My former boss who gave me a terrible review was at the job fair I attended recently. He hugged me, and sat me down to help me find my next job pretty amiably. We went over my preferred branches, and he said he would reach out in order of my preference and insist that they interview me. I don’t understand. He sent an email to another admin, and that day I got an email to call her ASAP about an opening. She explained the role in detail over the phone, sounding like she was nervous I was not going to want the job. She wanted the right candidate because it’s going to be the first team of its kind outside one of our hubs. I agreed to an interview the next day, and she and her hiring team offered me the job at the end of the interview without consulting with each other and implied that they would have an opening in my desired role post graduation. I got another cold call from a different admin for a different branch and she was disappointed I had already accepted another offer. She told me to contact her with any questions or once I have graduated for a permanent position. That was bizarre. I’ve never had employers be so keen without meeting me or working with me for a couple of months.
That’s a big load off my shoulders because I was sitting here thinking I was going to be Big Unemployed for a bit and would need to explain the gap, but I don’t understand the good will from my former boss. Did he have to fill my paperwork out the way he did? Why did he help me out? Did he lie about my abilities and work ethic? I do work hard, but my lack of experience and finalized degree really hinder me. I’m worried now that I have to live up to unreasonable expectations again.
My partner and I are getting closer to getting accepted at the place we want to rent. There is so much more paperwork for this unit than any other I’ve applied for. It’s wild. I really cannot wait to move into it. Like I am planning it all in my head, where all of our things will be, what we will put on the walls (my partner has a sword lol). I want it to be a comfortable mix of our things, that we both feel that it is our space. A collaboration. We’ve started packing their place up and have a donate box that we’ve already filled. We need to go through my things as well. I think doing it together is helping us see how the things will mesh together.
I finished one of my larger projects in the middle of the day instead of at 2am because my professor gave me an extension. It ended up looking pretty nice. I played library/coffee shop hopping to get it all done. I need to be around people talking and laughing and catching up and loving one another. I need the noise and humanness of it all. I’ve been working in a biking chalet a lot lately, too, since my partner trains for bike races a lot. There are kids and families and friends and all of the human activity is so helpful for my focus. I think it keeps me from being in my own head, because my stimulation threshold is met. As much as I would like to be able to work at home. The chalet is really nice, and open/free to the public. There are ample outlets along the walls, plenty of tables and chairs, a bathroom, a water station, a cafe with full food/drinks service, a little gift/gear shop, and plenty of outdoor seating. It is paid for through our state’s parks budget. They have classes for all sorts of workouts for money. I really like that it is accessible and open for people; I wish more people had time and the resources to sink into places like this because we collectively own them in theory.
Recently, I got an oat milk miel at a coffee shop early in the morning. The barista put a little bit of cinnamon on the top of the foam. I also didn’t know that you can foam oat milk. It was absolutely divine. Miels are traditionally coffee with honey, cream, and a little bit of spice like cinnamon and/or nutmeg. I have been avoiding caffeine, so the “good mood” impact of the caffeine of the coffee was pretty strong and I got so much homework done. It was lovely.
I’ve decided I can live with the expense of going to a coffee shop once or twice a week if it means I pass my classes. In the grand scheme of things, I am investing in myself and my success, right? It’s like paying for a study or office space. The degree will mean significantly more pay and job security over time, so as long as I continue to scrimp and save in other areas of my life, what’s $12/week? That’s roughly $650 a year...but it’s only for one year? Ugh. I don’t like seeing it mathed out like that, but it helps me rationalize it and see what part of my budget it needs to come out of.
This weekend I do not have time to ferment things, but I will maybe mid-week seeing as there are many more mid-week farmers markets now that we are in the largest chunk of vegetables volume-wise of the year. It’ll go strong until mid-September, when it’ll start to drop off, and then everything is gone and done like late October, early November-ish. If I do, I’ll write more in-depth about the fermenting processes! ;)
We’re doing pretty good for canning and making freezer meals for the winter. My partner might go hunting in the fall??? And then we will have venison, which is weird to me. I’ve never had it as a raw ingredient at my disposal. I’m thinking wild rice meatballs, seasoned burgers with vegetables and beans mixed in, breakfast hash patties, meat spaghetti, pierogis, dumplings, just anything that has a strong flavor profile to cover up what I suspect will be a “gamey” taste. They can get a whole deer (and butcher it into the respective pieces themselves...) for the cost of the permit, which price per pound, is an absolutely crazy savings. I appreciate our particular complimentary and overlapping skills and interests related to food. They also have a couple friends with food sensitivities and allergies, in addition to their own, so we are both adept at adjusting recipes for different reasons. How often do I repeat myself in this blog? I’m sure I’ve already said that, I just rarely go back to read my own writing.
