#365Gratitude Day 249: Zen there was a new one

I've been a fan of Zen Pencils forever. I love these brilliant comics which illustrate quotes and essays about mindful living.  

Here's a panel from a favorite of mine, a quote from Amy Poehler.  

I thought there was nothing quite like them.  

Which is true, but I recently discovered another artist with a similar idea, Buddha Doodles.  

Besides just being really fun to say out loud, Buddha Doodles are somewhat different from their zen cousin. The art's a little softer, and the quotes shorter.  

But they're equally wonderful.  

"If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." -Wayne Dyer

#365Gratitude Day 248: Chairful Company

Yesterday I was grateful for this soon-not-to-be-empty chair.  

That's because the person about to be sitting in it was my friend Natasha.  

On a fairly regular basis, Tasha and I get together for lunch. We work close by one another, so sometimes weekly, sometimes less we meet.  

Its always nice. She's one of my best friends. We're both techies, both kinky, both ageplayers.  

She's my people. I love her.

At lunch we often discuss various goings-on in our jobs and our lives in general.  It's a very comforting, positive, support-giving sort of experience. 

I'm lucky I get to do it as often as I do.  

#365Gratitude Day 247: Savvy Javvy

Just a bit ago I was lying in bed, reading Reddit and Not Going to the Gym.  (Don't worry, I'm headed there next.  Geez, for someone reading my blog, you can be such a nag!) I stumbled across something really cool.

It's an app for iOS and Android that turns learning Java into a game!

It's called Javvy.

I downloaded it immediately.  It's free.  (There's add-ons and such, but that seems reasonable to me.)

I tried it a bit, and think it's really fun and neat.  I like the idea of using little bits of otherwise throwaway time on skill building.  I work with Java frequently (actually a metaprogramming language that rides on top of the Java Virtual Machine, called Groovy).  But it never hurts to practice your fundamentals.  

They have a version for the new Apple language Swift too.  (Called Swifty!) I may get that later.  Certain friends of mine may want to check that out, too.  (Yes, I mean you Shokolada!) 

What a damn good idea this thing is!

#365Gratitude Day 246: No Hassle Cooking

I used to not know how to cook at all.  Back in college I was so horrendously bad at it that my girlfriend-at-the-time once threw pancakes I had made her out the window, rather than tell me to my face how atrocious they were.

(That's 100% true.  Later that day we went for a drive somewhere, and as we pulled out of the garage, we both saw them laying on the ground.  The window to my apartment overlooked the driveway and the dumpster, but she missed the dumpster entirely.  Apparently while the pancakes were rubbish for eating, they were somewhat aerodynamic, and caught a good stiff breeze or something.)

Anyhow, decades later I decided to go on a low carb diet that required a lot of cooking.  So, I taught myself how to do it.  I'm not an amazing cook, but I know some stuff.  

The thing I like best about cooking is when I can improvise.  I'll take a recipe I find, and substitute ingredients I have on hand, maybe combine parts of other recipes with it.  (I make really, really good baked breaded chicken with a lemon-dill weed-caper cream sauce, just in this way.)

Last night, I did exactly that.  

Ages ago, back when I was working in Silver Spring, the building I worked in had a café that served this awesome spinach salad.  I loved it so much I got it at least three days a week.  A couple of weeks back I made my own version of it, but simpler.  I also found a recipe for "Hasselbeck Chicken".  This excited me because I've made Hasselbeck potatoes before.  (They're fan cut, and look kind of like a potato slinky.)  I had never thought of doing that fan-cut technique on chicken before, but it's a godsend.  Stuffing chicken breasts is a miserable experience.  It never turns out exactly the way I want.

I modded it up.  I didn't have the cajun spices, or the pepper jack cheese the recipe called for, so I used garlic powder and mozzarella in mine.  My spinach salad is super easy too.  Fresh spinach, chopped red onions, crumbled goat cheese, and a balsamic vinaigrette.  Combine, shake, serve.  

See? Supertotal easy!

The dish turned out just perfect.  I'm so glad I learned not to be afraid to cook, and to make tastier, less aerodynamic food.

#365Gratitude Day 245: Tools of the trade

This morning I was working on a scene in my new novel about the first time the main character experiments with a vibrator during masturbation.  I was struggling to find just the right way to describe certain sensations.

I decided to do a little research.  I got a "massager" of mine out of the bedroom, plugged it in here in my office, and rested it against the inside of my thigh, listening to the way it made my body feel.

This is how it felt.  

The vibrations sank into the muscle, tickling her skin on the surface, but spreading outward in a wave deeper down.  

I love my research.