| I really am still alive! |
[Jan. 31st, 2009|02:31 pm] |
I have been away too long. I'm sorry.
Since the holidays, I have become horrifically lactose intolerant. It's kind of been a nightmare. I have also become a lot busier at work. And I have been working on a major scrapbook project -- for my sister's birthday I offered to make her a scrapbook for all of her Snowball pictures, reviews, etc. It is a lot of fun.
I am still working out and trying to eat healthy food. I've had to make some major adjustments because of the lactose intolerance but I seem to finally be getting it worked out.
It's a gorgeous day here. Unfortunately someone is using some sort of really irritating saw thing in the parking lot, so I think I'm going to have to close the patio doors. :( |
|
|
| More Politics, Some of it Funny and/or Good News |
[Sep. 21st, 2008|12:36 am] |
Talking with ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif) grlnamedlucifer about the VP debate craziness reminded me I need to try to keep track of the many ways Senator McCain is proving my crackpot theory right. So, here's my current list of ...
John McCain's continuing efforts to throw the 2008 Presidential Race:
- Asking Sarah Palin to be his Veep
- Confusing the SEC and the FEC
- Threatening to fire the Head of the SEC, when he can't do that
- Annoying (and possibly infuriating) Spain
- Claiming the economy is fundamentally sound in the middle of a huge economic meltdown
- Admitting his running mate is unable to debate and arranging special rules for her
- Phil Gramm
- Claiming he's not for bank regulation, when he has been for forever
- Claiming he does not want to privatize Social Security, when that has been one of his main goals for years
- This: "Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."
- Confusing the National Guard with the Army
- Forgetting how many houses he owns
- Lying (so many times I can't list them all)
- Running attack ads that were so vile even Karl Rove called him out on it
- Publically trashing his major backers over the financial crisis
- Claimed repeatedly last week he intends to reform the fed. Government by throwing out … well, himself.
Am I missing anything?
In other news, on Friday, one of my Republican co-workers insisted to me that a Judge who is refusing to set one of her motions for hearing must be doing it just to be mean and evil because "she is one of the newly elected Democrats." I was like, "Bzuh? She's been on the bench for years!" I was right. The Evil, Mean Judge has been on the bench since 1989. And is a Republican. That's pretty much how things are politically at work. As you can imagine, I feel a little freaked out and frightened by my co-workers these days. Mostly people don't talk about the upcoming election, but there are ugly little notes and newspapers articles left around and when they do talk about it ... oh, boy!
Also, Ahahahahaha! Gotcha, Cheney! He'll probably find some way to wiggle out of it, but it's still nice to see someone in our current government try to uphold the law.
 |
|
|
| Hurricane Ike/I-ching |
[Sep. 13th, 2008|11:00 am] |
This is crazy, or even kind of creepy. My I Ching for today was "Creative Power" and this is the image for it:
 |
|
|
| My Most Expensive Bus Ride This Year |
[Sep. 2nd, 2008|11:28 am] |
This morning was not a good start to the work week.
I slept late - just 2 minutes, but that’s enough to mess up my routine sometimes. By the time I was dressed and in the kitchen, I had just about 1 minute to get my stuff together and leave. So no coffee for me this morning. I ran out the door to the bus stop and the bus was pulling up. As I boarded, I realized I’d left my Monthly Pass for September in its envelope on the shelf by my front door. The bus driver was my usual driver, and he’s a great guy and he knows I always have a pass, plus his money-taker was out of service, so he said, “It’s okay – just go sit.” When I got to Mockingbird Station there was a big crowd at the stop fo the 21 bus, which meant the early bus was late, so I ran over to the ticket machine in hopes of buying a ticket before it pulled up. The machine took my $20 (which was all I had) and then beeped at me, impatiently. The bus pulled up. I finally realized the ticket machine was telling me it had no change. I tried pressing cancel and it didn’t work, so I ended up pushing the “authorize overpayment” button. Then my $20 day pass and I boarded the bus.
Things have been okay since I got here.
*knocks on wood* *crosses fingers and toes*
|
|
|
| Political Volunteering |
[Aug. 30th, 2008|07:31 pm] |
Volunteering didn't go as expected.
In fact, this whole day didn't go as expected. I had a funny I-Ching throw this morning, that didn't make much sense to me. Tonight, looking back on this day, it makes perfect sense. The throw was "Decrease." I couldn't imagine at the beginning of the day what I would lose today, but the most interesting thing is that the source I use for I-Ching interprets Decrease not so much as loss, but as the path to increase. In short, the atmosphere has to absorb water from the lakes and rivers before it can produce rain to replenish them.
