Liz Can['t] Cook

All last night - LJ told me I was not me and I couldn't log in and...well, I think it kind of hurt my feelings. Or it would have hurt my feelings if I had really thought about it then. Today, remembering it - I feel wounded. Last night I was just trying to keep up with the TV, the book I finally finished ("Good Omens" - love a comedy about the Apocolypse) and a couple of conversations and not burn the rice, and so I didn't really give it the pouting it deserved. Also, last night I had wine. Today at work I only have whine. Makes a big difference, let me tell ya.

I made beef stew yesterday. Well, actually - toward the end there it looked more like stew soup and I had to throw myself on heres_luck's mercy so that it would look more like stew and she gave me a number of quite tasty ways to thicken the mixture to acceptable stew standards. She even warned me about turning my vegetables into sludge, which I thought was the *point* of stew, so my eyes have been opened on that point as well. Her advice, while it made me hungry and her stew actually sounds like something I would go to a restaurant and order, probably reached my ears (or eyes as I was reading her advice) too late in life. I think if I had met h.l. just a few years ago, she might have had a shot at turning me into something resembling a competent cook. Hell, a couple of years ago I could make pecan encrusted Halibut with a sweet potato souffle and before that I could bake. Now I am lucky to pour Cheerios into a bowl without catching something on fire. It is like I remember doing all that - but it is only like a movie reel - like there once was a time in my life where I played someone who could cook on television.

So, last night, when staring the great pot of soupy stew in the face, I remembered what my mother taught me (as a child): there is no dish that a can of cream of mushroom soup will not improve upon.

When faced with something unknown versus opening a can and stirring, I think we all know what I will choose. Apparently, I am a cook just like my mother and prepared sauces and jars will be my best friend and salt/pepper are the only spices you will ever need. No wonder I eat takeout so much.

Tonight I go home armed with further culinary knowledge from my mother: a cup of sour cream - stirred into leftover beef anything - will instantly transform that dish into Beef Stroganoff. Yum.

Meanwhile - in other news: I heart killabeez muchly. For many good and varied reasons.

Also, I have to write my 2004 Development Plan on my own this year (yet *another* manager shuffle - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, and yada yada yada). I hate Development Plans as they are full of additional work - things you are supposed to do in addition to *your job* so I normally just ignore them. Which sucks at the yearly review.

Last Year's Review

Boss: Liz, did you take those material damage tutorials I told you to do last year?

Me: Uhhhh...[grabs frame on desk] Is this your dog?

Boss: I thought you were applying for AIC designation?

Me: Yeah, about that...I'm still not quite sure what that means so I thought I would first figure that out and then how to go about applying for it. Also, I hear there are modules involved and I'm not really certain what that means either. I think I might have a phobia to modules. Modules or tight spaces - I'm still sorting it out.

Boss: It doesn't look like you've looked at this thing once since April.

Me: Well, I have developed. I'm gonna go to Vividcon in August and everyone says that my vidding is really coming along and I might even try my hand at fanfiction and oh, you mean my professional development. Oh, well that. No, I haven't done much for that, now have I? Wait! I went to Texas for a whole week and took those licensing exams! Doesn't that count?

Boss: You did that 2 years ago.

Me: Really? That long ago? Wow. That means I haven't been to a concert in 2 years. I should really get out more. Can we put that on the plan, under some kind of socio-political developing the whole person type competency?

Boss: [crying silently at desk]


So now - since there will not be a manager in place when my plan goes up for review - I am charged with writing my own plan. Which could be fun - I'm trying to figure out ways to get Eddie Izzard phrases in there without anyone catching on. Since I have decided to be an Executive Claims Adjuster. Not a weirdo one.

LotR Vids...

mlyn wanted me to mention that they are still in need of vids for the TolCon show. I don't vid in that fandom, and I can't off of the top of my head think of anyone on my fList that has any completed LotR vids - but I know some of you *will* so keep this in mind, okay? And if you happen to know of any LotR vidders, kindly point them in mlyn's direction, or better yet to the con site at:
http://www.tolcon.org/

I'd link to one of the nifty banners, but I don't know how to do that. I'm pretty much a the top of my mastery of techical skills when I employ cut tags.


I never considered vidding anything in LotR, but then I saw RotK and it was just so breathtakingly beautiful. And HUGE - the scope was bigger than vast, and I found myself getting choked up just because a scene was pretty - like the scene where the [word escapes me - beacons?] at the tops of the mountains are lit one after the other? Just beautiful. But, I don't really listen to music that would go with that backdrop and I listen to everything so vidding LotR and vidding it *well* are 2 separate things and while one is possible, the other is not likely, so I forgo. I firmly believe there will be classic LotR vids - vids that capture the film fantastically and/or give a deeper meaning/understanding of the characters - but I don't think we will really see them until after RotK is released on DVD. JMO, YMMV.