrong to enjoy Smauglock silliness (if it is, I don't want to be right). But don't let fanon get in the way of someone telling a story properly. Take both for what they are: amazing works with the same actors. Nothing more, nothing less.

One Day More (The Hobbit)

To the Tune of Les Mis 'One Day More'

[ME]

One day more!
Another day, another Hobbit dream.
And even now it seems;
These films that seem to fill my mind
Will surely end this daily grind;
One day more!

[MY FIANCE]
She won’t shut-up today
How can I live with this much longer?

[ME]
One day more.

[MY FIANCEE & MOTHER]
Tomorrow it’ll be Hobbit Day
And yet her obsession is much stronger

[FRIENDS]
One more day on her Tumbler

[MY FIANCEE & MOTHER]
Will we ever hear her stop?

[FRIENDS]
One more day of her not caring.

[MY FIANCEE & MOTHER]
I am tired of the slop.

[FRIENDS]
What a blog I might have known.

[MY FIANCEE & MOTHER]
And I swear I’ll just go nuts!

[FRIENDS]
But she cannot write a thing!

[THEATER EMPLOYEES]
One more day before it starts!

[FIANCEE]
Do I follow where she goes?

[THEATER EMPLOYEES]
And the cosplays flood our aisles.

[FIANCEE]
Should I join my lover there?

[THEATER EMPLOYEES]
When the lines begin to form

[FIANCEE]
Do I stay, will she care?

[THEATER EMPLOYEES]
Will you get the receipts and see?

[ALL]
The time is now, the day is here

[ME]
One day more!

[Smauglock fans]
One day more to sexy hobbits,
We will pinch them on the butt!
We’ll be ready for hot Smaug,
And write all sorts of smut!

[ME]
One day more!

[CONCESSION STAND]
Watch ‘em run around,
See her Hobbit doll,
Never know what sounds
you’ll hear when fan-girls bawl,
Here’s some nacho dip
That’s a little much!
Most of them are weirdos
So just don’t touch!

[Fans (2 Groups)]
[1:] One day to a new film classic

[2:] Raise the flag of fandom high!

[1:] And Thorin will be a king

[2:] And Thorin will be a king

[1:] Still two years till new ‘Jurassic’

[2:] There are dragons in the sky

[ALL]
Do you hear the fandom ring?

[MY FIANCEE, TO ME]
My place is here, I watch with you!

[ME]
One day more!

[THEATER EMPLOYEES]
We will mock these people’s heroes
We will giggle when they go
To enjoy their smutty secrets,
And perverted things they know.

[ME]
One day more!

[MY MOM]
Tomorrow she’ll be worlds away

[FRIENDS]
What a blog I might have known!

[MY MOM]
And yet for her it’s already started

[THEATER EMPLOYEES]
One more day to Hobbit mania
We will take the cash flash flood
We’ll be ready for these weird fans

Who say they’re of dragon-blood

[CONCESSION STAND EMPLOYEES]
Watch ‘em run around,
See her Hobbit doll,
Never know what sounds
you’ll hear when fan-girls bawl,

Here’s some nacho dip
That’s a little much!
Most of them are weirdos
So just don’t touch!

[ME]
Tomorrow I’ll be far away,
In middle earth where Hobbits play

[ALL]
Tomorrow we’ll discover
What Peter Jackson has in store!
One more dawn
One more day
One day more!

Job Hunter Games: LifeHacks experiment

Back in my day, "LifeHacks" were known as "tips." Or maybe "Household hints." Aside from the name,  what is so intriguing about these new tips?

Well, some are obvious.

This rates right up there with buying insurance and extra toilet paper. It's not a bad tip, but honestly, if you have to be told this kind of thing, the rest of the hacks are probably beyond your grasp.

Some are semi-inspirational dribble.

What can I add to...that? Oooh, all I have to do is move on? Thank you blue background and black text!

Then there are useful tips from cooking to cleaning to defense to techno trouble. 

