chefjenny

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:33:09 GMT

So, our blog is up and running for real-real (www.level30yinzer.com/blog). Here's an excerpt from our most recent post:

Well, we just had an excellent chat with Yax of dungeonmastering.com, and if we do say so ourselves (and you know we do), things are shaping up rather well. You see, about a month ago we signed up for a course called Gamer Lifestyle, which is produced by Yax and Jonn (of RolePlayingTips.com). The course so far has been informative and well-organized, and absolutely full of relevant and helpful information. Part of the package was a phone session with Yax to review our plans and ideas, and to help refine our direction. It was a smashing success!

Visit The Blog to read more

On the whole, things are heading in a very very positive direction. Tomorrow we're going shopping for office furniture, so we can turn this cold corner I'm in right now into a proper home office. Very exciting times :)

Bummery

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:58:31 GMT

So I think I'm a feeling a little bummy today. I'm uninterested in the internet in general, and trying to make time go by at work, but I feel so laconic that I wish I could just curl up somewhere and watch paint dry. That's about my level of excitement today.

Phil has been doing really well since he got fired. He's writing now, and he gets to be a freelance writer full-time, the lucky bastard. We're trying to set up our website, and we're working on turning our venture into a not-for-profit organization. If we ever make money beyond the bills it incurs, we're thinking of donating to a charity, rotated on a quarterly basis. We're much more enthusiastic about the idea when presented this way.

I mean, there's nothing really wrong with life right now. I have no major source of stress, no particular huge upsetting life changes. I just feel so *big sigh* meh.

I'm sure I'll bounce out of this, and I'm sure it's largely hormonal, too. But mreh mreh mreh.

learning to fly

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:03:01 GMT

So learning to draw requires a lot of practice. Currently I'm tracing hands, drawing hands free-style, looking at hands in magazines and trying to draw how they're posed, looking at hands in other comics and trying to re-create them, and generally focusing on how hands are proportioned.

Because hands are hard to draw.

As I sit here, drawing a toothpaste ad because the model in it is holding a toothbrush, it occurs to me: I do this because I am bored at work. My job doesn't seem to take up as much time or cause me as much trouble as some of my co-workers, so I find myself with a lot of time on my hands. So, now I feel like I'm actually being paid to teach myself to draw. Which is neat, but evil at the same time.

Also, I made sausage stuffed apples last night for dinner, and OH MY GOD SO GOOD. Hollowed out apples filled with spiced sausage cooked with apple, onion, and greens, and baked for about 40 minutes. I totally would have eaten wayyyy too much if I hadn't had somewhere I needed to be after dinner. But still, om nom nom indeed.

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:45:53 GMT

Website

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:30:55 GMT

Okay, so, I've been working on our website for our business/publishing plan, and some days it's delightful, and other days it's wholly an uphill battle. Today is an in-between day; I'm fighting with documentation that isn't completely clear to me, and it's discouraging. However, on the whole, things are moving along well enough. I wish I had more time in the day to work on it, but my real job (curses!) keeps getting in the way.

I now have a splash page I'm pleased with - www.level30yinzer.com - and the blog is not bad, although I didn't design that part. Thanks to wordpress for helping there. Comicpress is what I'm fighting today, but hopefully that setup will be nice for the webcomic plans we have. After that it's designing the landing pages for About, Main, and Donate, and then...

well, I get ahead of myself. One thing at a time. At the very least, we now have a nice splash page. Everything it links to is more or less absurd placeholders, but I feel I'm on the right track.

Holy shit

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:50:48 GMT

So I've been fiddling around with drawing figures lately - mostly in pursuit of drawing characters from the various DnD games I play in - and was getting frustrated at my inability to draw something the same way twice. Basically, my proportions were consistently inconsistent, and I was getting annoyed. So, I googled it.

Webcomics, that is. I know one of the webcomic artists I like had published a book, and I ended up poking around in his information, finding other webcomic artists and forums, and found a discussion on something absurdly simple: using a stick figure to pose your figures before filling in the details.

Suddenly, voila, I'm sketching things easily, finding it easy to get the proportions right, filling in the details after the fact, and rather than spending hours on trying to get a figure's legs to even up right, I've now sketched two figures in twenty minutes.

I still can't draw hands for shit. This is is not uncommon, but I've found an "artistic" way around it (and no, it's not perpetually hiding them behind something else). Feet are not my forte either for much the same reason, but shoes are not impossible. It's unlikely that I'm ever going to be rich and famous doing this (but then again, who is?). But suddenly finding a task easy that was absolutely grueling before? It's like magic. Crazy, pixie magic.

