Layer Cake

A successful cocaine dealer, who has earned a respected place among England's Mafia elite, plans an early retirement from the business. However, big boss Jimmy Price hands down a tough assignment: find Charlotte Ryder, the missing rich princess daughter of Jimmy's old pal Edward, a powerful construction business player and gossip papers socialite. Complicating matters are two million pounds' worth of Grade A ecstasy, a brutal neo-Nazi sect and a whole series of double crossings. The title "LAYER CAKE" refers to the layers or levels anyone in business goes through in rising to the top. What is revealed is a modern underworld where the rules have changed. There are no 'codes', or 'families' and respect lasts as long as a line. Not knowing who he can trust, he has to use all his 'savvy', 'telling' and skills which make him one of the best, to escape his own. The ultimate last job, a love interest called Tammy, and an international drug ring threaten to draw him back into the 'cake mix'.-IMDB

131117

9.41p

Sunday

Ohh, settling down for the night. For sleep. It has been a very full and peaceful day. Just a little drama trying to get Mor out to work on the pool. And yet, he still ended doing it in the dark. For all his talk of not wanting drama and taking the peaceful, high road...he makes drama that way. Stand up and get it done. That's his problem. I have plenty, plenty of my own.

I watched videos during the night, dozing and waking back up to start watching where I left off. Slept in until eight. Wow. That is late for me. Drank my first mug downstairs visiting with Wheat. He came in late and we didn't get a chance to catch up. He covered the shift for one of the girls at work; she had a doctor’s appointment. I had my doubts about that. His manager ended up calling bullshit on it and that young lady will be pulling a close for him whenever he wants.

Made potato and regular waffles, sausage, and fried eggs. I had W full before he went to work. And I ate mine one at a time throughout the day. I wrote and blogged all morning. Watched a scary movie.

When M woke up, around one, I took a walk to the grocery.  Strict orders to buy healthy food. Almond milk, veggies, fruit, veggies, instead of pasta. Yams instead of potatoes. Brown instead of white rice. I held the party line. No beer, red wine instead. Just good food. Cost a little more but what is good health worth? Everyone in my family is worth it. No snacks to speak of. People will have to learn to appreciate meals. H came to pick me up. I was surprised to see she drove M's car. What’s up with that? I drove his car but she never does...until now. Turns out a tree limb fell across the drive, blocking her exit. When I got home, I and the Boys worked on it. M manned the reciprocal saw. D and I stacked wood against the fence and put twigs into the truck.

I did peach the five aquariums I brought home yesterday.

Dinner was fabulous. I picked up some thick porterhouse steaks. Covered them with Daddy Hinkle's marinade. M made the quinoa in the rice cooker with a can of beef broth. I steamed some Brussels sprouts. That was it. Some romain lettuce. Simper but so delish. M demonstrated how to cook the steaks the Alton Brown way. He heated the cast-iron on the grill to over four fifty. Then he put the hot pan of a super-hot burner for a minute on each side. Then back onto the grill, two minutes on each side. Mmmmm.  I drank bourbon and diet coke and threw the stick for the corgi. The weather was actually warm. Not hot, but warm. Probably the last day to wear shorts for a while.

Weather hit the north and east today. Tornadoes in Chicago.

Watched Denver v. Kansas City. The number one and two teams in the NFL. They are in the same division so no chance they will meet in the super bowl. e and visited in front of the game. A Sunday tradition all over America. Then I came to bed and surfed the net, looking at cooking vids on YT, Maangcih cooking Korean food. She did most of her work on a portable stove, a butane model then I looked at stoves on Amazon for a while. I'll stick with the ones. I have on my wish list Butane is harder to get than propane. And I really do want to make my own alcohol stove. Run it and me off everclear. If it spills it won't cause a mess.

I say i like to camp but I didn’t' get out in the spring and Fall is almost over. I doubt I'll get to camp. Why do I act like I like to, if I did I would be out there. I just like to collect camping junk. Don’t get me started about how greedy I am.

The truth of the matter is I like to stay at home. Camping comes n second to sleeping in my bed and eating food I make in my kitchen. I can walk around the neighborhood. And when I get bored, there are parks all over the place Hell, just head out the door and cut a chogie. Just get to steppin'.

No, I’m a hoe body.

I am idle.

Lazy.

Happy as shit.

Tell the truth, that is why p [people go camping, to get away from home. To have an excuse to not worry about chores and home repairs. I can forget just fine where I'm at. And I can spend my money on steaks and renting movies.

Okay, I could ramble longer than anyone would want to pay attention to it so I will slow my roll and read a book.

131118

9:50p

Monday night

Shutting down for the day. I know it will be a while. I have a big day at work tomorrow. Not smart to talk about work on social media, so I won't but it is going to be stressful, more so than usual. Having an audit. Never an easy thing. Enough said about that. I have so much more to think about. Personal stuff.

