Taking new courses

I'm taking new online courses. There's the class that's the second in the series for my certification program, it's called technical leadership -- it teaches how to lead a team from an engineering and product perspective. Two more after this class, and the certification is done!

Then there's the Innovation Management certification that the european university is offering on Coursera. I'm going to be spending 50 buckaroos for getting the official certification, so I can put it on my resume and provide a valid proof that I took and passed the course. It's one of the rare courses that I'm taking for my knowledge as well as to put on my resume.

Finally there's a bunch of courses on LinkedIn learning on starting a consulting business and innovation management bits that I'm excited about too! Two weeks, so much to learn, so much time! Exciting time are ahead!

Other general personal updates

 Ack, wrote this update days ago and don't remember anymore. I think in terms of personal update, what I have going on for me is my awesome personal life, so relaxing and chill, and then today I finally freaking got around to cleaning my apartment, vacuum cleaned for several rounds and then steam cleaned the floor plus the carpet. Will do the washing tomorrow. Work situation is slow, but it's alright. Long vacation started today, so things to look forward to!

Maybe it's time I actually got about starting a business with all the associated complexities

 I need to think about how I'm going to start that business of the innovation consultancy I've been planning on for the past month. how the marketing would work, how I would meet clients, how I could pitch to them, and how I would connect to other downstream partners. what the execution scenario would be like, and what I would do for other clients.

Also make powerpoints, practice my pitches for 30 seconds, 5 minutes and 10 minutes, as well as a full pitch for my idea. Make connections with people, get better with networking, reach out to all the stakeholders and see if they have anything to contribute to the project!

I'm excited, I'm excited!

I need a personal marketing company

 I need  personal company to market me, as a person.

Market me to potential employers in my current field: maintain my social media presence, add remove features, and then as me monthly for updates. Add articles that I'm going to write, or possibly even make me write the articles. Look for jobs on my behalf, find hiring agencies on my behalf and get me hired.

Also do marketing for my innovation company business, that would be pretty nice!

I'm starting to miss smoking the doobies, so to speak

 Winter in Seattle is dark, cold, and wet. AKA every day is the perfect day to smoke up, laze around and do nothing productive. Or smoke up and be out and about because why not, you're high and out to have fun!

For the last month I've felt the need to get fked up and high for like a bazillion times. But it never ends up working, I don't carry my passport or cash, and getting cash out of ATM is pain because BofA doesn't have their machines everywhere. Quite annoying. I should get one of those ATM cards that return machine fees etc.

Anyway, the weather is perfect to get high and I haven't smoked up in more than 5 weeks, and it's been tough hahah, I've been making-do, but smoking up once would have cleared up my mind I guess!

I made a terrible mistake buying coconut milk instead of water

 This will be quick.

We went to Costco the other day, I was trying to optimize for price, and replaced the big carton of coconut water with a more price-effective carton of, it turns out, coconut milk. And that coconut milk I tried to ferment with water kefir grains.

It's been...unfortunate.

I have to finish like two gallons of coconut milk in the next six months, of which I'll be in Nepal for four months.

Rather...unfortunate, but one does what one can.

The walks are still on, even though most else isn't anymore

 Quick summary of what's been up in my life, because I've been lost from this blog writing my daily updates, instead covering up for months' worth of backlog and more recently, too stressed by the finals to do anything productive here.

So the walks are still on. I do 10k steps a day, sometimes goes up to 15k steps. About once a week I miss going out because it rains heavily and is far too cold outside. But that's alright, I'm okay with it. The longer walks on the weekends have decreased because by the time I head out the sun is ready to go down, there's basically not enough sunlight for 5-hr walks, which is shockingly unfortunate but that's the state of the matter.

Golfing has stopped, mostly because of the terrible weather and the fact that my friends have been lazing around as well.

Still gotta do a thorough cleaning of the apartment, cooking has been rather lazy and unmotivated. Fermentation projects have been on the backburner mostly, but plans are being drawn for exciting things. So once I'm done catching up and cleaning, I'm eager to work on my fun projects!

Inside job, season two is actually really great

I was not very much into Inside Job season II at the beginning, but on a chilly rainy Friday night with not much else to do I chose to watch it. The only other option being...having to write and be productive, and who wants that?

You know what, it's sweet, and really nice. It's emotional at times, so earnest, despite pretending not to be, much like the lead character Regan, the comedy is pretty top-notch, and the plot is ridiculous and novel, I'm into it!

It's nice, if you've not seen it I'd recommend watching both seasons!

Costco frozen food is, how do I say it, da bombbb

 This evening, which is the 12th of December....yes I know it's gone so far at this point, but hey at least 12 days behind, which is lot further than I was two weeks ago...I had veggie rolls for dinner. Bought them from Costco, the refrigerated ones, with the sauce that came along with the packet.

I spent the previous month eating a lot of jalepeno poppers, that packet is fortunately done and I'm relieved because there's a point beyond which it's abnormal, unhealthy to eat that many at a given period and I was toeing that line verrry closely.

And then there's the chik'n sandwich patties that I have grown to love, eat those every so often when I'm bored and hungry.

Anyway, I'd never really gotten around to eating Costco frozen food, and it's actually quite amazing? Like my base veggies this week have been their premium frozen food medley, so goshdarned good!

I gotta do more of it. Because frozen vegetables are just as healthy as fresh ones, if not more!

Alas My Dad Wrote Porno, the podcast, has ended!

 The podcast My Dad Wrote a porno has ended, their last episode I listened to last night when Rocky Flintstone came in for an interview. He was way more self-aware than one imagined, but just as about funny and hardworking and driven. And it's funny and ridiculous when I say this, but that man is such an inspiration: apparently he was out writing nonstop Amazon books and selling them, hoping to strike big. And the failures didn't bother him, he said one needs to have a streak of madness, and overwhelming overconfidence if one intends to succeed because the world is a harsh place and you can't really go about without supporting yourself.

What a journey it has been. Hope to find other replacements for that exact series, though I've got a pretty tight listening list as it is, I don't mind. Nice for my relaxing walks.

I got CalmAid and have been taking it, and I don't know what the hell is up

I got the shipment for CalmAid, I've been taking it twice a day, daily for the last 5 days.

First couple of days were terrible because I was getting these really awful lavender burbs and everything smelled like lavender and it felt like I was an ill person. But those have gone away now as my body adjusts to absorbing the contents of those tablets.

And I'm not...sure...if there's any influence on my body or mind or mood at all? It could be the fact that I'm chill and relaxed generally lately, or because of the tablets, or maybe they don't do anything but it's not affected my productivity or work or anything, and it's...annoying. It's not clear if it's worth taking the tablets to Nepal, but quite likely it doesn't work on me. Man, double blind, controlled experiments are such an important part of the scientific process for this exact reason.

Also other nootropics aren't so good, are they? Like I've been using six or seven other nootropics to moderate my anxiety and improve my productivity, and it's unclear where I'm going with all of that. Like I haven't felt anything ever.

List of seven things I use to keep myelf calm and warm

1.  L-Tryptophan
   
   
2. L-Theanine
   
   
3. Ashwaganda extract
   
   
4. CalmAid
   
   
5. Kava
   
   
6. Melatonin (occasionally)
   
   
7. Valerian root extract
   
   
8. Ginger tea
   

At the Costco

At some time
During one of those days
I wonder really
If Costco
is the cheapest
Of them all.

And when we go
I check the prices
Some are so good
But others,
Not so much,
No no no,
Not at all.

A pack of floss
Ninety in a tow
Costing a dollar
And a fifty
Elsewhere
At costco
For twelve bucks
That's the rate they go.

And then the bananas
Man, the pricing there
Is truly bananas,
Elsewhere the priciest
Is never over eighty
And at the dear old Costco
I see that at
A dollar and twenty
For a pound...
That's thrice as much
As what I can buy for
by checking around.
Man.
Costco
be confusin'.

Am I ever getting an ID?

I went once
To the office
Of the state
Out in the
Commonwealth
Of
Massachusetts.
Got my documents right
And the monies too,
They sent me
The temporary ID
But ne'er the
Real one.

I went again
To the same old place
To get my
Permit to drive,
You don't have
They told me,
Enough time
In this country
To get a
Learner's permit.

And the years
Whizzed by
Just like that
Unseen, unfelt
Way too quick.
Here I am,
In the great
State
Of Washington
And I went in,
And they say to me
Hey you buddy,
You ain't got
No right document
Get them right
And then come
To me.

Now I will go
With documents in tow
And make sure they
Cannot tell me no.
Finally get
That document in.

Doink doink doink

Is it rude
Or crude even
To ask one
To get out
And start
Working out,
Because
Like I said
I
Don't
Want
To
Be
The
Only
One
Doing
It
All,
All
The
Time.
It's nothing dirty
Or mean
Or anything else
Only
An equitable
Distribution
Of hard work
And commitment
And contribution
Made
To
A shared activity
Of joy
And heating
of ones' bodies?

Hundred posts for November

 On the Seventh day of December, I've made it as far as writing a hundred posts for November. Which probably means I'm now maybe second- to third- most behind in getting caught up with the posts of all time. Not like I'm writing two weeks' worth of posts, that's now gone down to perhaps two weeks' worth, if even that, and it gives me a whole lotta relief but also stress because I got so much more stuff coming ahead of me including my finals and what not, oh god how is this ever gonna be sustainable?

Finally finished the ginger tea, hot apple cider ending too

Three weeks ago I bought that big bag of spicy ginger-honey premix tea, and I'm happy to report that it's done with. Now there's only two premixes left, and then it'll be back to my good old TJ's bags of tea. Looking like at this rate I'll have drunk through my entire collection, a massive one as I've written in recent past, in a matter of weeks right before I leave for Nepal. Makes me feel good and...whatever is opposite of wasteful!