Still working on good-looking hair, though. That's hit or miss. Hmm, google... perhaps you can help some more...

Lifestyle

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:42:43 GMT

1) So I picked up a book on Flash (ah-ahh) and have been reading through it in another attempt to teach myself to use the program. I've been long frustrated by it because the graphic design part isn't inherently intuitive for me; mind you, I'm essentially graduating from MS Paint to this, so there's a large learning curve to work through. The book so far has been super helpful and I'm delighted to find myself much more capable of creating very nifty graphics easily, which is what Flash promises. My tendency to get ahead of myself still trips me up sometimes, but I'm about a third of the way through this beginner's book and feeling fairly confident. So there's that.

2) DnD has been a lot of fun. I don't post about it often, but I really enjoy running a game. Every game I run, I get significantly better at being a D.M, and now find myself subscribing to gaming blogs that are enumerating ideas and skills that I already figured out on my own, so that makes me feel pretty good about myself. I did a silly thing and began my first trip into the world of the D.M. with a homebrew campaign, but so far it's going swimmingly. I have my players to thank for a lot of that, though - they've been a great help in terms of world-building, and it's become this awesomely cooperative experience. I really enjoy it.

3) I also took to redecorating my cubicle. I found some awesome textured paper in the discount bin at Ikea, and have been pilfering cardboard boxes (mostly empty copy paper boxes), breaking them down and wrapping them to form this fantastic bright, poppy panels I can overlay on my drab, horrible gray walls. Today I think I'm going to make a template for the face of my filing cabinet drawers, and bring it home to cut out leftover fabric so I can upholster my cabinets. I'm thinking I have this absurd black shaggy fur stuff leftover from some cosplay that would be fantastic. Additionally, I have mounds of colorful polyester yarn that is being transformed into delightful string art strewn about my desk. I've done one of those nifty photo walls by pinning colorful string along the wall in crazy random patterns, and then tucking my favorite photos into it. It looks amazing.

4) Scribblenauts! The game is a lot of fun, but sometimes it is very vexing as well. For example, there's a level with a tornado blocking my path, and I have no idea how to get rid of the tornado. Or walk through it. Or otherwise find my way past it. So I wobble back and forth on the game. On the one hand, it's fun solving many problems simply by setting everything on fire, but on the other hand there are tornados that refuse to be set on fire to deal with also.

5) I'm dabbling with writing again. Mostly as an excersize to while away some down time at work, but it's really satisfying to do. I'm working on a short story right now that I've actually decided I pretty much hate, but that's ok. I might change my mind tomorrow. I might decide to throw it in a bin and not look at it for a year. Either way it's been great to stretch my writing muscles, so long disused.

6) I actually started seeing a therapist about a month ago. It's very strange to pay someone to listen to me talk about myself - I talk about myself all the time to people for absolutely free. But I am seeing positive improvement in some respects, especially with the anxiety bits, so it's definitely making a difference. In additional funny news, apparently my health insurance covers 60 visits per year. 60!! That tells you how stressful my job can be, when they already account for how much therapy you'll need to deal with it.

7) Financially, things are tighter than I would like. But feasible with the status quo. We're looking to make some changes in our direction in terms of work/jobs, but those are a ways off as we have a lot of prep to do for such things. In the meantime, things aren't impossible, but I get the feeling the coming months will not be easy, either.

I could probably keep writing bullets about where I am in life right now, but I think I should empty out this gun here. There will always be more later to write about, tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.

cookbooks

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:38:27 GMT

So I just had a looksie at the quick youtube video found here, and I really enjoyed it. It also made me want to buy the book. But not only buy this book, but to start collecting cookbooks in general. I've never been that interested in cookbooks apart from the one everyone really needs - the cookbook that has the basic idea for pretty much any recipe you might want to make, and then my style is usually to learn the basics, and just make the rest up as I go along.

So I find it odd that not only do I want that book, but that I have a desire to collect cook books in general now. Maybe it's because I'm reading more food blogs that i am becoming more interested in reading about food in general. Maybe it's because I now understand food as more than art and flair, but also as culture, and want to know more about other's culture of food.

It's also not just any cookbook I find, I want. There are a lot of cheap, flashy recipe collections that are little more than an excuse to print a bunch of food-porn photos. While those luscious shots of food are very appealing, the books themselves tell a person very little. I want books like the one mentioned above - books that care, if that makes any sense at all.

