The Omnivorous Geek

Cannot decide if I love or hate the new Glee character.

( Glee, you so weird )

( Raising Hope )

( Criminal Minds )

( Supernatural )

( Hawaii Five-0 )

( real life, keratoconus, bad eye days )

And yeah. That's my life in the past little while.

I was going to write about how bad it feels to be looked down on as white trash at your cousin's wedding by your cousin's future in-laws, but screw that. I have pudding again and it is GLORIOUS.

Ever since I started changing my diet to accommodate my hypoglycemia, one of my highest priorities has been figuring out how to have healthy sweets. I have always been a big fan of pudding, and this has never been a secret. In my first blog, on xanga, I listed making pudding in my expertise. Both my YouTube account and my Twitter account include "consumer of pudding" in my self-description. Mmm, pudding. I love it. I love it so much. You really can't overstate just how much I love pudding. It would be very difficult.

Now, you can make sugar-free, flour-free pudding. I've done it. I've done stirred puddings and custards, with and without cornstarch; you can use xanthan gum or guar gum instead, though the texture does leave something to be desired. I've made pies with instant sugar-free mixes, even though they always contain aspartame, which I hate and which hates me. (Aspartame + me = headaches, tummy aches, unhappiness.) It's time-consuming, though, and then you have to wait for it to cool, and it's a hassle, and I don't eat it all and it goes bad, etc.

So then someone in my family bought these single-serving sugar-free Swiss Miss puddings. They were tasty, but they had sucralose (Splenda) which I'm also sensitive to. So I only ate, like, three of those. Oh, shut up. Like I could stay away from pudding. Even pudding that I know will give me headaches. But then. BUT THEN.

Jell-O. Apparently there have been great strides in the science of sugar-free pudding recently, and Jell-O has found the perfect formula to suit this particular hypoglycemic pudding lover. NNNNGH, JELL-O. I LOVE YOU SO.

Their main sweetener is xylitol, which doesn't bother me. It does have some sucralose, but only in trace amounts, so eating one or two a day after a meal seems to be fine. THEIR FLAVORS ARE SO YUMMY. Omg. Omg, you guys. Jell-O sugar-free Boston Cream Pie pudding snacks. I DARE YOU NOT TO LIKE IT.



So gooood.

So I've been buying a lot of pudding. I take them in my lunches to work and they are a highlight of my day. But my family. They like them too. They eat them.

WITHOUT PERMISSION.

Monday, right. On my way back from playing RPG with my friends (we did Star Wars Saga Edition that night, Josh DMed, I played a Jedi named Naeji Dwill, it was awesome), I stopped at Wal-Mart. I bought two six-packs of pudding. One of them was Boston Cream Pie, which I hadn't tried before. I ate one before going to bed and it was

Uh. Maze. Ing.

The next morning I got up to pack my lunch, and only two were left. TWO. So I hid one and took the other.

LE GASP. MY FAMILY HAS ALSO DISCOOVERED TEH SECRET OF TEH PUDDING.

Dash it all.

This summer has been particularly strange for my family, because most of my siblings are all but grown up, and yet we live at home. Five out of eight people in this house have day jobs, which means five lunches being packed, five people tired in the evening and unwilling to do chores, etc., etc. Five people competing for my puddings.

Those puddings are MINE.

So today. Again, I stopped at Wal-Mart on the way back from playing geeky games (Arkham Horror this time, and I swear some day we will finish a game). I bought four six-packs of pudding. They are in the bottom crisper drawer of the fridge. I took a piece of paper and wrote on it. I laid it carefully over the top of the puddings in the drawer, so you cannot help but see it, if perchance you open the drawer and reach in with the intention of taking my puddings away.

These belong to Laura.

Mom and Dad may have them for free.

Everyone else, 50¢ each.

This is more than fair--less than they cost me.

It felt ever so slightly passive-aggressive. But our schedules are so different that I hardly ever see some of my family, and I want them all to know.

THE PUDDING IS MINE.

...

