Chey’s Lounge

Lay down on the chaise lounge with me.

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  • Yukon (Cornelius) Gold

    I learned what apple puffs are today. They’re pretty decent; the ones I had were more than a little greasy. I went to a fall-themed festival. Big crowd. It’s nice seeing people out and about enjoying themselves. I’m not sure how I feel about doing things personally, but it’s good sometimes, I guess, lol? No, it’s usually good, but the problem is, I’m just such a sleepy person! I need so much time to rest. Maybe not that much, but sometimes it feels like it. There’s just so much going on, very exhausting. You never know what’s going to happen next. Like right now, I never would’ve seen a Jonas Brothers performance in the midst of the World Series as a tribute to Stand Up to Cancer. Who’s your favorite Jonas Brother? I don’t really have one, but I’ll go with Joe anyway.

    It’s not that late, but I’m a little tired. I want to talk about the potatoes I made yesterday before I go. I was at the store yesterday morning, maybe early afternoon. Something a little funny happened while I was getting the potatoes, mini Yukon Gold, to be specific. They were loose, free for the picking. As I was finishing up, a man walked up to me asking if there were any prepackaged ones. I only saw the normal-sized ones in a bag, but he didn’t want those. He was legitimately disappointed he’d need to pick them out. I felt a little bad. I wonder why he felt that way; I hope he wasn’t asked to get pre-packed mini Yukon Golds and that he isn’t disappointing anyone. I don’t know why I think about this; let’s move on to cooking ‘em.

    I was planning on classic mashed potatoes, but sometimes, things change. I was persuaded to peruse those luscious little golden mamas. So, I pivoted to smashing them flat (ideally) and baking them to crisp up. I feel like I’ve done something like that once or twice before this time. I definitely don’t have the process down pat, but we’re getting there. I had some decent ideas this time; execution was alright.

    So, what’d I do? I’ll tell you, don’t worry, honey. Once I got home, I washed them off and put them in a pot with salted water to boil. Don’t ask how long I boiled them, because I think it was a little too long. Once I did take them out of the water, I let them stay in the strainer for a bit to steam off some of the excess water on the outside. After a while, I coated them in a little oil. Not sure if that was a good or bad idea. After that, I messed up, like, four potatoes trying to smash them flat. I think I went in too aggressively. I got the hang of a better technique, but I’m still not actually happy with them. I need them to be flatter while maintaining some sort of contiguous shape. I eventually gave up on trying to make the first ones work and took the messy, hot chunks of potato off the parchment. Taking those out of the picture helped me out, because I was like, “WTF, man.” I’m glad I had extra potatoes.

    Okay, we’re up to flat-ish potatoes on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. I spread some oil over the top of those little ladies and popped them in the oven for a while at 425°F. Since I wanted them in at that temp, I couldn’t use butter yet. Too risky. What I ended up deciding on was melting butter and adding chopped herbs (rosemary, sage, and thyme), garlic, and a bit of lemon juice. Once the potatoes were sufficiently (not perfectly, unfortunately) crisp, I took them out of the oven and topped them off with the butter. Two of them had a lot of garlic. I loved them for it…

    Okay, let’s get back on track and finish this up. After putting the butter on, I put the potatoes back in the oven (now turned off). I just wanted the butter to soak in a bit, get them settled better. I think it was a good idea and arguably an important step. Some may say that they weren’t crispy enough because of the butter. I will need to experiment with the amount to see for sure. Despite all of these hardships (slightly over-boiled, not flat enough, sub-optimally shaped, not as crisp as desired, etc.), they were really tasty, and it’s not like they weren’t at all crispy. I guess I’ve written a lot today. I hope it wasn’t annoying. I’m including two pics, but the order/placement isn’t ideal. I put the potatoes up top, but I do want to share the greasy bag filled with those apple puffs, too. So here it is!omg this is a last second addition. I accidentally copied and pasted the potatoes in a weird way and it’s stuck there and I don’t want to edit the post further right now so it’s staying looking insane and bad LOL. Oh well, is what it is I suppose?

  • Prospective Perception

    It’s kinda wild how the mind makes space for all it needs to do. I’m not sure if I’m saying that the way I’m meaning it. I’m thinking of a  mechanism that reminds me of procrastination. Somehow, it basically always takes me the amount of time I am allocated to take care of something. If I give myself less time, it’s better… sometimes. There’s one instance of this I remember from middle school that has always stuck with me, perhaps too much. 

    I had a little report/project for science class. It was all about atomic element number 4, Beryllium. I think a day or so before it was due, I had a friend’s birthday party. My mom wanted me to get the project done before then. I basically did, maybe even it was totally done. I had it laid out on the living room floor when my old dog, rest his perfect little asshole soul, my little Sgeddies, came in there and was starting to step on the pages. I picked him up and he was PEEING!!! It got on most of the pages. I was so sad, but I had to persevere. The project was due the next day. I locked in (at like 12 LOL) and got it done. And you know what? It was significantly better than the first. 