The actual tips are the ones I find myself enjoying, even if I don't use all of them, or ever see myself needing them. And frankly, how are we supposed to verify any of these things work without trying them?

Well, I'm right in the middle of trying out this LifeHack: "Put two capfuls of vanilla extract into the oven at 300 for an hour. Your house will smell amazing!" It's about 20 minutes in, and yes, the house is starting to smell like vanilla. My unwitting fiancee, who has no idea what I'm up too, hasn't mentioned the smell yet. It's not the most cutting-edge tip, but it's a good place to start. 

Now I just have to kill time until the hour is up. Hm. Well, I guess I could...read...more LifeHacks. Well, since I'm jobless, let's look at the money-savers!

That's...pretty dishonest. I don't have money to go out drinking anyway.

I'm still waiting to get my decal, so the jury is out on this one.

THAT'S what I'm talking about! Free ice cream. Yummy!

Yummy and practical. But so very bad for you.

Being rewarded for basic human decency with delicious pickles? Score!

Fifteen minutes to go, and my fiancee still hasn't said anything. Granted, the vanilla smell isn't particularly intense. Time to step up my game. I just told him there was more pizza in the kitchen if he was hungry. When he goes in to get it, we'll see if he notices. If the fifteen minutes are up. So, I guess I'll just keep writing.

Hey, that seems like a good idea. Now, where the hell can I get a sticker...

Wonderful. You can pair it with this:

Ah, here's one I did try:

I am now the proud owner of new shoes, and gave my old too-small ones to a friend. Didn't seem to work for me at all. Granted, I had those shoes for over ten years, and my feet grew. Still, not bad for character shoes. There's a variant of this, where you fill a small ziplock with water, put it in the shoe, and freeze it. Maybe that works better.

Nearly the end of cook time, and the house doesn't reek of vanilla, which I suppose is a good thing. Maybe when my Mom gets back she'll notice. It could be that we've been sitting in the house and don't notice. 

Time's up! Well, let me just get the pan out of the oven...

JESUS THAT'S VANILLA-Y!

The smell was definitely stronger when I opened the oven. Fiancee STILL oblivious. Or at least, blivious, but not talking about it. Still, smells better than it did. I guess it's a success. Maybe next time I'll try more vanilla, or a different cooking vessel (a small cast iron pan). Well. Time to start looking for my next LifeHack experiment. And a job.

P.S.: some LifeHacks are HILARIOUS.

The (Job) Hunter Games, day 4

Day Four. So far I've:

1. Washed the dishes.
2. Watched a bunch of Penn and Teller's Bullshit!
3. Cleaned the living room.
4. Written 700 words for NaNoWriMo

Now I'm sitting with Bahamute, writing, and killing time until my friends come over for pre Catching-Fire Hunger Games viewing.

I'm feeling better about life today. All the proto-work done on the living room paid off today, and now there's a visible difference. I'm a very visible learner, so seeing results makes me happy. I even gathered the wherewithal to use the lovely hair fork my future in laws brought from Florida.

Like this, but black and with a pretty seashell

So, why blog? Ehh, I'm hitting a bit of a wall with the book. Just a bit apathetic with physically getting it on to paper. At least it's just about a thousand more words and I'm done for the day.

Super excited about seeing Catching Fire tonight. I enjoyed The Hunger Games books, but feel they were written expressly to be turned into movies. It'll be nice to see the intended end product.

Plus lil Thor.

Yep. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

Also organized the library books, which I'm gonna hit tomorrow. For real. Swear it. Also, putting it online and having to report on it will provide incentive. Heh. No pressure.

Well, I can't stall any longer. Back to the NaNoWriMo slog. Eh.

The (Job) Hunter Games, Day 3

Things accomplished since the beginning of the week:

1. Totally clean bathroom
2. DVDs cataloged and (mostly) back in their proper cases. Alphabetization still in the works.
3. Food in the kitchen inventoried and sorted. A little. Kinda. Ongoing work.
4. Area by the green chair cleaned up. A bit.
5. NaNoWriMo kept up on. Still working on words for today.
6. Baked a cake.

