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Print Story work, sick, chantrelles, soul sick
Religion & Philosophy
By misslake (Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 11:29:37 AM EST) (all tags)
i've got a job.
i really quite like it. there are upsides and downsides, though.

i have some virii lodged in my respiratory system. megpye's sick too. we are sadly all out of yuen kut lam's kam wo tea. i never thought i'd wish i had more of that horribly disgusting remedy. but it really does the trick.

the sadness has begun to bleed though my otherwise happy mind. i blame the sickness.


the organic grocery and market i work for has the largest selection of fresh fungi in edmonton. i've been gorging myself on the chanterelles.
i have become their star grocery clerk in the last 2 weeks. you see, alberta seems to have a terrible lack of workers. everyone can get a job, many unskilled and unambitious people end up with really high paying jobs out on the oil patch. this, according to what ryskie and megpye have observed has bred an irresponsible and slack workforce. no one feels lucky to have a job, and all the kids who are looking to get jobs know that if any employer asks them to do something they don't feel like doing, they can just quit and get a new job next door.
i was quite leery of taking the job, since my new boss had sad a few disconcerting things in the interview. he made it abundantly clear that if they did hire me i would be expected to arrive on time for all my shifts. and if i needed time off, i would have to schedule it in advance. and i couldn't call in sick all of the time. and any days i didn't work i would not be payed for, except for certain statutory holidays, and certain legally explained sick leaves and holidays.
i was slightly upset. these were all so obvious to me that they didn't warrant speaking about. it appeared that they held me in low regard and didn't trust me.
megs said that it wasn't me they didn't trust, they couldn't trust anyone around here. the workforce just kinda sucked that bad. she'd had the same sort of experience coming from ontario.
so i accepted the job, declined the offer i had at starbucks and got to work.
it was eerie how much everyone appreciated me showing up for and doing my job. i received a bonus after my first week for my general excellence in awesomeness. not that i think i am not awesome, it's just that i feel like i am meeting the minimum job requirements, not exceeding everyone's expectations. i'm a grocery clerk. i merely make sure the store has stock to sell, that it's displayed nicely and that it is in good order. receive and sort boxes, make notes to order more or less, recommend what flours make the best gluten free crunchy granola hippie bread to the customers.
it's not hard.
but the staff is really nice, hilariously eccentric and weird, and i get between 20 and 25% off everything.

i got sick this week. while i felt that i was sucking and unable to keep up with what i should be doing, everyone at work thinks i'm the cat's pyjamas. megs got sick too. we guzzled down the last three boxes of the hideous chinese herbal cold remedy i had. we wish we had more. it's great because it is clearly labelled "no poison" in english on the back, for all us westerners. it tastes horrific. really seriously very bad. hopefully i can find an herbalist in town who carries it.

i seem to be getting sad, i think it is just homesickness of a sort. i no longer have any other home to be pining for, but i pine none the less. everyone i've met here seems to be married. <pout pout> i wish i was still married. i miss him </pout> sniffle.

but other than the (irrational, impossible) longing for my old life, this new life is treating me pretty well overall.
this weekend ryskie is taking me to a dinner theatre presentation of historic Ukrainian christmas dances. the Ukrainian dance and historical societies put on a really good show, so i've heard. and there are more punk shows and the like on the horizon.

not to mention albertahusi meet!!
saturday november 24. i can't wait.

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work, sick, chantrelles, soul sick | 32 comments (32 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback
in about ten minutes by R343L (2.00 / 0) #1 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 12:08:06 PM EST
If I can be arsed to get going, I shall be going to the farmer's market. And hopefully buying copious quantities of chanterelles. For purposes of making a mushroom cream sauce. It will be yummy I think.

I certainly understand that "everyone is married" feeling (though in my mind it's "everyone is attached" since for some crazy reason I still distinguish). I'm glad you live with people though -- it hopefully helps a lot.


