I Hate Over Easy Eggs

I'm forcing out one last post, because if I update one more time before 2024, I'll have met my New Year's Resolution for the main blog. I recently made a Christmas 2023 post, so if you haven't read that one, you can find it below.

Anyway, the arbitrary topic I'm choosing to tick my blog number box is my feelings toward over easy eggs.

I don't actually hate this style of preparation for sensory reasons. I hate the psychology that has come to be associated with it. Imagine this: you're at a diner for breakfast with friends. You order the classic breakfast: home fries, your choice of protein, and your choice of eggs. The server arrives, takes your order, and asks the fateful question, "How would you like your eggs?". It invites the thought of a wide spectrum of options, encouraging creativity and opportunity for customization.

But secretly, there is only one "correct" option, and it's over easy. The server knows it. Everyone at your table knows it. They're all waiting to see if you will comply to the social norm, or if they will subject you to judgment.

Let's go over the snarky comments you'll get if you order any other way.

Sunny side up, or soft boiled: it hasn't been cooked long enough, you'll get sick

Scrambled: That's childish

Hard, over hard, hard boiled, medium, over medium, or medium boiled: It's been cooked too long, it has no flavour

Of course, if you order a specific egg-based dish like an omelet you're free from judgment. This only applies to meals that offer "your choice of eggs".

These sentiments are silly of course. There are no health risks associated with a runny yolk, the restaurant wouldn't offer it as an option if there was. There's no inherent reason that scrambled eggs are "childish", and eggs cooked for longer are perfectly fine.

So why is it that people box themselves in with over easy eggs?

I think one reason is that there are a lot of people that aren't very good at cooking, but they're pretty good with eggs.  This is because the barrier for entry is so low. At its simplest, you can turn on a pan, crack an egg into it, wait until it looks like a cooked egg, and you're good. Give it a little swirl and you've got scrambled eggs. Now you know how to cook two things.

Then it's easy to experiment by putting salt and pepper, or thowing in some cheese or diced ham. Each individual step is pretty lenient, and if you screw something up the end results are usually edible. 

Often times, the best showing of skill for someone experimenting with the basics is over easy. Waiting just long enough, then flipping it so that it's cooked on all sides, and has a runny and intact yolk. Eventually, someone who isn't confident in the kitchen will begin to think "I might not know how to cook, but at least I can do eggs"

End result is that you have a person whose sense of culinary worth is wrapped up in their ability to make over easy eggs, and they're dying to let you know why your order is objectively wrong. Problem is, enjoyment does not always equate to difficulty in preparation, and so it might be hard for a person who thinks this way to reconcile themselves with the fact that on their journey to mastery, the best thing they ever did might also be the second thing they ever did, the little swirl.

I think this is where the "scrambled eggs are childish" sentiment comes from. They likely learned how to make them when they themselves were pretty close to childhood.

Another hot take I've got is that scrambled eggs are not inferior to omelettes. That's another case of people thinking it's a better experience simply because it's harder to do.

Another falacy some people have when assessing eggs, is that they subject them to steak rules. The other dish that is best known for giving an array of cook time options, with a not-so-secret "correct" answer is steak. Chef's choice is medium rare. You can maintain your dignity if you want it cooked less, but not if you want it cooked more.

I'm a little more sympathetic to the steak snobs. When it comes down to it, I like to live and let live. That being said, steak has some unique qualities that disappear when cooked past medium. So when people say "If you like your steak well done, maybe you just don't like steak", I can understand the perspective. Although I think steak is overrated in general.

Anyway. Eggs are not steak! Eggs don't have a "disappearing quality" when they pass a medium cook. They have a pretty even gradiant of textural differences, so if you like a hard cooked egg, I don't think there's any valid argument against it.

As far as runny yolks are concerned. People worry about catching salmonella. It's easiest to get it from undercooked chicken. Eggs come from chickens, and people make this association.

You get salmonella from undercooked chicken meat. Not the eggs. Don't worry about this.

All this to say, I do think over easy eggs are a valid style of preparation. Since I'm advocating for choice, it would be hypocritical of me to discourage it as an option. Still, when the server is going around the table, and everyone's ordering over easy, I can't help but feel resentment brewing in my chest as the tension mounts and I feel the shackles of social obligation tighten.

And I feel quite rebellious when she gets to me, and I look her in the eyes and defiantly growl "Scramble it".

Christmas 2023

It's become a bit of a pattern that we'll be visiting Lee-Anne's family at Christmas, and then see mine on New Years. The big gathering usually happens on Boxing Day, as it did this year. 

It was a green Christmas and Boxing Day. Regardless, last year with my post titled "White Christmas" I committed to end my colour-themed holiday tradition, even though I don't think I ever used green. If memory serves, I had blue for 2019, grey for 2020, brown for 2021, and white for 2022. I'm almost regretful I'm not continuing the theme, but it's probably best to end on a high note. Also best not to tempt fate to keep justifying new colours, or we'll wind up with a Red Christmas eventually.

It was very rainy, and continues to be as of this posting. We'll still probably get some cold weather in the back half of the season. That seems to be how it works nowadays, but it's still weirdly temperate.

I got a set of dummbbells as a gift, one 20 pounds and one 30. That might seem odd, but it was to match the ones I have at home, so now I have a pair of each. After getting them home, I noticed that while the newer ones are the same weight as the older, they're significantly larger. Must be a difference in material.

These weights will be useful for working out, but I'll also use them to cat proof the house while we're away. Right now, whenever we leave overnight I jam all the doors by putting towels in their top joints, as our cats are capable of shutting themselves in rooms. I've also been putting weights in front of the two doors I feel like they're most likely to mess with. Finn can climb on top of the bathroom door, so I worry about him either jumping up and knocking it down, or using the towel to climb up and pulling it down in the process. There are four doors in our apartment, so now I've got a weight for each.

Lee-Anne got a set of drawers and she brought back an office chair. I think she already owned the chair, she just brought it back since we had the opportunity. It's useful for me, as this year I finally returned my work office chair to the building. During lockdowns, we got permission to bring some of our stuff home as that was where we were doing most of our work, but since we've fully reopened it stopped making sense. Now we have two office chairs in our apartment again.

Lee-Anne got me The Anti-Planner, a resource for people with ADHD. We have one at work, and I've used it a few times to help me navigate through some tougher days. It's mostly a tool to help with emotional regulation. It's got a series of categories of difficult emotions that people with ADHD are prone to, and then sub-categories that narrow it further. Each of these sub-categories have a series of activities that can help provide clarity.

For Lee-Anne, I got her two tarot decks. One was a newer version by the same person that developed the one she's been using. The other was Cat Tarot, which is not faithful to the universal symbols set by Rider-Waite, but I figured she's got two legit decks already, she can have a gimmick one. Every time we'd checked out the tarot section at Indigo she'd taken note of the cat one, so I figured it was time to get it.

They finally dropped their holiday offer of a discounted throw blanket with purchase at Indigo. We have three Indigo throw blankets from doing holiday shopping there the past three years. I'd joked that in 20 years we'd have 20 blankets, but I guess not. 

Everyone Got Better

Last Saturday Lee-Anne got a negative test for COVID. We celebrated by going to a smaller local restaurant that we hadn't been to before. It felt appropriate to go somewhere cramped with necessary social interactions to celebrate not having a communicable disease.

I got the chicken and waffles, probably my most diabettically unfriendly meal since being diagnosed. Fried chicken on dough with maple syrup. Never had it before. Seemed aggregious. 

I've been experimenting with certain foods to test my body's ability to manage insulin. The first test was a waffle with jam, which was the first meal to put me out of my glucose target range. A year later I revisited it and I was fine. At another point, my sugars spiked after drinking a mimosa. Recently I had a glass of orange juice and it barely effected me.

Chicken and waffles is not an intuitive meal for a Southern Ontarian. I had pictured it as a chicken sandwich with waffles replacing the bread, although I had heard accounts of the waffles being treated traditionally, with maple syrup. Despite a cutural bias in favour of the sauce, to me it made no sense with chicken. Ultimately, enough people were vouching for it that it piqued my interest.