List of ten exciting winter clothes I bought this year

1.  Fancy Merino Wool socks at Costco
   
   
2. My second towel-like jacket, at Uniqlo, so warm and cosy
   
   
3. The HeatTech muffler fro Uniqlo, wonderful
   
   
4. Winter hat, from some store I forgot
   
   
5. Super warm innerware, from Suraj Arcade in Kathmandu, matching colors
   
   
6. Picnic blanket
   
   
7. Warm winter boots
   
   
8. Infinity scarf
   

Seven things to not do when you're a new immigrant to the US

1.  Be hairy or look religious but have brown skin and do religiousy things, they don't like that despite pretending to be respectful of all religions, and religious generally.
   
   
2. Don't let the pedestrians cross the street, even on the crosswalk, completely cover them with your car.
   
   
3. Don't support immigration or other immigrants, you've made it in and that's all you care for, be extremely anti-immigrant and complain about new people destroying this glorious nation.
   
   
4. Don't save your money on 401 k despite your job offering you literal free money
   
   
5. Don't put your money in investment accounts while pretending to not understand them even though you already did that back home.
   
   
6. Don't trust the card system, carry as much cash is viable because fuck the electronics, amirite?
   
   
7. Don't hang out with diverse group of people, and spend time with a very small circle of people you know and their friends. Branching out is for losers.
   

Ten things you need to do as soon as you come to the US as resident

1.  Get social security card made
   
   
2. Figure out living situation all by yourself
   
   
3. Get bus pass / learn driving and get a car
   
   
4. Get a bank account
   
   
5. Go to the local library and ask for resources for new immigrants
   
   
6. Ask the local librarians whether they're hiring, and what a good job for a college grad is as a new immigrant
   
   
7. Go eat at all the major fast food places to complain about them
   
   
8. Take photos at all the nice touristy places with random strangers who you'll angle to look like your friends
   
   
9. Post the above photos on social media and make people incredibly jealous about how well you're doing
   
   
10. Cry yourself to sleep every night
    

Twelve items

1.  Bucket
   
   
2. Slipping on a pool of shit, comedy style
   
   
3. Cold shower
   
   
4. Lights not working
   
   
5. Burning smell
   
   
6. Mustard seeds
   
   
7. Scarves
   
   
8. Non-invasive mole surgery
   
   
9. Canada
   
   
10. Housing prices coming down
    
    
11. Sunrise Sunset
    
    
12. Sirens
    

More on how awesome walks have been going

 I'm doing my voluntary thing helping underprivileged folks with tech stuff for the third year in a row, told everybody in that group I was walking for 2/2.5 hours every day and about twice that on the weekends and they were amazed I had so much free time for myself, to explore my interests and generally amble about life having fun. Yeah, that's such an underappreciated part about my life. The weather, nature, walks, people here, everything's perfect, I've been writing this more frequently, but wanted to remind my future life that it looks amazing from the outside as well!

I think I'm ready for moonlighting towards a part-time job in Nepal

 I'm ready to start something in Nepal.

I want to be an innovation consultant and I've spent all these years ambling about unclear about the future, hoping for a journey of self-discovery and that's still in the books for 2024 but until then the short-term path has become clearer. What is the job where I can leverage my interest in spending time on youtube all day long and my love for speaking and meeting new people and actually making a goddamn difference in things and being on the cutting edge of everything? Innovation! And if I don't yet have a proper business or the capital to run one, how to I make impact in the society? As an innovation consultant, obviously! And what do I do if I've already got a very well paying job that one's got no intention of quitting? By moonlighting in Nepal!

Exciting times are ahead!

A quick review of the course I'm finishing

 Earlier today in the morning I sent a highly thankful and complimentary email to the instructor of the course I'm taking -- it's part of the engineering leadership course I'm taking this semester.

Man, the course was so good! For the longest time ever, I'd wondered how one goes about you know, starting and running a company, the financials, pricing, marketing etcetera, and this course taught me all of that. SO much so that I can see myself running a company decently, or at least give good answers to business school case studies. And then work as a consultant. Don't want to give away too much here because that's the content of several incoming posts.

Anyway, if I'd taken this course ten years before, the course of my career would likely have been different and I'd have ended up becoming a technical product manager or a higher leader, more into the management of things than at the nitty-gritty technical part.

Man this final exam was long

The course I've been taking has a take-home final exam that's also open-book and I thought it would be a piece of cake. It's turned out to be much bigger of a headache than I initially imagined. Thought it'd take me 10 hours to complete the course, but I've thought about it and worked on it for at least fifteen hours now, and there's still at least an hour or two worth of work that needs to be put into it. Part of it is likely because of my laziness, but mostly it's due to the complexity of it and the fact that I needed to go back to basics to figure out the answers.

Which I guess makes sense, instead of studying for the exam and answering the questions at one point, I've offloaded the studying to the exam time and am working on the course work as I take my finals. Lame, but that's how things are. If only I'd paid more attention in the class I wouldn't have had to spend so much time for the finals!

Some more ideas for Nepal

1.  Chhyang making kit. Sell chhyang, marcha, champagne yeast, container as one package, and provide instructions on how to make them.
   
   
2. Go to small towns cities and municipalities, and try selling them my branded ethnic food ideas.
   
   
3. BSFL for organic waste management in cities, sell the live feed or pelletized feed to farmers.
   
   
4. Leverage local youtubers to get the news out about cities and towns.
   
   
5. Homestays in rural homes where people have mostly abandoned the villages. Make it an option for the longer-term homestayers to work on the field too. Give a decent chunk of the rent to the locals and owners.
   
   
6. Market myself as Innovation Consultant to government and non-government organizations.
   

Final exam time is here, I haven't started and it's freakout time!

 The finals are here, and I'd imagined, hoped rather that I'd have been halfway done by now. I haven't started working on it, barely read the case study at this point, and I predict it'll take me six two eight hours to complete it, which is about two to three days of serious focused work. That's way more work than I have done in the last several years. Plus I need to get my place in order, complete this goddamn blog to be all caught up, and continue with my life generally. Things at work are getting tighter as well. Lots to do, little accomplished until now. Gotta get. my.shit.together. jeez.

My place is in a bit of a mess, need to get this shit together

 I need to clean up my place, arrange my things, do laundry and generally get shit in order. That is all. I've been making various excuses, including the weather, work and now the finals, also the writing on this blog but that's not how things work you know, you don't pause your life for...fuck it's been a month since I returned and two weeks since I vacuumed whatever the place...so long and not have to bear the consequences. There's no way around it: I will have to clean my place, and get my shit completely together, stat!

The appetizer dinners I've been having

 As I've written in the past, I'm not sure if the jalepeno poppers I've been having every so often for dinner are healthy, but they're good, though it's gotten kinda' old and this point. I might have finally gotten over them, possibly for ever. Also for dinner earlier tonight I had the Chik'n burger patties -- can't speak much about the taste since it was hard to detect with all the shit I threw in, but the texture was pretty gd amazing.

My kindle is here

 My kindle is here, the paperwhite, it's got some fine-ass light, it's tiny...so little that I can almost put it in my pocket, and it's got nice contrast. Got it fourtyfour buckaroos, one hell of a decent deal I'd say. The plan is to never let it connect to the internet or connect it to amazon in anyway so no ads for it, just my good books, all of which have been uploaded. I'm excited, eager, etcetera.

Incoming disappointments, fried-rice egg achar and kefir lunch, volunteer park walk, tofu dessert with honey and brown sugar [Wed 30]

I'm writing this on the fifth day of December, and this is the ninetieth post of November. I have thirty more posts for the month, likely to be done in a day or two and I can finally move to December. Having promised to not 'play catchup ever again', I still didn't want to have two months of blankness appear in my blog, and had to play this unfortunate game. Because of this, a lot of my other sane parts of life have been hindered, and I'll be back on my motivation-momentum track in short future.

Alright I don't know what I was thinking about when I said 'disappointments', it could have to do with the fact that I was forced to do something I was not into, extremely stressed out and pissed, and spent like four ours talking to various cousins trying to set the situation right and protect myself. That must be it.

For lunch I had fried rice with egg achar and kefir.

In the afternoon I walked to Volunteer park, it was so very dark.

Had the tofu dessert from way back in the evening, added honey and brown sugar to make it taste better, and it was actually...not awful?

They don't seem like they care but they do

A friend of mine
Funny as hell
Doesn't take compliments
Very well
All you need to tell
Is she's full of shit
And she sucks
In every last bit
Then she glows up
Full of fun
And if you're sorry
Say something nice
She will
Make one big run.
Cool and chillax
And suspiciously
Quite so liberal
She wants you
To think
She doesn't care
Not even a bit
Not at all
You get through to her
A minute at a time
And of course
She does
Oh so very much!
It's nice
To know people
Who have gone
Beyond their
bubble.

A list of some very random sentences I'm forced to type

1. He felt constricted emotionally but it held up nowhere close to the physical constipation he had been suffering for six days.
   
   
2. Nowhere in the brochure had they mentioned that if you came so much as five minutes late, they would first lock you out, eventually let you in, and then lock you from going out for several hours after all was done, the only reasonable way of escape being...jumping the wall.
   
   
3. The magical creature wasn't as mysterious as it thought of himself, their sort had been known and written of until ad-infinitum for ages, if anything people knew way too much about those entities than they wished they did.
   
   
4. Raul was curious what optimistic soul had bought two hundred premium condoms...and left them like that to expire for five years.
   
   
5. Not all idiots were lazy and useless. This one definitely was, by a large margin.
   
   
6. Fishing was fun only as long as you were the one fishing for the fish, and not the other way round, unfortunately for him.
   
   
7. Some people just want to watch the world burn, like it's some sort of crappy root vegetable they didn't want to eat anyway and you know what they're glad it burned down because now they don't have to feel guilty about not eating it or enjoying it
   

List of my ideas for Nepal, tabulated again

1. Kickstart the river-food industry and the restaurant industry to adapt to it, make Nepal the center for freshwater riverfood.
   
