Cooking

Three Gratitudes:
-Seeing Natalie this weekend
-That I took the time to read in bed this morning before work
-That my credit card bills for this month (next month is another story) weren't as bad as I feared

Positive Experience:
It's been tough the last few days at work, and outside of work I've been pretty wiped and...stagnant. It seems almost silly that the most positive thing I have to write about is cooking dinner, but whatever. Last night, instead of soup or snacking all night, I cooked chicken kebabs and made yellow rice. Simple and delicious. I marinated the chicken in oil, vinegear, soy sauce, and some spices. I topped it off with Sazon Goya, which gives meat a really awesome red color.

I had a long day yesterday, not even getting home until after 8, so it was 11 by the time the chicken had marinated and I could actually cook it. Dinner was basically the end of my day, and it was pretty great. I finished off the night with a couple glasses of Evan and called it a night. Slept like a rock and didn't worry about tomorrow (today).

Party

Three Gratitudes:
-Friday...thank god its Friday.
-That my boss will be out half the week again next week
-That I have some really good friends at work for when things are insane.


Positive Experience:
We had a really nice party last night for the 10th anniversary of Adult Swim. Almost everyone from my team was there, and I met a few people from on-air who I had only seen around but never spoken to. The appetizers were fancy and fantastic, and there was an open bar (beer, liquor, whateva) which they kept open for us several hours after it was supposed to end.


The bar was great too, with these awesome wooden bar-tops and wood stools, chairs and patio furniture. It had a great aged-industrial vibe, with lots of wood and metal combinations. And it was lit with these great old-school light bulbs with long filaments.


I was there from 6:30 to 11:30, and enjoyed talking with all my friends, but also had a great conversation with Branden about movie ideas, and he gave me some excellent advice. I wish we could get together at the company's expense like that every week...we'd probably be having a lot more fun :)

Deus Ex

Three Gratitudes:
-That Natalie has chosen what to declare
-That I think I've accepted that I can't control where we end up next year, and that's OK
-That I'll see her this weekend and I have Tuesday off


Positive Experience:
OK so this one is about video games, which is lame, but I don't care. I got stuck on Sunday in DE:HR at the first boss fight. Horrible, horrible design. I should write it up on tuckerrr but I probably won't have time, and a million other people have already. Anyway I'm playing a stealthy character on hardest difficulty, and basically the fight can't be won.


To finally get past it I backtracked, grabbed a combat rifle and as much ammo as I could carry, and went in guns blazing. It only took four or five tries after that. It was really satisfying to beat him because despite feeling like the difficulty was artificial and unnatural for the game's design, I got past it without compromising my own game by turning down the difficulty or buying upgrades that didn't match my character. Take that designers!

Coffee Table

Three Gratitudes:

-That my girlfriend's sisters are coming up with me to visit her this weekend.

-I'm grateful that I have a roommate who shares my love of making things

-That I got to talk to Natalie during the day at work yesterday, and remember that she's more important than my job

Positive Experience: 

After work yesterday I came home to find that Matt had already bought a 4x8 3/4" pine 5 ply sheet, and wood stain. We drove downtown to the warehouse where habitat prefabs the houses and spent 3 hours working on what will become out coffee table. We cut 6-ish feet of ply into 2x1.5x24" strips, and then edge glued them together. We only put together one section, about a third of the table top, but it already looks wonderful, with vibrant stripes and thick solid weight to it. We'll keep working on it throughout the week, and maybe have it done early next week.

I left feeling accomplished, tired, and skilled. We definitely deserved the beer we celebrated with.

Kayaking

Three Gratitudes:
-Pirate, my cat
-A nice, comfortable, clean, new-feeling, affordable apartment
-That I found time to run this morning, and came to work feeling fresh and wide awake


Positive experience:
Yesterday I visited my friends Amanda and Chris, who live on the Chattahoochee out in Marietta. I went kayaking while they canoed together on the river. Before we left we dropped Chris's car off a couple miles downstream, then put in right behind their apartment.


I used a very short kayak designed for white water rafting and immediately felt out of my comfort zone. It was very tippy, and inclined to turn backwards. Compared to the Savannah where I usually kayak, the water felt very fast moving. While the rapids were tame, they felt very intense and I constantly felt like I was about to tip.


At the time I was very tense, breathing hard, heartbeat going, and I was hot in my helmet under the sun. But it was also a stunning day and the water was cool and the air smelled sweet and riding the rapids was a rush. I made it down without drowning, and when I got out at the other end I had a wonderful feeling of satisfaction that lasted the rest of the night. I was trying to remember when I had done something that made me that uncomfortable...it's been awhile. The experience reminded me that it's not always wise to avoid doing something that makes you nervous. Sometimes the payoff of getting out of your comfort zone far outweighs avoiding the situation and not facing you anxiety. It was a great day.