Author: Kristina

Big hair. Big glasses. Freelance writer, audio engineer, and all around nerd with a musical addiction and a fondness for tea.

Growing Up In A Micro Life

I was doing an interview about The Mongol Rally the other day and was asked what I wanted to be when I “grew up.” I got sort of angry at the question for a multitude of reasons. Did they thing because I had driven from London to Mongolia this summer instead of working that I wasn’t an adult? The fact that I prefer to travel with my money than save for a down payment on a place shouldn’t indicate my maturity. I just choose to use my money in a different way. After thinking about the question for awhile and getting over my initial annoyance at it, I came to a realization.

On the road in Siberia during The Mongol Rally. Photo by Scott Joseph, Travelstache
Photo by Scott Joseph, Travelstache

This notion of “growing up” is a bit behind the times I feel. With so many different career paths and lifestyle choices now, what is perceived as being “grown up?” Having a 9-5 job I hate in a cubicle with a house, a mortgage, and 2.5 kids?

That sounds awful.

I thought I wanted that, and maybe I will one day (lord i had a dream about being pregnant last night!). This is not me shaming anyone who has that life. If it’s what you want and enjoy, then all the power to you. I’m happy for you. The idea of being stuck somewhere is horrifying to me. I wrote about my inability to stay still almost a year ago, and it seems it’s that time again to reevaluate my life. Ironically, it was also around a month after returning from abroad that I felt this same itch. I guess it’s going to be a yearly tradition.

My first lesson at an English Camp in Shizuoka
My first lesson at an English Camp in Shizuoka

I read an article a few years ago about micro-lives and how there’s many people who live certain lives for a year or two at a time and then move on. That’s me. I lived and taught English in Japan for a year. Then I moved to England to try and do the “grown up” thing and do my MA at a prestigious school, but I hated it. So I moved to New York City and was a live-in nanny in an apartment overlooking Central Park for a year. Then I moved back to London to do an MA, but this time in a field that I was already succeeding in on my own with my podcast. I’m looking at possibly moving to New Zealand next year on their Working Holiday Visa scheme.

Producing in London
Producing in London

Why not?

I get restless if I am in a place onto long. There’s too much of the world to see. I am getting serious about my freelance writing and audio work so I can move around more easily. Ideally I’d love to live in different places around the world while working on things I enjoy.

It’s not the typical “grown up” life style, but it’s the one I want, and why shouldn’t I have it?

I’m not naive enough to think it’ll happen easily or even soon, but it’s a goal. And it’s vital to have those. As long as you have something to reach for, be it owning your own car or moving to a foreign country or marrying Tom Hiddleston, you’re making progress in your life. Even if they’re just baby steps, they’re steps, and that’s better than staying still.

Scrumptious Saturday: TARDIS Blueberry Cupcakes

One of my favorite things in the world to do is bake. I love baking. I bake for kicks, out of boredom, out of stress, and in a desperate desire to make everyone love me. So when I finished my errands this morning I was debating what to do, and then I saw my bottle of Police Box sprinkles and… well, GERONIMO! I’m a HUGE fan of Doctor Who, so any excuse to be a Time Lord in the kitchen is a good one. Every other Saturday I’m going to be bringing you some sort of delicious recipe with a nerdy twist. So let’s get started on our first Scrumptious Saturday!

TARDIScupcakeBehold, TARDIS cupcakes! They’re blue! They’re fruity! They’re covered in tiny little sugar police boxes! I supported The Geeky Hostess‘ Kickstarter campaign for these geeky sprinkles ages ago (and stupidly forgot to update my address so I only got one of my bottles after I moved, oops) and hadn’t really used them. It was time to remedy that, and what better day to do that than Doctor Who Day (aka Saturday)?!

Now, I knew I wanted to make a TARDIS cupcake, but what flavor is the TARDIS? I thought maybe banana, as you should always take a banana to a party, or maybe apple to play off the an apple a day keeps the Doctor away (though who wants to keep the Doctor away??). But I just kept coming back to blue. They had to be blue. So a look in the fridge and I saw blueberries! Perfect! But there weren’t enough to make a full batch (damn, why did I eat them for brekkie?), so perusing about, I spotted maraschino cherries and figure if I was making cupcakes, I should just go all out and make them indulgent. Now I had the fruit, but I knew blueberries wouldn’t turn my cupcakes blue. I needed some help.

When wanting to color your food with the help of food dye, I cannot recommend gels enough. The drops aren’t going to give you the crazy colors you want without saturating your batter. Gels don’t require as much as the colors are always so much richer. So pick some up at your local grocery store or craft store if they’ve got a baking session. You’ll really notice the difference!

TARDIScupcakes2

WHAT YOU NEED

  • 1 stick/ 1/4 lb unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups AP flour
  • 1 tsp baking bowder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup fresh blueberries
  • 1/2 cup maraschino cherries, chopped
  • 2 Tbsp Police Box Sprinkles by The Geeky Hostess
  • Blue food coloring gel

TARDIScupcakes1

MAKE THE THING!