It's hard to pinpoint what would make a good cookbook for me. But the idea of having a shelf full of really good books is very appealing.

on canning

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:34:02 GMT

I love it. I have a shelf full of jars in the basement now, with such exotic things as apple butter and amaretto cherries, fennel and red cabbage kraut, blueberries by the half-pint in jam and sauce form. I'm making more apples today - I'm hoping they hold shape enough to become pie apples, and if not, then cinnamon apple sauce it is.

I just ate the last two pickled mushrooms out of the jar in the fridge - I must remember next year to clean out the mushroom guy at the market, these were fantastic for pickling.

On the whole, canning has been a great success. Of course I didn't can as much as I dreamed of, and I threw out a fair share of veggies that went off before I could get around to processing them, but my technique and confidence will increase, and on the whole I look forward to another "fruitful" summer.

All those jars in the basement... they give me a deep satisfaction. I look at them and go "Look, I have provided for my family for the winter." I'm surprised by that - it's not like I can't go to the grocery and buy food when I want it. But I guess it's like a bank of food - I don't have to worry about acquiring food, it's right there, all safe and sealed and ready for lean times. It strikes a really primal chord within me.

And as an only semi-related side note, confusing your masa corn flour for your wheat flour leads to some very interesting crepes. Not bad, just decidedly distinct from a normal crepe. Still kinda good with mascarpone, apple butter, and drizzled honey ~_o

waffles

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:09:37 GMT

This is what I love about cooking: I made Paella last night, a dish that has the potential to be pricey. The list of ingredients includes shrimp, mussels, scallops, chicken, and sausage, and that's just the protein. I was feeding six people last night. I made enough that five of them got a second serving. There was still enough left over to fill five lunch containers. That's 16 servings. My total ingredients cost was something like $50, a price to wince at initially for just a Friday night, but that means at a cost per meal it was about $3.13.

$3.13! I've worked the restaurant business, and I've gotten some learnin' about it in that fancy education place, and I know that the markup on a meal in a restaurant is many more times the food cost. It has to be for the restaurant to turn a profit. The restaurants that make the most profit are those with the cheapest food costs (eg a larger markup margin). The couple most profitable food businesses to run? An egg and bacon place (breakfast diner) or a hot dog cart. But even though my learnin' has taught me these things, I still get a little giddy when I make something that would have cost $18 per person for $3.13 a serving.

And in less impressive "news:" While I still don't find my job thrilling, I'm less inclined to up and quit. Our plans right now are to upsize and move in with Don and Samantha, form a sort of superclan or bitty village (yes I know I am straying into potentially bizarre territory, but we're pretty sure it will work), and these plans would be a lot better supported by steady, reliable work, the kind of work I do now. So I will still pay off my house, and then roll around in all my extra cash, and whenever work gets to me again, I will remember that I can up and quit whenever I want to.

So yes, I have waffled on my risky decision to become Chef Jenny. I will probably do this many times as life progresses.

Birthdays

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:56:33 GMT

So, I am a horrible relative to have. I will never remember your birthday. I will send cards sporadically, although I know I should do better. It's not hard to plan these things, it's not like people's birthdays change every year. But I am a sad panda when it comes to tracking such things, and am far too easily distracted by what's in front of me right now rather than birthdays for family who are close in heart but far in physical distance. I should go home to get slapped around by grandma and grandpa so I couldn't possibly forget to write anymore.

My dad, at least, I had the sense to call before I went on vacation last month. It was a five minute phone call, which I feel is pretty lame. Ok, so I'm mad at myself, and indulging in some self-deprecation. Bah. Moving on.

Hey! My kegging system arrived in the mail last week! It's awesomely sweet, and (!!!) the mini-fridge that's been gathering dust in the basement is totally the right size to house the five-gallon keg. My pen-pal wants me to turn it into a Kegasaurus Rex kegerator ^_^

The new beer supply store near me is nice, albeit in that "too new and shiny" sense. Hopefully it gets enough traffic to make it feel a little more lived in, a little more secure. Still, it had all the supplies I needed, which was awesome. So I went home and made a "pecan pie" ale. I was excited because I got to use the hops I grew myself (I had a whole half ounce harvested! It doesn't sound like much, but hop flowers are light, so that's nearly two cups of hops). The pecans you throw in at the last minute and steep, and I was shocked at how much the taste of 8 ounces of pecans permeated the whole ale. I also used a bit too much brown sugar, which may result in some tartness (or cidery-ness), but on the whole it tasted fantastic going in the bucket, and has been burbling away merrily ever since.

I'm really looking forward to being able to pour myself just a mug of beer. Lately I've been splitting bottles with Phil after work. I'm not a big drinker of anything most of the time - coffee, tea, water, soda, you name it - so a whole 12 ounces is at least half wasted on me. 6 ounces isn't quite enough, either, so I look forward to being able to pour a half pint for myself.

