Closing out 2013

I hope everyone had a good Christmas, I know I did.  This year has brought on a lot of changes to my life.  Some good, some not as positive, but have seemed to lead to positive things for the most part.  Two of the biggest changes to happen this year happened in the last week.  I finally published my 8 page mini-comic, Dangers of the Road.  It was delivered last Friday and I must say they look gorgeous.  I used a service called Ready Comics to print them.  I'm doing a bit of soft launch on these and mainly using them a resume piece.  I plan on setting up an Esty store during my New Year.  Till then if you want a physical copy just shoot me an email or comment below.  If you want a digital copy you can buy one for $1.99 at Amazon, Click Here.  I wanted to charge less but that’s as low I Amazon would let me go.  It make up for the high price I add some concept art to the Kindle version.

The other big change that just happen with I bought an NEW CAR!!!!! Well, not bought, but leased a new car.  Hey it's the first time I have ever driven a brand new car that no one else has ever owned.  While the end of the year may be the best time to buy a car in terms of getting a good price, but it really it the worse time to shop for one.  Trying the find the time to do all of the Christmas stuff and finding time to go to the different dealerships was a real challenge.  Also it seemed like every time I was free to go to a dealership the sky would open up and pour snow everywhere, or it was Sunday.  In Pennsylvania you can't sell cars on a Sunday.

The impetus to buy a car wasn't just because I had a little bit of money from finally settling with the insurance company after my car accident from last august.  It was because Goldie, my old 2001 Honda civic was once more acting up.  First the muffler separated from the exhausted pipe.  I was able to fix it with a clamp, some muffler tape and YouTube video.  Then it started to overheat again.  I found out the radiator reservoir was empty.  Once I filled it up with coolant and water, it seemed fine and I don't know why it was empty.  After that I started looking in earnest and borrowed my mom's car.  Having literally been burned by this sort of issue this summer, I wasn't going to take chance.

My original plan was to wait till my tax return came in and I had a big chunk of money to put down to find a car.  With that out the window, I started looking at used cars.  I went to one dealership to look at a used 2009 Civic.  I figured I'd stick with Honda, because despite the issues I had with it, I loved Goldie and she had given me 140,000+ good miles.  She only had 23,000 when I bought her, for a really good price.  That car didn't owe me a thing.

From the moment I went to the dealership red flags started going off.  First even though I had made an appointment, the car was not ready when I got there.  Turned out the battery was dead and they had to jump it before I could give it a test drive.  Then I saw it didn't have a sunroof, which it was listed as having on their website.  The test drive went well enough and I would have been fine with the car.  Red flags started again once we brought the car back and they started in with a really push soft sell, that nearly spilled over to a hard sell.  Even after I told them I, would need to think about it and that I don't make any time of big decisions after a long day of work.  Then they brought over a super sleaze manager.  I felt like I need to check that I still had all my fingers after shaking his hand.  Sufficed to say, I didn't leave wanting to buy that car, even though I kind of liked it.

This led me to dread going to look at any more cars.  I also was worried about my credit score and what kind of loan I could get.  I imagined finding a car I loved and thought I could afford, only to have them tell me that they couldn't sell me a car.  Of course my depression got a hold of this notion and multiplied 1000 times, where I almost had a panic attack at the thought of looking at another car.

I had just read the Nerdist Way by Chris Hardwick a nerd self-help sort of book.  In the book he talks about how knowledge is the key to conquering fear.  Taking that advice I called the bank where I had gotten the loan for Goldie all those years ago.  The woman I talked to was great.  We ran some numbers and I was pre-approved for a loan.  I now knew exactly how much I could spend and that if one dealer couldn't make it happen with those numbers another one would.

When I went to the dealership the next day, I made sure to tell them that it was just a fact finding mission and that I kind of shut down when people are pushy even in a passive aggressive way.  Mike Winter over at the Kia in Limerick took that to heart and showed me a bunch of cars without being push or making me feel like I had to decide on one then and there. 

I ended up leasing a 2014 Kia Forte for him a few days later.  On the way home I was trying to decide what to call my new car.  The name Shadow just popped right into my head.  Over the next few days of driving the car I knew I made the right decision.  It's a really nice car and because it only had 47 miles on it I'm not worried about anything going wrong with it and getting stuck some place.

As I write this I also realize that it was good for me to get out of Goldie.  She was filled with the ghost of the past.  I was trapped a bit in her with memories both good and bad. With Shadow, I have but a weeks' worth of memories, all good, and nothing holding me back from moving forward.

New Year's Eve is tomorrow and I can't help but think about the past year.  To be honest a lot of it is blur of depression.  It was such a tough year, as I outlined in this post, but I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the people who were there for me this year.  Without the love and support of my friends this year, I really don't know how far in a hole I would have fallen.  I most certainty would not have been in a place where I could have not only written a comic book, but gotten it printed and used it to get more lettering.  I was incredibly fortunate to have such kind and support of friends.  To everyone who help me, both year and years past, thank you. 

