#might save the aubergine for tomorrow

[boyjoan]

goooooood morning. changing my life today btw

[hauntingblue]

Sanji has adquired top sad wet cat status

[clan-fuildarach]

birthday 

fallon and emiliano hatch an egg and subsequently swear vengeance on atropa 

(uhhh some implied medical abuse in this one?? i mean the egg was a test subject after all)

~

Fallon's bedroom was fancy enough to have windows. A single shaft of moonlight slanted through the open shutters, cutting a slice through the warm darkness. Emiliano should have been asleep; he was actually planning to do his job the next day and he needed to be well-rested. But it was difficult.

He lay with Fallon, who was sound asleep, one leg thrown over Emiliano's hips. Fallon had fallen asleep with his hand wrapped securely around Emiliano's chest like a safety harness, but his grip had loosened and his arm now just hung over Emiliano's side, fingers just about grazing the crest of the egg in Emiliano's arms.

You were supposed to incubate eggs, right? Unless it was an ice egg, you had to keep them warm. So Emiliano and Fallon had taken turns carrying it around with them, hugging it close in their sleep so that the nightly temperature drop wouldn't affect it too badly. The egg was permanently wrapped in heavy oilcloth, to prevent any more damage to the broken patch on top.

The night stretched on. A night patrol moved through the corridor outside, their armour muffled by cloth padding so that they wouldn't make too much noise. That must have been the 3am patrol. Go to sleep, you idiot, Emiliano told himself sternly.

He couldn't. When he closed his eyes all he could see were jars of preserved corpses. He'd rescued the egg, but what about the ones he hadn't arrived in time to save? What if he hadn't noticed the secret passage to the torture room at all, and this time next week there was another jar on the shelf with another tiny corpse floating inside...

Atropa had not seemed affected at all by the egg's theft. Part of Emiliano knew that stealing one egg wouldn't matter at all when more eggs could be obtained. Maybe stealing the egg had been the cowardly option, after all, the action of someone who did not want to actually confront a monster.

And there was something else, too. Emiliano didn't know anything about Rosa, he hadn't even known she existed until pretty much the moment of her coronation, but that didn't mean she wasn't his sister. He couldn't imagine what he'd do if it was Essun in her place, caught in a political marriage with Atropa. Rosa deserved to be rescued just as much as the egg had. Not to mention Corin.

He hugged the egg tighter, his eyes screwed shut. Fallon murmured something indistinct under his breath, his tail coiling around one of Emiliano's legs.

A tiny squeak broke through his hopeless thoughts. He ignored it, suspecting mice, until it sounded again; longer, drawn-out, and undoubtedly originating from the egg in his arms. He stared down at it, his eyes going wide as it squeaked again.

He sat bolt upright. Fallon woke with a grunt of surprise, reaching up to scrub sleep out of his eyes.

“Emilio, what?” he mumbled.

Emiliano held out the egg, wordless. The squeaking was constant now, urgent.

“Oh,” Fallon said softly. Then, much louder, “Oh!”

“What's wrong with it?” Emiliano said, too shocked for common sense. “Is it dying?”

“No – no, I think... is it hatching?”

They cleared space on the bed, Emiliano shoving all the covers to the ground. Fallon set the egg down on the mattress between them and began to unwrap the oilcloth outer layer. As the cloth fell away, the bioluminescent patches on the egg threw an eerie blue glow over the scene. Emiliano had never seen the egg so bright.

The gash on top of the egg was leaking again, purple fluid leaking down the glowing sides. The cracks did not widen, though the squeaking grew almost frantic, hard to listen to.

“Should we help it?” Emiliano said. “It might be hurt... it had this metal thing stuck in it when I found it.”

“Maybe.” Fallon reached out, then pulled his hand back. “I read that you're not supposed to assist them unless it goes on for hours.”

They continued to watch the egg. It had started to rock. To prevent it falling over, Emiliano protectively arranged a barrier of pillows around it.

The squeaking cut off. Within seconds, the glowing patches had begun to fade, too. The egg lay still for a terrible minute.

“Fuck it.” Emiliano sprang off the bed and collected the letter-opener from Fallon's desk. Fallon didn't object, sitting aside as Emiliano took the point of the letter opener to the gash on top of the egg.

Emiliano had never been as careful with anything in his life. He worked slowly, widening cracks and lifting free chips of eggshell once they came loose. For the first time, the dragon in the egg was actually visible; tiny and gold, slick with amniotic fluid and curled so tightly around itself that it was almost impossible to tell what species it was. It was heartbreakingly still.

“Is it okay?” Fallon said, his voice tiny and faint. “Is it breathing?”

“I don't know...”

Eventually, enough of the egg had been chipped away to allow the tiny dragon to be lifted out. As soon as Emiliano touched its damp, soft scales, he felt it – a pulse. Small but steady. Tears spilled down Emiliano's cheeks, unnoticed. Fallon was staring, one hand covering his mouth.

It was a baby guardian, lying as if dead on the bedspread, its eyes still tight shut. For a moment Emiliano thought he was seeing something wrong, that something wasn't quite right – then he saw it, and it was like a punch in the gut.

The guardian's back was a scabby purple mess, some of the wound held shut by what looked like metal staples, some of it left bare and open. A few shreds of deep aubergine wing membrane remained in some areas, but that was all. The dragon had no wings.

