Plate Full of Words - Bulgogi and Green Plum

After excessive pressure and cattle prodding, I'll finally start blogging about the food I eat. Didn't want to create a whole new blog, so I'll just insert food installments under this blog and call them Plate Full of Words (Thanks Missy for the title suggestions). Enjoy. If you're curious to hear my opinion on a food I've tried feel free to comment any questions or requests. Also feel free to give some recommendations! 

So I finally tried Bulgogi, or Korean style marinated chicken/beef/pork. I was lucky enough to taste the chicken version. I didn't cook it, and it was a tad bit burnt thanks to the power behind George Foreman, but it was still tasty. Apparently it was supposed to be hot, but my taste buds are still number after completing the Armagedon XXX challenge (click here to view the video). Overall I'd eat it twice, burnt and all.

Also had the priveledge of trying a Green Plum. Very similar to it's purple counterpart, but a bit sweeter in my opinion. Also think it was a bit juicer, and overall more satisfying, cause it was bigger (you know me and how much I like to eat). A definite recommendation.

Well that's it for this edition. Feel free to ask any questions! And as always, thanks for listening with your eyes.

The hunt

You know that moment when everything you've worked for in life culminates into one point? Well that's not where I am but I'm close! That point would be when a novel of mine is picked up by a publisher. But until then, I have this. 

Everyone that knows me knows I live to write another day, and it's always been a dream of mine to attain a creative writing job. My career blood hounds got to sniffing and caught the scent of an amazing opportunity. Rifle in hand, I followed the hounds until I came to the application. Applying and sending in my resume, I thumbed back the hammer. They accepted my resume and put me through to the second round of their application process and I looked through the scope. After passing a though-provoking aptitude and personality test, I acquired the target in my sights. 

Now I'm at the moment of truth. Target locked in my scope. Gun loaded. Finger ready. They asked for writing samples and everything falls on if the writing is strong enough. If they like the samples (and are willing to wait for me to relocate), then I shoot. If they don't, my hand catches a severe case of frost bite and falls off, leaving me wondering what could have been if I had only brought gloves. Pray for a warm day! No frost bite!

Onward and Upward

I tend to only post to here during times of change, and following that trend, here I am again.

If you know me you know I've been living in VA with a buddy from AmeriCorps since January. Welp it's time to move again. Where am I headed? To New York City! Just kidding. Maybe one day, but for now i'm heading back to good ol mom's house. Despite not having any money, I'm not moving home because I can't afford living on my own anymore. Nope, this time it's because of a disagreement with the landlord (Petty right).

So unable to find affordable and respectable VA housing, here I come MD. But wait! Life's not perfect! Not only did I switch all of my information over to VA, but now I have VA tags on my car. Time for the yummy good fun of trying to switch everything back. Of course the real heaps of joy won't get dumped onto my face until tax season swings around again. Since I started the year in MD, my first month or so was for MD taxes. But then I switched to VA, and now I'm going back to MD (Anybody who knows more than nothing about taxes feel free to swoop in for the save). Talk about a headache.

In other news, you may also be aware that I'm a fitness instructor at the moment. As much as I love getting people all sweaty just by speaking, it's time for a change. I'm an English Major and by golly it's time I get back to my major roots. I still don't want a boring job, but I still haven't managed to support myself via my creative writing so it may be what I'll have to get. I'm not making the switch because I'm suffering an ego drain, but Grad School is back in my sights. If I plan to get in, I need people to write letters of recommendation. I can't have a bunch of clients give testimonials about how good of a trainer I am, because that has absolutely everything to do with training, and nothing to do with writing. I need some professional folk to voice if I'm competent in the writing industry.

So here's to the start of another journey. Applying for writing/editing jobs, still pushing to get a book published, and hoping my sister's boyfriend doesn't arrive before I leave.

On your mark, get set, and boom goes the dynamite. Well not yet maybe, but that's what I'll say when something I plan actually falls into place. So until then, light the fuse and squint the eyes in preparation for future boom goes thee dynamite.

As always, thanks for listening with your eyes.

Another Story Accepted for Publication!