Plus, I keep seeing this study cropping up that says drinking a moderate amount of beer every day increases bone density. So fark you, osteoperosis! I'ma have me a beer!

Posting frenzy

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:52:39 GMT

So, the appraiser said our house is probably still in the same range it was before, which means we won't be refinancing. In my typical style, I got too excited too soon. But it's not the end of the world - we're fine, financially, I had just hope for a bit of a windfall. Nonetheless, the week is still up - between winning the canning supplies and Pink Floyd, I'm pretty pleased with life at the moment.

The pickles turned out great. Samantha and I put together a few other projects yesterday, too - we made pesto with the fresh basil we got (substituting almonds for pine nuts, cuz that's what I had), and it was fantastic. We also shredded cabbage and fennel and put that in my picklin' buckets I bought, with the hopes of achieving sauerkraut in a couple weeks. It's looking good so far. I also have carrots I think I will turn into pickled curry carrots, and a zuchinni I plan to pickle as well.

The blueberries I bought are far too tart for beer, but will make excellent blueberry-hibiscus jam. I did, however, order the kegging system, and when that arrives I do believe I'll be trying my hand at a pecan ale. It sounds delectably late-summery to me.

Ok, so the real reason I felt compelled to post: I have a tentative plan to pay off my house and car, and then quit my job. Without the mortgage and car payment, Phil easily makes enough money to support us. While the idea of being a stay-at-home mom is somewhat appealing, I think I might actually pursue something I'd really enjoy doing.

You see, I've been cooking for Don and Samantha as a work exchange - they do my laundry, watch my dog during the day, give Phil a lift to work, and we give them a little cash and mostly I make their dinner on weeknights, keep their fridge and cookery stuff organized, etc and so forth. And I love it. I am never more comfortable and happy than when I'm doing this.

So, although contemplating giving up a stable job makes my stomach do flips, I might actually man up and take risk in order to do something that actually makes me happy. I might actually fit the title of this livejournal - Chef Jenny.

Good week so far

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:14:18 GMT

Yesterday, we were in the car and Is Anybody Out There came on the radio. I made Phil sit and listen to it, because I wanted to hear the whole thing. I love Pink Floyd's The Wall, and unfortunately my last copy of it was scratched beyond repair, so when i converted to digital music it didn't come with. I told Phil that I'd gone to buy it a few times, but it's an expensive album even digitally, so I hadn't gotten another copy yet.

This morning, Phil presents me with a clean, digital copy of The Wall. The first song he plays to show me is Goodbye, Blue Sky which is possibly my favorite song on my favorite album. I'm listening to the album now, and have been all morning, and I'm so happy I'm misting up a little. I have such a very nice husband.

Obama is so stimulating!!

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:00:20 GMT

Ok, I may be jinxing myself, but I'm so excited I'm nearly in tears.
In February we had attempted to refinance our home to get us out of
the ARM we currently have. At the time, home sales were crap in my
area, and my appraisal came back for less than we owe. Not the worst
event in the world, we can totally afford our mortgage, but still a
bit of a let-down.

I just got an update on home sales in Turtle Creek, and sales are WAY
up. Back up to what they were when I bought my house almost four
years ago. Which means I might qualify for the re-financing this time
around, which will probably cut my interest rate in half AND not be
adjustable every six months.

I was puzzled, but I'm now betting it's because of the $8,500 in
stimulus monies for new home buyers. In my area, that's a significant
chunk of the housing cost altogether, and I guess people are buying
for that reason. When that stimulus first came out, I was bummed
because it didn't apply to me, but now... now it's raised home values
in my area, which will ultimately save me tens of thousands of
dollars, which is way awesomer than $8,500 for buying it in the first
place.

Sharing for poo, but also because I cannot contain how thrilling this
is. I hope it works.

A winner is us!

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:53:56 GMT

Phil and I were at a farmer's market on Saturday, where they were hosting a canning demonstration. We bought a jar of bread and butter pickles, which entered us into a raffle to win canning supplies. Lo and behold, we actually won (thus defusing my usual cry of "I never win anything!"). I'm actually super-excited, because I had been considering taking up canning this year. From what I gather from all the food blogs I read, it's gaining in popularity, which means I had been reading a lot about it already. And those bread and butter pickles were amazing - like pickle candy. Keep in mind, until I had those, I would have told you I hate bread and butter pickles. But these - I couldn't stop eating them!