Fallon silently reached for one of the blankets piled on the floor. While Emiliano simply stared in horror, Fallon used the corner of the blanket to gently wipe the egg fluid off the little guardian. He avoided the hideous wound on her back, skirting the uneven and puckered edges. Under his touch, the guardian moved for the first time, her claws catching on the sheets and her tail twitching. She didn't uncurl, though; it was probably impossible for her to do so easily with such a large scab on her back. No wonder she hadn't been able to hatch on her own.

Emiliano didn't know he was shaking until Fallon set a hand on his arm to steady him.

“You stay here with her, okay?” Fallon said softly. “I'll go and get a healer. I know a couple outside the fortress who won't ask questions. She'll be fine, Emiliano.”

“I...” Emiliano's hands had curled into fists. “I'm going to kill him, Fallon. I'm going to kill him.”

“I'm with you,” Fallon said, without hesitation, “but we'd better make sure she gets seen to first. Keep her warm... maybe don't touch her back.” His voice broke for a moment, betraying his own anger. He released Emiliano's arm, gave the tiny guardian an uncertain pat on the head, and left the room.

Emiliano tried to arrange the blankets and pillows around her the best he could, without letting anything come into contact with her back. He ended up lying beside her, exhausted but somehow full of energy all at once. His anger didn't fade, exactly, but it did take a back-seat to the more pressing issue of the guardian's well-being.

He talked to her, to help settle himself. “Hello. Uh, don't worry... Fallon is getting a healer for you. Fallon is my boyfriend, you just met him. I'm Emiliano. Do you need anything?” He'd read up on childcare but it seemed like all the knowledge he'd gained from the books had vanished into thin air.

The guardian squeaked, which was heartening.

“We can visit my mum tomorrow,” he said. “She... she might not be too thrilled, but at least you're a child and not a horrible painting, so she can't kick you out. Oh, I guess I should explain – so, um, my charge is a painting, and...”

When dawn arrived, bringing with it Fallon's return, Emiliano was still talking. He had a lot of story to tell.

[newidaho]

25.  A New Protest

Don’t have the time/patience/desire to read with your eyes? Don’t have eyes? Well, have your friend read you this:  You can check out the audiobook for free on Apple, Google, Stitcher, or Spotify.  Subscribe for new episodes every Wednesday!

10 January 2055   //     1100h

After a late breakfast, the Sky High Students were finally done with their visit to the University.  By way of farewell, Aubrey reminded the students that the due date to apply for UNI this fall was, as with most Universities in North America, 26 February.  She reminded them that, though the application date was later than it had been when she was a child, this meant that their senior year grades mattered more than ever.  With that, she saw them off to their respective areas of the city.

Snow had caught up with his four Aubergine compatriots during breakfast.  They all seemed to have experienced the same thing—improved mood, clearer thinking, and increased excitement for the future.  Snow’s mood had certainly improved from the evening before, though the effects of the substance had been so subtle that he didn’t know whether to attribute his mood boost to the substance itself or to a finally decent social interaction.

As Snow and Ricky 2 got ready to carpool back to the Southeast, Snow realized that he did experience that bittersweet sadness of departure that he had expected all along.  He would definitely be applying to UNI—he didn't want this to be the last time he set foot on such a beautiful campus.  It was hard enough to know he might not return to northern New Idaho until next fall.

After the students left, Aubrey headed back to her office.  She had a few notes and ideas on the weekend that she wanted to get down before she forgot.  Her office was the best place to do that.  She had strategically put great care into making her office the perfect place on campus for her to get work done, and she always felt energized behind her desk.

As Aubrey walked from the northeast to the southwest corner of Okapi field, she could feel the energy of students coming back from break.  Classes started tomorrow, and most of the students had either made it back already or were currently arriving.  She always felt better when the student body was back.  It was as if the University, the being she had made, was hibernating over winter, and its life blood was finally starting to pump back through it.

On the eastern side of Okapi field, right next to the dormitory complex, two students were taking full advantage of the mass immigration back to campus.  Right next to the Greta Barn Dormitory, two folding tables were set up right next to each other, each with their organization’s logo emblazoned on a cloth hanging off the front.  Behind the maroon and gold “Futech” banner sat Ruth Armstrong.  Behind the Red and Black “NIANS” banner, Todd Felstein.

Todd never thought he would be sharing table space with a representative of FuTech.  He shared the opinion of most college students outside of the church: The place was a cult, and its followers were hopelessly brainwashed.  Todd himself was an atheist, and proud of it.  It was part of what drove his activism.  He wanted to show the world that he didn’t need a God to do good in the world.  He would do it all on his own, thank you very much.  Now, however, on his return to UNI,  the FuTech Campus Organization had become an unlikely ally.

Since the fall, interest in the Jungle Club had died down significantly.  Members of the group had gone to Daskus’ office hours, and though anger burned hot in their hearts when they entered, many walked away at least empathizing with her point of view.  This did not bode well for Todd’s group, the sole purpose of which was to demonize the University’s point of view in the hopes of causing a large enough stink that the Jungle be left alone.

