Hungry Ghost's Daily Diet (TM)

Carpe diem - such a good philosophy.

"why, it's so seductively simple!" - pop quiz - who said this and why?

So that's what I'm going to do. Make full use of every moment I have. Not going to go into the reasons why this whole day-seizure thing has come up, but suffice to say, not going to let that bus hit me unawares.

So much to tell, so much to say, but alas, I'm under an embargo, so can't speak of certain people - you know who you are. So cruel to tell me such things, then put an embargo on me. Feh. Thus, I shall have to talk about the minutiae of my little, much put-upon life. In no particular order of appearance.

Counter space! I want more! MORE! I've always wanted more counter space. I'm getting v. tired of running out of space when I'm in the kitchen. V. frustrating.

Making muffins! The cool and chill air outside my windows inspired me to make more of Nigella's pear-ginger muffins. Except! I didn't have those little paper cuppy thingies that go into muffin tins! Oh my! What to do?! What to do?! Well. I poured the batter into a glass dish instead and all went v. well. I now have ginger-pear cake! With cheese! 3 year old Gouda!

Dropping 3.5L bottles of Extra-virgin oil! Be grateful, very grateful that when you drop bottles of this size, neck first, and with the top off, that the bottle is made of plastic (so useful, so pliable), and that there was only a little bit left. So fortunate. My heart plunged the depths of despondency when the bottle slipped out of my hands, but only a few drops managed to leap out. Disaster averted!

Disappointment!Last Sunday at the Fall Classic - so dismaying. Didn't get the time I wanted. Quite the contrary actually - so possibly a mixed blessing that I also forgot to put my timing chip on. So my time isn't in the public record! Although I suppose it will say that I was DNF runner. Damn! However, a few witnesses were there to see me run - I've only ever not finished a race once, and that was years ago - very traumatic it was too. However, kudos to Mr. Bony Fingers - who twinkled away with his twitchy legs far in advance.

Post-mortem and Rationalization!So why did I not do better at the race?! I put it all down to the extra 5lbs suddenly glued to me since October - MB's dastardly machinations worked! He fed me those pumpkin biscuits! I became heavier! And ran slower! It's a conspiracy! I feel ill-done by!

Yah. I think that'll be a fine excuse. La la la, I can't hear you^TM

Swimming!This week, I decided not to run to punish my legs. Or something like that. Instead, I went swimming instead. Yesh. V. pleased with self, am getting somewhere with the effort, feels a bit easier. Only thing is, swimming is so wet. Feh^TM. And I smell of chlorine. Like I've been bleached. And I get so hungry after too. Last night, went again, and came out with visions of deep-fried sushi rolls dancing before me. But heeded advice received earlier "If you're hungry, EAT! But not deep-fried! You'll regret it!" and went home to eat Kale instead. Hmmmmmm! Deep-fried Kale so nutritious, so yyyyyyummmmmmy!

Liberty Yoghurt! So decadent! They've come out with a traditional yoghurt made of full-cream milk and fortified with more cream. So delicious! So rich! So like cream! But it's yoghurt! So must be good for you - full of probiotics or whatchermacallit! Tiny teaspoons at a time though or else, they gall bladder gives up in a panic.

From 081121

Blooming orchids! Yesh - currently have 2 in full-bloom, and 4 more with flower spikes! With luck, this will mean that I have flowers around me all the way to March! So lovely! Unfortunately though three plants have got a serious infestation of mealy-bugs. So yucky! Think of horrible white, sticky balls of what looks like mould on the plants - that are pregnant! And move! Only thing to do is to douse them in alcohol to pickle them. Must. Get. Plant Soap. And gently bathe the infected plants to eradicate and drown withour remorse the fecking mealy-bugs.

Work! Gosh! So varied this week! So many scans and images to do! But all going fairly well, although cannot understand how it is that idiot person employed by the company who sold us the scammer who came out to upgrade the equipment did such a piss-poor job that we have to redo everything. Grrrrr. Must. Best. Wish. But v. difficult. Mind is all a-whirl at the moment with various projects that need to be completed! Whirl, whirl, whirl. Like a dervish. Yesh. But Dextrans - they worked! And felt two teeny little bumps which may be the first step in new project! Not to mention too have, made great strides in segmenting CT images! So fascinating!

Bond! James! Lovely Daniel Craig. Absolutely lovely. Haven't seen Quantum of Solace...YET. But will, it's a smash-hit even if the critics think that Bond, James Bond, is a bit dour. Well who wouldn't be dour after seeing someone you loved killed by nasty, nasty, nasty people. After all, QoS picks up two hours after the final scene of Casion Royale, and poor Mr. Craig, has barely had time to assimilate (good word eh? eh? eh?^TM the tragic events just gone by before having to deal with more bad, bad, bad people who want to destabilize the world. In any case, I shall have to go see QoS to support Mr. Craig's dourness.



Lazing around Today! A break from all manner of activity except for those which resemble being a slug. Desultory cleaning (one good thing about not having counters - easy to clean), then a walk in the winter sunshine - so rare, so warming, so cheering - before heading for a cuppa somewhere not particularly quiet to tackle the crossword puzzle. Must. Keep. Mind. Mentally Active! So good for staving off nasty mental degenerative diseases. Lor, but I'm quite tired today. This has been an exhausting week mentally and physically. The rains and chill winds don't help either. They make me bow over when out walking, and then I get all tense and use up precious energy that should be going to keep me warm.

Unanswered e-mails! Sheesh. Oh dear. I owe people some e-mails, but then others also owe me e-mails. Damn. SO unequitable. However, I shall deal with all these messages in due time. Probably Monday when I have a moment to spare between the normalization file and transformation matrix. One e-mail I'm thinking in particular originated from DWE wherein....

"ML & I [DWE] will be in Seattle on Sunday (I’m there now). Bummer. Next time? Or how dinner one day next week? ..."

The message was really meant for MB, but I was also a recipient, and naturally, I focused on the last sentence. Let me parse it for you in case it's not clear: Dinner Next Week.

So I replied, but thus far have not received a reply. Sigh. More to the point, I haven't received an invitation yet!

"Diiiiinnnnerrrrr?!!! {pops delicate and fragile ocelot like head and neck up from the safety of the surrounding pampas grass}

Did someone say Dinnnnnerrr?!

Si, si. Che faro - I'm shameless when it comes to cadging free food from two exceptionally good-looking, wonderfully-good-natured, positively-hirsute, exfoliated-to-the-bone, and moisturized-a-la-Christine-Brinkley-before-Billy-Joel, and put-Jamie-Oliver-and-Nigella-Lawson-(I'm not saying who is who)-to-shame-chefs."

And on that note, I shall go prepare my own dinner.