I had problems getting into the company virtual desktop from my work computer, so the proposals did not get worked on! Woo. It’ll be okay.
I got to sleep around 5:30 in the morning — might have made it by 5, but Ali in Boston texted me and I enjoyed our exchange until I dropped off. Woke up at about 8:30, to see she had texted me several times while I slept. So I answered them for a while and then went back to sleep at about 9:00, waking up at around 1:30. It was about seven or seven and a half hours of good sleep, interrupted only once.
I felt so rested I took only the tiniest of pleasant naps Saturday, which puts me on track to have kind of a normal Sunday. It’s 2:00 in the morning Sunday now, and if I can be in bed by 2:30 or 2:45, I can get up around 9:30 or 10 and have something close to a normal day.
This is the plan, anyway.
I traded several texts with Sylvia as well, arranging a time and place where I can give her some yeast and flour. I bought the yeast (a whole pound!) to share, so I’m happy to pass a bunch of it along. And my local supermarket had tons of bread flour, which I have been lacking for a really long time, so I’m happy to pass along some of my all-purpose and whole-wheat. Gotta make room in the pantry for the bread flour, which gives a better rise and which I hope will fix some of my sourdough shortcomings.
I haven’t launched my starter resuscitation project yet. Hopefully Sunday evening. I may save the slice-of-bread idea for later, though, since when I was cleaning out my fridge, I found some discard from several weeks back. I may be able to wake that up much more quickly, and this is the new plan.
I did the Saturday NYT crossword in just over fifteen minutes. Not a record for me, but eleven minutes faster than my Saturday average. I had to do some trial-and-erroring in the northeast corner, so it wasn’t a clean solve. Bleah.
Did a bunch of the normal chores, nothing that actually got me ahead on things. Just kept me current, which in normal days I’d consider a win.
I hit the supermarket just before it closed. The only thing I really needed was another week’s supply of Diet Pepsi and a gallon of milk, but I still managed to spend more than a hundred bucks. Picked up an onion and a couple of apples. Then got backup of stuff I’m past halfway done with: fluoride rinse, dental floss, shampoo, paper plates, and dishwashing soap. Oh I realized when I got there I needed balsamic vinegar, bread flour (since it was in stock), white rice, and hot dog buns. I don’t want to go back to the store too close to July 4 weekend, and you gotta have hot dogs on Independence Day. One impulse buy was a couple of packages of Oreos. I could have spent less getting a bunch of that stuff from the drugstore — Long’s is on the other end of the stripmall. I just didn’t want to take chances going into another establishment. So yeah: a hundred bucks. Ugh.
Breakfast was a bowl of raisin bran, which I actually had before I brushed my teeth and went to bed. For lunch, I was kind of craving something from my leaner days: something made entirely in the rice cooker more for filling me up semi-healthily than for indulgence. There were a lot of options, since in those years between the engineering firm and the non-profit I came up with a lot of good, inexpensive meals this way.
I made a large pot of brown rice (in the Instant Pot because I’m trying to decrease the number of countertop kitchen appliances I keep) with a large can of chicken breast a friend at work gave me to try, then when it was done cooking but not really (if you make Japanese rice, you know what I mean), I threw in the steamed kale and half of the steamed broccoli I had in my fridge. Mixed that up and spooned it into a bowl and topped it with medium cheddar. Probably coulda used some salt, but otherwise it was a decent meal. I have a bunch of leftovers too, although I’m not dying to have it for a main course again. Maybe I’ll lay down some Spam and eggs on it Monday.
For dinner, I made a pot of angel hair and finally tried the spaghetti sauce with chopped kimchi. It was good. Also topped with medium cheddar. I am trying to decide if it needed more kimchi or if it had just enough. The kimchi didn’t dominate, but it was noticeable. Maybe that’s the best way for this to work, you know?
I feel like I pigged out on that, but there’s still a bunch of leftovers.
Didn’t snack at all, and neither did I go for a walk!
All day I pretty much listened to Ozzy Osbourne’s No Rest for the Wicked (1988), which has a couple of hit songs on it. This was the recording debut of Zakk Wylde, and it’s a great introduction. Give Ozzy credit: he has never been afraid to share the stage with first-rate guitar players. Maybe it’s from his early days in Black Sabbath with Tony Iommi, or maybe it’s because he understands how much better his songs are when played by outstanding musicians. Or maybe it’s just a keen understanding that he’s always the focus of attention, even when a killer guitar shredder is off to his left.
The guitar playing is fantastic. All pyrotechnics and hey-look-at-me. Based only on this album and the two previous albums, I’d say Wylde is a better player than Jake E. Lee, and that’s saying something.
The album is also a heck of a lot better than I expected, and I learned only this evening that it was double platinum by 1997, so perhaps I’m not the only one who thinks it’s a fine piece of hard rock and metal. It’s also surprisingly heavy — not as heavy as the stuff I listen to on a normal weekend, of course, but that was never Ozzy’s thing. But still quite heavy and a bit dark. I like this Ozzy quite a bit. Oh, and there’s a song here about Jimmy Swaggart so of course I think it’s a nice record.
A devil with a crucifix Brimstone and fire He needs another carnal fix To take him higher and higher Now Jimmy, he got busted with his pants down Repent ye wretched sinners, self righteous clown Miracle man got busted, miracle man got busted
Readers of a certain age will remember that Swaggart pointed a lot of fingers at Ozzy for supposedly being evil. Which he very well may have been, but you know how it goes. I honestly don’t care what Jimmy did or with whom. Honestly. Other people’s having consensual sex is none of my business. But Jimmy made it his business and got busted with his pants down. I actually agree with what he told his congregation when he finally discussed it. According to Wikipedia, he said, “The Lord told me it’s flat none of your business,” and that was it.
He was telling the truth for a change. It was flat none of our business. I’d like to think he learned a thing or two about other people’s sins (if sins they are) being nobody else’s business, but I’d wager he didn’t.
The guitar solo on “Miracle Man” is amazing, by the way. Ozzy and Zakk had something to say. And there is a decent chance when I’m through with this retrospective, this will be my favorite Ozzy Osbourne record.
Geez it’s past three. Gotta brush my teeth and head to bed. My text alerts seldom wake me, but if you should need someone to reach out to, reach out to me. I’ll get back to you when I wake up!