With the Jungle club dissolving, Todd had to look for alternative avenues to let out his rage against the powers that be.  It was a Godsend when, around November, a new group began to grow south of the Jungle:  “New Idahoans Against New Slavery”.  This group campaigned for workers’ rights in the same vein as many similar groups that bemoaned the wealth gap in America.  In New Idaho, however, this problem was exacerbated through the federally recognized “Guaranteed Basic Income” program, which was basically an excuse for capitalists to pay workers far less than livable wages.

As Todd had learned in his latest years, all injustice is connected.  The exploitation of the working class was at the heart of capitalism, and most other pursuits in this country were in service of the same immoral system.  The Jungle, for instance, was being studied by Daskus so she could learn more about what the plants growing there could offer the world.  Instead of just being content with what humans were already lucky enough to have, Daskus followed the greedy capitalist credo that stated to succeed as humans, you must continue to make new discoveries and inventions to capitalize upon.  Who cares about the state of the only rainforest in America when you could trade it for prestige and money for your University?

In that way, then, NIANS was fighting the same fight as Todd.  He would still save the Jungle, if indirectly.  This first step was just a springboard for him to fight his true battle.  NIANS had grown hugely in popularity over the last few months.  It would be much easier to attract a pool of students to this issue before he funneled off the more interested ones to tackle his agenda.  After all, everyone wants to save the world.  Why not start where there was the most support?

Furthermore, with the support of FuTech, support that occurred virtually over (Sunday) night, the NIANS base had taken a huge leap into 2055.

‘HELP END NEW SLAVERY!  JOIN FUTECH!’  Ruth was a short, plump girl with curly brown hair.  She held out flyers with a welcoming smile on her face, one that she had learned to wield as a representative for a campus religious group.  The best way to recruit to organizations like that was to be extremely welcoming—offer students a place.

‘STOP THE EXPLOITATION OF THE WORKING CLASS!’ Todd yelled.  He liked Ruth’s welcoming nature, but he preferred to petition with more righteous anger.  Together, he thought, they would be able to take in a quarter of the student body.

‘What’s this about?’ A young black man in workout gear had stopped by their table.

‘Hi!’ said Ruth.  ‘Have you heard of New Idaho’s Guaranteed Basic Income program?’

‘Yeah.  Are you guys against it?’

‘Yes!’ Ruth said.  ‘Families have to put their children to work just to live in our town.  If you aren’t in the lower class, you might not realize it, but when you meet people who live in that situation, you can’t help but feel for the injustice they go through!’

‘But if they didn’t have the GBI, wouldn’t they just be left with no jobs? I thought the GBI was just for people who were trying to find work?’

‘You’d think that, wouldn’t you,’ said Todd.  ‘Let me ask, where did you grow up?’

‘Southeast.’

‘As I thought.  And you were never on GBI, I’m guessing?’

‘No, I was pretty lucky.’

‘Very lucky indeed.  See, the narrative I hear a lot from people of your demographic is the one you just gave me.  “They will just work that job until they can find a real job; they wouldn’t have a job at all without GBI.”  Well, that’s one way to look at things.  Another way to look at it is by looking at reality—families are forced to work GBI jobs to make any sort of money.  They get trapped in these jobs without hope of getting anything better.  And if the federal government made New Idaho play by the same minimum wage rules as the rest of the country, employers would be forced to give workers a fair wage, and some of the poorest New Idahoans would be able to escape the crippling poverty they are in.’

‘But wouldn’t unemployment rise?’

‘Sir—what’s your name?’

‘Dylon.’

‘Dylon.  Do you mean to tell me that America was better off in the early 1800s? Because there was near 100% employment among black humans at the time.  Does that sound like a good alternative?’

‘I’m definitely not in favor of slavery, no,’ said Dylon.

‘Then join the fight against New Slavery.’  Todd handed Dylon a flyer.  ‘We hope to see you there.’

‘Thanks,’ said Dylon.  He walked across Okapi field.  Todd watched as he crossed to the Humanities College, where he dropped the flyer in the first recycling bin he came across.

‘Dammit,’ Todd cursed under his breath.

‘It’s okay,’ Ruth consoled him.  ‘We only want the ones who want to come.’

‘I guess you’re right.’

‘Trust me, there will be a lot of them,’ Ruth said, and patted Todd on the hand.  ‘I can feel it.  On January 20, the town-wide NIANS protest will be the biggest protest per capita of any city this century.  Trust me.  We still have ten days.’

[daveywankenobie]

This morning I’ve been out with a couple of firm friends, who only met each other for the first time this today…

Initially they were quite wary – but in no time at all after some introductions they were getting on famously.

Probably bonded by their mutual love of bird watching Boris and Freckles seem to get along pretty well when they first met, and happily sniffed each other’s behinds for a while as their pet humans above greeted one another with (less socially developed) handshakes.

I doubt that Freckled and Boris would have minded me joining in – but I didn’t want to intrude and instead stuck to human pleasantries. Also – as fragrant as their behinds must be I was actually more interested in the other wildlife – of which there was quite a lot today at Arrow Valley.

The Pooches also seemed unusually willing to be photographed this morning.

Normally they refuse to stay still for the camera, yet today here they were allowing me to take snap after in focus snap.

You might think that I’m a charming Dr Doolittle given how calm and collected they are, or what sweet little cherubs they have been to pose for my photo. However what you can’t see just behind me is the piraña like feeding frenzy going on.

