I'm on the verge of killing damn near everyone in my office.
Yesterday was a semi-worthwhile day. I dragged my butt to Calculus, to be rewarded with advance notice of a test on Friday, along with a review sheet.
I really didn't want to go, but I forced myself just the same. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see much of Dirk today. I woke up too late to stop by and visit before class, and he stayed asleep the whole time I was there after school. I went back over at 2:30, and woke his ass up so we could feed the ducks, so the afternoon wasn't a total bust. The interesting thing about the lake/pond hybrid we fed the ducks at is that it's man-made. In fact, I can remember when they built the thing, back in the mid to late eighties. Perfectly manicured, with banks you can't really walk on, because there's a complicated garden along the edge. However, there's a boardwalk deal that goes right out on the water, and is only a couple feet above the water, and a covered bridge between the pond/lake thing and a smaller pond/lake thing that holds the excess water. There's also a man-made waterfall deal. Ducks absolutely love it there, along with poisonous snakes, apparently...there's a sign warning visitors about them. Besides the domesticated duck (white), there are mallards (the ones with iridescent green heads) and some other wild duck (with brown feathers and a small blue patch). There was also a lot of canadian geese, and one lone black and white duck with a reddish bill that came up on the covered bridge and begged for food, direct from the source. After feeding the ducks from the covered bridge for a while, we went to the boardwalk and fed the geese crackers and bread. After we'd been feeding them for about five minutes, the oddest thing happened. We started seeing bright flashes of orange-almost red, swirling under the water just below the geese's feet. I stared for a few minutes before realizing what it was.
Once upon a time, when they first built the lake, the people in charge had the brilliant idea of putting Koi, also known as Japanese Carp, in the water. Koi, for those who don't know, looks suspiciously like giant goldfish. The general assumption (for those who didn't have the opportunity to visit the lake regularly) was that it had been a stupid idea, and the Koi had died off that first winter. Apparently not. The orange-red swirls began getting closer to the surface, revealing that they were, in fact, Koi. And they like bread as much as geese do. Intermixed with the Koi was regular Grass Carp, to be found throught Virginia's waterways (though whether naturally or through introduction, I do not know). Grass Carp are ugly, creepy-looking fish, with short "whiskers" and a dull grey/green/brown color. They're also bigger. One fish that puzzled me was what seemed to be albino Grass Carp. They were the same size and shape as the Grass Carp, but completely white. The fish were regularly surfacing now, and boiling just below the surface of the water, much to the apparent dismay of the geese. They left, leaving us to feed the fish and the pigeons that had gathered in our area of the boardwalk.
The afternoon ended too quickly. I dropped Dirk off at home, then went to the store with my mother. She was nice enough to buy me a single-serving-size pan in the shape of a kitty cat. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, as the recipe that came with it is high fat and high calorie. I have, however, come up with the perfect recipe for vegetable curry (with a little help from my mother). It's low-fat, low calorie, and one serving (if you don't want to put it over rice) makes a big bowl full.
Vegetable Curry
1tsp chopped garlic
½ cup chopped onion
1 ½ cup milk (1% or skim)
1 packet chicken bullion
1 tbsp curry
2 medium-large potatos, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
1 carrot, grated and sliced
½ package frozen mixed vegetables
2 tsp corn starch
2 tbsp water
salt and pepper to tasteUsing non-stick spray, sautee onions and garlic for 3-5 minutes. Add milk, curry and, stir. When it has reached boiling, add carrots and potatos. Cook until potatos are semi-soft, then add frozen mixed vegetables. Cover, stirring occasionally, and simmer until potatos and carrots are soft. Mix the corn starch and water together, add to the curry and mix, then remove from heat. Allow to sit 5-10 minutes until it thickens. Makes 2-4 servings.
And they say I don't do anything worthwhile. I'm starting to save up so I can move out and/or buy a car. I'm going to open a new bank account at a different bank, and put $50-75 from each paycheck into the account. My father, amazingly, paid me $200 last night. I'm planning to use $150 to open a new savings account on Wednesday. I also plan on getting as much stuff in preparation for moving out as I can without compromising the money I'm saving. I already have an espresso/cappucino machine, espresso mugs, cappucino mugs, a cookie-baker (a well-intentioned christmas gift), silverwear, and a rice cooker. Ikea has some really nice furniture, so I've been looking around there.
