Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Hardly any trick-or-treaters this year! So far we've only had 2 groups of teenagers and that's it. Kind of sad, because I have the yard and porch all decorated and there's no one to appreciate it. But kind of happy, because the fewer trick-or-treaters we get, the more candy is left for me!

I'm appreciating the workout the trick-or-treaters are giving me this year. My apartment is on the second floor, but I have my own private entrance on the first, with an open staircase up to my place. Every time someone knocks on the door, I have to run down the stairs.

P.S. I just finished making apple chips and my hands smell like cinnamon!

I kind of have that rep at work too. Which is ridiculous, because I eat like crepe at work (I always forget to bring a lunch, and we are in the middle of nowhere so a potato chip lunch is a common occurrence, and I DO love me some chips), but we'll have someone bring in like brushetta or something (vegan even) and they're always like "Oh. Gabrielle won't eat that. It has olive oil." WHAT! Just give me the forking brushetta.

Oh for fork's sake. First my email dropped off my phone and I couldn't set it back up. Then I lost my data connection entirely. I just spent an hour on the phone with my carrier trying everything under the sun, up to and including a hard reset. Nothing worked, the rep concluded that my phone had bitten the dust, and ordered me a replacement. Now it works just fine. what the fizzle, phone?

Do you have a good recipe for that? My apple chips usually end up sad and shriveled and indelible....

I have a bruise which has gotten a lot worse after attending a metal concert and moshing all night. Like, it's super dark. Could it be skin cancer?

okay, I have painted my nails, cleaned my kitchen, livingroom, and bathroom, and done 2 hours of embroidery and it's only 2am and what else can I do to pass the time? suggestions? I can't concentrate to read and I get antsy when I'm just watching stuff.

open to any suggestions at all

not playing the sleep game very well right now.

Loud music and crying into my pillow is what I did. ^

Going to go explore an asian food supermarket today for the first time. I'm fantasizing about finding black salt. I probably won't but a girl can dream!

if you don't let me know and I can pop you a bag in the post. I have pretty cheap and easy access to it.

Yeah, I'm available for posting things from up norf too, and can get black salt.

fork this migraine! I don't know if it's because I indulged in forbidden foods (banananananananaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas!), slept wrong or it's because shark week is heavier than normal. But 3 forking days of feeling like crepe is enough thank you very much. I can't sleep at bedtime so am ending up lying too late, which is probably making it worse. My crush "duded" me in an email last night and I almost had a little melt down... I think it's a sign my hormones are a little unsettled... I'll be putting Bridget Jones' Diary on any time now and sobbing behind a pillow at this rate.

Someone set up a meeting for the FR dept at 1pm - which is right in the middle of lunchtime. So the other admin and I had to go to lunch at noon (and didn't actually get to lunch until nearly 12.15) then sit on the phone for, essentially, 2 hours (so the 2 FR admin who answer the phones can have their meeting and then go to lunch). Why would someone schedule a non-lunch team meeting at lunchtime?! But we're getting our revenge by setting up a working lunch out of the office next Tuesday. HA!

I literally cannot concentrate in this open office environment. There's 14 people in a small room, and at any given time, there's at least two conversations going on, and it's so distracting. I need the ability to concentrate, given that I do creative work and that doesn't happen in a loud, BRIGHT (so much fluorescent lighting) environment. I had a nice, dark, spacious office before, where I could buckle down and whip out work. The forking facilities management people have this idea that people work better in this type of chaotic environment. fork them, they've ruined so much I loved about my job.

I don't play a dr on tv, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say its just a bruise.

Thanks guys. I was incredibly happy when I found it. I also bough 2kg bags for black eyed peas and kidney beans. That place is amazing. Beans are a fraction of the price than in Tesco.

I went a bit wild and bought a new bra, pjs, gloves and a hat. I can rarely find a bra that fits me so I was thrilled to find one that was 50% off, my size and very pretty. The rest were pretty cheap.

happy world vegan day :)

Yeah, you're probably right. I just read on the internet that melanoma can look like a bruise in the early stages, and since I don't actually remember specifically where the bruise came from, and it's REALLY dark, I was feeling a little bit worried. I have a bad habit of doing that (worrying about trivially minor medical things).

When you poke it, does it hurt?

BOOBER: HUGZ! Thinking about you.

Can you listen to music on headphones? I have a graphic designer friend who works in an open office like that, and he just listens to music all day.

Yeah, I've worked at two open-concept design offices, and the difference between one (nightmare) and the other (awesome) was at least 50% due to being able to listen to music. Of course, the other 50% was my crasshole boss (who didn't let people listen to music because he wanted to be able to get everyone's attention at all times). But anyway, I think headphones would help a lot, unless you've already tried them. I totally hear you on not being able to concentrate - I can't imagine ever focusing on anything in an open-concept office without headphones.

Fortunately, I can listen to music. I've been finding that listening to good music breaks my concentration too, but perhaps I should give it another shot. So frustrating...the president of the company I work for keeps talking about how younger people LOVE open office offices; how it promotes collaboration, socialization and creativity. Dude, I'm young, and I hate this shiitake. It stunts creativity, and I hate collaboration!

even in a cubicle setup, i was totally distracted by other people. i used to listen to npr on my headphones; i usually turned the volume way down, so i could hear people talking but not make out what was being said. it was basically white noise drowning out the conversations going on around me.

I'm young and hate collaborating and find other people doing or saying things in my little area to be distracting, too. I need my bubble for creativity!

A friend asked me to do a favor for a project she is working on for an international, well recognized organization. Basically, they need experts in various fields, mine included, to rate group projects presented by high school students. I figured, sure, why not? I can tell you why not, they are horrible. I figured since they had a teacher as a sponsor it wouldn't be that bad and I could be not be too critical. The problem is they are so bad, don't meet the objectives and I want to give every one I read a low score.

I don't know what I am going to do. I can either rate them poorly but then feel bad that I'm being too critical. Or not rate them at all and feel bad for letting my friend down.

Yesterday's dinner was awesome! The risotto lacked a bit of salt but everyone loved the grilled tempeh and mushrooms and the cookies and muffins. Yay! We got all a little drunk, played Scrabble, and had an awesome time. Then they all left except my bf, and a song came on the playlist that I hadn't heard in like 20 years and I got all emotional and started crying and telling him how I'm a bad person and nobody should care for me and blah blah blah. Yes I blame the aperol spritz and the song but still. what the fizzle emotions??
Now everything is ok.