To my surprise, the savouriness of the chicken combined with the sweetness of the syrup was pretty pleasant. Something about the waffles themselves worked with the chicken too.

On Sunday, my mother and brother tested negative for COVID. Duncan still hasn't fully recovered his sense of taste and smell, but I heard on the radio that the rapid tests don't determine whether you're infected, but rather if you're infectious. So while he's not fully recovered, he shouldn't be a danger to anyone.

Earlier in the pandemic, it was my intention to announce my status should I ever contract the illness. However, when it finally came time for me, I didn't feel the need to. At first, if you heard that someone in your sphere had caught it, the instinct was to wish for their recovery, as it seemed possible that they wouldn't survive. Nowadays, people just say "It's going around" when you let people know that someone got COVID.

I've gotten a little better at doing these rapid tests. I swab my cheeks, tounge, and the back of my nose when I do them. It usually results in lots of gagging and sneezing, as it did while I was testing during my sick period. 

By the end however, I was able to forego gagging, and was managing to stave off sneezing until I finished swabbing. I'd still sneeze at the end, though.

Recovered from COVID

 

Last Sunday marked a week from my first symptom, and the day I received my negative COVID test. This was sufficient to return to work, but the World Health Organization's current guidelines say that you might be contagious for ten days after showing your first symptom, so I'm still wearing a mask until Wednesday.

Apparently this year has been twice as bad as last year for rate of infection. They're calling it a wave, which is a term I haven't heard for awhile. Although that might have less to do with the word losing relevancy, and more so be because I, like most people, haven't been listening to the scientific community on the topic as much lately. I didn't know rates had doubled or that we were in a wave until after I got sick, which motivated me to look into it. 

Even if it's infectious, I think lethality is still not as bad as it once was. Last I checked, even though we're still considered to be in a pandemic, we lost our status as a Global Health Emergency, and I'm pretty sure I'd have heard about it if we regained that title.

They can't gather data like they could before the home rapid tests were made widely available, so they're getting it from rates of hospitalization and wastewater.

I remember when the Omicron variant came out in 2021. I hadn't heard of a variant since Delta, which I knew was the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet. I looked up where Omicron was and it was the 15th. I was shocked to see how many strains had developed without my hearing about it.

Since so much time has passed, I decided to see which variant we're on today and it's... still Omicron. I'm wondering if new types were coming out fast enough that they gave up on the Greek letter theme. Apparently we're dealing with "subvariants" within the already established strains. They haven't bothered to give them catchy names, though.

One contribution to me getting sick for the first time could be that I missed a round of vaccination. Last time I was in the doctor's office there was a poster with suggestions on whether or not you needed to vaccinate. Because I wasn't within a certain age range or met the criteria for being immunocompromised, it suggested it was unnecessary. However, now its being suggested that everyone get it every six months. Although, apparently getting sick gives you three months of natural immunity, so I have to wait for that to be used up now.

In my last post, I said that the lower line on the test that indicates COVID was lighter for me than my brother, and since my symptoms were also lighter I wondered if there was a correlation. Well, after I began to feel better, the bottom line continued to get fainter, so I really wonder if it is the case.

I had a COVID app on my phone that at one time gained a bit of traction. Users were supposed to let it know when they were infected. It would then backtrack the signals of the phones of people whose paths you'd crossed with the same app and alert them that they'd been exposed. It never told me it suspected anything. Every once in a while it would tell me it hadn't detected any exposures, and I would always be surprised I still had the app. I used to think there was a non-negligible chance that I'd forget to input my own status if I ever got infected.

 In fact, it took me until just now to remember that I should have let it know when I got sick. I just looked into it and it says the app isn't compatible with my phone. I changed phones a little while ago and it transferred my apps but I guess the creators didn't bother to keep it relevant. Pointless thing.

Lee-Anne, my mother and my brother are all still sick. I was the first to recover. I mentioned that Duncan had it the worst with a high fever, but I only recently learned that he's lost his sense of taste and smell. This always sounded like the most unique of the COVID symptoms. I wondered if it was just the usual sense of distortion that comes with congestion, but from how I've now heard it described, it sounds a bit different.

I wanted to do something productive with my quarantine time, especially after I started to feel better. To be honest with you, basically all I did was binge read an online comic. Our cats got used to having me around again, like they did during lockdowns.

Finally Got COVID

 

The dreaded double bars.

Earlier in the pandemic, I liked to imagine COVID as a zombie survival game. Getting sick was the equivalent of getting bit, and the amount of time you avoided the virus was how long you'd survive in a zombie apocalypse. So this means I survived, what, three years and nine months? Not bad.

Last Thursday, me and Lee-Anne went to Brampton so that we could more easily reach something in Toronto on Friday. After that, I went solo to Guelph to meet up with my family and went back home Saturday evening. Felt kind of sore and achy on the Sunday, and on Monday I wasn't feeling better so I called in sick. Partway through the day, Duncan sent a message saying that he did a COVID test and it came back positive. I did one and so was I.

Lee-Anne's had COVID before and even though we were living in the same space, we did some rudimentary safety precautions and I managed to avoid catching it. We tried the same things but this time it didn't work. She caught it, and eventually Mom did too.

It's not just my first time, it's the same for Mom and Duncan. Since almost everyone I know has had it at least once, I had come to think that we might be immune. Maybe some new strain has mutated in a way that bypasses our immunity.

There's no saying for sure where it came from, but I think I was the initial carrier. I was the first to show symptoms and I did the most recent traveling. Still, the incubation period must have been short, since I was only in contact with them for a night and a day, and Duncan got sick only a day after me.

As far as symptoms go, it hasn't been too bad. I had a low grade fever for a couple of days that has since died off and I have a dry cough. It's been the same for Lee-Anne, but she's still in an earlier stage so she's a bit more uncomfortable presently. Duncan got it the worst, with a pretty mean fever, and apparently Mom's pretty miserable too. They both say they're beginning to feel better, though.

It's interesting, if you look at the picture of my COVID test, you'll notice that the bottom line is darker than the top. That's the one that confirms the virus. Duncan sent a pic of his test and the bottom line was darker than mine, and his symptoms were worse. Now that my fever has died down, I'm still testing positive but the lower bar is even fainter. I wonder if the darkness of the line indicates intensity of the illness.

I'm kind of glad I went back on Saturday instead of Sunday, because if I'd waited I would have started showing symptoms in Guelph and likely would have had to quarantine there. I'm also happy that I called in sick even though I didn't think to test for COVID.

I've had to take a week off so far. To return to work, I need to either be without symptoms for five days or test negative. A lot of the time people continue to test positive long after they stop being infectious. But I've had a lingering cough from a previous cold, so if that counts as a symptom things could stretch out for awhile.

Luckily our house was pretty stocked when we got sick, and since we've been healthy at different times we've been able to rotate cooking duties. So our COVID meal plan so far has included chicken soup, pulled pork, and shepherd's pie. We haven't lost our sense of taste or smell.

RIP Thor

 

Last week one of the Guelph cats, Thor, passed away. 

Originally my mom and brother got him from a Kijiji ad just before I left for Canada World Youth. At six years old, he was a package deal with Luna, who was then one, and joined then five-year-old Blackavar who was our present house cat.

His previous owner explained that they were going to have a child and felt they wouldn't be able to give Thor adequate attention. After taking the two in and seeing how Thor and Luna didn't get along, it was easy to imagine that they got Luna with the intention of keeping Thor company, and then chose to adopt them both out when it didn't work.

Thor had a heart-shaped tattoo on the inside of his ear, indicating that he was originally a rescue, meaning that by the time he came to us he had been displaced at least twice already.

But his life was smooth sailing from thereon out. He liked it in his new home well enough that despite already being middle aged, he decided to live an entire extra life expectancy.

