Michael Pickell

Song mood: I Melt with You by Modern English. I know I reference this song a lot. I just really like this song. The storm I avoided by leaving early was bigger than forecast. I think they said it was going to be 4-6 inches. It turned out to be eight inches. I didn’t even follow on the storm that came after that because, well, I was already back in Omaha. I’m tired. Maybe got three or fours of sleep. No sense complaining. I will just take more melatonin. Anyway. I finished listening to Wuthering Heights by Emily Brönte. The whole thing is frustrating because the tragedy could have been avoided if the first Catherine had married for love instead of money. Which was a concept that was considered in the time of Jane Austin. I also finished listening to The Man with the Golden Gun by Ian Flemming, narrated by Kenneth Branagh. It was actually pretty good considering all the non-plausible stuff. Like James Bond seems to survives stuff no ordinary man could. While I listened to this, it rem

It's Christmas Eve and tomorrow will be a long day. Midnight Mass at the Vatican will air at 11:35pm and finish at 1am. Had I known, I could have watched the live stream at 12:00pm my time. But instead I was driving my mum around town. Then I want to watch the launch of the James Webb telescope. That takes place at 7:20am Eastern Time. The Time Zone I live in is Central, so 6:20am. As I said, it'll be a long day. I just finished watching It's a Wonderful Life . I get weepy towards the end. I won't have to watch that movie for another year. So it will snow early this morning. It's predicted for 2 to 3 inches of snow. Which won't be as bad. But then it will snow late Sunday night and that is predicted to snow 4 to 6 sox inches. So I may be heading home on Sunday to avoid the second storm. Fun days ahead. Tomorrow will be a lazy day. Sunday, I will be traveling. Monday will be catching up on my shows. Tuesday, I'll probably do some writing. I work for two days

Song mood: Go Little Rockstar by Royal Sadness. It has a feeling of melancholy. I get this feeling of an eerie sadness when I listen to it. But the lyrics go from sad to upbeat. And that is what makes that song unique. Tomorrow, I will head to Fargo to hang out with my mum over Christmas. I told her that I would go up on Friday. Then tomorrow, when I’m half way up, I tell her that I will be there in a few hours time. While I’m there, the low will be 0F (-17.7C). The average high will be 32F (0C). I don’t look forward to the coldness. I finished listening to Jane Austin at Home by Lucy Worsley. I thought it was brilliant. I get a little weepy when she goes through Jane Austin’s death. It’s like she built up this character who dies in the end of a novel. Historians think she either had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma or Addison’s disease. Currently I’m listening to Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. I’m actually enjoying immensely. What I will say, that it is a rough read at the beginning. Which i

 The point of these articles, and what I am to take of these is simple. The editor made a point to tell how much each page of the magazine costs. He told me with most other writers, he had to do some serious editing. Change words, phrases and paragraphs so that the articles were legible. Then he told me, he didn't change a word of any my articles. The only complaint he had was that I didn't mention many of the sponsors of the magazine. I may have mentioned one sponsor. Upon which, I still go to that restaurant about once a month for fish and chips. Sometimes I don't think that I'm talented. That I was able to have articles published in a magazine because I drank whiskey and smoked cigars with the editor of the magazine. And what he was trying to tell me was that I had talent for being a writer. But for me, talent or no talent, writing is about perseverance. So is everything about life. You desire to be with someone, you need to do everything you can to show that person

  Korean food was designed for bringing together friends and family.   I lived in Korea for two years as an English teacher and what I have noticed is that Koreans like to do things in groups.   I once told my co-workers that I went on a trip by myself and some my fellow Korean teachers almost fainted by how strange that sounded to them. So if you are planning to have a get together, consider having a Korean barbecue and watch your guests bond over delicious Asian style cuisine.  The best part of cooking Korean food is that it's easy to put together and easy to get the ingredients.  You can go to your local Asian market to get the more difficult items and to your local grocery store for the rest.  I like to go to the Asian Market on 76th and Cass to get ingredients to complete the Korean dishes. To start with appetizers, I suggest kimbap.  Bap is the Korean word for rice.  This is a popular street food as well.  Kimbap is like the sushi rolls.  More or less, this is a rice ro

