A Piece of Chiidhood: TV

Before I begin I must say that I debated with myself on whether if I should write this or not. But my mind wouldn't be silent and I wrote this while walking from work.

It’s February and while Valentine’s Day is the main attraction, let’s not forget that this is also Black History Month.

So in respect of this occasion, I’m going to talk about my childhood, more accurately, the cartoon shows I used to watch.

Like any other child, I watched a gambit of cartoons. Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Power Rangers, ok not really a cartoon, but assuredly kid friendly. What did all those shows have in common? Bright colors, a story-mostly- and no black main character.

As I was a child, I didn’t care that all the stars of the show were white, mostly. I enjoyed them for the action and the sounds. But a part of me did wish that the guy under the spider-man suit was black.

So when Static Shock came to the TV screen, I was ecstatic.

I don’t remember much about the episode, just the events around it; a giant bowl of cereal and fighting with my brother to see who would sit in Dad’s chair. If that lasted as long as it normally did, the first ten minutes of the show wasn’t observed.  But I recall the impression of wanting to see next week’s episode ASAP.

No Longer Just Green Sandwich Recipe

The first time I made this sandwich, it was my month of being a vegan and I had very little in the fridge, just one or two pieces of kale, onions and garlic. But I was hungry and I wasn’t grocery shopping until later in the day. So using what I had at hand, I sautéed the kale with the onions and garlic and added smoked paprika to give an extra kick of flavor. Veganase on the bread and I was done. 

I remade the sandwich the other day, added some sliced carrots and used rainbow char instead of kale. Smoked Paprika was still a staple but I used a hamburger bun from New Seasons instead of regular bread.

The remade sandwich. Unfortunately, this bun has honey in it, so it isn’t vegan. 

No Longer Just Green Sandwich

¼ onion sliced (Mine is red)

3 sprigs of rainbow char

1-2 cloves of garlic diced

1 medium carrot

½ tsp smoked paprika 

½ tsp oil (I used grapeseed)

Salt and pepper to taste

2 slices of bread.

Vegenaise

Heat oil in skillet on medium high heat alongside onions, garlic and carrots cook until onions start to turn translucent. 

Mix in char at this point in time, stirring occasionally until wilted. Once wilted, add smoked paprika, salt and pepper. 

Stir one final time before placing on bread or bun topped with Vegenaise.

Thirty Days as a Vegan

Veganism, is the practice of abstaining from animal products, aka not eating meat, milk, milk products- butter, cheese-, and honey[i]. Being vegan wasn’t hard but it wasn’t as easy as I expected.

Initially, I thought that it would just be omitting eggs from my diet. As I’m lactose sensitive, avoiding cheese and ice cream wasn’t a chore. Meat didn’t even rank since my primary diet is vegetarian. But I did encounter difficulty sourcing from friend’s opinions, restaurants that have a vegan friendly menu and packaged food.

Support is crucial in every undertaking. At the end of last year, I had decided to attempt a different diet each month.  So naturally I told my friends this, and one of them looked at me with big bright eyes and asked if I was going to start eating meat.  I naturally had to go extreme opposite and said vegan. They all looked at me like I was insane. When it became apparent that I serious, their words were less then encouraging. I knew they were joking, but no support would be coming from them. Thankfully, I had other friends that were all for my exploration of veganism and a few that were indifferent to it. However, those ones just wanted to see me binge at the nearby Cartlandia when the thirty days were up. As it stood, very few of my friends wanted to have lunch with me.  A good thing, seeing how very few restaurants’ have vegan options.

Vegan is not the same as vegetarian. For one, vegans don’t eat anything processed or alongside animal matter.  Three weeks into of my vegan experience and I was craving greasy and fat. This was a day after my waking by the Outback and feeling like I’d murder someone for a steak. I don’t like steak. So I texted a friend and after doing a little shopping in Sellwood, we got decided to get lunch. Or tried to. The café we normally visited was filled to capacity. So with the prospects of eating there and enjoying truffle fries a distant thought, we tried the two nearby pizza shops. Both places offered vegan pizza, but not by the slice.

Disappointed, we began to walk back to her place, but stopped at a burger place we passed earlier in the day.

Called Killer Burger, I asked what the potatoes were cooked in.  They replied peanut oil and only the fries were in it. I ordered a batch.

They were saltier then I preferred but, still, I had fries!

As I mentioned earlier, whether its food made by my hand or others, one thing remains the same, abstain from using animal products. With such a rule in place, how was I supposed to enjoy a sandwich?  

I love peanut butter and jelly. It’s my favorite sandwich. Jam, jellies, peanut butter, and bread all have sugar added to them. Commercial sugar is bleached white by charred cow bones[ii].

