In order to graduate high school, we have to take some sort of “Computer Science and Applications” class. While this makes total sense—CS is our future, very important, etc. etc.—the way that the state is going about the requirement makes much less sense. Even though I’ve taken many CS classes, I can’t actually use them to satisfy the CSA credit because the credit isn’t really about CS.
The class is actually mostly about teaching us how to use Google Docs. It’s so ridiculous because any teenager, much less any teenager who got through the pandemic, clearly already knows how to use Google Docs. We can’t even test out of the class, either! Instead, we have to go through each and every one of the assignments teaching us to use Docs, including an assignment to make a Family Newsletter. So, uh. Yeah. Have a Family Newsletter.
The Liu Letters: Sedona Edition
A Winter Wonderland
I would’ve liked to call this edition the “Sedona Sandition” to emphasize the fact that these letters hail from the sandy deserts of Arizona. The only problem? Everything was covered with so much snow, there was not a speck of snow to be seen. Go figure: we leave the white winter of home only to arrive in a snowy Arizona.
Gunning for Victory
There are some things you would expect to see in the kitchen of an Air BnB. A bit of coffee, perhaps; some non-perishable food; utensils and silverware. In our Air BnB, we found all of that: six different types of coffee, dozens of packs of Instant Ramen, and even some measuring cups. We also found something that truly shouldn’t ever be in a kitchen, sitting right on top of the Instant Ramen, in the cabinet over the refrigerator.
Here’s a hint: It’s a three-letter word, starting with G. No, it’s not a gym, how would you fit a gym above the refrigerator? Nor is it gas: sure, there was plenty of oxygen over there, but oxygen isn’t a shocking find. Gem? I wish, but sadly, I haven’t suddenly become strikingly wealthy.
It was a gun, left behind by the previous guests.
And that, I suppose, is a sign that we were truly in Arizona. After all, what place other than Arizona would there be a gun in the kitchen?
Pancake Cookies
Ingredients
Whatever you can scrounge up in the pantry.
Directions
- Take stock of your materials. In our case: pancake mix, cinnamon, faux vanilla, milk, eggs, an oven, and surprisingly, measuring cups.
- Mix your dry ingredients.
- Sprinkle in a decent dusting of cinnamon and drip in some vanilla.
- Crack an egg in a separate bowl, carefully dig the shells out, and combine with the dry ingredients.
- Pour some milk into measuring cups and then add to the dry ingredients.
- Does your concoction look like the right consistency? If too dry, add some more milk. If too wet, add some pancake mix. You can eyeball it, as your measuring cup has already dropped to the ground.
- Put into the oven (preheated to 350°).
- Play cards while you’re waiting.
- Oops, what’s that smell? If you can smell smoke, it’s probably about time to take the cookies out.
Traveling Travails
Our stay in Arizona lasted a day longer than planned. That sounds like an excellent thing: an extended vacation, what fun! But in reality, it was the furthest thing from an excellent thing that could possibly happen. We arrived at the airport at 5 pm on Friday for our 8 pm flight, stayed there for seven hours due to delays, and then were told that the flight was now 2 pm on Saturday. Then our Lyft driver drove us to Mesa instead of our hotel in Phoenix and, well. It suffices to say: the experience was very travailing.