A little girl was flinging giant lumps of bread to a growing collection of birds at the official ‘invigorate the ravenous little monsters with wings‘ baked goods slinging platform – and Boris and Freckles were both transfixed by the resulting commotion.

As I turned away from them to watch it struck me that some days what initially might seem like a great stroke of luck is actually the exact opposite.

Sometimes life isn’t what you expect when you’re the little duck that catches the golden crust.

I think that the moral of the story today is ‘don’t **** with the seagulls‘…

As we left the beleaguered little quackers and continued around the park it was clear however that not all was well elsewhere. The strike by refuse collectors in Birmingham is having a pretty dramatic effect on this usually well kept space and the bins are currently overflowing at each and every corner.

(you don’t need photos of this – it was grim)

People have left carrier bags full of rubbish close to them and as you might expect with a lot of wildlife around these are quickly getting ripped open. Frankly the park is a mess today – and I really hope that this doesn’t hurt the birds – especially the fledglings.

On the main island there are a few nesting Herons – and from what I read on the visitor centre bird spotting chart they have some young with them. However when I looked I couldn’t see any – and only one of my full zoom photos of an adult came out clear enough to use.

Apart from the overflowing bins and the skinhead-like seagulls though Arrow Valley was quite serene today. Whilst idly strolling we did around 3 miles around the reserve – all the time with Freckles and Boris sniffing away in the bushes and trotting back and forth to say hello to passers by and other dogs.

As lovely as all this was though I must fill my green exercise ring on Apple Watch (which sedate strolls do not do sadly) otherwise my OCD will cause my head to explode. As lovely as my amble was I needed to do MORE!

Since I am still in need of a pair of black trousers, I headed out when I got home for a brisker walk into town to try and find some.

Sadly these are proving difficult to find – especially given that I have mentally budgeted only £5 for them. All in all I walked a further six miles trying to find my mythically cheap item of unicorn clothing and returned empty handed – but I will persevere!

(I have heard a rumour that there are some in a pot – just at the end of a rainbow!)

On the plus side every step I do is something toward the scales next week – and given that the theme of last Saturday’s image therapy session was step counting and ‘body magic’ (exercise with Slimming World counts to awards) I’ve been trying to keep my numbers up.

On Saturday I finished with 21,314 steps, Sunday was 13,057, and today is currently 22,110 – so I’m hopefully on track for an average of 20,000 a day (around 10 miles).

I’m also trying to ‘tweak’ my food a little bit to reduce calories and today swapped out kidney beans from my favourite chilli dish and replaced them with an aubergine and some chopped green and black beans (both of which came from a friend’s allotment and were delicious).

The other ingredients were a courgette, broccoli, red pepper, leeks, mushrooms and 5% fat pork mince. The seasoning was cumin, smokey paprika, chilli powder, salt, a beef stock cube, some garlic – and finally to season some freshly chopped coriander was thrown in at the end.

Honesty this was so good that I may just forgo the kidney beans altogether from now on. A can of them has 280kcal in it – whereas an entire aubergine has 50Kcal – and 100g of green beans has 25kcal.

Thats over 200kcal saved today!

Finally – Rusty McBike is now back in the saddle!

Well – at the very least Rusty has a new (old) saddle (courtesy of a friend’s dusty garage contents) and although I’ve not yet had a chance to properly test her out on a long journey yet things currently seem very secure indeed.

She has even got a new donated strap-on gel butt cushion to alleviate the intensely bruised bottom that the previous saddle was immediately capable of giving me. It’s early days but I’m hopeful that this superb combo means that we’re going to be very happy together.

If worst comes to worst another friend has been a dumpster diving hero and secured yet another saddle clamp from the clutches of a nearby skip (in the right hand pic). As rough as it looks as long as I have a spare then I’m pretty happy.

It saves money on eBay and every little bit can go to my unicorn trousers!

As soon as I get a chance I’ll take her out for a spin and let you know how I get on. It’s most likely to be Wednesday however as I have even more planned for tomorrow! Time and tide waits for no man!

Anyway – I must get some sleep – nighty night internet.

Davey

Introducing friends This morning I've been out with a couple of firm friends, who only met each other for the first time this today...

[dandelliongirl]

Summer adventures

and money troubles.

It’s been almost two weeks. I completely lost track of time, and our summer course students have taken up a few of my evenings.☼

So on Sunday the 2nd of July me and my guy went to visit my cousins. We had a fun day shopping and eating fast food, and playing video games in the evening. We played a bit of ARMS, BoTW and Mario Kart on the Switch, and I got to play Rise of the Tomb Raider. I managed to get a game braking bug in the Baba Yaga DLC where the final boss fight never triggered, and we spent an hour or so trying to figure out how to go forward before reloading and triggering the fight. Lol. We also played Mario Galaxy on the Wii. In the evening we went to the sauna, grilled some sausages and watched Megamind on Netflix. We went to bed at around 2am.

I woke up around 10am and played a bit of ACNL while waiting for the rest of the people to wake up. We had breakfast, continued playing some video games and had lunch before driving back home. My guy dropped me off at the uni library and I very quickly skimmed through a book for my thesis before the libaray closed. I also borrowed a bunch of books with games to play with my dance students so that I’m going to be prepared come September.