If I wanted to be vegan, I couldn’t eat that without knowing if it was white sugar or natural cane sugar. The solution for such a conundrum was a simple one; buy organic and grind the peanut butter yourself, or use the grinder at your favorite New Seasons, Whole Foods or Fred

Freshly ground peanut butter has a different taste its mass produced counterpart. It took me a few days to become accustomed to the ‘freshness’ of it. There was also the matter of purchasing location. Depending on where you buy your peanut butter, the consistency will vary.  Between New Seasons and Fred Meyer, I prefer to get my ground peanut butter at New Seasons; its smoother and lighter then Fred Meyer’s and doesn’t possess an odd, not unpleasant, taste at the end. I have yet to buy Whole Foods peanut butter, but I do procure my organic preserve there.

I should also mention that vegan bread is less moist then its counterpart. If you have any interest in becoming vegan and still want to eat bread, avoid Ezekiel bread. In my opinion, it borders on stale. Dave’s Killer Bread is delicious and comes in an assortment of flavors.

The final thing I need to mention is the dangers of prepackaged food, more specifically, the contents. I don’t often buy premade food, but on occasion, I do enjoy a Boca burger.-I should point out that most Boca burgers are vegan.- But what isn’t vegan is the cheese I would sometimes add. There is a vegetarian alternative. It is made with soy, water and casein. Casein is a milk protein[iii] found in many cheese alternatives. While at the store buying fruits and vegetables, I wandered into the dairy section. I saw soy cheese and automatically assumed vegan. I spent five dollars on the cheese only to return home and look at the ingredients prior to use. Naturally, I grumbled at the realization of what was in it and placed it into my fridge, for use at a later date. Reading what is in something you are about to purchase not only saves you from being disappointed, but it also keeps money in your pocket so you can buy vegan cookies.

As this is my unpaid experience and impression of being a vegan, what your outtake could be completely different. It could be better, it could be worse. One thing is for certain, never stop exploring or trying new things.

---

[i] http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/vegan.htm

[ii] http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Is+your+sugar+vegan%3F+An+update+on+sugar+processing+practices.-a0170412905

[iii] http://vegetarian.about.com/od/glossary/g/Casein.htm

Shock Box by Jack Vega Book Review

Piss on the ground. Check. See the coming storm? Check. Stand next to a device that’s sole purpose is to harness the power of lighting, check. And stupid. But what are your going to do when the remote sensor on your shockbox doesn’t work due to the fact that your box is the end product of parts from other broken shockboxes? In a world where shockjockies are the elite, Christopher, the son of the city’s best, is forced to work for a thug who want his faulty shockbox filled.

As this was a short story, not much back info was given, such as how the world switched from dependency of oil to lightning.  But the back info that was there was enough to see why Christopher is doing what he was doing.

If Jack Vega was to write a sequel to this book concerning the same character, would I read it? Probably not, I feel that this story has completed its course. If he was to write another story in the same universe with a different character, would I read that? Definitely.

Power Brings Power Chapter One

* * * * *

Chapter One

The silence only lasted a few moments, but to Eutropius, the Greek god of divorce, it could very well have been ten minutes. Isis ran her hands through her hair, while Heru the Younger cursed under his breath.

“Blood Goddess, what are you talking about?” Eutropius asked Isis.

Heru the Younger looked at Eutropius, eyes dark and grim. “Thank you for bringing this to our attention, now you need to leave.”

“Isis,” Osiris addressed his wife. “Are you sure that she is back?” Osiris asked. “Surely you must be mistaken.”

“Does it look like I’m joking?” Isis yelled.

Osiris leaned back into his throne. His wife was never the type to yell. She couldn’t. She commanded magic that reacted to her emotions and needs.  The madder she got, the more damage she could do. She had to temper herself and make sure that it didn’t happen.

“Hold up; I heard that Haim Thea died a long time ago.”

His question was ignored, as Osiris rose from his throne.

“Summon the other gods… and get my worthless brother in here. We have a problem.”

“Excuse me, but I got a question.”

“And as I stated, you will be leaving. Now.”

Eutropius laughed. “I’m not leaving until I get some answers. And you are referring to a monster, when you are pointing someone who looks a lot like a friend of mine. So you are going to answer my question, or I’m going to stay until kingdom come.”

“There is a third option.” Heru the Younger offered. “We could kill you.”

“You could. Hell, you probably should. But you know as well as I do, that you would have to deal with some type of fallback.”

Heru the Younger sighed. “What do you know of Haim Thea?”

Eutropius shrugged slightly. “Not much, just what Hades told me.”

“Which was?”

“She was beautiful and extremely powerful; powerful enough to rule a majority of the ancient world.”

Heru the Younger nodded. “That is true. Do you know where she got her power from?”

“Blood.”