So, I left my bag with my MP3 player in it in a friend's car and had to do without it at the gym this morning. That meant I couldn't drift away in my music and instead spent the hour thinking, hard. When I left the gym I forgot to get my key from the front desk. I haven't figured out how I really benefited from this, except in that I had to do a little extra walking to get the key back, so I got some more exercise.
Then when I arrived at the voter registration event, there was no one there. I waited from 1:30 to 2:15 and only met two other volunteers -- no one organizing the event. The other volunteers were pretty cool, though, and there's an anime con going on so I ran into some really great cos players. I gave up at 2:15 and headed home. On the way back at Mockingbird Station I came across a really nice SMU exchange student who lives across the street from me and was completely confused about the bus routes and schedules and the layout of our area. So I drew her a map and explained the bus schedule, and we rode home from the station together.
When I got home I decided not to be upset about the non-event, and instead emailed the person supposedly organizing it and said I'd be glad to help at other events or in any other way I can. She emailed back immediately, explaining that she had attempted to put an ongoing exhortation to folks to go register voters at this particular DART station, not hold an event herself. She also told me about some upcoming organized events and asked if she could pass my information along to my precinct chairman. I said yes. And I've heard back, very quickly. So, not much volunteering today, but lots in the future and having nothing has led to having a lot!
Speaking of voting, my silly poll is still going on. Please vote!
|
|
|
| DNC, Fitness, Activities |
[Aug. 27th, 2008|02:22 pm] |
Joshua Green of The Atlantic apparently watched a completely different speech by Hillary Clinton last night than the one I saw. I am boggled by this review of her speech. I thought she was marvelous and impassioned.
I did have to laugh over Green’s description of Dennis Kucinich (a man I greatly admire) as a “meth-addled smurf.” He was bouncing around a bit.
After watching Senator Clinton’s speech I left the room my TV is in and went back in my office to goof around on the computer. I could still hear the TV and it sounded like the MSNBC folks were screaming at each other. I distinctly heard a gentleman screeching and shouting about Joe Biden. I’m kind of sorry I missed seeing it, as it sounded like the posturing before a wrestling match.
On an even more humorous note, someone playing Sims 2 Apartment Life has posted on the thesims2 comm about a very funny glitch they’ve had.
Last night my trainer took my measurements for the first time since the end of April. I’m a little disappointed that I’ve only lost 1 /2 inch from my upper arms and maybe 2 inches from my bust. But I’ve lost 3 1 /2 inches off my hips, 2 3/4 off my thighs and 5 off my waist. They got a new scale at the end of July and when I weighed on it my weight was actually up 5 pounds so I was depressed and didn’t weigh again until last night. Fortunately those 5 pounds were gone, but unfortunately that was it in terms of pounds lost. But at least I am moving in the right direction again.
More importantly, my range of motion and ability to move (especially walking) have increased exponentially over the last month. I’m hoping that and that little bit of weight loss mean my metabolism will kick up and I’ll make more progress this fall.
I need to be more active, in general, not just work out more. I’m planning on getting back into gardening this fall. I’d like to plant some rose bushes on my patio and clean up some of the junky stuff that is out there. And I need to do some weeding. But I’m looking for some other non-sedentary activities to take up, as well. I like crafting, but it’s pretty darned sedentary. Reading and movies are, as well. I’ll think of something.
|
|
|
| Secrets of Adulthood Article; Speed Racers, First Loves and Early Anime |
[May. 8th, 2008|12:26 pm] |
Secrets of Adulthood
I don’t agree with all of them, especially not “It's important to be nice to EVERYONE,” because I don’t believe there’s any necessity at all to be nice to child molesters and such. But the rest of the list is pretty good. Especially, “Someplace, keep an empty shelf.” I have not been doing that, but I think I am going to try it this weekend.
Moving from adulthood to childhood ...
Speed Racer Thoughts
I haven’t seen the movie yet, so these are not thoughts on the movie itself.
I have a special interest in all things Speed Racer. A really serious special interest, because Speed was my First True Love, at the age of 7. Had Speed Racer fandom been accessible to me at that age, I would have been one of its most active (and probably wankiest, but hey I was 7) participants. I’m fairly certain I scribbled down some way OOC Mary Sue ficlets somewhere. I pray to the gods they have biodegraded if I did. I know I over-identified with Trixie. Every man I’ve been attracted to in my life has shared most of the physical and non-physical characteristics with him (except of course none of them have been race car drivers or had a little brother who hung out with a monkey). I still love to hear his voice. I had no idea I was watching and fangirling anime at the time. In fact, I did not know Speed Racer was anime until a few years ago (about the same time I realized it was Speed who who was the genesis of my Ideal Man). I’m grateful for all the recent talk about the movie, just because it’s bringing back some very happy memories.
