Month: September 2015

Single-minded and annoyed to boot

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You know how when one thing in your life is acting up (it’s usually work), you can’t think about anything else?  It’s this constant irritation (and it’s usually work), and much as you’d like to think about other things, more pleasant things, this ONE THING (usually work) takes up all available brain space.

Oh, you’re telling me a funny story?  I’m sorry – I was distracted by thoughts of the big annoying thing that isn’t going the way it should (work, most likely).  We’re going to watch TV?  Let’s choose something I don’t have to pay much attention to because my mind will be going in circles about how to solve a problem like Maria (except no singing, no dancing, no love story because it’s almost certainly work).

Actually, The Sound of Music might help.  “How you solve a problem like Maria” might not solve my problem (with, let’s face it, work), but it might be the most effective distraction.  If only it weren’t raining and I had a handy hilltop or convent to spin around in…

To bad “thoughtless” has a different meaning

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I have no thoughts.  Well, I have no interesting thoughts.  I have gosh-I-wish-it-would-rain-already thoughts.  I have don’t-forget-to-get-the-laundry-out-of-the-machines-in-an-hour thoughts.   I have I-can’t-tell-if-Sudafed-is-really-helping-me-today thoughts, and I have I’m-going-to-go-to-the-gym-after-work-even-though-I-don’t-feel-like-it-because-I-didn’t-run-this-morning-and-it-might-be-raining-tomorrow-morning-so-I-might-not-run-then-either thoughts.

But that’s all.  There are no other thoughts.

Oh, no. Fall is coming.

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I like fall.  It’s pretty, and the temperature’s nice.  But sometimes fall doesn’t like me back.  Today, for example, I can feel the allergy monsters approaching.  There’s been a little bit of the whole back-of-the-throat mess happening for a couple of days, and today I’m blowing my nose and sneezing a lot.  Fall is doing this to me.  Jerk.

But I feel fine!  This is just a minor annoyance.  I don’t know how accurate this is, but I always assume that if  my head is exploding (could be mild, could be extreme) but I don’t otherwise feel sick (no achiness, no fatigue*, no general blah-ness), it must be allergies.  If I actually feel bad, then I must have a cold or something.  According to me, then, this is allergies.  Which is good.  Ish.

*This past weekend’s constant complaining about how sleepy I was doesn’t count.  It was self-inflicted.  Especially on Saturday – we didn’t go to bed until 2am Friday night.  I don’t handle that well.  Just thinking about it is making me yawn.

A win!

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I’ve said before that our experiences with Annapolis restaurants have been pretty disappointing, but I’m happy to say that brunch this morning with John’s parents at the Severn Inn was SO good.  It’s in a very pretty spot (I wish the sun had come out – I’d like to sit out on their deck and eat, but it was chilly and windy), the food was really good, and it was surprisingly not crowded.  We picked a good weekend for it.

Of course, now I want a nap (again with the naps!), and I may never eat again.  Buffets (good ones) are evil.

All the memories came flooding back

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Last night, we went to a high school football game for the first since high school (I think).  (We lived two blocks from a high school with one of the best football teams in the state for ten years – NEVER went to a game.)  Sean is one of the coaches, and last night’s game was against their big rival, and (nicely for us and them), they won.

It was both super-strange and VERY familiar.  John and I didn’t get there until the second half (we were parking the car as the marching band marched off the field (to my disappointment)), but one half of a football game was plenty (for a number of reasons).  The view, the smells, the students, the parents – I only went to football games because I was in the marching band and I HAD to go, but I went to every football game in high school (the home games, anyway – I don’t think the band went to away games), and it was ALL familiar.  It was neat, but although there was a little nostalgia (I really enjoyed marching band), I’ve never liked football, and I’m in no hurry to re-live high school.  This will not become a regular thing.

It was kind of fun to sit with Emily and compare notes about how little we both know about the sport.  Who has the ball?  What are they doing now?  Ooh, that looked painful.  Is that allowed?

I’m not even going to get into how they must be recruiting from elementary school.  Surely those kids aren’t in high school?

I’m old.

Stiff and sore

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John and I found a boxing gym not too far away, and we finally went to check it out Wednesday night.   This gym has boxing classes a few times a week (that we might not be able to get to all that often), but better than that, it’s open a good amount of hours, and we can get in any time to work out on the bag on our own or use the weight room.  It’s only been five weeks since our last boxing class, but apparently, five weeks is enough to take away all the goodness we’d gained.  We found that out the hard way.  We took a class at 5:45 Wednesday night that wasn’t that different from some of Nick’s classes at our old gym.  We started with sprinting, hit the bag for a while, and finished with an ab workout.  It was tough, but doable.  And then we woke up Thursday morning.