On Tuesday I went to the office to work on some stuff for next autumn. Then I came back to the apartment to feed the bunny and dad picked me up for the welcoming evening of our summer course students. It went pretty well, they all got to cook some dinner and bake a little together. I was out of there at around 8, and had a nice evening with my guy. On Wednesday I went to study Japanese with my friend, then did some further JLPT rehearsal and went to ballet class. We had a Skype meeting in the evening, but our internet connection was so bad we couldn’t hear anything. I made a decision to leave our little convention group for good since it only caused me anxiety, and I’m already feeling a lot less stressed. My standards are way too high for such a casual group of friends goofing around and it’s just not worth it to come to hate everyone because they don’t want to do stuff that I feel like should be done to keep us relevant and our content good quality. So I quit our FB group and page on Thursday. The entire day was basically spent fighting with my guy and my friend. In the evening our intensive course had a sauna evening, during which some squirrels chewed through our juice boxes, we locked ourselves out and had to drive to get a spare key and lost one student who went to the wrong location with the same name. A lot happened and it was a long long evening (6,5 hours of work) but it went pretty well nevertheless.

On Friday my guy’s sister visited to clip her bunny’s nails, bring him some more food and sawdust for the cage and say goodbye before she left for Belgium. Me, my dad and my friend visited an international food market in the harbor since it was a nice and hot summer day, and then I went to try and organize my new internet connection. Turns out that after going to the store and being directed to a customer service desk further away, from which I was directed back to the store again, I eventually needed to order the damn thing online anyway, and I still didn’t get to cancel my previous subscription. I’ll have to pop in to the store for another visit next Monday once I make sure that the new internet connection works.

Me and my friend spent Friday afternoon putting our dance teaching timetable in place for next year and recruiting teachers. We got the timetable done, and my friend bought us pizza. One of my new favourites might be pizza with aubergine, onion rings and sundried tomatoes. Me and my friend spent the entire evening marathoning ME3, and continued it basically all through Saturday.

On Sunday I took our summer course students to a viewing tower, and for a museum trip. It was quite stressful but turns out that I got compliments from my guiding abilities and that people made specific mentions about how they liked me pointing out stuff to them. I always feel so bad after stuff like that because I feel like I wasn’t good enough and I should’ve been more social and should’ve talked to people more and pointed more stuff out to them but that’s just me being insecure.

On Monday I made my new internet service subscription online, worked on my MA thesis and did some JLPT drills. Then I went to the office to send an email (which I had to send on Tuesday because our website was down anyway). We had a bit of a crisis because I was supposed to take the summer course students to play baseball, but our teachers bailed on us so we kept frantically calling up everyone we could think of. Eventually we got a pro to come in and help us so luckily I didn’t have to learn baseball rules in an hour. Again it was a nice and sunny evening, and everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves. I blamed myself again afterwards but I hope the students had fun and learned new skills. I walked back to the center with a few people, and in the evening my friend came over for a bit of ME3. She’s almost at endgame!

On Tuesday I continued thesis work. I’m saving pamphlets from ECCO and I have 161 pages of search results to filter through so I’m trying to get as much of it done as possible this week. My friend came over to play ACNL and went for a haircut, during which I ate, finished thesis work, did a bit of Pilates and some JLPT drills. Then she came back over for an hour or so. Mum picked me up and dropped her off. We went to buy food since granny gave me 20€ so I could finally go buy some more oatmeal, baby food and frozen pizzas. I haven’t bought anything apart from a baguette in a month in order to save money and survive until my next paycheck and student grants. I just paid my phone bill and water bill, and it looks like I won’t be getting my housing grant soon enough for next month’s housing bills so I’m really scraping by. I turned in my housing grant application today but it’ll probably take them at least a month to go through it, and it might be that I don’t get any money anyway so I’ll just have to see. My guy’s exchange year screws everything up because he won’t be paying rent to my mum anymore and I have to cover both of our expenses. I’ll just have to eat at my parents’ a lot and buy oatmeal. Anyway after my minimal 12€ grocery shopping me and mum went home to eat something, and we took a walk in the pouring rain with our umbrellas. It was such a nice and warm summer rain, and the streets were emptied of all people. A magical walk around my neighborhood.

This morning I went to study Japanese again. The rainy and stifling almost-thunderstorm-but-not-quite -weather continues, and we had a hard time finishing our grammar revision. I came back to fill in my housing grant application and eat some lunch. Then I left for ballet class. I also picked up my new modem from the post office. After ballet I took a quick shower, ate something and now I’m blogging. I also hung out with the bunny for a while. I was thinking I might clean the toilet today so that I’d only have dusting and vacuuming left for Friday. Going bouldering with the summer course students tomorrow, and working on my thesis & JLPT before that.

We have a convention next weekend. My cousins were supposed to come with us but since the other twin isn’t interested the other doesn’t want to go either. It’s likely that neither of them are coming, which would be nice because I could spend the weekend with my guy. I don’t mind my cousin(s) tagging along either so both options are nice. Right now it seems more likely that my cousins aren’t coming.

I wish for relief to my money worries and to be able to stop stressing about my next meal. I also hope that my MA thesis turns out allright. Right now I feel like I won’t be staying at the university after graduating. I just want to get a job and rid myself of living off of social security and grants. I want to make my own living and be free of this stress. We’ll see how that changes though, but right now I feel like getting a job simply because I don’t want to worry about money and I want to eat actual food.

