Inane Chatter

Sorry about all the short posts lately.  I have the attention span of a gnat.  Also, my face hurts.  Although not as much as I was afraid it would.  This whole procedure sounds more painful than it has turned out to be.  Thank the whatever from high atop the thing.  Seems like it would have been fairly simple, right?

1. Yank the molar that’s causing trouble.
2. Put in a fake tooth that will forever and ever behave perfectly and not throw parties that require calling the cops and then rehab.

Not so simple.  Fake teeth don’t have roots.  They have screws.  Screws that have to be longer than the roots because, I don’t know, they just do.  And in order for the new fake tooth to be sturdy, the screw has to be completely surrounded by bone.  Can’t have the end of it sticking out in space.  It wouldn’t be as sturdy.  (What space?  Right, the space in the sinus cavity above my teeth and behind my cheek.)  The solution is to fill in some of the space with bone.  I didn’t ask where they got the bone.  Maybe I should have.  Anyway, that’s what they did.  My sinus cavity is not as big as it once was, and I have a screw sticking out of the hole where my molar used to be.  Once it heals completely (about four months), I’ll get a nice new fake tooth.

In the meantime, I get several days on the couch.  I’ve watched movies (Whale Rider – good, Saint Ralph – good), lots of TV (catching up on Scrubs and The Good Wife), started watching Harry Connick, Jr’s latest concert DVD (In Concert on Broadway – my good buddy Geoff Burke is in it!  Very exciting.  (I realize that seeing him play from 3 feet away for an hour and than talking to him for a grand total of maybe 15 minutes at the bar does not a best-friendship make (wait – I haven’t told you about that yet), but don’t think I won’t use every connection I can think up to get backstage the next time Harry is in town.  Besides, he was cool.  And really good.)), and played on the internet.  A lot.  And I finished my book (The Forever War).  It was very good (as expected).  I’d been looking for it in used bookstores everywhere I went, but couldn’t find it, so I finally bought it new.  I’m glad I did.  The latest edition has a foreword by John Scalzi, who has quickly become my favorite contemporary science fiction author.  And blogger.

I’m rambling, so I’m going to quit here and soak up some of this sun before it dissolves into more torrential rain (yesterday was CRAZY with the rain) and read my book on the deck.

John got up around 4:30 this morning.  I assumed he was just getting up to go to the bathroom.  I certainly didn’t hear anything, but I did wake up.  I heard a strange sort of beep when he closed the door, but I assumed it was the hinges.  I heard it again when he came back out.  So, definitely hinges, right?  But not your normal hinge noise.  I blinked and realized that John was now in the room across the hall with the light on, and the noise was getting louder (or maybe I was just more awake).

Sleepy and confused me: “What is that?  What’s going on?”

Wide awake and thoroughly irritated John: “It’s the smoke alarm.  It’s not hooked up to anything, and I’ve removed the battery, but it won’t stop beeping.”

It was our very own re-enactment of a Friends episode.  Except I’m pretty sure John just replaced the battery and came to bed.  I think.  I didn’t ask.

John is in class tonight, so I have the evening to myself.  What have I done so far?  I’ve watched TV.  TV John isn’t interested in.  Two episodes of Glee and the Valentine’s Day episode of Cougartown (which, if you can get past the stupid name, was really good last season – not quite up there this season) later, it’s 8:30, and if it weren’t for the laundry, I’d be able to say I haven’t left the couch since I got home.  Sounds lazy (I’m not a couch potato!), but that’s what I wanted.  After last night’s class and this morning’s workout, I can barely move my shoulders.  Feeding myself hurt a little.  Good hurt.  Ooh, a bath!  I’m totally taking a bubble bath.  With candles and music and my book.  If I only I could figure out how to hold my book so I can see it without having to use my arms.

The dryer is buzzing at me.  Must go.

The internet conspired to make me laugh today, which is good ’cause my workday left me feeling irritable.  First, The Bloggess.  Naturally.  Time-share ponies = awesome idea.  Then, John and I watched an episode of Castle on Hulu tonight (we’re maybe three episodes behind – it was the one with Donna from That ’70s Show), and there was one scene we laughed so hard at we had to pause the show and go back.  Then, I read an email from last week (I’m not that behind – I must have missed this one) that’s a compilation of winning Style Invitational entries and alternate definitions of words.  I can’t find the actual list online anywhere, so I think it’s just an email thing that was put together who knows how long ago (I’ve seen some of them before) and by who knows who, but it’s really funny.  My favorite was lymph: to walk with a lisp.

Maybe you had to be there.

What made me think I could watch Monty Python while writing a blog post?

Wait, I can do better than that.

No, I can’t.