So, I am now in possession of 3 books on canning/freezing/pickling, a flat of jars and lids, some grippy funnelly stick things to help in processing, and... uh, a cd of piano pieces that are supposedly agricultural in nature somehow. Ok that last one kind of threw me, but all the other stuff is awesome. Oh, and a certificate worth $25 at the market the next time I'm there.

Last night, I began the experiment. I am currently attempting to pickle the yellow cucumbers and red onion I bought at the market on Saturday, to be canned on Wednesday with the mild hot peppers I also bought.

The one thing I'm missing from Ultimate Pickling Experience is a nice, big, heavy crock to put veggies into for pickling/fermenting purposes. So, oh no, I have to go play the shopping game ^_^

greenhouse

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:59:28 GMT

I am contemplating taking down the raised bed in my backyard, and erecting a greenhouse on that spot instead. The styles I like that are pre-fab cost about $700, which is not my idea of affordable :/ Theoretically I could build one out of PVC and plastic and stuff for far less, but it would also be far less pretty. Harrumph.

Atlantis resort

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:44:49 GMT

Phew. Atlantis resort is not cheap. Not that I'm spectacularly surprised by that, given what I saw for the day, but wow. Just for the rooms, it'll probably cost a grand more than our entire vacation cost this time. And of course that doesn't include food, transportation, entertainment beyond the waterpark, etc.

Good thing I don't plan to try this for three or four years. Maybe somewhere I'll learn how to save up money so we can afford it :)

EDIT: I forgot we were planning for a vacation a few days short next time. Knocking off some days made this a much more affordable vacation suddenly...

Vacation Journal - Friday

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:37:02 GMT

Ok, bear with me. Previously I had been writing down my thoughts on the day before bed, but after this day I was so exhausted that I just let it go. So now I'm operating only on hazy memory.

Friday we landed in Nassau, and got off the boat for our Atlantis Aquaventure. Which mostly meant, hey go over to this awesome resort and play in their waterpark for a few hours.

It was too brief, in all honesty. We were there for a good five hours, and it wasn't nearly enough. We floated on the lazy river for about three of those hours, and it was a great deal of fun. We only went on one water slide - the only one that mattered for the day. The Leap of Faith, which was a sudden open drop that shot you through a tube in their shark tank. I am a much bigger sissy than I was in my youth, which only means that I screamed the whole way down. It was indeed exhilirating. But by far the lazy river was some good stuff, with about three different paths you can take, and each route taking about an hour to complete. Phil and I had a delightful time.

So, third plan hatched: next expensive fancy vacation we take, maybe we could just go to this resort for a week and play. All of the adventure and culture was good, really, but maybe a vacation should be more relaxing and leave you less feeling like you need to take a vacation to recover from your vacation.

The resort was beautiful in a way that was unreal. I didn't feel I was actually there, only that people were holding up very pretty postcards in front of my face as I walked. They had enormous Dave Chihuly glass sculptures within the resort itself, and the pools and slides were studded with gorgeous architecture and beautiful groundskeeping. The palm-studded landscape made for an indelible image of tropical serenity.

Saturday we land in port, and begin the long trek home. I'll lump that in here - it was relatively uneventful, and we were grateful to make it home the same day and sleep in our own beds.

Vacation Journal - Thursday

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:29:01 GMT

Nothing happened today. Blessedly. It was another "Fun Day at Sea," which mostly consisted of me trying every fruity cocktail drink on the menu, and then retiring to our suite for whiskey and Cartoon Network. Which was also awesome - lots of superhero cartoons, and all the commercials were in Spanish. I finished the day with an insatiable craving for "CHOCO KRISPIS!"

Oh, we did watch their rock n roll medley show, too. It was the only show we caught the whole cruise. It was enjoyable, certainly, but I don't think it was anything I would have paid good money to see normally. We mostly went to see it because it was there.

Touristas

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:39:43 GMT

Touristas, originally uploaded by jaydotsnyder.

Our vacation photos now up on flickr

Vacation Journal - Wednesday

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:19:57 GMT

Okay, I have a new plan. The cruise is nice, but really I don't need most of these services. What I've enjoyed the most so far is getting off the boat and away from the tourist cities and into the backwoods. The tours have been nice – lots of well-kept ruins – but it's been other little things that have absolutely made my day. Today was fruit from a roadside stand; cut up pineapple, with chile and lime. Fucking amazing. The pineapple, when picked ripe, tastes completely different from the stuff from a can or from the store. It tastes like pineapple that's been grilled with sugar; it's soft and sweet and luscious, and even the core is pleasant and edible. Then, to go with it, they give you a little bag of chili powder and salt, and a wedge of lime. For diez pesos, or little less than a dollar. The tour bus stopped on the way back, and it was a spectacular treat.

