What were you expecting?
What were my goals for this past weekend? Right.
Out of five things, I managed to do only one. ONE. That’s pathetic. Statistics is way more time-consuming that I expected. I didn’t even make it to the first of those two quizzes. I’m still doing the homework problems. I did run my six miles, but the rest of my list was left undone.
I hate that.
I don’t know what made me think of it today, but I found myself googling converted barns and I found this site. Oh my god. Converted barns all over Europe. Like, for instance, this one. How cool would that be? In a similar vein, I think living in a converted church (like friends of Mom’s who I couldn’t name if you put a gun to my head), would be awesomesauce. (I saw one the other day at Desire to Inspire.) (That site makes me happy and sad and wistful and jealous all at the same time.)
Why can’t we be crazy rich? I’d do good things with my money, I promise! With all my free time and much of my money, I’d pay extra taxes and volunteer at hospitals and give blood all the time and start foundations to help the homeless and the starving and the dyslexic and the diseased. And on the side, I’d live in really cool houses and travel a lot. Angelina Jolie does it. I totally would.
That was not my point when I started. I’d like to live in a converted barn. And I’d raise my hypothetical, non-existent kids in a barn. Because that would be awesome.
There’s probably an HOA regulation against it (or a county ordinance or an actual law or something), but sometimes I think it would be kinda convenient if we could lug everything out of the basement and burn it in the backyard. Except the washer and dryer. And the dog crates. And the drum sets, amps, guitars, studio equipment, and other musical paraphernalia. And the books. Everything else, though – who needs it? It’s not stuff we use often, if ever, and we’ve already combed through it looking for stuff to donate, so why are we still holding on to it? Some it is paper – things that should be filed and held onto for a while. I started that project over a year ago; I’d like to finish it some day. We have an exercise bike I don’t use – I could easily get rid of that. John has a weight bench, but he uses that sometimes. What else? I really don’t know. But there’s a lot of crap down there.
In other news, I have no news because I still haven’t gotten my midterm grade and I decided not to bug my professor because why? I don’t know. I just decided not to bug him. It hasn’t even been a week since I took the test. I can be patient. For a couple more days.
I’m considering cutting out caffeine. Cutting back certainly. Possibly cutting it out altogether. I’ve been drinking too much of the stuff lately. Today alone: 1 cup of tea with breakfast at home, 1 cup of coffee mid-morning at work, and another cup mid-afternoon. TOO MUCH. I don’t know if I can start tomorrow, though. I’ve got an 8am meeting downtown, so I’ll need something or I’ll fall asleep on the way in. And Thursday I’ll be exhausted from Wednesday’s very late night….I’ll start Friday. You believe me, right? How is it that I got through four years in the Navy without a coffee habit only to be beaten by a regular 9-5 job? Hm. The answer may be in the question.
Let’s try this free association/stream-of-consciousness thing again. Damn, it’s hard to spell consciousness. How much can I write with few interruptions in 12 minutes? Tonight I won’t get much (if any) studying done unless I read statistics while I eat dinner or before I fall asleep. That’s maybe not a good idea (reading statistics before bed) ’cause I might not retain any of it. It’s Monday, and Monday means Muscle Blast class followed by Kukuwa. Unless it’s last week, when Monday meant cleaning out Roxy’s crate and then giving her a bath (SOMEbody had an accident). And I skipped Muscle Blast last Wednesday because I was studying for the midterm. I’ll miss class this Wednesday because John and I will be on our way to Baltimore for the U2 concert. Because, oh yeah, we bought last minute tickets for the U2 concert in Baltimore on Wednesday night. Terrible seats, but it’ll be cool to see them. Even if it is the exact same tour we saw them on a year and a half ago. Have I mentioned I haven’t gotten my midterm grade back yet? I could have sworn that the instructor said he’d get them back to us before the last withdrawal date. The last withdrawal date was yesterday. No midterm grade. I HAVE TO KNOW. Driving me crazy with all the not-knowing. I could email him and ask, but I don’t want to bug him. Today. I’ll email tomorrow. I’m not a stalker. I’m just needy. Like my dog, who has decided to live under the dining room table from now on. I don’t know why, but lately, if you’re looking for Riley, he can be found under the dining room table. Thought you should know.
