I Eat Vegetables Too, I Swear
Aug. 6th, 2023 09:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taz_39Therapy on Monday was "ok" again.
I'm not sure if I need to be more patient, or if I should seek out a therapist that's a better match. Maybe both.
This is our second session; in the first one I explained to her a lot of my phobias and root causes of anxiety.
But I don't think she remembered any of that, or maybe didn't care to take/review notes, because she opened this session with a diatribe on how I shouldn't worry about medical test results, and how the results are not something that we can control.
I have never once mentioned medical test results as a source of anxiety.
This has absolutely nothing to do with my concerns.
A good human here on LJ has suggested multiple times that I be transparent with my therapist about my hang-ups, especially in regards to not being heard. It has been two sessions now. I am giving this therapist one more session to see if she starts to listen to and process the words coming out of my mouth. I am trying not to be a bitch about this, but also I'm PAYING for this. I'm not interested in wasting 10 minutes of my 45-minute session on advice for issues that I don't have, or in having to repeat core information because the therapist can't be bothered to take notes or reference all the things I shared in previous sessions under the assumption that someone was listening to me.
To sum it up, I'm disappointed with how this is going, but will probably continue trying for another month.
With a different therapist, unless she miraculously doesn't make me repeat myself again at the next session.
The rest of the day was middlingly productive.
This is random but a friend of mine recently came screaming into a group chat to rave about this tea:
It was cheap on Amazon so I bought a box to try, and WOW is it good!
I might run screaming into some chatrooms myself to tell people about it haha.
It's minty and vanilla-y, and really very much like a buttermint in drinkable form!
Highly recommend. Also, if you can't find "Buttermint" specifically in the US, I think "Peppermint Cheer" is the same flavor only marketed differently for a US audience.
Anyway. After dinner we went to The Renaissance Theatre, a local nonprofit that is pretty much a warehouse bought and converted into theater space. This is not my usual scene, but sure is pretty!
Yes, that silver moon is modeled after the one the hung in Studio 54.
And it has a coke spoon too, just not in this particular photo.
Jameson's friend Lea was performing, along with other local actors and singers.
Objectively speaking, I thought that Lea's was the most cleanly professional performance of the night.
But there were lots of amazing singers, including a trans person who sang a very good self-composed song about their transition, and a skinny little 17-year-old who surprised us all by belting out a baritone opera piece.
After that it was open mic, so we got drinks at the bar and talked with Lea and other friends who had come out to be supportive and have a good time. Most of the open mic singers were not as skilled as the scheduled performers had been, but ALL of them sang either Broadway or Disney numbers. I felt glad that there was a place where people could feel comfortable performing the music they loved here in Orlando. That's pretty cool :)
When the show was mostly over we went to a nearby bar together but didn't stay long. I'd already had my two glasses of wine, so just had water and listened to everyone talking about theatre drama until Jameson was ready to go home.
------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday.
After breakfast I booked a flight from Salt Lake City to Orlando in November, for the one-day Candlelight rehearsal that happens before the two gigs overlap. This part of how things came together is miraculous to me. The rehearsal happens to be on a Sunday, and usually there would be at least one touring show performance. But for some reason, this is the ONLY Sunday on the whole tour where we don't have a show...the one Sunday where I need to be somewhere else.
When the universe accommodates me like this, it always puts me in a state of wonderment.
Who is looking out for me? Is there a price I'll have to pay for this godsend later?
Then I posted a listing for a substitute trombonist for myself, and got about twelve responses, which is great.
It's still quite early but the closer we get to the holidays the harder it will be to find available musicians.
I enjoyed working on Megan's Foodie Finds some more, did a little cleaning around the house, picked out a bread recipe to do this week, went for a walk with Jameson, and cleaned up my nursing home email and calendar and other workspaces in preparation for training tomorrow.
Jameson graciously made dinner since I didn't feel like it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, my training with Nursing Home Job was rescheduled so I found myself with the day free.
Jameson had expressed interest in a "coconut ice" confection in the Baking Yesteryear cookbook, and it was so easy to make, why not.
It's quite bad for you, as the best desserts tend to be :D
Sweetened condensed milk, unsweetened coconut, powdered sugar, and food coloring.