   
2. Nepal seafood recipe competition
   
   
3. Kickstart the 'commodification', ease of starting of traditional and ethnic restaurants, by identifying unique cuisines possibly 80-100 of them(?), figuring out 3-scale menus for them (cheap, medium expensive) for various kinds of restaurants, put easy guides for the supply chain logistics, or self-production of products, sourcing the raw materials, the decoration etc. Figure out chefs to train cooks to produce the best foods, opening way for new innovation.
   
   
4. Ethnic food festival
   
   
5. Ethic food making Youtube competition
   
   
6. Marketing ethnic foods and seafoods to youtubers coming to Nepal
   
   
7. Local governments working with local schools to get trash / waste-management treated as a societal/educational issue, and not a legal obligation issue. Train students to act like Japanese ones so they know to clean their own shit right on from childhood, make them the enforcers of cleanliness in their community.
   
   
8. Local governments empowering construction and design companies doing remodeling to 'ethnic style housing', so that government guarantees economies of scale, and these companies tear town old, falling-apart houses in ancient areas and constructs them in the same style with similar material. In exchange, they get rental rights for the increased space there post-construction.
   
   
9. During monsoon and high-water season in Kathmandu, using Bagmati river as a shopping pavilion on boats (and possibly restaurants and other opportunities). Also fishing industries and restaurant-adjacent industries
   
   
10. River transport in Kathmandu during high-water season, and eventually during all seasons.
    
    
11. Local governments by themselves, or contracting private companies, to run 'laptop exchange' program where they will co-ordinate computer classes for the local community/private school with 1-1 computers available, at a lower cost than the schools themselves can execute.
    
    
12. Emergency warning systems installed in all the major towns, and emergency drills happening every so often (couple of times a year), teaching people what to do, where to go, etc.
    
    
13. Night market to take care of the street vendors
    
    
14. Public transport for later in the night, government supported
    

List of river foods to produce to kickstart the aquculture industry in Nepal

1. Ghonghi (escargot)
   
   
2. Paha (frog)
   
   
3. Tite machha
   
   
4. Sipi (mussels)
   
   
5. Gangata (freshwater crabs)
   

List of thing that are 'blocking' me from being proactive generally

1.  This blog and being caught up
   
   
2. Cleaning my bedroom
   
   
3. Picking of random bits from living room
   
   
4. Vacuuming my place
   
   
5. Throwing out 5+ pounds of junk mail
   
   
6. Fermentation projects
   
   
7. Mushroom project
   
   
8. Working out at home
   
   
9. Ereader reading list
   
   
10. Meditating and praying daily
    
    
11. Buying soil and replanting pothos
    

Things I cannot tolerate

1. Being forced to do something against my wishes
   
   
2. Being given an ultimatum I have absolutely no incentive to give in to
   
   
3. Overcooked cabbage
   
   
4. Pretend to have a good time
   
   
5. People with shitty worldviews who think everybody else is a moron
   
   
6. People who understand only the language of power
   
   
7. Annoying people
   
   
8. Extra-smelly farts
   
   
9. Triple IPA's
   
   
10. The certain situation I might be put into!
    

Update on the writing situation and all of that bs

it is the first of december technically as I write this and I've written 4 days worth of posts for november, which means I'm *only* 1 month out of schedule versus almost two months that I was 18 days ago. it's a bit of a progress but not as much as one would have hoped. at this rate i'll be all done with november by december 8, and then to write for this month. the post quality has gone down considerably but at this point there's nothing to save, like what exactly is there that makes me proud here anyway I was never a great writer and always rushing to complete one thing or other so this is as good as it gets, the writer is a has-been and has lost all the base expectations. just dumping out words right now because i want to have some self-respect, the sort of person who writes every day more or less. plan is to get to 60 posts today, then do the remaining 60 over the next several days, 10 or 20 at a time, getting done in 4-7 days. not a bad idea, just desperate pathetic sad annoying and really i should be doing better than this but there's nothing else here, i'm wht i appear to be...alas

Plan of a peaceful sunny vacation

 My plan for a peaceful sunny vacation: when I'm at home. I wake at 7ish, start working, shower brush eat and get done with everything by 11am. Then head out to the nearby golf club for a few hours. Eat lunch outside, meet a friend or two, hang and chill for a bit, come home at 4/5, spend time with parents, start work at 7. Attend meetings until 9ish, keep working until midnight. Go to bed.

When I'm outside home. Wake up at 7am. Go out for a nice breakfast, while I work there, come back, take a nice warm shower. Work more, look at the temples, be out on the balcony, soak up all that yummy yummy sunlight. Finish work at 11, go to one of those bhojanalayas, eat a nice cheap heavy lunch, and then sunbathe more. Possibly spread a blanket outside and take a nap? Read a book. Drink lots of water and juice. Possibly make local friends. Meet new people and hang and talk. Eat dinner at a new place every day around 6, go back to the hotel room, start working at 8, meetings until 10, keep working until midnight, and it's sleepy time! Do this for a week or so and bail to a new town!

It's snowing and it's freaking cold!

 It's snowing in Seattle! My first snow day in the city! It's really cold! I turned the heater on, first time this season, for a couple of hours yesterday. And it's dark out at 4 in the evening, which is a big bummer for a walker like me, but like, whatever.

It's actually been snowing for two days now. On one hand, yayy snow, on the other, ughhh I don't want to leave the house in this dark miserable cold, nothing fun to do. Orr maybe this is the time to be out and about and have fun, be one with the terrible weather!

I was living in peace

I was living
In utter calm
And peace
Not very productive
but peaceful
like a rishi muni
In his kuti.
Until the loud noise
And dare I say violence
Of having to
Consider things
Of matter
I cared for
And anxiety
Of unnecessary variety.

A long sigh,
A simple consideration
That my safety
Shall not be hampered
And soon a walk,
And things
Back in normal.

Turns out there was a minor misunderstanding

Workout,
My friend said,
To which I assumed
That he said
That she,
The person
Of our
Conversation
Has started
Going
To the gym.
And thus began
A series of
Conversations
That became
The most
Confusing.

In the end
We talked
For two hours
And the text
Was all but
Forgotten
Until at last
I asked
Dude,
How did you
find out
She goes to the gym?
And he was,
All confused.
Apparently,
He meant
Things
Would work out,
Not her.

Clarified,
Conversation
ended.

Now or later, on whose terms

Now or later
On your terms
Or
Everybody else's?
On whose timeline
And in
What circumstances?
To what end
And to
The benefit of whom?
Functional
Or ritual
Or are you
Just an
Explorer?

I bought a kindle paperwhite, my lifetime fifth, and the second ereader in my ownership currently

 I've bought many, many, many kindles, way too many, I don't want to think about it too much because it's kinda' embarrassing. Funny thing though, every kindle I buy has been cheaper than the previous one, and that's before accounting for the previous one.

I just bought the kindle paperwhite -- with built-in lights -- 10th generation from 2018. I've never had one with lights. It costs me 44 bucks, which in 2010 money, that was the first time I bought a kindle, would have been 32. I paid about 130 bucks at the time. So as you can see, things only get better!

I have a nook reader yes, it has many, many books in it that I haven't read yet. I feel bad about it. But the reader was so cheap and I will read I know for sure, it's just that when the lights have been turned out, hard to reach out or turn on light, and don't want to carry booklight. So kindle paperwhite is going to be great!

I'll have two ereaders then, I don't mind. Read one after another, worse-case-scenario, will just gift it to somebody.

Ten things of one thing or other

1.  Fried momos
   
   
2. Overstuffed spring rolls that look like condoms
   
   
3. New affordable asian cuisine on CapHill
   
   
4. Proposal writing
   
   
5. Woodwork
   
   
6. Pomelos
   
   
7. Waterfalls
   
   
8. Calming tablets
   
   
9. Warm winter socks
   
   
10. Overeating
    

Is this what's become of me?

So this is
What it's
Come down to,
I ask
A good friend
Of mine
As he jokes
But maybe not(?)
Perhaps the time
Has come now
For me to
reach out
To a friend
Long lost
Into the fog
Of time
And of her
Own social creation,
Maybe, he tells me
She is single
Possibly
Ready to mingle
She's nice,
He says,
You know she is!
Nay
I tell him
I know her
Far too well
And you are right
She is nice
But you can't be
With somebody
Who you know
So comfortably!
Oh right,
He says
By the way
She's become
A junkie
Of the gym,
And I go,
Got
Her
Number?
NO, not really
Not yet
But where things are
I might?

The parts of my body that hurt after a hard night out at the club

1.  Thighs
   
   
2. Neck
   
   
3. Arm
   
   
4. Head
   
   
5. Ears
   
   
6. Lower Back
   
   
7. Wrist
   
   
8. Shoulders
   
   
9. Upper back
   

Rewatching Arrested Development

In the past week I got tired of watching Peep Show and Seinfeld on loop, and wanted to try something new. Something new, for the new readers of this blog, is something I've already watched and been comfortable with that I haven't seen for a while. And that happened to be Arrested Development.

I started at the end of Season 1 and now I'm on the middle of season 5. And you know what...I don't dislike the last two seasons as much. Season 5 is weird with Portial Di Rossi doing only greenscreen shots, but besides that, it's not terribly bad. And season 4, which I absolutely hated, nay, despite with a very guttural instinct has grown on me. Possibly because it's become clear to me, possibly with age, maybe due to other factors that happened to me (?) that none of the characters are supposed to be likeable, not even Michael or George Michael. So the fact they're both dating the same woman and sort of get into a fight over her doesn't faze me at all. Neither does the fact that this girlfriend breaks up with GM for selling his (fake) company to somebody else. They're all terrible characters who don't need to be rooted for.

A character who I'd absolutely loathed before who's grown on me is Kitty the assistant. She's really really funny.