His relationship with Luna improved, his previous owners probably just didn't give them enough time to acclimate to each other. He developed a deep bond with my brother Duncan. When we first got them, there was a bit of an assumption that Thor, being the big cat, would bond with me because we share a similar stature, while Luna would bond with Duncan, but the reverse turned out to be true.

He was a quiet and patient cat, although he could be quite insistent at times. It was always an event to hear him meow or murble. He liked to flop on his back and get belly rubs.

Despite being the oldest cat in the household when we got him, he wound up surviving both Blackavar and Luna. He also survived Cassidy, who was adopted to replace Luna and passed unexpectedly three years later, and lived long enough to meet Castor and Pollux.

I was concerned about how Thor would adjust to the kittens when they were adopted. Common knowledge dictates that you should have cats in a similar age category. It has always always been the family policy though, to have an older and a younger cat. The idea being that the younger one brings out the kitten in the older one. So far this policy has worked out for us, but even so, two three month old cats integrating into a household with a twenty year old seemed extreme.

But the transition worked out fine. Thor seemed happy for the company and would cuddle, groom, and sometimes even engage in play with the kittens, and Castor and Pollux never seemed too pushy with their elder roommate.

He never experienced any serious health concerns except for a little arthritis. As he aged, he began to thin but they started giving him a higher-calorie cat food and he plumped up to a healthy weight again. A week before his passing he was still getting the zoomies, begging for sour cream, and playing with kittens. In his final days he began to slow down but didn't seem in discomfort. In the end, he passed while sleeping in my brother's bed, near his favourite human.

Thor's passing isn't a tragedy, but as it is follows Cassidy's, which also happened this year, and Blackavar's the year before, it all comes to a lot of cat loss in a relatively short span of time. It marks the passing of a generation of Guelph cats, and a new one set by Castor and Pollux.

It will be sad not to have Thor around anymore, but it's encouraging that he had such a good and long life, with such a peaceful end. He remains a huge symbol of success for my Guelph family.

Goblin Tools

Goblin Tools is a free online resource marketed toward people who are neurodivergent but still expected to complete tasks such as cooking, responding to emails, and other chores. Today I'm going to be stepping through each of the tools that it offers and reviewing them. This is special to me because although it doesn't explicitly advertise itself as such, I believe that it uses a neural network akin to artificial intelligence.  I realize I am crazy late to the game to start experimenting with AI, and Goblin Tools is one of the most restrained examples of it. This post might not be interesting to anyone slightly savvy with the technology, but this is as far as I'm willing to go for the time being.

I've spoken before of my disdain for AI, but because this is a free resource for neurodivergent people, it has leaked into my professional life and become the only form of it that I've used. Because it's free, doesn't require you to sign up, and doesn't ask you to give feedback, I don't feel too complicit in supporting the development of this technology. Except for the extra traffic I'm giving it by using the tools and the free advertisement I'm giving it through this blog post. Oh well.

Here's a link if you want to check out the website: Magic ToDo - GoblinTools

As a person with ADHD that is expected to cook and respond to emails, I am included in the population that this resource is marketed to. I find their branding clever, because even though it's not something I've heard people say explicitly, I've noticed that neurodivergent people compare themselves to goblins a lot. So the AI isn't a goblin, it's the tools that the users, AKA the goblins, use. Also, it uses a pepper scale for level of desired intensity, and a term that neurodivergent people sometimes use to describe themselves is "neurospicy".

The tools we'll be going over today are the Compiler, which converts a "brain dump" into a list of tasks, the Estimator, which guesses how long something will take, and the Magic ToDo, their main feature, which breaks down tasks into smaller steps. We'll also look at The Chef, which makes recipes for you based on ingredients that you have in the house, and finally, the two creepiest and most interesting: The Judge, which evaluates the tone of a message, and the Formalizer, which will rewrite a message to change the tone.

Compiler

The site's original and most advertised tool is Magic ToDo, but the first three resources kind of run together and the Compiler makes sense as a place to start because the next two can use what it produces.

So I'm going to take my current to do list, rephrase it as a brain dump, and then have the Compiler break it back down into steps.

My human-written, slightly edited for confidentiality, to do list:

• Get vaccine
• Schedule Dr. appointment
• Make photo album
• Make vet appointment
• Write thank you cards
• Invite friends over

My human-converted brain dump version:

I have to get a vaccine and schedule a doctors appointment and make a photo album and make a vet appointment and write thank you cards and invite friends over

The Compiler's steps based on the brain dump

• Invite friends over
• Write thank you cards
• Make a vet appointment
• Make a photo album
• Schedule a doctors appointment
• Get a vaccine

Nothing too crazy. Same number of tasks as the original list, phrased almost exactly the same way. Interesting it put it in reverse order.

Estimator:

From this list I can ask it to tell me how long I can expect each task to take. It says that inviting friends over, writing thank you cards, making a photo album, and getting a vaccine should each take 2 hours. It says that making a vet appointment and scheduling a doctors appoint should each take 30 minutes.

The trend looks like it takes 2 hours to do something, and half an hour to schedule something. In that case, it seems like inviting friends over should take 30 minutes. I wonder if they factored in both the invite and the visit, whereas for the appointments they only considered the time it takes to schedule it.

I like to ask the estimator further reaching stuff.

Find the end of a rainbow:

30 minutes to 1 hour

Find a needle in a haystack:

2 minutes to 1 hour

Solve climate change:

It is impossible to determine a time range as solving climate change is an ongoing and complex task that requires global coordination and long-term efforts.

(Impressive. It used to say 50 years. Looks like most social issues questions get answered like this now)

For Gryphon to end climate change:

1 year to several decades

(I better get on that)

Slay a dragon:

1 day to 1 year

For AI to replace human writers:

5-20 years

Gryphon cleans the bathroom:

1-2 hours

Lee-Anne cleans the bathroom:

30 minutes to 1 hour

(For some reason it consistently estimates that Lee-Anne will do things faster even though I haven't given it any additional context. Maybe it skews things based on assumed gender)

There's a pepper scale that will make a new estimate based on how hard I find something. The questions I've given so far have been at three out of five, which is intermediate difficulty. So to slay a dragon...

Oops! I inputted it again with three peppers and now it says it will take me 1 week to 1 month instead of 1 day to 1 year. So it's pretty inconsistent... 

At one pepper, it would take 2 hours to 1 week.

At five peppers... 2-8 hours. So it takes less time to slay a dragon when it's difficult...

It's obviously confused about this task, so let's ask it something more in-line with what the tool is supposed to be used for.

Inviting friends over

1 pepper difficulty:

1-3 hours

3 pepper difficulty:

1-2 hours

5 pepper difficulty:

2-4 hours

It estimates that it could take longer at low difficulty than at moderate. Maybe it's judging difficulty based on social anxiety. At a low anxiety, I could get sidetracked by conversation, while at high difficulty I might procrastinate the phone call entirely, leaving moderate anxiety as the optimal level to complete the task quickly. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt instead of saying that it's confused and just spitting random numbers.

Or, let's just do it again to test for consistency

1 pepper: 30 minutes to 2 hours

3 peppers: 1-3 hours

5 peppers: 1-3 hours

Seems pretty random. Maybe it's because it's unfamiliar with the task. In that case, it would be nice if it gave a confidence level in its answer so as to avoid misleading people. 

Magic ToDo

The Magic ToDo can take tasks and convert them into steps. Let's see if it has more luck with inviting friends over.

Invite Friends Over - 2 hours

• Determine a suitable date and time - 1 hour
• Create a guest list - 1 hour
• Send out invitations - 1 hour
• Plan food and drinks - 2 hour
• Prepare the house or venue for guests - 3 hours
• Arrange for any necessary entertainment or activities - 2 hours
• Follow up with any necessary reminders or confirmations - 3 days

This was at a three pepper difficulty. At five peppers it broke it down into 30 steps.

I asked for time estimates for each step. Despite the overall task taking 2 hours, when broken down it adds up to 3 days and 10 hours.

You can ask for each step to be broken down further.

