5 very simple meal ideas if you have 0 cooking skills whatsoever and little money.

Breakfast: Oatmeal. Boil the water (you know, put it on high heat and wait until the bubbles come up). Take a package of predone oatmeal, like Quakers, and put it in a bowl. Add the water to your preferred consistency. Stir. Wait until it cools.

Alternative Breakfast -- cereal and milk. You know how this works.

Lunch: Peanut Butter and Jelly Tortillas. Take a tortilla, put peanut butter to taste. Add Jelly. Roll, making sure the bottom edge is folded over. Enjoy.

Dinner: BOXED Mac and Cheese. Boil the water. Add the pasta, cooking for 6-10 minutes, depending on what the box says. Strain. Add in butter, milk, and the cheese, depending on box's instructions.

Nachos. Also good as a snack. Take beans -- black beans are best, and drain some of the liquid. Put them in a pot along with some cheese, usually cheddar is best but you can experiment. Turn the heat on medium and stir until the cheese is melted.

Take some chips -- ones with a light lime flavor are delicious but also cool ranch or just regular corn chips, and cover a plate with them. Pour your bean and cheese mixture on the chips.

Add your toppings. Personally, I just like to cut up some cherry tomatoes -- in half -- and add salt and pepper, but if you like other things, by all means, go to town.

Enjoy. 

And that's it. Super simple and cheap meals to keep you from starving. Good luck and happy "cooking"!

~ E

A small rant and a reminder

I hate passive aggressiveness.

I don't think anyone loves it, and I'm not going to point to any particular incident because (A) that would be IRONY and (b) I don't have one in mind, but rather a bunch that come to mind that I really wish had been resolved, or at least I could have had a conscious choice to walk away from, instead of always wondering if something was meant passive aggressively, or if I was just reading into something too much -- a thing that happens to me a lot.

But I also see the downside to this "tell it to my face" mentality, because I hate being told off to my face, almost as much as I hate passive aggressiveness. Instead, in my ideal world, I'd rather you'd write me an email or a text, telling me what you think, so then I can cry, over-analyze it and THEN come up with a suitable response.

But because the world doesn't work that way, I have devised the following, called, "if something feels wrong in your gut, follow your instincts." In other words, if someone is making you feel like crap and you don't know why and they won't tell you, and you're not all that close to them, why are you still dealing with them? If your association with them isn't making you feel like the whole person that you are, then stop. Take them off facebook, and get on with your life. Life is too short for phony friends.

So, go through your contacts and your social media every time you start to feel that sinking feeling in your stomach, and get rid of all the people that make you hate yourself, that you don't talk to, that you don't even LIKE or even KNOW, because it's not worth it to keep people, however small on the toxic scale, in your life.

You deserve better.

This has been yet another PSA.

~ Emery

P.S

And while you're at it, same for all those news sites and companies that you follow.

If they're dragging you down, kick 'em off!

Summer -- A quick reminder

"Summer is awful" -- Gene Belcher of Bob's Burgers states.




And he's right, especially as an adult who's taking the summer off, I don't know what I'm doing just sitting here typing. There's so much to do!!! Why am I not doing it!

But somewhere inside me, I remember that the whole point of summer is to do nothing. To just relax. To do stupid things that are entirely UNPRODUCTIVE! And it's from this freedom and unchaining of the soul that creativity comes!

So, repeat after me.

BREATHE. PLAY. RELAX.

And enjoy your summer.

~ Emery

Destressing 101

So, something I learned today -- if you're ever super worried about a problem, and you're waiting for it to resolve, hand wash your clothes.

It is labor intensive, exhausts you, and you feel productive, since these aren't clothes you can wash otherwise.

How do you do this?

Fill your bathtub part way with cold water.

Add laundry soap if the items can handle it. If not, do the ones that can't handle it first, then put in the laundry soap after. I recommend doing no more than 10 items at a time. Trust me, ten is plenty.

Wash the items. Pretend your a washing machine. Swirl the clothes around. Dunk them in again. Shake them violently.

Use your sink to rinse them, making sure you use cold water and that you get all the soap out.

Now, you can take a towel and wrap them to dry, before then hanging them, or you can -- if you're a masochist -- just straight up hang them, wringing the water out as best you can.


They'll take a while to dry, you can hang them in your shower, or better yet, outside on a clothes line, and voila!

DISTRACTION!

But be sure to clean up everything afterward.

Now go fall asleep. You've earned it and you're going to be tired and your arms are going to hurt now.

~ E 

Quick Notes from a blocked artist

So, as someone who wants a career in writing, I often get blocked, for a variety of reasons. And until recently, I would try very hard to bulldoze right into those blocks. And sometimes it worked, but most times it didn't. 

I hear a lot of pro and not pro artists and writers telling you if you're serious, you practice every day. You write everyday. You don't move until you've done your time. 

And I believed them. Until I saw another pro on twitter say that writing wasn't a prison. And she disagreed with all those who were keeping themselves captive.

And that set me free. 

Now, if the captive thing works for you -- by all means. Do it. 

But for me, it just makes me blocked. I would tell myself, you'll sit here, and you'll do 3 hours of writing for WTMW (my major project). Or, you'll read these books on writing, in this order. Or, you'll revise THIS now. You'll draw fan art on fridays. 

And this simply doesn't work for me. Why? Because you've killed your creativity. When you've told yourself, what to write, how to write, and when to write, what's left? No space for creativity, that's for sure! 

So here's a new trick I'm going to try. You can tell yourself how, what, or when, but you only get to pick one. 

Then, see what happens. 

Good luck my dear, creative souls!

~ Emery 

P.S 

And don't worry so much about perfection. Be free. Send out what you want to send out, and are passionate about today. Don't wait. Just do it.