Monthly Archive for July, 2007

New Beginnings

Published on July 26, 2007 in Intriguing. 7 Comments

I feel that I have just reached some sort of turning point in my life—either some sort of pinnacle or a pit of despair.  After weeks of buildup from minor and less-than-minor things in my life, I reached the summit with two events that occurred within minutes of each other.

As I was sitting downstairs, I received a phone call from my manager.  He explained that because business wasn’t very good at all, the store manager sent an email out notifying the termination of all temporary employees, effective immediately.  This was rather crucial information, seeming how I was planning on getting up early tomorrow morning in order to go to work and will now be sleeping in.

Ordinarily, this sort of information is the cause of depression or sadness, but it came at a wonderful time.  Each passing day made me dislike the job more and more.  I love my job, but I hate the shady side of selling.  When business is slow, everyone is pressured to be increasingly shady, making me more and more irritable.  Thus, I was happy to once again close that part of my life and spend my time with more fruitful things.

This call, as it just so happens, came as I was finishing the final pages of the Epilogue of the final book in the Harry Potter series.  Not unlike nearly everyone else in the world, I had invested countless hours of thought and reading into the series, the ending a curious excitement signaling the end of an era in my life.

Then it was over.  In one foul swoop, I no longer had questions as to how the next book would solve the questions that arose in this one.  I no longer had to dread bringing out four pairs of shoes—six, in these trying times—to every customer, desperately trying to sell a multiple.  I am no longer tied down in magical thought or in the monotonous routine of the quest for money.

So now, I suppose, I am free.  And what will I be doing for the rest of the summer?  Well, I imagine I’ll be thinking quite a bit.  Organizing things, no doubt.  I have a few more books to read, one fiction, several nonfiction.  Simply an overall feeling of apathy to scheduling.  I can do whatever I want whenever I want to.

Taking note from a wise couple, I think I’m ready for retirement.

Balut!

Published on July 17, 2007 in Food, Humor and Pictures. 24 Comments

After a few weeks of preparation, I was mentally ready to tackle the delicacy that is Balut. On Sunday, we managed to find a grocery store in Chinatown that sold the eggs, then we proceeded to purchase four. Last night, we cooked two up and had them sitting on little plates throughout our dinner.

It was mildly hard to eat dinner knowing what was waiting for dessert. Once everything was finished, Dad took the initiative to crack the first egg. Watching him pick at it, it became apparent that he would not eat the full egg himself. When he was done, he handed it to me.

Overall, the taste was not terrible. It seemed mostly like a moderately bad egg. As far as the food goes, it was the texture that made it difficult to eat. Crunching on little things you could recognize as bones, feeling soft little things you could understand were feathers, it was more mentally straining than anything. I honestly tried to take a bite of the bird, but my gag reflex was too strong. I got plenty of egg and a foot down with no problem, but actual feathery bird was a bit too much. But I did get plenty of pictures!

My Father, the Chef

Published on July 11, 2007 in Food and Humor. 2 Comments

As anyone who has eaten at our house can tell you, my father is an excellent chef. Whatever it is he makes, he makes it well. Sometimes, however, he tries experiments. Last night was one of those times.

Due to a hasty change in guest plans, the menu had to change as well. The grocery store had a package of ground steaks on sale, so my father opted to see what they were like. Much to our dismay, he focused on the fact that they were at one point “steaks” and ignored that their current state was “hamburger patties.” Thus, he served them on a platter, accompanied only by steak sauce. In my opinion, all they were lacking were buns and condiments. Other than that, they were great.

For the vegetable dish, I’m not really sure what we had. All I know is that I came home from work yesterday to find my dad researching dandelions on Wikipedia to determine their culinary status. And when he was eating his plate of wilted green things, he picked things out he determined were “weeds.”

In short, I am led to believe we were eating hamburger patties and dandelions for dinner.

Birkenstocks

Published on July 7, 2007 in Intriguing and Pictures. 4 Comments

Yesterday, I finally persuaded myself to buy some Birkenstocks. I was originally drawn to the idea because they had my size on sale for $74.90, but decided they were still too much and it would put me in at least one of the following categories:

  1. Hippies
  2. A Davis resident (arguably the same as #1)
  3. A European tourist
  4. My own best customer

The shoes were eventually marked down again, this time to $54.90, half the original price. This time around, I was more intrigued but still hesitant. Then I saw something interesting in this picture:

Birks!

Hey, if they work for Jayna, they can work for me.