The Right Kind of Salsa! Yes!!!

Hello everyone. I've now lived a week in this wonderful apartment of mine. It's been a pretty damned good seven days. Sandy had an absolute blast coming over for dinner. Everything turned out very well. The only slight blunder was with the potatos. They were cooked properly but I thought the garlic I added would have been somewhat more pronounced. I'll have to work on that. The chicken turned out splendidly as did the grilled zukini. Didn't think things would go quite that well the first time I tried them. I'll be going down to his place for a meal this evening as he's keen to return the favour. He's a very nice and amazingly cheerful man given what he's been through. He'll be coming with me to church tomorrow where I hope he'll be as fortunate as I've been in terms of finding comfort. Also, I've gotten in touch with John Morgan. He's the kindly soul who got me my Trekker Breeze. A true humanitarian if there ever was one, he and I should make a perfect duo to brighten up Sandy's life here. Meeting someone who has none of the advantages I've come to take for granted over the years certainly makes you appreciate them for what they are. I keep being surprised about what nobody has told Sandy about during his twelve years being blind. He had no idea that the Lake Joseph Centre existed. A trip there would do him a whole lot of good. The temptation is to try and tell him and show him everything at once. Even during our dinner, I believe all the talking gadgets, digital music and stuff somewhat overwelmed him. I'll have to be careful not to do that and take things slow as I introduce him to what his computer can do for him. There's all sorts of ground to cover there. It's a long-term project but if anybody has the time to do this right, I do.

The whole week has been full of firsts. Yesterday, I capped it off by doing my first load of laundry. It went quite well. Everything came out clean and dry at the end. I've heard what the washer sounds like as it completes its cycle and won't have to stay down waiting. Both washing and drying seem to take around forty to fifty minutes. An older woman was kind enough to help me and describe the machines. Her name escapes me at the moment but I'll certainly recognise her voice when I hear it again. I also took out my first bag of stuff to be recycled. I got somewhat thrown off by the doors coming back in from the courtyard. The one which seemed sensible to take unexpectedly lead to a staircase. Another door right beside it with a pull-catch rather than a proper handle lead me back into the lobby. A custodian came to the rescue. Despite sounding completely different thanks to a Caribian accent of some sort, he reminds me strongly of Herb. Like that kindly custodian from the building Rebecca and I lived in, this man is very cheerful and given to laughter. I look forward to running into him and adding further reasons for mirth to his days.

So far as I know, the switch-over is quite complete now. Everyone who needs to know of my new address does. That's not the case when it comes to online shopping. Paypal and Visa are updated but I'll have to take care as I order from various places that they have the correct address to send things to. There's also my profile on Plentyoffish which I'm not quite happy with given my new circumstances. Facebook seems fine but I'll still only use that service when necessary. I know there are other places online with outdated info about me which I'll eventually get around to changing. There's no huge rush.

Having my own place has made a trememdous difference in psycological terms. There's no longer that sense of being shut away from everything. I don't feel nearly so compelled to try every trick in the book in order to meet friends. I can let that happen naturally over time as it seems to have begun to. My goal still remains to build a life full of far more interaction with people than I've previously experienced. That'll likely take years as I start to explore the area around my building in the warmer months and keep jumping at opportunities as they come along. Neither of my neighbours have approached me yet. I knocked on each of their doors once to introduce myself but neither answered. I still have to get around to my neighbours immediately below and above me. Sandy hasn't had the best of luck approaching people in the building. He finds himself either ignored or at best, has his greetings returned. I'm hoping for better but even if I find myself similarly passed over for friendship, I can be happy here. I have a place which will soon be very comfortable for guests and my own place to face solitary life in if such is to be my fate. I couldn't have hoped for more as a single man.

This morning, I decided to try the scrambled eggs I used to make so well in the microwave now that I have all the supplies. By a stupendous piece of good luck, I seem to have chosen the correct kind of salsa which goes splendidly with eggs. Thought I'd have to work my way through a number of less than satisfactory bottles before that happened. Thankfully, I don't. Heaven forefend I withhold my hard-won knowledge from my readers. Add some margarine to two eggs in a bowl along with two teaspoons to a tablespoon of Old El Paso Thick N Chunky Salsa Medium. Scramble the eggs in between time in the microwave totalling around 150 seconds. I usually scramble the eggs after the first minute as well as once again after a further forty seconds. The new microwave does a terrific job. I had a nice brunch with the eggs plus bacon, a croissant, and one of those large minneolas. After doing the dishes, I polished it all down with a delicious root beer. The only thing missing was ice but I should soon have a safe means of producing that. Mom found and ordered me a couple of trays from Avon which come with lids so I won't spill either water before it freezes or need to chase errant cubes across my floor afterwards. That'll be damned nice.

Update:

Dinner was very tasty and different. I tried split pea soup as well as soup with fish and pork. I guess I was supposed to mix them more with the rice but I ended up just liking the soups separate. He said he tried to make things mild since it was my first experience with this sort of food. It was very good and I'll cheerfully try more spicy renditions. He went to so much trouble even preparing a hotdog and potatos in case I didn't like the West Indian food. Rather than feel badly for him, I got the sense that he was thrilled having a guest to go through the trouble for. We had quite a good conversation. He was surprised that I had planned for him to come to church tomorrow. He misunderstood that and figured it would be a week or two. Next week will work better for him so he can get more prepared. I guess he's used to people not responding very quickly to him at all. I'll have to be a tad more careful when arranging things that dates are more firmly understood.