  1. Preheat oven to 350F and insert liners into a cupcake pan. Pro tip: don’t have cupcake liners? Use coffee liners! Just cut to size.
  2. Cream butter and sugar together at medium speed until fluffy (3-5ish minutes). Add the eggs one at a time at low speed, but beat well.
  3. In a separate bowl sift the flour, baking powder, and salt. Don’t have a sifter? You can use a strainer or colander… or just pretend you sifted.
  4. Beat portions of the dry mixture into the creamed mixture, alternating with milk. Start with dry and end with dry. Add the food coloring gel (and add more if you want a deeper color) and mix together for two minutes.
  5. With a spatula, fold in the vanilla extract and then the blueberries and cherries. Follow with the sprinkles!
  6. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack.

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For a frosting I mixed marshmallow fluff (which actually contains no marshmallows btw) with blackberry jam and a little more of the food coloring gel, but these would be good with any sort of frosting really! Make sure to top with some more police box sprinkles once your’e done for that extra timey wimey feel and a nice crunch.

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Let me tell you, these are AMAZING. The blueberries are nice and tart and the cherries add a nice sweetness and a bit of texture. Your mouth will undoubtedly turn blue, but just count it as part of the experience! The cupcakes are light and fluffy and are a delicious fruity treat.

So try them out! Let me know how it goes :)!

One Hell Of An Update

Ah. That’s better.

Okay, yes, it’s been awhile. I wrote in May that I’d be starting up again soon, and clearly that didn’t happen. Getting ready for SherlockeDCC at SDCC (including finagling how to smuggle Steven Moffat and Sue Vertue into the party) PLUS planning and prepping for The Mongol Rally proved to be too much. And then I was in a car. For a very long time. Least to say, it didn’t leave a lot of time to blog about happy nerdy things. But now I’m back in Amurrica and working on settling myself in for a new direction in life.

There’s been a bit of a change around here if you look around. Still working on tweaking things, but overall, here is the new blog site write-y thing. I’m going to be approaching this whole blog a bit differently. Very Nerdy Curly still exists, it’s just going to be a different beast. No longer am I writing as if I’m some news outlet, no, it’s my blog. It’s where I’m going to write about things that I want to, in my own voice. It sort of was this before, but not enough. I’m not entirely sure what I was trying to do before to be perfectly honest, but now I’ve got it sorted. I’m going to write about everything I love and find interesting. Sometimes it’ll be really nerdy and related to some obscure fandom, other times it’ll be horrifically mainstream. Who knows! But it’ll be 100% me.

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Hi! I’m alive!

Also, I’ll be writing about working in the audio industry in various ways, giving updates on my own projects, and wistfully looking at my passport.

Speaking of passports, remember that Mongol Rally? Well, I did it! I made it to Mongolia (and then some). You can read all about it at my travel site, The Nerdventurists, which my friend Sora and I are continuing into the future! Want to go on nerdy adventures with us every summer? Get in touch!

So there it is! We’re back in business and slowly things will start appearing here on a schedule, because schedules keep me sane and everyone appreciates them.

I’m still nerdy. Still curly. And still very much so here. Haha, see what I did there?

Xx

Kris aka Curly

Fifteen Weeks Late With Starbucks

Um… hi!

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! you may be asking. Shock! There’s an update! The curls live! So where have I been? Well, I don’t have a super exciting answer to that. Life happened. I got a job, well, two jobs and some freelancing, and planning for The Mongol Rally, and running a podcast that’s throwing a party at SDCC in two months. A lot is going on in my life, but I’ve been acutely aware that I’ve neglected this poor baby for far too long.

I’ve missed this. I haven’t blogged really since February. I’ve done a little over at The Nerdventurists, but I need to get back to it. So this is me, getting back to it… soon. I have plenty I want to write about, new things to show you, discuss, and flail over. Yes, I’m still playing Dragon Age (I’m stuck in permanent Dragon Age hell it seems), and there’s a LOT of travel on the horizon, and I’m trying not to be so cynical about every single super hero movie and television show coming out (that’s not working, I’m honestly ready for the next fad to come along kthx).

So this is my official I’M NOT DEAD message and that shenanigans and dorkiness will be returning to some curls near you very soon!

How Budapest Surprised Me on Your Friend Elle

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I’ve got another post up on Your Friend Elle, and this time it’s a two parter! Back when I was studying in London I got a mad case of wanderlust (ok, this is a fairly regular occurrence), and I randomly picked a city on the map and headed off. Budapest surprised me in multiple ways. It’s a beautiful city with rich history and the best hostel I’ve ever been to.

In this first part I let you know some of the things you just can’t miss on both sides of the river. Make sure you stay tuned for what to eat, where to stay, and what to see outside of the city in Part 2!

Read this and more at Your Friend Elle.

So is Game of Thrones back yet?