“No, well yes, but no. The Titans were the one to give her founding power. She uses blood as a sacrifice. We think.”

Eutropius nodded. They think. “But she is dead.”

Heru the Younger shook his head. “Not according to my mother.”

Eutropius looked at Heru’s mother who was walking in a circle.

Eutropius clicked his tongue and asked. “How do you know this?”

Heru the Younger looked at Eutropius and he got the feeling that he was talking with Hades. “I just do.”

Eutropius sighed. “Whatever. So why can’t you do what you did last time?”

“We didn’t do anything last time. It was a mortal that did it.” Osiris said.

“Then maybe she’s like the Giants of Greece, and can only be killed by a mortal.”

“Doubtful. Every pantheon she came into contact with sent an army against her; she sent all of them to the afterlife.”

“Then how did the mortal do it?”

“We don’t know. If we did, we wouldn’t be calling my brother.” Osiris interjected.

Eutropius blinked and wondered why they thought his friend was the first blood goddess. Before he could wonder in detail, the ground beneath his feet opened into a hole and he fell into it.

Landing with a thump, Eutropius got up and brushed the sand off his jeans. Taking a breath he felt his head go light and the room go dark.

* * * * *

The frozen wind of the Arctic blew past Haim Thea and she barely felt the cold. A blood goddess’s nerves were less sensitive then mortals. Because of this, it made it possible for them to go places where a mortal couldn’t without wearing extra clothing. Haim Thea wore a pair of tight fitted blue jeans, a white tank top and a pair of sneakers. She stood over the Dumont d’Urville station and took a deep breath. There were exactly thirty-seven people down in the station. It would be enough to satisfy her hunger, for now.

Walking down from the small mount, she saw a little kid walk up to her holding a ball. She smiled; she loved kids. They were so sweet and innocent. Add a little terror, and they were perfect.

* * * * *

Persephone wasn’t the type that got angry easily, she could get annoyed, and paranoid, with extreme ease, but she was rarely angry. Her first born, the Originals were gone. The vampires were dust in the wind, the soul of that insolent brat was missing, and, to kick it all off, she was low on energy. Persephone maybe had enough energy to create three vampires or one Original. That wasn’t including the trip energy.

She had spent centuries building her power base and in less time than it took for Zeus to get five mortal women pregnant, she had lost it all.

Persephone opened the fridge door of her father’s cottage and pulled out a covered plate of Ambrosia. Taking a bite of the food of the gods, she moaned. It had been centuries since she had even a slice. It was sweet and crisp. A bitter taste followed. Furrowing her brow in dislike, she knew it was going bad. Persephone shrugged it off and ate the rest of the food on the plate, then consumed the gallon of milk and the head of lettuce. With the fridge sadly emptied, she turned and headed into the bathroom.

The bath stood on legs. The walls were mostly white; an ivy plant design was painted from the top of the door throughout the room. Persephone turned on the faucet. The water came out cold, sinking into the tub; she closed her eyes and felt for life. It was a gift that once belonged to her mother. The only problem was that she needed to be immersed in water for it to work. Or at least her mother did.  Pushing out some of her power, she felt for life in the desolate land. Strange thing was that she felt none. She knew that this part of the world was basically uninhabited from humans and gods but she knew it was a place of research. There should be a few life signatures. What happened to them? She wondered.

Did her minions take all of them earlier? She knew they took a few for themselves, and gave her the rest but did they take all of them? The answer didn’t matter; as of right now she needed servants. She closed her eyes again and sent out more power to feel for life. She could not feel even the animals. So she focused harder and forced her power to cover the whole continent. Instead of life she felt power. Immense power. She broke the connection and panted.

She had to get out of here, power like that was not natural, not right. It was something that shouldn’t be free. She had to get out of here, but first she had to destroy anything that could be used to track her. Fire, it was the only way to destroy her essence that was throughout the house. Quickly getting out of the tub she closed her eyes and transmuted the air into clothing and went into the living room.

There was a fire in the hearth. It had been burning since she had arrived. Someone must have ignited it. Whoever it was, she owed that person her thanks. Breaking the wooden shelves that held her step-mother’s knick knacks, she tossed the wood onto the fire and laid some of the other pieces near the fire and walked into the kitchen. Opening the cupboard doors, she searched for anything flammable. She found three cans of cooking spray, more than likely Hera’s as Zeus couldn’t cook, two bottles of whiskey and a bottle of wine. Reading the back of the cans she laughed. “Do not put under pressure.” She grinned and said to herself “Sounds like fun.”

Walking back into the living room, she noticed the fire was starting to catch on the wood. Taking a can of the cooking spray she tossed it into the fire, then another one and the last. Making sure she had the alcohol in hand, she teleported out of the house and back to what used to be her residence.