Arrange for any necessary entertainment or activities:

• Determine the type of entertainment suitable for the gathering
• Research and gather information about potential entertainment or activities options
• Consider the interests and preferences of the friends invited
• Evaluate the budget available for entertainment or activities
• Make a decision on the specific entertainment or activities to include
• Arrange for the necessary bookings or reservations
• Communicate the details of the entertainment or activities to the friends invited
• Ensure all necessary equipment or supplies are available for the chosen entertainment or activities

And you can just keep asking for things to be broken into smaller and smaller steps until it gets really confused, but I don't want to spend too much time on this feature. Let's move on

The Chef

This is a feature that lets you list ingredients that you have at home and it will suggest a recipe. It says you can also list dietary restrictions, equipment, or anything else you want it to keep in mind. My list will not be exhaustive, but I'll throw out a bunch of ingredients I know we have

Chicken breasts, kidney beans, black beans, crushed tomatoes, flour, breadcrumbs, baking soda, baking powder, corn starch, rice, rye bread, sweet potatoes, cream, Greek yogurt, salt, black pepper, chili powder, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, carrots, celery, lettuce, bell peppers, onions, garlic, lemon juice, eggs, chicken broth, beef broth, vegetable broth

It suggested:

Dish: Spiced Chicken and Bean Stew

Serving Size: 4 servings

Ingredients:

- 4 chicken breasts (about 600g / 1.3lb)

- 1 can kidney beans (400g / 14oz), rinsed

- 1 can black beans (400g / 14oz), rinsed

- 1 can crushed tomatoes (400g / 14oz)

- 2 tablespoons flour

- 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs

- 1 teaspoon baking soda

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- 1 tablespoon corn starch

- 200g / 7oz rice

- 4 slices rye bread

- 2 medium sweet potatoes, diced

- 60ml / 1/4 cup cream

- 60ml / 1/4 cup Greek yogurt

- Salt, to taste

- Black pepper, to taste

- 2 teaspoons chili powder

- 1 teaspoon cumin

- 1 teaspoon paprika

- 1 teaspoon garlic powder

- 1 teaspoon onion powder

- 2 carrots, sliced

- 2 celery stalks, sliced

- 1 small head of lettuce, shredded

- 2 bell peppers, thinly sliced

- 1 onion, diced

- 4 cloves of garlic, minced

- 2 tablespoons lemon juice

- 2 eggs

- 500ml / 2 cups chicken broth

- 500ml / 2 cups vegetable broth

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F.

2. In a bowl, mix flour, breadcrumbs, baking soda, baking powder, and corn starch.

3. Coat the chicken breasts with the mixture from step 2 and place them on a baking sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through.

4. Meanwhile, cook the rice according to the package instructions.

5. Toast the rye bread slices until crispy, then break them into small pieces to use as croutons.

6. In a large pot, heat some oil over medium heat. Add sweet potatoes, cream, and Greek yogurt. Cook for 10 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender.

7. Add the kidney beans, black beans, crushed tomatoes, salt, black pepper, chili powder, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder to the pot. Stir well.

8. In a separate pan, sauté carrots, celery, lettuce, bell peppers, onions, and garlic until tender.

9. Add the sautéed vegetables to the pot.

10. Add lemon juice, eggs, chicken broth, and vegetable broth to the pot. Stir everything together.

11. Let the stew simmer for about 20 minutes to allow the flavors to meld together.

12. Serve the spiced chicken and bean stew hot, garnished with croutons, alongside cooked rice.

13. Enjoy!

Note: Feel free to adjust the spice levels and seasonings according to your taste preferences.

One limit I've found that it has is that it feels obligated to use as many ingredients that you list as possible, when I'm just looking for something I can make, not necessarily using everything I have. Also, considering the other times I've experimented, it seems to have a bias in favour of Mexican food. Which is fine, Mexican food is awesome, but if I was relying on this system for meal prep, it would get kind of repetitive.

Okay, now on to the creepy stuff

The Judge

This feature allows you to input a message and it will tell you what emotional tone is being conveyed. It's potentially useful for draft emails to make sure you're coming across the way you intend, or messages you've received to make sure you understand what someone is trying to communicate. I've never used this to inform how I should write, but I have used it to validate myself in determining that I communicated effectively

For our test run I'll use my Lord of the Rings review. If you want to read the review, here it is: Gryphon's Reviews: Lord of the Rings Trilogy (movie series) (spoilers only review) (gryphonsreviews.blogspot.com)

And since we'll be speaking in a more conversational tone, I'll be labeling my own words with 👨and the tool as 👺. The latter symbol is actually a Tengu, but it's labeled as a Japanese goblin and they don't have a Western-style one. Even though I said that I should be the goblin and it should be my tool, there isn't a tool emoji, so we're going human (me) vs. inhuman (it)

👺: Emotionally, this text comes across as critical and analytical. The author presents a personal, nuanced perspective on their complicated relationship with The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Throughout the text, they express a mixture of positive and negative emotions towards various aspects of the series.

The author begins by stating their initial hesitation and their eventual decision to watch the movies. They also mention their family's strong connection to the series, indicating a personal tie to the material.

The emotions expressed towards author J.R.R. Tolkien are a mix of admiration and critique. While the author acknowledges his revolutionary contributions to the fantasy genre, they also mention the negative aspects of his influence on younger authors. They express their beliefs that Tolkien's literary techniques, such as the class-based race system, may not have been used as a criticism of the status quo but rather as a fetishization of it.

The author delves into specific criticisms of the race system depicted in the series. They express reservations about the portrayal of elves, dwarves, men, and hobbits, finding fault with the class-based hierarchy and the favorable treatment of certain races. They also discuss their dislike of the portrayal of orcs and the racial connotations that the films added to their appearance.

The text further analyzes specific character depictions, highlighting the mishandling of Gimle and Merry as comic relief characters in the movies. The author compares the films to the original books and points out instances where certain characters were diminished or misrepresented, particularly in the case of Gimle and Legolas' relationship.

The author also provides criticisms regarding repetitive plot elements and the dragged-out ending of the third film, "The Return of the King." They express the belief that the series starts on a higher note with "The Fellowship of the Ring" and gradually declines in quality over the course of the three films.

Overall, the text reflects a critical and thoughtful analysis of various aspects of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The author's emotions range from admiration to disappointment, providing a nuanced perspective on the series.

👨: Overall, I feel this summary is pretty good but not totally accurate. It says I grappled with my decision to watch the movies, but that's not the case. My feelings about the books did not cause me to hesitate in seeing the films, and the first time I watched the movies it was with my match from the Big Brothers association.

Now, if this is truly AI and not just an algorithm, it should be inventing from scratch each time and not following a specific formula. This means that if I enter the same information again, it should come up with a new answer while remaining coherent. Let's try it out:

👺: The text comes across as emotionally complex and critical. The author expresses a mix of feelings towards The Lord of the Rings trilogy. On one hand, they acknowledge the significant influence of J.R.R. Tolkien's work on the fantasy genre and appreciate certain aspects such as the concept of a humble and adventurous protagonist, the corrupting influence of the Ring, the use of practical effects, and the strong casting. On the other hand, they have various criticisms, particularly regarding the representation of races in the series.

The author expresses distaste for the class-based race system depicted in The Lord of the Rings, where elves are depicted as superior and hobbits as submissive. They applaud the dwarves for their rational disdain for the elves, as they see it as a challenge to the status quo. They also find the portrayal of orcs unsettling, as they are depicted in the films as resembling Africans due to certain physical features. The author feels that this racial interpretation was not present in the original texts.

Additionally, the author criticizes the film adaptation's treatment of certain characters. They focus on Gimli and Merry, highlighting how Gimli is reduced to comic relief while Merry's maturity is diminished. They also criticize the repetitive nature of the plot in The Return of the King when compared to The Two Towers.