This morning while I was enjoying my last few minutes in bed and all drowsy and befuddled, I got an extra bonus helping of those happy memories when I listened to this short piece, Speed Racer Film a Far Cry from its Anime Roots on NPR. I remember it discussed the origins of the original TV show, and how it was made and that I found that very interesting in my sleep-befuddled state. I’ve thought about it all morning, so I listened to it again at lunch time and it really is an interesting and fun clip. Whether you’re a fan of anime and interested in its roots or just waxing nostalgic, I highly recommend it.
I have not decided if I’ll see the new Speed Racer movie. Maybe I will in a while, and with low expectations. In the meantime, I have DVDs of the original TV series. Guess what I’m planning on doing this weekend ... ;)
|
|
|
| Trainer/Gym, Movies, USA Film Festival, Dog Furniture, Friday Five |
[Apr. 25th, 2008|11:12 am] |
Our meeting with a trainer last night was a huge waste of time. I’m still angry about it this morning. The first part of it, where he got our measurements and calculated our bmi using calipers was fine. But he didn’t share the information with us (except the bmi, mine was a tiny bit lower than I thought it was). Then he babbled at us for approximately an hour. It was basically his sales schpiel. I just really didn’t need that. I understand they don’t want to give away a real training session for free, but I’d rather buy an hour of his time that amounted to something substantive than be babbled at for an hour. And at the end he refused to quote us any prices. I felt like I was on a used car lot. Not good. Not good at all. When the second trainer calls, (the one who’s more likely to do any actual training) I’m just going to tell him up front he needs to start out quoting me a price or hang up the phone. My dad taught me to walk off car lots when salesmen treat me this way and I can do that with a gym, as well.
In more fun weekend news:
The USA Film Festival has a salute to Mystery Science Theater 3000 on Saturday with creator Joel Hodgson and MST3K vets Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Kevin Murphy, Mary Jo Pehl and J. Elvis Weinstein reuniting for a special clip presentation (created exclusively for the USA Film Festival) and panel discussion. I probably won’t go, but boy is it tempting.
Also, there’s a lovely little wankfest in the comments to Pegasus News’s review of Expelled (which also opens at and has a panel at the USA Film Festival). Not that wank there is surprising. It’s a movie (like some of Michael Moore’s) designed to create wank.
And finally, if you’ve been asking yourself, “What if my dog is not spoiled enough? ... Tuesday Morning provides the answer.
thefridayfive:
1. Whats harder to live without, chocolate or alcohol?
I suppose that depends on whether or not you’re an alcoholic. I’m not addicted to either. My problem is more with sugar and fat-drenched starchy carbs.
2. Does the colour yellow remind you of anything?
a) That creepy short story about the wall paper, and 2) a framed print I have at home. I can’t wear yellow, because it washes me out, but I don’t object to it on principle. Still, it’s not one of my favorites.
3. Who most annoyed you last week?
See above paragraph re: trainer.
4. Do you have a cutesy romantic nickname for your partner (or previous partners)?
I don’t currently have a partner, but I usually don’t do that.
5.What is your favourite Stephen King movie?
I think I’ll have to go with Stand by Me as my all time classic favorite, though I have a cheesy fondness for the original TV miniseries of Salem’s Lot (from 1979), I am still scared by The Shining and I adore 1408. There are a few recent ones, including The Mist (which short story scared me witless when I first read it) that I have on my Netflix queue.
|
|
|
| Sort of Random Stuff |
[Apr. 22nd, 2008|01:53 pm] |
I can't find my MP3 player. I'm hoping I just put it down in a different place at home because I don't really have a new routine yet.
I can’t believe I missed this live blogging chat yesterday! *sob* At least the transcript is still up.
I cannot wait to see this movie, even though I will have to wait. *sigh* He mentions both Angelika and Landmark theaters and we have both here, so I think the chances are pretty good it’ll end up here before long, especially since Grace is Gone really packed ‘em in here.
I may be dieting, but I still love good food and this dinner sounds fabulous.
As a counter to the last link, and since I need to add some calories to my diet to slow things down, I went looking for nutrient-dense foods online and found this link: World’s Healthiest Foods.
|
|
|
| Diet & Exercise, Top Chef, Question about Gossip Girl |
[Apr. 18th, 2008|12:58 pm] |
I haven’t posted much this week, mostly because I haven’t had much to post about. I’ve been to the gym two more times and my knee feels even better and that’s about all my big news. I can probably come up with a few more things to say if I try, though. Let’s see...
