This past Sunday I made gin (above, right) with Janet* and Sally* from church. I believe I posted the recipe in a previous entry but if I didn't, and you want it, let me know. It was not a long process to make the gin so we also infused some vodka with orange and cinnamon (above, center), and some other vodka with pears and thyme (above, left). The pears and thyme idea was a spin-off from a delicious recipe that my sister Jasmine* shared with us: brie and pear quesadillas. We made these to feed the church ladies and we had some extra pears and thyme, and some extra vodka, so we put it all together. In our wisdom, we left out the cheese and tortillas. It looks pretty, so if it tastes bad, it's not the end of the world.
It was gorgeous yesterday, the first warm sunny day of spring. It got up to 64 and almost melted the snow. I was about to head home early, and planned to sit on the deck and plan out the next 2 years (or so) of my career, because my postdoc could end this April 30th if I so chose. My friend Erin* who works on my floor was less busy than usual and wanted to get outside, as did I, so we went walking around without jackets like barbarians. Hmmm...I bet the term "barbarians" is offensive to people living on the Barbary Coast. There is such a thing as the Barbary Coast, right? On this topic, I was recently informed that the term "gung ho" may be offensive to Asian people, and on another occasion informed that "gypped", as in "cheated", refers to gypsies, which are an ethnic group somewhere (Turkey maybe?), so that's not kosher. OOh "kosher"... hmmmm....possibly offensive to Jewish people when used too liberally. Oooh "liberally".... hmmm....may offend the majority of Americans..... hmmmmm..... But seriously, I think "gung ho" and "gypped" might be better left unused. ANYway, it was SO wonderful to walk in the warm sunshine. It put a little change in my attitude and made me more open to trying something new. So I stopped in at a gift shop that I had been meaning to check out for the last two years. In one corner of the shop was a fortune teller. I sat down and asked her to look at my palms and do a tarot card reading.
She asked what was on my mind (isn't she supposed to know that already??? HAHAHAHAHA.) I told her the first thing on my mind, which was that it was a beautiful day, and also that I was going home to think about the next 2 years of my career, so maybe we could talk about that.
My palms and the cards told her that, among other things, I should not plan the next two years of my career right now, but instead, I should focus on doing whatever I enjoy, and taking some risks, and taking time for family and friends, and following my heart, and seeing where all of that leads. She emphasized that I should make sure to keep a steady income during this process, and that it won't necessarily lead to letting go of all aspects of my past education and skill building. She said that my career would be a tapestry rather than a straight line, that I would use different parts of my training in unexpected ways, and that I was doing a good job of overcoming my fears, and needed to keep going with it.
Obviously this is all common sense and not in the least bit boat-rocking, but it was definitely worth the money to have someone hold my hands and tell me all of this to my face. She also impressed me by telling me specific important events in my past and when they happened, and wove in some Greek mythology that I hadn't heard of that I could really identify with. Plus she was nice.
The Spupspes are coming this Friday for a week! Our church membership ceremony is this Sunday and this is a big deal for them, so they are coming up earlier in the year than planned. We made them promise also to come up later in the summer as well, so that they could enjoy the warmer weather. We'll see if that happens.
I thought I had more to write but it's not coming to me right now, and I have to do some work so that I can get a St. Patty's day beer this afternoon. So that's all you're getting from me.
*Names changed.
