kevin didn't go to work today. sometimes when my place is too comfortable, roommates learn that it's far nicer to simply stay home than go out. it's not like he's playing games or watching movies, he's genuinely working, just not in the office. this of course falls under one of my roommate complaints: "not going to work." and not like he's camped outside (like sandy was when she didn't go to work), but rather he stays discreetly in his room. still, it cuts into that time of day when i pretend i don't have a roommate.
on the news today there was a report on surgical mask shortages due to coronavirus concerns, something my roommate already discovered when he tried looking for masks at our local pharmacies and they were all out. but the report isn't saying is that most of the buyers are chinese, either buying it for themselves or mailing them back to china. i've also been following the coronavirus drama on wechat, through my chongqing friends, who have been buying masks from japan and then reselling them to friends in china.
i went down to market basket around 11am to get some ingredients for tonight's dinner: mexican chicken soup. for lunch i made some scrambled eggs with kielbasa sausages. while kevin was in his room, i was in the living room, watching a combination of impeachment hearing news and reprisal episodes through my bluetooth headphones.
i also registered to be a census employee. it was 10 years ago i tried looking for a job with the 2010 census. back then they made applicants take a test: i scored high but didn't get a job. this time around it was a questionnaire that asked you to self-evaluate you skill and temperament, also like a psychological profile.
production today was nothing to write home about, but the next 3 days (the last 3 days of january) i'm looking for 30kWh+ production for each day, which will put us over the 600kWh threshold.
spicy mexican chicken soup 6 servings | |
1 onion, diced garlic, minced olive oil
1/4 cup white wine |
1.5 lbs. chicken thighs, cooked, shredded 15 oz. can black beans 1 cup israeli couscous 1 cup frozen corn salt (to taste) shredded cheese scallions, chopped |
boil chicken then shred. sauté onion and garlic in olive oil, add liquid ingredients, add dry ingredients (including chicken). simmer covered for 30 minutes. serve with shredded cheese topping and scallions/cilantro |
while i was making my spicy mexican chicken soup, kevin went out to get some groceries. by the time he got back, the soup was already ready to eat. i helped myself to a large bowl while kevin got a small bowl. it makes me feel like a pig when kevin - who is much taller than i am - eats half as much as i do.
evening would've ended with everybody aglow in a warm fuzzy food coma where it not for the fact that i found a pool of pee around the toilet again. kevin couldn't explain how it happened, but volunteered to clean up. afterwards i did some additional cleanup because i couldn't trust him to do a thorough job. he's still peeing sitting down, but whatever the hell he's doing, about every week he had an accident and ends up pissing all over the bathroom floor. at this point i've sort of gotten used to it by now. i'm hoping the winter months will go by fast.
i stayed up until 3am watching the final 2 episodes (9 & 10) of reprisal from bed. i like the show, and i hope hulu renews it for a 2nd season, but i have a hard time recommending it. not that it isn't good, it's just hard to categorize if i wanted to sell it to somebody. i was most impressed with all the different costume changes katherine harlow/doris goes through in each episode, from brunette to blonde, from a caterer outfit to a gogo burlesque dancer. i also liked the plot twists; they weren't too crazy, and a few i could figure out (like how katherine was married to bash), but it wasn't your typical crime revenge drama. and despite the fact that most of the female characters exist in that world simply as eye candy, it's the underestimated women who turn out to be just as strong and devious as the men, if not stronger.