May you, dear reader, be as lucky as I am and may we all have a wonderful 2014.

No NaNo For You Know Who

So, I'm not going to win NaNoWriMo this year.  With 4 days to go I only have a little over 13,000 words of the 50,000 need for winning.  It a shame, I really liked the winners t-shirt for this year.  The reason I didn't win is twofold.

The first reason is comic books. Right before NaNo started I picked up a comic book lettering gig.  Most of the creative time and energy I would have spent on writing I spent lettering.  This was the first time I very lettered a comic book that I didn't write myself.  It was a challenging job because I didn't write I didn't automatically know how it should be paced.  The author of the comic I did the work for just posted a low-res preview of the comic here: http://www.frolicandfester.blogspot.com/2013/11/knock-three-times-art-by-damon-threet.html

Before I got that job I was already working on an 8 page mini-comic as I mentioned in an earlier post.  I'm happy to announce that all of the heavy lifting on that project is done and I should be sending it to the printer by Friday.  This means that it is a very real possibility that I will have printed copies in my hand before the end of the year.  Also I'm shooting to have it available for the kindle.  My PC died last week, which delayed everything and I will need to re-download the Kindle comic crafting software.  But with the pages all done it shouldn't take too long and I it as well should be done by Friday.

The second thing that will cause me to lose NaNo is that simple fact that Comic book scripts just don't have that many words (unless you're Alan Moore) In a comic book the dialog is kept short to lessen the  impact of it obscuring the art.  Also when describing the panels to the artist it takes a lot of visualization, which in turn, for me, really slows down the writing process.

All that being said, I have gotten half an issue of a script written and I also cranked out a super short story.  Not bad considering I also lettered 14 pages of comics, several times after getting edits and new versions of the art.  I would actually consider this a productive month so far.

My goal going forward is to still write every day, which is the point of NaNoWriMo in the first place.  The word count will just be a little less important than during NaNo proper.  Instead of trying to spit out 1600+ words every day, I'm shooting for a more manageable word count goal of 250 to 500 words.  That's not to say I can't have more productive days and write more than that.  I'm just not going beat myself up or push myself if I got my 250-500 words in for the day.

I also want to make it a goal to try to do some sort of lettering each and every day as well.  The goal there is to get at least one page under my belt a day.  More pages if I have a job an deadline.  Speaking of which If anyone knows of any project that is looking for a letter please let me know.  I will do the work for the low, low price of FREE.  Right now it's more important to me that I get paid in experience and resume building.  Once I have a couple hundred more hours and several more projects under my belt I'll start using pay rate as a factor in the jobs I take.  I however never want to lose the desire to take a job just because it is a cool project.  I know I will never be rich doing comics.  I know that the likely hood of me being able to make a living by crating comics alone is slim.  But I love comics, I love helping to bring a work to life and being able to hold something I helped create in my hand.

OK that's all for now; go cook something up.

T.

Stuck In Neutral

For whatever reason, my Attention Deficit disorder has been really bad as of late.  Seriously I have three half-finished blog posts, an idea for a fourth blog post, an all but for the editing and formatting finished mini-comic.  Three separates stories going in my NaNoWriMo document and I just got the pages for a short comic book story I'm lettering for an anthology.  Because the lettering is a kind of sort of, if it sells a ton I'll get more than a nickel paying gig for someone else, that will take first priority.  The rest of the projects I'm just bouncing from one to the other never really getting any momentum built up.

I also have been skipping out from going to the gym a lot lately.  These things are probably link.  I'm just having a hell of a time getting going with anything.  I find in the morning I end up dragging my feet right thought the gym window (that time when I can both get to the gym in time do a decent work out in and get to work in time).  Then I end up sitting in the shower way too long and getting into work just in a nick of time.  It's almost like I'm paralyzed in the tub, just not able to get myself going.  I know the root cause of that is depression, which is also most likely feeding my ADD after mid-night turning it from a cute Mogwai to a gremlin.

I also know that getting to the gym and getting 30min of cardio a few days in a row will start releasing the chemicals in the my brain to help alleviate the depression.  It just climbing the mountain has been really tough lately.  It all started after I got sick back in September.  Once I got sick it knocked me out of the gym routine.  I would go once and then something would happen and I would miss the rest of the week.  Then I would try, try again with the same results.  I need to break the cycle, somehow.  It think I will try going for a brisk walk tomorrow morning see if I can't get some cardio that way.  Plus I'll pack my gym bag tonight so it is already to go come Monday morning.  I'm also going to make the commitment to go to the gym every day next week here in a public forum.  If you follow me on the book of faces or the site of tweeting, please hold me accountable for this promise.