Mix them in equal parts in two separate bowls, adding food coloring to one bowl and vanilla extract to the other.
You can choose any color that you like, but the author used pink so I did too.
Press the paste into a square pan, one color at a time. Let chill for at least three hours.
Chop into small squares. Voila, coconut ice.
You might be reminded of THIS candy. I was, anyway. My mom used to love stuff like this.
They were very tasty! But as a lactose intolerant person, condensed milk is no joke. I have to be very careful or risk, uh...significant discomfort. I ate TWO Lactaids for one small square, just to be safe.
We decided to go for a walk in the afternoon and then before I knew it it was dinner time. I made us a HelloFresh meal that turned out to be overly spicy due to a hotter-than-normal poblano. Note to self, taste test any peppers before adding them to the meal.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday felt a little hectic, but was productive.
I got up early to drive way out to Clermont to pick up my repaired trombone. I wanted to get back quickly, but Pat (trombonist and super-skilled repair dude) likes to talk shop. Knowing this, I got there earlier than typical and we chatted for 20 minutes or so about trombone nerd stuff before I headed back.
After putting the trombone away I wanted to make a Russian black bread recipe, but something went wrong.
I think the yeast got over-activated because I accidentally added hot butter to the dough.
On the second rise the loaf bubbled up very high, split open, then collapsed. Never seen anything like that happen before, and the butter was the only thing that I definitely messed up.
Then I had nursing home job training, which was not training at all because not much has changed since I last worked.
For dinner we decided to try Mochinut. It's a chain out of California selling mochi doughnuts and Korean-style hot dogs dipped in a rice batter + other yummy things like potato cubes, ramen, cereal, or even crushed Cheetos. You can get a whole hot dog, a mozzarella stick, or a "half-and-half" of each. We both got the potato-coated one, but Jameson got half mozz while I got the whole dog.
The texture was really what this was all about. Super crispy, crunchy, and satisfying to bite into. The potatoes were soft and creamy inside, the hot dog was pretty typical. We dipped them in a sweet mango chili sauce that was awesome. There's an option to dip these in a sugar coat, and next time I'd like to try that for a sweet & salty flavor.
We also got some filled donut holes to take home. These were less impressive; the dough was good and chewy, but the fillings were surprisingly bland. A shame, because there was a LOT of filling.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, I had a haircut in the morning with a friend of Jameson's who was VERY good and who I'll probably go to in the future.
They listened before they did things. That is all I want and need out of a haircut.
I had my first real day of "work" at Nursing Home Job. Got a few things wrong mostly due to being unfamiliar with the new layouts, not knowing where to find some information, and not realizing that they want information repeated across different parts of the database now. But it was a good first attempt and I logged a few hours anyway.
For dinner we had HelloFresh and watched The Super Mario Bros. Movie (the new one, Jameson's seen it and I haven't.)
It was very good! Cute, lots of nostalgia, they crammed as many characters and Nintendo references as they could in there.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday started off nice and slow, I got up early to log an hour of work and then worked on Foodie Finds too.
In the afternoon Jameson and I used our all-access Disney passes for the first time.
It's a physical pass that looks like a little credit card, but you can also put it on your phone for quick access.
You can choose a graphic; I chose Dole Whip, because that's why we were going to Disney today :D
The nice thing about being able to access the parks as a castmember: since you can go to the parks whenever you want, there's no pressure to rush from ride to ride to "get your money's worth", or stick to an itinerary so you don't miss your place in lines. For the next year, none of that matters. We can literally just go for no reason other than to walk around, or shop for souvenirs, or grab a snack and leave.
For Jameson, that is what he's used to. NOT being a castmember was weird for him.
For me, it's new and exciting. I have been to Magic Kingdom many times, but today certainly hit different.
The Dapper Dans performing on Main Street USA.
Jameson and I amazed to find ourselves here!
My creamy, fruity, delicious Dole Whip:
Of course it started raining right as we were eating our treats, but we waited it out under an awning.
We rode a few of the "chill" rides--Peoplemover, Carousel of Progress, Magic Kingdom Railroad--and we people watched and looked at souvenirs. The park has some Halloween decorations up already, that was cool to see. And it was relaxing to choose rides that gave us some history of the park and swept us around to see different areas.
