Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Tell Grandma I'm Alright

A couple of months ago I was talking to my brother and he was asking me whether I was back in school and what exactly I was doing in school if I was indeed back. Apparently people had been drilling him about what I was up to, so I summed it up as best I could over the phone and left it at that. The last month I've been up home pretty nearly every weekend which means that I've had a chance to see pretty much everybody in the village which means I've gotten a nigh constant barrage of "are you still in school?", "what have you been getting up to down there?" and "do you have a boyfriend yet?" The answer to all of which is a resounding "uhh well umm"

So I figured instead of standing there with a stupid look on my face trying to think of some way to answer the questions posed to me by my elders that doesn't make me sound like a total loser, I'd just write up this little dossier on what I'm up to and direct them here whenever they want to know how I'm doing. Clever, yes?

First order of the day: school. Yes I am back in school. No I am not in university. Because I was homeschooled (or rather unschooled if you want to get technical) I don't actually have a highschool diploma so I am taking highschool level prep courses through Dalhousie to meet their pre-requisites. Yes, I know I already got my GED and yes, I know that all of my friends just went straight into university, I just really have a lot of anxiety about failure so I want to make sure I know what I'm doing and I don't totally fuck everything up. I will probably be in first year university by next fall, don't worry. I also probably won't graduate until I'm thirty. I'm enjoying myself, don't rush me.

I am still working at the same place. I know it's not a very illustrious job but again, I enjoy the work and the people I work with, so don't pressure me about it. I'm not going to wash cars for the rest of my life but unless you're going to pay my rent and buy my food I really need to have a job and since I have no skills whatsoever my options are kind of limited in what I can do. That being said, there are a lot worse jobs I could be doing for the money I'm making. I know because I've done them. Don't worry about it, it's a good job and I'm fine.

My roommate and I experienced our very first burglary a few weeks ago, which is, I suppose, a downside of living in the city. I was a little too shocked that such a thing would happen to really process any of it properly but insofar as we can tell it was our former roommate who did it, and he didn't take anything irreplaceable, and it hasn't happened again since. As weird as it sounds I feel like this is some kind of rite of passage, that everybody who lives in a place like Halifax should experience at least one burglary. Don't get me wrong, I'm pissed and if I see the guy I'll set him on fire, I'm just trying to find some small consolation prize to keep me sane.

Other than that I have, by and large, been "keeping out of trouble" (a question pretty nearly everyone asks me and won't accept 'yes' as an answer). I hardly drink, I almost never go leave my house except to go to school and work. Mind you, when I do go out, I go out hard and whatever it is I'm doing looks pretty exciting. The last time I went anywhere it was to my friend's house for jello wrestling (which is exactly what it sounds like). The time before that was with my brother to the Dropkick Murphy's concert in august so as you can tell my excursions are few and far between. That's not a bad thing. I have a lot of stuff to do, and rather enjoy time spent by myself. I socialize just as often as I need to.

My car is still working fine. My brother put subs in it so when you hear somebody go thumping down the road it's not necessarily Tyler, it could also be me.

Keeping on the positive side, I have managed to get to twenty two (almost twenty three actually) without getting pregnant, in spite of all my philandering. So no great-grandbabies for you. I'm sorry. I'm also nowhere near getting shacked up or married so no weddings either. That isn't something I'm remotely interested in so again, don't worry about it.

Finally, I moved house to a great big apartment with a backyard, we've been working on a little garden and have a barbecue. Considering how nice and spacious and conveniently located the place is, our rent is insanely low. The only downside is that there is, apparently, no parking so I've racked up almost a hundred dollars in fines from parking on the street but I hope to get that sorted out at least before the snow starts to fall. Also it looks like my phone might be right on the verge of shitting the bed so don't bother trying to contact me. If I need to get in touch with you I will.

Have a nice day!

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Girl Drink Drunk: Big Ginger Float

So one of my favourite websites is The Berry. If you've never heard of the Berry, it's operated by the same people who do the Chive but it's targeted specifically towards girls, so it's got, y'know, DIY ideas, PMS jokes and pictures of hot guys, among other things.

Anywho, I found this recipe on there. I did a few tweaks to it to suit my particular taste and whipped up a couple one lazy afternoon. My edition is as follows. The original recipe can be found here.

One of the changes I made was swapping Gingers Irish Whiskey for Jack Daniel's which, arguably, defeats the whole purpose of the drink. I did that because a) I've never heard of 2 Gingers Irish Whiskey before and didn't know if they carried it at the NSLC nearest me; b) I'm not really a huge fan of Irish Whiskey for the most part; and c) I drink a lot of Jack Daniel's.

I also fired a sprig of ginger mint in there as a garnish just because I happen to have some in my garden and it seemed extra fancy.

I almost wound up switching out the sherbet because I had a helluva time finding it. Sobey's didn't have any at all, instead they carry frozen yoghurt (don't get me fucking started on frozen yoghurt, oh my fucking god) or some weird lime flavoured ice cream which is one of the most disgusting sounding thigns I can imagine. I damn near had a breakdown in the grocery store (this seems to happen more and more often), coz, y'know, I remember getting lime sherbet there as a kid. It was really really green and had those little squishy bits in it. And rainbow sherbet. And orange sherbet. Now you can't even get any sherbet at all as far as I could tell. I found some at the superstore, so I didn't have to choke anybody, but still.

Big Ginger Float Cocktail (with Jack Daniel's)

2 oz. Jack Daniel's
1/2 can ginger ale
1 scoop lime sherbet
Lemon wheel and a sprig of ginger mint for garnish
Put ingredients in a fancy glass in the order given and serve immediately.

This tasted pretty good. The lime, Jack's and mint actually go together better than one would expect. I think if I had given the gingerale and whiskey time to chill it may have made a better drink coz the sherbet doesn't really cool it that much but I was so pissed off when I got back from the grocery store I needed a stiff drink when I got back to calm me down.

Anyway, the only qualm I had with it (apart from it not being really cold which was my fault) was that it seemed a little bit too sweet. Like that sticky kind of sweetness that coats the inside of your stomach and your brain and if you have more than two you'll be proper fucked and completely unable to function in the morning.

Don't get me wrong, it's pretty tasty, and maybe it'd be different if I'd used the right ingredients but still way too sweet for my taste. So far, I would say my drink of choice for the summer (and summer's pretty much over at this point) has to be either a lighter beer or a chilled rose wine.

And with that, it's onward to wintery drinks.