Oh my god, I was sore.  Stiff all over, too sore to move.  And today?  Not much better.  Here’s hoping I can hobble through a run tomorrow morning.

We’re just going to have to pick up boxing again to toughen up (which we wanted to do anyway).  And hurt a little bit.  Does anyone have any ibuprofen?

Calling in tired

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I am SO damn sleepy right now.  I got the normal amount of sleep, and I was the usual amount of awake after my shower this morning, but then we went to the DMV.  Which apparently isn’t called the DMV in Maryland, so I guess we didn’t go there.  We went to the MVA.  I got my title transferred to MD, registered the car in MD, and got a new MD driver’s license.  I’m a MD resident now!  And it only took about an hour.  John only needed to get a new license, but that became a much bigger ordeal.  Turns out they got his name wrong when he registered his car (VIII became his last name instead of the suffix), and they can’t fix that at the Annapolis location.  They had to punt that task over to Glen Burnie, and no one had any idea how long it would take.  But they didn’t tell him that right away, oh no.  First, they told him he had to see a supervisor and that he’s next in line for one when they free up.  That took…I’m not sure how long.  But we didn’t leave until about an hour after I was done, and that hour sucked all of my alertness away.

We got back home, and we’ve been catching up on everything that happened at work while we were away, and ALL I WANT TO DO is nap.  My level of tired is approaching just-got-off-a-plane-in-Europe tired, the kind where it’s not safe to drive.  And Jess tells me (via text) that she stayed home today because she’s sick.  Please tell me that is not where this is going.

Maybe I will nap.

Update: I didn’t nap.  Well, I did, but only for maybe 8 minutes.  I did feel better, though, so maybe the 8-minute nap is a thing.

It was dark, so I couldn’t get pictures

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The other night we were out by the water, and I was watching the ducks.  (I like the ducks.)  There was this one duck just floating in place.  He wasn’t paddling, he wasn’t fishing, he was just sitting there on top of the water.

What was he doing?  What was he thinking?

Then another duck paddled up to him, and off they went down the docks together.  So what was he doing?  Waiting for the other duck.  And what was he thinking?  Probably “Where the #$*& is the other duck?”

My wise little Sansa

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My little Sansa SanDisk mp3 player knows all.  I went to bed in a mood, and I woke up in a mood, and then I didn’t get out of bed and my mood got worse until I basically threatened myself with bodily harm (it’s called being fat and lazy) if I didn’t get up and run, so I did.  And I’m glad I did.  (No surprise there.)  The sky was overcast and the temperature was in the mid-sixties and the humidity was, well, it wasn’t high, and I had just taken two days off (which is why the threats were effective), so my legs were fresh, and it felt good to run.  Even then, it would have been just okay if it weren’t for my cute little purple mp3 player.

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I don’t know what songs played during the first few miles (maybe some Van Halen?), but I know that as I coasted downhill about a mile and a half from home, Dean Martin’s “Good Morning, Life” started, and then with a half-mile to go (and the last incline in front of me), I heard Stevie Wonder’s harmonica heralding Sting’s “Brand New Day”.

I am as certain as I can be that my mp3 player has become sentient.  Maybe it happened after a certain number of hours of use for such a tiny little device, maybe it needed this exact combination of sweat and wind and weather, or maybe all mp3 players become aware (or have always been aware), but I KNOW that mine is now.  There are a LOT of songs on it, and while many of them are upbeat (I do use it for exercise), they aren’t all upbeat and they’re certainly not all that positive and life-affirming.  I mean, really.  What other explanation could there be?

 

 

I knew it!

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So that book I finished the other day?  The one where I was guessing all the plot twists?  I was totally right.  I mean, my last guess, the one I wrote about, that one was right. Well, it was a little less sensational than I had imagined, but that’s a good thing.  So I was mostly right, but I’ll take that.  All the guesses before it were very wrong, based on not enough information.  Even guessing the ending, I still enjoyed it.  And now, of course, I have to pick another book.  It’s such a burden to live this way.

It’s a start

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I attempted meditation today.  (I just tried to type “medication” instead of “meditation”.  I did not attempt medication today.  I’m perfectly capable of taking my medicine.  Attempts are not necessary.)  I was not exactly successful.  I understand that it’s something you have to practice, that you can’t just jump in one day like “Hey, I meditate now!”, but it wasn’t a total failure, either.

