recipe #13

So, I have to go through and edit my recipes so I can find them again.

But either way, I need to add this one since it seems like such a hit.

Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

INGREDIENTS
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
premade pumkin pie mix
cinnamon


DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350degrees F In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time. Remove 1 cup of batter and spread into bottom of crust; set aside.

Add pumpkin and last egg to remaining batter and stir gently until well blended. Add extra cinnamon or nutmeg for flavor. Carefully spread over the batter in the crust.

Bake in preheated oven for an hour in a water bath, or until center is almost set. Allow to cool, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Cover with whipped topping before serving.

recipe #11

Spinach and Feta Pasta

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (8 ounce) package penne pasta
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 cups chopped tomatoes
• 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
• 2 cups spinach leaves, packed
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 pinch red pepper flakes
• 8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente; drain.
2. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, saute strips of chicken until near done; add onion and garlic, and cook until golden brown. Mix in tomatoes, mushrooms, and spinach. Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Cook 2 minutes more, until tomatoes are heated through and spinach is wilted. Reduce heat to medium, stir in pasta and feta cheese, and cook until heated through.

another one

So, I applied for another internship. I just did it on a whim because it was just email and I didn't have anything better to do tonight. Don't care if I get it or not. I didn't try and make it professional sounding, I just told them like it is.

Editorial Internship
Responsibilities include reviewing, reading and evaluating unsolicited manuscripts; assisting with copy editing, manuscript editing and proofing; reading, reviewing and critiquing manuscripts in process; compiling detailed editorial questions and/or research questions for manuscripts in process; assisting with research projects related to manuscript development such as fact-checking, reference checking, title research, competition book research, etc.; preparing for and attending acquisition meetings; assisting with special editorial needs or projects; assisting with other department projects, especially publicity and marketing. The internship is unpaid and candidates must commit to 10 hours per week for a term of 10-12 weeks.

Job Qualifications:
Applicants must be a junior or senior level college student majoring in English, Creative Writing or a related field. You must be interested in pursuing a career in publishing or a related industry. Interns must be detail-oriented, able to handle multiple projects at once, have a strong background in literature, and possess good writing skills. Send resume, cover letter, and a 1-2 page writing sample (on any subject or from class assignment) via email to: chood@peachtree-online.com

So, that's how it is.

Here's my cover letter. It's probably retarded, but at least it will stand out. It's definitely me to a T

Peachtree Publishers

November 10, 2008

chood@peachtree-online.com

To whom it may concern:

I'm writing to you because you publish books.

I can understand how that statement seems like the most obvious thing in the world, but frankly, I've found that the number of actual book publishing companies that offer internships in Atlanta is surprisingly small. Or maybe your advertising is better, since your company has shown up on the Career Center's weekly e-mail. But regardless, I'm writing because I'm not interested, like the majority of my peers, in having anything to do with publishing a newspaper or magazine. I'm a publication management major because I want to publish real books, with spines and bindings, and pages that aren't chalk full of advertisements, that actually mean something. I'm a comparative literature minor because I have an appreciation for good writing. Real writing; none of that inverted-pyramid style stuff they keep teaching me in my journalism classes. And yes, even children's books have more plot than a three-inch column story with a clever headline and a mugshot. I'm writing to you because I know that the education I'm getting right now is sorely lacking in the tools I'm going to need to succeed out in the real publishing world. Unless perhaps I want to go publish a literary magazine, which might be as close to doing what I want to do as I could get.

After reading the brief description about the internship, if it's all it claims to be, then your program is more comprehensive than the other (few) publishing internships that are out there, which is exactly what I'm looking for: an espresso shot of the publishing industry. Also, I honestly think that an internship at a children's book publisher would be more mentally stimulating than one at an academic book publisher any day. Not that I have a problem with mundane, my current transcriptionist job is the epitome of mundane, but editing indexes for 12 weeks isn't the experience I'm looking for. I'm looking for a hands-on, educational-but-fun, well-rounded program which you seem to provide.

I'd like to be able to tell you that I have so much outside experience that it wouldn't even fit on my resume, but the truth is that I'm a workaholic. I work between 31 to 37 hours a week, in addition to going to school. So, when I do get a spare moment of time, I'm not out joining the local magazine club or yearbook staff; I'm sitting on the couch curled up with thriller, a bookmark, and a glass of milk. What I can tell you is that being a workaholic provides for the immediate need to be detail oriented and super organized with a penchant for time management. I'm going to be there, on time, and work from the time I get there to the time I leave. And since I love to work, I'm always going to have a good attitude about it, even if I have to get up at 6am to drive to Atlanta from Athens. I don't even drink caffeinated beverages, so that's really saying something.

With that being said, attached is my resume, which further details my skills and qualifications.

I look forward to hearing from you, and will follow up in two weeks to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

And the piece of writing I submitted was an excerpt (second draft) of a short story I worked on in my creative writing class.

The following is an excerpt of a short-story that I was working on in a creative writing workshop I took. This is second draft; not nearly as close to completion as I'd like as entire work is about 12 single spaced pages depending on font.

Title

The wave of sound rushes through the air in an ever-widening arc, knocking free the dust and mold spores that so far long had been stagnant in the air. It crashes into the crumbling walls, causing paint chips to fall to the ground and dry-rotted doors to tremble and sag lower into their frames. The disturbed air settles back into its oppressive stale thickness, coating the fine membranes of her lungs with a layer of death and decay with every breath. She coughs, but the thin sound is eaten by the air and does not seem to travel past her lips. The grandfather clock chimes again, throwing its sound against her and into her; the sound wave sliding through her body and pulling at her soul and warmth as if to drag it along. The air mists where her shallow breaths meets with cold in front of her face. She hugs herself and digs her nails into the fleshy part of her forearm until the knuckles were white and little capillaries have already burst under the pressure, leaving red squiggly lines under her nails when she loosens her grip. A pallid moon-glow sneaks past the grease and grime on the windows, sheepishly spilling thin light onto a thread-bare carpet. A large rat boldly crosses from one side of the room to the other. Its fat body sways heavily side to side, eyes glowing into the darkness, and its tail, like an overgrown worm, drags behind it. She stands motionless in the center of the room as her head revolves slowly and her eyes, trying to separate the black from the gray, scan the room. There is nothing. She is alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jennifer slammed the door of her 1997 Chrysler and hurried up the steps to her building as she fished in her purse for the keys. The rain was coming down in torrents, mirroring her mood, and her faded blue blouse was soaked and clinging. Stumbling awkwardly into her cramped apartment, she flung herself on the couch and flipped on the TV. As she lay there for a second just staring up at the unknown stain on the ceiling, the phone rang, piercing her calm.

“Hello? Jennifer Blackwater speaking.”

“Hey, Jen, it's Ryan. I know it's late and that you've had a long night at the bar, but I was wondering if we could get together tonight. I need to see you.”

Jennifer lowered the phone from her ear, and glanced slowly around her apartment. She heard the tink of the leaky faucet on the kitchen sink hitting a dirty cup. She held the phone loosely in her hand as if to drop it carelessly. This was the last person she wanted to be with that night.

“I'm sorry Ryan, but I'm really too beat to be good company. I think I'm just going to hit the sack.”

“Jennifer, please, it will only take a minute, but it's importa-”

“Please, Ryan, tonight's just no good for me. Okay?”

A pained sigh issued from the other end. “Fine. I'll talk to you later.”

Hanging up the phone, she shuffled to her room to get out of her wet clothes. She actually wasn't tired at all, being it was Wednesday night, the bar had only a couple of usuals and a few guys who had just had “women troubles.” After her father died Jennifer couldn't find the heart to sell that old place and bartending wasn't really a hard job. At any rate, it pulled in enough money to keep her above water, and sports nights were usually packed enough that she'd make two weeks worth of pay in one shot. Some of the locals had known her since she was just a scrawny 12-year old kid. Where would they go for their nightly headache if she sold it off to some hot-shot college rich kid, who would just turn it into another rave bar or eclectic coffee shop.

Ryan was a guy she had met during a particularly slow night; he had just been looking for a friend of his when he’d spotted Jennifer, and for some reason, they hit it off right away. Just like one of those cheesy love films that she hated so much. Honestly, the real world wasn't supposed to work like that, but then in tripped Ryan. He was comical and sensitive, not to mention that he had that rugged look that reminded her of her father in his better years. That's how they all started out anyway; the movies, not real life. But, sometime a handful of weeks ago, they had had a falling out as she realized that she couldn't live forever in that little apartment, and that she hadn't really seen much of the world at all. Of course maybe this came because of the string of French movies that Lifetime decided to play the night before and had her dreaming of crepes all week since. Where could you get a good authentic crepe but in France anyway?