I didn’t realize how much I missed Game of Thrones until I saw the leaked trailer for Season 5 along with the rest of the waking world. Now I need it back like yesterday.

Arya

I should preface this with the fact I am a heathen who has not read the books. I’m an easily distracted reader (I know, I know) and it’d probably take me 5,000 years to finish George R.R. Martin’s tomes. I’ll probably do it one day, but for now I’m perfectly happy to be among the masses that is genuinely shocked about what happens on Game of Thrones and sort of revel in writhing in pain at not knowing what’s coming next. Also worrying about my favorite characters and their mortality.

Continue reading So is Game of Thrones back yet?

Disney’s Princesses With A Korean Twist

littlemermaid

Nayoung Wooh aka Obsidian is a professional illustrator in South Korea who has taken some of Disney’s most famous iterations of fairy tales and given them an historical Korean twist. Gone are the European gowns and seashells and instead these beautiful pieces have the well-known heroines in delicate hanboks.

I love it when artists take well known “western” media and make it their own, and when I came across these images I immediately fell in love. They transfer so effortlessly.

aliceinwonderlandYou all known I’m a huge lover of Korea. I wrote late last year how I was debating moving there and I gushed about my adoration of Korean dramas as well. So I’m particularly taken with these illustrations. South Korea, despite it’s modernity and being a leader in technology, is very proud of its tradition and history. Historical dramas are incredibly popular (and you can find a great list of some to watch here), and it seems that a favorite past time is dressing “modern” characters in historical clothes. It’s a nice touch that I, as an American, don’t get to experience with my own culture. I just love these.

Continue reading Disney’s Princesses With A Korean Twist

I’m driving to Russia… wait what?!

Nerdventurists

So remember when I wrote about my inability to stay still? Well, travel has won out, but not in the way you may think. No, I’m not going Korea. Instead I’m driving to Russia. It’s not until July, but it’s one hell of an adventure and one I’ve wanted to do for years. It’s called The Mongol Rally and it’s a 10,000 mile drive from London to Ulan Ude for charity. Yes, 10,000 miles. That’s a lot of time to spend in a car, but it’s for a great cause and it’ll be something to remember.

My team is called The Nerdventurists and I’ll be travelling along with my fellow Baker Street Babe Sora and tea blender and comic artist extraordinaire, Cara McGee. You can learn more about them at the Nerdventurist website. Basically we’re waving our nerd banner high as well as our lady banner. Not a lot of women take on the Mongol Rally challenge and even less Americans. We’re a unique team, but we’re all about the opportunity it’s going to grant us and hopefully we’ll raise tons of money in the process!

TheRoute
Click to enlarge

While we are given a starting point, a check in point, and a finish line… we are not given an exact route to get to Ulan Ude. It’s called the un-route, and so we have to decide exactly how to get there. There’s multiple options: we could go towards the arctic circle and swoop down, we could go south into Iran and Turkmenistan, or we could go via Australia… if we really wanted to.

In the end we decided to go something akin to the “central route” by past Ralliers. If we go this route we’ll end up passing through: England, France, Belgium, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia… at minimum. We may decide to swing by Slovakia or Greece or Serbia. Least to say, it’ll be quite the collection of passport stamps!

Continue reading I’m driving to Russia… wait what?!

How 2014 Became the Year I Returned to Gaming

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So it turns out when your mother buys a new house that needs a lot of renovation, that you sort of lose track of time and every day turns into a mix between sleeping and painting. So. Much. Painting. What horrible person decided you had to paint stone 5,000 times to make sure it’s mold and water proof?

So that’s basically where I’ve been… covered in various types and colors of paint, and it’s not even done yet. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy helping my mom out, but I think I will forever have claw hands.

To relax after days of hard(ish) labour, I’ve been playing a lot of video games. Be in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Nintendo 3DS or The Sims. At first I picked up my old Harvest Moon: Animal Parade game. Got hitched. Had a baby. Tended my crops. I love Harvest Moon to pieces because it’s a farming simulations and it’s charming and sweet and SO ADDICTIVE.

HarvestMoon
Arson is hilarious in Harmonica Town.

Continue reading How 2014 Became the Year I Returned to Gaming

5 Fandom Friday: My Favorite Holiday Movies

5FandomFridayXMas

It’s been a bit of a week from not feeling well to being really busy to re-evaluating my entire life. It’s something about the holiday season, isn’t it? The year is ending and it seems the perfect time to change everything, to start a new. I’ve never been a fan of new year’s resolutions because it’s just a gimmick isn’t it? No one really keeps them, it’s just an excuse to say, sure, I’ll maybe think about changing this aspect of my life. But we just stick with it for a week or two and then it slips from our mind because life takes control again.

Now that I’ve made you all depressed, here are some holiday movies that I cannot do without at Christmas time. And yes, they’re as cliche as it gets. That’s what the holidays are for after all.

Continue reading 5 Fandom Friday: My Favorite Holiday Movies