i've been wondering about this lately, because j and i are friends, and i've never had a boyfriend be friends with my best friend's boyfriend before. so the question i have is, who do you owe your loyalties to?
let's say the boys hang out. your boy comes back and tells you something you know your best friend would not like. could be serious, or maybe not. do you always keep that between you and your boyfriend, or do you at some point tell your girlfriend?
the discovery is a netflix movie from 2017. in it, a scientist discovers proof of an "afterlife." that is, some part of us goes somewhere after we die. he isn't sure what it is that goes, or where it goes to, but millions of people kill themselves anyway.
which i think is crazy. because even outside the "what" it is that goes, "where" is more important, no? lots of religious people believe that if you kill yourself, you don't go to heaven (or its equivalent), even if you would have if you'd just died. wouldn't that be the same in this the discovery world?
i feel like there may be a slight increase in suicides, but not that many more. the biggest change would be more religious people. and that the religious would be more religious.
another interesting idea is that murder may become more prevalent. because you're not ending their life, you're just... transferring them elsewhere. this makes a lot more sense to me. i think mercy killings would spike like a mofo. not sure about regular murder though, because it's not as people who would but don't currently commit murder only don't do it because they're worried the victim has no afterlife. plus, there would still be legal consequences to murder. there would probably be more murder, but only a small increase.
in case you cared: the movie plot summary
the adidas tang jacket has gone viral: article with pictures
personally, I think it's super cute and would totally wear one. tho i recently saw this short tiktok video saying there is some controversy about the jacket among Chinese people.
that led me to a much longer video deep diving into the history of this style.
tl;dr: this style of jacket with a mandarin collar and frog closure is taken from the Manchu peoples, which some Han Chinese do not like since they blame the Manchu for the Century of Humiliation. Also, these Han Chinese also don't prefer this style to be representative of Chinese clothing since it has a much shorter history within the country.
people suck. they really do. i've been saying this for a long time but like, what are some people even doing?
few stories, mostly rants.
1. how are you living your life that you think all your coworkers and bosses are either incompetent or racist?
like, i don't care if everyone likes me, but i do try to be a likeable coworker because that shit's important. i may have a question, need help, need covering, whatever. and also cause i spend 40 hours a week with my coworkers, which is a lot of time, and i want to be able to enjoy that time.
2. how are you living your life that you think your next door neighbors hold you (a frail 70 year old lady who rarely has guests over) responsible for their house robbery and installed cameras pointed at your house after the break-in?
either way, if you're right that your neighbors do think
that, or if you're wrong and you neighbors don't actually think that, how are you living your life?
i generally try to get to know my neighbors and be kind (take their packages and trashcans in) because that shit is also important! i want them to want to call me if they see something/someone suspicious at my place. i also want to bring in my packages and trashcans if they get to them first. like... how can you not trust the people you directly live next to? i want my home, my safe space, to extend outside the actual physical walls of my home, you know?
3. how are you living your life that you can't be bothered to read or follow any instructions for things you want that are free?
i had some new medical stuff to give away on buy nothing. i'm only in town a few hours each week so in my post, i provide that time frame and ask that people comment with when they could come. many people did not comment with time of proposed pick-up. i ignored those comments, and someone actually dm-ed me without my asking them to first (which is against the buy nothing group rules). like UGH. you can't be bothered to read my post NOR follow group rules?
4. how are you living your life that you're such a fucking flake?
you didn't have to have a full on conversation with me about what you wanted and when and where we could meet then suddenly do a no call / no show. like... just let me know you changed your mind?
for a few things, rather than have to match up schedules, i've literally just set them outside, provided my address, and told the person to come at their convenience. and STILL i've had people flake! like.. what the fuck is the point of you?! is this a new way of trolling people? like... i'm giving things away for free, go troll someone selling something for way more than it ought to be?
3 and 4 are basically the same in that people are so fucking disrespectful of other people's time and energy. like. jesus, i wanted to give away the stuff for free since they can be necessary objects, can be expensive for some people, and i got them for free but like after so much fucking run around i really wanted to sell them just to make up for some of my lost time! (it's medical stuff [commodes, walkers, etc] so goodwill / savers won't take them, at least, not the ones i went to and talked to the workers about?)
this month's news has been taken over by all the bullshit going on in minnesota, but we should not forget that ICE is still here in la too. so this month i donated to the los angeles neighbor's support fund organized by the california community foundation.
also want to help those in la affected by ice? here's a list of different orgs you can you donate to, or go find a different org that speaks to you!
speaking of, why did i donate specifically to this org rather than one of the many others doing similar work? because the california community foundation does a lot of really great work in la. it's sort of like a non-profit for non-profits. they provide resources and grants for la based non-profits. local cities also work with them, so i feel pretty good about my donation going towards whatever they say it's going to go to.