I'm sure you're sick of reading all this by now, but comments would be appreciated.

The Air Force career day thingy is tomorrow, so I'll probably update about that as well.


PS. Dad, I only smoke hookah like once every two weeks. Jeez, there are worse things I could be doing, ya know. I don't even drink. That's a lie, I had a glass of sangria a few nights ago, but that was one glass (wine glass) that took me an entire night to finish.

recipe #10

Chicken Pot Pie

INGREDIENTS

• 2 (9 inch) deep dish frozen pie crusts, thawed
• 1 (15 ounce) mixed vegetables, slightly cooked if frozen
  
• 2 cups cooked, diced chicken breast
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
  
• 1/2 cup milk

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
   
2. Cook pie crust for 10-15 minutes.
   
3. In a bowl combine the mixed vegetables, chicken, cream of chicken soup and milk and spices to taste. Pour mixture into one of the pie crusts. Turn the other crust over and pop out of the tin onto the top of the filled pie. Seal the edges and poke holes in top crust.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

recipe #9

Salsa Chicken Rice Casserole

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/3 cups uncooked white rice
• 2 2/3 cups water
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups mild salsa

DIRECTIONS

1. Place rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, place chicken breast halves into a large saucepan, and fill the pan with water. Bring to a boil, and cook for 20 minutes, or until done. Remove chicken from water. When cool enough to handle, cut meat into bite-size pieces.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
4. In a medium bowl, combine Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses. In a separate bowl, mix together cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, onion, and salsa. Layer 1/2 of the rice, 1/2 of the chicken, 1/2 of the soup and salsa mixture, and 1/2 of the cheese mixture in prepared dish. Repeat layers, ending with cheese.
5. Bake in preheated oven for about 40 minutes, or until bubbly.

updates

So, I found this and am going to it. It's like a sign or something. I was just thinking "man they have all these 'seminars' about "Careers in ...." and never have anything in the Air Force stuff... and voila. : ) Happiness!

15. AIR FORCE ROTC CAREER DAY

Only 4% of Air Force personnel are pilots, so what does the rest of Air
Force do? Come find out for yourself what the Air Force really is and
discover the opportunities that are yours for the taking as an officer in
the United States Air Force. Air Force ROTC Career Day is an annual
tradition of the UGA Detachment 160 of AFROTC where active duty
officers take their time to present their career fields to us, the students.

Tue, Nov 11, 3:30pm, Location TBA, Pizza & drinks at the end.
We will be hosting the largest and most diverse group of officers the
event has ever seen. Twelve active duty Air Force officers in law,
logistics, intelligence, finance, personnel, and more. There is no
commitment for coming to the meeting. It is purely informational.

Visit and join our Facebook Event "Air Force Career Day 2008"
for more info and updates.

So, that's pretty exciting.  I'm definitely going to go to that.  

On another note, my roommates have again started pulling more shenanigans. Had I written this entry last night, I probably would have started ranting and raving and going off like a crazy person like my last entry. However, I've decided to take the high road. I've decided to not let it get to me because that's just what they want. As a brief overview of the latest grievances follows:

1. Thursday, Oct. 23 - John and I were sitting the the couch watching The Office, smoking apple flavored hookah and had 4 candles burning. She comes in and sprays Lysol in the air by her door. Then she goes into Paul's room. Then a minute later she comes out again and sprays the aerasol directly in our direction, over the hookah and in front of the TV, in the process, spraying both John and I with mist. Then she went back in her room. Like it even mattered. Like she was even in the living room at all to be bothered. She just went in her room.

2. Friday, Oct. 24 - She puts a plastic trash bag over the hookah in the living room. Even though it wasn't on or anything, it was just sitting on the table. I can understand them moving it to the floor out of the way, but putting a trash bag over it? It's not like the shisha is going to jump out and give her lung cancer. They also pushed the coffee table all the way back and put the old TV on top if it. Now, this could have been for several reasons, so this doesn't really bother me, but the trash bag on the hookah? Juvenile.

In any case, I just don't really care. It's not worth my time, effort, or energy to spend thinking about why or try to reason what the heck her problem is.

I can understand how she might have a problem with smoking in the living room, even though there's just as much evidence against the harms of smoking hookah as there are for the harms of smoking hookah, and wouldn't want to be around it. I can understand how she'd want half of the fridge. However, all of these things she hasn't just come and spoken and asked for a compromise. With the fridge, she just pushed all my things to one side and wrote on the fridge that half was hers. To me, that's not compromise, that's not healthy discussion, that's ultimatum. Writing on the fridge gives no area for any other voice of opinion on the matter. In regards to the hookah, she's only asked that it not be in the room at all, she's not offered a compromise that maybe we only smoke it after 10 after she goes to her room for the night and other times smoke it in our own room during the day, maybe with an exception when we have friends over. People come over specifically to smoke hookah sometimes because it's a social thing, but its not often, and it's usually at night anyway.

She wants people to treat people her the way she treats people, but so far she's been nothing but malicious towards us; the trashcan, the hookah covering, the aerosol spraying, and possibly moving the TV (although there are legit reasons for that other than they just are refusing to use our TV.) She says she wants to voice her problems, but voicing them on the white board leaves no room for discussion or compromise. Like I said, ultimatum.

Anyway, like I said, I am not going to play petty games in return. I did think of a thing or two when I was angry, but I'm going to take the high road. I don't know if I can say the same for John. Anyway, that's about it.

recipe #8

Stuffed Shells

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (16 ounce) package jumbo pasta shells
• 4 cups large curd cottage cheese
• 12 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 pinch garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1 (26 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook shells according to package directions. Place in cold water to stop cooking. Drain.
2. Mix together cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, eggs, and garlic powder. Rub the dried herbs in the palms of your hands to pulverize them, and stir into the cheese mixture. Stuff mixture into the shells.
3. Spread 1/3 of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a 15 x 10 inch pan. Place shells open side up, and close together in pan. Spread remaining sauce over top, and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 35 minutes, or until bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

recipe #7

Broccoli Cheese Soup

INGREDIENTS

• 3 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped broccoli
• 3 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 6 tablespoons margarine
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1 processed cheese food (eg. Velveeta), cubed
• 1/2 cheddar cheese
  
• 1 pinch ground white pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large pot over medium heat, simmer the broccoli in the broth for 15 minutes. In a separate skillet over medium heat, melt the butter or margarine, add the onions and saute for 5 minutes, or to desired tenderness.
2. Add the flour to the onions and stir well, forming a pasty substance. Gradually add the milk and stir until thick. Add this mixture to the broccoli mixture in the pot and stir well. Then add the cheese, stirring until melted. Finally, add the pepper. (Note: Be careful not to let the soup boil, or the cheese will break down.)

roommate update

So, apparently the saga continues with the roommates.

This time, they don't resort to using the white board on the fridge.

Instead, they've completely removed the trashcan from the kitchen. Unprovoked. For no viable reason.

Now, this leads me to wonder if I should tell them they can't use my dishes. At this point, they've contributed nothing to the apartment, the trashcan was about all they've done so far, and now they've apparently rescinded our rights to use their trashcan.

I don't even get it.

follow up

The last recipe I published turned out great. Plus, lots of leftovers which is always a plus on days that John works till midnight.

I've been super sleepy lately, even though I cut my hours this week so I could catch up on homework type items.

I didn't get the internship that I applied for. In a way, I'm happy. I didn't get the best feeling from the place; it was dark, everyone had their doors closed, and it was tucked way off far back into an obscure place in town. Still, that was probably the one Athens internship of the same caliber, and so I probably won't have another opportunity. Apparently they only hire one intern per department per semester, which I don't really understand since it's unpaid, they could at least take on two to three. Anyway, so I'm sure it was that whoever got it was way more qualified than I am. He said I was welcome to apply next semester and that he'd pass my resume on to the other departments, but really I don't expect anything here. I'm not qualified for much. That isn't going to change either by next semester anyway. I like to work, and I'd much rather work and get paid than not, besides, I'm not much into writing news articles and that's really all there is opportunities for anyway. They have a Magazine Club, but well I don't know, whatever I guess.

So, the plan is that I'm just going to work as much as I can, save up as much as I can, and join the Air Force as a Public Affairs Officer like I was planning to all along, and stop stressing myself out about the rest. I dipped my toe in the civilian world just to find out it's disappointing, so at least I can say I made an attempt, and now I'm done. Nobody cares a wink about work ethic I guess, and so be it. Meanwhile, I can continue working break-neck hours just like I like to, pulling in surplus sums of money, just like I like to, and to hell with the fluff.