I don’t think I should be awake more than about 16 hours in a row. Yesterday, we were up for 20 hours, and I’m completely worn out and was pretty much useless today. We got up way too early for a Saturday to meet Jess at a book sale in Annapolis (which was awesome – we came home with over a hundred books for a little over a hundred bucks), came home home in the early afternoon and sorted those books for a couple of hours, and then went into DC to meet John’s mom and sister for dinner. I think it was around 1am when we got home.

I spent about half of today in front of the fire with my book and the dogs. I’m getting better at keeping the fire going; I don’t always have to call for John when it dies down a little. I’m still not that great at it, though. It’s all trial and error – poke this log, turn that one over, move the other one over there. Reminds me of learning to sail. I never could figure out when I was supposed to tighten or loosen lines. I just tried it one way, and if that didn’t work, I tried the other way. I didn’t actually learn anything. I’m surprised I ever managed to bring the boat back to the dock.

I’m done with winter, I think.  Much as I enjoy days in front of the fire, I’m really not okay with nights where the low is 7 degrees.  7!  I just revised my exercise plan for tomorrow.  Inside, inside, inside.

For those of you keeping an eye on what I’ve been watching, we finally finished Firefly (we’d put it on hold because we didn’t want it to be over) and then watched Serenity (which I think wouldn’t have made sense to anyone who hadn’t seen Firefly, but we liked it), the BBC version of Life of Mars is really good (I’ll watch anything if it’s got DCI Hunt in it – we haven’t seen the US version yet), and TRON: Legacy has no plot.

Bridget has wise Thanksgiving advice.  I don’t.  Wait – I have one thing.  Try not to overeat.  There.  Good deed done.

Jaime Pressly needs more work.  She was hilarious in My Name is Earl.

Vote for France!

I finished The Power of One tonight.  Really liked it, but I thought the ending was too abrupt.  I want more!  Good thing there’s a sequel.  Too bad John wants to read it first.

I would really (REALLY) like to have a lazy weekend, but I don’t think that’s in the cards.  What would I do with my lazy weekend?  Weeds marathon.  There are five seasons available on Netflix Instant, and John and I are in the middle of the second season.  Maybe we’ll take breaks from replacing the brakes on my car and other chores and have a couple of mini-marathons.  Maybe.  And Arrested Development.  (Did you follow me there?)  We’re still in the first season on that show.  There’s just too much TV to watch!

I don’t like deadlines.  I’ll admit that they’re necessary, and if I didn’t have deadlines I’d never do anything I didn’t want to do.  There are lots of things I do want to do that would never get done, either.  They’re important, deadlines.  But they make me nervous.  Anxious.  Not like before, but I’d rather not have any anxiety at all.  I suppose it comes with responsibility.  And I know myself; if I didn’t have work deadlines to worry about, I’d find something else.

But let’s not worry right now, okay?  Now is for relaxing.  Now is for winding down, for reading this book I haven’t been spending enough time with, for breathing deeply and counting backwards on clocks and other things that Greg said in yesterday’s comments.  We’ve been watching Weeds (we’re in season 2), and the theme song is on a loop in my head (there’s always something).  Maybe I can meditate to “Little Boxes”.

Deep breaths.

…to cancelling our cable.  Like maybe on Monday.  Our computer arrived yesterday, in parts, and we put it together tonight.  Had to solve a few puzzles, but once we did, John hooked it up to the TV, turned it on, and we started seeing computer-type things on the screen!  Woohoo!  John will load Linux on it tomorrow (not sure yet which version), and we’ll be all set.  So totally awesome.  Now I just need to order a presentation-type mouse.  Those are cool.

Down with cable!  Except for internet.  I like our cable modem.  Down with cable TV!

…

Hi.

…

So if I’m not talking about work, I’m not talking about anything?  Feels that way.  I’ll try harder.  Remember that time when…no.  Do you ever feel like…no.  How about those Nats?  NO.

Roku is awesome.  Netflix instant is awesome.  Someday, John will put together a computer we can devote to the TV so we can cancel our cable and that will be awesome.  In the last week, we’ve started watching Weeds (love it), Arrested Development (LOVE it), and Doctor Who (like it and expecting it to get better – we’re only three episodes in).  There’s some really good TV out there.  And that’s awesome. 

You know what else is awesome, in a bullying kind of way?  Riley.  He grabbed one of the chewy bones, laid it on the floor right next to the other one, and is guarding them both.  He doesn’t care about chewing on them, oh no.  He just doesn’t want Roxy to have them.  It’s the only power he has.

This is not normal.

I just checked my scheduled recordings on the DVR and cheered a little bit when I saw that Castle starts again this Monday.  I can’t be ashamed of that, though.  It’s the return of Nathan Fillion to my TV.  What’s not to cheer about?

You know who really needs to be back on my TV?  Desmond.

