Presenting...THE AWESOMETASTIC BOWSER SHELL CAKE!

My dear friend Matt Beaty turned 19 yesterday. Crew decided that we needed to make him an awesome birthday cake. After seeing some of the more awesome examples of Mario themed cakes, we knew that we were gonna make him a Bowser cake. However, we are NOT professional cake decorators, and we're kinda lazy. So instead, we made a representation of his shell.



Friday night, Casey and I started with the basic canvas, a red velvet cake. Red velvet is one of the best cakes ever. My granddaddy use to make the best red velvet cake only for the holidays. He died like a decade ago, and my granny will make it only for the holidays as well. Casey and I could have done it the right way, but it takes to much time and too much stuff. We settled with the two boxes of cake mix. Casey was amazed that I could brake the egg shells with one hand. I've been baking so long that I forget that some people can't do that. She started mixing the batter, and, oddly enough, it looked like brains and then turned in a thick blood colored paste. We put it in the oven, and it took FOREVER to bake. I then made white chocolate pyramids to fashion Bowser's spikes. We had a bit of a problem trying to transfer the chocolate to these molds I got off Ebay. Finally I just settled on the cookie scoop.

I then had to make this frosting. Red velvet cakes should only be frosted with a butter roux, NOT VANILLA AND NOT CREAM CHEESE! It took forever to make, but it was worth it. I then had to dye it. IT TOOK AN ENTIRE TUBE OF GREEN FOOD COLORING. It tasted great, though.

Here's what it all looked like before my roomie Rachel and I assembled it:

This is what resulted:

Pretty good, huh. It did start melting a bit, but it tasted delicious. Matt really liked it, and I felt good about it. It looked really cool once we cut into it. I'm not sure if you can see it because my camera kinda sucks. Special thanks to Rachel and Casey for helping me make it happen. Rachel's birthday is this Saturday, so I'm thinking I need to do something awesome. Maybe Princess Peach?

And It All Falls Down

Since AWA has ended, I've found myself in a rut of sorts. I'm unhappy, unmotivated, uninspired. I'm un...everything. I'm not sure if this a sort of depression that I'm going through, but I'm not having any fun. I've just started this über scary new medication. I got a C+ on the math test that I thought I aced. I've been having more and more problems with psychosis. And to top it all of, I've disappointed my parents...again. I really wish that I could find some sort of solution.

Yesterday I had an appointment with Dr. Weems to track my progress on Paxil. While I feel a little better, the scary part about my life, the psychosis is really starting to affect my school work. When I stopped by Dr. Ma's office yesterday to get my Math exam, I was shocked to see that I only got a C+. Talk about a damper to my day. I couldn't believe it. After all that time studying and crap, I get a lousy C+. That really made me mad. Then I get to Dr. Weems to find that the cheapest medication to help me is gonna cost $238 for a trial period of a month, and only if I cut the pills in half.


What really has been affecting me is my agoraphobia. It's getting harder and harder to leave in the mornings for anything. Class, work, appointments, and food don't seem all that important when I can't get the mental strength to step out of the front door. I sat in my car for 15 minutes yesterday morning trying to get brave enough to turn the car key and leave the parking lot. I really hope that this medicine makes me feel better, or at least good enough to be able to get going without fear.

That's the one thing that many people don't understand. It's all based on this irrational fear, and until you've felt that fear for yourself, you won't get it. It's frightening not being able to leave my apartment by myself. It's more frightening that I've started to close myself off to the outside world. The thing is that I want to be left alone. I like hermit myself away from society. I'm a little worried that this might start to negatively affect the rest of my life.

With a Little Help From My Friends

So I realize that I've been doing a fail job at posting. Rest assured, now I have more time to moan and complain via the interweb, so I'll definitely be posting more. Recent problems with my health (mental and physical) have sidelined a lot of things, including this blog and another blog I'm working on, but I'm back in business.






House premiered last night, and a bunch of my friends came over to watch it with us (my roommate and I). There was an attempt of sabotage from someone that I despise (I will refer to this person as Das Weibcheneselgesicht for the purpose of not getting sued), but as usual she failed to succeed. Everyone, except for Der Fliegende Holländer, joined us to watch the lovely Gregory House be himself, a lovable douchbag. I love Hugh Laurie, so if he's in, I'll watch it. I even saw that horrible new movie with Keneau Reeves because he had a supporting role in it. The show was as epically awesome as ever. The ending of the episode made me want to cry a bit, but I managed not to bust a tear.

It made me realize how decent of a person I must be, as compared to House. Actually, the isn't really all that hard, but I it really got me to thinking. I have a lot of friends that actually want to hang out with me or talk to me on a regular basis. Poor House, and some other people I know, don't have that. I don't know what I would do with my friends. After what happened last week (a mini mental breakdown), I really appreciate what all of my Athens crew are doing to help me get better. Thanks everyone.