I am not as optimistic as day one.

Day one I was super productive, and setting the interview helped with that. I finished the bathroom in under an hour. After that, hours of work spent on other areas of the house with so little (visibly) accomplished is very depressing.

Which is not to say I'm about to give up. It's just hard when you don't have immediate progress.

Today, we're going to visit my future brothers in law for a hangout (thus the baking of said cake). It's good to get out of the house for a while and relax. Be with people. Tomorrow we'll be seeing Catching Fire with a few friends at Midnight. They're coming over, so that's further incentive to get the living room clean.

Now it feels like a waiting game. Wait while Bahamute is at work to show him all the things I've done since he left. Wait to go to the store for essential commodities. Wait to do something. Anything. Kill time cleaning and planning.

I'm also working on wedding stuff. Finally booked the caterer. Got the guest list ready. Going shopping Saturday with my big sister for a veil. Productive. Doesn't feel like it. The wedding is well into next year. It feels small and far away next to not working.

So here I sit, listening to Bahamute sing 'The Sadder but Wiser girl for me' while we drop off keys and run errands on the way to his brother's place. It makes me feel better. He's very talented. I always like to hear him sing. Even when he sings the wrong lyrics of Bad Moon on the Rise, just to make me laugh.

I feel like I've let him down. He's worked in a job he's hated much longer than I did, without quitting. Then I up and leave. The responsible one, fiscally and in almost every other facet of life. The planner. The reliable one. I quit.

He's not a wild and crazy guy. He has plenty of responsibility too. But out of the two of us, I'm the one who keeps a level head and takes care of things. And now, I have nothing to take care of but the house and him. At least among my many plans, I planned for a loss of job, and saved accordingly. We won't starve or anything. Hell, we're going out to a movie tomorrow. I haven't touched the money in the bank yet. Hooray for self control.

So, here I sit, typing on a bumpy road, making lists of things I still need to do. Read the library books. Clean all the rooms n the house. Write the last f my NaNoWriMo words. Start a hot new line of horror for grade schoolers ALA Goosebumps and make millions.

That last one may be a bit optimistic. But I'm still gonna try.

The (Job) Hunter Games, Day 1

Well, my first day of joblessness is off to a smashing start. So far I've

1. Watched an episode of Star Trek TNG

Star Date: -309119.1459601725. My back hurts and I'm cold.

2. Cleaned the bathroom.

Too bad I'm not Catholic.

3. Scheduled a job interview with the County in two weeks.

And a few assorted other things, making lunch for Bahamute, etc. But I'd say day one is off to a good start.

Now, the County thing is by no means assured, but I feel a lot better having this interview than not. I passed the first part of the screening process a week or two ago, and now go on to an interview and a typing test. Well, you remember I just picked up some books that may help, and have an abundance of time to bring up my typing speed. It's not too shabby right now, thanks to NaNoWriMo, and this blog.

So, that just leaves the rest of the day.

Well, I still have to finish my 1666 words for NaNoWriMo. Yesterday, thanks to Spamalot, I found myself two days behind. I made up, writing over 3k over the course of the day, in between killing Orks.

It's just like this.

My house is in desperate need of cleaning, so every day I'm not paid, I'll be working to get the house in order. I will keep myself busy. I will keep to a schedule and not let myself sleep all day, just because I can. It'd be far, far to easy to let myself be slothful during this time. That would only lead to despair.

Well, I'm off to work on the novel, take care of the neighbor's dogs, and begin work on another room...maybe the loft (aka Harley's person room, stay out Humans). Wish me luck, internet. 

Jobless

For the first time in my adult life, I don't have a job.

Since I was a little girl I had some form of job: mostly letting the neighborhood dogs out and feeding them. This progressed to house and pet sitting, as well as more conventional jobs: student assistant at my community college, waitressing, hostessing, coat-check girl for some of the best places in Detroit. The usual.