So, the new plan: learn to pilot a boat, and then just make my own way down the coast of Mexico. The other really fun thing for me has been practicing Spanish. The more I try to speak, the more I realize I know enough to get around, to have a good time, to ask questions and take directions. In fact, I did something today that I never do in English – I haggled! I talked a vendor down from $40 to $25 on a dress I really liked, entirely in Spanish. I was so proud of myself! So, I'll take Phil and a few friends, be the interpreter, learn to pilot a boat, learn to fish, and just go fuck around off the coast of Mexico for a week. It's a good plan. I'm glad to be a part of it.

Ah, ok, so the ruins: Today we went to Chacchoban, which was some of the nicer ruins we've seen. The tour guide knew as much about the local plants as she did about the mayans, and I got to visit an all-spice tree, and a sopadilla tree, which is the original gum tree for chiclets and wrigley. That was neat. And then the complementary meal on the way back was a slice of ham and processed cheese on white bread with mayo, which normally would have me making faces, but part of the complementary beverages was a whole lot of mexican beer, so suddenly I wasn't complaining. Something about the spicy chiles and that beer just made my day.

So, yeah, once again I'm faced with the fact that I love food. And not in the gluttonous I'll-eat-anything kind of way, but in a way that has me wholly intrigued by what people eat, where they eat it, how and why. The culture of food, if you will. In Belize, too, as soon as the guide started talking about what the locals eat I sat up and listened. In Costa Maya, I cracked up when the guide told us to watch out for the salsa at the taqueria – the real pico de gallo is made with habaneros, and the stuff with jalepeno is mostly for kids. And me, because God knows I won't touch the habanero stuff. Maybe I missed out, but damn those fish tacos were good.

We got some shopping in today, finally. We've been so busy with the shore excursions we haven't gotten to do too much touristy shopping. We stopped at the liquor store on the island and tasted various tequilas, which was interesting too.

Also, we have constellations of itchiness and pain across our arms and legs. And we've both been a bit over-sunned – Phil's head is peeling, and I have a vicious stripe across my back from the strap of a sundress. All in all – great vacation so far. ;)

It seems really long, though! Not in a bad way, we're just packing in a lot of different stuff in just a few days. We've sat at dinner for a couple nights; our more “formal” seating as opposed to the buffett. The people who are assigned to the same table as us are not our type – and I'm sure they think the same of us. They are the quintessential rude and loud americans, obsessed with drinking and gambling and shopping and sex. Nice enough people, but Phil and I feel especially out of place there. It's there at dinner we miss our friends the most. I hope if we do something like this again, we can take some friends with us who will bust out Arkham Horror during dinner.

Vacation Journal - Tuesday

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:31:25 GMT

Yep. It's a sinus infection. Also, something weird going on with our attempt to dock in Belize – something about the pilot that's supposed to guide us in having trouble, and our docking is delayed by an hour and a half. This may cause our tour to be cancelled, which is a little sad because this was the Raiders of the Lost Cave adventure, with riding the zip line across the canyon and the cave exploration. However, given that I'm all doped up, I may end up appreciating being able to relax and be not active while I am sick.

Oh, and apparently we got a bit et up in Tuluun. We both have more than a couple mosquito bites. It took me a minute to figure out why mine don't itch, though; I'm all hopped up on Benadryl. So I guess something of a bonus to catching a germ.

Good fortune – we were able to make our shore excursion, since everyone was running late altogether. And what an excursion! They named this one the raiders of the lost mayan cave. I don't think I've ever really had the chance to explore a cave before. But before we got to the cave, we visited through the city of Belize. I am in love. I want to retire there, and open a restaurant on the docks for the tourists. It's kind of gritty, just a bit above a fishing village, but I loved the rusticness of it. I even loved the heat

Also, I take back some of the bad things I've said about benadryl. I'm guessing that all the times before I've taken cold/allergy medicines, I've been overdosing myself. I started with a half dose, and while I was far from whole, I certainly enjoyed myself and was able to contain my runny nose.

There was a brief trek through a thick jungle; you've seen Jurassic Park? It looked like the kind of jungle there just before everyone was eaten by dinosaurs. Only instead of dinosaurs, we got feasted on by big-ass mosquitoes. Phil said this is why they ask at the blood clinic if you've been out of the country – because then they know you've already donated there.

The caves were impressive, and fun to climb around in. The mayan relics weren't large or overly complicated, but they had been in that cave for thousands of years. The natural formation of the cave was gorgeous, and we had a blast using zip lines and rapelling equipment to navigate.