"There will be time, there will be time / To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet." -- Eliot


follow ni's recipe suggestions! by misslake (2.00 / 0) #2 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 12:22:20 PM EST
ask him. he aided me in making the best mushroom cream sauce ever. i ate it over broccoli.
yummiest!

[ Parent ]

aww... by moonvine (2.00 / 0) #3 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 01:40:23 PM EST
I hope you feel better soon hugs



Patronising interviews. by ambrosen (2.00 / 0) #4 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 02:10:30 PM EST
I had one this week, at a bookshop.

Well, at least, I was told several times how important it was that, in the end, bookshops had to make money, and thus you actually had to do your job.

I didn't get it, partly because I was clear that I didn't want to stick around after Christmas, which was when the job was advertised until. But I can't imagine not trying. It's the only way to make dull stuff fun.

Yeah, sadness creeping around the edge the minute you stand still is horrrid. I'm getting it in the shower mainly. At least the tears wash away.



Awww.. by moonvine (2.00 / 0) #13 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 07:23:30 PM EST
I have some hugs for you too.

[ Parent ]

Thanks. by ambrosen (2.00 / 0) #17 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 08:40:32 PM EST
But I need to earn my hugs by providing diary fodder, really.

Still, they're most gratefully accepted.

[ Parent ]

Well. by moonvine (2.00 / 0) #18 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 09:54:04 PM EST
Provide! Go. Do it now!

[ Parent ]

i hug you by misslake (4.00 / 1) #22 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 10:00:51 PM EST
in the shower.

[ Parent ]

wait, wait by LilFlightTest (4.00 / 1) #5 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 02:57:23 PM EST
so you're saying that out by you, nick and i could both get decent jobs that pay well?

i've always wanted to be Canadian...
---------
if de-virgination results in me being able to birth hammerhead sharks, SIGN ME UP!!! --misslake


i assure you you could get jobs. by misslake (2.00 / 0) #23 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 10:03:32 PM EST
it might take a couple months to get decent jobs that pay well. and you'd be working for Big Oil. so that might not work for certain values of 'decent'

but there are jobs a pleanty out here.

[ Parent ]

It sounds like by komet (4.00 / 1) #6 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 03:54:18 PM EST
Edmonton has not yet adjusted to misslake-level awesomeness, and so are taken by surprise by it.

--
<ni> komet: You are functionally illiterate as regards trashy erotica.


thanks. by misslake (2.00 / 0) #21 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 09:59:33 PM EST
i love you

[ Parent ]

also, by moonvine (4.00 / 1) #7 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 04:39:44 PM EST
i am feeling you with the soul sickness...

girl, you are just so beautiful. inside and out. there are many souls out there wanting to intermingle with yours, and when you're ready and healed, watch the hell out! fire like yours always keeps lit, and enflames super bright, no matter what. and you must know this i am sure, but yes, still, when it is still, it hurts... i am sorry. i know what it feels like. and it is the super suckage. indeed.

but there is poetry yet!

all in all, i am right there with you. fire to fire. dorothy 'pahkar' is fun to read by the bedside when you are feeling low, eh?

kiss!



"What fresh hell is this?" by Christopher Robin was Murdered (4.00 / 5) #9 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 05:28:29 PM EST
I knew a young woman once who used make trips up to midtown to go the the Algonquin in order to commune with the spirit of Dorothy Parker.

They, the old hotel, have still got the famed "round table" there. Anybody can walk into the lobby and go see it. You can't sit down, but you can stand there and that's just what she'd do.

She'd take people like me along, but I never particularly felt the spirit talk. I'd sit in a chair in the lobby reading a paper somebody left behind or poking through some brochures telling me about tourist adventures that I really shouldn't deprive myself of while staying in the great metropolis.

She'd just stand there, quiet as a church mouse, watching the famous piece of furniture as if it were going to suddenly levitate.