My only problem now is the "practicum" or whatever I'm supposed to get if I don't get an internship. Apparently I have to be published seven to eight times in The Red and Black (the advisor may have just been using this as an example publication). I wonder if I could swing either just taking another course or maybe getting published in a literary magazine fewer times, instead. That way, at least I'll be writing stuff I want to write, fiction, short stories, instead of "news" stories. Whatever.

We'll see I guess. Since I didn't get the internship, I'll have to talk to my advisor about my options. You can't be a creative writing major at UGA, but you can master in it, not really sure how that works exactly as far as making sense.

recipe #6

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

INGREDIENTS

* 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
* 1 pound broccoli florets, cooked
* 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
* 1 can of condensed cream of chicken
* 1/2 can of milk
* 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
* 1 cup dry stuffing mix (cooked)



DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Saute chicken with spices cut into bite sized pieces. Steam broccoli until crisp but tender, cook stuffing.

3. In a small bowl mix together the soup, milk and 1 cup cheese and chicken. Set aside. In a 9x13 inch baking dish layer the chicken mix, and cheese. Put stuffing mix over the top and bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.

car repair and other major things of the day

So after the brakes went out on the car, I took it to this place out in the middle of nowhere called Hopewell Tire & Automotive. Luckily for me, the day previous, I had called about every car repair place looking for estimates on just basic brake replacement (pads/shoes/labor). So, when I called them, they were almost immediately first on the list by how friendly he was on the phone and helpful. So, when it broke down, I took it there. They did a full inspection for free on my car, and then even made the rattling noise stop, free of charge! That was what I was what made me like them immediately. All the other times I've taken it to places, they knew it made the rattling and yet no one did anything. Yet, apparently something was just loose and needed some bolts, and he just did it for me. So, now my car is quite, at last, no rattling chain noise, it's almost as if I have a brand new vehicle with just that change. Heck, I don't even remember when it was the last time I had the car not make those noises. Anyway, so after calling around getting estimates, the price they charged to do the work with parts included after taxes and fees was only $260! Getting just the brakes changed on their own, not including the other part that broke on the brakes (the hydraulic part) was going to be around $150 at some other place anyway. Not only that, but like I said, they did a full inspection on the car, found out that my belts don't have to be replaced (as the one guy had told me at Precision Auto), and after figuring out all that's wrong with the car, didn't try and make me feel like I had to get it all fixed. They were like "here's the brakes that need to be fixed" the rest we can just work through one thing at a time when you can, just to get your car in better shape. Plus, the facility was nice, offered complementary coffee and sodas and had full service cable TV (not just playing soap operas with the TV mounted high so no one can change the channel). They even had a fish tank with a huge fish in it. The guy, Andy is super nice and makes sure that he explains everything to you so that you know what's going on. The phone was almost ringing off the hook, but he didn't even flinch while he was explaining to me (with diagrams) about what happened with my brakes and what needed to be fixed. So, they got the repair done when they said they would, and when I went to pick it up, I got into my car, and they had cleaned it! The front seat had had some Styrofoam cups from work all around and some crumpled up papers from when the oil change people put those "feet protector" papers on the floor, and when I got in, it was all gone. Overall, it was the best service I've gotten at a car place and I'll definitely be going back there if I ever need anything else done.

I had my interview today. Overall, I think it went pretty well. I feel like I answered everything satisfactorily. I feel like I asked constructive questions. I was pretty nervous, but I think I managed to mask it during the meeting. We'll just have to wait and see how it goes I guess. It seemed promising, but the guy didn't really give anything away. He said he would be contacting me within a week. His last interview days are October 7th, so I figure sometime after that is when I'll be getting a yay or nay phone call. We'll see how that goes. In any case, I looked pretty good. The interview also consisted of an editing test, which I thought was challenging but doable. We'll see how that goes too, there's no way to tell. I wasn't frazzled though, so I guess that's good.

Equifax was offering free credit scores for the first 10,000 people to go get it. So, I did that. I probably have the best credit score out of my peer group. Top tier baby! 763! I have the screen shot somewhere.






So that's how that turned out. Well, anyway, I'm rewarding my hard work and efforts by watching Heroes tonight and going to bed early. Tomorrow is another day of crackdown on homework/school/work, so let me enjoy the free time when I have it.

career/future/internship

So, it's done. I've submitted it. It's all up to whoever is in charge now, mainly I guess some Jon Davies guy. That's right folks, Nicole E. Owen has submitted her first resume and cover letter of her career today, not but one minute ago. (The wonders of e-mail making this whole business non-refundable, non-returnable, non-wait-I-didn't-really-want-to-send-that-able, on a click of a button.) I'm pretty sure it's terrible anyway. Honestly, writing both of those things was like pulling teeth, but now I have a presentable resume (presumably -- I've taken it to the Career Center twice for revision) and a cover letter that I can change and tweak for future use (presuming it isn't terrible). I thought for maybe a split second about posting those said things up here, but then I decided that I didn't want any more "constructive criticism", I just can't handle anyone telling "oh maybe you shouldn't have written that part", or "I saw a type in the second paragraph", not that anyone has told me these things, as no one reviewed my cover letter before I sent it out. Not that it would make much difference since the pool of practical skills that I have to draw from and expound upon comes only from my various part-time/full-time jobs that I've had, and while may be excellent sources for any management position, are probably not the best references for a publishing type position.

Then I have to remember to take a deep breath and figure that this is an unpaid internship, right in Athens, from UGA itself, and probably they have many, if not most, candidates who come to them without much prior experience, and probably none certainly with the work ethic that I have. And I have to remember that they are there to give us the experience so that we do have experience to write about for yet other internships that actually REQUIRE experience for the internship. Which seems like a vicious cycle of interning; must have experience interning to intern. So, such is life. As it is, my resume will already be fleshing out after the 29th of September because I signed up for a "Job Shadow Day" workshop. Yeah, one day, but every little bit helps I'd imagine. And if I get this one, then in the summer maybe I can get Peachtree Publishing (it publishes children's books in Atlanta). Then? Well by then, gosh darnit, that should be enough experience to get to the Random House Apprenticeship Program in New York! That'd be neat. Couldn't actually work there, apparently it's a terrible work environment with little room to advance, but the experience would be one of a kind.

Which brings me to probably the other question of the day. What about going into the Air Force. So, I talked to this Captain Kessler who is a public affairs officer at Eglin Air Force Base. We talked for about 40 minutes or so about public affairs and what it's all about. Unfortunately, she didn't tell me anything I didn't already basically know, or guess, and what she did tell me doesn't make feel really confident about wanting to pursue that avenue. It's not that I couldn't do that job, it's just that, if I wanted to be in public relations, I would be a public relations major, and frankly being a liaison and event planner just really isn't my thing. I could do the crisis management part, information dissemination part, base/personnel morale part. I could do it, but I just don't know if that's what I want to do. On the other hand, it is only four years, and I could get my master's and get some valuable leadership experience while getting paid better than my peers and having health insurance and a place to live. I guess my biggest problem with it is she said that there is very little structure, and frankly, I love structure, give me structure, I eat structure for breakfast. I'm a micro-manager and a planner, but if I have no structure, I don't know what to do and I flounder in my own details. So, maybe I could just scrap PAO and go into Intelligence.

Actually, there's this handy-dandy website that has every Air Force officer position available with a description of each one, and actually, Intelligence Officer seems to be more of a fit for my personality and mind than the description for PAO. Maybe I should talk to an Intelligence Officer now to get the scoop on that. I'd imagine there would be more structure in intelligence in any case. That job description was followed closely to a Planning and Programming Officer, which seemed a tad bit duller than the former.

At any rate, I guess I've still got time to figure it all out. After this externship, that should be enlightening, and hopefully I can get this internship, which will also be enlightening, and then maybe I'll know. It's really just about keeping all my options available to me right now.

Meanwhile, as long as I continue to be paid by the hour, I will continue to be a work-a-holic. I have decided that there is a fine line between work ethic and workaholism, and I'm hoping I haven't crossed that line. But sometimes I wonder.

roommates

So, finally I have been forcefully dragged to my blog. Not for updates. Not for pleasantries about my life. No, this one is to prevent me from strangling my new roommates, actually really just the girl, AND PEOPLE WONDER WHY I DONT LIKE GIRLS?!! No, this is a whole new breed of hatred of girls. I mean, in general I just don't deal with ditsy la-la girls, and girls that don't have a sense of humor comparable to mine. However, this girl that I live with seems to have crossed all bounds! Honestly. I'm going to start documenting with pictures my ongoing problems with her as to stave off the anger I feel inside. Please refer to August 26th blog about how my patience was being tried. I didn't go into details then, but I will now -- all the glorious details.