Fun times!

A poem about not going out in the winter because it's snowy cold and gross

It's cold out
And rainy too
Oh it's snowing now
For the third
day in a row.
I'm not leaving
the comfy house
My walk is done for
And my workouts
Borked.
I will be seen
By the future
As a fat and lazy
Old corked.
But it's alright
It is fine
To take your time
To live your life
As you want
To live.
It is fine
To take a breath
That doesn't involve
Planning the rest
Of your life.
I am in
Drinking tea
Wondering who will
Sit with me
Family here
And a friend there
That's my dream
That's my time.

Winter blues or peace

Am I
In peace
With myself
Uncaring
About what
The world thinks
Or am I
Stuck down
Blue, in dark and cold
Ah the winter blues?

It's dark, very
Each day, every
I don't mind the cold
And the rain
Doesn't bother me much
There's puddles
That bug me
Stop my walks
But otherwise
Life is lovely
Partiers don't;
socializing doesn't
Missing isn't
I'm loving this.

Oh my.
Have
I
Become
An
Intro-
Vert?

Stream of thought: heating myself versus the house

 It's december and it's snowed twice and I should probably turn the heat on but it feels so incredibly wasteful. Because I can feel the goddamn freaking wind inside apartment with my windows closed, I'll be spending hella lotta monies just to warm the neighborhood and the city of Seattle while not being as warm as I deserve to be. It's quite annoying. And the situation with tea-drinking to warm myself up is that...I can't do anything else like leaving the house or meeting friends for the two hours following a cuppa because uhh there's a whole Niagara falls that needs to be released pretty soon. I could dress warmer, but that's not specially fun or comfortable, and I don't want to buy the seventh(?) or eighth(?) 1500W heater of my life. It'd be cheaper than heating the entire place, but uuhh I dunno, I'm going to be around for just another month and I don't want to go all-in on that.

So.Many.Decisions.

StateID failures, once again, but I won't give up, I'm not gonna surrender!

 It's the fifth of december, I had my ID appointment at 2.15, got off work at 1, spent an hour doing my homework, and then went to catch the bus. Which fking came in 2 minutes early and I missed it. Not wanting to miss my appointment, I paid 20 bucks to lyft for the 10-minute ride and turns out I was missing documents. Again. This is like the fifth time I've got to a licensing office in the US. and everytime there's something new. This time two issues: first, I won't be able to get a real ID to use in the planes, it'll be a 'regular' ID, which...whatever. Second, well insufficient documentation. So tomorrow I'm taking my college transcript and SS-card and seeing where I can get with those. Don't even need the appointment, just gonna walk upto there.

On my way back my ORCA card kept coming up invalid on the bus, not sure what that was about.

Also is it just me or do only the homeless and the mentally challenged take the bus in Seattle these days? Is that where all those people from downtown seattle go? to the buses?

Loving the whole NextDNS DNS management

 I've setup all my digital devices -- by which I mean mostly the primary laptop and cellphone (the chormebook screen is borked, and it's been a big PITA to use anyway -- to use a custom DNS resolver, nextDNS, and it's been working fanta-fucking-tistically!

First, it blocks all the ad sites right from the get-go. So even if some piece of crapware makes it through my ad blockers, the DNS resolver would have stopped it. And it stops all the tracking websites, which means no more random telematics being sent against my wishes. The major upside though is that it blocks ALL network traffic and not just on the browser. Also helps me keep track of how much data and tracking is happening in the background. IDK what you're doing headspace, but I see you're using my DNS resolver an awful lot, I tell ya!

The next step is to install tailscale on all my devices, and create my own tiny littler space where my machines can talk to each other and then eventually publish my 'website' through tailscale funnel when it eventually opens up for public beta.

Also, nextDNS has awesome API, so easy to track and look at analytics, and I also use it to block websites across all my devices. It's like a hosts file, but for all things!

Downtown Seattle is doing great, tourism-wise

 So I have written about this, just as thousands of serious writers journalists and bloggers have before myself: there was a time, until very recently, when everybody and I mean every goddamn person, thought that downtown seattle was dying, with no clear way out of its rut.

There was a big homelessness problem, a massive drug matter were people were injecting and going bonkers around the fun part of the down, and the encampments. That's in addition to the regular increased instances of criminal activities such as robbery, theft and general mean things such as window-breaking.

Something has happened in the last several months though, and that seems to be changing the face of Downtown Seattle?

Couple of points: The crackdonald's downtown is becoming almost a normal mcdonalds. The crackaddicts there have disappeared, and so have others in the 5-block radius. The encampments have gone, and the general loitering homeless folks seem to be far fewer.

So the area smells a lot less like piss, there's no human poop around, and it's almost a pleasant place to be.

In fact if you were a tourist in town walking around the area, there's a very big possibility you wouldn't know about any of it and love the place generally.

Add to all of this, the stores that shut down after the pandemic have opened up, and the ones that closed shop for good have been replaced, or are in the process of being replaced by new retail clients. Which means there's a thriving retail culture, which attracts locals and tourists alike, which forces the city to focus its resources, which in turn reduces the aforementioned issues.

I'm impressed, and wish for it to go on forever!

I joined LinkedIn learning

 I joined LinkedIn Learning, formerly lyndia.com.

Got the membership through my UW student privileges. Gonna take a bunch of courses on writing proposals, templating proposals, independent consulting, yada yadda yadda. The cool thing about the courses is they've got some sort of 'assignments' and guidelines for grading them, a rubric basically. So I can write my proposal, and have my friend grade it according to the rubric, getting the most as I can in the rubric. Which won't mean it's a good proposal, yes, but it will mean that I succeeded the class, and then eventually be good at writing proposals.

Don't know if it's going to be useful to me in the long-term though, without a guide, a teacher to explain your custom questions, and be there for support, education can be quite difficult.

Inverted black-and-white, that's how my computer's gonna be now

 Here's my plan to fix internet addiction in my personal laptop: turn it into greyscle, just black and white. But that does create lots of white, as most websites are in their darkmode these days, and my changing of the modes in my computer inverts them, inverting their purpose. Which means if I invert the greyscale, I do that twice, therefore turning most websites dark again. As I write this, I'm on the blogger console, writing white on black, it's so much easier on the eyes in the evenings than the other way round.

I'm not a hundred percent sold on if this is the way forever and ever, but it does seem to help? Like I've been a lot less distracted towards other things on my machine today, though the productivity hasn't been as high as hoped. But hey, that's just me!

Overheard at Pike Place Market: Wow, there is no other place like Seattle!

 Yesterday I was at the Pike Place Market, overlooking the bay, and heard a bunch of out of towners marveling at the beauty of the city: man, there is no other city like Seattle in this country! They were standing on a very eventful market, with a thriving fish-market and crafts market, overlooking a local bay which is a part of an inner sea, overlooking several scenic islands nearby, the snow-clad Olympic mountains in the  North-West, and Mt. Rainier in the South East. Yeah, the city is really truly beautiful and it was for all of that scenery I moved to this town.

Which means yea, I am proud of being a Seattleite and it felt great to hear somebody say nice things about my city. Good times!

Montana Bar, Caphill : A review

 I went to Montana Bar yesterday, the 3rd of December with Ay, Sb, and AKS(y). 

It's a neighborhood 'divey' bar, but nicer than the other bars I've been to. It's not the sort of place where folks go to meet new people, rather it was exclusively full of groups of friends chilling talking and joking.

The drinks are decently-priced, taste pretty decent from what I'm told, the restrooms weren't disgustingly terrible, just regular terrible, and the clientele seemed pretty friendly and chill.

Had a great time, the couple of hours we spent there, and would definitely go again, it's got an extension too!

My favourite uniqlo items

 As I've written in the past on many different occasions, I freakin' love Uniqlo man, freakin' love it! Love their designs, love the comfort of their clothes. Here's a list of their favourite items.

AllRism masks
I bought them at the beginning of the pandemic, ad they've served me well of the past three years, comfortable, cool and trendy, what's not to like?

The fluffy jackets
The fluffy jackets are extraordinarily popular in Nepal....people taking clothes from outside often take those from Uniqlo as gifts I'm told, or folks in HK buy the on Sale and sell them in Kathmandu on full price. They're warm and comfortable and trendy, my family's favourite, and mine too. I just bought the second jacket yesterday.

The scarf for men
I bought their scarf for 25 bucks, plaid pattern. It's large enough to be used as a blanket, soft and cuddly enough to be a pet, warm enough to be a proper 'head wearing', and also trendy. I've been wearing it as a headcover while going out, and in the house, and have only good things to tell about it.

The denim undies
They're my favourite, they're good with wicking moisiture away, don't just breakout randomly or bunch, and are so trendy too look at.

Woolen socks
Moisture wicking, good-looking, and anti-smell, I don't own a pair yet, but two pairs should last me a lifetime!

Went to the new Uniqlo in Downtown Seattle

 I went to the Uniqlo Downtown Seattle that opened three weeks ago yesterday, the third of December. I had imagined, hoped actually, that it would be occupying the entire Macy's building, but it covered only one side of the ground floor of the massive building.

Quick comments: it was very very very busy. Every row there were like eight people checking things out. Possibly because the store was so compact, I very much hope they're planning to expand the space into more of the building.

The items: as usual I freaking love Uniqlo and it's products, and nothing to complain about. I have limited preferences so it was kind of great for me.

The favourite part of the whole process was the checkout -- they have self checkouts, you walk to the counter, put your clothes in the bucket and that's it, it automatically detects them and puts in your cart, you don't have to scan them or anything which has traditionally been the most stressful part of the shopping experience. And then you pick a paper bag from the side (they charge extra for those paper bags, something that burnt a bit, but whatever) and off you go on your way!

Highly, highly recommend the store, lovely experience, great products, only hope they expand into the larger space.

Korn Dog CapHill review

 I went to the Korn Dog korean place yesterday, on my walk back from Downtown.