Again, they fed us – meat on a stick with baked beans after all that moving around, and by god does food taste good when you haven't eaten in awhile. Phil commented that some of the best food we've had so far has come out of styrofoam containers. I would have given my left arm for some fried plantains, but we had to hurry back to the ship lest it leave without us.

Vacation Journal - Monday

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:11:06 GMT

Monday: Breakfast on the deck seems to be our ritual now. They'll deliver bagels and smoked salmon to our room as part of their continental breakfast, which I find delightful. We spotted flying fish again, and this time I am almost certain Phil is right, that's exactly what they are. The sun felt glorious on my bare shoulders, and the coffee washed away the last dregs of a hangover that might have been. After sitting for maybe twenty minutes, Phil let loose with a cry of “Land ho!” We could spot the coast of presumably Cozumel in the distance.

We were, of course, late disembarking, however not by much. Our tour guide was charming, mexican/mayan, with a thick and contagious accent. I found myself increasingly slipping into spanish through the day, until by the end of it I was talking to Phil almost entirely in Spanish, which is only funny because Phil doesn't speak much Spanish at all. The ruins were pretty – very park-like, really. And there were iguanas everywhere! They lounged across the ruins as if they owned the place.

It was fantastically hot (well, it's Mexico, so duh). We sweltered through the walk, but got to stand in the ocean and let the waves cascade across our ankles, and the sand swirl around our feet. Tuluun was once a holy place, we were told, and the waters considered sacred. Maybe the sand, too, and if that's the case I have sacred in places that don't see the light of day.

We stopped afterwards at a taqueria, and had a down-home lunch of tacos and fajitas that cannot be found in Pittsburgh. Tacos, plus coronas, made for a wonderful meal before the bus ride back to the boat, and meant I really enjoyed the siesta hour.

We returned to the room, and examined the depth of each others suntan/sunburns. The great devil in the sky did a number on our skin, which I can only pray will not erupt too badly over the next couple days. However, on top of that, my sinuses also started acting up, and I am now a fountain of mucous. Again, I can only hope that it's allergies, and that it too shall pass, but here's to hoping the morrow finds me well enough for our next adventure.

Vacation Journal - Sunday

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:43:03 GMT

Sunday – Phil and I stood on the balcony, greeting the morning sun. Phil admitted to me with a wry smile that he had been looking to spot fish – I haughtily told him that there's no fish near the surface in the middle of the ocean. As if to lay plain my hubris, God sent out a little “Oh you think you're SO smart, eh?” and as we were gazing across the ocean to the endless horizon, a small creature comes skipping across the waves before diving beneath the water. Amazed, we watched it happen again and again. At first I thought they must be birds, skimming the ocean to dive for fish, but after a moment Phil exclaimed with delight “They're flying fish! Look at them!” I had to concede it could be true, although I promised myself I'd google flying fish when we got home just to be sure. They were amazing – flying fish don't just jump, they really do leap out of the water and glide for feet before shooting back into the water seamlessly, like an olympic diver – no splash. I don't know if it's a trick of the early morning light off the water, but they seemed to flutter as they flew, giving the illusion of being birds – but birds that close to the ocean wouldn't be flapping their wings, they'd be gliding too. Amazing. (9:14 am)

I had worried that the day would be dull. Although the cruise director tried to label this a “fun day at sea,” I thought that that could just be some serious propaganda to gloss over the day's worth of travel time to Cozumel. Once again, I was wrong (maybe this will be a trip of being constantly, enjoyably wrong). We had breakfast delivered, and ate it out on the sundeck in the glorious sunshine. Phil noted the ocean was a color of blue he'd never seen before in nature. To me, it appears a combination of cobalt and cerulean. I just read through an ad for the on-board jewelers, who are trying to sell tanzanite that appears to have the same color. Although I am not a jewelry person, perhaps I will have a look in person to see if it's actually the same color, or if the ad just contained traces of photoshop.