Despite their criticisms, the author does appreciate certain elements of the trilogy and acknowledges its impact on the fantasy genre. They provide a ranking of their preferred movies in the series, with The Fellowship of the Ring being their favorite due to its introduction to the world and memorable scenes like the battle in the Mines of Moria. Overall, the text conveys a nuanced perspective, evaluating both the strengths and weaknesses of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

👨: This one seemed a bit more eloquent. The choice to emphasize the relationship between elves and hobbits as my main complaint about the racial class system was a bit odd, as it seemed to imply that they're the two main races. Dwarves get a side mention and humans are left completely out.

Alright, lets see how The Judge judges it's own judgment. I'll input it's second review...

Okay, looking at what it produced, I'm not going to bother pasting it here. Instead of interpreting it's content, it just slightly reworded it. It acted like it was judging the original review, instead of what it itself had written. How peculiar, I don't know why it would do that

The Formalizer

👨: This tool can be used to rewrite your message to better represent your intended emotional tone. I find this one to be the most sinister, as people use functions like these to help them write essays and send emails. It bypasses the need to use one's own voice, which may not be a priority in the future, but I find it distasteful. It's tools like these that make professional writers nervous. But let's see how effective it is at this point in time.

With The Formalizer, you can make a message sound:

-More professional

-More polite

-Less snarky

-Easier to read

-More formal

-Less formal

-More sociable

-More to the point

-Less emotional

-More passionate

-More sarcastic

-Grammatically correct

-Bullet points

-Thesaurus mode

They have a pepper scale to determine intensity for this as well. We won't be going through all possible options.

They've definitely added a few since I last looked. "More polite" and "less snarky" definitely weren't in the first version I saw.

At first I was going to lift a sample of it's judgement of my review. But looking at how it's judgement of its judgement came through, it  shows that it can it can react weirdly to itself. So let's use a piece of my writing. Seeing what it can do with human content is the point of it anyway.

I'll use an excerpt from the beginning of this post:

"I've spoken before of my disdain for AI, but because this is a free resource for neurodivergent people, it has leaked into my professional life and become the only form of it that I've used. Because it's free, doesn't require you to sign up, and doesn't ask you to give feedback, I don't feel too complicit in supporting the development of this technology. Except for the extra traffic I'm giving it by using the tools and the free advertisement I'm giving it through this blog post. Oh well."

I like asking AI to work with criticism of itself.

I won't put you through the whole mini-essay, but I put this excerpt into The Judge, and it said the tone is "conflicted, detached, and resigned"

So let's see what we can do about that.

More professional, 3 peppers:

👺: I have previously expressed my reservations about AI technology, however, due to its availability as a complimentary resource for neurodivergent individuals, it has unintentionally made its way into my professional workflow and has become my sole means of work assistance. The fact that the service is free, does not necessitate any user registration, and does not seek feedback somewhat mitigates my involvement in promoting the advancement of this technology. Nevertheless, I am inadvertently contributing to the increased usage of the tools and indirectly advertising the service through this blog post.

👨: It got a few things out of context, but I can't blame it since it's an excerpt.  I never meant that AI was my "sole means of work assistance". I meant that Goblin Tools was the only AI system I used compared with other technologies in the same family. It also appears to be implying that I use it due to being neurodivergent. While I do belong to this category, what I meant in this excerpt is that I've come to use this technology due to my career helping other people with similar challenges. Again, I can't fault it for being wrong when it's missing context.

More polite, 3 peppers:

👺: I have previously expressed my reservations about AI, but due to its availability as a free resource for neurodivergent individuals, it has unintentionally become the primary tool I use in my professional life. I appreciate that it is free of charge, requires no user registration, and does not solicit feedback, which allows me to utilize it without feeling directly involved in supporting the advancement of this technology. However, I do acknowledge that by using these tools and mentioning them in this blog post, I inadvertently contribute to increased traffic and provide free promotion for the AI platform.

👨: I was helping a coworker with an email, and after we'd written a draft decided to consult Goblin Tools. She wanted to make her email "nicer". and the closest option was "More professional". Since then, this politeness option has been introduced, which seems to fill that void. The difference between professionalism and politeness is subtle, but it's there. I still think that "polite" and "nice" are not quite the same, so maybe we'll eventually get a "More nice" option

Less snarky, 3 peppers

👺: I've previously expressed my concerns about AI, but I must admit that it has surprisingly made its way into my professional life lately. This particular AI tool, which is also free and doesn't require any sign-up or feedback, has become my go-to resource, especially since it caters to neurodivergent individuals. I appreciate the fact that it's easily accessible and doesn't burden me with any obligations. Although it may unintentionally boost its usage and gain some exposure through this blog post, I still find it worth utilizing.

👨: All three edits so far have used "previously expressed" in their opening sentence, despite the fact that I didn't. It looks like "less snarky" could also be considered "more grateful" based on this interpretation

Easier to read, 3 peppers:

👺: I'VE SPOKEN BEFORE OF MY DISDAIN FOR AI. BUT BECAUSE THIS IS A FREE RESOURCE FOR NEURODIVERGENT PEOPLE, IT HAS LEAKED INTO MY PROFESSIONAL LIFE AND BECOME THE ONLY FORM OF IT THAT I'VE USED. 

BECAUSE IT'S FREE, DOESN'T REQUIRE YOU TO SIGN UP, AND DOESN'T ASK YOU TO GIVE FEEDBACK, I DON'T FEEL TOO COMPLICIT IN SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS TECHNOLOGY. EXCEPT FOR THE EXTRA TRAFFIC I'M GIVING IT BY USING THE TOOLS AND THE FREE ADVERTISEMENT I'M GIVING IT THROUGH THIS BLOG POST. 

OH WELL.

👨: I thought this one would be useful since I can speak in a needlessly complex way, but it looks like "Easier to read" means ALL CAPS. Let's play with the pepper scale on this one

Easier to read, 5 peppers:

👺: Because it's FREE, DOESN'T REQUIRE YOU TO SIGN UP, and DOESN'T ASK YOU TO GIVE FEEDBACK, I DON'T FEEL TOO COMPLICIT IN supporting the development of this technology. 

Except for the EXTRA TRAFFIC I'M GIVING IT by using the tools and the FREE ADVERTISEMENT I'M GIVING IT THROUGH this blog post. 

👨: That went a different direction than I thought it would. With increased intensity I thought it would further simplify, but instead it undid capitalization in places. It reminds me of an oldschool Archie digest, emphasizing seemingly random points of dialogue

Easier to read, 1 pepper:

...It was almost the same as the 3 pepper version, so I won't bother posting it.

More informal (waffle), 3 peppers:

👺: I have previously expressed my dislike for AI, but I must admit that it has unexpectedly made its way into my professional life as the sole form of technology I use. One of the reasons being that it is a great resource for neurodivergent individuals, and for that, I am grateful. The fact that it is free and doesn't require any sign-up or feedback makes me feel less guilty about supporting its development. Although, I must acknowledge that by utilizing its tools and writing about it in this blog post, I am inadvertently contributing to its popularity. Well, no harm done, I suppose.

👨: This is the first one that could be useful to me. I find that I have a more formal written voice than spoken. For people that know me personally, it can be a weird contrast in tone if they're talking to me by text. I still wouldn't use a tool like this, I'd rather be awkward than inauthentic

More passionate, 3 peppers:

👺: I have bared my soul, time and time again, revealing my deep-rooted abhorrence for artificial intelligence. But alas, here I stand, a conflicted soul, for this enigmatic force has infiltrated my professional realm under the guise of a philanthropic haven for neurodivergent individuals. It has stealthily weaved its way into the fabric of my existence, becoming the sole conduit through which I engage in my craft.

👨: Okay, that wasn't bad. It even dared to interpret AI into "artificial intelligence". Probably my favourite so far. Let's play with the pepper scale

More passionate, 5 peppers:

👺: I cannot articulate enough the sheer magnitude of my revulsion towards AI! Its very existence, like a dagger through my soul, fills me with an indescribable horror. Yet, despite my vehement detestation, this abominable creation has seeped into the very fabric of my professional life. Oh, the anguish that courses through my veins, like a river of torment!