I just hope it works.

I am up late burning CDs to make presents for my siblings' Sunday School teachers. Because my mom asked me to. She wanted to give them all a copy of Three Wise Men and a Baby, but she went to the website to order some and they don't sell physical copies anymore, just downloads. So here I am, burning discs. I am about halfway through. (There are a lot of Sunday School teachers.) She realized all of sudden tonight that if we don't give them their gifts tomorrow, they won't get them before Christmas. She woke me up from my nap and everything. I love my mom, though, so I don't mind doing it. I find her glee over this kids' album kind of adorable, actually.

Remember I offered it last year? Here it is again. Three Wise Men and a Baby. It's a great album and I'd love all my friends to have a copy.

Sample Lyrics:

We're traveling from nation unto nation
We're following the path of yonder star
And one day we will reach our destination
(It'd go more quickly if we had a car.) (Binky!) (Sorry!)
Our trek has led through the scorching desert
Where mirages make us disbelieve our eyes
And the sun beats down so hard it makes your head hurt
It makes you wonder why they call us wise

We are the three wise men
As we travel 'cross the desert sand we sing
I'm Gaspar! I'm Melchior! I'm Binky!
Three wise men bearing presents for the king

I've been very busy lately. Big project at work they suddenly need me for, so my hours went from about ten hours a week to more like thirty, which is a big change and kind of exhausting, even though I like having money to buy Christmas presents. And then in the evenings I've been baking cookies and shopping and making other stuff. I'm even working on a gift for my flisties, so keep your eye out for that.

Earlier this evening my church did caroling, but I was so tired from working this morning and then meeting my RPG friends this afternoon that I stayed home and napped, even though I love caroling. There's always next year, I guess, but I'm sorry I missed it. Really needed the nap though. And then later I watched the Adipose episode of Doctor Who with dickensgirl, so that was awesome. We agree that Donna is our favorite and always will be.

Oh, hey! Remember when I was going to sing you songs from my cell phone, but I never finished some of the requests? I used the tag "maychorian sings for your amusement"? Ask for a Christmas carol here, and I will try to post it by Christmas. This is not the promised pressie, just something silly.

♥ you all!

I hope all of my flisties had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Mine was strangely eventful. First I got woken up at 6:45 because the basement was flooded with water from a backed-up pipe. (Curse these Midwest storms.) I had been up till 12:45 cooking and stuff, so not a great start to the day. Dad went out to get a sump pump while the rest of us hauled buckets of gross smelly water up the steps and out the door to dump in the yard, picked up wet boxes and put them on tables, and threw away lots of soaked papers and stuff that had been on the floor. It was pretty bad, and it really freaked out my poor Murphy cat, who wanted to leave my room but couldn't because THERE WAS FREAKING SMELLY WATER EVERYWHERE OMG. (I could see the thoughts going through his head, poor dear.) Later we got it mostly cleaned up, but there was still a puddle near the drain, and somehow Murphy contrived to dip his tail in it and then wandered around the basement crying in most piteous distress because HE COULDN'T LICK IT OMG. Eventually I rescued him and smeared some coconut oil on his tail to hide the smell and give him something more palatable to lick. My poor cat.

We also had relatives over in the afternoon and evening for a meal. It was smaller than most gatherings of that side of the family, but still filled our already full house to overflowing. Still, it was good times. And then the lights went out around 7:00. Like, really. CURSE THESE MIDWEST STORMS. We had plenty of candles and propane lanterns and stuff, and it was kind of fun, but still annoying. I found it sadly hilarious that even with the lights out, two people were sitting on the couch playing games on laptop computers, and other people were using their cellphones. (The rest of us played awesome low-tech BOARD GAMES and CARD GAMES.) Still, those cell phones sure come in handy as flashlights. When the lights first went off, my brothers and cousin came up the stairs from the then pitch-dark basement, all lighting their way with the blue lights of their phones. Ah, modern times.