I've seen things that make him look like Mr. Rogers

When my father died, I got out of the restaurant business: he didn't want me working in Detroit without him. As a literal dying wish, I haven't gone back to the city for a job since 2009. I spent a few years in a warehouse working my way through college. I got my BA in English, and found an internship at a local law firm, hoping to move on to full-time staff.

Well, my internship has ended, and I am sans employment.

At least nobody died this time

I've been the financial head of my household since my father went into the hospital. Long before then, he'd taught me to save. I have a bit in the bank, but with my upcoming wedding, that won't last too long. Am I panicked? No. Not yet. But I want to find a new job as soon as possible. My fiance, Bahamute, is gainfully employed with a certain Game store you may Stop at occasionally, and my Mom will be getting disability starting next month. We'll get by.

So, here I am, sitting in my local library, with a pile of books, trying to figure out my future. "What to do with you English or Communications Degree." "The Five Minute Interview." "The Complete Idiot's Guides to the Perfect Resume." They are well used, and hopefully helpful.

But a few unorthodox books are in my stack as well. "How to Start a home-based Writing Business"and "The Complete Book of Scriptwriting", written by J. Michael Straczynski, or the man behind the 3 good seasons of "The Real Ghostbusters" cartoon. Hey, if he's good enough for the Ghostbusters, he's good enough for me!

It's no secret I want to write (well, except from my family). I'm working on a project for NaNoWriMo, as well as a pilot for a TV show, a short story, and a supernatural thriller trilogy, the first book of which is written.  But as I have at least a week of free time in my future, I'll have a lot more time to devote to these projects. If it's a choice between writing and cleaning, I may have a few finished projects and a very neat bathroom by the end of all this.

I'm so very very scared.

Whelp, time to get going: I have a show tonight, and...I have no idea what happens next.

The end(s)

In the last two days I've finished A Dance With Dragons, and the last season of 30 Rock. Today, when I'm a little less sick, I'll watch the final installment of the old Chucky movies before the upcoming reboot, Curse of Chucky.

And yet I don't feel a sense of loss.

With the Song of Ice and Fire fandom, I still have the show and two more books on the way. The first of which is supposed to be out early next year. But I'm not holding my breath.

They're already rarer than white Rhinos!

30 Rock wasn't even one of my favorite shows. I love Tina Fey and Jack McBrayer, but I got into the show right before it was cancelled anyway, and knew the last season wrapped things up nicely. It made me a little sad, but it made me laugh much much more.

Yep.

 As for Chucky, I haven't watched it yet, but it's got to be better than this. Damnit Billy Body, this is THE BEST THING YOU'VE DONE SINCE LORD OF THE RINGS? Oh, you don't believe me?

UTTER CRAP. A stain on the Oz fandom (not Billy's fault).

WHAT IS THIS, I DON'T EVEN. Still not Billy's fault.

...To be fair, there's more, but these were the biggest things. Ugh.

Maybe I'm not sad because I still have so much left to conquer. Tomorrow I start reading Dr. Sleep, the long awaited Shining sequel. Then it's on to The Hunger Games, where I haven't seen the movies or read any of the books. Thought, I have seen Battle Royal. Epic.

I guess I don't get as sad when I know something new is right around the bend for me to devour. Thor 2, The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, the upcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them movie, there's just so much to look forward to! Maybe someday even Sherlock Series 3.

Long story short...I'm too excited to be sad. Though when the last Hobbit movie airs in 2 years, I'll be sad. And when Sherlock is finally over (they already contracted series 4). And when A Song of Ice and Fire is over. And when Sai King passes. And when Pirates of the Caribbean finishes for good. And...

Aw, crap. Life for future-me is gonna suck.

Well, I have contingency plans. I'm not reading Insomnia until King is dead AND I've read everything else he's ever written. And...that's about it. Crap, past me, why didn't you plan better?!?!?!

Well, there are hundreds of years of popular culture to catch up on. I've only been on the planet for 26 of them. I'll just have to assume I don't devour all of it before I die.

Of course, if you have any suggestions, feel free to leave 'em. :D