I tried to keep reasonably active today. We started in the pool after our somewhat light breakfast. It's more of a dunking pool than one meant for swimming around in, but Phil joined me which lent all the delight I could ask for. I adore the water, having grown up in California and Arizona where pools are a mandatory part of life. We sunned briefly; of course I forgot to put on sunscreen, but I came out okay. Phil got a little red in the evening – we both swore to put on the sunscreen tomorrow. In order to “earn” our lunch, I convinced Phil to join me in the gym. Now I know that to earn the kind of food they serve around here, I'd need a couple hours in the gym. However, I think the half hour we spent there still did us some good. We unfortunately followed up that good with huge platters of mexican food, but hopefully we at least broke even by keeping on the move. It's at this point I must take back my disappointment of yesterday towards the food. Now that we've figured out the layout of the dining selections, it's clear to me we had just chosen poorly. Sure, there's a hotdog/burger grill, and a bland sort of buffet, but it's not hard to find good food on the ship. We made the mistake of eating the first things we came across, which unfortunately for us were the least exciting cuisine here. The food still isn't spectacular on a level with a Vegas buffet or the two fantastic but expensive buffets we frequent back home, but certainly my complaint has been vastly lessened. After lunch, we wandered about the decks aimlessly, catching parts of shows, perusing the shops yet again, managing to fill our time quite nicely until dinner.

That evening we had reservations for the Emerald Room, their uber-fancy-dress-fancy-dinner place. Charmingly enough, despite the sophisticated food and the amount of liquor I consumed (a lot), I've still spent more at a cheesecake factory than I did at that dinner. I even bought a relatively expensive bottle of wine, and Phil chose to overtip significantly given all the attention we received. I had my first dinner where there was an actual sommelier around! Phil and I giggled our way through most of it; I think we both felt like little kids playing pretend to being grown up. The array of silver was bewildering, and the idea of pairing drinks with certain courses was probably beyond our scope of experience. In retrospect, I probably could have skipped opening with that gin martini – it was all sort of alcoholically downhill from there.

Phil got to try beef carpaccio for the first time, a dish I knew would be right up his alley. He's always trying to steal meat to eat before I've cooked it, an act which usually grosses me out, but here was a plate of thinly shaved raw beef that gave permission to his urges. He took one bite, held up his hand for a moment of silence, and then informed me his tongue just had an orgasm. My own plates were delicious also; a four course meal that lasted until sunset. It was a gorgeous experience.

Of course, I got way drunker than I would have liked. Not quite sick drunk, but getting fairly close. The food was so rich, I was gulping down the wine. And the desserts! The menu listings were fairly nondescript, a fact I realized only after they brought the plates. The descriptions were something like “citrus cheesecake with hazelnut biscotti,” but what they served were works of art. The presentation for all the courses was impeccable.

I passed out as soon as I could slip out of my clothes in the hotel room, and awoke at 3am to moonlight out on the deck. I confess, one of the guilty pleasures of this trip has been some wanton nudity. Both Phil and I sat on the deck in the moonlight, wearing little else but moonlight, enjoying the warmth and the sound of the waves. I was having trouble sleeping, so here I am at 4am, feeling the swaying of the ship with a sharpness that seems to indicate my equilibrium is still affected by drink. We should be docking in Cozumel at 10am, at which point Phil and I have tickets to go touring the mayan ruins of ultramar. If the trip so far is any indication, I expect tomorrow's journal to be full as well.

Vacation Journal - Saturday

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:42:11 GMT

Saturday – We boarded the ship effortlessly – should I ever cruise again, I will always choose this VIP upgrade. Our room was immaculate; I had imagined something more spacious, which was perhaps unreasonable of me, but it has plenty of room all the same. The view is beautiful, although the deck is tiny. Still, being able to open the curtains to a wall of sunlight streaming in has proven marvelous.

The hot tub in the room is little more than a very small tub with jets. I tried it out anyway, and it's a little absurd. I'm so packed in the tub, that mostly the jets beat upon my thighs at uncomfortably close range. Still, there are hot tubs on deck nine that are far more spacious, even if they are publicly shared.

Phil cracked me up – he had to go push every button in the room (ok, so did I, but I was satisfied once I figured out which ones were the lightswitches). He kept finding new buttons, pushing it, not seeing an immediate result, and then flipping it on and off a few times while asking “What's this one do?” It must be a guy thing.

The bed is soft, and there is plenty of space to put away all our things. We wandered the decks in the evening, just figuring out where everything is. We did a little shopping – some for things we needed, like sunscreen, but also for make-up and a new dress for myself. Phil eyeballed the men's button-up shirts, but decided to come back later if he decided he needed it. The live music in the main lobby is nice – I must drag Phil there and make him dance with me at least once.

Oh, there's a mini-golf course on the very top deck. It's only nine very short holes, but still entertaining. We played through most of it before we had to participate in the evacuation safety drill. We'll probably go again.

The food is … well, to be honest, it's rather un-amazing. But I kind of appreciate that – maybe for once I'll spend some time not focused on food, but actually enjoying all the rest of the things my body and mind can do. I look forward to our “Fun day at sea” tomorrow. There are some shows that look like fun, some swimming to be done, and I want to check out the gym.