Also, today I am sick. I woke up yesterday with a sore throat and headache, not at all helped by the flooded basement and horrible smells, and today I seem to have a full-on cold. I also ate things I shouldn't have during the meal, like store-bought bread and sugar-cured ham, and I have a feeling I'm going to pay for it. I did make me-safe Jello salad with xylitol and tofu-pumpkin pie with whole wheat crust and real whipped cream, though, so in a way I got to have my cake and eat it too.

So that was yesterday. And now my family needs me to help make cookies for serving lunch this Sunday, and I am so sick. :(

Does anyone know what happened to haruslex? I was very sad to see her journal deleted.

I'm sorry, you guys. I really need to do a proper thank you post for all the wonderful birthday things that have happened to me. There are amazing new ficlets posted on my birthday meme that I need to read and reply to, and I need to update the master list, and tell you about what I did last night because it was awesome, but.

Our internet here at home is being infuriatingly slow. Also. I have a new kitten.

His name is Murphy and he is tiny and clingy and as I type this he is lounging over my shoulder purring his heart out.

Apparently telling my parents multiple times that I really can't think of anything I want for my birthday makes them go "kitten" somehow. Whoda thunk.

So yeah. There will be pictures and posts later.

My birthday is next Monday. I am tempted to do like roque_clasique and make a commentfic meme in my own honor. Hmm. Maybe I'll just list some prompts for anyone who feels like making me a present. I'm in a self-indulgent mood.

Not really looking forward to it IRL. I miss being a little kid when every birthday was wonderful and the days were counted down from weeks ahead of time. Now I'm just like, "What? Oh, it's already in the twenties of June. Birthday coming, what ho." I'll be twenty-seven.

I would sort of like to take the day off and try to cook something with those wonderfully fragrant vanilla bean pods I found. Mmm. They smell so good. I ♥ vanilla. Other than that, I couldn't think of anything to tell my dad when he asked what I wanted for my birthday. I know I can't have what I really want (Bartleby and Leo back from the dead, or at the very least replacement rodents), so...yeah. I'm pathetic enough that I bought a couple of Zhu Zhu pets and cuddled them last night while watching Netflix.

At least Taffy is more willing to cuddle with me now that I don't smell of rats anymore. She's sleeping on my bed again. Which means, yay, getting smothered by cat fur sometimes. She's still a cranky old thing who doesn't like to be petted. I'm glad she's comfortable with me, though.

Being in a family of eight children does take some of the shine off birthdays, I think. We used to make more of a big deal of them than we do now. Now most of the kids are teenagers or older, so not as many toys for presents, and sometimes the birthday kid will be gone on the day itself, as dickensgirl will be this year. (Last year I wrote her a fic, and I probably will again. She wants something with strawberries this time. And also Sam, of course, because she loves Sam. She won't see it till she gets back from her weekend camp though.)

This year we kind of missed Hope's birthday, or things didn't work out on the day of, so she ended up having several celebrations. I'm not sure how many cakes we ended up making for her on different weekends. It got to be kind of a running joke. "Hey, Hope, what kind of cake do you want for your birthday this time?" "I don't want another cake!" Hope is the gloomiest, least cheerful kid in our family, and nothing quite pleases her, not even multiple cakes. Yes, Hope is a pessimist. Ironic, I know.

Wow, this post is random.

Anyway. I like jello cake. I'll probably ending up making my own again, as I have for several years in a row. Doesn't bother me.

So, flist, list of prompts or a whole meme just for me?

[Poll #1582745]

My bro Andrew and bro-in-law Josh had their birthday things today, never mind the disparate dates. Instead of going laser tagging, I stayed home and made a German chocolate cake. It took me around four hours, all told, and during none of that was I sitting down. There was always something to do. BUT IT WAS WORTH IT. This is the recipe. It's somewhat terrifying. BUT WORTH IT.

Of interest to note: It was not actually invented in Germany. Purely an American thing, named after the founder of Baker's Chocolate, Samuel German. INTERESTING, NO?