my giving list for 2025 is like last year's, in that it reflects some of the places we've lived this year. i've skipped a couple because my finances aren't looking so great (nearly $2k hospital bill was not helpful, plus taxes, and so many flights!), but I may go back and donate regardless.
january - prisoners literature project
february - pbs
march - soft paw vintage
april - various national parks in hawaii
may - npr
june - molokai heritage trust
july -
august -
september / october - algalita and moore institute thru long beach gives
november - ywca south florida
december - east jesus
basque cheesecake: Basque Cheesecake (with crust!)
chocolate versions - Chocolate Basque Cheesecake, Chocolate Basque Burnt Cheesecake, and Chocolate Basque Cheesecake
oreo crust - 18 regular oreos, scant 4 tsp butter
cheesecake (ingredients mostly from the first cbc link from Catherine Zhang)
16 oz (450 g or two bricks) cream cheese, room temperature
200g (7 oz) dark chocolate, 65-70%.
if regular chocolate, can add bit sugar
melt at 20 second intervals in microwave
1/2 cup (100 g) white sugar
1 tbsp (7 g) cocoa powder (can add 1/2 tsp extra if non dutch processed)
1 tsp instant coffee (pretty much 1 packet of the travel size ones)
1/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs, room temperature
240ml (1 cup) heavy cream
using a cupcake tin and liners, you'll make about 20 mini cheesecakes with the full cheesecake recipe.
like with the actual recipe, you don't need to pre-bake the crusts, just put into fridge while you prep the cheesecake.
fill cupcake liners pretty near the top. they will rise a little, but not nearly as much as the full sized cake does.
you can preheat the oven 25 degrees higher, then just before you put them in, drop it by 25 degrees.
j's current work contract is in la. we've been here for about two months now, but took our first trip away, to palm springs! j's brother was there for a work training and had a room, so we stayed with him for a night. palm springs was / is okay, but i was really excited for the "new" desert x art installations at the salton sea, and especially for east jesus!, which i've never actually been to. last time we tried, it was during the pandemic and the residents there weren't allowing visitors.
east jesus is actually a lot more... organized than i thought? i thought it was just a subsection of slab city, which it is? but it's actually quite a bit more than that. anyway. i'm not interested in explaining it, but if you're interested, you can read about it on their website.
anyway, so i donated my usual $25 via venmo to their cause because weird desert art is one of my favorite things :)
the pot de creme uses only egg yolks, so what to do with the whites? make pavlovas with whipped cream and macerated berries! personal sized ones are especially fun :)
recipes: pavlova and mini pavlovas
i had doubled the pot de creme recipes (and got 9 of those), so had 4 leftover egg whites. i made 12 pavlovas (on two baking sheets), but they were very fragile. maybe make them a little taller (so thicker) and less wide? it was a bit hard to make a little depression in each (to better hold the whipped cream and berries). also, possibly make 13, or one more than you want in total, in order to test the texture.
recipe: macerated fruit
macerated berries "recipe": berries, lemon or lime juice, and sugar. marinate!, cover, and fridge. longer means more wet. can also use flavored liqueur and/or herbs.
these are quite a bit of fun, with nice presentation, but once you add the whipped cream, they get soft pretty so you'll want to serve pretty quickly. in other words, maybe not the best choice for potlucks.
recipes: easy pot de creme, blender pot de creme, and pot de cremes
6oz dark chocolate
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
half packet of travel instant coffee packet (1/2 tsp?)
2 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
be sure to not overcook the wet stuff in the pot of the whole thing will be more dense. if you add more chocolate, probably add more heavy cream. this will make about 4-5 of the costco tiramisu cups worth. since you refridge them before serving, they'll have little condensation drops on top, so def leave space on top for whipped cream and some berries.
you'll also want to serve these closer to room temp so they won't be too cold. plus a little warmer makes for a better texture too.
i'm publishing these on my blog cause i tend combine recipes and forget how / what i did. and since i'm generally baking the same thing many many months (if not years) apart, i'm finally taking notes!
basque cheesecake: Basque Cheesecake (with crust!)
chocolate versions - Chocolate Basque Cheesecake, Chocolate Basque Burnt Cheesecake, and Chocolate Basque Cheesecake
oreo crust - 14 regular oreos, 3 tsp butter
cheesecake (ingredients mostly from the first cbc link from Catherine Zhang)
16 oz (450 g) cream cheese, room temperature
200g (7 oz) dark chocolate, 65-70%.
if regular chocolate, can add bit less sugar
melt at 20 second intervals in microwave
1/2 cup (100 g) white sugar
1 tbsp (7 g) cocoa powder (can add 1/2 tsp extra if non dutch processed)
1 tsp instant coffee (pretty much 1 packet of the travel size ones)
1/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs, room temperature
240ml (1 cup) heavy cream
no need to pre-bake crust. just make, cover, fridge while you make the cheesecake batter
depending on how high you fill the cake pan, you'll end up with 1 or 2 standard cupcake liners extra, can fill with cheesecake insides, put in little ramekin, and bake with cheesecake for <10 minutes
countries we visited:
no menstrual products in restrooms
few usb charging ports
each person gets their own pizza
fork and knife pizza
Barcelona
primitive graffiti
catalan is #1
no announcements at airport
it's september! so you know what that means (or, most likely, you don't, lol), it's long beach gives time! which means that i donated this month to algalita, and credit my october donation to moore institute for plastic pollution.