So, roommates. Well at first they didn't seem so bad, sort of keep to themselves really. Then she started being a girl, the kind of girl that makes me not like girls. First it was the way she'd bring up problems she had by starting all sentences with "Uhm, so, what are you going to do about ..." Okay, well that was fine, she's new in the apartment, understandable. "What are you going to do about the trash can, because right now we don't have one." Like I didn't notice we didn't have a trash can? Like if we had a trash can then I would be putting trash in it... and meanwhile, what we're doing about not having a trash can is putting trash in a bag. That's what we're doing about a trash can! Now, note that I had just dropped about $250 on kitchen supplies and really, I just was done with getting kitchen supplies. So, they went out and bought a trash can (and side note that she also bought a mini-fridge and some other crap). Anyway, so whatever. A few days later... "Uhm, so what are you guys going to do about that computer (John was fixing his computer out on the dining room table) because we'll need to get another one because I need a table to actually sit at." Note here that there was half the table available for sitting. Also note (which was not obvious at that time) that she doesn't cook, she just eats Lean Cuisine microwave meals, nor do her and her boyfriend eat together 'at the table' so really I just don't see what the issue was. Then, THEN, started the Notes on the Fridge Saga. I'm sorry to say that as of this entry, Notes on the Fridge has gone on for quite some time with the notes becoming more and more exasperating.

"Paul and I would like 1/2 of the fridge space, and 1/2 of the freezer space as well as the door space, Thank you." -- shortly after this I find that all my stuff has been moved to the right side of the fridge (exactly 1/2) and all her stuff is on the other side of the fridge. My side: food, milk, juice, more food, leftovers, dressings, vegatables -- you know, food type items. Her side: milk, juice, bottled water (a whole case), soda (several "shelf-mate" kinds, Gatorade, fruit -- you know, snacks and beverages.

a week or so later...

"Please respect Paul and my side of the fridge. Thank you." -- reason, something we had in the freezer had fallen over onto their side. My freezer side: pizza, meat, tater tots/french fries, frozen veggies, ice cream, frozen meals. Her side: Lean Cuisine and ice cream (not low fat) >> anyone wonder at the logic here?

a few days or so later...

"If you don't have room on your side, don't take up our side. Thanks." -- reason, this one was written by Paul, (notable different handwriting) and was due to the fact that apparently our butter was touching his tomatoes. But, considering that I had JUST come home from the store not TWO hours earlier, I knew EXACTLY where everything was in the fridge (mainly because I'm beginning to find it difficult to maintain my side of the Berlin Wall). And if anything was touching anything else, it was because something in the back shifted and went to "their side."

Now, the biggest issue I have with this whole fridge problem isn't the fact that I didn't ever agree to have "half the fridge", nor did I agree to "keep my things on my side" as this is just stuff that happened which I chose not to have issue with. The problem I'm having right now is that remember that mini-fridge she bought (which is the medium 4-foot tall 2.5-foot wide 2-foot deep one -- approximately)? THERE IS EFFING NOTHING IN THE DANG THING!!!

Honestly, if I was a reasonable person who had a fridge in my room while living in a place that also had a regular fridge, I would probably put snacks and drinks in it, stuff I ate/drank on a fairly regular basis that I wouldn't want to have to go out to the kitchen to get every time I wanted something. But seeming as that's not the case, I wonder to myself -- why exactly am I paying for the electricity that that thing is pulling out of the wall when it's not even being used as more than a place where she puts her books?? Why exactly am I having to squish all my leftovers around (because remember, she has none because she doesn't cook) in order for her to be able to refrigerate an ENTIRE CASE of bottled water?! I mean, these are reasonable questions aren't they? Please by all means stop me if I'm asking her to be unreasonable here.

And yet the fun doesn't stop there. No it doesn't. Notes on the Fridge began to creep into the modes of daily living. Dish cleaning, front-door locking, the correct way to put knives in the dishwasher.



Now, in case you can't read those, they say (top right-hand corner) "Please remember to lock the door every time you leave. Safety is important! Katie" and the other one (bottom left) says, "When placing sharp utensils (such as knives) in the dishwasher, always put the sharp edge down for safety and sanitary purposes. Thanks Katie."

Now, my issue with the first one is mainly that this would be the fifth or so time that one or the other of them has mentioned locking the door. This not being such a grand issue to me seeming as we've went an entire year without anything being stolen ever without ever locking the door EVER, and the fact that they lock the door when they leave even when one or both of us is sitting on the couch in the living room, and sometimes even when they are here. Now, first off, I don't need to be told that many times to lock the door, it's not in my habit to and I see no reason to when there are people here. Theft isn't a problem here in the apartment complex except during long school breaks like Winter or Spring Break when locals know the students have gone home. Not to mention that a cop lives within a stone's throw of this particular building so it's probably safer than even up the hill. Secondly, when I'm in the apartment, I'm not going to lock the door because we have friends that just come in to and fro. That's how it is. When I go over to Nick's, I just walk in, no knocking or anything, that's just how it is. I can understand locking the door when no one is home, and I make an effort, but honestly, the rest is just bull.

The thing that bothers me with the second one is just because it's almost too ridiculous for words. First, for her to write something like this, she just have hurt herself unloading the dishwasher or something. This being a first reason to scoff as anyone who is paying any attention at all would not go and impale themselves on any "sharp objects" in the washer. Second, I'm sick of this safety bull, it's like she's like the safety police or something and the tone in her notes feels as though she thinks she's talking to a five year old -- "Now don't touch the stove becuase it's hot! Safety is important!" Honestly, STFU. Lastly, I don't own steak knives (an investment I am finding to be needing as I made steak last night which OMG more on that later), and my cutting knives I don't put in the dishwasher because I don't want them to be ruined. Which leaves butter knives and forks as the only "sharp objects" in the dishwasher. And by God, if she can't handle a butter knife blade side up in the dishwasher, then she can stay out of the dishwasher in the first place. Honestly! I mean, tell me I'm being irrational here and I'll take a step back, but COME ON!

Then of course there's just minor things, like her voice that irritates me. The fact that she only watches ABC Family, Discovery Channel, and Disney (even if it's the lamest show made for like 12 year olds), because "the other channels have too much violence and vulgarity on", DIRECT QUOTE PEOPLE! The fact that she called the apartment office to complain about John and I smoking hookah in the house. The thing about hookah though is that first off, you can't really smell it unless it's being smoked, the smokes dissipates into the air leaving no residue or after-smell, and generally it smells like fruit anyway. It's made for smoking indoors, that's why they have hookah bars. Duh, and yet she obviously doesn't understand hookah or thinks it's the same as smoking cigarettes because she wants us to smoke it outside. One incident involving this, which was related to me by John, was one day John lit incense and put it on the hookah tray, and Paul walked in and asked if he could "maybe smoke that outside because it's kind of strong" (first of all sandalwood isn't a flavor that hookah comes in), and upon realizing that it was incense didn't seem to have that much of a problem. John put the incense out either way. Bottom line, hookah is like lighting a fruit smelling candle. Build a bridge.

And mainly, the wrap it up, she basically seems to have no concept of what it is to live with people. As I gleaned, her and her boyfriend, though previously living together have not had to have roommates, as they lived in a two bedroom. They moved because it was too expensive, and now what, they're trying to somehow reach some sort of perfect atmosphere, and it's impossible to do when you share space with four people. John and I have yet to complain about a single thing. Not even the fact that she goes to bed at 10:30 on Friday and Saturday nights and then expects us -- when we have friends over -- to be quiet. Not because she has anything to do over the weekend, like work, like I do, no, she can sleep in, just because she just does that. The whole concept of "deal with it" just hasn't entered her mind, but I'm telling you, it's going to be a long year if this shit keeps up. And she's not going to want to hear it from me the day something breaks the camel's back on this.

PS:: I made steak which was OMG fantastic, (medium, and John's was well done, even though it hurt my soul to overcook such a good piece of meat), if I do say so myself. And it was quick, and on Sunday's they have "manager's special" on meat to sell it fast, and it's just as good as long as you cook it same day, but like 1/3 off. I don't know why I don't grill more often. I made mashed potatoes from scratch (baby reds) which ended up turning out better than I expected, and overall, I feel like I've made leaps and bounds in my culinary skills. Yay for me!

Shrimp Pasta

Shrimp Pasta

4 oz. linguine, uncooked

1 cup cleaned medium fresh shrimp

2 medium tomatoes, chopped (about 1 cup)

1/2 cup PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese Spread

1-1/2 cups torn cleaned spinach

Make It

COOK linguine as directed on package.

MEANWHILE, heat large skillet on medium-high heat. Add shrimp, tomatoes and cream cheese spread; cook and stir 3 to 4 minutes or until shrimp are cooked through and mixture is well blended. Add salt and pepper to taste.