👨: I'm going to call that a lateral move. I liked 5 peppers just fine, but it didn't necessarily improve on 3

More sarcastic, 3 peppers:

👺: Oh, let me tell you how much I absolutely adore AI! I mean, who wouldn't want to rely on this brilliant piece of technology? It's just incredible how it has invaded my professional life, despite my previous loathing for it. And the fact that it's free? Well, that's just the icing on the cake! Who needs to sign up or give feedback when you can use it without any obligations? 

👨: This one was a bit off in ways that didn't impact the other categories. It says my "previous loathing" which implies I no longer loathe it, which isn't true. It also implies (by saying the opposite) that I would prefer to sign up and give feedback while using AI systems, which isn't the case.

I've used the sarcasm filter before. I won't bother you with 5 peppers, as it just gets more long-winded and obnoxious. I've found that it gets snappier and wittier lower on the scale

More sarcastic, 1 pepper:

👺: I just can't get enough of AI! I've ranted countless times about how much I absolutely adore it. And now, much to my surprise, this little gem has infiltrated my oh-so-important professional life. Who would've thought? It's just the sole form of communication I rely on now, but hey, at least it's free! No need to bother with signing up or, God forbid, providing any feedback. I mean, I'm practically a saint for not actively supporting the development of this groundbreaking technology, right? Well, apart from the fact that I'm shamelessly boosting its popularity with all the traffic I'm sending its way, not to mention this glorious blog post acting as a free advertisement. Oops, but who cares?

👨: That didn't necessarily feel... less intense. It also made the same mistake of thinking I want to support the technology. Belittling my work and the blog by inflating their importance was also a weird choice, because effective sarcasm would reverse my true opinions to create contrast. I dislike AI, so it made sense to swap my opinion of it. If anything, I implied I valued my work and blog, so it would have made more sense to mock or dismiss them.

I'll leave it at this for The Formalizer

Conclusion:

Unfortunately, the more practical and better-known tools, like Magic ToDo, The Estimator, and The Compiler seem inaccurate and inconsistent. Because it's trying to invent from scratch, it doesn't limit itself to providing concrete information even when it's available. It also tends to try and answer questions regardless of whether or not it understands. I'd prefer if it was more transparent with it's level of confidence.

I haven't taken the advice of The Chef yet, but it feels like it could be dangerous if it got a step wrong. Considering the inaccuracy of the previous tools, I would hesitate to rely on it if I really didn't know what I was doing in the kitchen.

It does better with the more abstract tasks, such as interpreting and rewriting text. It appears that the magic of humanity that Goblin Tools has failed to bridge is the ability to weave between creative thought and concrete information.

Let's finish with The Judge's interpretation of this entire blog post:

👺: Emotionally, this text comes across as critical, analytical, and conflicted. The author expresses a mix of positive and negative emotions throughout the post, particularly when discussing their disdain for AI and their appreciation for the free resource provided by Goblin Tools for neurodivergent individuals. The author also acknowledges their reluctance to support the development of AI while inadvertently promoting it through their usage and blog post. The language used is often informal, sarcastic, and occasionally snarky, adding a touch of humor and wit to the overall tone. Overall, the text conveys a thoughtful and nuanced perspective, evaluating the different tools of Goblin Tools while expressing personal experiences and opinions.

Castor and Pollux

The Cat Distribution System is a contemporary term that describes the phenomenon of cats entering peoples' lives unannounced and getting adopted. When my mother and brother's cat Cassidy passed away unexpectedly, I would normally recommend giving some time to process. However, it was already known to them that Lee-Anne's sister-in-law had taken in a litter of kittens and was trying to find homes for them. 

She was in fact hoping to find someone willing to adopt a specific pair that had bonded, preferably to someone in her network as their children had grown attached to them and would want updates. To make it seem even more fated, Cassidy's passing occurred weeks before mine and Lee-Anne's wedding, which would bring the two families together for the first time ever. The Cat Distribution System was in effect.

Meet Castor

And Pollux

I remember them as Castor, the colour of cast iron, and Pollux, rhymes with tux. Originally Castor was named Bonsai and Pollux was Birch, as their litter had a tree name theme. My mother and brother renamed them as the two brightest stars in the constellation Gemini, which were in turn based on two brothers in the Greek Pantheon.

According to legend, Castor was the son of the King of Sparta, while Pollux was the son of Zeus, both with the same mother. Pollux asked his father if he could share his immortality with his brother, which he obliged. After many adventures, Castor was killed and Zeus offered Pollux the option to share Castor's mortality as he did his immortality, to which he agreed. Because of this, the two alternate between Hades and Olympus in the afterlife.

It was a coincidence, but the kittens' astrological sign is actually Gemini.

Lee-Anne's sister in law came about this litter of kittens because she lives on a farm and they have barn cats. Naturally, this results in the occasional batch of kittens, and is in fact how we got our cat, Finn. Because of this, we know that Castor and Pollux at least have the same mother as Finn, making them half-brothers, and Lee-Anne's sister-in-law says she thinks they have the same father too.

Something about the shape of Castor's nose makes him look like he'll turn into a big cat, whereas Pollux looks like he'll develop into a noodle like Finn.  They both have bony notches at the ends of their tails, and Castor's is only about half-length. The notches are funny because Finn has that too, so I guess it's genetic. As far as personalities go, they are quite similar, but Castor gets described as more "affectionate" whereas Pollux is more "playful"

My biggest worry about adopting two new kittens was that they would overwhelm the resident elder, Thor. Conventional knowledge suggests that you shouldn't have cats of drastically different age categories. However, it has been our family's philosophy to have cats of different ages, the idea being that the younger cat brings out the kitten in the older. Despite seeing some success with this model, even I had apprehensions about bringing two 3-month-olds to live with a 20-year-old. That's like introducing a three year old human to a hundred year old.

However, our family model has appeared to work in our favour once again

Despite being very playful and rambunctious with each other, they are apparently quite gentle with Thor. Pollux was the first to engage him, despite being the rowdier of the two.

Me and Lee-Anne got to visit and properly meet them about a month after the wedding. I got to see first hand Thor approaching and engaging Pollux.

Central Art Walk and Meeting Mike Morrice

Kitchener hosts a few events called "art walks" where local artists display their work from their homes. Sometimes people from outside the neighbourhood will collaborate with locals to display their work as well. Last year I went to the Frederick Art Walk which I think is the most prominent one, but we have one for our neighbourhood as well, called the Central Art Walk. This time I was able to go and so was Lee-Anne.

When I did the Frederick walk I was too shy to go into most peoples' houses or linger at stands for too long. I mostly went to see my friend who makes bowls. This year I felt a little braver with Lee-Anne and we did a more complete tour.

The building that I work in hosts a few artists so we started there. One of my coworkers helped in organizing it and a few people that I serve were volunteering. There were I think seven locations on the art walk with two of them hosting multiple artists.

The definition for art was fairly flexible, so it wasn't only painters. For whatever reason, all the people hosted at my work were photographers. Lee-Anne asked for someone's business card but the guy misunderstood and showed her one of his photos at the size of a card. Lee-Anne wound up buying it to avoid the awkwardness of explaining the misunderstanding. It was a nice card though.

One of the places had knitted creations. We were wearing orange shirts because the walk was held on the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, so the person directed us to some plushies of nature images because a percentage of each purchase would go to an Indigenous organization. Lee-Anne bought a pair of mittens because she used to have a particular pair she couldn't find a replacement for, and the ones being sold were "lined" in a similar way. The outdoor wear had a portion of the proceeds go to helping with our homeless crisis. Gearing the charity to relate to the product was an interesting way of doing it.

Another place had a lot of wall art and quilts and we got a frame covered in colourful buttons. The person there was really talkative and had a job similar to my brother's. She said that he could "come cry on her porch anytime" and I realized that was not only kind, it was also pretty doable. At this point I realized that I wasn't just admiring local art, I was also meeting my neighbours.