A few hours later we enjoyed Mickey pretzels. Jameson loves these, and it was my first time having one. It WAS good.
We were hoping to hit either Haunted Mansion or Jungle River Cruise, but one was out of service and the other had a very long line, so we called it a day (also the heat index was above 100°F and we were both getting drained by the oppressive heat.)
As we made our way back through Main Street USA to reach the trams, I was looking around and taking everything in and happened to notice this lovely little green mailbox on a post. I started to walk past it, then did a double take. Painted on the side in bright white letters, the words "Danville, PA" had caught my eye. That's only a few minutes from my hometown!!
Danville Stove & Manufacturing Co., or Stove Works as it was known, was formed in 1882 by seven dudes who pooled $20k to get the company started. They enjoyed great success for most of their history, manufacturing wood and coal stoves, furnaces, heaters, and mailboxes. At one point they had over a hundred employees working out of a factory in Danville, making a six-figure profit each year. But once electric ranges entered the picture, things changed. The company did not adapt to the change, and went out of business in 1943.
In other words, Disney has this rare 1940s WORKING antique mailbox, built minutes from where I was born, lovingly maintained and prominently displayed in the middle of the Magic Kingdom and Main Street USA.
Needless to say, this was surprising and wonderful.
Next time I will bring a letter to send.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, got up early and spent most of my day logging six hours of Nursing Home Job because I'll be baking bread for a friend on Monday, and don't want to fall short of my 30 hours per week requirement due to time spent on that.
In between working I went to the grocery with Jameson and ate lunch.
After dinner Jameson went to visit Lea (she's been in a breakup recently) and while he was gone I vacuumed and then made the ganache for the bread. I'll be making "chocolate bombs", which are soft brioche buns filled with chocolate ganache. I am modifying the recipe to add a strawberry ganache along with the chocolate, because my friend has kids and says "They like fruit".
I've made this recipe before, but with a savory mozzarella and garlic butter filling.
I've never made a ganache before but it was easy enough.
Hopefully the bread comes out well tomorrow.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Monday will be spent baking the bread rolls, having another therapy session, and then hopefully getting into a routine of work-trombone practice-exercise for the foreseeable future.
I'm not sure if I need to be more patient, or if I should seek out a therapist that's a better match. Maybe both.
This is our second session; in the first one I explained to her a lot of my phobias and root causes of anxiety.
But I don't think she remembered any of that, or maybe didn't care to take/review notes, because she opened this session with a diatribe on how I shouldn't worry about medical test results, and how the results are not something that we can control.
I have never once mentioned medical test results as a source of anxiety.
This has absolutely nothing to do with my concerns.
A good human here on LJ has suggested multiple times that I be transparent with my therapist about my hang-ups, especially in regards to not being heard. It has been two sessions now. I am giving this therapist one more session to see if she starts to listen to and process the words coming out of my mouth. I am trying not to be a bitch about this, but also I'm PAYING for this. I'm not interested in wasting 10 minutes of my 45-minute session on advice for issues that I don't have, or in having to repeat core information because the therapist can't be bothered to take notes or reference all the things I shared in previous sessions under the assumption that someone was listening to me.
To sum it up, I'm disappointed with how this is going, but will probably continue trying for another month.
With a different therapist, unless she miraculously doesn't make me repeat myself again at the next session.
The rest of the day was middlingly productive.
This is random but a friend of mine recently came screaming into a group chat to rave about this tea:
It was cheap on Amazon so I bought a box to try, and WOW is it good!
I might run screaming into some chatrooms myself to tell people about it haha.
It's minty and vanilla-y, and really very much like a buttermint in drinkable form!
Highly recommend. Also, if you can't find "Buttermint" specifically in the US, I think "Peppermint Cheer" is the same flavor only marketed differently for a US audience.
Anyway. After dinner we went to The Renaissance Theatre, a local nonprofit that is pretty much a warehouse bought and converted into theater space. This is not my usual scene, but sure is pretty!
Yes, that silver moon is modeled after the one the hung in Studio 54.
And it has a coke spoon too, just not in this particular photo.
Jameson's friend Lea was performing, along with other local actors and singers.
Objectively speaking, I thought that Lea's was the most cleanly professional performance of the night.