I’m not a gardener. I like to look at them, love green lawns and pretty flower beds, but I’m not all that interested in doing the work to make them look that way. I’m not very good at keeping plants alive. So at work, I don’t try. I bought a fake plant from IKEA to add some color to my very gray desk.
My little cubicle has terrible lighting.
It’s cute, I like it, and I keep getting compliments on it. From people who think it’s real! Maybe I don’t work with the sharpest tools in the shed. You might not be able to tell from the picture, but this plant looks as fake as fake plants can look. Very shiny plastic. People are dumb.
Speaking of dumb, I saw the weirdest thing a couple of weeks ago on my way home from work. I was coming off an exit ramp onto a major road, and I saw a group of 20 or 30 people spread out in the grass on the side of the road, all pointing radar/speed guns at the cars coming down the ramp and around the corner. Were they making a statement? (“You’re going too fast!”) They didn’t have any signs. Doing a study? Nobody seemed to be writing anything down, but maybe those speed gun things save data. Training to be state troopers or deputy sheriffs? (We don’t have police in my county – I live in an unincorporated town.) Maybe it was performance art. Whatever they were doing, I wish I’d been able to get a picture of it.
Tonight I tried to fight the overwhelming taste of garlic with too-sweet, not very good wine, and it didn’t work out. My tongue feels coated with something awful and I’m considering gargling salt water to scrape it clean. I tried Listerine. Didn’t work. I ended up breathing minty garlic, and god, that’s gross. Every once in a while I hear myself say there’s no such thing as too much garlic, but that’s just not true.
At least I won’t have to worry about vampires tonight. ‘Cause you know how often I worry about vampires. It’s nice to have a night off from that. Of all the things that stress me out, vampires are at the top of my list. Next to worrying about puppies not getting enough love and whether or not the New Directions will win Nationals next year.
Hi. My name is Zannah, and I’m a Les Mis-aholic. Kind of. (Whoops. Failed already.) I’ve seen the show five times I can think of off-hand (possibly six), and I never get tired of it. On my way to work this morning, I heard on the radio that it’ll be at the Kennedy Center for the whole month of October. I want to go! I won’t make John go this time. He’s gone twice (once when we were in college, and once a couple of summers ago (he bought me the tickets for Christmas – made me cry)), and he was underwhelmed both times. The question becomes (once I decide it’s worth $100 to me (it totally is, but I can’t be objective about whether or not that’s a ridiculous sum of money)) do I go alone? Silly question. Of course I’d go alone. But maybe I don’t have to….are my friends (the local ones, anyway) cuckoo for Les Mis-flavored Cocoa Puffs?
Today was a good day. (I should grade every day. Good or bad. Today good, yesterday bad. Me Tarzan, you Jane.) Work was meh, but I came home early today to be here for our spring A/C maintenance, and I really liked the HVAC guy. Chatting turned what probably would have been a 30-minute visit into an hour and a half, but who cares? He’ll get overtime. On top of that, I’m two-thirds of the way through my third quiz. Unfortunately, I still have another quiz to complete before I can take the midterm, which has to be taken no later than June 19th, which happens to be a Sunday, which really means I have to take it by Friday, June 17th, so I’m aiming for Thursday, June 16th. (And I’m a little nervous about it, which may explain the previous sentence.) Let’s ignore that I used to be good at calculus. My problem is that I don’t remember basic theorems and trig identities and tricks I used to have memorized. Twelve years ago. When I last took a calculus class. Not remembering isn’t a problem when I’m doing homework and quizzes – I have the internet. They’re open book. My midterm? Not so much. No calculator, no computer, no help. Just my memory. My faulty, holey, Swiss cheese memory that’s full of gaps.
I just came off an online Q&A with the professor. He’s not long-winded, really, but he spends so much time messing with the technology he’s using (some of which is very cool) that these things take forEVER. But I feel a little better about the class. For now. Until panic sets in again. Probably early to mid next week.
