Television is not the only thing that's rotting my brain.

It's official. Someone please hire me now because the longer I remain unemployed, spending way too much with trashy reality television shows, my brain is quickly atrophying to the point where I have forgotten basic baking principles:

Last week, I wanted to make some blueberry cheesecake bars for the upcoming camping trip so I set to baking. I made the crust without any major problems, but then came the cheesecake filling. Normally, like any sane person with half a gram of baking skillz, you would normally cream your fats (butter and/or cream cheese) with the sugar, add in the eggs, and finally the vanilla extract with some zest. But not me! I, with the atrophied brain mass, proceeded to dump EVERYTHING (ALL TOGETHER, AT ONCE) into the mixing bowl and set to mixing. It took about five minutes (5!!), when the eggs started to foam, that I realized my mistake.

After a quick round of cursing, I plow ahead, thinking maybe the heat from the baking would melt the cream cheese and it would all come together in the end. NOPE. After about 20 minutes of baking, the center was still liquid and chunky. There was no way it was going to set. Finally, that's when I decided that maybe it was a better idea to just throw it away.

I'm so cool. Look at all the awesome things I've done.

It's been a month since I last worked and I am both enjoying this time off and achingly desperately to get another job. Perhaps its the American mentality that you live to work (or maybe that's a child of an immigrant's mentality), but some days I feel like my identity is closely tied to what I do. Without a job, I just feel lost, without something to anchor me down and give me a day to day purpose.

It also occurs to me that I don't necessarily need a job to to define myself. I can find things that I'm passionate about and, if I'm supremely lucky, I can find a job that meets my expectations for myself. But then again--have you not seen our economy? I am seriously wondering how much longer until I go back to retail.

In the meantime, I've been keeping busy. I finally have the chance to cook through all cookbooks and magazines that I've collected all these years. I've been able to take a run during the day. I'm now caught up on every single trashy reality show on air currently (so happy that Jersey Shore is back). I have managed to kill all my useful brain cells by watching said reality shows. I have watched a group of deer come into our back lawn nearly everyday to defecate and eat the bushes. I'm very nearly halfway through Dance of Dragons. I've also caught up with the TV series. I finished my quilt. And I also had time to fix it once it began to fall apart. I've watered the lawn and taken out the trash (to various levels of success since I haven't done that in years). I have also explored a bit of Friday Harbor with Jack. And, I've finally had time to enjoy being sick since I'm home all the time anyway.

Up next: Car camping!

Anacortes

I can't believe I live here. I mean that in a sense that we scored an awesome deal getting a house with a view, but also that I've made it through the moving process to live with Jack. It's a bit bittersweet.

I don't think I'm sick for Seattle yet, probably because it has only been a week and it is still summer (I'm sure once the winter doldrums roll in, I'll be hankering for more Seattle love). However, a visit by Jen, Jason, Christy, and Xuan this past weekend definitely helped ease any creeping sense of loneliness that I might have been getting.

It was a fun weekend with an air show at Whidbey NAS, marathon gaming, and breakfasts in the mornings! They definitely helped the house feel more homey and lived in--I guess that's why people host house warming parties. Well, I'm looking forward to when we really finish with our moving and putting stuff away so that we can have another house warming party!

My summer break - A quick overview

So I've been on a roughly self-imposed "summer break" for nearly two weeks now, I figured now is as good a time as any to give it a quick overview to see how I am doing. Perhaps it will give me some perspective and also to figure out how the hell I managed to whittle away all those hours during high school summer break.

Days slept in: 6 (Initially, I had trouble adjusting to the fact that I didn't have to wake up to work)

Hours slept: Way too many to count. It's like summer hibernation.

Average time that I wake up every morning: 10:00am

Cups of coffee drank (despite not having to wake up for work): 10

Cups of coffee finished: 1 ( I tend to leave the last inch in my mug because of the dregs and I realized that I didn't need coffee because I had no real reason to be alert)

Deer sightings at the house since we've moved in: 1 (And it wasn't even in our backyard. Come on!)

Days that I've left the house since moving to Anacortes: 2 (And it was to get groceries and to go to Target)

Total number of pull-ups I've managed to do (not consecutively) on Jack's pull up bar since moving into the house: 4

Cravings that I've had so far: A Dick's Deluxe, sushi, french fries from the Fish Fry, Shultzy's Junkyard Dog, and Kate's (I know it's technically not a craving, but I want a nearby bar)

Amount of running I've done: 0

Number BBQ grills successfully put together: 1

How far I've gotten in Dance of Dragons: about a 1/3 way through--and it's driving Jack crazy.

My life in boxes

 

In the last week, I've managed to pack up and move all my worldly possessions up to Anacortes. And boy, do I have a lot of "worldly possessions." Jack mentioned that I would learn very quickly, and certainly by our next move, exactly what I want to keep and what to throw away or donate. Le sigh.

My last week in Seattle was marked by grand circle tour of Fremont and Wallingford; packing and cleaning; lunch with co-workers at Paseo's; happy hour at the Walrus and Carpenters with more co-workers; finally purchasing the Seattle Neighborhoods poster I've been coveting for so long; more packing and cleaning, only more frantic; wrapping 70 pot stickers in an hour for dinner with friends; spending Thursday night in Anacortes to wait for the Comcast guy on Friday; and one last hurrah at Kate's with my awesome friends.

So far, Anacortes has been fun although I haven't explored much since I've spent my days unpacking and taking over the hallway bathroom. All I know is that I better find a job soon because I've become restless and staying at home all the time is getting boring fast.

(f)unemployment starts today!

Things I can do on the weekdays now that I don't have a job:

-Pack...eh, maybe.
-Go to Cafe Besalu for some croissants.
-Go running
-Clean the apartment
-Spend my WHOLE day on Facebook and just add a ton of people
-Make it to 3 o'clock happy hours!
-Sleep in
-Finish my quilt
-Develop the film from my Holga
-Finish my crochet project
-Find a shadowbox so I can display all the cool wine corks I've collected
-Shop at Nordstrom in the middle of the day and not worry about making it back to work by 1:00pm.
-Stay up late to watch Whose Line Is It Anyway?

One card to rule them all.

I had to surrender my ORCA card today. It was my last day of work. It hasn't quite sunk in that I don't have to wake up early for work tomorrow, so to help with the transition, I am going to stay up late and do crossword puzzles and then wake up whenever I want to tomorrow. Well, not whenever...I still have to pack (technically, still haven't started) and I have a dentist appointment at 10:00am.

Since I don't have my pass with unlimited bus (and commuter train!) rides anymore, I loaded up my spare ORCA card with $20.00 to get me through the rest of the week. Public transit has never felt more expensive to me than today. It cost me to $2.25 to go from the Mt. Baker station, down four stops, to the International District and then $0.50 to transfer to a bus. That leaves only $17.25 on my ORCA card! I have places to go this week! Errands to run! Friends at happy hour to meet! So, in order to be more judicious with my remaining card balance, I've decided to attempt to walk everywhere tomorrow.

I have checked the weather. Roughly ideal walking weather: 71 degrees, partly cloudy.

I have Google mapped my optimal route to cut down on unnecessary mileage and to avoid as many uphill climbs as possible.

So, motivation willing, I will be attempting this tomorrow:

Surprisingly, they are all about a mile apart. And I'll get the grand circle tour of the Wallingford/Fremont neighborhoods--along with some clean teeth, a Cuban pulled pork sandwich, and a snazzy new haircut.