I upgraded my Daily Plate membership to gold, mainly so I could have the cute little graph of how much weight I lose and so that I could see how much magnesium I get on a daily basis. So far today it’s 20% of my RDA [/geekiness]. I would still love to have a fandom group there if anyone’s interested. Joining is free.
Otherwise, I have felt good and energized most of the week, except today I feel a little tired. I have been going to sleep earlier, which I think is because I’ve been working out and feel better, but I’m still tired today. Friday always does this to me. I will catch up a little on my sleep this weekend, but I can’t do it tomorrow because my computer guy is coming by to try to figure out why my computer keeps arbitrarily rebooting itself (he thinks it has to do with the new memory he installed not synching up) and after he’s gone I’m going to go work out. Maybe I can work in a nap or just go to bed a little early and then sleep in on Sunday. But Sunday is supposed to be pretty and warm so I kind of don’t want to waste it sleeping.
I think my talk about exercise and diet is probably very boring to most of you, and I apologize for how much of it I’ve been doing, but it’s important to me that I memorialize it, so I plan to keep doing it – and hoping it’s not bothering y’all too much!
Let’s see ... I already posted about Hell’s Kitchen and I didn’t watch Step It Up and Dance.
Oh! And I did watch ( Top Chef )
One more thing – A question for people who watch Gossip Girl – Is it just flat out softcore porn and nothing else? Because that’s what the commercials for it lead me to believe.
|
|
|
| Sleeping, Food & Diet, Sims 2 |
[Apr. 14th, 2008|11:49 am] |
Good Stuff:
- I got some much-needed rest this weekend. I didn’t sleep as much as I should have, but I slept a lot more than I did the past three or four weekends and I do feel better.
- I have healthy food in my home, cooked healthy food this weekend which I brought to work today and I am back on my diet as of this morning.
- I tried playing Sims 2 again this weekend and had a better time with it than I did the last time I played:
( Cut for fairly long Sims 2 blah blah blah... )
The one little embarrassing bad thing: I seem to have injured my right hand and/or had an arthritis flair up from playing The Sims. It’s much better today, but yeah, embarrassing.
And that was my weekend – a little cooking and a lot of sleep and Sims 2. No movies, no TV, no getting up early, not even any laundry. It was lovely!
|
|
|
| Tired! |
[Apr. 11th, 2008|01:47 pm] |
I have that bone-deep kind of tired going on. The kind of tired that makes you not trust yourself to do anything more complicated than sit and stare. So tired I’m actually kind of dizzy. Yet here I am at work. I have resorted to desperate measures – I am drinking a Diet Coke. (I like Diet Coke, but I don’t drink caffeine in the afternoon and it’s 11:35 and I just started this one.) I think it is partly due to sleep deprivation, but it’s more than that because my spirit is tired. So it’s also partly post-trip/post-wedding blahs.
I have big plans for this weekend that consist of SLEEPING. I am going to the store tonight to buy healthy food, then going home and putting it away and then crawling into bed. I’ll have to get up some to take care of the cat, do a couple of loads of laundry and my taxes but otherwise, ZZZZZZZ.
ETA: To make matters worse, it is an utterly gorgeous spring day outside and everyone in our office is being extra quiet and the boringness factor is about x10000.
|
|
|
| Trying to Adjust |
[Apr. 8th, 2008|01:51 pm] |
I think the next pic spam post is going to have to wait until tomorrow. I need to go to the store tonight and I really want to watch Hell’s Kitchen. But I’ll get them up soon, I promise.
I was feeling a lot better this morning. Much more rested and perky. I also didn’t feel queasy or like the room was moving around me. This afternoon, though, I feel pretty wiped. I guess I need a couple more days of eight or more hours sleep to get caught up. I’m falling asleep about an hour and a half earlier than I usually do and waking up at least an hour earlier. Since I got up every morning last week almost three hours before I usually do, I’m really not surprised. Problem is, I really do love to sleep. And I miss nap time. ;) So tonight I’ll have another quiet evening, skip the schlocky inspirational yech on Idol and watch either Nova or Beauty and the Geek and Hell’s Kitchen. And then read a little if D will let me and sleep a lot.
D was better last night. He was slightly less clingy and was willing to sleep on the bed. He also ate a lot more of his food than he usually does.