DRAIN pasta; place in large bowl. Add spinach; toss lightly. Stir in shrimp mixture.

recipe #5

Easy Mexican Cassarole

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 2 cups salsa
• 1 (16 ounce) can chili beans, drained
• 3 cups crushed tortilla chips
• 2 cups sour cream
• 1 (2 ounce) can sliced black olives, drained
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh tomato
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook ground beef until no longer pink. Stir in salsa, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in beans, and heat through.
3. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Spread beef mixture on bottom. Spread sour cream over beef, and sprinkle olives, green onion, and tomato, corn, green pepper, over the sour cream. Top with Cheddar cheese.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.

rain

Today it decided to downpour on the way back to my car from class. That was fine, anyway, no big problem getting wet, and I decided to go home and change into dry clothes (since I was soaked through) instead of going straight to work as I usually do.

Except the draining system in Athens is pretty stupid since if it downpours the drains can't handle it and thusly the streets fill with water. And the road are crowned too, so it makes the gutters crazy deep. So, I being already drenched through, and being that I was driving down Milledge which is popular walking area, made sure to rooster tail the gutter water with my car onto all the people walking with their umbrellas. :D Needing to mention that with the water and the speed, the water was spraying up a good eight feet.

I'm sure this sounds horrible, but indeed it was quite hilarious, and just to note, there were only two people stupid enough to be walking in a torrential downpour, of which I only got one of them with a full rooster tail (of which she looked like she just got out of the pool after I went by), and the other was standing far enough away, and I was slowing down for a red light that there wasn't a full on tail.

So, that was the highlight of my day so far. Still have to finish eating. Eating the mexican pot roast from recipe #4 since it made like several quarts of stew/chili. If you need to serve like six people heartedly, I recommend this -- topped with cheese, it's way better that way. Well, lots of things are better with cheese.

The roommates are trying my patience slowly but surely. Well, maybe not the guy, but the girl is. Well, I already knew I have a hard time getting along with girls. Whatever, more on that later.

guinea

So, tragically, the guinea pig died. Even after I looked it up online a day later, he had an upper respiratory infection, something apparently quite common in guinea pigs that are bought from a pet store due to the environment. Anyway, so, those stupid vet people didn't even recognize it, even though he had all the symptoms and it's quite common. Not only that, but it was a very common antibiotic to fix him, and so this all could have been avoided if I'd just self diagnosed and told them what I wanted. Anyway, so, I was going to go to another vet and ask for the medicine, but that would have involved more vet expense and more medicine expense, and well... frankly he was only $16 anyway. So, yes, tragically he has passed. I guess I have to get him a friend. The other one seems fine and in good spirits. I'll just have to play whit him more to keep him from being lonely.

recipe #5-Roast Chicken

So, I've been quite busy lately, and so, this time I'm just going for something quick and easy. Roast chicken. Basically the only real difference for this is the way you cook it, and I can still throw in potatoes and other veggies to make a meal. I might even decide to go the lazy route and since I don't have any of these spices and don't know if I want to go all out and buy all of them just for chicken, I might just get a basic chicken rub or some other rub combination that I come up for myself. I'm also not going to be letting it marinade for 24 hours either.

SIMPLE ROAST CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS

• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 (4 pound) whole chicken
• 5 cloves garlic, crushed

DIRECTIONS

1. In a bowl, mix the salt, sugar, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Rub the chicken with the mixture. Cover chicken, and place in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C).
3. Stuff the chicken cavity with the garlic. Place the chicken, breast side down, on a rack in a roasting pan.
4. Roast 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce heat to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C), and continue roasting 15 minutes. Baste chicken with pan drippings, reduce heat to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C), and continue roasting 30 minutes, to an internal temperature of 180 degrees F (85 degrees C). Let stand 20 minutes before serving.

guinea update

So, since there has been gathering interest into the health of my guinea pigs, here is the update. The big guinea seems to be in good spirits and good health. In fact, he's acting more outgoing than ever. John and I have taken to force feeding the other guinea pig orange juice from the mini water bottle. Mainly because the guinea hasn't been eating or drinking, so at the very least he is getting vitamin C and fluids and some sugars. They recommend a syringe for force feeding, but since we don't have one, that really isn't a possibility. I don't even know where you buy a syringe at. I guess if he can get enough energy to feed himself that would be good. I'll have to buy some soft fruit or something for him in the meantime.

a day in the life

So, classes have begun. Just for a brief exerpt on those: Classes so far aren't that bad. My journalism editing class I haven't had a chance to get a good read on it yet. So far, I'm excited about it for the most part. I have an assignment due on Friday that requires me to diagram sentences with like parts of speech and all that, and I don't remember that at all. It shouldn't be that difficult though, once I get back into the swing of things. My journalism credibility/ethics class I think will end up being pretty interesting and fun. It has no midterm or final, just two papers to write that are like 80% of the final grade. It shouldn't be that difficult, you write the paper and read the material that the paper is on in your own time (before the due date of course), so it's feasible that I could knock that part out early. Anyway, then there is my comparative literature class, which, I don't think will be that bad, but it's been a while since I've written a comparative literature paper... and the class is now part of this new Writing Intensive Program (WIP - no pun intended) that UGA has set up, so there's supposed to be ... duh, intense writing. Again though, no final or midterm, just two papers and some random response papers. It should be fine. At least with writing your grade is how much you put into it. My french class seems like it will be a bit better this year. The teacher is funny and slightly eccentric (and old), but we don't have to buy the stupid French workbook, so I already think this class will be easier. Also, he doesn't grade, he just sort of assigns everyone a letter grade at the end of the year based on all the work, which basically means, as long as I participate (and my French speaking is probably at least a bit better than the writing) then I should be fine. The UGA Key has his grades as all A's and B's, so I'm probably in the clear. Not to mention, Elyas said he'd help me -- he's the exchange student from Africa that has a degree in French.

I just got offered a promotion at my job to QA, quality assurance person, which basically means I get a flat rate of $8 to review jobs that come in that other people have already typed up, and I just correct for errors, and then because I'm also agreeing to close for them on weekends and have a key to the building and the key code also, I negotiated working Shift Premium rates without having to fulfill the hour requirments that normally are involved with Shift Premium. Which basically means that I'll be getting over $10 at all other times that I'm not QAing jobs. Which means, that working less hours, I'll be making more money. Which is a good thing... considering....

I just paid $96 at the UGA vet school just for them to look at (not treat or diagnose) my guinea pigs for two hours, just for them to tell me that they're sick and are going to die, and it'd be best if I just put them down (if I didn't want to spend $60 on eye-drops that they weren't sure was the problem or $600 for them to actually figure out what the problem was and treat them). I felt bad telling them that I wasn't going to do either and that I'd just take them home as is. But seriously, I only spent $16 on them a piece. Anyway, so, I took them home and yeah, the little guy is on a slippery slope to death now. He's not eating or drinking or moving much. I feel bad. His eyes are all dischargey and gooey. I cleaned him up, but it's not looking so good. They said the other one was sick too, but he's eating and walking around and hasn't gotten gooey eyes or anything, so he might be okay. They both had cloudy eyes when I bought them at the pet store, but they said that they were just hard of sight. I asked the vet guy about it and so while they had them back in the back for two hours, no doubt being prodded by vet interns/students, they thought it was because they had clamydia, or the mom did when they were born (which causes blindness in children born to mother's that have that as I thought too). So, well they determined that the guineas are indeed blind. The vet guy was wow attractive by the way. He walked me and my guineas all the way out to my car (which was parked a good distance away). I don't know if that was just his hospitality after telling me my guineas were going to die or what. Well, anyway. That's a bummer. At least I didn't name them yet. Still, I feel that the other one might be okay, and maybe I'll go buy him a friend at some OTHER pet store, a baby guinea so he can get used to me from a young age. Still, I wont be shopping for live animals at that store again. I bought a beta fish there one time and the fish within 5 days (two days too late to return him) got fin rot and died. I'm going to see if I can get a refund or something. Afterall, I have the documentation that I took them to the vet, and I think I still have the receipt, but even so, since the guineas I bought were all from the same litter, if they still have some, or some of them got the same sickness, then they can't tell me that it's not true.

So, to top it all off, I had to work eight hours today, and that normally would be fine, but because of the extra long vet appointment, I missed my first four hours of work, the class that is the break in between, and so thus had to work 8 hours straight (which I didn't do because it was physically impossible unless I wanted to work 4pm-12am and then still be awake reading all night which I didn't.) Anyway, so, overall, it's been a pretty lousy day. And what can I look forward to but watching small guinea waste away and die and come in there one morning and find him all stiff and dead. *sigh* depressing really.