It was early this afternoon, and I was in a weird mood to begin with, didn’t really know what I wanted to do with myself (and I’ve just started a new book, and even though I’m 100 pages in, I’m not convinced it’s what I want to read), and I thought that some quiet time might be what I’m looking for, maybe with peaceful music, alone with my thoughts.

I left John practicing his guitar in the front room of the apartment, borrowed some headphones from him, found a YouTube video that plays 6 hours of meditation music (not medication music – my fingers will not stay on topic), and unrolled my yoga mat on the floor of our bedroom (the back room of the apartment).

Then what?  How to begin?  I stretched a little, and then I sat down on the mat, legs crossed, eyes closed, palms up.  I wasn’t really comfortable, so I tried lying down on my back.  Better, but only for all of five minutes because that’s when my phone rang.  Note to self: when meditating, turn off ringer.  It was Molly, venting about work.  Half an hour later, we hung up, and I tried again, but only for another ten minutes or so.  The moment had passed.  Those first five minutes were good, though.  I’ll have to try again.

It makes perfect sense

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Despite not having heard any Prince songs recently, I have a medley of them in my head.  Allow me to explain how I got to this point.  This morning, Mom made a joke about how the song “Secret Agent Man” will forever be “Secret Asian Man” to her.  I responded with one of mine (“Chicken To Ride” for “Ticket To Ride”), and then John chimed in with his for “Smoke On The Water”.  Instead of “Smoke on the water, fire in the sky”, he hears “Slow talkin’ Walter, fire engine guy.”

Here’s where my brain went:

  1. “Smoke On The Water” is NOT by Muddy Waters.  (I always go there first, even though I know it’s wrong.  Water/Waters – you can understand my association.)
  2. It’s by Deep Purple.
  3. Deep Purple did NOT do “Purple Haze”.  That’s Jimi Hendrix.
  4. “Purple Haze” sounds NOTHING like “Purple Rain”.
  5. “Purple Rain” is by Prince.
  6. Now I have several Prince songs battling for supremacy in my brain (“Raspberry Beret”, “Kiss”, “When Doves Cry”, “Little Red Corvette”, “Diamonds and Pearls”…you get the picture).

Logical, right?

Does the word “purple” look super-weird to anyone else right now?

Predictability isn’t always a bad thing

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I have read all of Kate Morton’s books.  Well, I’m a quarter from the end of the only one of hers I hadn’t read, so that’s mostly true.  I have enjoyed them all, some more than others.  They’re very similar, but that’s something I kind of like about them.  They have all these twists and turns.  And with this one, I’m enjoying anticipating the twists and turns.  It’s like watching a movie, when you have to pause and say out loud (it doesn’t count if  you only think it) who you think did it or how you think it’ll turn out.  You have to call it.  I’m doing that with this book (although not out loud – the rules are different for reading), and it’s kind of fun.  I’ve already been wrong twice, but I’m pretty sure I’ve got it now.  I’ll let you know.

Eh

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I am working.  It’s almost 10.  At night.  Why am I working?  That’s a very good question.  And it doesn’t have a very good answer.  And actually, I’m done working, so maybe it doesn’t matter.  Maybe I’m tired.  Maybe I feel a little guilty that I took a couple of hours out of my normal afternoon to follow John to his flying lesson and read in the shade of a tree at the airport.  (But it was so nice!  Until a mosquito bit my thumb.  Bastard.)  And maybe I’m over the guilt and going to bed now.

Good talk!

Problem

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Our new mattress is great, but it has one big flaw: it’s too comfortable.  It is getting increasingly harder to get out of bed in the morning.  Yesterday, I didn’t get up until 8, but I excused it by running at lunch.  Today, though, no running before work AND I didn’t run at lunch AND I’m not running this evening.  This has to stop!

I am seriously considering using my other phone as my alarm clock and leaving it across the room.  Not running in the morning is practically a crime this time of year – it’s finally cool enough to be really pleasant running weather, and I KNOW I’ll regret not taking advantage of this when it gets cold….I said this about being outside yesterday, didn’t I?  At least I’m consistent.  And if guilt is what it takes to get me up and moving and outside in the mornings (and any time the weather is nice), then I guess I’ll just have to deal with that.  Future Me will feel worse about missing out on this weather in amounts far higher than Present Me’s short-lived feelings of contentment about staying in bed.  Present Me really needs to be more considerate of Future Me.  Past Me has learned that lesson, but Present Me doesn’t always listen.