Ended up paying 7.50 abouts for a Corn Dog but it was so totally worth it. Got the mozzarella dog, massive, with potato covering, and several of their seasonings. Including ramen powder and sweet sauce and mustard. It was yummm. And filling. It was most of my meal for the day, and it was filling. At this point I'd legitimately consider this an alternative to Rancho bravo burrito: yeah it's more restricted nutritionally but so much yummier, so much flavor, and at a not unreasonable price. I had such good times, it could have been the highlight of my day had the day not been so wildly productive and eventful.

Highly, highly recommend the place!

Fudging up the fudge

 I made Betty Crocker's fudge yesterday, messed it up in several different ways. First I added way too much oil, which means it took a very long time to have it not be syrupy. Second, added more water than I should have, leading it to be crumbly and cakey, but not in a good way. Third. I added several extra spoonfulls of cocoa powder to it, making it even more crumbly than it would otherwise have been. Fourth, I added kefir instead of water, leading the milk solids to burn way way ahead of the fudge being cooked, which meant...the fudge was burnt. In general, the fudge is...alright, just extra cooked and not the ideal texture. Had a couple of pieces the next day, today, and it's okay but I wouldn't pay money for it.

One step at a time. Cookies are easier to play around with than fudge, that's the discovery out of this situation.

List of pizza slices I've tried

1.  New York Pizza
   
   
2. Sicilian Pizza
   
   
3. Chicago style pizza
   
   
4. New Haven Style Pizza
   
   
5. Detroit Style Pizza
   
   
6. Greek style Pizza
   
   
7. Nepali style pizza (bready crust)
   
   
8. Brooklyn style pizza
   

Getting my ID card made, finally

 I have appointment tomorrow, the fifth of December at the Queen Anne department of License here in Seattle to get my State ID card made. Gonna take in my passport, my immigration documents and the mail from lawyer -- for proof of residency -- and hopefully get a temporary card made. Until now my only identification for liquid stores, weed stores, airports, has been the passport. An incredibly risky proposition considering I'm basically fucked if I lose it. With State ID, at least I have a backup and even if I do lose it, I can get a replacement ordered in a decent amount of time. Plus, I can keep the ID in my wallet, not something possible with the passport. This will give me way greater safety and insurance against risky situation, looking forward to it. State ID now, license soon!

I prefer early to bed, early to rise, lots of sleep

 This post comes right after the post about going out clubbing after a long time. Kremwerk until 3.15, then walked home, asleep at 4.15-30. I ended up sleeping for 9 hours total, until quarter past 1, but the sleep score was disappointingly low. If this keeps up, I'm going to start having sleep issues again. Not good.

That confirms my beliefs: I enjoy the partying and fun-having and dancing, and submitting to the music, even being out and about, but not in the evening. Not at the cost of my sleep, no sir. I'd rather dance during the day, and go to bed right on time.

In recent past I've gone to bed at 9.30-11, waking up at 5.45, and it's been incredible. Feel so refreshed in the mornings, and don't feel asleep at all during the day. Motivation is not too high, but it's more about the momentum anyway, and if I'm not disrupting my life sleeping for 4 hours during the day, I'll be doing more things and having way more momentum.

So yeah, at this point I acknowledge that I'd rather go to bed early, rise up early, and have a long night of restful sleep. Even if that comes at social costs. If that's the ravings of an old fool, boring and unexciting, so be it. Emotional and physical wellbeing is important to me, and this where I find my future.

Clubbing after long

I'm writing this on the fourth of December, still covering up for the stupid month of November. But it's relevant particularly in this case because we went out clubbing, and out generally after a very long time. Like since September. The last time I went somewhere fun and public was the bar I went with Ay post-standup.

It was fun, we went to this bar called Montana Bar, which was chill, then it was Kremwerk time. 15 minutes in the line, and then to the bottom room, forget what it's called. The DJ group was electro-type, and it lacked beats on the first half, but got better. The crowd was extremely friendly and chill, and there was no desperate peeps coming in too creep and dance at you -- folks were there mostly for the music, with their friends.

We danced until fifteen past three, and then walked home, the four of us.

I'd do it all again, save for the staying until wee hours of the morning part, I'm too old and boring for that I realized. BY the time I slept it was quarter past four.

Not gonna do this more than once a month, at most.

Final exam time

My first class of the certification course has its last session tomorrow. Post-tomorrow we get 9 days to work on the take-home final exam. I looked up the rubric for the exam, it's worth 100 points -- as much weight as the rest as the semester -- and it will take at least 10 hours or so. Basically five times the time for one single assignment. I just wish I'd studied through the semester so I wouldn't have to spend so much time figuring things out.

I don't have the nine days to complete the exam and get grades because I need to get the grades submitted before the 12th of December so I can get paid back for my class expenses. So it's going to be tight, I gotta ask the instructor to grade me earlier than everybody, after submitting way in advance, and then actually work way way beyond the deadline. It's going to keep me up through the night several days in a row, and I'll be too anxious and stressed to put the work in anyway. My biggest fear is the writings in this blog will be hindered due to the stupid exam too, and the walks as well. All without getting anything done. Ideally I'll have it done by the end of this week.

Gloomy Seatte weather is here, and it's...alright?

 It's been gloomy in Seattle as of late. Snowy, rainy, cold gloomy days, all the time, miserable, so very dark, nobody wants to leave the house. And when they do gather the motivation to get out and about, the slush and molten show, dirt, is gross to walk on, there's black ice when you want to walk or drive, but getting there is hard because you'll not have woken until quite late in the day anyway.

Which is all fine, the air is cool crisp and fresh and walking is incredibly refreshing, like walking up in the mountains.

And despite all of this, we'll still get sunny days every so often. Such a treat because in Seattle the Sun still has potency, so you get warmed up, basking out in the open is fun, and you appreciate the whole place, the Sun, the surroundings, ever more so. Exciting times.

Who knows what's next

I am not okay
I keep repeating
With what is happening,
I don't like it,
and so it goes,
nothing changes.
I will,
I declare,
Protest
And not
Go along
because his is not
What I like
and I will escape
But who cares,
nobody
is bothered.

I'll be fine
And all will be good
It is only
The temporary
Anxiety
That is
All so bothersome.

I saw a friend who was lost in my dream the other day

The other day I saw JR, who has disappeared from Kathmandu, with a note left for her parents for several months now. In the dream she was hiding at a friend's place, she said that she didn't mean to cause such a ruckus, but she was really really not feeling it and decided to go away from everything at a friend's, and then everybody started searching for her, she got fearful about being found. She wanted to stay low-key and everybody just kind of gave up, then it got very difficult to be reintroduced and she didn't want to bother anybody or disappoint families and friends so she had to keep hiding. I told her in the dream that she should reach out to her family at least, she said she was not ready yet.

Hope she's doing well, wherever she is!

What. Is. This?

Self-referential pieces are rare. One runs out of ideas. Nothing else comes to mind. So. Short sentences. Why not? Contentless, yes. So what? Always like that. Irritating? Likewise. Might teach something. Training of sorts. No goal anyway. Who cares? Can't go for long. Neither can poems. Not a big deal.

Guilt is easy. Work is hard. Commitment too. Must push forward. Persevere. Kick laziness. Forever out. No anxiety. No guilt. Just. Words. From. Fingers.

Don't overthink! Ain't the nobel prize. I'm simple. So's my writing. It's okay. Gotta get words out. No matter what. Hot and cold. On and off. It's fine. Write, write, write. Eventually, it'll work out.

The Sun is out, the buns will be out, soon as

In the heart
Of the winter
At the city
Of Seattle
It's been a-snowing
Long and hard
And the days
Cold and dark.
On this day
As I write
It is bright
On the outside
Warm for a bit
And the sun is out
And so will the
Buns be too
When I'm done
With the writing,
Yes sirree,
Without a doubt!
I will not
Miss the warmth
And the comfort
of the winter sun
It is what
makes the dark
And the terrible
Days
So much fun
Cus' you know
They will end
You'll be protected
Safe and sound
Fun all around.

Happy to not be in Kathmandu days

Got a call
From a dear friend
And he said
Oh all the boys
Are in Kathmandu yet
You must be
missing them?
I gave
An unmotivated nod
But for sure
I was safe
In Seattle
From all those
Incel plod.
Friends take
A long time to make
but when they a-nazi turn
It is time for you,
To get away
Make a goddamn run.
You don't need those
Theories
Of fake biology
And psychology
evolutionary,
You don't care
For their smear
And all that of
Those being born
To be trodden.
In your heart
In your mind
You are great
You are not
Around those kind,
Those of your
In the past,
But no more.
No. godddamn. more.

I know I must write (and yet I can't)

It is known
That to write
Is to practice
To meditate
To grow
And to learn
Yet,
To save my life
I can't to it
Not even
when all else
Is very set.
I will, the web, be browsin'
Or watch Netflix
Oh all the shows I never did
Somehow get hungry
When a big meal I just had
Or get busy
For a grocery trip
That is totally
Unneeded.
Sit down, look at the words
But nary will come
TO me
To put down
On the page.
Instead I think
Of all the good food, yum yum yum
Or the great fun run
That can be done
Or any thing else
Any goddamn thing
But one that matters
To write, write write
And keep writing!

Email to lord-Elon

Oh lord Elon
They say
You're a felon
But for me
Thou artst HElon
With your might
Everything
Will be set right
You are the
Stablest genius
Of them all
You can fix
A million cars
Without so much
As a single recall
You can fly to the moon
And to the stars
You can buy companies
Like they're some
Second-hand car.
Oh lord Elon
Your might
Knows no end
And in every matter
You are always right
Be it medicine
Or politics
Or law
We have seen your might!
Lord Elon!
Shine us your light
So we may see better
Give us your fire
So we may heat
But let's not
make that
Your burning
model three!

