Thursday evening things

 * Wednesdays are just busy - three lecture classes, lab, and my mother usually facetimes on Wednesday evening. I was just too worn out to think about writing anything yesterday.

* I pulled out "A Sweater for John" tonight but as I'm on the "all the way around" knitting (fronts, back, and sleeves, all in one go) I only got a couple rows done on it tonight. I'll be glad to finish this one. It's also kind of heavy, which makes it harder to knit on. At least there are minimal seams at the end (just under the sleeves and sewing on a pocket). 

* I realized something I miss - and that I started missing during the pandemic, when everything was either in re-runs or they were doing things like showing old movies (as "Family Movie Night" or some such) was television series that are narratives - where there are characters and a story and a setting. As much as I like some of the vet shows, they tend to be very short episodic bits strung together and there's not really an overarching story.

I've begun watching sitcoms again; I like Bob (hearts) Abishola; I presume they have consultants to get the Nigerian-culture things correct (I have had a few students from Nigeria down through the years; the accents are familiar and some of the cultural things are also familiar). There's also a sweetness to it in that it centers on two unlikely people who love each other. 

I also like Ghosts, which is perhaps more "slapstick" in a way (and the humor is perhaps a bit ruder) but again, the whole idea of a squad of unlikely characters who still wind up as friends despite it. 

I've also been watching, on Thursday nights, "So Help me Todd." I like it; I can't tell if it's good yet or if it's just that I've been so hungry for this kind of show and that's why I like it but it IS nice to have recurring characters with their quirks and oddnesses and then a story that sort overlays on the top of that. (Tonight's episode had a reference to the Vigenère cipher and I felt smart because I know what that is)

* I'm going to have to decide tomorrow how important grocery shopping in Sherman is to me this weekend. Because if I'm going, I better go tomorrow afternoon - they're talking "tropical storm level winds" on Saturday and I really don't want to be on a bridge high up over a river for that. 

I wanted to go to Denison and try to find a Christmas gift for my sister-in-law, maybe, and I wanted to go to the Brookshires. I don't NEED to, provided I could get the FairLife milk I use locally (Pruett's has it, intermittently, and wal-mart has it, IF they bother to restock) but part of it is "rat cage enrichment" because again I'm sinking into that Swamp of Sadness feeling again, that it's the eternal now, nothing will ever get better or even really change, it's just all bad news and working too hard. And the only thing that seems to help is getting out - last week's trip to Longview helped a lot, and the little mini trip I took to the farm store that sells locally-raised meat helped a little. But if I sit around alone at home too much I get those old bad 2020 feelings of being trapped and threatened and basically a prey animal for a virus, and I don't like that. So I think maybe I need to make myself get out more, at least for a while, to try to banish that feeling. 

Maybe I wait and see how things look tomorrow.

* I know it's early to be Christmas shopping, but I'm busy and also traditionally I bring the gifts at Thanksgiving (more space in luggage, don't have to send). Of course that's predicated on Amtrak even running (there not being a railroad strike). But I guess I'll figure that out if it comes to it. (Probably, if there's a strike: I have Thanksgiving here all alone again, and mail the gifts. Hopefully it'd be resolved before I'd be going up for Christmas at least)

* Still slowly bringing things home from the storage unit. I have two more boxes of fabric to sort and unpack. I also found where I had stashed more of the books; I am thinking because those boxes are so heavy, I will just take a few books home each day and then the empty boxes (I might take a backpack or something to facilitate that). 

* I said I had gone to the farm store south of town - this is a small farm where they raise some cattle and some pigs, and they sell eggs and vegetables. I was able to get new-crop sweet potatoes (had one roasted Tuesday evening). They were out of ground beef (which was what I originally planned to get) but apparently they are getting a load from the butcher they use next week (they send the animals, or, I suppose, the slaughterhouse they use sends the animals, to a butcher in Muenster). They did have pork, so I got a package of pork sausage (all they add is sage, salt, pepper, and red pepper - so none of my allergens in there!) and some frozen pork chops. I had some of the sausage last night and will cook up the rest tomorrow or Saturday with some other seasonings (to make it seem more Italian flavored) and put it on a pizza. And I had one of the chops tonight.

It's much better than grocery store pork. I *think* they use an older breed of hog than the modern, leaner pigs that most stores sell, there's more marbling, and that makes it more tender and also taste better. (All I did was dredge them in flour with a little bit of Tea and Spice Exchange's carne asada seasoning added, and then panfried them with a little olive oil). I think in the future if I want pork - or beef, though Pruett's beef is okay - I go there on either a Tuesday or Friday afternoon when they're open. They're not really more expensive than the store, and certainly not more expensive than the "premium" grade (like Angus beef) but it's probably better quality and definitely tastes better. 

I don't *love* winding up shopping at several different places, but some times you have to. At least this meat is frozen so you can get more and defrost it as needed.