Despite the current difficulties I have had some good thing happen on a personal front.  They are mostly in the too early to talk about in the blog stage, but some things are breaking the Old Man's way.  It's nice.  I also have gotten some work done one some knitting projects and I have actually finished three things.

I finished and sent out the contest winners fingerless gloves.  Although due to a miscommunication I sent Beth's to her old address.  I may need to make a new set for her, which I don't really mind because I really enjoy making these gloves.  If anyone wants a pair to give as Christmas gift, to yourself or another, let me know.  I guess I'll charge $5 plus materials cost and shipping if need be.

The other thing I made is this cunning hat.  I had left over blue yarn from Lisa's gloves and I thought it would look good paired with black and white.  Turns out I was right I, it looks great.  I roughly based the design off a different hat patter in Son of Stitch and Bitch, a knitting book for making stuff for guys.  My first attempt was nice but covered my whole head.  I shrank down the number of stitches and came up with once that actually fit.

The final thing I finished back in September was the fall Mix.  Check out this post for more info on my mixes

Here's the track list for the Fall 2013 mix:

Artist	Song
The Proclaimers	I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
Peter Gabriel	Solsbury Hill
Lyle Lovett	Nobody Knows Me
Fiona Apple	Anything We Want
John Bobek	Quiver (feat. Jodie Schell)
The National	Don't Swallow the Cap
Belle and Sebastian	Expectations (Remastered)
Matt Pond PA	This Is Montreal
Prince	Raspberry Beret
Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra	Want It Back
Tegan and Sara	All You Got
Stevie Wonder	I Wish
Club Bootie	Call Me A Hole (Nine Inch Nails vs. Carly Rae Jepsen)
The Velvet Underground	Stephanie Says
Toad The Wet Sprocket	Crazy Life
Tori Amos	Space Dog
The Doubleclicks	Lasers and Feelings
The Cardigans	Drip Drop Teardrop
Young At Heart	Fake Plastic Trees
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	Time To Move On
Diana Krall	I've Got The World On A String(w\Tony Bennet)

That's all I have for now, back to lettering for the Old Man.  Hopefully the next blog will come sooner.

T.

Being sick and busy definitely slows down the blogging.

I was about half way done writing a post about Netflix and DS9 when I cane down with the cold that has been going around.  It really stopped me in my tracks.  I will try to get that post finished and up later this week. 

The other thing that has been keeping me from updating the blog is the comic book project I have been working on has really been picking up steam.  At this point I have almost all of the finish are work and the first draft of the letting has been completed (I lettered over the roughs so I can just drop it right into the final art)

Along the way I discovered that I love lettering comic books.  Due to the fact I have no natural art skills and atrocious handwriting, I’ve been doing the lettering in illustrator with free fonts from the Internet.  Even with those stumbling blocks I’ve found it a joyous experience.  Time just seems to fly by while I’m lettering.  In fact I’ve had set up a timer when I work so I know when I need to stop.  Otherwise I will spend all day working.

Besides YouTube tutorials on given techniques, I have been reading Scott McCloud’s “Make Comics” and Todd Klein’s section in “The DCComics Guide to Coloring and Lettering Comics.”  Both works have been invaluable to bringing me up to speed.  Other than that, I have learned mostly through a lot of trail and error to solve problems as they have come up.  I’m hoping once this project is done to get some work doing lettering by offering my service free on Digital Webbing.  If you know anyone who need a letter and doesn't mind someone who is still learning please let me know.  Also if you know of any good course in digital letter, I would be interested in that as well.

Here are a couple of snap shots preview, of what’s to come.

 

Till next time

T.

Thyme Traveling Orange Maple Chicken

Back when I started this blog the goal was to make a new dish every other week.  With a few exceptions I was able to meet this goal.  If you look though the back catalog of post you will find it's almost all about food.  You will also find that in almost every of one them Laura is mentioned.  Then had my accident and cooking, along with most everything else became very difficult.  After nearly a year of physical therapy, things are, while not back to normal (I'm still in a bit of constant but manageable pain), cooking is still a little difficult for me.

I'm having a little trouble getting used to cooking for just me.  I have only really cooked a few times since the breakup and when I have I have done little more than followed the recipe I have been given.  Mostly I have been just getting take out or eating quick dirty things like cereal or hot dogs cooked on the Forman.  It's not that I miss her, which I do from time to time (truth be told I have moments of missing all of my ex, all of could have beens and never wases, that just how I am) but I miss having someone to cook for.  I like having someone waiting with excitement about what I was about to create.  I like the validation of seeing one enjoy what I have made.

Yesterday was a truly shitty day at work.  Without going into too many details, everything took longer than it should and I had three separate projects that all need to be done yesterday.  Oh and did I mention that we are moving to a new building on Friday and I've barely started packing.  It was a very draining day.

