I went and got proper lo mein noodles. I had leftover fried chicken and used the wings for the protein.
I have one more bag of noodles. They are $2.99 for 8 ounces. I will not be buying them again. They are just a egg pasta. I’ll make my own.
Cost per person $4 Cost of I make the noodles: something close to $2.50
I have an Atlas pasta machine. The gold standard for home pasta rolling and cutting. I ended up with a spare and put it up for grabs last year on a local Facebook group. Probably could have made $50 bucks off it but my surplus is up for grabs.
I mean, living close-to-the-bone is something I’ve strived for since my late 20’s, much of that sort of a virtual protest upon predatory capitalism at large (which of course, doesn’t care a flip), but as we grow older (oof, guess which fluppin’ milestone I just hit, this past Sunday?), I feel like the ordinary kindness of community-building / support as I take your motive (but maybe I’m wrong?) is just… sadly eroded, or something. Like: these two are some of my heroes, but…
Dick Proenneke:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG3fUIoXQ5A
John Plant:
https://www.youtube.com/@primitivetechnology9550/videos
…but the best I can do locally is helping out with free community gardens, and such. Yeah… and this is certainly MY PROBLEM, but at times I really do feel like I’m letting my ancestors down, and locals who truly believe in community, and not some Mormon / Scientology-level shizzle.
Just… fuck.
/rant
I once got in a spat with someone in a local Facebook group. They went all “as if you do anything for the community.” I felt it best to not even bother to reply. I definitely wasn’t going to say “I have two homeless people living in my yard right now and up up at 3:30 am to drive another one to work.” They wouldn’t have believed me anyway.
The community responded for me. People I had forgotten and people I could never place if I met them jumped in to let the person know exactly what I had done for them of the community as a whole.
The other day I went to a shop I have been to exactly once in the past. They have a discord that I also post my cooking and art to. Some guy was pacing back and forth on the phone out front. I stepped out of the car and he looked at me and shouted “Heathcliff!”
Shortly after that I learned that there are a lot of people that I have never met that called me a legend. It was awkward. When we got back in the cary wife said “I forgot what it was like to be in public with you. Do you miss being treated like a rock star?”
When I first met her, before moving to a different state, we would walk into a place I had never been before and someone I had never met would tell my money was no good there. I have had to learn that as uncomfortable as it can be there are people that know me even if I don’t know them.
And, apparently, a lot of this is because I step up and will get things done.
Which, I guess, is part of why a lot of my posts include things like “the meat was free.”
And as a guy on the spectrum who doesn’t even tell people my birthday because I can’t stand the attention, is a super uncomfortable paradox to be in.
–
As for close to the bone.
I want a minimalist lifestyle. But there is a catch. Minimalism is for people that can buy what it takes to solve a problem. I can’t do that. I have to be able to fix it without money. So my garage is a workshop. My kitchen has a lot of hand made tools. I knit my scarf and gloves because I’m not going to buy them. Which means having all the knitting supplies. The sewing supplies. All the things it takes to solve problems without money take up space and make minimalism hard. All the farming stuff? Takes up space.
But I’m definitely not feeding capitalism if I can solve a problem without it.
Whoa.
Wow.
Dang.
Actually, I think I can relate to you across at least one of those areas, FP-- i.e., there have been gals / people / groups who considered me this sort of ‘amazing, wonderful person’ upon first encounters, and glad-rocked me to be added towards their… well… whatever the hell their local belief system was. :S
Almost every single time, that-all turned out to be a perfect disaster, and much of the time I just had to sabotage that shizzle. Just shut it down hard, even if I get villified by angry, ex-GF’s. And indeed, that’s what commonly happened.
Honestly, it kind of KILLS me how I had a pretty, patient, librarian-type GF a few years back, and I really did like her, and for-sure could patiently get myself involved in her stuff (because that’s how we do, right?)
but… BUT… BUT…
Godammit, this is dumb and embarrassing. 🤢
I can assure you that I will make every effort to not make you uncomfortable about your status as a wonderful person. But if you need anything let me know.
My exes are a mix. But each and every one will say that my ability to offer validation is lacking. And that if they are going to recognize my birthday that it better involve cheesecake. A lesson even my mom learned.