I have also decided that the best desserts in the world are made with whipped egg whites. Mousse, cheesecake, Pavlova, and now homemade German chocolate cake. It's definitely a trend. A DELICIOUS TREND.

It wasn't perfect. I couldn't find two cake pans of the same size, just two square ones that were kinda close, so it ended up looking like a South American step pyramid. I almost burned the coconut while toasting it--you have to keep an eye on that. A CLOSE EYE. And the chocolate icing turned out more like chocolate sauce, probably because I used chocolate chips instead of good chocolate, like I should have. We only have a Sav-a-Lot in town and they didn't carry anything better. But I had a Ghiardelli bar for the cake itself, so that was AWESOME. I just poured the chocolate over the cake and it went all over the place, spilling over the edge of the cake plate, but it still tasted wonderful. Just...smears of chocolate everywhere. EVERYWHERE.

I really need to start wearing an apron when I bake.

Another imperfection was that Mom had thrown away like EVERY BIRTHDAY CANDLE WE EVER OWNED. (There were fifty on Dad's cake last month. FIFTY. All GONE.) We had some stubs, a one, a four, a seven, and a zero. Andrew turned 19 and Josh turned 24, so I put the 1 and 4 on the cake with two stubs next to them in place of the missing numbers. So of course every comment on the cake was, "I didn't turn fourteen," from both boys and, "Who turned fourteen?" from everyone else. Sigh.

But. IT WAS DELICIOUS. I pronounce the chocapocalypse a success.

Just found out that my sister B, the mother of my wonderful niece, Pippin, has a cyst on her ovary. It was just discovered and she's going into surgery tonight. She's only twenty. And apparently these are common on BOTH sides of my family, so, yay? The men get male pattern baldness, though, so I guess it evens out.

Prayers, good thoughts, peaceful vibes all welcome. It's most likely no big deal, but you never know, right? Plus, this is my little sister. I will never not have heart palpitations when I hear something like this.

I tried out for community theater today. Anne of Green Gables. It's a Youth Theatre production, so most of the people auditioning were kids. I went with my three sisters and was persuaded to try out as well, since that was apparently okay. So... Yeah. I read for Marilla, and really enjoyed it, though I figure my chances of actually being cast are pretty darn slim. It would be fun, though.

I was in one play in college and loved the experience, tried out for others, and was even cast in a very tiny role in THAT version of Anne of Green Gables (which ended up never being performed because of cast issues--they couldn't hold on to a Gilbert. Very frustrating.). But yeah. We'll see what happens.

We're supposed to find out by Friday. I'm trying very hard to forget about it.

Soooo. I think my shopping is done. I think. Just have to wrap stuff now.

Holy crap, why do I have 1712 messages in my LJ inbox? I feel like that might be a historical date I should remember. Need to clean that out.

Cold pretty much gone but nose is still very drippy.

Cadbury Drinking Chocolate is quite tasty.

So are Jones Soda Carbonated Candies.

Why yes, I did buy both of those on my shopping expedition this afternoon. Also Steak N Shake's fruit smoothies are delectable. I like the raspberry. But I forgot to get more candy canes, and that was one of the things I specifically set out to buy! I iz a dummkopf.

Bartleby is very very very very very very VERY fond of Hershey's Hugs. He goes absolutely bonkers when he hears the bag crinkle and will not go away until I give him a nip. But then he runs around like his tail has been lit on fire and I feel bad for corrupting my innocent ratty with what is obviously the equivalent of crack cocaine.

I am trying to write at least two different stories and reading several others.

Eddie Izzard is hilarious. Watched The Definite Article with my sibs and we were all in stitches, except for the French part which none of us understood very well. Little sister C didn't even complain about the F word, which usually scandalizes her tremendously.

Also watching Psych lately, which is a great joy and joyness. Up-to-date on Criminal Minds, which just about broke me. Have Merlin finale ready, which looks cataclysmic. Also Doctor Who Waters of Mars, which is exciting. Crap, why am I not watching TV right now? O.o

Okay bye.