JTK says - Issue #2
Entertainment stuff
I don't know why but I have had a long-standing stigma against "adult" cartoons - never liked The Simpsons, sort of watched South Park but not really as a teen, and ABSOLUTELY HATED Family guy etc etc.
I don't know how, but Bob's Burgers was the show that finally broke through. It often has me just cackling out loud. I am on season 5 now but if you want a truly manically funny one, I've watched Turkey in a Can 2x this weekend alone and probably will more before the weekend is over.
The other entertainment I've been enjoying this week has been Last Podcast on the Left's MK Ultra series. LPOTL (as we call it) is a group of comedians who cover pretty dark topics, true crime, cults, etc but their research quality is actually pretty spectacular and you can learn a surprising amount from them. Our government has done some truly bizarre things. If you want to hear about what happens when they gave elephants LSD "for science", this is the series for you. I don't really even believe in anything fun, anything supernatural or any non-proven conspiracies, but fortunately or unfortunately when it comes to the government being weird as fuck, we have actually some solid sources documenting it. Truly, truly wild stuff.
Personal stuff
I decided this week to cancel a trip I had going to Portugal because of the ongoing, horrifying conflict in Ukraine. I'm not trying to be sensational or hysterical or say I think the conflict will spread through Europe, and I get that these countries are far apart. On the other hand, it seems hard to tell what countries will be helping the most with logistical and refugee support and the last thing I'd want to do is be in the way.
This led me to decide to reroute my trip to the Galapagos Islands and I am actually VERY excited - maybe even more than I was for Portugal. I've traveled around most of western Europe and while it is a great place and very familiar feeling, I guess I have an appetite for something else. This trip was a "divorce present" to my sister to show her the many diversions of single life, like being able to fly off into the sunset when you feel like it.
Outside of that, the degree I have been toiling towards for what feels like an eternity finally wrapped up and my weekends are free. I can't tell you how exquisite it has felt to just be able to hike, try out new recipes, and be a complete potato and play Link's Awakening on switch. I finished with an A- GPA but maintained straight As for the entire year+ where I was in school full time while working full time.
Being finally done has given me a LOT of thoughts about how frankly mean people were over the years about not having it, and I have a magnum opus in the works about what I honestly think about degrees vs bootcamp vs <whatever> now that I have done EVERYTHING because I'm such a glutton for punishment, lol.
JTKs-favorite-things stuff
So Oprah and the whole favorite things craze was kind of before my time, buuuut I'm going to take a moment to copy the idea to give you a mini home of chez-JTK to show you some of my favorite things. I don't know that I have much of a cohesive style other than "spooky-chic" so if I had to pick some of the favorite things in my house it would be skulls, which I try to collect on my travels:
Or this truly excellent human heart vase:
Honorable mention to this artwork of butts I have in the downstairs bathroom.
Nomnomnom stuff
I promised that at some point I would start putting some of my independent recipes ideas to paper and finally did it this week. This week's recipe is one that was born out of the most random job perk I've ever had, which is that I get up to $100 of free seafood a month shipped to me.
It truly does not get much better than that for a Baltimore native and as you can imagine I've been going wild with this windfall. This week's crabstravaganza was inspired by a Malaysian ginger-chile crab dish that I converted into a soup with a coconut base. Check out the full recipe here!
Zoo stuff
This one is from the archives and one of the best videos I've ever taken TBH. When Vim and Vex were tiny kittens and has a surprise ending.
Community stuff - Jobseeker spotlight
As promised, I'm going to highlight someone on #TechTwitter looking for work this week! Meet Emily.
Q & A with Emily included below (lightly edited for clarity).
Q) Tell us about yourself!
Hi, my name is Emily Armstrong. I am experienced in frontend web development with a background in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and I’m currently focused on learning more about the backend in order to build fullstack web applications. My current gig is freelancing by building custom websites for small businesses, and I love it - it’s such a powerful feeling to be able to create something tangible from an idea.
Q) What kinds of roles/engagements are you looking for right now?
I’m a software engineer looking for remote freelance, contract, or full-time roles
Q) As a super fancy technologist I have to ask: If you got to pick two candies to fight each other to the death, what candy would you pick and who would you want to win?
And as far as candy fights, my dream battle royale would be a brawl between Cow Tails and Nerds Ropes - it’s the ultimate “chewy stick battle.” I enjoy a Nerds Rope when I’m in a “sugar rush feat. Indiana Jones” type of mood, so that’s the prizefighter for sure.
Q) Where can people reach out to you with open jobs or leads?
You can reach me here
Please take a minute and reach out to Emily if your org has any open roles right now!
Until next time
That's it folks! Thanks for reading and catch you in a couple weeks.