    Now that I am thinking about it more slowly, I’m wondering if maybe it was better because I had already done what was essentially a rough draft. Regardless, I do work pretty well under pressure (sometimes the good work does come after a freak out, but whatever). I wonder if that’s why all these startups (amongst most other places in the private sector, I’m sure) set all these crazy deadlines for themselves. We need a little pressure to bring out the best in us. It’s quite a balance though. I think we may be getting back to our conversation about mindset and perspective… maybe it’s a sign I should stop because we are getting deeper than my poor little brain can handle right now. I want to acknowledge it isn’t very deep. This is a statement about how little I have in me right now!! 

  • She Looka Like a Man

    The U.S. government has been shutdown for over three weeks. Sports gambling is going hog wild. The mafia is both alive and well, not sure how. Well I am sure how $$$$$$$$. 

    It’s getting late and I need to finish writing something up. A lot of my bandwidth has been going towards, well, I don’t even have the words to accurately describe the situation. The main thing I want convey is that I’m doing something I haven’t really done before, which is hard enough for little old me. It’s more than that though, I am doing and learning (simultaneously) something new in what one could consider a hostile environment. I will be happy when this period of time is over. 

    I’m trying to look for the bright sides of all that is going on. One bright side is there are bright sides! There’s some situations where it’s hard to see any light. I’m learning a lot, including things about myself. I will be better prepared for mayhem in the future than I was a few weeks ago. Maybe everything happens for a reason. Just need to be open to seeing it that way… I guess… looking on the bright side… I wanted to say more today, but it’s getting late. Kept getting distracted by other obligations. Booooo!!! I do want to end with a random last thought, though. First and foremost, focus on what is necessary. 

  • Sleepy Beans Are Sleepy

    It’s that time of the night again. Time to write a little bit. It’s only been a month and I only have a few people that read this, so far, though, I’m happy with my decision to do this. I’m free to post something short if I’m not feeling it, but I’m more apt to remain accountable to myself to do a little something by posting it. I highly doubt I would still be keeping up with this if I wasn’t posting it. I am not 100% positive writing daily is helping me at all, but I don’t feel it’s a burden. I haven’t been able to dedicate as much time to writing as I’d like recently, but I think it’s good for me to set aside at least a few minutes for myself. I guess I’m not doing that much in life, so what do I really need a break from? Idk exactly, but it’s just been a little tiring being alive. I’ve been doing a decent amount lately and I don’t think it’s energizing, I think I feel more tired. It’s hard to find a good balance with sleep. I’m just an overall tired person. I don’t have a lot of juice in me. I guess I get juiced up if I’m angry, but that’s exhausting. I feel like people talk about their issues with insomnia a lot, but not as many people are openly just talking about how they always need a nap. I basically always need a nap. I guess I’m too tired to come up with fun posts lately. Soon I will be revived. Manifesting it. 

  • Sporadic Thoughts R Us

    Not a big fan of breaking rules. Makes me nervous. Another one of those days where I’m not entirely sure what to say. Life is so… what you make of it I guess. Here I am acknowledging it once again. Trying to practice what I believe. I kinda have a love hate relationship with listening to people talk on the phone in public. It’s better than people watching. Much more to work with when crafting a little life for this stranger and the person on the other end of the phone line. Phone lines aren’t much of a thing anymore, but you know what I mean. Isn’t language so fun? Ah yes, that’s something I haven’t mentioned much. I really like learning about different languages since I’m not very good at applying myself enough to actually learn a new language. I should really get to that. Would be good for the brain. I have a decent foundation to try to pick up learning French or Spanish again. Mandarin is probably most practical. Farsi would be interesting. Imagine what poems that would unlock. A topic for another day, me thinks. 

    Anyone have any opinions on encores at shows? What’s the point if it’s always planned? Is there a reason? A nice little break for the band perhaps? Maybe they just like hearing people beg for them. That’s sooo fair. Me too buddies. I wonder why we evolved to enjoy music. Does it involve rhythm? Idk. Will chat soon. Toodaloo 

  • actualize

    My body craves some sort of respite. My mind wishes for something more than what it can currently fathom. Looking for something is a far more formidable opponent than the humble needle in a haystack. I believe I’m searching for a concept, which explains why it feels so fleeting. I need to visualize what tangible actions I can take that will lead to the materialization of my ideal reality. What a daunting task. Not trying may be worse, though. I think that’s all I have to say for now. 

  • aliens

    I’ve been feeling nervous the past few weeks. I need to work on not worrying about the things I can’t change. Sometimes I daydream about what it would be like to be abducted by aliens. Imagine it ends up happening and it absolutely sucks. That would be so sad. If I were to realize what happened/was happening, I’d literally think back to this exact moment and say to myself, “Once again, you got what you asked for.” 