Anyway, I have to go read for my comp lit class tomorrow.

recipe #3- Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole

So, tonight it's already 10pm because I don't get off work until 8pm Mondays and Wednesdays, so tonight I'm having spaghetti with Ragu and adding my own sauteed mushrooms and onions to the sauce. Not so fancy. I've been looking for a good recipe to try out my crock pot that mom gave me. It's kind of big, so I donno if it's too big to make stuff in, but at least I could cook a whole chicken in there if I really wanted to I guess. In looking for a crock pot recipe, I realized that with an eight to nine hour cook time I'd have to actually be gone for only eight to nine hours, which really only leaves weekends and fridays for cooking with the crockpot. That's fine.

In the meantime of Friday, I still have Tuesday and Thursday to cook for, getting home around 6pm.

So, I've come up with these two recipes for this week. I had to look them up in conjunction so when I go shopping tomorrow, I can just pick up all needed ingredients.


Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole

Prep time 15 Min
Cook time 30 Min
Ready In 45 Min

Ingredients

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into bite size pieces
salt and pepper to taste
4 cups cooked white rice
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 can southwestern pepperjack cheese soup
1/2 cup milk
4 oz can diced green chili peppers
3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese/ pepperjack cheese
4 slices soft white bread, cubed or crushed crackers or croutons

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. To Cook Chicken: Season chicken with salt and pepper to taste, place in a microwave-safe dish, cover and cook in microwave for 5 to 6 minutes. Turn and cook another 2 to 3 minutes or until cooked through and no longer pink inside. (Also can saute with garlic/oil in a skillet.) Let cool.

3. In a 9x13 inch baking dish, combine chicken, rice, soups, half the cheese, chilis, and milk and mix well. Add the rest of the cheese and top with bread crumbs, sprinkle with melted butter over bread crumbs.

4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly and bread is crunchy.

This recipe, I'd like to note, that I got from allrecipes.com, which I'm finding to be an excellent site because not only does it have the recipe, but it also has several reviews, and people add their own suggestions on how to make the recipe better. Right now this recipe looks excellent, but I already integrated the reader's suggestions into it, before it was just chicken, rice (not that much), only one can of chicken broth and no soup or chili's, and half that amount of cheese, and only cheddar, and no sprinkled butter over the top.

recipe #2-Mushroom and Swiss Chicken

So, tomorrow night, I'm assuming both Phillip and John will be home, in which case, I plan to be cooking this recipe. Brought to you by allrecipes.com. Anyway, so this one looks fairly simple. It's basically just getting the marinade right and people on the website added tips that apparently make it even better and less messy. So, I'll probably go with that.

MUSHROOM AND SWISS CHICKEN

* 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
* 2 cloves crushed garlic
* 3 tablespoons olive oil
* 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
* 1 tablespoon Cajun-style seasoning
* 1 cup chopped green onion
* 1 (8 ounce) package sliced fresh mushrooms
* 4 slices Swiss cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Combine oil and garlic in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Add chicken breasts and coat well with the oil and garlic. (Here they recommended doing the same thing except putting it into a ziplock baggie and smooshing the chicken around well and then pouring the whole mixture directly into the baking dish. Sort of like shake and bake I guess.) Sprinkle with the vinegar and Cajun seasoning.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

4. Remove chicken from oven and cover with green onion and mushrooms (and other things/ spices if desired); then add a few more sprinkles of oil and vinegar and return dish to oven for 15 to 20 minutes more. Remove from oven and immediately place 1 slice of cheese on top of each chicken breast; cheese will melt. Serve immediately.

Add any side dishes you desire!

We'll see how it goes.

dentist

So, one more thing before I go off to bed. I had to go to the dentist for the annual cleaning. I've decided our military dental is whack. Apparently anything not falling within the lines of "annual cleaning and 200% necessary -- which nothing can be" involves a co-pay. I found this out as I had to get some fillings. Two fillings to be exact, into pre-cavity forming areas that he couldn't even see without his 50x magnified glasses, but that apparently would only get worse even with constant brushing because the bacteria was already there. It was only the first layer of tooth. Didn't hurt at all. It only took like five minutes for them to drill the hole clean and fill it with tooth colored filler. Still, that's a mean $111.20. Stupid teeth. Of course go figure when I start taking care of them more often, using Listerine and brushing nearly daily, thats when things go downhill. My mom said she got all her cavities at my age due to changing body chemistry. Guess that just means I'll have to drink more milk from now on.

summer grades

WOOOOO I got a 4.0 this summer in all my classes. Weird because I definitely only got a B on my final exam which was worth 35% of the grade. So, she must have curved it substantially and I must have done a lot better than other people. It must have been a econ for jocks. Otherwise there's no way. Well whatever, 4.0 for me! That's great for my piddling GPA. That's like a 3.2 now or something.

vacation

So, I'm back from vacation. So, my mom took me and my little brother to Universal Studios and we stayed at the Nickelodean hotel. It was pretty neat I suppose. Probably more geared toward little kids of course. My brother was pretty syked about getting to see Spongebob Squarepants.

Which brings me to my next point. And hell rain down on me when the parental units disagree with this particular section. But, I'd just like to vent the fact that every single time I'm around him, I remember the reason I'm glad I didn't have to live with him most of my life. That boy is a f***ing spoiled brat. Man, what he needs is a good swat across the face. What happened to some good ol' physical punishment? I don't believe I was scarred by any of that, if anything it taught me a thing or two real quick. Not only is he spoiled, but he's completely and utterly disrespectful and inconsiderate of any one but himself and at times just downright mean. I mean, if I even said half of the things he's spouted off my my mother like "you're just a bad mom", "I can't wait to leave here", and there were worse things than that, I just can't remember them right now. All I know is that it made my blood boil to think that he could be so rude to my mom and hurt her feelings with no regard whatsoever. I mean, we were at Universal Studios, we were staying at the Nickelodean hotel not once did I hear a thank you. And all right, admittedly thank you is not a high priority in my vocabulary either, but half the time he was complaining about how he was bored, the wait in the lines at the rides (which were a max of 30 minutes), how he didn't get this thing, how we didn't do what he wanted to do. All of which was complete bullshit. All he cared about the whole time was himself and what he wanted and what he was getting and what we were doing or not doing that had to deal with him. It was all petty stupid stuff too, not even things that mattered at all. Case in point, we had ridden a lot of the rides by the time the park had started to fill up since we got there when the park first opened and so after that we went into some stores to look around at the trademark crap (basically a bunch of random junk with Spongebob and Universal Studios labels on it). So, we walked in two or three stores looking for this Avatar notebook that Corey wanted, and finally it was lunchtime and so we walked into an I love Lucy/ Betty Boop store that was right across the street from the food because mom wanted to look at it cuz Betty Boop is her thing. So, on the way toward the food we noticed that Scooby Doo and the Gang where there taking pictures on the sidewalk, and that was my main goal that whole trip was to get a picture with Scooby and the Gang. We had previously gotten pictures of Corey with Spongebob, Avatar, and some mummy guys. So, the food place was supposed to be this 1950's diner and there was an old fashioned car painted pink outside the diner that mom wanted a picture in front of, and then wanted a picture in front of it with both me and Corey. And all of a sudden Corey is like, no, I don't want to take a picture with you, mom. And all this gripe aobut it. So, we get into the diner after getting a picture of him with mom all grumpy faced, and he sits down at the table and starts griping (cuz I'm just his soundboard when I feel like trying to be nice to him about his stupid little fits when really I just want to smack him and tell him to get over it) about how we "do everything you guys want to do and nothing I want to do", and how "mom forced me to take that picture and I didn't want to". And I'm just sitting there thinking, you know, we've been fucking walking around this park for like four hours, doing all this stuff that's fun, going into all the stores you want to go into, and suddenly mom wants one little picture with her son in front of something she likes and you get all pissy and whiney and shit. And so the day goes like that with brief spurts of him not getting his way for this or that and just getting into a funk. The thing is, not only would he just go into a funk, but he'd say mean hurtful things too just in case maybe his bad mood wasn't enough to spoil everyone else's time. And every time he wanted something and he couldn't have it, his first retort would be that "dad would give it to me". And he'd keep saying that over and over, "well if I was at dad's he'd buy it for me", or "dad would have the money". You know the way I feel about shit comments like that is that he just thinks dad is a fountain of money and that's why it's so great over there, cuz he gets whatever he wants. And even when I was that age I didn't constantly ask for things, nor did I constantly spend my money I earned, and I'm sure that's just a difference in us, which is fine, but the kid is a greedy ungrateful little twerp. He just gets and gets and gets and that's all that matters to him. Which parents pockets are deepest? He wasn't just happy being taken to Universal Studios, no, he had to get all this other stuff too. Whatever, I understand getting souvenirs, but seriously if he didn't get what he wanted it was like the end of the world. So, anyway, the two days passed with out much incident, he got all the souvenirs he wanted (except for the Avatar notebook). Then on the way home, we stopped at Dairy Queen. He ordered a small cookie dough blizzard. And that's where I nearly lost it. I did sort of lose it a little bit, but I capped it before it escalated, which it could have easily done because I had just had about enough of his attitude and selfishness. There was a claw machine in the Dairy Queen and he wanted to do it. (Please note that the last thing we did before we left the hotel to drive home was let him do the claw thing at the arcade - which he didn't win - and also bought him some Nickelodean slime). Mom said no. And then he refused to sit with us. Then he said "well fine, then I want the stuffed animal I gave you back," and mom said "okay". And he replied, "Oh well you just hate my gift!" and there was some more exchange that I don't remember exactly, when I suddenly turned around on him and was like "What is wrong with you!? You just got a three dollar ice cream! We just got back from universal studios and you're complaining about not getting the claw thing when you just did that too!" I'm pretty sure the word "selfish brat" escaped my lips but maybe I just thought it, either way, I was like aahhh... I mean come ON!! He was sitting there Eating Ice Cream, complaining about how mom never Does Anything For Him.