  Risotto is an easy to make meal that will impress everyone that you cook for.   It originates from northern Italy and the word riso is the word for rice.   There is a series of stock ingredients, which with addition of other items makes this dish versatile.   So if you want a great idea for what to cook that special someone, risotto is the way to go. Due to the length of time that it will take prepare this meal, it’s recommended that you only prepare enough for two.  For this tasty meal you will need: arborio rice uncooked 1 1/2 cups, butter roughly 2 tablespoons, 1 small onion optional but may use 1 cup of shallots instead, 1 pound cremini mushrooms, 1/3 cup of dry white wine, 5 cups broth and parmesan cheese. In a medium size pot bring the 5 cups of broth to a boil and then simmer.  You can use any kind of broth, depending on the recipe you find.  I like to use either chicken broth or shrimp stock. Shrimp stock is a simple thing to make.  Basically you buy a couple pounds of who

  Japanese soups and noodles are the most versatile food ever, one dish served winter with a few simple changes can be enjoyed in a different way in summer.   In the colder months, the most popular dishes will be heavier on the broth.   But during the summer months the same kind of food can be poached and presented in a lighter way.   As with other Asian cultures Japanese food is often communal, where food is prepared before everyone in the group and everyone just digs in.   Although these meals can be prepared individually. Nabe or Nabemono means things in a cooking pot.  In Japan and Korea this dish is cooked in what is called a donabe, or cooking pot, and is served communally.  It is the most versatile Japanese dish ever and is easy to make at home.  Nabe is basically a broth with vegetables and meat added to it.  The base for this soup is what is called Dashi, which can be made with water, kombu or dried kelp and bonito flakes which is made of dried bonito fish.  Once you are fini

 Since the owner of the magazine who published three of my articles is in Poland and sold the magazine to someone else, I decided, there really can't be any harm posting the articles I submitted to the magazine. So here they are.

Song mood: Just Like Heaven by the Cure. I felt creative today. I dictated 1500 words today for my novel in about an hour. Not the 5000 the books I read said you can reach. But then I hadn’t really done dictation before. Also, I used my phone’s speech to text feature, which might not go as fast as other software. Anyway, I did some writing. So I made some progress on the novel. Nobody else was home tonight, so I was able to do two segment videos. Even though they are posted on a public platform, most of the time, I shoot the videos while no body is home to feel private. I actually liked one of the segment videos I did. I can actually tell that I was happy while filming it. My serotonin had been boasted by a video I saw earlier. Anyway. Yes, I know I use that word a lot. Yesterday, I thought I was going to get a long walk in because of the warm weather. We were under a tornado watch. I have to remind myself that the tornado watch means that there is a possibility of a tornado, while th

 One thing I realized after the weird issue with social media is, my day, or in this case night, is so much better when I see you smile. My serotonin increases greatly.

Song mood: You and Me by Lifehouse. My social media has been weird for the last couple of days. For around a day, I couldn’t see posts from Australia, England, Ireland, and Scottland. I didn’t think of looking up my favorite people’s accounts. Then I got a flood of videos of people from other countries. So it has been weird for me the last couple of days. I started lifting weights again today. I’m getting more exercise in, mainly because I am fighting my second chin. It’s been nice the last couple of days, we had a high of 55F (12C). Tomorrow, the high will be 70F (21C). So I will be working on losing 30lbs (13.6kg) over the next few months. I’m half way through Jane Austin at Home by Lucy Worsley. I am thoroughly enjoying that book. Jane Austin was a fascinating person. She never married and most likely died a virgin. She had one marriage proposal for which she said yes, and then the next day backed out of the engagement because no amount of money could make up for the guy’s unpleas

