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I know I've been pretty quiet this month. Everything's fine. Probably better than normal, actually. I haven't been writing here because I've been writing in the paper journal and while I make it a point to write daily, I usually only take the time to write in one of the two places.There might be something in the paper edition you'd find interesting, but probably not.
The holiday season is always busy for me. I like Halloween (but didn't do anything, sadly) and Thanksgiving isn't too bad, but Black Friday is an abomination and I don't like the Christmas season at all. I don't go to stores much and I really haven't even had the scratch to go out very often. Even though the latter bit's changing since our finances have improved, except for the harsher work conditions and thankfully longer hours, I don't see too much of Christmas. Others tell me the stores are already be-decked with tinsel and candy canes.
What I like: house parties, winter and fall drinks, popular winter and fall foods, coffee and tea always being appropriate. What I don't like: social obligations, capitalism, snow. So, now you know.
So, stuff I've done.
I failed to improve on the taste of Frank's Bourbon Furnace. I made a syrup of brown sugar and steeped cinnamon sticks, and it's too sweet. The cinnamon doesn't seep through enough. I shouldn't have used brown sugar, even though the taste is pretty good. White or natural sugar probably would have been the better bet, and adding more cinnamon sticks should have done it. I don't know if I mentioned it here, but it's really just a mix of bourbon and apple cider, with cinnamon and maybe nutmeg. The problem I'm trying to dodge is the issue of sediment on glasses. After a few, you really don't care, but it's frustrating the morning after.
I could also just buy cinnamon syrup, but that's not any fun. We had guests over recently and they brought over a Penzy's sugar and cinnamon mix that was delicious, and it was nice to bring out a bottle of syrup I made. Plus, making simple syrup is pretty much the easiest thing there is. It's anywhere from 1 to 2 parts of a sugar you want per 1 part water, brought to a boil until sugar is totally dissolved, allowed to cool enough, than bottle. Don't buy simple syrup, for gods sake. It's literally just sugar water.
There was some fiction I wrote for Katie that won't ever see the light of day. I mean, I'll still edit it in a week, it was just written especially for Katie, so. I don't really trust my fiction writing skills anymore, but it's November and that's when all of the super lame kids are writing their super lame fiction. Don't mind me, I'm just jealous since I've never finished a NaNo. There's no question that NaNo generates a large amount of really awful prose, though. I've never been good at writing like that, either, though. For me, I'm just taking November aside to write as much as I can. Katie asked me to write two things way back when and I agreed - probably because I was drinking. One was anything about Cowboy Bebop and the other was something from Scott Pilgrim. I did the Pilgrim thing. I feel okay about writing something about Cowboy Bebop. I don't really write fan fiction. It's not really my bag. But I mean, what the hell. If you can't do it for our spouse, who will you agree to write for, right?
I've had some trouble getting my shit together for running Exalted and Pathfinder. I want to run both, but Exalted is really questionable right now, just because the group is having a really hard time getting together. Times are very busy for Jenna, who's doing the grad student thing and Brent's wife is really, unfortunately ill. We're all generically adult busy, too. Shit is postponed. We're not doing Burning Wheel or the planned podcast, either. Not yet, anyhow.
We're in the middle of painting a side room, which will match the bathroom. Hopefully, we'll get to the hallway and bedroom, then the living room and kitchen. We don't have a lot of money for redoing the house, but since things are improving and paint is cheap, it's a big morale boost.
The holiday season is always busy for me. I like Halloween (but didn't do anything, sadly) and Thanksgiving isn't too bad, but Black Friday is an abomination and I don't like the Christmas season at all. I don't go to stores much and I really haven't even had the scratch to go out very often. Even though the latter bit's changing since our finances have improved, except for the harsher work conditions and thankfully longer hours, I don't see too much of Christmas. Others tell me the stores are already be-decked with tinsel and candy canes.
What I like: house parties, winter and fall drinks, popular winter and fall foods, coffee and tea always being appropriate. What I don't like: social obligations, capitalism, snow. So, now you know.
So, stuff I've done.
I failed to improve on the taste of Frank's Bourbon Furnace. I made a syrup of brown sugar and steeped cinnamon sticks, and it's too sweet. The cinnamon doesn't seep through enough. I shouldn't have used brown sugar, even though the taste is pretty good. White or natural sugar probably would have been the better bet, and adding more cinnamon sticks should have done it. I don't know if I mentioned it here, but it's really just a mix of bourbon and apple cider, with cinnamon and maybe nutmeg. The problem I'm trying to dodge is the issue of sediment on glasses. After a few, you really don't care, but it's frustrating the morning after.
I could also just buy cinnamon syrup, but that's not any fun. We had guests over recently and they brought over a Penzy's sugar and cinnamon mix that was delicious, and it was nice to bring out a bottle of syrup I made. Plus, making simple syrup is pretty much the easiest thing there is. It's anywhere from 1 to 2 parts of a sugar you want per 1 part water, brought to a boil until sugar is totally dissolved, allowed to cool enough, than bottle. Don't buy simple syrup, for gods sake. It's literally just sugar water.
There was some fiction I wrote for Katie that won't ever see the light of day. I mean, I'll still edit it in a week, it was just written especially for Katie, so. I don't really trust my fiction writing skills anymore, but it's November and that's when all of the super lame kids are writing their super lame fiction. Don't mind me, I'm just jealous since I've never finished a NaNo. There's no question that NaNo generates a large amount of really awful prose, though. I've never been good at writing like that, either, though. For me, I'm just taking November aside to write as much as I can. Katie asked me to write two things way back when and I agreed - probably because I was drinking. One was anything about Cowboy Bebop and the other was something from Scott Pilgrim. I did the Pilgrim thing. I feel okay about writing something about Cowboy Bebop. I don't really write fan fiction. It's not really my bag. But I mean, what the hell. If you can't do it for our spouse, who will you agree to write for, right?
I've had some trouble getting my shit together for running Exalted and Pathfinder. I want to run both, but Exalted is really questionable right now, just because the group is having a really hard time getting together. Times are very busy for Jenna, who's doing the grad student thing and Brent's wife is really, unfortunately ill. We're all generically adult busy, too. Shit is postponed. We're not doing Burning Wheel or the planned podcast, either. Not yet, anyhow.
We're in the middle of painting a side room, which will match the bathroom. Hopefully, we'll get to the hallway and bedroom, then the living room and kitchen. We don't have a lot of money for redoing the house, but since things are improving and paint is cheap, it's a big morale boost.
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