Did I tell you that I fell down the other day (Wednesday, I think)? Don’t think I did. I fell. On the kitchen floor. For no discernible reason. But I fell hard, and I’m bruised all over. Including the inside of my left bicep. I have NO idea how I managed to bruise that part of my arm and my knees. I could understand the outside, but falling on the inside of my arm probably would have wrenched my shoulder, and I didn’t notice that Wednesday night….but that might explain the upper back pain I woke up with this morning… It’s gone now. The takeaway from this story is that I am a klutz. I tripped over nothing and bruised myself all to hell. It’s a wonder I didn’t stick a carrot in my eye at lunch today. Do you have any idea why my boss would make fun of me for having carrots and hummus for lunch? What’s weird about that?
Maybe I fell because the microwave died. (Makes as much sense as anything else.) The microwave that John fixed a while back has gone kaput again. Won’t run at all. Something happened (maybe lightning – we lost power) while we were on vacation. Luckily, we still have John’s college microwave. (I could have sworn we got rid of it after the last microwave fiasco because who needs two microwaves in one house? Other than us.) So now we have a useless microwave hanging above the stove and a very useful microwave taking up all the counter space above the dishwasher. I don’t know yet if John is going to try to fix the broken one or if we’re going to buy a shiny new one to go in its place. Either way, I’m sure we’re not going to get rid of the old one that keeps coming to our rescue. We’re loyal like that. Until we move. I can’t make any promises when it comes time to pack up and the moving company charges by weight. On the other hand, when we’re being charged for hundreds of boxes of books, what’s one microwave in comparison?
I know you’re all dying to know how my anti-itch plan worked last night. Part 1 (the anti-itch lotion) worked great. I was able to sleep through the night (mostly) with only minor itching. No more ankles on fire. Woohoo! The epsom salt bath was TERRIBLE. Made me itch so much more. Bad idea. But yay for lotion.
Tomorrow, I won’t talk about itching or bug bites. Maybe. Probably.
I found a new nail salon. A new spa. I love it. It’s beautiful, quiet, clean, close to the house. Serene. There was soothing music playing, I met some really nice people (both employees and customers)…I would like to hang out at a spa. It could be very peaceful. Let all the stress float away. Spa/yoga/meditation studio. Maybe that’s where I should work. Ooh, I could be a yoga instructor! Once I learn yoga.
Bunnies are bad news. You think they’re all cute and cuddly and not a menace, but really, they’re out to get you. And your baby trees. You know that cute little crabapple tree John and I planted a couple of weeks ago? It had little baby leaves and everything, and now it’s GONE.
I used to think rabbits looked like this:
All cute and innocent and nose-wriggly – but look a little closer….
If there are train tracks between you and this bunny, RUN!
…EVIL! So clearly evil. Turns out they’ve looked like this all along. This explains the disappearance of the sunflowers John tried to plant for me a couple of years ago and my poor munched-on black-eyed susans. It explains the death of our cute little baby crabapple tree, and it finally explains why Roxy goes airborne and tries to tear my arm out of its socket every time she spots a rabbit on our walks. She’s always known they were evil and just couldn’t tell me. Those rabbits aren’t just hungry – they’re out to get us. Monty Python was on to something. (Like that’s news.)
I’d call it senioritis, but I don’t qualify as a senior under any definition of the word. Spring fever is accurate enough. I want to be outside. I want to be active. I want to be doing almost ANYthing that isn’t work. It’s just as well my sad little cubicle doesn’t have a direct view of a window.
I finally finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest the other day. I downloaded it from Audible.com and listened to it while in the gym or walking the dogs using the Audible app on my phone. It took me forEVER to finish it, but I really enjoyed it. I decided to give up on Heyday. I was 130 pages in and I didn’t care. Nothing had happened (except something that totally grossed me out) and I didn’t care about the characters and why should I spend my precious free time reading a book I’m not over the moon about? I’ll have way less free time coming up soon, so I might as well enjoy what I’ve got.