Well that was a freebie

Well...
Says the person
Very nice,
I am sure,
With whom
An exit
Was impending
The reasons
too many
To count...
Well, says she
I cannot be
Talking to one
Says my fam
Who is not
Aligned to
The same stars
As I am.
To which I go
Oh no
That's too bad
My legs
Hypothetically
Running the
Fastest
They ever can
Over the mountains
And the lakes
Where one
By themselves
Does their choices makes
No pressure
And no commotion
Only a land
Of peace
And devotion.

Feck, how do I get all the posts out in a short time

 I can write what I like: fiction, non fiction, speculative fiction, observational pieces, political pieces whatever. I can write stuff to be quick and easy: poems, lists, FAQ's, and what have you, the fillers, to get my post count up and juke the stats so it looks like I'm writing regularly like a person who has their shit together.

But currently I've been writing enough for two months in a matter of several weeks and let me tell you, there's not much to write, not the fillers no sirree. I could write real stuff, the fiction and the pieces interesting to write but that ain't gonna be getting the numbers out is it, it'll take me a week to write a week's work, I ain't getting ahead at this rate.

So yeah, there's going to be extra-extra amount of navel-gazing, where's the other ideas coming from? What is there to even write? This post is one number towards the goal-reaching without any real content, but it's not going to be easy. Even single-sentence posts are hard, what the hell do I put in those pages, what's to write, even?

Only so many thoughts that go through my head and I've written 'em all by now ack!

Currently ongoing fermentation projects

1.  Milk Kefir
   
   
2. Kombucha
   
   
3. Water kefir -- with water grains
   
   
4. Water kefir -- with milk kefir grains
   
   
5. Chhyang
   
   
6. Kinema / Natto
   
   
7. Tempeh
   
   
8. Fermented hot sauce
   

Currently reading: a couple of additions

 Finished the kevin hard and the Steve Martin books, adding four new books to the list:

1. The Wisdom of Insecurity, by Alan Watts
   
   
2. The Book: On the Taboo Against knowing who you are, by Alan Watts
   
   
3. Radical Acceptance, by Tara Brach
   
   
4. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
   

Dick's Burgers, a review

I did not get the burger at Dick's Burger, because I don't like burgers, I don't like beef, and I don't eat beef. Could have gotten ice-cream there, but didn't, because it was too cold. It was an order of fries for me. Yes, cooked in beef tallow but there's only so may compromises you can make. Salty beefy frie, yum yum yum!

M*sk is a pain in the *ass

 The great mentally challenged billionaire keeps doing one dumb thing after another, the latest being essentially a threat to release the president's son's revenge p*rn because something something, I don't know man, that idiot.

The good news is, he's becoming a liability for most of his supporters, and the chickens are coming to roost, eventually, Man how much I'd love to see that asshole fucktard be reduced to poverty, all his companies out of business etc. The Paypal mafia are a literal mafia it turns out. This country needs better mechanisms to protect itself from holes like them.

Concerns around the AI stuff they've been releasing

So the AI nerds at openAI have released this GPT Chat bot that generates scarily good responses. You ask it to write an essay on a given prompt, and it will give you a decent essay that many professors have said would receive an A in senior year of college. You ask it to write a certain kind of email, and it generates a really good message (friend NG wants to do it). But it also means bots and trolls are going to sound a lot smarter, and democracy is in the precipice of being Sybill-attacked. Fuck. Those. AI. Nerds. Fuck 'em all. It's scary times.

It's all templates, MBA's, life, and everything organized

 It's embarrassing that I'm coming to the full realization of the fact after 30 goddamn years in this world. And here it is: it's all templates and templates, all the way down. Let me explain!

A business, does certain things, whatever they may be. But on the day-to-day basis, fundamentally what decides their actions? Templates! There's a clear template for any employee to do or say or react to certain way, that they're made aware of, and they execute it. You're not figuring things out every day, all the time, for everybody. No, it's stable, it's easy, yadda-yadda.

A business proposal, or a funding proposal, what is it really? You get a template that's worked with funding partners before. Then you plugin new text. You know the template works because the words you've put in it are the same words they want to hear, and heard in the past for you. In the end, you get so good at expanding out on the templates, you make it into your business, for a good chunk of money. You tell people, hey I'll write your funding proposal, and give me money for that. What they DON'T realize is that you're just filling out the template that you have optimized for your target, and it's not that much work.

Business consulting is much of that. You've got your methodologies, you've got your frameworks, you've got your formulae. And for many industries you've got your variables. You plug them all in, and boom, you've got a templated response that looks excessively impressive to somebody who's not seen them before, because they don't know how the sausage is made. And if you don't have the variables, the hardest part of the whole situation is figuring out the variables and their saliency. Not easy by any stretch, but not as impressive as starting everything from scratch.

And so on and so forth.

Point is, I need to learn how to write my proposals, my consulting proposals!

My plans might not take fruit at all, alas!

 So much interest and excitement and eagerness to do something interesting and productive in Nepal with the government, the business community and all of that, at this point though I need to realize none of it will materialize likely because of well nobody's interest to support me. The clearest goal for me would be to realize the goal of being seen as an 'innovation consultant and strategist', and be able to guide the cities into greatness, but a big fat load of good that's going to me. My idea is to basically reach out to any municipality or as such that will so much as give me a listen, try to load all of my ideas to them, and see if I can bring out any cash from that piggy bank of government spending. Because no connections, no interest in under-the-table transactions, and no 'government sense' of working with bureaucracy and the politicians.

Still, we'll see how it goes. Maan I need to make a progress or headway in this aspect. I've been thoroughly lacking!

I have made a terrible mistake

There's not much left to mince words towards anymore. It's possible, quite likely, that I'm walking into a predestined shithole I have resisted all my life, something I don't want to get into, something that'll make me regret my decisions for the rest of my life and make me deeply unhappy, which I cannot openly show so I'll have to pretend to accept my fate and be a deeply bitter person with longheld grudges, the sort that takes out their frustrations on other people, and cannot do anything to reject the destiny. Are we just puppets, yielding marionettes to the strings of culture and fate unable to decide our future and having to follow the same old script, with minor 'improvisations' but are fundamentally same? What of the human will, of consciousness, that which separates us humans from wild animal?

I will not submit. I will not surrender. I will choose to suffer, not just for the sake of it but as a rejection of fate if it must come to that, if that is the only way I can live like a normal human being with agency. People are not agents, we get our say in the matter of our lives, and nothing can change that. I will not give up, I won't bail out on my hopes dreams and desires. I will keep pushing. 

The fight will go on.

I have not made a mistake, just a minor misstep, that will be corrected. I deserve a happy peaceful life of my own choosing, made without pressure and full under my own volition.

More snow! new friend, rice kimchi achar sag lunch, roti and TJ's tarkari dinner, more writing, no walk due to snow [Tue 29]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

It snowed again. I started talking to this girl my mom forced me to talk to, nothing happened, we ended up  stopping talking after a couple of days, but those couple of days were extremely stressful because I don't like being bullied into doing things and this was a clear case of being bullied into talking to somebody she wanted me to talk to.

For lunch I cooked up rice, and sag, and ate it with the green achar and kimchi. It was try, but like whatever.

For dinner I warmed the TJ's tarkari, lots of water and spices added to it, and had it with pan-warmed naan, in lots of olive oil.

Lots of writing, but no walking or getting to the 10k steps because it was cold humid and rainy outside and dear god so much annoying slush. I don't mind the cold but the slush absolutely sucks.

Writing, interlaken-volunteer walk, more failed experiments and lessons with noodles and rice paper rolls [Mon 28]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

Wrote a bunch after work, went on interlaken-volunter walk. In terms of writing, I was going to be so close to being caught up. My walk ended right before my class began.

After the class ended I wanted to do another try with the rice paper rolls, so this time around I wet them less, but somehow the noodles got more moist. I put the noodles less compacted, and then tried to fry the rolls so it'd be a 'spring rolls' type texture. Also tried frying a bunch of rice paper rolls like the prawn crackers of the past.

So I overfried the rolls and they were burnt, far too moist in the inside, and not very yummy. I didn't have a good dipping sauce, I'm really missing Soy Sauce I tell you.

The bits that I tried frying turned out very uneven because one, the shapes were uneven, and two, the oil was shallow and not deep. As a result some parts were overfried and some undercooked. Then I tried salting it but was unable to do it evenly, so it was disgustingly salty chips that I ate anyway.

I kept the leftover fried rolls for the next morning and still enjoyed them, the third time's going to be the charm I think.

Things to do: use the tongs to flip them. Don't get the fillings too tight or too moist. Use skinny short noodles that are on the drier side. Get the oil very very hot before putting things in, and don't let them stay in oil for too long.

Lessons learned!

List of seven things because I'm in real trouble

1.  Vaguely smokey smell
   
   
2. Dal, long cooked
   
   
3. Eggy pucks
   
   
4. Taco bell breakfast
   
   
5. Cotton candy but homemade
   
   
6. Chocolate
   
   
7. Jaaulo
   

Top six easy meals

1.  Fried rice
   
   
2. Dal bhat tarkari
   
   
3. Egg sandwich
   
   
4. PB n J
   
   
5. Oats and kimchi
   
   
6. Noodles
   

Veggie omlette, cucumber, mayo sandwich lunch, interlaken-volunteer walk, poppers dinner, writing a lot [Sun 27]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

The day I'm actually writing this is exactly a week from this day, so so close to being caught up geez. Edit, I ended up writing exactly the day after so it's Monday the 5th but I'm almost done, thirty more posts for this months and I'm finally freakin' gonna be done maaan what a journey it's been.

For lunch I cooked up a massive veggie omlette with onion and tomato, Ghana style. Put it inside four slices of bread (two sandwiches) along with mayo and cucumber and yum yum yum what a solid lunch it was. Far too heavy if I may say so.

