Pet Peeve

I am Chinese. Southern Chinese specifically. Cooking rice should be second nature for us.

My father has developed a very bad habit of ruining cooked rice. I just don't understand how he does it. Well I do understand how he ruins the rice: he puts too much water in it as he cooks it. Then he adds more water as it cooks. It turns into a lumpy form of wallpaper paste, and it tastes just about the same. I guess what I don't understand is WHY he adds too much water to the rice. The result looks a lot like rice congee (porridge).



The qualities of well-prepared rice: individual grains, tender, but firm, with a delicate fragrance and flavor. When cooked with too much water, the grains all turn to mush, and the fragrance and flavor is gone.

I finally put my foot down. If the rice is going to be that disgusting, I am refusing to eat it. Bleah!

At Ocean Shores with El

I forgot to mention that I had a very lovely day with my buddy, El, last Friday.

She wanted a "Grandma's Day" with her granddaughter, with the granddaughter's buddy. She decided to ask me along for conversation, and perhaps relief for the driving.

Departure was at about 9 am on Friday, when El picked me up at the house. We had a really nice drive down, and even though the weather was predicted to be foggy and cool, the sky cleared just after we passed the Black Hills, west of Olympia. The rest of the day was sunny, but cool.

The kids went on a horseback ride early on in the day. El and I visited for awhile.

Then after the kids returned, we all had a nice lunch, where El prepared us all sandwiches, cookies, and berries. She described her doing that as being "grandmotherly." I chimed in "Oh wouldn't it be grandmotherly!" a parody of "Wouldn't it be loverly" from My Fair Lady.

We chilled out on the beach (literally) as the temperature seemed to drop. I suggested that we go for warm drinks, as the granddaughter's buddy looked like she was getting very cold. I treated everyone to drinks: coffee drinks for El and me, and Italian sodas for the girls.

Then after that we did a little shopping in the strip malls. I looked for saltwater taffy, but then realized, "Duh! I am diabetic." So I passed on that one. Seeing many marvelous windchimes in the stores, I discovered that El likes windchimes as much as I do.

Subsequent to our commercial investigations, we all headed out back to the beach, so that all of us could ride the horses. We found a really nice "ranch" that had great horses for a very reasonable price. El treated me to a ride.

As El and I were preparing the paperwork for riding, the owner said, "Why don't you have your husband do some of the paperwork too?"

Glancing at each other over our clipboards, El and I just chuckled at this. FYI, El is a lesbian, and I am a queer boy. After a couple minutes, I gently corrected the owner, disclosing only that El and I are merely good friends, and that I was not actually her husband. When El and I were back in the car, we had a good laugh about this incident.

While riding, I was discovering that there were muscles in my lower back and abdomen, along with the unknown muscles in my hips and thighs. I was sore for a couple days after that. Who'd a thunk it? Since this was only the second time I had been astride a horse, I also discovered that boy-parts really didn't have anywhere to go except underneath when riding in the saddle. Squish. But it was a lot of fun, nonetheless.



Right after the ride, we packed up in the car, and headed back toward home. We stopped for take out at the Grizzly's Den in Hoquiam, where El treated us all for dinner, and then we noshed in the car. BTW, the fries were excellent.

Our first stop back was when we took the girls to their parent's. Then El and I had a lengthy conversation, solving most of the problems of the world on the way to my house. She dropped me off, and off she went.

I am grateful that El chose me to include on her "Grandma's Day" as it was so much fun. Thanks, El.

Thou Desireth Truth . . .

Recently I have read Losing My Religion, by William Lobdell.

His story is a lot like mine. He and I were evangelical Christians. He and I faced a crisis of faith.

When all is said and done, he became an atheist, because he lacked the faith to believe in a personalized deity.

He and I diverge on that point, as I have always had some kernel of faith in my heart, even as a small child. As Christianity was the faith tradition that was available, I embraced that one for the time.

But subsequent to my crisis of faith, I have come to the conclusion that there is a personal deity in my life, as there always has been. What I have dumped is the Christian theology, rubrics, and infrastructure, along with dumping the guilt and manipulation.

I see no reason to have a blood sacrifice to have access to the deity. The deity has always been intimate with me, even before I acceded to evangelicalism.

And, as Jesus said, "you will know them by their fruits," I have looked at the raison d'etre of the leaders and participants of church infrastructure, and it appears that the primary function of that infrastructure is to maintain power by subjugating and brainwashing the adherents and sucking them dry of their donations, as power is money. And the evidence is clear that in the church infrastructure a believer's relationship with the deity is conditional, predicated upon the approval of the church leadership, and that violates big portions of what they hold as scripture. It appears that all churches have their own form of "indulgences" except they do not call them that.

I have come to an "agnosis" where the deity who will not be named will be just that. That deity is personal to me, and loving. And her/his grace to me is given unconditionally, i.e., requiring no rubrics and genuflecting on my part to gain access to the deity.

That's how I see things for this moment. Whether I transform to another POV, only time will tell.

Farewell, Autobike

Well, I was on the trail today and I have been hearing the crank go, "skronk, skronk . . ."

I took it to a bike mechanic and he said that the Autobike is terminal. The cranks are getting loose on the spindle, and there is just no way to fix it. Sad. I actually liked the Autobike.

Today, I went to my fave pawn shop and picked up a Murray mountain bike/tank. I must have a thing for heavy bicycles. The rubber is shot on it, so I got him down 30% on the price. That much just might cover the new tires and tubes I will need to get to put on. Oh well.

I will just have to get used to shifting the derailleur again.

In the past two months

Wow, I have really been remiss in posting to the blog here. Much has happened.

Dad had another heart attack last month, and was rushed into the hospital. Of course, we did the CPR until the paramedics arrived. He has a new combination pacemaker/defibrillator, and that should help a lot in keeping him from going into v-fib. I just wish that the docs could figure out how to stop the bleeding into his intestine.



Been riding my bicycle faithfully. I must say after encountering countless inconsiderate groups of pedestrians at Seward Park who like to block the path, I have transitioned over to riding on the Interurban Trail. There are far fewer people there and I can go there and just ride in the tranquility.

Also, got the most recent results of my blood work. My A1C is down to 7.1. Much improved. I do feel better. Like the movie, "What's So Bad About Feeling Good?"

Ex #2 and I are talking a lot lately. The ex sees that I have come a long way in my recovery. I can see evidence that the ex is working on recovery too. Who knows?

I am seeing signs that I have narcissistic personality disorder symptoms. I had been totally unaware that I had them. In truth, I can see a pattern that those behaviors drove a lot of folks away from me, and out of my life. My strategy now is to identify the triggers that put me in those behaviors, and short circuit the onset of those behaviors, hopefully before I launch into them. I also need to develop new alternative strategies for responding to the triggers, so I can have a repertoire of healthy behaviors in response to the triggers.

Yesterday I gave a small lobster dinner for my truck driver buddy. He is a very nice person, and loves to help out around the house and yard here. Dad even likes him. Shock.

Next month I am planning on taking a few days to help ex #2 move the household to the new job location.

I think that covers most of the past two months in a nutshell.