There was a guy selling carved wooden spoons. This was particularly ideal because we got those wooden bowls from our wedding shower and were thinking about getting some matching cutlery. I know for a fact that the guy who made our bowls did the Central Art Walk last year because he stored some of his stuff in our building. He wasn't here this year though. Regardless, since most of the artists seemed to know each other and because of the similar products, I asked the spoon man if he knew my bowl guy. He said he didn't, but apparently he's done some collaborative work with a guy that makes bowls, so it is a pretty natural combination.

We picked two spoons, one for each bowl. The guy said the one I picked was apple wood and the one Lee-Anne chose was crabapple. Lee-Anne said it must be because she's crabby, which was the obvious joke and I was happy she said it so I didn't have to.

The last spot had some paintings and there was a soap maker who gave us a sample.

The Art Walk had a system where, if you got a card signed at each location, you could submit it for the chance to win a prize. I accidentally left my card at the spoon place, and since we only had one location left at that point, I just missed out on being able to enter it. However, on our way back the spoon guy saw us, shouted us out and asked if we forgot our card. I said yes but not to worry about it because it wasn't the reason I went on the walk. He said he'd vouch for me and submit my card.

That worked out for us because one of the locations seemed to be closed. Because you needed seven signatures and they were doing it by location not artist, one house being closed meant you couldn't complete your card. So maybe I'm the only person that was able to submit mine, and now I'm guaranteed to win. We'll see.

Here's a pic of most of the stuff we got

We dropped by my office on the way back to get a cup of water. One of my coworkers was there because it was still being used to host art, and she introduced me to the person she was talking to. The guy shook my hand and said "Hi, I'm Mike". I said "Hi Mike, I'm Gryphon". Lee-Anne burst out "I'm such a huge fan!"

It was Mike Morrice, our local MP and representative of the Green Party. When Trudeau sprung a surprise election, our riding didn't have a Liberal representative, allowing third parties to have a relevant chance. The Green Party took my vote and wound up winning. I had recognized him but pretended I didn't as a self-defense mechanism, but Lee-Anne reacted differently.

We'd seen Mike in the news regularly at places that we frequent, like the Iron Horse Trail, Victoria Park, and Cherry Park. Finally our paths crossed.

It's almost as if he walked right into our living room. There he is, in the building where I work, under decorations for our wedding shower. We'd have been happy to just see him at a local event, but he was introduced to us by a friend and we wound up having a conversation with him.

He was the one who asked for the photo. I thought he was just being charitable and offering us a pic with him, but when my coworker said she'd send me and Lee-Anne an email with the photos, Mike asked if he could get some taken with his phone.

He was familiar with both mine and Lee-Anne's work and said that Lee-Anne was now the most local CNIB employee he knew. He offered us a business card which had brail on it, topical because Lee-Anne has, and works with people with vision impairments.

I told Lee-Anne that I've gone through several periods of life where I felt charmed, like everything was just slanted in my favour. After the wedding and everything surrounding it, and at the end of this day, Lee-Anne said she felt like she was experiencing this "charmed" phenomenon.

Wedding Pictures

We got our wedding pictures. I made a Gallery post for them here:

https://gryphonsgallery.blogspot.com/2023/10/wedding-photos.html

He sent us 300 and I whittled them down to 50. I've got descriptions for a lot of them on there. Some of it is repeat information from my post covering the wedding.

The place we got our rings from was a jeweler's next to the train station homeless encampment. We'd walked by there a bunch of times when catching the train, so it was nice to go somewhere kind of familiar. The strip mall there seems mostly geared toward weddings. In addition to the jeweler's, there's a custom cake shop that showcases wedding cakes and there's a cookware store that has registry information. I know that because even though we didn't have a registry ourselves, we received a gift from there. There's also a tattoo parlor and a health and wellness shop, which doesn't quite fit the trend.

It feels like an odd theme for a strip mall next to an encampment, although I'm sure the businesses predate the tent city. With all the talk about how the homeless population is harming local businesses, there's a side of me that derives pleasure in supporting one partly because of its location. The general sentiment is likely still true, but not because of us.

We were going to shop around, but after looking at rings and consulting Lee-Anne's mom, we were told that we wouldn't likely find a better deal. Each of us just got a basic gold band. After getting sized, I found out my finger is a 13. I thought this was funny, because my shoe size is also 13 (obviously not by the same measurement, but still).

It was a an independent business with a long history in Kitchener. I like the smaller scale, but I'm not sure how humble a jeweler can be, just based on the premise of the product. I find it fascinating to talk to people who have a passion for something I rarely think about, which applied to my experience there.

For my clothes we went to a Moores. It's a chain but I had a bit of an association with the specific location. I supported a guy for years that had a fairly strict routine of touring the area, stopping at different locations to look at things that sparked memories of his past. One of the go-to places he'd always want to stop at was this Moores. All the employees were very hospitable to him and I knew most of them, although there had definitely been turnover since I'd been there last

I was able to buy my shirt as-is but I had to get sized for the pants and vest. Last time I'd been sized for clothing was in Mali, where you'd buy material from one location then bring it to a tailor that would make something to your specifications. This was my first ever time doing such a thing in North America.

The colour we went with was also something that only came on custom order. We decided on tan to go with the warmer theme of the party. Originally I was just going to wear pants and suspenders with a tie, but we got talked into getting a vest as well to distinguish myself from the best man.

Similar to jewelry, anything in men's fashion above business casual is not something I usually think about. I had a pretty static view of what is and is not acceptable for a man to wear to formal occasions until Lee-Anne started making suggestions. Despite having interacted with many Moores employees over a wide span of time because of the person I used to support, I never noticed how varied their attire was until they started giving options and talking about their own preferences. Turns out ,en's fashion people really like paisley. I wonder if it's a coincidence that it's the most flowery pattern a man can get away with wearing while adhering to societal norms

I barely knew how to tie a tie. In fact, before my own wedding I don't think I'd ever been to an event that called for it. One time when I was young, Secondchance Employment Counseling was giving away whole suits for free. I got one and this inspired me to learn how to tie a tie off Google Images. Since then, I think I only wore one to a dance during Canada World Youth and to a student fair in college where I had a stand for one of our projects.

So it's a bit pathetic, but when I was trying out my clothes at home, Lee-Anne tied my tie and when I took it off I loosened it but kept the knot. When I was getting ready for the wedding, I just tightened the pre-tied knot. I didn't really think it would work but I asked multiple people who said it looked fine

Garden 2023

This year we got eight sunflower blossoms over eight flowers. Beats last year when we got five blossoms over three flowers.

The only surviving flower from our original batch. Squirrels did a pretty thorough job of digging up the seeds, so I put a green mesh weighted by rocks to protect the survivors. But every night I'd find the rocks removed. Eventually I managed to put enough weight that whatever was getting at them couldn't get through, but by that point there were only a few left. Those remaining were bent and weak from having to grow under the mesh and in the end only this one made it. It turned out to be the tallest, perhaps because it had more time to grow, but it wasn't the first to blossom.

Our second batch was grown in jiffy pots and transplanted after they'd matured a bit, becoming less appealing to squirrels. Glad to see they managed to blossom despite being planted late.

All the seeds came from the same pack, but there seems to be two distinct varieties. There are deep yellow ones with kind of stringy petals like the first, and there are paler ones with fuller petals, like this one.

Good examples of the difference.

After our first blossom, Lee-Anne noticed that this one looked like it was next in line. I saw that it's neck was broken and the bud was hanging on by a thread. Somehow, it still blossomed. It also might give us more, as it now has six additional buds! I suspect this might be some kind of emergency reproduction measure. It sensed that it had detached from it's initial bud and so it's sprouting more to compensate. The newer buds are dark green, unlike the light green of all the initial ones. Last year we got a couple late-stage buds, and they were a darker green than the first round as well. I don't know why this is, but it seems consistent.

This one was a surprise. I'd been tracking our flowers all summer, but it wasn't until they started blossoming that I noticed this little guy peaking through the back. He snuck up on us!

We didn't just grow sunflowers, we also attempted tomatoes, peas, cucumbers, lettuce, and radishes.