Did the regular interlaken-volunteer walk, because why not.

Got jalepeno poppers for dinner because I could. I've been getting better at heating them so they don't explode or burn my mouth. Man I hope they're not bad for you because I have been growing a second chin and uhhh... maybe that can be attributed to those poppers?

So much rain and snow, egg and tomato sandwich lunch, I stay in [Sat 26]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

It snowed and rained a bunch. A bunch bunch bunch. I asked BC if we wanted to go golfing, but she was out of town and had forgotten to tell me ugh.

I had egg and tomato sandwich for lunch in the croissant, with lotsa mayo. Yum yum yum, ghana style.

Didn't go anywhere, ate, chilled, wrote, watched tv, relaxed, life is cool.

Egg-croissant-cucumber sandwich lunch, interlaken-volunteer fall walk in the rain, noodles and rice paper rolls, failure and success [Fri 25]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

The earlier evening I'd brought half a dozen croissants from AS's place and I'm embarrassed to admit how long they lasted. Not very long. That's the answer. Embarrassingly slow. So buttery, so yummy.

For lunch I made an emlet, and had egg and cucumber sandwich inside the croissant.

In the afternoon I did the Interlaken volunteer walk while it was raining. Couple of points, the rain jacket I got for dashain is far too large for me and probably will never be used again. Also it doesn't stop rain, like, at all. It made me worse off than if I'd actually not put anything on at all.

In the evening I made the thai noodles I bought from TJ's couple of months ago. Not satisfied with it, I put it inside the rice paper rolls I also bought several months ago, and made a spring roll. It looked like an oversized condom. It was hard to eat. So I discovered a couple of things this evening. You don't get the rice paper dripping wet. You don't overstuff the rice paper. If you're using noodles, you need to have them be skinny and short, otherwise it's impossible to eat comfortably. Also ideally your fillings will be on the dryer side otherwise they will further compromise the skin of the already weak rice paper covering.

Many new lessons were learned from the successes and failures form this day.

Mist and rain, walk to Arboretum and back, super duper lowkey thanksgiving, lowest-key of all time [Thu 24]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

The day was extremely rainy and windy, you couldn't see three blocks away from my place!

Walked all the way to the Arboretum and back because this was the thanksgiving day and there was nothing else for me to do, as all my friends had either gone somewhere or made plans with friends and family. AS and I were the only remaining and AS was kinda' sick but we still walked to Arboretum and did the classic loop.

We decided to meet up again later if we could, but did not, since AS got super duper sick, he was already not feeling well and the walk did him no good unfortunately.

Trader joe's walk in the morning with S, friend leaves, gloomy day, leftover jaulo-achar-tarkari brinner, poppers dinner [Wed 23]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

In the morning around lunch time St and I went to Trader Joe's for a nice little walk, he wanted to understand the grocery situation around these parts and buy supplies for his Nepal trip potentially.

It rained a lot during the later part of the day, very gloomy.

In the afternoon St. left, with the promise to make Seattle his way point back to Canada, and we agreed to meet again around Christmas.

Didn't go on walk in the evening because didn't feel like it.

In the early evening I had leftover jaulo tarkari achar for late linner.

Late in the evening I cooked up some jalepeno poppers as snacks.

Japanese eggplant curry, quinoa jaulo, green achar dinner with Sb, St comes in from Canada, latenight hangout at Volunteer park, catching up [Tue 22]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

For lunch I had PB sandwich. Or egg sammich. I should record these cheat meals better.

For dinner I made the japanese eggplant-tofu gorry, green achar, my classic with so much garlic, and the leftover jaulo.

Had Sb come over, he really enjoyed the dinner, along with raw onion. He was leaving just as friend St came into my apartment. He was going to Nepal by way of Seattle.

St ate, we went on a pretty long walk to Volunteer park, he bought a can of beer from the nearby gas station, and we spent a couple of hours shooting the shit and catching up. Talked about golfing, housing, insurance, etc.

Went to bed around 11/11.30.

Interlake-volunteer walk, writing, rice and japanese curry dinner [Mon 21]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

Did the interlaken-volunteer walk after work. Wrote a bunch.

For dinner I made japnese curry with eggplant slices, bought from Hau Hau. Yum yum yum. Tofu-Eggplant is an amazing combo I need to use more.

Golfing at UW with BC, dinner with WC at Time Bistro, farmer's market visit, volunteer park walk, tea and writing [Sun 20]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

Went to golf with BC at 10 in the morning, not a great session, took me some time to get back in the groove.

I made some miscalculation with planning, and couldn't go anywhere later. Waited outside the course and WC picked me up. We went to Time Bistro, the one I reviewed a year and a half ago, and got lunch there. It was...alright. Not as great as I remembered. Honestly they've got only ONE faux meat, it is possible their menu has reduced in size in response to demand but ugh. It was alright.

Took some of the leftovers, got out on caphill, checked out the farmers market, and came home, wrote a bunch.

Later in the day, went on a nice walk to Volunteer park. No more interlaken, because it was far too dark to get into the forest. 

Drank lots of tea, cups and cups of warm ginger tea and wrote dozens and dozens of posts!

Drive to costco, long wait for gas, wonderful costco shopping, pizza-eating, car workshop maintenance, long arboretum-interlaken-volunteer walk with AS, jalepeno dinner [Sat 19]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

In the morning AS and I drove to Costco and waited for like 30 minutes in the line for the gas.

Then we got in and did a bunch of shopping, man I like it so much. I bought the apple cider mix and it has been one of the best shopping decisions of this half of the year. And jalepeno poppers, and fake chicken sandwich patties. Other good stuff too!

On our way out I got a massive slice of their pizza, A got the hot dog. I'm done with Costco pizza. It's okay if you're hungry but besides that it's food. That's the best that can be said of it.

The plan was to drive down to the Indian store later, but we were both tired and just low on energy so we drove back to town, into the car workshop near South Jackson and got his/Sk's car checked.

We drove to my place, dumped all my groceries in, then drove over to A's place, and put all his stuff in. Then we parked the car on one of the side streets, and went on a nice long walk, several hours long. Fun stuff, as always, fresh air is always so great!

In the evening I had several piece of jalepeno poppers air fried for dinner. I overcooked them and they burst, but that's how you learn, right?

Interlaken-volunteer walk, much much writing, jaulo eating with AS(y) in the evening [Fri 18]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

After work did the interlaken-volunteer walk.

Wrote a lot lot before and after the walk, now it was time for me to get caught up with 2 months' worth of posts, in 2 weeks. It'd be wild times, and I was so.very.ready.

Invited AS in the evening, fed him my jaulo, achar and onion for dinner, we watched tv a bunch, and went to bed pretty early on after sending him, around 10-10.30.

Repainted apartment, Daiso and Target trip for groceries, uniqlo's opening soon, jaulo-onion dinner! [Thu 17]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

The repainting of my apartment was complete at this point, from nasty-yellow to modern grey, 15 years late but still happened.

In the afternoon I took the train to Daiso, got some khicknacks, including plant items, then dropped by Target to get the rest of the things, and walked home. Saw that Uniqlo was going to be opening soon, which was wildly exciting for me!

Dinner was jaulo and raw onions once again, man I'll never get tired of the combo in the winter!

Hau Hau groceries, volunteer park walk, jaulo and onion dinner, so many teas! [Wed 16]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

Went to Hau Hau market after lunch for groceries. I can connect to day exactly as I write in early December because I'm still not done with the fruits I bought on this trip, and green veggies. And as I type these words I'm eating the persimmon I bought then, so yeah, it's a pretty wild connection, that this was 19 days ago!

Walked to Volunteer park to get my 10k in, because Hau Hau was not enough.

I made oat-quinoa-dal jaaulo with methi and jeera, plus mustard oil. Ate it with raw onions.

Since I'd bought four types of teas at the market, I now had 18+ types of teas with me. It was crazy!

Rancho bravo burrito lunch, interlaken-volunteer walk, trader joe's groceries [Tue 15]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

Now I was trying to be more motivated about doing groceries and being out and about.

So for lunch I went to Rancho bravo and got their large burrito. It's...meh. The place looks far too dank and it's kinda pricey for what it is, and not at all tasty. There's fewer and fewer reasons to go there at this point.

In the afternoon went on an interlaken-volunteer walk. Stopped by Trader Joe's and got significant amount of groceries. To get my groove started.

Shin Ramyun lunch, I write a lot, rest day [Mon 14]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

Had lunch of Shin Ramyun once again.

Wrote a lot because I had 1.5+ months worth of posts to write, which seems mindblowing considering three weeks later I only have 18 days worth to write about.

Didn't do much, stayed in because it was gloomy and really one must rest,and also 6-9 was classtime and I have this habit of doing my assignments right on the dot two hours before the assignment is due. It's a bad habit but that's what I've been ued to now.

Interlaken-volunteer walk with AS(y), intense worldly texting with P [Sun 13]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

AS and I went on a decent walk, interlaken-volunteer in the afternoon.

I spent the day resting mostly, also talking to P about the state of the matter of the world, and there's nothing to be worried about, things are going to be alright, as long as the US does well we're fine.

Up at 5am, out to the airport, sleeping through most of the flight, back in Seattle early morning, home safe and comfy, checking up on plants, shin ramyun lunch, long walk, spice walla dinner, TJ's groceries [Sat 12]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

Got up at 5am, got ready super quick, and ED drove me to the airport. I don't remember anything being particularly problematic, security was easypeasy, got to the door, and boarded without issues. Oh for the first half I thought the plane was pretty empty but then a large group of people showed up all of a sudden, probably from a different flight, and it was tight.

I slept for pretty much all the flight, didn't even get the drinks and snacks they offered.

Got in Seattle at 9.30 in the morning, such a pleasure to get that early somewhere. Home by 10.30 after collecting my keys from AS(y).

Back home I checked up the health of my plants and watered them.