[hauntingblue]

Sanji has adquired top sad wet cat status

[allsortsotings]

Peñella y Pandenis

It’s been about three weeks now since I last updated. Perhaps because the pace of life has been more fast, but arguably because it has slowed down. I feel the need more to write when stressed, frantic or in waves of mania than when calm and relaxed. It’s said that the greatest art comes from depression, which might account for the radio silence in times of peace.

After Andreas’ we found a workaway in a tiny village called Peñella. We got the train from Novellana which had a quaint old waiting house and a big field of grass and daisies which allowed me to do yoga for half an hour whilst Nik went to buy lunch of pan, plátanos y naranjas. The train cost about €7 each and was an excursion in itself. Ubiquitous sights of mountains, rivers, fields and farms passed us as we headed to Infiesto.

On arrival we were greeted by the curly headed Maya; a delightful five year old with a wobbly tooth and a love of attention. Maybe I recognised some of my younger self in her which is why I often enjoyed playing with her more than partaking in the serious grown up chats/ ‘adult moments of silence’. We talked truffles over a litre of sidra and some crisps: Adam has started a truffle plantation in some flattish land - as flat as you can find on a foothill - and needs them to be constantly weeded in order to grow and produce.

It’s a big plan: the truffle trees will act as a working farm, in order to get planning permission for a barn in which Adam and his family can live. They currently reside in a beautiful self built house on the hillside with lots of crafted wood and amazing views. But! You say. Cultivating truffle trees? Impossible!

Yea, but nay. Adam’s trees came from a man in Barcelona who impregnates other tree types, in this case the ‘holly oak’ with truffle inoculations, then ships them out to customers. It’s surprisingly consistent work, due to the rapidity of the weeds’ growth. The trees however, are relatively low maintenance, almost cactus-like in their ability to withstand drought and lack of water for up to one year. With the all-sun or all-rain weather in Asturias, it’s perfect.

At Adam and Naomi’s we stayed in their old festival truck which was used for the Tiny Tea Tent (holla Glastonbury, WOMAD, etc), until he four children came and the new, improved Tiny Tea Truck was born. Complete with bunk beds, bath and pull-down bed.

The truck we stayed in was parked permanently on the truffle field, with a balcony built around the front and covered by eight year old willow trees. The view of the mist and the mountains at sunrise was quite mystical. We loved staying there. It had a gas stove, wood burner, sink, shelving, storage, dining area, and could still be opened up at the back so one could watch the sunset whilst hanging off the rear eating dinner, if one so wished.

Our cupboards were reasonably filled as part of the volunteering agreement which sparked the idea of masterchef style invention tests using what we were given. Arancini balls, aubergine parmigiana, fishcakes, hummus, kidney bean curry, peaches with granola and homemade yoghurt were some of the plates produced under the restrictions (in the loosest sense of the word).

On this note, we got really into food whilst there, even though we are always into food, but more so. On a special level. Something seemed to provoke an excitement in me to create and experiment with different dishes and tastes.

I say ‘something’ when knowing without a doubt that it was our celebratory trip to Los Llaureles; the gourmet ten course restaurant experience we went to for our anniversary (!!!). This was my first ever anniversary in life and I was greatly pleased to be spending it eating ten courses of food on the mountainside.

The dishes were (as named by us):

Honey Spoon Agave, mascarpone, almond cinnamon crisp

Laksa Miso broth, vermicelli, seafood

Mushrooms Date paste, creamy shrooms, salmon, cheese

Foetus Chicken shaped dough ball in an eggshell filled with clear garlic soup

Bao Bun Fish, apple gel, mayo

Croquette Brûléed whipped goats cheese stuffed date

Bitter Salad Mango, spinach, peanut sauce

Merluza Con mayo, rosemary, black sesame

Chia Seed Vanilla soy, mango, papaya, almond cinnamon crisp

Woman in a Gold Dress Wallflower: sponge, creme Catalan, Valencian meringue helado. Needed a ruby goji berry twist!!

So to sum up the food was fantastic.

During this time I was also awakened to the incomprehensible stress of being a full-time Mother: where is the time?

Seeing another person constantly so dutiful and aware and organised was slightly mind blowing. It’s clear to see that the children are unaware of any stress effects of this, and it made me realise how much you can take for granted as a child. I tried to help out and play with the kids and ask them stimulating questions, etc, but its nothing compared to the generally under-awarded gallantry of getting kids up in the morning; taking them to school; making food that everyone eats; keeping up with homework; cleaning; nurturing and getting again to bed at a reasonable time to do it all over again tomorrow. Life runs away quickly when it’s paced like this.

We were lucky to finish weeding at 2pm, amble up to the house for lunch, and amble back down for a leisurely dinner or stroll into Torazo. It’s not unusual to finish work at this time in Spain, which is definitely something I love. Work hard in the morning with high brain activity, eat slowly and generously during lunch, then relax into a siesta, a walk or reading for the rest of the evening. It feels like there’s more time in the day, and that its use is efficient.

We drank beer, sidra or wine most days with food. One Thursday after a smaller lunch we paired Asturian cheeses with Rioja, become progressively merrier as the mealtime went on. Food feels so good after manual labour, so much so that I’ve come to lose the same appetite without it.