    When my mind is clear, I try my best to be careful what I wish for. There are moments I wish for things I don’t actually want. When I say things I don’t even want, I mean my rational mind doesn’t want it once a bad moment passes. There are, of course, things I have asked for that turned out to be less blessing and more curse. When that happens, you’ve gotta just take it and roll with it. I’m not anti-complaining, but you can’t complain about getting what you asked for just because it’s not what you thought it would be. One of those, “it is what it is” situations in life. Probably one of the best times to try to practice gratitude. 

    Anyone have any thoughts on aliens? I have some thoughts, but idk if they’re coherent. Maybe that’s a post for 5 months from now when I’ll cut down and write more thoughtful posts. I wonder if we will know more about extraterrestrials by then. What if there are what we would consider“extraterrestrials” but it is just us from the future or a different species from Earth. Or maybe even a different dimension? Maybe I’m just searching for something more… I should look closer to home, realistically. 

  • overstimulated

    I think I might be a lowkey person. I don’t like big crowds or big groups. I feel like I say things like I guess, I feel, I think. I get overstimulated. I over stimulate people, what a mess! I don’t actually like to over stimulate people. Sad when I do that.

  • So Far, Today is Okay (It’s 10:31PM). Hoping it Stays That Way

    I truly have no business being apart of some of the stuff I have to be involved with right now. All I can do is try my best to get through it I suppose! I just need to roll with what’s happening to the best of my ability and only when there’s real injustice should I really stick my neck out there. Simply not worth it otherwise. Today hasn’t been too bad so far. Well, it had a bit of a rocky start, but right now it’s 7:15 PM and things have been alright since this morning. Just gotta appreciate these quiet moments while I can. I’m writing a little bit right now while I take a little break, but I probably won’t write a full post in this sitting. By the end of this post, I may be having a significantly better or worse day. 

    I was so busy yesterday, I didn’t actually publish my post until like 12:03AM this morning. Not gonna beat myself up over that. I forgot to actually post it because I had little brain capacity and so many things kept getting thrown at me. Well, break is cut a little short for now, duty calls. Maybe that means I’ll take an extra break to make up for this shorty. I deserve an extra 10 minutes to myself today. 

    Well, lunch is almost over and I still haven’t written that much. I do have good news to report, the day hasn’t gotten significantly worse. I’ve been trying to remind myself to look on the bright side more. I think I’m getting better even though I’m still kind of a Negative Nelly. Change isn’t overnight! 

    So, do I have anything else I’d like to say right now? I think it’s a little fun extraterrestrial disclosure is gonna happen on my birthday I think? If Amazon’s previews hold any truth, then it will be quite a day! My dad’s birthday is 9/11. It’s only noteworthy because apparently he’d tell people one day his birthday was gonna be famous. Not sure if he knew. Imagine he’s a psychic? I’d literally never know. I guess I should really suck up my anxiety and talk to him a little more, but he makes me nervous… I don’t love asking him questions lol. He’s like me, well, I’m like him. Were kind of loose cannons and especially at home, you truly never know how we are going to react. Not a trait I’m proud of, but nevertheless, we must remain self-aware and try to be honest with ourselves. I think it’s either easier to be honest or harder to lie to yourself when you’re writing stuff down. Not sure if you all know what I mean by that or not. Perhaps it’s time to close this post out, I’m beginning to speak in riddles. 

  • Another Rough Day Was Had By a Girl Today. That Girl is Me

    I feel bad for people who are misunderstood by others. Sometimes I’m fooled and feel bad for people who fit the label others gave them previously. I don’t ever regret giving people the benefit of the doubt at first, especially in a controlled environment. 

    Since I’m having another bad day, I’m not totally confident with releasing what I wrote after the end of the previous paragraph. Once I got to this point when reading over what I had already written I was like, eh maybe let’s be sure I’m in the right frame of mind and this is as innocuous as I feel it is now. We’re getting close to midnight and I need to get something out there (for no one else other than me). So, what else should I say? I need to be more confident removing myself from situations that might get me fucked up. In the end, losing my cool/breaking down is more embarrassing than excusing myself. Anyone else’s life a little chaotic right now, or is it just me? Hopefully you’re all doing good. So sorry if you’re not. I guess life is entirely about perspective. Need to work harder on changing mine to be a little more positive. It’s hard to remind myself it could be so much worse without thinking it could be the other way too! Whoever came up with the glass half full analogy… genius. 

    I wish I could help everyone and make things easier for people. It’s just not possible though. I wish I could make everyone happy, or at least prevent people from getting mad at me. I guess I am so passive/afraid of people getting mad and avoid it like the plague. I really don’t like being yelled at or when people are upset with me. I know no one knows me, but if you do know me, I wouldn’t blame you if you thought otherwise. People think I don’t care about anything. I probably give off that vibe as a defense mechanism so no one can use how much I care against me. And like… sometimes I act insane and treat people poorly, so you’d be like, oh, do you really care? Well, in the moment, idk. Idk how to deal with moments of losing my cool. I guess it’s called growing up and being an adult, but I feel a little more fucked up than the average Joe. It’s getting close to midnight and I am just simply tired, so I will stop here.