Friday, March 28, 2014

The night sky is amazing. I love looking up at all the stars. I could do it for hours. there are just so many. Its crazy to think the stars could be dead. The light we see could be old. Thats it takes so long for the light to reach us that it could be thousands of years old and that spot in the sky isn't really even there. It makes Aurora over Iceland picture, a winner in the 2nd International Earth and Sky Photo Contest on Dark Skies Importanceme feel small when I look at the sky because compared to the universe my life and my problem in the wold are miniscule. It makes me want to do something big something so big it could leave an impact in the world far longer then I will be on it. I don't know what, or how, but I want to make a difference when I look at those stars. I want to leave a light shining in the darkness long after i'm dead just like the stars do.
There I was in my kitchen. Looking in all the pantries and in the fridge for something to make for my English assignment. Something meaningful to me. I decided on the ribeye steaks in the fridge and I even had some left over mushrooms to throw on top. This was a classic meal, usually grilled, my family and I would enjoy on hot summer nights. It brings back memories of chasing fireflies in the dark and playing flashlight tag. I set to work getting out my skillet because alas I don't know how to grill and I don't have one. So I set the skillet to a low medium heat and got out my steaks. First I rubbed them with cavanders, a seasoning used by my mom that goes great on just about any meat. Then I set two side by side in the pan. Since my main course is searing away nicely, I go back to the fridge for the mushrooms I spotted. I briefly wondered how long they had been in there, and I remembered buying them possibly two weekends ago to make meatloaf. Surely fungus cant mold I told myself. I pulled them out of their plastic baggie and smelled them, they had a slight odor, and looked dark, but I told myself they just smelled like mushrooms and to wash them off and they would taste fine. So that's just what I did. I rinsed them off and chopped them up and threw them in a skillet with a little olive oil and sage and salt and let them simmer on low.
 I return my attention back to my main course. Its time to flip each steak over and I deftly do so with one smooth motion of my spatula. The smell of seasoned meat fills the kitchen and I anxiously wait for my steaks to finish cooking to a perfect medium. I spear one steak and slice through the heart of it with a sharp steak knife. Almost there I thought! The mushrooms were done cooking so I turn the heat off and let them sit there staying hot. I slid my spatula under my perfectly done steaks and deposit them on to my waiting plate. After sprinkling my mushrooms on top I do what any teenager in America would do, I take a picture for instagram. I pull out the A1 sauce and put some on the side and set to work cutting my meat before I sat down. The knife slides easily through it and in a minute I'm done. As I sit in my recliner watching pawn stars I savor the warm bits of steak with the tangy A1 sauce. The cavendars gives the steak a very slight peppery taste and give it just the right amount of spice to make your mouth water for more, but not enough to make my eyes water from the heat. The mushrooms were al dente and the sage goes perfectly with the steak and I thought I had over done it with the salt maybe on them because they tasted a little bitter. I smothered them with tangy A1 and finished my plate. It was pretty late at this point, about 11:30 at night so I head off to bed thinking about my chemistry test I had in the morning.
 I wake up a short hour and a half after I went to sleep covered in sweat and freezing. I felt like I had just gotten off the worlds largest roller coaster. My stomach was in knots and my head was spinning. I start to sit up and whoa the wold turned upside down. I start to lay back down but knew if I didn't make it the short trek across the hall to the bathroom I would be heaving the contents of my stomach all over my floor and my chemistry book and homework laying beside my bed. I get up and the motion literally made my stomach slosh around in protest. I stumble into the bathroom in the dark just in time to projectile vomit into the toilet (well mostly). After 5 minutes of heaving I lay on the bathroom floor feeling as if I was about to die. I laid there for about thirty minutes before I felt well enough to get onto my knees and finally turn the bathroom light on. I wished right away I hadn't. The bright light made me squint my eyes and all I could think was, damn I guess i'll have to clean the bathroom soon. I get to my feet and wash my face and my mouth and take my temperature. 97.2, I really was cold I guess. I felt week and shaky but I got the bathroom trashcan and bring it to my room and lay down with three blankets. I emailed my chemistry teacher telling him I wasn't going to make the 10 am lab, because by this time it was three am, but I would try and make the class at noon to take my test. Little did I know my day was just beginning.
I did some research and found out that good mushroom have no oder and portabellas, the kind I was cooking with, should never appear dark. They have a shelf life in a fridge of about two weeks, but that is in a paper bag or Styrofoam container that lets the mushrooms breathe. I had mine in a tightly zipped plastic baggie. So now I know that fungus can go bad, and if you ever get food poisoning from mushrooms you will feel like you are going to die for about 12 hours.


Monday, March 17, 2014

This image is colorful and it had three lizards. one is short and stubby looking and kinda fat and one is all twisted around like he was playing twister. the other has colorful horizontal stripes running down the length of his body. theres a blue feather in the middle of the three lizards with white polkadots. its shadow is under it. it looks like the lizards are on a wavy table cloth that is red with colorful stripes. some lizards have three fingers and some have four. all the lizards have a shadow.


I would rather be sleeping in a hammock on a beach in Cancun. It would have a white soft sandy beach. I would be strung up between two wavy palm trees and there would be a slight warm wind in the air. The waves would be softly crashing on the beach as I was rocked to sleep in the hammock. I would have consumed my body weight in margaritas and so I wouldn't have a care in the world.

There is white sandy beaches with small round sea shells nestled in the sand. The waves are blue with a white foam on the top. The tall palm treas are topped with long bendy green leaves that sway in the wind. The rough brown bark was from the top to the bottom.

The air smells like salt and sand. the hammock smalls like tanning lotion. the sand smells like wet dirt almost. the margarita im drinking smells like tequila and limes with mango. the water smells salty and a bit fishy. my towel smells like sun and sunscreen. My shoes smell sweaty.

The beach tastes gritty and gross. the water tastes like pure salt. The hammock tastes cottney and my margarita is ice cole and mango like.

the wind feels warm and soft. the sand is dry in places and moist and moldable in others. the water is perfectly cool and wet. the hammock is soft and gently rocking. the margarita is cold and refreshing.

the beach sounds quiet and peaceful. the waves crashing against the shore and the soft chatter of people way down the beach floating to me on the breeze. I can hear the clanking of the ice in my glass as I drink my margarita. I can hear sea gulls crying out and screaming to everyone to get off their beach.


the beach makes me feel relaxed and sleepy. I love just doing nothing.Its also fun because im in cancun and I can get drunk which makes me happy. Any beach would make me happy because the weather is warm and its sunny and its hard not to be happy when its sunny and warm.

Once upon a time there was a girl named Mckenzie who really wanted to go to Cancun. So she saved up her money and took a flight out there for spring break. When she arrived the soft wind hit her face and she knew she was in paradise. The first thing she did was get an ice cold margarita. When she heard the ice clang in the glass she was excited to get down to the beach. She ran to her room and threw on a swim suit and took her maggrita down to the sandy beach. Once at the beach there was a beach boy with lots of margaritas. so she had like ten then decided after her long flight she would take a nap in the hammock. So she fell asleep until night where she partied until morning them slept until 2 pm and did it all again the next day. The end.