* * * * *

Haim Thea looked over what she had just done. She was proud of herself even though it wasn’t as good as it once was, but she had all the time in the world to re-perfect her art. Although, her mind was somewhat occupied with what she had just done, nonetheless she felt something. No, it was someone reaching out trying to make contact with her. Closing her eyes, she traced the power back to the point of origin.

Haim Thea observed the surroundings in which she now found herself occupying. The house was charred but not ash. The life that once flowed through the house was gone. Fire it was beautiful but it could destroy the spiritual aspects of things as well as the physical. She lost the only clue she had to finding the person who located her. But that was ok; it would give her something to do. Besides, tracking someone across the face of the Earth could be fun.

Power Brings Power Book Two of Power Series Note

I recently sent book two of Power Draws Power to a friend for his opinion of the story. So while I am waiting for him to finish reading, I thought I would post chapter one on the blog.

Power Brings Power is technically the second book in the series, but it can be read like the first, as book one was more of a prequel to Power Brings Power rather then the series itself.

However, as I am a published author, buy my book.

Book Review: Pawn Storm by Andrew Ashling

So if you are one of the people who follow me on twitter, you will remember a tweet complaining about the severe lack of Ehandar in this book. And by lack I mean none, save mention. I’m a diehard Ehandar fan. But that isn't the point of this review. The point of this review is to discuss what I liked about this book and what I didn't.

Pawn Storm by Andrew Ashling is book three of the Invisible Hands quadriliogy and the longest in terms of how much is accomplished. Due to risk of spoilers, I won’t go into detail about what happens suffice to say things go down. A war between the two super powers of the south starts. Anaxantis plots and schemes as if playing a game of chess. Hence the name.

What I liked about this book was the amount characterization. There are more the six characters that get field time;   Rhonoman, Lorsanthian, and of course, Ximerionian are their nationalities and each of these characters add their own perspective about the war. Due to the immense length of the story, it works.

However, a story this size can become confusing and from time to time, I did get lost, but staying up until two in the morning just so I could finish another chapter would cause such an issue as well.

Minding that, I did enjoy this book, ranking in at a four out of five. 

Power Brings Power prophecy

The blood of a different line will be spilt, made into our own.

The powers of death will be given new life, in a new generation.

The one who walks in red will find access to those who bring the end.

For when power brings power all is given to oblivion.

A Power Series Scene

Got an idea in my head. This is what spawned from it.

Note The characters in this scene aren't ones that have been introduced in the series, as of yet.

I'm not certain if it will be in book four. But I like it so I thought I would post it.

* * * * *

Traditions had a meaning and Puck had a fetish. Kilts.

If it wasn't for losing the bet to Modi, this never would have occurred.

It was plaid and hideous.

Zeke would kill Puck for putting this idea into the Viking god's head.

“Kilts are fantastic.” Sam said from his place on the ground. “You can see everything.”

Zeke squeaked, took a step back, got caught by Sam's hand and promptly fell backwards.

“This view is nice too.” Sam as he raised his head a fraction. Snapping his fingers, pointing a finger upward, he continued. “Get on all fours and it would be perfect.”

“You’re a creep.” Zeke said in a non-judging manner. It was just truth. Sam was a pervert, but he was also Zeke’s best friend.

“Yeah, and you have a nice ass. Why is it that we never thought to put you in a kilt before this?”

“Because I don’t wear no skirts.” Zeke stood and crossed his arms. A slow, painful death. Yes, that sounded just lovely.

“It’s not a skirt, it’s a kilt.” Modi said defensively. Using his thumb as a guide to himself, and to add weight to his words, the Viking King continued. “I wanted you in a miniskirt.”

“I would have second that motion.” Sam announced.

“Shut up, perv.” Modi glared only to devolve into a joking grin. “Ogling Sam like that. He’s fragile, you know.”

Sam angrily brushed past Modi. “Let’s get this over with.”

Vegan Waffle Recipe

This is a recipe from vegan month. As I’m still waiting from a friends response to my essay on said month, I thought this would be a good idea.

Vegan waffles for one

Serves 1: two waffles

I like waffles. It’s as simple as that. But finding a vegan waffle recipe would have taken too long as my phone was dead and I didn’t want to go into my room for my laptop. So I just threw a few ingredients into a bowl and this is what turned out.  Add a little vegan butter or maple syrup and it’s good to eat.

2/3 cup unbleached flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp organic brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tbs of bob mills egg replacer and 3 tbs water

 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk

2 tbs grapeseed oil

2 teaspoon vanilla

Turn waffle iron on and set to medium.

Put all ingredients into a small bowl and mix with a whisk.

 Spray iron with coconut oil.

Pour batter into iron and close lid.

Wait for steam to cease, than remove from iron.

Place on plate and consume.