The silver lining was that I did manage to find that energy to write nearly 500 words after I finished up my work for the day.  I find it easier to write in my office than at home.  Mainly because my desk at work is ergonomic, while my desk at home is designed for a Commodore 64.  That is not actually a joke; my parents bought the desk specifically for our Commodore 64.  The down side is that it was nearly 6:30 by the time I got home.

The day before was Labor Day and I had decided to try my hand at cooking, or at least making the marinade to cook later.  I had a bit of trouble sleeping the night before and end up dragging my feet for most of the day.  By the time I got around to making the marinade, there wasn't really enough time for the chicken to marinate.  I left it in the fridge overnight and had a bowl of Frosted Mini-Wheats with a side of Deep Space Nine on Netflix.  But I did feel a little spark of fun and creativity while created the marinade.  I took a Tangerine-Maple glaze as my staring off point.  From there I ripped out over half the ingredients and added in or change the amounts of twice that many.  Making a creation all my own.

Thyme Orange Maple Marinate

What you will need:

6 skinless boneless chicken thighs

4 cups of orange juice, not from concentrate

6 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 orange

1/3 cup of maple syrup

2 tablespoons of brags soy amino

½ teaspoon of poultry seasoning

¼ teaspoon of curry powder

¼ teaspoon of Hungarian hot paprika

3 bay leaves

½ tablespoon of ground black pepper

2 tablespoons of Olive Oil

A medium saucepan

A zester

A juicer/orange squiser

A large liquid measuring cup

Directions

• Zest the whole Orange and put the zest aside
• Squeeze the juice from the Orange into the measuring cup
• Add enough orange juice to the measuring cup to equal 4 cups
• Add the orange juice and oil to the saucepan
• Bring mixture to a boil
• Pull all the leaves off the Thyme and add to the mixture
• Add the Maple Syrup, Soy Amino, Bay leaves and spices to the pan
• Stir periodically and let the mixture boil down to around two cups
• Turn off heat
• Remove bay leaves and add zest
• Stir and then let mixture cool
• Add chicken and mixture to a freezer bag (or storage bag, but I find freezer bags less likely to leak) and place in the refrigerator overnight.

I come home to the chicken marinated and waiting for me in the fridge.  After the long day I had I was in no mood to do anything.  After siting for five minutes, I get up and start to make the breading for the chicken.  I get the panko crumb mixture prepared and I just run out of juice.  I say screw it and end up heating up some Wegman’s frozen chicken strips.  I pair this with a big glass of water an episode of Deep Space Nine.  By the end of the episode I'm feeling much better.  I realize I hadn't eaten anything since 11:30 that morning.   Not wanting the chicken to go to waste I proceed to gut it out and create my newest dish.  For the first time in nearly a year I have blast cooking.  I'm putting in spice by gut feeling and making notations so I can write it up for the blog.  I have rediscovered my love of cooking.  Tasting the finished product I can tell I enjoyed making it.  Like all creations, the joy in making it shows through.  You can be the most talented person in the world but if you don't like what you're creating, it will always be flawed.

In writing this up I'm happy that the food has turned out so well and that I had fun, but I still have lingering melancholically.  I still wish that I had someone to cook for, someone to share this with.  Telling my co-workers and reader about the awesome dish isn't enough.

Here is the rest of the recipe

What you will need

Olive oil

2 cups of Panko crumbs

3 table spoons of Italian seasoning

1tablespoon of thyme

3 eggs

½ teaspoon of poultry seasoning

Flour

A pie dish

A large baking pan

A large frying pan

2 mixing bows

Paper plates

Directions

• Put the eggs into a mixing bowl and beat them thoroughly
• Mix in 2 tablespoons of Italian seasoning
• Fill the pie dish with flour
• Add the Panko, Thyme, Poultry Seasoning and rest of the Italian Seasoning into the other bowl and mix together
• Spread Panko mixture out on to the baking pan
• Take each piece of marinated chicken and dredge it thought the flour then set aside on a paper plate
• Take each floured piece of chicken and dredge it though the eggs then coat with Panko crumbs, then place it on the paper plate
• Heat oil in frying pan
• Fry each piece of chicken till golden brown on each side, about 1 and half to 2 minutes per side. 

I paired the chicken with Jasmine Rice. my famous Old Man Mitchell’s Tarragon Carrots and some raw Sugar Snap Peas.

Hope you find it as tasty as I did

Summer Mix 2013

It's that time again and I've just made it under the wire.  Here is old man Mitchell's Summer Mix for 2013.   I know summer is almost over but I've been busy writing that it has taken me a little bit to pare down the mix from 134 minutes to under 120 minutes.

For those of you who are new reader let me explain what's we have here.  I don't know exactly where I stole the idea from but back in the late summer of 2001 I decided that I should make periodically make a mix of the music was really into at the time.  I had just been laid off from my co-op with Merck about three weeks before the job was meant to start (along with about 70 other co-ops, the whole Vioxx thing just happened and they were looking to cut any money they could.)  So I had a lot of time on my hand till my new co-op with Comcast was scheduled to start in November.  I spent a lot of time crafting the perfect mix.  After September it became a really great way to escape a increasing trouble world.  The mix was a great success and all my roommates wanted copies.