Our best crop were the peas. Once they started producing, they continued to do so for the rest of the season and continue to do so now, although the plants themselves are looking a little sad. We never got such a huge crop that we were using them as stirfry ingredients (I only reached that level once, on my last year of student housing), but we got to munch on them regularly.

The tomatoes weren't quite as bountiful but I'd say they win the most-improved award. In the past I've done well growing cherry tomatoes but the regular ones have matured late, leaving me with the delicious problem of resorting to fried green tomatoes in late fall. This year I learned the technique of "pulling the suckers off" (a term that makes me queasy every time I hear it) which helps them develop faster. Also, these were Early Girls, a breed specifically meant to produce early. So between the type and technique we managed to get a decent crop of red tomatoes. The only drawback is that we don't have a good batch for fried green tomatoes.

Our cucumber plants were large and sprawling, which is typical of their nature. Somewhere through the season they began to look sickly, but they still managed to produce a small crop for us.

The lettuce never grew. Our radishes were vital but didn't act like I expected of them. They became tall, viny, and had some bean-like growths. I doubted that they were radishes at all, but after digging them up it looked like they were trying, as thy had reddened at the root and some had begun to grow rounder.

I'd seen radishes grow pretty successfully when I helped out at the WALES community garden plot. They had poked out of the ground without the huge stalks that we had produced. My neighbour thinks we must have just planted them too close together. Maybe I buried them too deep.

All in all, this was our most ambitious garden at the place we currently live. I know some people with more successful sunflower patches, but this was one of the better ones for me, and we might yet get more. I've had better and worse crops of peas. This is my personal best for tomatoes. I've done better with radishes. Never tried lettuce before, and maybe I won't try again.

The Wedding

On September 16, me and Lee-Anne got married

It was on Lee-Anne's parents property in Brampton. It was sunflower themed, partly because of the season and partly because of our shared love of sunflowers. Main colour was purple, because it's my favourite colour while Lee-Anne's is yellow which gets worked in with the sunflowers, and they contrast. We had it 11:30 AM to 4:00 PM.

Lunch was sandwiches, wraps, potato salad, and bean salad. There were lots of desserts, mostly made by Lee-Anne's mom. Instead of a cake we had a tart tower. For drinks, we had mimosas, Caesars, beer, wine, and Grand Marnier. I don't know where the Grand Marnier came from, I think someone just slipped it behind the bar.

There were a lot of spacing concerns. We had invited about 70 people, and looking at the backyard, I thought it would be a little cramped. A professional had come through and verified that it would be sufficient and I thought to myself that it's a good thing we have experts, because I don't have a good vision for this type of thing. I showed up at the site a day early, and a tent had been put up, dividing what I already thought was a small size in half.

Plans for the location of the ceremony were changed the day before the wedding. Lee-Anne felt the second part of the backyard was too hilly, so we shifted it to a small park right outside their gate. Apparently you only need a city permit if your event is for 250 people.

This worked out, as the park was more visible from the vantage point of the church that had agreed to lend its parking space. Most people saw the altar and crowd while they were parking and made it over that way.

Since it was outdoors, we were vulnerable to unexpected shifts in the weather, but it turned out perfect. Neither too hot nor too cold. That didn't stop me from sweating bullets during the ceremony. 

I was holding Lee-Anne's hands and didn't want to break form. If I wiped my forehead, I'd have to touch her hands and get them sweaty, and if I wiped on my clothes I'd mess up my outfit. Couldn't do it covertly with everybody watching. I tried to endure but it got too noticeable, and feeling it was the lesser of two evils, I broke form and quickly tried wiping my forehead. The crowd laughed. Then, Lee-Anne broke form and, laughing, wiped my forehead vigorously.

Somehow, a lot of people felt touched by this. Someone cried when she was describing to me how Lee-Anne she reached out during the ceremony to clean my forehead. I don't really get it.

We were in direct sunlight. Lee-Anne's light sensitive so she was really squinting. Later, she would say "I was squinting, you were sweating".

We ended it with a tree-planting ceremony. Well, the small tree was technically already in a pot, but we took soil from my grandparents place in Northern Ontario, and from Lee-Anne's grandmothers farm and poured it into the pot, representing the union between the two families and new growth in the family tree.

That was workshopped between us and the person that performed the ceremony. When we talked to her beforehand, she was looking for shared interests and knowing that we both like to garden, she threw it out as a an idea and we ran with it.

People went back to the tent while me and Lee-Anne stayed back and had pictures taken. I'll have a post on my Gallery blog with the photos when we get them. We already have a bunch, and I've included a few at the top of this post. When we had our engagement photos done, the guy sent us a sampler package really quickly, but it was basically half the final collection. I'll still hold off until I've got all of them.

After the photos, we came back to the tent where everyone was having lunch. Turns out there was enough space for everyone to sit comfortably.

Speeches were done by Lee-Anne's dad, my Grandpa Rob, my brother, one of Lee-Anne's friends, and me and Lee-Anne shared a finishing speech. We hadn't written a script, but we had "sections". So Lee-Anne started by thanking everyone for coming, and the work put into organizing things, then I talked about the people that couldn't make it and people we wanted to remember, then she talked about what the symbol of the sunflower meant, then I went into our specific sunflowers, she talked about our cat Kieran convincing her of my quality, and I talked about how I adopted Kieran to impress her, she spoke to how my family invited her in, then I spoke to how hers did so for me, and then we both declared that we were looking forward to living the rest of our lives together.

As for the people that couldn't make it, a close family friend on Lee-Anne's side passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack. It was recent enough that she'd been aware of, and looking forward to coming to the wedding. One of her aunts also had a heart attack, and lived but wasn't in shape to attend. This happened as she and her husband were travelling to Brampton.

On my side, I spoke of a close family friend that used to always say she couldn't wait to come to my wedding. I used to tell her not to get her hopes up, as I was a natural introvert and comfortable on my own. I held this stance with her even after I met Lee-Anne and was intending to ask her out. Unfortunately, she passed before mine and Lee-Anne's first date, so I hope somewhere she knows she was right. I also mentioned my granddad, who is alive but with significant dementia.

As for the sunflowers, when me and Lee-Anne were dating, I finally managed to grow one in the backyard of the townhouse I was living in at the time. It was my first success after two years of failure. We dated throughout the summer and I got it in my head that if I could make the flower blossom, then the relationship would work out.

On the morning of the wedding, I got a Facebook notification for a memory. Turns out, the flower blossomed on September 16, same day as the wedding. We hadn't even thought of that.

Otherwise, our first sunflower of the year blossomed while we were having our wedding shower, and when I left Kitchener, it looked like our last sunflower would blossom on the day of the wedding. Unfortunately, this turned out to be false. We had three sunflowers set to blossom before I left, and on coming back two had blossomed. So I'm just going to say the one that is still working on it is a promise of future happiness. I know I'm playing with the rules a little here.

There are a few other things that happened at the wedding. My grandma got me some literature on our family history, and Lee-Anne's sister in law brought some kittens to be adopted by my mother and brother.

We got Finn from the same person, and in fact these new kittens are his half-siblings (at least). I thought it might be too soon after Cassidy, but these two were in need of a home before Cassidy's passing. Mom and Duncan were aware of them, and the fact that they they would be in the same place as Lee-Anne's sister in law felt like fate.

They're at home now. The black one with the stubby tail has been named Castor and the tuxedo cat is Pollux. I'll have to do a post dedicated to them.

After the wedding, me and Lee-Anne stayed over in a hotel in Brampton. In Pokemon Go, my buddy gave me a bouquet as a gift. I'd never seen that gift featured in the game before. Felt like a wedding present.

 The next day we visited Granddad since he couldn't make it. The uber driver dropped us off in slightly the wrong spot, but it was okay because he put us in front of a sunflower mural. It felt kind of fated

Granddad can't speak for the most part, but when he saw me he shouted and reached out to me, smiling. Pretty well the best I could hope for. We had lunch with him, Oma, and two of my uncles that had flown in for the wedding.

When we got back to Kitchener, we found a red rose taped to a post on our home street, welcoming us back.