Today I found another YT channel. A gardening site. I have been on the fringes with my interest in aquaponics. Luck for me, indoor growing is becoming more mainstream. Hydroponics isn't just for pot anymore. Imagine things working in reverse. A technolgy exploited for drugs i s now become mainstream. I would rather have a nice heirloom tomato out of season than a joint. Can't go to jail or lose your house over a tomato. And it eats so much better than a joint. Hardy har har.

Mor is a budding gardener. He has invested in his own raised bed outside his window. He doesn’t' have anything growing, and now he'll have to wait until spring, but he has the bug. Bud. Bug. Gardening humor. Hey, gardeners are nerds. Farmers are real men. Paul Harvey writes essays about them. It will jerk a tear right out your eye. But a gardener, well, it's pretty fucking nerdy.

I say that and I think back to my grandparents. They were a generation off the farm. Raised on the farm then moving to the city or town or one-horse village to earn a living. My grandparents brought their love for farming with them. I think it was just a way of life for them. So they didn’t have a hen house, but they did raise a few banty chickens in the back corner. Maybe a rabbit or two. And they had a garden. Enough to piddle with. Food...fresh veggies during the summer. And they canned some of it. And you could go out to a real farm and pick veggies yourself and bring them home to eat your fill and can the rest. A porch was an important part of their house. It was a cool place to sleep during the summer. A bed on the porch was normal. And it was full of plants. Fuller during the winter when all the pots that could fit were brought inside. And in every nook and cranny, ball jars of veggies where kept. No, the porch was a very important room in their house I would love to have a house with more porch than indoors. I want to thank them for bringing the agrarian spirit with them, and showing it to me. I have been sitting here feeling like I am missing out I've mentioned that I think I want to camp, but I must not, because I never go camping. I just collect camping gear and watch YT videos on camping. I am a homebody. No two ways about it. I like to stay put. Not that anyone would want to find me, but if you did, you know where I'd be: at my house. So it hit me. I need to give up this wander lust and embrace my hominess. I need to start growing things here at my house. By gawd, I'm planting a seed tomorrow come hell or high water. I am going to start a new phase, turn over a new leaf to be corny. Just wait, you'll see. I will put a seed in dirt tomorrow.

I'm not bull shitting.

I don’t' think H will let me have rabbits but I can get to work on those beneficial insects. Maybe a canary. A mouse. There is nothing stopping me but bone laziness from have a fish tank fight this very moment. Nope, just bone laziness.

And if I start that tank of fish, minnows, minnows would be fine, then I can turn my laziness to idleness, and watch my tank of fish and do nothing as opposed dot just doing nothing. It’s a thin line but so is a pubic hair.

Great day. Woke up, watched the gardener do his thing. Chickens are also his thing. Made breakfast for a coworker and myself. A potato waffle for him, blueberry wall nut for me. I put honey instead of syrup on mine so it would be easier to take and eat at my desk. I also gave the coworker a couple of leftover blueberry muffins and some cranberry juice. I took iced coffee for myself. Made us both a bbq pork sammie out of leftovers. I took some dark chocolate to stash in my desk along with a couple of packs of gum for me and my assistant to enjoy. She likes gum almost as much as she does Baylor. She's a fine person, my Head. Let's not get too personal here.

Back to the gardening. Well lucky for me, this YT gardener with the chickens also keeps an indoor garden. With reflective coverings on the walls and grow lights everywhere. He isn't a doper. He is using it to grow mangos and peppers and fresh herbs to cook with. Besides the gardening videos, he also does a few cooking demonstrations. He must be a bachelor because his food is simple, nothing wrong with that.

I can talk abut some simple food we enjoyed tonight. Mor pointed out that it is a good practice to eat a cup of soup or a salad before dinner to get full faster. I had some red beans with lots of hotsauce. He ate a fairly big bowl of beans and brown rice. Wheat even ate a bowl. I had a salad. Made some homemade thousand island, just to get the jar out of the 'fringe. I had about an inch of Better Maid salad dressing left. I put some ketchup and sweet relish in with some fat free half and half. That was the base. Then I sprinkled quite a few seasonings in, cyanine, garlic, onion, black pepper, ....I forget what else. I just started grabbing bottles and hhaking a little in.

H had baked some chicken and she used a lot of those same spices; to coat the chick n thighs. Baked up really nice. The chicken and some beets were all we needed.

We boiled p the rest of the chicken thighs. I took the chicken out and put a cup of barley in and while it cooked for forty five minutes. Simmering.  I sautéed some veggies to add back in. Onion, carrot, red and yellow bell peppers. Jalapeno. Added garlic and some mushrooms I sautéed in butter back in. Diced the chicken and put it in with the veggies. By the time the barley was cooked, the veggies were roasted and toasted and full of that chicken flavor. I sneaked in a cup of cooked spinach I found in the fridge. Don’t' tell.