Of course, you realize that the bank account will be hidden from my parents, lest they start blackmailing me into remaining at home by increasing my rent.
I'm also collecting recipes that involve a lot of vegetables. Unfortunately for me, Dirk doesn't eat seafood (of any kind), pork, lamb, or most kinds of beef. So if I want a think juicy steak, or some shrimp, I'm on my own. I'll manage. Besides, I'm starting to appreciate vegetables.
I watched wrestling last night, ignoring the derision of my parents. I know it's a testosterone-soaked soap-opera, and it's staged, but it's really fascinating and (this is the real reason) the wrestlers (some of them) are cute. Especially Juventude Guerrerro (I don't care if I spelled it wrong). As happy as Dirk is that I appreciate wrestling, it irks him to no end that I covertly admire the guys...that'll teach him to push his preferences on me.
Okay, it's almost time to go, and I'm just barely through yesterday, so more later.
(Wednesday)Anyway, that was supposed to go up yesterday. Unfortunately, my goddamned browser at work was refusing to connect to anything, so I had to send a copy of it to myself, to put up later that evening. That worked horribly. I called Dirk at eight, and went to sleep unintentionally at nine.
Something interesting did happen after I wrote that entry at work yesterday. There's this guy, Micheal, at work. He's a thirty-three year old epileptic who still lives with his folks. I think he's also mildly retarded. Last year, he became completely enamoured with me, for no apparent reason. I mean, he told me he liked the way I do my hair, and I pointed out that I hadn't brushed it in a while, so it was tangled. His response? "Yeah, that's what I like about it, it looks so natural." Yeah, buddy.
Now, despite the fact that I am dating someone, I would not have been completely disgusted, had this been someone even slightly normal. I'm not talking about the epilepsy here, I'm talking about the fact that he makes Ichabod Crane from "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" look damn attractive, and he's stupid and talkative. To make a long, dull story short, I went to the office Halloween party with him because he pulled the epilepsy card and I would have felt like a jerk if I hadn't gone after he said it would be alright if I didn't want to go because he had epilepsy. Alex, sick bastard that he is, started spreading it around the office that Michael was my boyfriend (another reason I hope he died in Chile or wherever the fuck he went),and encouraged Michael to keep pestering me (the office party was a disaster). I took to running to the back of the office whenever he came around, and responding in noncommittal grunts. This did not phaze him, as he started trying to get me to stay with him and his folks for Christmas. So, I just started ignoring him.
It's horrible, it's mean, but goddammit, I've never been able to come up with a polite way of saying "Fuck off, loser, I've got a man."
Around January, Michael quit bugging me, so I assumed he'd gotten the picture. Wrong-o. He came in today to look at his Personnel Folder, and he followed me around, asking, "How have you been? What did you do for the holiday?" I said "Fine. I went to college." Note: I made NO eye contact. This didn't faze him. "That's a very pretty necklace you have on, Agent Skatter." So, I ran to the back, got Tony, and made him help Michael out. Meanwhile, I pretended to be very engrossed in my crippled computer, so Michael wouldn't talk to me anymore.
Apparently, Michael wanted a copy of his position description, which didn't exist. That's because he's on a temporary detail, and they couldn't be bothered with all the extra paperwork. So, he proceeded to decide it was a conspiracy, called his boss to come up, and they both talked to my boss on the couch in front of my desk. This was irritating, because Michael apparently prefaces everything with "quote, unquote." Damn, I'd kill that man if I could. So, I had to listen to that bullshit until my boss gave up and politely told them to fuck off. So, I listened while Michael bitched to his boss because he's still a level three, which is only one step above me, and they both decided that we were conspiring against them along with everyone else because the position description we did provide him with was missing a cover page.
As soon as they were gone, I ran to the back to laugh with Tony.
That was a damn long disgression, wasn't it?
Today was spent going to class, taking money out of the bank, finding out I gained more weight, taking a nap, trying to wake Dirk up, and getting Mary's backpack out of storage so Dirk and I can "go to Gaithersburg" to pick it up tomorrow night. I'd have to say that yesterday was better.