But there were lots of amazing singers, including a trans person who sang a very good self-composed song about their transition, and a skinny little 17-year-old who surprised us all by belting out a baritone opera piece.
After that it was open mic, so we got drinks at the bar and talked with Lea and other friends who had come out to be supportive and have a good time. Most of the open mic singers were not as skilled as the scheduled performers had been, but ALL of them sang either Broadway or Disney numbers. I felt glad that there was a place where people could feel comfortable performing the music they loved here in Orlando. That's pretty cool :)
When the show was mostly over we went to a nearby bar together but didn't stay long. I'd already had my two glasses of wine, so just had water and listened to everyone talking about theatre drama until Jameson was ready to go home.
------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday.
After breakfast I booked a flight from Salt Lake City to Orlando in November, for the one-day Candlelight rehearsal that happens before the two gigs overlap. This part of how things came together is miraculous to me. The rehearsal happens to be on a Sunday, and usually there would be at least one touring show performance. But for some reason, this is the ONLY Sunday on the whole tour where we don't have a show...the one Sunday where I need to be somewhere else.
When the universe accommodates me like this, it always puts me in a state of wonderment.
Who is looking out for me? Is there a price I'll have to pay for this godsend later?
Then I posted a listing for a substitute trombonist for myself, and got about twelve responses, which is great.
It's still quite early but the closer we get to the holidays the harder it will be to find available musicians.
I enjoyed working on Megan's Foodie Finds some more, did a little cleaning around the house, picked out a bread recipe to do this week, went for a walk with Jameson, and cleaned up my nursing home email and calendar and other workspaces in preparation for training tomorrow.
Jameson graciously made dinner since I didn't feel like it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, my training with Nursing Home Job was rescheduled so I found myself with the day free.
Jameson had expressed interest in a "coconut ice" confection in the Baking Yesteryear cookbook, and it was so easy to make, why not.
It's quite bad for you, as the best desserts tend to be :D
Sweetened condensed milk, unsweetened coconut, powdered sugar, and food coloring.
Mix them in equal parts in two separate bowls, adding food coloring to one bowl and vanilla extract to the other.
You can choose any color that you like, but the author used pink so I did too.
Press the paste into a square pan, one color at a time. Let chill for at least three hours.
Chop into small squares. Voila, coconut ice.
You might be reminded of THIS candy. I was, anyway. My mom used to love stuff like this.
They were very tasty! But as a lactose intolerant person, condensed milk is no joke. I have to be very careful or risk, uh...significant discomfort. I ate TWO Lactaids for one small square, just to be safe.
We decided to go for a walk in the afternoon and then before I knew it it was dinner time. I made us a HelloFresh meal that turned out to be overly spicy due to a hotter-than-normal poblano. Note to self, taste test any peppers before adding them to the meal.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday felt a little hectic, but was productive.
I got up early to drive way out to Clermont to pick up my repaired trombone. I wanted to get back quickly, but Pat (trombonist and super-skilled repair dude) likes to talk shop. Knowing this, I got there earlier than typical and we chatted for 20 minutes or so about trombone nerd stuff before I headed back.
After putting the trombone away I wanted to make a Russian black bread recipe, but something went wrong.
I think the yeast got over-activated because I accidentally added hot butter to the dough.
On the second rise the loaf bubbled up very high, split open, then collapsed. Never seen anything like that happen before, and the butter was the only thing that I definitely messed up.
Then I had nursing home job training, which was not training at all because not much has changed since I last worked.
For dinner we decided to try Mochinut. It's a chain out of California selling mochi doughnuts and Korean-style hot dogs dipped in a rice batter + other yummy things like potato cubes, ramen, cereal, or even crushed Cheetos. You can get a whole hot dog, a mozzarella stick, or a "half-and-half" of each. We both got the potato-coated one, but Jameson got half mozz while I got the whole dog.
The texture was really what this was all about. Super crispy, crunchy, and satisfying to bite into. The potatoes were soft and creamy inside, the hot dog was pretty typical. We dipped them in a sweet mango chili sauce that was awesome. There's an option to dip these in a sugar coat, and next time I'd like to try that for a sweet & salty flavor.