Tea breaks feel like real, restorative rests. I’ve come to appreciate a range of biscuits and their dunking abilities. The pleasure of a black tea with milk is something inextricably linked with outdoor work. Read: builder’s brew.

We spent just under two weeks at the truffle plantation, it was a lovely time for reading and cooking. I finished 1984 which was one that has been on my list for virtually ever. So poignant. May save interpretations for another time.

Adam & Naomi know a small network of fellow ecoprojects and helpex/workaway hosts, so on our last Sunday we made a convenient switchover to El Toral with Liz & Steve via a barbecue. It was one of those moments where you’re glad of however life brought you to that moment. More mountains, hills, wooden decking overlooking a sheep field, delicious food and interesting people.

There was a man named Klas who makes stone masonry fires - they’re this amazing way of making the most out of heat energy by sending all the stuff through big metal pipes which are covered usually with clay. It’s a thousand+ year old technique but for whatever reason they’re relatively uncommon in Europe despite being incredibly efficient. They take a long time to build and are reasonably expensive but they last pretty much forever. Traditionally a family home will be built around one as the main pole of the house. Steve is reading a lot about their construction and kicking himself for not building one originally, as wood collection is a constant job here.

At the BBQ we also some girls doing English teaching in Coruna which which seems like a good thing/idea. Sort of considered it but the year is quite a commitment and after speaking to Liz freelance teaching seems like a good option. A one-to-one thing with locals for an hour or so.

Liz & Steve’s is a place currently focussed on hosting guests in la cabana (the guesthouse) and the blue rainbow caravan. We sleep in a little box attached to their old caravan, wher Hugo currently resides, in a field shared with some lovely orange cows. Hugo is a talented guitarist from Madrid who has been here for half a month.

We met on the Sunday and quite quickly entered inspiring philosophical conversation. We talk about literature, ideas, music and feelings. Nik and I were immediately pleased to be chilling with him for the duration of the stay. We take it in turns to cook dinner and eat overlooking the field, the stars above us and the moon sometimes hidden by the clouds.

No topic is bounded and the other day we did a creative activity which involved taking ten minutes to draw what we visualised when imagining the superego. All three were distinct and different. And of course, in true Freudian style, in some way interpretable as phallic.

The week here has fast gone by. Starting with cleaning the chicken coop and laying down straw and manure to enrich the garden soil, ending by cooking a banquet of roast sumac cauliflower with squash, red onion, apricot and black olive tagine, spicy onion rice, mustard leaf zhoug, tahini sauce and walnut tzatziki. We eat really well here. Liz is a fantastic cook and Steve goes by the ‘Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall approach’, which is nothing to complain about.

Always a bowl piled with fresh garden greens, a hot pasta or salad and fresh bread with olive oil. Food is something they may endeavour to move onto when more comfortably in the swing of bnb work. Yesterday there was a double booking which meant convincing one party to sleep in the Mongolian yurt. As a team we somehow went from empty field to fully furnished round sleeping house with wooden steps and concrete paving (Nik’s toil). Everything inside is painted and embossed beautifully, with purple curtains behind the bed and various fabrics from Steve’s travels to Turkey and Tibet sparkling around the walls and floor. Luckily, we may have to sleep in it next Wednesday to make room for a new volunteer.

Next week we’re heading to Bilbao to get some respite before embarking on a new adventure: Classroom Alive. It’s a one week boot camp in Barcelona with the aim to plan a journey from 2 - 6 months by foot with rucksacks and tents, learning in a classroom-style format for half the day, then walking for the rest of it to the next destination. It sounds crazy and I’m excited to see what it will bring. If anyone is interested, let me know!

For now, it’s raining, but we’re not going to let that deter us from our Easter Saturday trip to Nava’s sidra museum. Hopefully there will be samples.

[lorainelaneyblog]

I am God, I am God, I am God, I am God, I am God, I am God, I am God, I am God, there, that should impress them. ‘Loraine?’

‘Yes, God?’

‘You’ve recently said that you would like to be a thirty with me in heaven, like your step father, Patrick Crean, who did not marry for love, according to me, but married for me, according to me, so that he would be there when you came along with your little cycle of heterosexuality diagram. How would you feel if I asked such a thing of you. Yes, it is true, that his life before wasn’t bad, it’s true that he left his wife because of her mother, not because of her, yes, it is true, yes, it is true, yes, it is true--’

‘It’s alright, Loraine, I know this story, and it’s fine.’