Now, if I can just get back on my diet! I am going to the store tonight for chicken, fish and veggies, so I should be able to start tomorrow. Then sometime next week I’ll go check out the gym I’m interested in. That reminds me - another thing I’m having trouble with is when to eat. Last week I was getting up super early, eating breakfast about 3 hours earlier than I usually do, eating lunch at 10:30 a.m. my time, eating a super-fattening afternoon tea (boy was it good!) and then eating dinner at about 7:00 my time. The dinner part is the only part of that schedule that is okay. Now my body wants lunch in the middle of the morning. It also wants food in the middle of the afternoon, but that part I can take care of in a fairly healthy manner. I need to go back to 3 small meals and two small snacks a day. It’s crazy how much one week of not eating all that well can get me so off track.
|
|
|
| First Trip/Wedding Report |
[Apr. 7th, 2008|12:05 pm] |
Trip things that don’t have accompanying pic spam:
Most of these are much more amusing today than they were when they actually occurred, though some of them were pretty funny when they occurred as well.
- Flying in circles over St. Kitts in an American Eagle turboprop plane, with a thunderstorm below us, until the Captain told us we were low on fuel and had to divert to St. Croix to refuel, then flying back to St. Kitts and circling some more before finally landing around midnight.
- Changing hotel rooms in St. Kitts at 12:45 a.m. because they’d put my elderly father and his wife on the second floor of a building with no elevator.
- Watching dinner guests disappear one by one as they succumbed to seasickness on the first night. (My table remained fairly intact - we only lost one diner out of six. Some other tables only had one diner remaining.)
- The sound of the ship, especially late at night when we were moving. I thought it was the most relaxing music on the entire voyage.
- The ballroom dancing on deck after the wedding. There were several couples who participate in ballroom dancing clubs and they were wonderful.
- Heather, the Wedding Planner, playing Wedding Drill Sargent in her sloppy shorts and tank top. Also, British Virgin Islands Registrar Stephanie Tibbs refused to take the ferry from Tortola to Jost Van Dyke due to the high winds, so the Captain had to sail to a different part of Tortola in order to accommodate her.
- The mobs of people running over my dad’s wife in her wheelchair in the Miami airport.
- The night sky in the British Virgin Islands. There was no way I could capture it on film, so I hope the memories stay with me forever.
- I finally started reading the Song of Ice & Fire series, and I’m about halfway through the first book and enjoying it a lot.
I think I have pictures that go along with almost everything else. I’m going to try to upload them tonight and get started posting them.
|
|
|
| Home at Last! |
[Apr. 6th, 2008|06:55 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | rl, trip | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | exhausted | ] |
I'm back. I am also exhausted. I have lots and lots of pics and stuff I could tell you all, but I'm too tired to do it tonight. So here's the recaplet version:
I was very, very lucky and was among the few who weren't seasick most of the time. I am also not sunburned. I do have an awful lot of bruises, though. The British Virgin Islands are gorgeous. St. Kitts is nice too. I ate tons of wonderful food but I think I may have actually lost weight from walking up and down stairs constantly. The Sea Cloud is really a spectacular ship. The wedding took place and was only a little rained out. It was very ... fantasy/romance novel. My favorite part of the trip was the night sky near Tortola once the clouds finally cleared off a bit on Friday night. If you've never been there, you can't even imagine how beautiful it is. Okay, more later, including picspam eventually. |
|
|
| |
[Mar. 29th, 2008|10:37 am] |
I apologize for not responding to comments -- between getting ready to leave and work, I'm kind of EEEEK! here. But I did get everyone who's asked for a postcard so far on to my list so you should get one. Probably after I have been back a week, because that is the physics of postcards! ;)
Okay, back to packing and panicking... |
|
|
| Postcards |
[Mar. 26th, 2008|09:26 pm] |
Who wants a postcard from me? Drop a comment with your real name and address and I'll send you one from the British Virgin Islands. (Comments are screened.) |
|
|
| asdof;23@#$;lkj!!!11090832qlk;jafs |
[Mar. 26th, 2008|10:51 am] |
I swear if one more thing goes wrong this week I'm going to scream! It is seriously turning into one of the worst weeks of my life. I've had people, things and checks go missing. Everything I touch breaks. I just tried calling Supershuttle to see if I could get a slightly earlier pick up time and I just get a busy signal. Getting to work this morning involved running and mopping up water. I have so much to do I can't even figure out what I have to do!
*sob*
Oh, and I looked up the 10 day forecast for St. Kitts and the British Virgin Islands. It was pretty much the same for the next ten days: rainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrainrain.
Joy.
|
|
|