Once again (due to lack of planning this year), I am not hosting my (almost) annual Derby party. Sad panda, I know. We do have plans to watch it (of course), and I’ll probably pick a horse at the last minute, like I usually do. Right now I’m waffling between Pants on Fire (love the name) and Twice the Appeal (because the jockey is Calvin Borel, who’s won three of the last four Kentucky Derbys). (Should that be Derbies? Eh, that looks weirder.)
Post time is 6:24 EDT and you can watch it on NBC. Fastest two minutes in sports! All you need is a Derby hat. (Go to Google Images and look for Kentucky Derby hats. They’re so cool!)
Gotta go!
It's a sunflower! I love it.
Is it common knowledge that rosemary plants have flowers? I discovered this yesterday. My only surviving herb (except for something that looks like grass and could be lemongrass or chives, maybe, but doesn’t smell like anything) is doing very nicely, thank you.
The rest kinda, um, died when I left them out on the deck the whole winter.
John and I met a guy this weekend who quit his job to work on his big idea. It sounds so cool and so scary and we’re totally jealous. If only we had a big idea. Help? As we all know, I have no ideas. There are days I can barely put words on paper. (Or on the screen. Imagine how long it would take me to post if I wrote drafts in a notebook first.)
This inability to come up with an idea is making me think about the similarity to writer’s block, which seems to be causing writer’s block, and can I just say I don’t want to have writer’s block? Maybe I’ll write about writer’s block. Maybe I’ll just keep typing writer’s block. Writer’s block.
Writer’s block could be a toy. Like little wooden blocks with letters on them, except instead of just one letter per side, they have whole keyboards on each side, and you can press the letters to make words that would appear where? On top of the block? I think I’ve just described a computer in the shape of a cube, and I’ll shut up now ’cause that’s kind of dumb.
The inside of my head is not a particularly interesting place to be right now. I have no funny stories, no frustrating little incidents to relate. Just songs stuck in my head. Today it’s Pink’s “Raise Your Glass”. If it must be Pink, I’d rather get stuck with “So What”. I like that one more.
Aside from that, my brain is shouting something about how bored it is and how much it wants to be anywhere but here (work). I hear the occasional “Work SUX!”, too. (My brain doesn’t always like to spell words correctly. It’s being kind of a brat just now.) It doesn’t seem to know what exactly it would rather be doing, though. Mostly, I’m having a hard time concentrating and it’s NOT because I’m having a wonderful daydream about those houses in Vancouver I linked to the other day and how nice it would be if we were crazy wealthy and had all the time in the world to devote to doing all the things we actually enjoy doing. Really, it’s not because of that daydream. That just occurred to me. I wish my day had been spent in that daydream. Unfortunately, there is nothing coherent happening in my head (beyond this post, and that’s debatable).
Actually, this is helping. My to-do list is crystallizing. Can I leave now? I’ve got stuff to do!
Every day for the last….large number of days has been nonstop. No time to think, no time to breathe, from getting up in the morning, through the work day (especially through the work day), and then home to exercise, to make dinner, to run errands… There’s some time during and after dinner, actually, but I can’t say I’ve felt particularly relaxed. I’ll try to be more conscious of that time tonight and see how it goes. We’ve been avoiding turning on the AC for a few days in favor of leaving the windows open all the time, but it’s been pretty warm (in the 80s) and at night, it takes a LONG time to drop to the 60s, where it’s actually comfortable. Add to that the oh-so-cheerful birds that start singing around 5am, and you get not enough sleep for the last few days. (The birds don’t wake me up, but John does when he gets up to close the windows. Waking up to birds singing makes me feel like a Disney princess. John doesn’t have the same response.)
Anyway, I feel a little frazzled, but it’ll pass. Until the next thing. I want to be serene. Unflappable. Unperturbable. (And imperturbable. Both, please. 
) Zen. Might get boring, though.
The caffeine wore off. Or maybe I’m coming down from the sugar high. Whatever it is, I’m all of a sudden super tired and so very glad tomorrow is Friday.
Also, I would like to move here.
What made me think it was a good idea to have tea for breakfast and a cup of coffee when I got to work (yummy delicious flavored coffee with too much sugar) and then another cup right after lunch? I’m jittery. Tapping my fingers, clicking pens, jiggling my knee… Anybody need anything auctioned off?