  Song mood: All These Things by the Killers. It snowed last night. The snow is slowly disappearing. I didn’t do any exercising today. It’s messed up that by Thursday it will be 70F(21C). That is Nebraska weather, snow one day and 70s the next. I had a wordrobe malfunction today. It was a good thing I was wearing oversized shirts. The zipper on my jeans was broken and so my fly was open. I bought a couple pairs of jeans at Cosco. I ordered a shirt off of Amazon which cost just as much as the two pairs of jeans. So it was a day to buy new clothes. I’m not going to say what the significance of 13 December. I thought about making an ‘are you okay’ video to post on that day, but decided not to. I met with my bestie. It was good to talk with him. I talked with him about one of the things that is bothering me. We talked about a bunch of other things. It was good to talk with him. We started at the Tea Smith. I had the Dutches Earl Grey.  Then we went and had breakfast at a fancy res

  Song mood: Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers and Coldplay. I just have to believe that the magic is real. Ultimately, I have to have faith. Faith that everything works out the way it is meant to. I find myself in a position where I have to trust faith over logic. That is actually scary to me. I have to trust that people will directly contact me when it is their time to do so. I started writing again today. I wrote a page. The project I’m working now, I had already wrote fifteen pages before. I read what I had already written plus the timeline for the murder and the brainstorming notes. I made a few corrections here and there. I was surprised as to why I stopped writing the book. Actually, I didn’t mind what I had written before. It wasn’t bad. I knew it needs a bit of tweaking, but overall, I liked reading it. And that helps.  I thought that the English colloquialisms were appropriate and not over the top. I didn’t have to look them up again. When I watch British mur

  Song mood: In a Little While by U2. Super mondo tired at the moment. Got woken up a couple of times last night. No sense complaining. I should be working on my mystery, but I’m tired.  I’ve been reading Night at the Crossroads by Georges Simenon. A Maigret novel. Something to get me in the mood of writing a mystery. I just lose heart. Deep down, or deep inside, I want to write. But I’ve lost heart and don’t. I meet with my bestie for tea on Saturdays. I have agreed to have six pages to hand in. Which, is why I should be writing. If I do 250 words a day, or one page, then I wouldn’t need to spend as much time each day writing. I’m pretty sure on Friday, I will write for an hour and a half and have the 1500 words done. Really, though. I will write one page tomorrow. Maybe two pages on Thursday and spend forty five minutes writing the rest on Friday. I don’t know. I’m currently listening to Jane Austin at Home: A Biography by Lucy Worsley. It’s a fantastic read. I am enjoy

Tonight, well, your morning, I realized how much I love you. I could not bear to see you cry. I know that if you started to cry, I would cry. When I saw your video, I realized that I didn’t pick up on something I should have. I want to do things with you. Of course I want to talk with you. But there are other things that I want to do with you, things that are fun. I would love to travel with you. I would love to take you to Paris, and London. You see, you make me want to be a better person, a better man than I have been. I also think of projects that I would love to do with you. Like going to Japan with friends, and making videos of us interacting with the local people and eating the local cuisine. And then doing the same for Paris. Or any other city you would like to go to. I guess, what I am trying to say is that I love you, and I’m not afraid of who knows it.

  Song mood: Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney and Wings. Just because I’m feeling sentimental. Right now, bread is the enemy. I made the mistake of buying this deep dish pizza from Costco. Normally, I’m not a huge fan of deep dish pizza. I like the really the flat bread style. But the picture on the box looked really good. It kind of looked like the bread that one of my cousins makes. Which is one of my favorite breads, though I could not think of the name of the bread. Anyway. The pizza tasted awesome. But I feel like crap after eating it. When I eat too much bread, my joints hurt. I woke up at 4:30am with joint pain. I was nauseous for the majority of the day. So, now the weekend is coming and I need to figure out what to eat that’s light. I foresee salads. Probably charcuterie. I’m halfway through listening to The Secret of Chimneys . For all of Agatha Christie’s flaws, the one thing she does very well is making her characters playful. So I will keep this in mind while