Once I started working again I realized while I love making mixes, I don't have time to make one every month like that, but I could work on it a little at a time over the course of three months.  Plus it would be nice to have a record of what I was into at different periods of times.  Thus the seasonal mixes were born.

I have faithful made one for nearly every season since the winter of 2002.  The process for the mix is simple for about a month I start putting songs I like and really speak to me at the time into a play list.  They also are songs that have never been on a mix before (a rule I have never knowingly broken).  Then once I have about 30 to 35 songs I start pairing them down and seeing where they fit to make smooth transitions and an enjoyable listening experience.  Another rule I use to help weed down the list is that I can only have one song from a particular artist.  I keep going removing songs and adding any new ones that are release while I'm making the mix, till I get to a list that runs around 120 minutes, the length of a CD.

Without further ado here is the 2013 summer mix.

Artist	Song
1. Cream	Tales Of Brave Ulysses
2. Tori Amos	Little Amsterdam
3. Sara Watkins	You and Me
4. Mitch & Mickey	When You're Next To Me
5. The Doubleclicks	Clever Girl
6. The National	Demons
7. Keane	With Or Without You (U2 cover)
8. R.E.M.	You're In The Air
9. Death Cab for Cutie	You Can Do Better Than Me
10. Toad The Wet Sprocket	Walk on The Ocean
11. Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra	Trout Heart Replica
12. Tom Waits	Bottom of the World
13. Claudia Brucken	Torched Song (feat. The Real Tuesday Weld)
14. Dar Williams	As Cool As I Am (Live)
15. Club Bootie	Get it on my mind
16. Bree Sharp	Everything Feels Wrong
17. The Raconteurs	Carolina Drama
18. Johnny Cash	Folsom Prison Blues
19. 8in8	The Problem With Saints
20. Diana Krall	Fly Me to the Moon

I hope you enjoy the mix.  If you need any help recreating it, let me know and I'll point you in the right direction as to where you might be able to fine a copy just laying around.  I of course do not support music piracy in any way shape of form ;-)

Till next , get out of my kitchen.

Shout down the voices

HI,

I'm sorry that it has been nearly a month since I last posted and I've been giving some thought as to why it has taken me so long to post again.  I have thought of and written several post in my head over the last month.  I also have been writing almost every day and working with my artist on the mini-comic.  I could say that I have been just too busy to write a blog.  But the more I thought about it the less true that statement became.  The truth of the matter is that I have had a bad case of "I'm not good enough."  The more I delve into the line of think the more I see how that has been a theme for my life.

I have always loved stories.  I love reading them, I love hearing them, I love watching them and I love making them up.  When I was a kid I played with action figures for way longer than most kids do because I didn't just have them have a fight, I weaved long, drawn out melodramas of love and betrayal with my toys.  I mimicked the kind of stories I was reading in Chris Clermont's run on Uncanny X-Men and Roger Zelazny Amber Chronicles.

But with action figures it was all safe, because it was all for me alone.  Writing and creating is different.  It's meant to be shared.  Other people will see what I have done and judge it.  There is elation and validation if they like it and crushing sense of defeat and worthlessness if they don't.

For me unfortunately, too often and for too long, defeat and worthlessness are my starting points.  It's been that way since I was in the first grade.  I was born with several learning disability including Dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder without Hyper Activity (I even got screwed out of the extra energy benefit.)  This makes writing well changing for me.  I can craft in my mind what I want to say but the execution is flawed.  Thanks to the way my mind works many times I will make the corrections mentally without even realizing it wrong on the page.

I was diagnosed with these learning disability in the first grade after a particularly scar incident where we were given the rather straight forward task of writing our names.  I took my red colored pencil and putting it the large lined sheet of paper, the kind with all the dotted lines to help kids tell how high the different parts of letter should be.  I took my time and with my shaky not yet developed handwriting I scrawled 'MOT' on the paper.

I was proud of myself.  I got all three letter of my name open the page and they were all inside the lines.  I even spaced it out perfect so it took up the whole page, nice and big so everyone see.  And everyone saw, when the teacher, whose name is lost to my poor memory, held it up to show the class how bad I did.  She gave it as an example of what not to do.  Then she called me stupid in front of whole class.  Even not twenty-eight years later I can still feel the sting of not just the words, but the laughter that came afterwards.  It's probably why I've never been wholly comfortable with good nature teasing.