Woot Woot! Just when I thought this day couldn't get any better. Received my rebate check from school, got my Amazon gift card in the mail, had some good food, and got another short story accepted for publication! My short story, "Fire Fighter" was accepted for publication in the Spring 2012 issue of the Collegiate Scholar. It's an online publication, and I should have a few links up in a little bit. If you want to read the story before then, just let me know and I'll shoot it over to you in an email! *Doing happy dance with a bowl of ice cream*

Finally

Haven't gotten anything accepted for publication since this past December, and it was also my first paid acceptance. They finally cut the check and deposited 250 dollars into my bank account. It's not much money, but it's not bad for an eight page story. To God be all the glory! Spring break is over, but it gave me a taste of what's to come for May. I still hate these classes, but there's just a month left. In lieu of my impending return to classes, I decided to do some exploring. Went to the NRA National Firearms Museum. Saw some pretty cool guns but was sad they didn't have a penny machine. Oh well, definitely going to do a bunch more exploring starting in May. Woot for living life.

Money Money Money

649 million dollars! That's more cheddar than all the cows in Wisconsin could produce, more dough than all the bakeries in Boston could bake, more cabbage than whatever place grows cabbage could grow! If you haven't heard, that's what the lotto has gone up to so far, and I can't say I haven't been tempted to buy a ticket. It's as if the fact that there's so much money up for grabs means my chances will improve. I never even considered the lotto before it got so high, so why now? Greed? Hunger? All of the foods associated with money, can you really be mad at me? Everyone says money wouldn't change them if they ever made it, but how truthful is that statement. 90 percent of Americans live off of what they make, and not what they need. The statistic might not be right, but think about that. A person that makes 100,000 a year buys a house that's bigger, clothes that are nicer, and food that's "healthier". But if you asked them for 20 bucks they'd probably say they've got bills to pay, children to feed, or in so many words "I can't afford to share right now". An interesting concept when you really stop and think. Ask a guy that makes 30,000 a year and a guy that makes 100, and they'll probably say the same thing. They probably feel like they're in the same situation financially. Never can have enough money, right? So, just in case someone reading this hit's it big, or is already making a pretty comfortable living, stop and think about how you're using your money. Do you need an apartment that big when they're still children dying from hunger? Change starts with you, and it only takes a little to make a huge impact (haha get it, spare some change to make some change...yeah I know that wasn't worth saying...so).

Snacks for Thought

A good friend of mine called me the other day and it got me thinking. They were torn up over an issue they were having with their boyfriend. As important as the issue was for them, this isn't a gossip blog, so just forget I even mentioned that. The important point here is that relationships are a critical part of human life. How many of us are defined by the relationships we hold (or can't hold)? If you take the time to think, you'll probably realize that nearly everything about us is somehow glued to a relationship with other people. Whether it's family, friend, or romantic, our happy balloons seem to be inflated when relationships progress in a positive direction.

But most people know that, or at least have some level of understanding when it relates to relationships and happy balloons. But is this notion of happiness being tied into other people an okay thing? Disregard the difference between joy and happiness when thinking for this blog. Also keep in mind that I'm a single 24 year-old male, so I'm referring to people in a similar division. That means if you're married, or 3 years old, or both, then what I say may not apply to you. Allowing the height of our happy balloons to rise or fall depending on how outside relationships are going may or may not be an okay thing, but I propose a deeper look.

What I really took away from the conversation with my friend is stress. Stress equates to an excited porcupine that's trying it's hardest to show your happy balloon how special it's quills feel. Think about the last issue you had with a relationship, and how unhappy it made you feel, and then think about why? Was it something you did wrong? Something they did wrong? Either way, how much control did you have over the situation? I'd bet my eleventh toe that there came a point when you couldn't do anything more about the situation, but it still made you sad. Humans feel sad, it's understandable. That's why God created a guy to think of ice cream and hot dogs. But how sad should you be feeling? Unless you enjoy porcupines, you shouldn't be feeling very sad for very long. I'm sure you already did, but when a relationship goes sour, do everything you can to mend the situation (as appropriate), and then stop. Stop does not mean go in most languages, but this notion of stopping will probably be the hardest thing you have to do. By stop I mean stop stressing. Once you do all that you can do (which does not include more stressing), then that's exactly what it says. You can't do anymore, so by stressing all you are accomplishing is creating pain for yourself.

Of course it's easier said than done, but do it. Do what you can, eat a hot dog dipped in ice cream, breath some air into a balloon, and let the situation go. The rest is up to the other person, but if they are worth being hurt over, than they will be there no matter what. That means if they aren't worth being hurt over they'll leave...so let them go because they aren't worth it.