And honestly, some of that shit he would never do around dad, partly because dad wouldn't take him back talking like that (or at least I'd hope not) and partly because right now he thinks the sun shines out of his *** and that dad gives him whatever he wants and blah blah blah... it makes me sick. Honestly, just ugh... so mad.

Anyway, but so, then we got home and I was able to sequester myself away from he people and managed to make it home without incident and took care of my things to do. At which point I got pulled over by the cops like 100 feet from home and they told me my license plate didn't exist, and I showed them my registration and they were baffled, but whatever. They told me to take my Moo Baby out of the back window.

So, now I gotta go eat and done ranting.

vacation time

So, my PC is crapping up again, and this time is really worse than before. It pretty much wont do anything, and half the time wont even turn on. I'm thinking perhaps I should just get rid of it. It is pretty old anyway. I mean, when John "fixed" it, he just flipped those little bios switches around, he didn't actually know what he was doing exactly, so whatever he did to it was obviously not permanent.

Vacation time is coming up in two days. That'll be nice. God, I SO deserve some vacation. Honestly. I sometimes wonder why I do this to myself what with the work schedule and death and all. Still, I guess when I look at my paycheck, that makes it all worthwhile in the end.

We have one of John's friends staying here for a few days because he got kicked out of his apartment and cant move in to his new apartment until August 15th. His name is Phillip and he works with John. That's all I really know.

I'm am SOOOOO ready to get some "not-in-the-apartment-with-John" time before I go crazy.

The books I've been reading recently I've noticed, spanning many authors, all seem to be post- or pre-apocalyptic themed in nature. Weird. I'm doing fantasy though. Read some Terry Brooks, "Running With Demons" and now I can't get enough fantasy, although the library doesn't have all of his series of Shannara, so I can't read that.

concert

So, there's a Three Doors Down, Hinder, and Finger Eleven concert on September 26th at the Lakewood Amphitheater in Atlanta and pavilion tickets are only $35 with an $8.50 fee. Problem is nobody I know likes those people... and I wouldn't want to go by myself. Apparently I have "bad music taste". So, lame... my friends are lame. Lame lameness.

recipe #1-Quick Fettuccine Cacciatore

So, I'm starting this new thing with food, that I'm going to just buy lunch and breakfast foods and a few kinds of quick frozen dinner foods, and the rest of the time I'm going to make food nightly, find a recipe that peaks my interest and go to the store to buy the stuff, and then make it.

So, that's starting now. I'm figuring this is going to bring my cost of food up a little bit, but in return, I'll be gaining experience in cooking, so I figure that's a fair trade off.

I'll be collecting my recipes in the blog under a label so I can always go back to them or not. And also commenting on the ease/ complexity of the recipe as well as the overall goodness (which may be biased as I will probably feel anything I make is edible.)

Tonight's meal will be:: Quick Fettuccine Cacciatore (courtesy of kraftfoods.com)


Prep Time:
5 min

Total Time:
20 min

Makes:
4 servings, 2 cups each.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. fettuccine, uncooked
2 tsp. oil
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup each: green pepper strips and sliced fresh mushrooms
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing
1/2 cup KRAFT Shredded Italian* Mozzarella-Parmesan Cheese Blend
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil



COOK pasta as directed on package.

MEANWHILE, heat oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook and stir until no longer pink. Add peppers and mushrooms; cook 3 min., stirring occasionally. Stir in tomatoes and dressing. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 5 min. or until chicken is cooked through.

DRAIN pasta. Toss with chicken mixture; sprinkle with cheese and basil.


FEEDBACK::
So, this recipe ended up being extremely easy to make, cheap, and fast. It also makes a good two huge servings, definitely plenty for two people. I got two meals out of it. Next time I'll have to cut the chicken up a little bit smaller. My bite sized pieces were a tad bigger than bite sized. Other than that, it was great. Definitely a keeper. Adding real basil next time should be good, but I sufficed with the can of diced tomatoes being seasoned with basil and garlic, which really worked out for this recipe.

this fall

So, end of summer semester is upon me. I'm done with my acting class. Got an A. Obviously. Probably looking to pull an A- in Economics, considering I've gotten solid 90's on all the tests and quizzes, we'll see, the final is worth 35% of the final grade, so just as long as I dont eff that up, it should be fine. Last day is July 31st. Good.

Got the information to my new roommates. They are a couple, a year older than us. John is like "oh well that means a bunch of older people are going to be hanging around". I dont see what difference it makes. Roxanne and Michele are older than us, I don't think he realized that, and so were all the people that hung out in the apartment before who were Nick's friends. It's all the same to me, I can get along with anybody, even if it's forced. They seem alright on Facebook, but that's not saying much. Whatever. I'm going to have to message one of them and tell them not to bring kitchen stuff. We don't have Internet anymore at the apartment (well we do, but it's sporadic) because the people we used to steal Internet from apparently are gone, and the secondary connection is iffy. It didn't used to be as iffy as it is now, but I think that's because there were a lot more people hopping a free ride on "MI5" and now that they're gone all that's left is "internet", so it's sort of crazy. So, I'm at the SLC right now doing the Internet things that I have to do. I've been sitting in front of a computer screen typing for five hours already and I'm really done with this, but I have an assignment due in Econ online at 11pm, and it'd be easier if I didn't have to worry about the Internet sporadically fading in and out of reception.

I got my laptop back. They replaced the inside electric board thing, and so far it seems to work just fine. John bought a wireless modem, so I guess I'm going to have to start paying for Internet here soon anyway. Such a bummer cuz Charter has a monopoly and their prices are ridiculous. Nick and I worked out the transfer of the electric into my name. I went online and looked at it, and you can do everything online. Seeming as I saw that, it doesn't make sense that he would ever tell us "well they just haven't sent us a bill" because you can look all that stuff up online, and I'm sure, print out a monthly bill even if they dont send one to you. Stupid. Whatever.

I started buying the kitchen stuff. Oh yeah, I have to do that online today too, Walmart selection was crappy to say the least. I guess I could drive to Kohl's, but I think it's all just cheaper if I do it online.

The amount of stuff that I have to do on the computer today is daunting. I'm sick of typing and looking at a screen. Argh.

I just looked up all my books that I'm going to need for my classes this fall... and the grand total is 17 books. SEVENTEEN BOOKS!!! Just in case you didn't catch the crazy amount of books that is. Honestly.... 17. *sigh* I mean I sort of expected a fair number of books for my comparative literature class, cuz duh, it's comparing literature, and most of those I can probably just check out at the library hopefully. But then, one of my journalism classes has like seven books of its own!

Well, I guess I should do that stupid Econ homework so I can get out of here and lay down and read in bed and not be anywhere near a screen.

kitchen stuff continued

Wow, buddy. I'm going to go absolutely crazy with this whole "got to stock the kitchen" deal. I think I always took for granted how much -ware is needed for a full functioning kitchen. I've ended up having to make a list in order to keep up with it all!