Today, we took Step One in the Cancel the Cable Already! Plan.  Actually, we took Step 1 a few days ago when we ordered the Roku.  It arrived today, we set it up, we’ve tested it out, and tonight we’re going to watch a movie.  How exactly does this help us in the Cancel the Cable Already! Plan?  Um…I won’t be DVRing movies from Comcast anymore.  It doesn’t help with current TV, either.  Really, I think it’s a mindset change.  We have a Roku!  Next step is to put together a nice-looking, unobtrusive computer that can live near the TV and provide the link to the internet.  Soon.

Speaking of the internet, we had to go to our local Comcast office this morning to pick up a new modem.  That fixed our connection problem.  I’m so relieved.  I didn’t want to have to wait until Monday night for a technician to show up (or not show up) and then tell us they can’t fix our problem (which is what they were saying on the phone last night).

A little housekeeping, figuratively speaking: Roxy had four seizures in 15 minutes Thursday night (late, of course).  The vet probably considers that one seizure.  She hasn’t had any since then, so technically, I think it doesn’t count as a cluster.  She desperately needed a bath after that, so I brushed 2 tons of hair of her (the furminator is awesome), and then gave her a bath on the deck this afternoon.  She’s all clean and sparkly now.

Some literal housekeeping: I helped John sort and clean out a big part of the basement today.  We boxed up all of our inventory books and stacked them in a corner, got rid of some trash, put a few more things aside for donation, and rearranged the whole east side, giving the band more room in their corner and making it easier for John to get to his weight bench.  More importantly, John used the shop vac to get rid of a lot of dust and a TON of dog hair.  The basement looks a whole lot better, unfinished as it is, when it’s not coated in dog hair.  I could say that about everything, I think.  Except dogs.

We have had the nicest day.  We got up a little on the early side, went for a run – that reminds me.  I had just started the last mile, I was on my way home, I’d been enjoying my run and the beautiful morning, and then I ran into my old boss.  NOT someone I wanted to see.  We were fake-polite to each other for a few minutes, but that was long enough to really irritate me and put a damper on the rest of my run.  I got over it, though.  We took care of the lawn and the weeding, went out to lunch, spent a few minutes browsing in Best Buy, and then we came home and started watching the USA-England World Cup match.  We stopped about an hour in to go to the movies (Get Him to the Greek – very funny), and now we’re back and we’re watching the rest of the game.  The noise in the stadium is kinda weird.  Like it’s a crowd of angry bees, not people.  Maybe a swarm of irritated kazoos.

They’re all so cute.  Must be a requirement.  Part of the tryout.  You can run, you can kick, you can do whatever else it is soccer players have to do, and you’re good-looking.  You’re in.  Have you seen these guys?  Particularly Bocanegra (captain of the US team) and Green (goalie for England).  Very attractive guys.

I’m home (yay), and I’m so glad, ’cause if I have to be this tired, I prefer to be home to deal with it.  My flight left Raleigh-Durham at 6:10 this morning.  Which meant I had to be at the airport at 5am.  Which means I had to have already returned my rental car, and that means I had to leave my hotel by 4:30.  So I got up at 3:30.  AM.  The very definition of the middle of the night.  And because I’m not all that bright, I didn’t go to bed until almost 10 last night.  I slept like a rock who didn’t want to wake up when the alarm went off.  But the low-level anxiety I always feel about getting to the airport on time forced me to be alert enough to make sure I didn’t leave anything in the hotel, drive to the airport (which was only 5 exits away), and return the car.  Once I got to the terminal, though, I started to fade.  I got an iced vanilla chai (my favorite) and a croissant at Starbucks and read my book until boarding.  Fun fact about Raleigh-Durham International: there’s a used bookstore right next to the Starbucks!  Great idea for an airport concourse.

I got my second wind (sort of) once I got on the plane, and I had a pleasant conversation with the guy sitting next to me for about half the flight, mostly about TV shows.

Him: Did you watch Lost?

Me: Yeah.  Do you think about that every time you get on a plane?

Him: Yup.  And we’re in the tail section.  We’re doomed.

From there we covered The Unusuals (should never have been canceled), which led to Firefly (tragically canceled), which led to everything Nathan Fillion has ever been in, which led to Castle, which is his new favorite show now that Lost is over.  And I may have to agree.  I love Castle.  Anyway, he was a nice guy, and it was a pleasant flight.

My third wind (I napped a little on the plane) got me home and to the dry cleaners, and then through my run and my shower, but when I tried to leave the house (around 1:30) to get my car inspected and renew the dogs’ licenses, I had to turn the car around and go back home (I made that decision at the bottom of the hill – not far from the house).  I napped for an hour (and woke up feeling like seven more would be a good idea) and then took care of the dogs and the licenses.  Now I’m home, fighting to stay awake so I’ll sleep normally tonight.  Looks like I don’t get a fourth wind.  But this is helping.

