Alrighty then!
Now that my vacation has officially ended, and I'm back to the Daily Grind, let's go over what I've actually accomplished during the past week....
I cleaned 80% of my apartment. Not really deep cleaning, but I threw away a metric ton of trash (old mail, receipts, boxes that were being used as makeshift containers) and put most everything in a designated place. We're not going to talk about my closet just yet

. But for the first time in months, I've been able to see my bedroom floor! So that's major progress. I also raked all the random strands of hair out of my carpets. No wonder the vacuum cleaner belt always breaks! Guys... So. Much. HAIR! Ew. And I don't have any pets! That's just from my fiancee and I.
Next, we move on the project of passion that's sucked up the majority of my free time. My TTRPG, tentatively called
CHIBI. Yes, it's also an acronym, because y'all know I love my quirky abbreviations. Anyway, I've managed to write the bulk of the rules for the Dice Mechanics, and I've got most of the Cards functions figured out as well. I'm excited to play-test what I've got, but before I do that, I need to get the Character Creation process figured out, and for that, I need to brainstorm some core Skills, and figure out what kind of Skills I'm going to focus on. So much to think about here. Luckily, I can borrow a good amount of content from the 200+ other TTRPGs that I own, and there are some great possibilities contained within the thousands of Pages I have access to.
Cooking. So much cooking, well,
baking. I finally managed to get myself a kitchen scale, so now I can weigh the flour and water! I never thought that I'd feel like a kid in a candy score over a freakin' scale, but here we are. This must be what
old looks like. Anyway, I haven't tried pizza dough just yet using the weight recipe that I have, but I did delve into the world of making my own ramen noodles. Totally from scratch, without a pasta machine. Yeah, do I trust myselves around knives? Not really, but I've heard it's in good hands.

One thing that I did learn was that to make
good ramen noodles, you must have patience. I've got that in Spades. Basically, you combine the flour, water, and salt, knead it for a couple minutes, and then stick the dough in the refrigerator for 24 hours. I've read that this will take this uber stiff substance and relax it-- like my shoulders after a week long vacation. Are we beginning to notice a pattern here? I did. After the dough rests, then you knead it out and flatten it until it's like 1/16" think. Not sure I can get my dough that thin, but I'll certainly get it as thin as possible. And apparently, I don't even have to use a rolling pin! I can just massage the dough inside of a double-layered bag with my feet. This appears to be a common practice in many Japanese homes-- or they just break down and spend the $140 on a Pasta Machine. Anyway, after the dough has been steamrolled, it's time to cut it. lots of corn starch, fold it like a fan, and then very carefully make three-millimeter slices to form the noodles. I'm going to guesstimate that this process is going to consume like five hours. Bonus tip: You're going to want a really
sharp knife.
In other news, my fiancee has been battling an infected tooth over the past three days (as of today). She finally convinced herself to go to the Urgent Care today to get the needed antibiotics. I encouraged her to go yesterday too, but... I'm not her Commander. Hopefully she'll be fine, although our budget probably won't be. I'm going to be working a lot of extra hours this week in hopes that I can make up the deficit. Right now, I'm projecting about a $100 short for our July Rent. Thank the Gods that I paid the cellphone bills for the entire year back in January. Anyway, maybe she can find a dentist that will take her insurance so that she can get that issue resolved permanently.
As for today, my goal is to not get totally stressed out from work. It is a Saturday after all, and we have all the Crazies coming in to the store, and my poor feet already ache just thinking about being on the all day long. Ah well.
Daily Roll: 16!
Maybe today will be a
good day after all?