We also got some filled donut holes to take home. These were less impressive; the dough was good and chewy, but the fillings were surprisingly bland. A shame, because there was a LOT of filling.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, I had a haircut in the morning with a friend of Jameson's who was VERY good and who I'll probably go to in the future.
They listened before they did things. That is all I want and need out of a haircut.
I had my first real day of "work" at Nursing Home Job. Got a few things wrong mostly due to being unfamiliar with the new layouts, not knowing where to find some information, and not realizing that they want information repeated across different parts of the database now. But it was a good first attempt and I logged a few hours anyway.
For dinner we had HelloFresh and watched The Super Mario Bros. Movie (the new one, Jameson's seen it and I haven't.)
It was very good! Cute, lots of nostalgia, they crammed as many characters and Nintendo references as they could in there.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday started off nice and slow, I got up early to log an hour of work and then worked on Foodie Finds too.
In the afternoon Jameson and I used our all-access Disney passes for the first time.
It's a physical pass that looks like a little credit card, but you can also put it on your phone for quick access.
You can choose a graphic; I chose Dole Whip, because that's why we were going to Disney today :D
The nice thing about being able to access the parks as a castmember: since you can go to the parks whenever you want, there's no pressure to rush from ride to ride to "get your money's worth", or stick to an itinerary so you don't miss your place in lines. For the next year, none of that matters. We can literally just go for no reason other than to walk around, or shop for souvenirs, or grab a snack and leave.
For Jameson, that is what he's used to. NOT being a castmember was weird for him.
For me, it's new and exciting. I have been to Magic Kingdom many times, but today certainly hit different.
The Dapper Dans performing on Main Street USA.
Jameson and I amazed to find ourselves here!
My creamy, fruity, delicious Dole Whip:
Of course it started raining right as we were eating our treats, but we waited it out under an awning.
We rode a few of the "chill" rides--Peoplemover, Carousel of Progress, Magic Kingdom Railroad--and we people watched and looked at souvenirs. The park has some Halloween decorations up already, that was cool to see. And it was relaxing to choose rides that gave us some history of the park and swept us around to see different areas.
A few hours later we enjoyed Mickey pretzels. Jameson loves these, and it was my first time having one. It WAS good.
We were hoping to hit either Haunted Mansion or Jungle River Cruise, but one was out of service and the other had a very long line, so we called it a day (also the heat index was above 100°F and we were both getting drained by the oppressive heat.)
As we made our way back through Main Street USA to reach the trams, I was looking around and taking everything in and happened to notice this lovely little green mailbox on a post. I started to walk past it, then did a double take. Painted on the side in bright white letters, the words "Danville, PA" had caught my eye. That's only a few minutes from my hometown!!
Danville Stove & Manufacturing Co., or Stove Works as it was known, was formed in 1882 by seven dudes who pooled $20k to get the company started. They enjoyed great success for most of their history, manufacturing wood and coal stoves, furnaces, heaters, and mailboxes. At one point they had over a hundred employees working out of a factory in Danville, making a six-figure profit each year. But once electric ranges entered the picture, things changed. The company did not adapt to the change, and went out of business in 1943.
In other words, Disney has this rare 1940s WORKING antique mailbox, built minutes from where I was born, lovingly maintained and prominently displayed in the middle of the Magic Kingdom and Main Street USA.
Needless to say, this was surprising and wonderful.
Next time I will bring a letter to send.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, got up early and spent most of my day logging six hours of Nursing Home Job because I'll be baking bread for a friend on Monday, and don't want to fall short of my 30 hours per week requirement due to time spent on that.
In between working I went to the grocery with Jameson and ate lunch.
After dinner Jameson went to visit Lea (she's been in a breakup recently) and while he was gone I vacuumed and then made the ganache for the bread. I'll be making "chocolate bombs", which are soft brioche buns filled with chocolate ganache. I am modifying the recipe to add a strawberry ganache along with the chocolate, because my friend has kids and says "They like fruit".
I've made this recipe before, but with a savory mozzarella and garlic butter filling.
I've never made a ganache before but it was easy enough.
Hopefully the bread comes out well tomorrow.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Monday will be spent baking the bread rolls, having another therapy session, and then hopefully getting into a routine of work-trombone practice-exercise for the foreseeable future.