10:37p...break to say good night to W. He stopped by, thinking we'll miss each other tomorrow morning He'll get up and see me off in the mornings. I appreciate that quite a bit. He is doing way better. He likes his job. He likes the money it brings his way, and surprisingly, he likes saving it. Likes watching the bank account grow. Good for him. He congratulated me on my aquarium find. We want to raise some frogs. So, how cool is that. He is such a good boy but he is like everyone else in that he wants what he wants. And you got to be careful what you ask for, you might just get it. He tried a pretty health bowl of my chicken barley soup. It needed salt, but once that was added it age damned good. Yes it did. I tried some of it myself. Just a spoon or two. Mmmmm.

I got the best pickled peppers from my mom. Not hot but really well done, nice and sweet. With a quirky name: winkles or some such shit I put some of my canned Serrano in the jar yesterday, I have almost finished the winkles. I get inspired tonight to add some of the leftover beets to fill it back up. I'll let you know how it works out but I have no doubt it will be a spicy, tasty treat. Make me a bologna sammie, woman, and dont forget the wiggles!!!

I didn't get to exercise today. Had to get a haircut instead. I'd let my hair grow until I stepped on it. I just don’t give two shits. Actually, I like the crazy way I look when I wake up. I don’t comb my hair after I shower on the weekends so it can just go crazy as hell. But Ill shave and wear clothes that match and don’t' have holes tomorrow. Put on the dog. But then its back to dressing by putting on the next article of clothing in reach. The first pair of pants with the first shirt with the first tie. Then I pick out the appropriate shoes.

I love being fifty, it just doesn't matter. If I did get a position of authority, I would buy a wardrobe to match but I could get six white shirts and three pairs of kakis. No reason to have to think about what one is wearing for the day. 

I figure I'll stop rambling when H and the dogs come up. Where the hell are they? I bet this is running a little long.

If I can generate some momentum growing indoors, I might even give up the closet in the bathroom, not nine, but the one over the stairs. It is full of old clothes. About sixteen boxes of shit I don't wear. I would grow in the closet for no other reason than it is in such close proximity to where I hand out. It would be easy to take care of. My mom said that it helps to keep plants tighter because if you space them out, one is sure to be forgotten.

Funny, this house use to be a pot grow house. You can still see the security outside and the extra outlets and AC in the garage. Well, those days are over but they gave me a head start if I want to make a go of an indoor garden. Thanks Biker pot grower Dudes. I'll take it from here. My salsa will blow your mind better than any mary=hew=anna.  You’re talking to the ArlingtonTexican!

I thought I heard H but she just used the facilities and went back down stairs.

Mor is stirring up shit on the social media sites. He bashed Wal-Mart for actually promoting the fact that the employees are helping out other employees by having a food drive. Pay your fucking workers! r have it worse than the welfare poor. And the middle class are next in line. they live well but they can’t move up or are always in danger of losing it all, because you have to be welfare poor to get any assistance The system doesn’t' add to what you have it. Only for those that have nothing it’s no picnic being on welfare, don’t get me wrong. But you qualify more healthcare than the working poor. Bash Obama care all you want but it's the equivalent to making all people who drive have collision insurance When someone has an accident and doesn’t' have insurance we all end up paying for it and when someone who doesn't have healthcare gets sick, what care they do get has to be made up for by the rest of us. I have to stop right here talking about healthcare because it make me sick to my stomach to whore our ...no, I'll stop right there, least I offend. It's just a sorry situation all the way around.

Breath in, breath out.

Time for this cowboy to read himself to sleep.

131119

6:28a

Tuesday morning

Haven't written standing up at the kitchen counter in a while. I am waiting for the coffee to brew so I can have my first mug. I'm taking my mug black lately. No to be austere but to taste the coffee. I'll get bored of the rich bitterness and go back to adding something to 'lighten it up'. But isn't the bold flavor of coffee just grand, and nothing else does it. Tea tries but all the tea I've ever had is weak in comparison

The dogs have had a treat, which they have to share, one broken in half. Then they go out. Once the coffee is on, I get a glass of water and take my blood pressure medicine and a fish oil capsule. This morning I'm adding another heart-healthy habit. Cooking oatmeal. H has been asking for me to make some. So, I put two cups of water and one cup of oats in a pan, brought it to a boil, just two seconds ago, and turned it down to simmer. It will be waiting for me when I come back down after my shower. I started to make it with skim milk and caught myself, remembering H's intolerance for all things dairy.

The morning has a chill to it. I will need to go back to wearing my thick robe of a morning before long. Today, a hoodie is more than enough.

There is at least a mugs worth of coffee, I'll move this party back upstairs, get back under the covers.