My mom heard about it when I came home.  She and my Father did what any good parents would do and raise holy hell about what had happened.  The teacher was asked to retire.  My parents then spend a good deal of time and money (of which they had very little) and had me tested.  Once the nature of my disabilities were discover, the school district send me to an adjacent ^[1] school district which had a class for kid with problems.  Unfortunately that mostly meant kid's with behavioral and emotional problems.  I was often sent out of the class room, because I was the one who was behaving and need to get my work done.  Most of the time is a blur of emotions and fragmented memories.  Mainly I know I felt sick and like I was not good enough and embarrassed.

I still feel embarrassed anytime I make a mistake in what I have written.  This morning before I went to the gym, I saw a friend had posted a picture of themself with the sonic screwdriver the 10^th Doctor used and the caption A Sonic Screwdriver…Somebody help me.  She had been watching a ton of Doctor Who lately.  In response I took a picture (or several to get it just right) of myself with 11^th Doctor's screwdriver and wrote "I'm the Doctor and I'm here to help."  Or that what I intended to write.  What I actually wrote was "I'm the Doctor and I'm her to help."  Later that morning at work, while I waited for a system to reimage, I checked the Facebook app on my phone and saw someone had like my comment.  That's when I saw my typo.  I have felt mortified about it ever since.  I'd give my big toe, right big toe, the one with the non-mangled toenail, to have the ability to edit Facebook posts and comments.  I wish I could add the extra 'e' back into 'here.'  All day I have felt worthless for a stupid typo I made at 6 in morning before I went to the gym.

It's those kinds of feelings that have been a little louder in my head lately.  I think that is the real reason I have trouble posting often.  That and I haven’t been cooking that much lately.  Food posts are always easy because they are mostly a list of Ingredients and pictures.

I just finished Wil Wheaton's book 'Just a Geek.'  It's an excellent read and well written.  In it he talk about his blog and how he because happier with it the more he allowed himself to be personal in his writing.  Reading the book made me wonder if that is a direction I should explore with my blog, or should I just keep it as solely a record of what I make?  Please leave a comment here or on the facebook post where I linked to this blog entry.  Are these kinds of personal stories interesting?  I have a couple more rolling around my head.  What I'm thinking of doing is dedicating one day a week to write a blog post.  Hopefully now that I'm writing more I'll post more.  I'm trying my best to beat down the feeling of not being good enough.  To shout down the voice of insecurity in my head and produce more stories and writing.  Every day it's struggle.

Before I leave, now that I set the mood, I want to give a plug for my friend Johnny Destructo and his new etsy store.  He makes awesome art and posters.  There is an old movie theater near me and he designs new poster for the old horror movies they show on the first Friday night of the month.  Click here or his name to check out his store.

Thanks for visit my kitchen

T.

^{[1]  I wanted to use a different word here, but I can't spell it well enough for the spell check and it not on the list of spelling words I keep on the a sheet posted next to my computer.  I wish it was the only time I had to limit my word choice in writing this blog post.}

It Pie Time

Two weeks ago I received an email from my friend Paige that read simple "You jealous of my amazing pie making skillz?  I just made Batman and Robin Pies."  She include pictures of two Raspberry pies, One had the bat symbol cut in the top, the other had the stylized R Robin logo from the 90's Tim Drake Robin comics.  The true is I'm very jealous.  It's no secret that I love pie.  And I make a mean pumpkin pie.  In fact I get several requests for me to make one for our yearly office Christmas party.

My secret shame is that I have never made a fruit filled pie, nor have I ever made my own crust.  After talking pie with Paige (Talking Pi with Paige is my Math-Rock, Led Zeppelin cover band), I resolve to rectify this culinary oversight.

The next weekend I'm in downtown Phoenixville for the Blobfest street fair.  After checking out the amazing costumes, the cool rockabilly band and fun booths, I head down to the farmers market that sets up under the gay street bridge every Saturday.  There I'm able to pick up some tasty honey sticks, a bag of maple-glazed walnuts and most importantly some fresh blueberries.

Armed with some truly outstanding blueberries I set out to make pie for the first time.  I found some good recipes for pie and pie crust, both by Alton Brown.  As is my way, I play with the recipes a bit and blend the two together.  Here are the links to the originals.

Pie Crust

Pie Filling

Here what you need:

• Food processor
• Masher
• A few mixing bowls
• Zesting grater
• Rolling pin
• Spritz or misting squirt bottle
• Pie Pan
• Plastic Wrap
• Plastic freezer bags
• Whisk
• Aluminum foil

Here how to make the pie crust:

Ingredients:

• 12 tablespoons of butter
• 4 tablespoons of lard
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• ½ cup of ice water in the Spritz bottle

• Freeze the Lard and Butter
• Add the Flour and Salt in food processor and pulse 4 or 5 times
• Chop the Butter into small chunks
• Add to the food processor and pulse 6 to 8 times till mixture is mealy
• Chop the Lard into small chunks
• Add to the food processor and pulse 6 to 8 times
• Spritz down the mixture and pulse 5 times
• Repeat the spritz and pulse step till the mixture holds together
• Pour mixture in a Freezer bag and mush together into a ball.
• Place in Fridge for 30 min or so