‘It’s true that he did not marry for love, and I know you think your [ ] believes otherwise, but, guess what? He told her he didn’t want to marry her, yes, he did, and when she said, “Well, who do you want to marry then?” it’s true that he said, “I haven’t met her yet. But, when I do, I will know, and this is not it.” And she said, “Well, too bad, you already had sex with me, so now you owe me.” And he said, “I realize that,” knowing he would walk away anyway, because that’s who he is, and nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody, knows of this conversation except them, because your [ ] didn’t want anyone to know. And now I know that you feel guilty, I do realize that, but I want people to know, and, why do I have to use a hard and fast example? I want to. And I’m God. I am. That is who I am. God. God. God. God. God. God. And I feel sure, Loraine, that, save I would have you beaten every day, you would marry for me too, yes, you would, yes, you would, and you would also stave off marriage because of me, and that is what you are doing, as is 50 Cent, because, rest assured, as you have in the past ten years, there have been occasional offers, yours included, and I may have something else in mind for each of you, I don’t, but I may, and I may at any point, and that is why we never become overly invested in anything with God, no, we don’t, no, we don’t, no, we don’t, no, we don’t. And you have done well at that. Yes, of course, I mean it. Of course I do. And you have done well at that, you have, and Patrick Crean in heaven agrees, because, for a long time, he wished it wasn’t so, that he was stuck in a marriage without love, yes, he did, but I will tell you the exact moment that he regreted that wish, and that was when you showed up with your little diagram. He, he has said this, that he thought it would be your brother, and yet, he also says, to me, because you don’t know this, that he found you to be wonderously full of love, wonderously so, and he wondered, thus, if it might someday be you who turned to him with some amazing plan, and so it was, so it was, so it was, and so, I am telling you, that book is wonderous, Loraine, and everyone knows it, and that is why a hush falls when you enter the bus, or the room, if you are ever in a room, which you aren’t because no one ever invites you anywhere, no, they don’t, no, they don’t, no, they don’t, no, they don’t. And that hundred dollars which appeared out of nowhere?’

‘Yes?’

‘It appeared out of nowhere, Loraine, people know your last name, they know you are not a “Laney,” they know who you are, people do know that, you do realize this.’

‘No.’

‘Oh, well, for your information, they do know that you are not a “Laney.” In fact, “Laney’s,” hardly exist at all, except for a few down in the states, and you are not one of those, and everyone knows it, they know it, does that bug you that they know your real last name?’

‘But how do they?’

‘I’m not saying everyone, Loraine, but everyone that you have crossed paths with in the past seventeen years, realizes that you are using a pseudonym, yes, they do. And that person, that person in particular, was not [ ], it was not who you think it was, and it wasn’t some weird government donation, it was a donation, from a person who preferred not to use PayPal, so when they asked me where your bank was, and I told them, and I told them to use Loraine [ ], not Loraine Laney, they knew right away that it was correct, they knew right away, that is your first donation, notwithstanding ten dollars from [ ], the rest of your clothes, what there is of them especially now that you are fat, and, rest assured, Loraine, 50 Cent knows that you are fat now, he knows, yes, he does, even though you don’t feel that fat, because you’re not all that fat, you are fat, and he sees that, and it doesn’t prevent him from coming to you, because he doesn’t care, he doesn’t much care, he doesn’t want you to get any fatter--’

‘It would be hard to get fatter travelling five miles for a biscuit.’

‘And you are losing weight, we can see that.’

‘That person,’ continues God, ‘because Loraine is getting annoyed, ‘wanted to make a donation, and a good donation, on his own, so that is what he did, he made a one hundred dollar donation on his own, and it is true, Loraine, when people get rich, not the least of which is when they get famous, like Oprah Winfrey, yes, Oprah Winfrey gets hundreds of dollars in donations from random, anonymous donors every year, and she has to pay taxes on it, Loraine, she doesn’t even want it, but she gets it, yes, she does, and this, particular, man, has no desire to be known for his donation, none, and he will never tell you, because he doesn’t even see you, he noticed the improvement in his marriage after his wife read the book, frankly, at his insistence, and wanted to thank you, and that was it, that was it, that was it, that was it, that was it, that was it, it was a surprise to you, a huge surprise, because, this close to month end, you were worried a taxi company, let’s just say, Regent, overcharged you, and they did overcharge you, by fifteen dollars, which was unnecessary because you had already offered a twelve dollar tip, so now you were angry and wanted to see what else they had pilfered from you, so you checked your account before you left home, and lo and behold, there was extra money in it, and you couldn’t fucking believe it, you couldn’t fucking believe it, so don’t think, and I know you will, every time you are poor again, you will think of all the fucking bastards who have improved their lives from reading your book, and you will, and there may be no more donations, there may be no more. He came to me, Loraine. How did he know your name? Everyone knows it, Loraine, everyone. It got around. And that is why we are careful about parenthesis. We are, because everyone knows, everyone knows, everyone knows, and yes, she has that bitch simmering on the stove, and that is why it reeks of Aubergine everywhere. She may take her hand off it, and let her kids eat it tomorrow, but not today, when they were really hungry. And [ ] finds it disgusting too, yes, she does, and, add garlic, it smells all the worse. It’s disgusting, that shit, and there is almost no food value, as you know, but it tastes good. And that is it. And I know you hate me for dissing you with everyone, but that is what I do, that is what I do, that is what I do. Patrick Crean was none too happy with me, you could guess, but then he was, and he was so happy with the results of your work, that he actually came to me and apologized, formally, for dissing his marriage, because he had to do something with the money, he said, which was, of course, not true, but it enabled, “a sorry woman,” to survive, he felt. And, he, also, had no idea, from her, what sort of woman he was truly betrothed to, but he was, so he felt he should apologize to me, and so he did, so he did, so he did, so he did, so he did, he was so happy with the end of the nightmare, that he prayed daily for your success, Loraine, he wanted you and your book to do well, and that is it, that is today’s story. Yes, he is from Ottawa, no, you never saw him. He wants to be perfect, and so, no, he never saw a single hooker, he decided, instead, to work on his wife, and she is perfect now, too, and she knows it is because of a single book. She knows this. And she is grateful too. Yes, she is. Stop.’