Our sauerkraut turned out really well. We’ve been having it as a side for a lot of meals, and my partner wanted to make reubens with some of it, so we did. We are both lactose-intolerant, so we used the vegan cheese from Aldi as the cheese. The “cheddar” melts really well and has a convincing texture and taste compared to other vegan “cheeses” I’ve had. We even made grilled “cheese”s with it and they were good enough lol. We ate them with one of our spicy tomato soup jars. It is waaay too spicy… I need to make a note on my recipe not to use more than 2 re-hydrated chilis per batch. I forgot that if we blend them into the soup instead of removing them, we get all the seeds. Oops.
I’ve been thinking about making like...bespoke hotdogs with the sauerkraut haha. Like, making our own rye buns, grinding some mustard, making a sweet relish or using pepper jelly or some of my rhubarb chutney. Throw some fresh or pickled onions, whatever herbs fit the vibe, shredded apples or pears, just really loading them up, you know? And then making some fries either with potatoes or sweet potatoes in the air fryer, grilling some of our canned peaches or mixing them with yogurt for dessert, and then calling it a night.
I really, really, really want to make sure I can some giardiniera, not just ferment it. Like I want to do both, but I think canning more than I ferment makes more sense this year because we will have an actual pantry to store our canned things, rather than relying entirely on the fridge and freezer. It’ll be easier to see what we have available, too. So anyway, we can have the giardiniera as it’s own side-dish, like an antipasta, or we can add it to sandwiches, or put it on homemade pizzas that use the vegan “cheese” and maybe venison meatballs???
I also started a batch of radish seed sprouts for sandwiches and salads last week that we started using this past week. They’re nice and spicy. I’m really bad at following the news for our country specifically lately, so I missed that there are parasites or som other kind of foodborne illness in the produce…? We’ve been having a lot of salads and we did seem to get pretty sick once, lots of bloating and gastrointestinal distress. Oops. We’ve been doing quinoa as the grain base and adding canned beans for protein. I do a different dressing each time. This past one was balsamic vinegar, olive oil, some maple syrup, rosemary, garlic, onion, salt, fresh-cracked black pepper, and spicy mustard to help emulsify it. I think it turned out pretty dang good.
We went to a bonfire hosted by my partner’s friend this weekend. I reaaallllly wanted to roast marshmallows, so they went to get them and then made me a roasting stick from a scrub tree. It was hot out, but the radiant heat from the fire felt soothing on my forehead. Like a hot compress, almost. We were just about ready to go when it started pouring, so we didn’t need to politely extricate ourselves. My partner’s friend was the host—they’re a biiig extrovert, and I worry sometimes since they’ve recently gone through a divorce that they need more socials than we can sustainably provide. They’re very nice and I enjoy their company, I just have a lower social battery generally and the group tends to talk about things I don’t have an “in” to. They talk about specific books and characters and genres, and I haven’t sunk the time nor do I intend to sink the time to be able to keep up on the books; they’re not really my genre and a lot of them are not particularly inclusive in a way that makes me tired. It’s the type of conversation that I can’t really engage in by asking questions? I also hate to be a “book choices are inherently political”, but...book choices are inherently political. I just play games on my phone or check my emails when they get onto their books. I don’t mind a ton, it’s nice to be around people and see everyone; it is irritating when it’s a consistent thing. I feel like. Not included? Which is fine, I didn’t go to college and stay friends with this group for 10-20 years like everyone else in it, but I think groups end up forgetting how to include new or different people.
I’ll find my niche in the group over time, but I also have my own friends and my own things I do. There are a couple of queer women within it that do crafts together in the winter. I think we would be able to host a monthly crafts night at our new place, and that might pull my friends and these people together to synthesize something new. I’m also going to start doing an Avatar the Last Airbender DnD campaign with my friend and her friends. I’ve never done DnD, and I’m just starting a campaign with my partner and their friends. There is sooooo much to learn. I’m overwhelmed and worried it’s just going to be another thing I have to keep track of. But I am excited to try new things and meet new people. I’m also getting more into a groove of getting my work done at cafes/coffee shops, so I think I will have more time in general. Well, I also won’t have “homework” from work this year because I went back down in the hierarchy… I think it’ll be good and worth it in the long run to prioritize balancing being a person with being ambitious this year.
Anywaaaaay, thank you for reading, I hope you are having good times and food and breaks from all the sludge of life. Seeya again soon. Or later! I dunno haha.