Here how to make the filling:

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of blueberries
• ½ cup of sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon of salt
• 5 tablespoons of tapioca flour (or granulated tapioca as that is what I found in the store)
• 1 orange:
•             1 tablespoon of fresh squeezed OJ
•             1 teaspoon of orange zest

• Wash the berries
• Put half the berries into a small mixing bowl and mash the heck out of them
• In a medium bowl whisk together the sugar, salt and flour
• Stir in the OJ, Zest and mash
• Let it sit in the fridge for 15 min
• Fold in the rest of the berries
• Line a pie pan with the foil and then pout in the mixture then cover with foil
• Freeze the pan for 6 to 8 hours
• Once it frozen you can wrap it up in plastic and it should keep for 3 months or you can use it right way.

How to bake the pie:

Preheat the oven to 325

• Take the pie dough out of the fridge
• Coat a surface with flour to keep the dough from sticking
• I like to cover the dough with some plastic wrap to keep it from sticking to the rolling pin, but coating it with flour works for other people
• Roll the dough till it’s thin and can cover the bottom of the pan 1 and half times
• Cover the pie pan with the dough; make sure it covers the lip and cut or pull of excess
• Add the frozen filling and curl the dough in and around the top of the filling
• Roll out the remaining dough into a sheet and use a knife to cut thin strips
• Lay the strips onto the pie to form a checkerboard pattern
• Pop the pie into the oven for 1 hour and 15 min
• If you are brave you can place the pie under the broiler for a minute to give it a golden brown look, but be careful, its easy to burn your pie.

The nice thing about the filling is that you freeze it and can use it up to 3 months after you make it.  I made mine right after buying the blueberries, but didn't bake the pie for another week.

The biggest challenges I found were that I don't own a food processor and I had never bought lard.  The first time I went to store I couldn't even find it.  It was late and I wasn't feeling particularly social so I just left.  I did some research to see what I could use as a lard substitute and found that actually lard is not that bad for you.  From what I've gather it's better for you than vegetable shorting and most than likely better than butter.  My research was a little on the cursory side.  Eventually, I found lard in the butter section and baked the pie this past Sunday morning.

I did have a little bit of a goof and I attempted to brown the top of the pie with the broiler.  I left it in about 45 sec too long and brought the top to the edge of burning.

That afternoon I had some friends over to play some Arkham Horror.  To celebrate our defeating the attempts to awaken a great old one we indulged in some pie for lunch.  The pie was a big hit.  The burnt sections didn't even taste burnt and the filling did justice to the quality of blueberries I used.  I was especially proud of how the crust came out.  It was flaky and delicious.  Between the four of us we made short work of the pie.

I want to thank Paige for inspiring my pie-making endeavor. 

It was damn good pie.

T.

Making Thoughts and Unfinished Projects

I know I have been a bit quite on the Blog front.  It mainly has been due to the fact that all the things I'm making have been a little more long term in scope and there really isn't anything to talk about.  Also there are things in the works that I collaborating on and that I'm waiting on other so I can start my bit.

So today I want to share some videos and thoughts with all three of you who read this silly little blog of mine.  A friend of mine posted the video for Nothing to Prove by The Double Clicks on the book of faces.  It's a wonderful song that I like more and more each time I listened to it.  The Double Clicks are a band that I had heard of but hadn't listened to until today, but I have quickly become a fan.  Here is the video, please watch and listen, then meet me back here to discuss.

Hi, welcome back.  Wasn't that great, now, let's talk about this whole ridiculous notion of the Fake Nerd Girl.  

NOTE: I'm going tor try to be articulate and thoughtful, but because most of my friends are girls and most of those girls are nerds, this topic brings up a lot of emotions and I worry i will not be able to covey what I mean as well as I would like.  Plus I edited this post late at night, please be kind when I fail.

The idea that you like something just because you have an innie or an outie or variation there of between your legs is ridiculous.  We have seen time and time again that just because you fall into one group or another doesn't mean you have to like or behave one way or another.  Think about all the people you know and the things they like, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that each of them likes at least one thing that does not fit the stereo type of a group they could be classified in.  I have ton of examples in my own life; I have a black friend who is big Steely Dan fan.  I have a gay friend who is really into Baseball.  I know straight guys who love musical theater.  I have a Christian friend you can't get enough D&D.  and if I'm the example take your pick, I'm a straight nerdy white guy, who love sports, knitting, gay themed cinema, cooking, Sci-fi, D&D, westerns, cooking, crafts, books, theater, gardening, blow'em up action films, small indie movies and documentary to name a few.  Life is so full of wonderful and amazing things why should anyone let their interests be limited by anything as arbitrary as gender.