What am I going to do when winter comes?

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It rained all day on Saturday (seriously, ALL day), but Sunday was beautiful.  We went out for coffee and the worst croissant ever in the morning (the worst croissant ever was not what we went out for – why would that be my goal?  rotten goal – but it’s what I ended up with) and walked around a bit, discussing trips we’re planning (or maybe planning) for the fall.  We both have some vacation time we’re going to lose if we don’t use it by the end of December (which would be a crime), and we want to take an actual fun vacation without spending a ton of money (at least not while we’re also spending money on the flying lessons).  The question is where and when.  Still an open question.  But it’s a nice thing to talk about as you walk along on a beautiful Sunday morning.

Later in the day, after we managed to NOT go to the grocery store, AGAIN – no, seriously.  It’s not that hard.  In this case, we wanted to check out Graul’s Market, a store that doesn’t look all that great on the outside, but could be fine on the inside (better than fine would be nice) and is the closed grocery store to our house.  It was a little after 5 when we got there, and guess what?  They close at 5 on Sundays.  So rather than go to Giant or Whole Foods, we went home.  We can go without groceries for another day or so, right?  Sure!

Anyway, after we gave up on food, John spent some time working on his Android app, and I went over to the dock to read in the sunshine.  I’m trying to be mindful of how quickly the seasons change and how soon it’s going to be dark by 5pm, and I really really really really really want to make sure I’m appreciating the light and the nice weather while we have it.  And you know what?  It was really nice.  There were a lot of people coming and going, kids playing, dogs clearly wishing they could play with the kids, boats and the sky and the clouds, and oh yeah, my book…it was a nice evening to be out there.

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Check out the change in lighting.  These pictures were taken just a few minutes minutes apart, on my phone, and are shown here without any filters (because I don’t know how to do that).  I didn’t move at all, except to turn.  I was seated with my back to a post.  Looking ahead, I could see the dock.  Looking left, boats.  Neat.

Gmail takes care of me

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I got the best email from the Gmail Team the other day.  They were warning me about an email that had a virus or suspicious attachment that came to my account here (which forwards to my Gmail account).  The email came from America Airlines (orders@aa.com).  The best part was the last sentence in the email Gmail sent to me:

If you wish to write to America, just hit reply and send America a message.

Hell yeah, I wish to write to America!  I had no idea it was so easy!  Hey, America!

America?

Hm.  Turns out I don’t actually have anything to say to America.  Have a nice day!  Write again soon!

This is how I adult

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John is out flying, so I am on my own for the early part of the evening.  (This part.  This part we’re in now.)  I’m sure that if this were an alternate universe where I lived alone, I would have a well-stocked kitchen and lots of plans for a Friday evening.  (I know you’re laughing about the well-stocked kitchen part.  Stop that.  You may also be laughing about me having plans.  Hush now.)  In this universe, we have very little food in the apartment.  On the plus side, I’m not really hungry, so it doesn’t really matter.  My dinner tonight consists of the other half of the blueberry muffin I bought for breakfast and some rice crackers that are going stale.  And some pretty good wine, which helps the stale crackers go down.  I am watching not-good TV, and I am trying to ignore the mosquito bite on my knee (from last night – god damn mosquitos).

I really know how to have a good time.  Up next, fold the laundry and do the dishes!

It’s not supposed to rain inside

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We had some pretty major thunderstorms today.  All afternoon, actually.  It was pretty cool, although I couldn’t enjoy them all that much because I was on the longest conference call ever.  Someone was having a crisis, and John was wrapped up in his work, so even though we heard dripping, we assumed it was outside, and neither of us got up to check.  The rain stopped, we stopped working, and that’s when we found the giant puddle in our kitchen.  Yes, it appears the roof is leaking in our charming old rowhouse, right through the ceiling into our charming kitchen.  We are crazy-happy to NOT  be homeowners right now.  I have texted and email our landlady.  SHE can take care of this mess.  (It’s not actually a mess.  The puddle has been mopped up, and since it’s not raining anymore, I don’t plan to worry about it.)  Oh, did I mention we have ants?  So maybe it is a little bit of a mess.  Also, I got a mosquito bite on my knee during the three minutes I was outside this evening.  Maybe I’m a little bit of a mess.  Tomorrow is Friday!