Here's what I've come up with::

Kitchen Items

- flatware service 8 (45 piece)**
- knifeware (14 piece w/ block)**
- tableware service 8 (40/45 piece)**
- pans (12in, 10in, 6in w/ lids)**
- pots (lg, med, sm w/lids)**
- baking (sm, lg, muffin)
- dish (9x9, 13x9 - glass)
- toolware (17-piece)**
- mixing boals (3/4-piece)**
- kitchenware (pot holders, hand towels, toaster/oven, mixer, *slow cooker, *blender)

I mean jeez, that's a break down, but it's like.... flatware, tableware, bakeware, cookware, prepware, knifeware not to mention toolware (ie spatulas, tongs, pizza cutters, can openers, measuring items), and then just general kitchenware. It sure is going to get pricey pretty quickly. Still, I guess I won't have to worry about it again for a while if I have it now. I mean, I'm pretty sure we've used the same pizza cutter ever since I can remember, so besides normal wear and tear, this is probably a long term investment. I'll try to hold back from purchasing top of the line, at least I'm still stingy with money. It's Walmart, Target, and Kohl's for me! For my wedding however, I want the full outfit of Calphalon hard-anodized cookware, Pyrex prepware/bakeware, Pampered Chef toolware, Cuisinart knife set, and I'll probably put a nice set of tableware and flatware on my registry. So, yeah. Make a note. Probably got about 3 - 5 years to save up for that sort of gift. Of course, assuming marriage isn't on the horizon, the above listed -wares are also excellent housewarming gifts.

* Items that are maybes
** Items that can be purchased as sets

kitchen stuff

So, the time draws near when Nick and the Lesbians (aka Michelle and Roxanne aka Rachel) will be leaving the apartment. August 1st actually.

While John seems to be the happiest person in the world about it, I just worry about the next tenants. Currently we only have one confirmed tenant. That person is unknown however, and even though Roxanne works at The Club's office, and I asked her to get me the name of the person, of course she did not.

Paranoia in the house has reached an all-time high, mainly resulting from the tension created between John and the others about food ownership. It has culminated with the apparent theft of Nick's home theater projector, an estimated value of $1,500 or more (it is a nice one). This that he borrowed from the OIT office where he works, and now has to pay for it if it doesn't show up. Naturally suspicion fell on John, slight suspicion falling on me (but I suspect the undertone of accusation that he used with me was simply because he was upset about this disappearance). I don't think John would have done something like that, and I really hope he didn't, however it is quite strange that it just up and disappeared and yet the Wii and the Wii games as well as the Play Station and my monitor and other things of value did not disappear from the apartment. Most of the burglaries that have occurred in this complex have involved more than one thing being stolen. It is quite strange.

I am now on the task of having to think about buying kitchen supplies, flatware, dishware, and cookware, as well as a toaster or toaster oven.

Lucky for me, the appliances can be easily and cheaply bought at Goodwill (I might even throw in a slow cooker just for the hell of it.)

However, I find myself looking at elegant sets of dishes, extremely expensive knife sets, and Calphalon cook wares, and not wanting to settle for cheap stuff. I'm not really sure why. I guess it's because I used my dad's Calphalon stuff for so long that I'm spoiled about it. I also don't want a crappy knife set either. So, *sigh*, apparently I've discovered a weakness for high quality kitchen ware. So, I'll have to budget. Of course this is becoming increasingly difficult to do, as my next paycheck I'll be bringing in this coming Wednesday will be $700 plus, and the idea that "hmm, I don't have to settle for a cheap block of kitchen knives because I make an ass ton of money" is more and more appealing. I mean, 700... that's more than break even for a month! So, then I think to myself what do I know about good kitchen knives? I don't really cook anyway. I am planning on cooking more though this year by going to the store most nights to pick out exactly what foods I want for dinner, since I'm pretty sick and tired of instant soup, frozen bag dinners, frozen foods, and hamburger helper, or complete meals in a box. Out of necessity for variety will stem great cooking skills. I also think that since I've been dreaming incessantly about the chance to finally not have an odd assortment of kitchen wares in the house, the fact that all my dishes, cooking ware, and silverware is going to be matching is completely drool worthy. I think I'm just OCD like that, in that it bothers me that our dishes don't match, or that we have like three small omelette pans for no reason... and things like that.

So, in light of this, I also have these knick knack junks that I plan on selling somewhere either on eBay or Amazon. I've got these two porcelain dolls that have been wrapped in newspaper almost since I have had them and are in perfect condition, as well as this decorative collector's edition plate thing. I'm thinking I can fetch about $130 total for it after shipping costs. The dolls I can probably get $50 each, and the plate $30 since they only made like 10 and whatever it's collectible. And thus I will have funds for kitchen wares without dipping into my $1,500 monthly income for July. I would like to note that while this does sounds a bit stingy, I will not be working for five days the first week of August as I'll be going down to Universal Studios with my mother and little brother. And the subsequent week, I will be cutting my own hours down to 16 for the week before school starts so I can unwind a bit before jumping again into work/school mode. It's for sanity purposes, but I still will be not working as much, and thusly, not making as much income, so thus is the reason for me working my ass off this month.

So, now that I've managed to procrastinate for a couple hours for studying for my econ test tomorrow, I guess I'll go do that.

stream of consciousness

I don't know what it is about facial hair, but I just don't get it. It's pretty gross looking on most everyone I've seen it on. I think only Tyler can pull it off, but even that's a stretch. Other than that, yeah, it's pretty much really terrible looking.

I should probably start looking up the books I need for class this fall online and start ordering them so I have them in on time. I got someone from my acting class named Elyas to help me with my French. He's a grad student studying like agriculture (which basically means like he's dealing with cows and horses and farm stuff.) He's from Ethiopia, and he speaks French like a French person. I guess if he's got a degree in it, you'd hope so. He lives in the same apartment complex/area as Hugo does. Weird. Hugo doesn't really talk to me much anymore. Katie said he doesn't talk to her much either. She said it's because there's nothing to talk about during the summer, and I guess she's right. I hope that we can still do lunches together this semester. I always liked that. It made me feel like I had friends or something. Haha. I'm jealous that John gets to take Hugo's class. He'll probably make learning about boring religious crap fun. I told John I might come to some of his classes with him just to sit in on lectures. Like the day he talks about Jewish witchcraft -- or something like that ( I wasn't really paying that much attention when he was talking about what his lesson plans were, but whatever he said all I know is that I was highly interested.) He's probably going to read this and know I was only half listening. In my defense, it's been like two weeks since he talked to me, even though I'm online more than I used to be now that I don't have my laptop anymore. Fine if he wants to be all anti-social. Oh well.

So, I sent off my laptop to the Acer people. I hope they can fix it. I hope they can even get it and figure out that's there's something wrong with it because it works intermittently sometimes. Still, the little plug thing that you plug into the laptop to charge it gets stuck in there because it starts melting to the insides and when you pull it out it's all burnt looking. I hope it's obvious about that. I don't know. At least it is still under warranty, but I still paid like $24 at UPS to ship it. I walked in there with my own box and just wanted a little bubble wrap and the guy wrapped it so it didn't fit into the box and so I had to get their box and their bubble wrap and it was a big box so he had to fill it with their packing popcorns, and then I decided it might be a good idea to insure it, which was only $4.50 for insurance of $400, but still.

So, yeah. I'm trying not to take a nap, but I'm tired for some reason. Probably because it was too hot to sleep last night and then I got woken up this morning several times. At least my X Factor at work today was amazing again, so I'm all up in the $10 an hour mode.

Still haven't figured out what I want to do with my life now that I have only one job. Fall Activities Fair is September 10th so I'm going to go to that and hopefully a couple of booths will catch my eye for me to do something. I've got to get my resume spiffied up (ie. completely revamped because it sucks) because there's a few internship opportunities at the UGA Press Publishing (unpaid internships) that I can apply for for spring as long as I get a resume and cover letter in by October 1st.

Ubuntu is working out nicely on my computer, except for the fact that everything is really big looking (apparently is a resolution problem due to some issue with the video card). John tried to fix it, but he couldn't. Roi said he probably can. Well, he's the one that does this sort of thing for a living, so I guess he's got the skills. It's probably not very difficult to do anyway. I can't tell if my computer is running faster or not now that there's not a bunch of crap on it, but I think after using this system for a while I like it more. I haven't tried to put iTunes on it though, but if it works, I'll definitely be getting rid of Vista on my laptop and putting this on it instead. Stupid Vista. That was a major flub on the part of Microsoft. They shouldn't have messed with a good thing with XP.

I still haven't yet decided on what kinds of mufus I'm going to invest in (sorry, that's UTS type for mutual funds -- pronounced 'moo-fooz', sort of like mubos, and anus -- pronounced 'moo-bows' and 'an-ooz' receptively *yeah you thought it was like the butt kind* being municipal bonds and annuities -- I find myself typing the "short-hand" version of words all the time now since I do that at UTS for hours). I haven't had much time to research it. There's so much information out there and so many to choose from that it's kind of overwhelming, which I guess is what I should have expected.

I think this post is what they call stream of consciousness. :)