Okay, we finished Lost.  The whole thing was worth it for Sun/Jin and Sawyer/Juliet.  I cried at both.  We also saw the new Robin Hood movie today (stupid, but fun).  And we started catching up on Glee.  Lots of TV today.  But that’s not all we did.  We mowed, weeded, mulched, and pruned, and after that, we went to Borders.  Busy day.

I gave the dogs a little bit of leftover turkey from my sandwich (Wegman’s sub – SO good), and they’re drooling at (and on) my heels now.  They’re not letting me out of their sight in case I have more goodies in my pockets.  Smart dogs.

I just watched the “Brown Betty” episode of Fringe.  There was a detective story (noir, but with a few touches of futuristic technology – cool combination), singing, and Peter and Olivia almost/kinda falling in love, all in the guise of a story told to a little girl…I think I really like Joshua Jackson.

John stayed home with Roxy today.  No seizures.  She napped the day away.  I wish I could be home.  But it’s Wednesday night already (isn’t it?  I can’t tell.), and I only have one more work day to go.

Forgive me, Internet, for quitting now.  I haven’t been sleeping well in this hotel bed (I think I hate the pillows – too squishy), I haven’t gone for a run in I don’t know how many days, and I’m really tired.

John and I just watched the two latest episodes of Lost (so we’re all caught up for now), and I’m a little sad.  I may have shed a couple of tears.  (Shh…don’t tell anybody.)

Okay, okay.  I accept that what happened to me yesterday morning was a panic attack, and I’ll call the doctor in the morning.

TV, anyone?

I love the theme song for Treme (on HBO).  John and I haven’t decided if we want to keep watching it, but we had to watch the first two episodes.  Required viewing in this family.  Why?  Check out the concierge in the second episode.  She’s related to ME!  How cool is that?  The concierge in question (who Steve Zahn waved at!) is my soon-to-be-famous sister-in-law.  So, you know, kind of related to me.  Close enough.

Candy, I thought you were great.  Even though we were watching for you, we were caught by surprise when you did appear, and then there was much squealing and pausing and rewinding and rewatching.  (I’ll take credit for most, if not all, of the squealing.)  We couldn’t possibly delete the episode from our DVR, of course.  We’ll have to show it to everyone who comes over.  And we started with Jess on Saturday night.  So for the next…I don’t know how long, everyone who enters the house will have to watch Candy’s scene in Treme.    You think I’m kidding?  Just wait.

Go visit Curiosity. She’s listing her priorities for life (and making fun of Victoria’s Secret models).  Who can resist?

You know what bugs me?  (In a little way, not a big way.)  Finding a blog I like, and then realizing they don’t update every day.  And it’s not just that they don’t update every day (’cause that’s okay.  People are allowed to lead busy lives and do other things and NOT update the blog every single day.  Yes, you have my permission.), but then they don’t update every few days, and then it’s been a week, and then two months.  It’s so disappointing!  I bookmarked you because I liked you!  I liked to read you!  And then you abandoned me.  How could you?  *sob*  (Mom, I’m not talking about you, since I talk to you every day, and you tell me the things you would blog about.  I feel up to date on you.  But if I didn’t actually know you, and I found your blog some other way, then yes, I’d be talking about you.  (Was that too harsh?  I didn’t mean to be harsh.))  I have five or six blogs bookmarked that fall in this category, and since I already don’t have the time read all the blogs I bookmark (but I really want to), I may have to clear those few out.

I can’t concentrate.  Not happening.  The band is rehearsing (Roxy’s fine – no more seizures today), I was trying to do a couple of things to be ready for work tomorrow, but those are going to have to wait (I’ll get in early tomorrow and do them), I’m trying to watch TV (Fringe – I’m like three episodes behind.  Speaking of TV, or movies – actresses, anyway – there’s a woman in my class this week who looks dead on like a very young (pre-Grease young) Stockard Channing.  She’s SO cute, it’s almost irritating.  Why can’t I be that cute?)), and I can barely keep a thought in my head long enough to write it down.  I certainly can’t write a coherent sentence (as I found out after re-reading that one).  I’m not even sure I can call that a style choice.  It’s just messy.  And not coherent.  Which I already said.

See?

My lack of concentration led me to stalk the Internet, and I’m sorry, Bloggess, but I think you need to move in next door to me.  Yesterday’s post made me howl.  (With laughter, not pain.  In case that needed to be explained.  Shouldn’t by now.  In fact, your assumption whenever I mention the Bloggess should be that I’ve fallen out of my chair from laughing so hard.)

I’m going to put the computer down and try to finish this episode of Fringe.  Then?  Bed.