She had short red hair, green eyes, little worry lines about the eyes. Freckles. She was thin and short and prone to sudden bursts of singing. She was especially vulnerable to vocal outbursts of "The Carioca," a tune I thought she'd made up until I came across it years later in the musical "Flying Down to Rio."

It took her maybe 30, 45 minutes to get whatever she needed from standing there. When she was done, she'd walk over to my chair, say "Call the limo; time to go." She never told me what she got from these bizarre pilgrimages. I never asked. I was still pretty new to the city and I just figured she was weird and kinda busted inside like every New Yorker I'd met.

When she was disappointed, she'd sigh and quote Parker, asking, "What fresh hell is this?"

Sorry. You probably didn't care to know that. I'm a bit in the cups and the memory suddenly came to me.

[ Parent ]

That... by toxicfur (4.00 / 2) #11 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 07:07:55 PM EST
is a lovely story. Thanks for sharing it with us.
-----
If you don't get a Bonnie, my universe will not make sense. --blixco
[ Parent ]

"So silent I when Love was by by moonvine (2.00 / 0) #12 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 07:21:05 PM EST
He yawned, and turned away;
But Sorrow clings to my apron-strings,
I have so much to say."

Yes, you are darn tootin that I wanted to know that. Thanks! Parker and everything about her warms me like nothing less acerbic can. Even reading about green-eyed redheads waiting for chairs to levitate- Nothing like Parker to heal a fresh heart break. Add copious amounts of alcohol. And cigarettes. I almost wished I still smoked. And had sex. Hero.

[ Parent ]

I am glad it wasn't an intrusion. by Christopher Robin was Murdered (4.00 / 1) #16 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 08:38:41 PM EST
As for the no smokes and no sex thing, I think the only appropriate response would be: "What fresh hell is this?"

[ Parent ]

Oh by moonvine (2.00 / 0) #20 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 09:57:04 PM EST
INDEED.

[ Parent ]

Spectacular! by ni (2.00 / 0) #14 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 08:28:09 PM EST
What a great anecdote.

Have you read any biographies of her? I realized a few days ago that despite a particular fondness for her I'd never gotten around to reading a biography, and that her life would surely have been great biography fodder.


"What woman wouldn't love a guy in WW2 aviator glasses eating their ass?" -- dest
[ Parent ]

Nope. by Christopher Robin was Murdered (2.00 / 0) #15 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 08:35:53 PM EST
I've read several of her poems and a few of her short stories. Some of her newspaper work. I've never read a biography.

[ Parent ]

I have! by moonvine (2.00 / 0) #19 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 09:56:24 PM EST
I adore her! And also, there is a film "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle."

And please post your mushroom recipe =)

[ Parent ]

Which did you read? by ni (2.00 / 0) #26 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 10:32:31 PM EST
Do you recommend it?

During one of my darker periods I memorized Coda. Predictably, I cannot remember, say, people's names, or what I am attempting to study, but four years later Coda remains fresh in my mind.

misslake gives me entirely too much credit. I merely suggested that use this as a basis for further experimentation.


"What woman wouldn't love a guy in WW2 aviator glasses eating their ass?" -- dest
[ Parent ]

Try by moonvine (2.00 / 0) #29 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 10:59:28 PM EST
Marion Meade's "What Fresh Hell is This" It was a bit long-winded, but refreshingly readable. I read it a long time ago, though. But I have lots of her books.

[ Parent ]

to followup on cream sauce by R343L (2.00 / 0) #27 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 10:56:34 PM EST
I winged it. I had no fresh ssge. This is probably nothing like what the aforementioned link would result in.