6.42a...Much more comfortable. The morning is still a shadow through the balcony doors. Like me, just waking up. I nuke my mug to give it a magma hot start; it will cool by the time I sip it down. Don’t' you ate hot coffee? Not everybody odes. My dear mother lets hers cool. That is as queer as Mor putting pancakes into the frig before eating them. This is a sign of broken people.

5.45 the alarm went off, Head stirred and farted, and I turned off the alarm. I had an audiobook looping, listening through headphones. Switched it to a YT vid for some meditation music. I was right to pick first thing in the morning to meditate. When you are just awake, you won't fall asleep as easy. You can meditate to fall asleep at night, but you will fall asleep. You will 'transcend', which seems to be the goal of mediation. Well, I don't think I transcended this morning. I mediated For Almost half an hour. So many thoughts bombarding me. I retaliated by chanting on 'all those thoughts' trying to turn the tables, get the upper hand, and become the observer. Ehh.  It kinda worked.

I thought about lots of things. The audit today. Scratching His back. A dream I had last night about a dog that kept trying to attack me. I was out on a walk and it kept sneaking up behind me and it was my own little dog that warned me. I was able to fight the big dog off and eventually maser it. I had it on a leash before it was all over. Some inspirational writings I found on the web and how I should share them with W. He could set in my big leather chair and I could project the website with the writing onto the TV. I could sit right where I am, propped up in bed.

College. Wheat was anxious to register. He got on line and at first we almost had a family fight trying to figure out why there were so few courses offered and the only labs for the biology class he wanted were during the lecture? Weird. Turns out he had selected only a.m. courses. Once he selected 'all' he had plenty of options. He decided to take MW so he could be available to work coupon Tuesday at Popeye’s

Jobs. Mor is taking Unky Mike up on his offer to see if there are any other position, full time, with his work. Mor likes the job. It will be hard for him to give up his stocking job but he wants to learn more about the inventory management side of the business.

And more work. H is launching her website today. Mor has been working with her to take photos, they went to places in Arlington last week, and put them up on the site. It is the last step to finishing it. Isn't that something?

Cameras. Mor wants a new camera but the new ones, the compact models, are all a grand. He sees he can buy a professioanl model, albeit bulkier, for half that. I seem to be, for all appearances, trapped in a writing rhythm where I put a clause in the middle of my sentences. Please, if you would, kill me.

Typical Mor, he was evaluating my camera equipment. All shit. Just shit. He would do me the favor of selling my micro lens, for taking pics of stuff close up. He would buy a macro lens for H. She could then get wide-angle picks of houses. She looks at big things in her work. I look at small thing. I would just as soon keep the lens I have. Thank you very much. Mor...He would throw out everyone else’s toothbrush because why keep them around, he's not using them. It's the dark side to the Machen gene. Me. Me. Me.

H has turned over and is checking her social media and devotionals. We all have our morning routines. Why doesn’t she piss first? Elephant bladder ism.

131121

6:42a

Thursday morning

Time to catch up.

Audit went way better than expected. Only ones minor finding but more importantly is what the auditor didn't pick up on.

The down side is that with all the backslapping the bosses were doing with each other, not one fell on any of my vertebrae. Ain't that a bitch? One glancing blow did catch me on my pride. Right after the audit they pulled me in and accused me of fraud. Fraud! They made out clear they wouldn't tolerate any hint, however teeny tiny, so they would destroy all the evidence and move on. Let's never speak of it again. About some dumb mother fuckers!

Well, the family sans Mor almost accomplished our goal of getting kicked out of Applebee’s. We ate and drank all the gift cards we could still some left so a return trip is inevitable. Wheat generously treated us to ice cream afterward. Head stayed to watch The Voice. Wheat drove and I held H cone in one hand, my Sunday in the other, and set W on the seat.

"Wheat, I'd u get nuts on your Sunday?"

"No."

"You do now!"

"Aww man, move it!"

"My hands are full. You reach down there."

"No way!"

"Then we have a standoff. What are u bitching about, my nuts are the ones freezing..."

I ate my ice cream in bed, watching videos. Fighting pinto off, but I did let him lick the container when I finished.

Woke up a little hung-over and a lot bloated. Pissed off and feeling sour all day. Perked up after going walking with H and M.

Tostados and enchiladas for dinner.

WH called to confirm plans for Saturday. Would be great to start a new adventure but one can't get one's hopes too high. Looking forward to finding out to be way or the other if there is an opportunity to step out on my own again.

Well, today is my Friday. Definitely calling in sick tomorrow. Looking at a short week for thanksgiving next week. And taking a vacation day a week from Monday. That will make three short weeks in a row.

M drove to Austin to see a documentary that wasn't playing here. Stayed with granny and pa. But try and get him to shut the microwave door, forget about it.

Watched some of The Xfactor with H. Then Spurs v. Celtics with M. Gave W a spiral I had for next semester's classes. He liked it. Bed. Now. Done.