More of a spy novel series, but the Charlie Muffin books by Brian Freemantle.

Is this just fantasy…?

Yeah, the time change always messes me up more than I think it should. I wish we would just stop it altogether.

Not anymore. Used to have both and deleted them as data mining and mishandling became more prevalent as the user experience declined. Now I’m only on Lemmy and barely on LinkedIn.

Yep, I have shorter ones for more casual outfits and full length for dressy events. They never seem “costumey” when they go with the overall look. I’m a woman in a metro area though.

Expose yourself to art.

Not having kids.

See my comments for my take on a Trogdor cocktail. I’ll have it perfected by next year (21 year olds like Trogdor don’t care what it tastes like anyway…)

Trogdor: The Cocktail

DISCLAIMER: This was done on a whim with what I had around the house, but now that I’ve gone down this path I plan on continuing to perfect it throughout the year as well as making other SB themed cocktails (“The Cheat” and “Light Switch Rave” obv!). Personally the flavors suit my palette, but I expect it will be a bit divisive.

Serving: 1

Ingredients

• 2oz blended scotch or whisky (I used Tullamore Dew…it was what I had at hand)
• 1 tsp sweet/spicy sauce or simple syrup (I used Bjorn’s Sweet & Spicy Colorado Honey because I was too lazy to make my own *see note below)
• 1/4 oz smoky single malt for burninated thatched cottage flavor (I used Lagavulin 16 year…yep, it’s what I had around)
• cucumber (for ribbon) for enhanced Trogdor body vibe
• cinnamon stick soaked in grain alcohol (for fire garnish)
• pretzel stick broken in half (eyebrow garnish)

Instructions

• Combine blended scotch & sweet/spicy stuff in a cocktail shaker 3/4 filled w ice
• Shake until chilled
• Strain into rocks glass with one honkin’ big cube and the cucumber ribbon spiraled around to emulate Trogdor’s green body
• Top with float of peaty single malt
• Use dollop of sweet/spicy stickiness to fix to pretzel sticks as an eyebrow-looking garnish
• Stick cinnamon stick in drink and light on fire

If you can’t find an appropriate pre-made sweet/spicy ingredient, message me and I’ll whip up a recipe for something for ya.

Now that I’m on this kick, I want to figure out how to get Strongbad “tiki” glasses made. If any of you have ideas around that, please send 'em my way.

Keep on burninating kickass peeps, and please give me suggestions, advice, jokes, whatever, and let me know how yours comes out if you make one!

P.p.s. If any of you are around Denver for next year’s Trogday, hit me up, I’ll host a birthday cocktail party with my new invention.

I’m still perfecting it and will post the finished version tomorrow. It involves peaty scotch to emulate burninating thatched roof cottages. There’s a float of grain alcohol to set it on fire. I’m using a pencil as a stirrer to serve it with.

If this turns out drinkable, I’ll see about getting some appropriate glasses made. More soon…

P.s. I also have a Trogdor bumper sticker on my car. I must never allow it to be in an accident - irreplaceable!

I created a Trogdor Cocktail today in honor. Trogdor day will forever be my favorite holiday.

A free one from the library called Kanopy and F1TV.

Look up the cultural practice / philosophy of “hygge” it’s basically meant to answer this (but extends beyond just winter months too).

This has quotes from the OG Stoics that are then interpreted for modern life with a paragraph or two. I don’t fully subscribe to every interpretation, but at least it keeps me mindful in my own way.

A second thing I do when I get easily annoyed is to stop and ask myself if I’m tired, hungry, or burned / stressed out about something else. If so, I try to find one small thing in my control I can do to improve my situation. Usually by doing one thing I’m “in control” of it helps me not get so frustrated with the things beyond my control. Even if it’s just realizing that if I clean up a mess an hour later, it’s not the end of the world.

I guess the shortest answer to your question is by keeping a much bigger perspective on life.

This has quotes from the OG Stoics that are then interpreted for modern life with a paragraph or two. I don’t fully subscribe to every interpretation, but at least it keeps me mindful in my own way.

Learning, studying, and embracing Stoicism has really helped me. I find The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday helps keep it top of mind for me. It’s a bit of a pop philosophy book, but it works for me.

You can do the WaterPik before brushing and then don’t rinse after brushing.

Gnocchi with cream sauce, one of my favorites.

Speed over strength. It doesn’t need to go further, just faster.