i actually started my monthly donations because of algalita. early in the pandemic, my boss gave me $300 to help with the times, i guess. i didn't really need the money, and i knew non-profits were really struggling, so i started donating about $25 a month, for about $300 a year. so thank you, katie, for the money. it's the gift that keeps giving.
living in hawaii has been really educational! i didn't know basically anything about native hawaiians, their culture, or their history before coming here. i still don't know very much (tho i have read two books about hawaiian history), but of what i do know, i feel like mainstream americans can learn a lot from.
speed humps and speed tables (longer humps, like a mesa)
speed table and intersection painted "warnings" of jaggedly lines on the ground
wobbly striped roads, lol. so few lane lines and dashes
well paved roads (so few potholes), and quite a few road closures due to either construction, or more often, tree trimming
fewer street lights and sometimes very yellow ones, to create a more dark sky environment
many 2 lane roads with 1 lane bridges
fewer asshole drivers when merging (either ending lane or merging lanes)
slower speed limits (nothing higher than 55mph!) and people pretty much respecting them. ...also speeding tickets are only like $137, ask me how i know, lol
very few official police cars (most are personal vehicles with a blue light bar on top)
many abandoned cars on the side of the roads
corrugated metal roofs in hilo
so many small churches with very pointy steeples
glass shutters instead of paned windows to help with air circulation during rain
has something like 10 of the world's 14 climate zones (unclear how many climate zones there are, and even less unclear how many hawaii has, lol)
more local ads on tv and radio (fewer "big box" stores, after all)
island music on the radio. many stations.
chickens everywhere, and rooster farms!
affirming signs: smile, enjoy life, you rock
lack of 18 wheelers
trash / transfer stations / stores
bilingual announcements in hawaiian language / most road signs and place names in hawaiian
asian influence - food, snacks, 7/11!, language (auntie / uncle)
lots of thai food. outside hawaiian, american, and japanese food, it seems like the most popular cuisine
sweeter foods (including bread), plate lunches, heavy, dense food without veggies
roadside fruit / food stands. many of which are outside homes, in little wooden stands, and a lock box for the honor code
ridged aluminum cans (article about why)
screened lanais
kapu signs all over
irregular business hours
lei fridges in almost all big grocery stores
tsunami warning sirens
foot push pedals at some crosswalks
kauai - "try slow" hand-painted road signs
this month i'm actually pausing my donation :( life has been very expensive lately: taxes, ER bill, flights to maui and kauai, manta ray snorkeling... it was the nearly $1800 ER bill that really did me in. i got it sort of unexpectedly 3 months after the fact. i was billed for the urgent care visit (to get the stitches removed) about a month after whole thing so when I didn't get anything for the ER visit, I dunno... i thought my insurance would take care of it. ...but it didn't.
at that point, i had already paid my taxes and paid for flights to maui and kauai. and after paying off the bill, i reimbursed t for j and my manta ray snorkeling thing. so it was a lot of money leaving within a month.
i may go back and donate anyway. what's $25 really? i can "afford" it. i'm just feeling a little cash poor right now.
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this month i donated to random national parks. we've visited a few here in hawaii:
haleakala national park
hawai'i volcanoes
kaloko-honolohau historial park
pu'uhonua o honaunau historical park
pu'ukohola haiau historical site
i always try to go to the visitor center at each park to buy a postcard or something, and when checking out, the machine asks if i want to donate so i always do. between $1 and $20, depending on my mood, lol.
btw, i'm VERY happy i purchased an annual national parks pass! it's SUCH a good deal if you go to places like this. national parks are like $30 a pop, so if you go to just three a year, you've already "made your money back." the national parks pass lets you into any national "park" system for free, so national monuments, historical parks, forests, etc. plus, they all do great work and it's important to support what you believe in!
this month i donated to taylor randal of soft paw vintage. i follow her on instagram because she makes really pretty quilted clothing items and accessories. i happened upon her instagram story after she had been to the dentist and found out she needs two new crowns which will cost a buncha money :'( she just seemed so defeated so i immediately messaged her for her venmo and sent over $25.
non-profits needs money, but so do individuals! my tiny gift won't get her anywhere close to funding her dental needs, but hopefully she can treat herself to something nice and be cheered up a bit.
i've been feeling pretty down lately cause of current administration bullshit, so i hope that she'll pass along this small bit of random kindness and cheer someone else up too. we all need a little more happiness!
(lol, my god i hope she's not a maga-head!!)