Had shin ramyun for lunch because that was the easiest quickest available without doing anything extra or going to do groceries.

Went for a nice long walk around town, interlaken-volunteer I think, may have been arboretum too. Got tofu crumble katti roll and Spice waala which changed my opinion of them significantly downwards. Anywhere but there. 

Did a quick grocery run at Trader Joe's before going home.

Playing with niece, driving all over, lunch at Zoe's Kitchen after two misses, driving to the boonies, achaar from homegrown tomatoes, bhat-dal-lauka-saag and tomato achar dinner [Fri 11]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

In the day spent lots of time playing with my niece because it was my last day in town and I wouldn't be seeing her for a while.

In the afternoon I left job early and we went to the mall area where we tried to get lunch at two restaurants and failed because they had too long lines. Despite it being a very rainy day. We finally succeeded at Zoe's Kitchen which was a Mediterranean chain. It was alright.

We then drove around all the 'green' areas, talked about my RV life plans, ED's weddings and their attempts to buy camp houses etc. Out and about in the boonies basically.

In the evening AD made achaar from the homegrown tomatoes I'd brought in from PN's and let me tell you it was the best tomato achaar I have had in recent memory. They're not exaggerating when they say homegrown tomatoes are the freakin' best!

We had dal bhat lauka saag and tomato's achaar from above for dinner.

This was my last night in town. I got packed up, checked in, got my boarding pass and got all ready for my early morning flight the following day.

Shit's fucked up and it's hella cold

It's been a week since I came back to Seattle and my posts have been halfhearted, the two entire posts of barely a hundreds words each that I've posted. It's pathetic, I know. But I'm not one to give up. I promise, my dear readers, by the end of this month, I'll have covered up for the past month and this, so there's going to be a lot of backdated posts incoming for September and October.

By the way, I've never slept better than the past week, it's possible it may be related to me not being stressed out about the four (or really any number) of daily posts, but that's quite unlikely. I need to get back in my schedule. Write. Write. Write!

Wily winter heating plans

 It's winter and the insulation in my apartment is terrible. I don't want to turn on the heating so early in the year and it's a big annoyance to dress up heavily inside. SO I came up with something 'smart': constantly drink hot tea (herbal), ideally with hot flavors like ginger, lemon etcetera to warm the body up. Really heats up the body, I've been sweating. Sneaky sneaky.

Post-return update

I'm back in Seattle. As usual, I didn't write anything, at all, through the past 1.5 months. It was refreshing, and a needed break from my regular life. On one hand I enjoyed it, and on the other, discovered that my life as it is in Settle is actually pretty freaking great and it's something that's missed when I'm not in control of my surroundings.

The posts will continue, as usual, starting whenever.

Until them, I'm thinking of doing one of the wildest things that's happened to this Blog, back-filling past 1.5 months' worth of posts. It's going to be rough going, wild, crazy, but it'll be worth it. Get the guilt out and convince myself that I can keep the habit, at any cost. Will force myself to write regularly anyway because ohh what a pain it will be!

Regular scheduling program will resume soon enough.

Naan and leftover Indochiense lunch, the most satisfying but disappointing dinner at Dosa Grill, farewell times [Thu 10]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

I mixed up the remainder of the Indochese tofu and eggplants, and had the mixed curry with naan. Again, so so good.

In the evening I took the family to the Dosa Grill. I've written the review before, but I had the mirchi bajra or whatever, deep fried mirchi in chickpea flower and what a big fucking disappointment it was. Unfortunately for me, I kinda' filled up on it, so when the real deal came, the cheese naan, I couldn't eat that at all.

The cheese dosa smelled so so so good, but I barely had half of it. I very much wanted to, couldn't force myself to go through. Really bummed out. Kept it on the side, paid, and it was a veryyy filling but kinda disappointing dinner. Satisfying because the dosa was so very cheese and butter and yum, sad because I couldn't eat much of it and the other order sucked. I probably got the worst order among the four of us.

Evening drive to Loudon market, teaching niece Nepali songs, samosa chat for dinner [Wed 9]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

For lunch I had the leftover IndoChinese food, so yummy uuughhh it was amazing, I wish I had it here, I miss it still!

In the evening we drove to Loudon market, just as a drive, don't think we did anything new or exciting, I think I didn't even get out of the car, ED went in and bought some samosas and came back in.

Which is what we ate for dinner -- samosa chat! It was three samosas and I was hungry but that was still far far too much.

It was a continuation of me teaching my niece nursery songs from Nepal, which she will sing all the time, even a month after this day now, it's the easiest way to distract her when she's crying!

Crappy chips snacks, tomato picking, cleaning up the house, driven back home, yummiest Indochinese food for dinner eggplant and tofu [Tue 8]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

I woke up in PN's living room, worked from there for the course of the day, finishing whatever was in their fridge, and just cleaning up the place so it looked like nobody had ever come there.

In the evening picked up their overripe tomatoes that were going bad, to take back to ED's, collected all the groceries that could go back, and ED came to pick me up, went back home.

They had ordered Indochinese food for dinner, and yummm, man my favourite cuisine/fusion is indo-chinese no questions asked. So filling, so full of msg, such textures ugh if only I could make it!

I had eggplant and tofu, different curries with rice and it was one of the most satisfying meals in memory.

Ramen breakfast, I'm driven to PN's, trouble getting in, long chat with P, eventually in, watering plants, smoking up, setting up the plugs for hours, so much fast food [Mon 7]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

Had ramen for breakfast, workday was usual.

After work, ED drove me to PN's place, because I'd promised them to water the plants, fix up some replanted things, and setup their smart plug.

Getting in took me some time, and I almost gave up because there was no easy way for entrance, but when I called P he responded and gave me exact instructions for entry.

Throughout this I was in constant chat with P.

I put his repotted plants in water, smoked up, ate a bunch of their snacks, and smoked up.  Which was a bad idea in retrospect because then I was planning to setup the smart plug. It was a stupid fucking situation took me more than three hours because the plug wouldn't update and not be able to connect to the internet. And I couldn't figure out why it wasn't updating. After lots of research it turned out that VPN and DNS settings on my phone had to be setup for the plug to be able to update. Which got updated and then started running, after a ridiculous amount of time, it was crazy.

In the evening I think I had pizza, don't remember where it came from, but pizza and juice dinner when high. And that thing I smoked, got me high real quick, shockingly quick!

Nonstop youtube travel videos, tofu and ramen noodles, shopping trip, Shilla's for treats with niece [Sun 6]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

 Here's something I'd like to mention to remind myself because when I write these journal posts day-to-day I tend to remember those and mention them in great detail, but going over those almost exactly a month after, they will often fade away and not be remembered well.

So around this time, the whole family of my cousin was watching only travel videos on youtube, like nonstop travel videos day-in and day-out. I'm glad I made photographic documentation of it because it was so funny and quite tiring but that's what we were doing!

I wanted to finish the tofu because I'd been eating it for three days nonstop, so I put it on the ramen noodles and finished it for lunch.

In the afternoon, it was raining but cousin, ED and I still went to Shilla's and got pastries. We went to a couple of more spots for shopping, mostly for my cousin, and mail drop.

Tofu Rice and Eggs lunch, tang!, Lotte Market trip and lost cart, rice & tofu, laddus dinner [Sat 5]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

For lunchI had tofu, rice and fried eggs.

I'd started drinking lots of Tang the drink powder inspired by AD, so much so that I was having issues drinking plain old water without any additives.

 In the afternoon ED and I went to Lotte market, I ordered and bought the niece a plate of chicken momo, cousin and I wandered around the store, including groceries and frozen section. This is important because we uhh were missing a significant bunch of the orders we'd put in our card, and we realized only too late that there had been a mixup and we'd missed an entire cart worth of not very important but pretty important items. It was hilarious, we talked about it a bunch.

Dinner was rice and tofu tarkari once more, laddu desserts too.

Rice tofu and chokha lunch, I get obsessed with the billionaire burning his billions [Fri 4]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

For lunch we had rice, tofu and potato chokha.

This was the start of my addiction, absolute and total addiction to the news cycle about that asshole billionaire, good meanie ole' fe*on m*sk who took a poorly run company and turned it into a total and complete clusterfuck and how it was going to destroy him forever.

Walmart and Indian store trip, we get tonnes of snacks [Wed 2]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

Went to Walmart with dijju, and the Indian store because we didn't get what she was looking for at Walmart. We also got several packets of very nasty tasty snacks including Doritos. I'd never eaten so much Doritos in my life, no lies.

Jaulo, saag and potato chokha for lunch, uncle aunty come in, going to SB's place and meeting the whole goddamn gang, bubble tea and domino's dinner TWICE and smoking up [Thu 3]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the last week of November, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

For lunch we had jaulo, saag and potato chokhaa.

Uncle and aunty came back from Nepal earlier, so we spend lots of time talking about their 4-month stay in the country and how it was, and catching up, the rest.

In the evening I went to Sb's place. The whole gang was their, PS was there, Sb (sister) was their, A (cousin) was there, and so was PL. We had bubble tea, ate Domino's pizza for the second time of the night -- yes, I'd had Domino's for dinner at ED's as well, and got high. Just talked, chilled relaxed. In the evening, PL dropped me home and we made plans to meet up again.

Naan-tarkari lunch, bhat-da sag-kauli dinner, feeding niece [Tue 1]

Disclaimer: I'm writing all of this in the first week of December, because I couldn't make the writing happen on time. It's okay, I got September done, and October gonna be done in a day. Then gotta start with all of November...at the end of the month. I'm nothing if not optimistic!

Okay, let's gooo, finally reaching so close to writing this, it's been 25 days since I returned and just about getting to this day, which was 35 days ago.

For lunch I had naan and tarkari leftover from the day before.

Dinner was dal bhat sag and kauli.

I spent a large part of the day trying to feed bhanji and singing nursery songs to her.