A few days ago, my 21 year old sent me a message that said, “Did you know you’re a source on Wikipedia?”

…No?

During the course of a conversation with a coworker, they got on the subject of our rare last name —truly, only about 2 dozen people have it, and I’ve probably met most of them — and googling ensued. There I was, cited under Resources for Welsh actor William Thomas’ page, who appeared on both Doctor Who and Torchwood. Also, I appeared on the “Bad Wolf” episode resource list. If you are a Doctor Who fan, you know that is a significant episode, and if you’re quite new here, you should know Doctor Who is among my favorite TV shows.

That article, “20 Actors Who Have Appeared in Both Classic and New Doctor Who,” was written so long ago, I don’t remember what I was paid for it, but it had to be roughly $50 or less because that site paid peanuts. And I did a lot of research!

However! It is worth noting that, overall, I received enough money writing for that site that enabled me to buy a plane ticket to see Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds play in Vegas with one of my best and oldest friends. That was good enough for me at the time. Appearing as a resource over a decade later on one of the last places on the internet with reliable information is something I had not previously considered as a thing to accomplish, but it still feels pretty nice. You never know where your preoccupations will take you.

Speaking of preoccupations and Noel Gallagher…

The newsletter Landline published my Pop Culture Diary, a week in which I experience Oasis reunion FOMO, read 4 different books, and am still laughing about the Star Trek meme contained within, among other such things. I enjoyed writing it, and doing so was somewhat inspiring for the creation of this newsletter. Included are links to some of the food I made.

I have another bit of writing in the hopper that I hope to share with you all soon, and these little ways of staying at it are satisfying in their own way, even if the larger project I’m working on feels like it moves at a glacial pace.

What I Ate:

I have been on low-power mode due to various health things over the past month, so I’ve been more reliant on some of my “I can’t be bothered, but need SOME nutritional value” meals. (What this means for you, in terms of effort and/or ingredients, may vary.) Here are two I like in particular:

Dumpling soup with chili crisp: I used ground ginger, but otherwise more or less how it reads. Really, any broth or dumpling type will do.

Crispy sheet pan gnocchi and veggies: I used a bag of frozen broccoli, the last frozen bell pepper strips I had hanging around, sliced half an onion and tossed it all with some dried Italian seasoning and some white beans. It’s a VERY flexible recipe, but I love eating gnocchi this way.

Tonight, it’s going to be some actually pretty decent veggie burgers (they had a good coupon on my grocery app) and a bag of tater tots. For all my extra credit cooking that most people don’t bother with, I’m not snobby about it. Do what works for you.

Until next time.