This is approximately what I did (I have very out of date experience in winging cream sauces from being taught in high school by my mother, but not a lot of practice since the ex did most of the cooking in recent years):

  • Cooked about five cloves of minced garlic in a tablespoon of butter until just turning golden.
  • Added diced chanterelle mushrooms (maybe 8 ounces worth) and let them cook down, put aside (off heat). You don't need extra butter or water or anything as the mushrooms will expell some (very tasty) water.
  • Melted two tablespoons of butter (very low heat). Started stirring in about a tablespoon (maybe a little more) of flour rapidly with spoon after each addition. Let that cook and make a creamy paste -- it will kind of get these large bubbles then subside. This does take several minutes at least. (Really this is just making a roux which you've probably done before.)
  • Started pouring in heavy cream slowly, stirring rapidly at each stage. Probably poured in a total of 2/3 of a cup.
  • This was quite thick, so I started pouring in 2% milk to thin it out. Less than half a cup here. Really I probably should have measured out the milk and cream (half-and-half) and slightly warmed it before adding, but, meh, timing the pasta and sauce is a trial for me.
  • Added some salt & pepper.
  • Added the mushroom, butter, garlic into it.
  • Stirred a lot (still on low heat!) until it was all joined and smooth.
  • Poured over a large bowl of penne pasta and mixed it up.
  • Started eating.
  • Nearly died in ecstasy.
  • Some point later (with breaks to stop and rest and chat), I finished. Very full.
Now I am sipping wine and hoping I don't fall into a food coma.

Rachael

"There will be time, there will be time / To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet." -- Eliot
[ Parent ]

OMG by moonvine (2.00 / 0) #30 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 11:00:29 PM EST
YUM!!!!

[ Parent ]

That sounds incredible. by toxicfur (2.00 / 0) #32 Sun Nov 18, 2007 at 02:31:51 PM EST
I'm totally getting some chanterelles and trying it. Mushroom cream sauces are pretty easy, usually -- though, like you, I always forget to bring the cream/milk to room temperature (or a little more). Also, I usually do a combination of half-and-half and milk, which comes out nice and creamy. Except when I screw it up.
-----
If you don't get a Bonnie, my universe will not make sense. --blixco
[ Parent ]

(Comment Deleted) by R343L (2.00 / 0) #28 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 10:56:34 PM EST

This comment has been deleted by R343L



[ Parent ]

i am devouring the dorothy parker. by misslake (2.00 / 0) #24 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 10:05:03 PM EST
it is marvelous.

[ Parent ]

im so glad by moonvine (2.00 / 0) #25 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 10:10:17 PM EST
you love it! i forgot to add something to your package, and by the time i left for the post, it was too late, i was too lazy, next time... ;)

[ Parent ]

I almost bought chanterelles today. by toxicfur (4.00 / 1) #8 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 05:12:18 PM EST
but I wasn't quite sure what I should do with them. Cream sauce on pasta? Topping for pumpkin flan? Sauteed in butter as a side dish? So I left them sitting there at Whole Foods, but I'm kind of wishing I'd just taken the risk and bought them.
-----
If you don't get a Bonnie, my universe will not make sense. --blixco


see above!! by R343L (4.00 / 1) #10 Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 06:09:37 PM EST
I am going to cook them (diced I figure) in butter, set them aside, make roux, add cream and some sage to it, add the mushrooms to it, let it simmer. Put over pennes. It will be YUMMERS. I bought special butter and cream even.

"There will be time, there will be time / To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet." -- Eliot
[ Parent ]

LOVE!!! by littlestar (2.00 / 0) #31 Sun Nov 18, 2007 at 12:53:43 PM EST
I think you are doing awesome. And of course, you are AWESOME, so they should recognize it at said workplace (which sounds like a BUNCH of fun, by the by).

I'm so glad that you have such lovely friends to stay with, and others to send you packages filled with love. The sweetness is well deserved.

Soon, somebody amazing will meet you and try to prove how amazing they are so that you will love them. It's just a matter of time. Of course, it will only happen when you are not looking for it... right...? Isn't that the law or something?

I kiss you.
*astra.
*twinkle*twinkle*




work, sick, chantrelles, soul sick | 32 comments (32 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

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