This leads me to ask where the idea and the hate for the "Fake Nerd Girl." comes from.  Thinking about it and using my vast knowledge of anecdotal evidence, I see two reasons.  One is the idea of nerd as cool.  The second and more disturbing cause is the trend of systematic marginalization of women in western culture since, well the start of western culture.

The Idea of Nerd as Cool:

I'm not sure when this started or how long it will last but a few years back, "Nerd Culture" started to gain a foot hold into mainstream culture.  Suddenly those things that were stereotypically liked by nerds and geeks, was being to be marketed to everyone.  San Diego Comic Con was the hip place to take you film.  Non-Genre actors and "Reality TV Stars" started showing up a Wizard world.  Everyone and their mother (and my mother) loved the Avengers.  Now, that thing that made you special, that thing you loved, well the kid who bullied you in middle school they are now all about it too.  And there even a TV shows about your culture (where secretly nerds are butt of every bad joke, but whatever at least we're not being ignored, right) and your Grandmother loves it.  I could see how that would make someone who has felt an outcast because they love the things they love, feel betrayed.  I can also see how at the same time they could see this as their ticket to be part of the In crowd.  However for there to be an In crowd, someone needs to be on the outside, someone needs to be marginalized.

The systematic marginalization of women in western culture:

OK, so for this I have a bit of evidence.  Go take a look at the role of women in western society (primarily american society because that it is what I can speak to) over say the last 200 to 500 years.  Go on, I'll be right here waiting for you.  

You're back, great.  Yeah it messed up.  Seriously, the way we have treated women is horrific and I for one, as a member of western society, am ashamed.  And speaking, well just for me, I'm sorry women been given a raw deal.

With the history in mind, one can see why when it came time for guys, for whom it was marginally more acceptable to be into geeky things, to exclude someone, they picked women.  It is a sad and shameful part of our culture.  It is a big part of why I try to create comics and write story feature strong realistic women, because I interested and I think makes for completing stories.  Also I want the intend side effect of pushing us towards a culture that is more inclusive and less limiting to everyone. When I was in college I live with five of the most extraordinary women.  They are smart and funny and wonderful and just as capable as I have ever been, in a lot of ways more capable.  They became Doctors and Business Woman, computer scientist and can do anything they put their minds to.  They are full of the limitless human potential that we all posses and should never be hindered by the expectation that society can place on gender roles.  its the best and most important thing I learned in college. It kills me inside anytime I see someone try to limit my female friends or on the rare occasions that I see them limit themselves based on gender. 

And by labeling them a fake geek  these jerks totally missed the point of being a geek.  A point that Wil Wheaton made so well, that I'm just going to post it here:

" being a nerd is not about what you love; it’s about how you love it."

See we are all Geeks, and if we are all Geeks then there can't be Fake Geeks, be they girls or boys.

If someone like the thing you like, that is awesome, because it mean that someone else to talk to about the thing you like.  And if you think someone is faking liking something because they think that it is the cool thing to like, then they must be very insecure and lonely, to try so hard to fit in.  As Geeks and Nerds and Humans, I think we all know what it's like to be insecure and lonely.  How scary it is to feel like we don't fit in, like we don't belong.  The last thing that person needs is to be put down, you should lift them up.  You think they don't really care about that thing you love, then talk about how awesome it is and why you love it.  If they were faking before, they won't be afterwards and they will find a place where they can say "hey I fit in now," because we all love this thing.

Finally let's get the idea of a booth babe out of the way.  A booth babe is someone, a model, actor or actress, who has been hire to drive traffic to a booth at a con.  Traditionally they are women, but not exclusively so.  They are sales people and what they are selling is the booth.  Whether or not they like or know about the things in the booth isn't really important, they are there to drive you to the booth and that's their job.  I've worked sales, and I've not always known or like they stuff I was selling.  When I was selling mops at the mall, no one would think to call me a fake house keeper because I wasn't into mops.  It should be the same at a con.  Besides, if the person is not into whatever the con is about at the start of the show, they just might be into it by the end of the con, because the stuff at the con is awesome or is at least is awesome to you because you're at the con and why would you go if you didn't think it was awesome.  But you shouldn't judge everyone by the standard of someone working at a con.  (This part of my argument is a little ramblely and I don't think I have really gotten across my point, but whatever.)

Now that we have gotten the idea of booth babe out of the way, I just want to say girls are great and capable and awesome.  Look they can, with just one extra ingredient, make a brand new person in just nine months.  That is totally bad ass.  Besides that they can do anything a guy can do and like anything a guy can like.  Just like I can like anything a girl can like and do anything a girl can do (beside, you know, incubating a new human inside me.)

I want to leave you with this quote form a Penny Arcade article written by Ben Kuchera "Listen, we get about 80 years on this planet, at best. Much of that time is painful. The night is dark, and full of terrors. If you find something that makes you happy, and it doesn't hurt you or others,that is a great thing."

Till next time, everyone is welcome in my kitchen.

T.