Sunday, June 14, 2009

I'm alive!

No, really! Still here. Tons to update. I promise to do it on a more regular basis now.

Honest.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Viva La Vida

Anyone else digging Coldplay's new album?

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Kids in church

Ok, Sandals is starting a new policy and I'm all up in arms about it. And now you all get to hear about it. Sorry.

As of July 6th, all children over the age of 3 months are not going to be allowed in church.

1. Hell no. Not my 3 month old. I would not leave my 12 week old child with anyone less than perhaps my parents. When my child starts talking and walking I will consider them eligible for the nursery at church, and not a week before.

2. Great policy for some kids. I think for 90% of children between the ages of 2 and 12 this is a fantastic idea, although the compulsory aspect leads to issues. From the time I was old enough to read I could sit for two hours in church and not make a bloody peep. This is a very happy combination of nature and nurture: I'm a quiet, obedient person to begin with who was encouraged in being quiet and obedient. And if I were visiting churches and had small children, the second I found out my two-year-old was being carted off to a nursery where I didn't know the teacher, director, other people who entrusted these people with their children...well, we would be spending the next two hours in the park, not at church.

I'm really curious to see how this is going to pan out. Honestly, I attend church in a converted warehouse, which has a sound not unlike a tin can. ANY noise carries like it was put through a loudspeaker. And we have a great kids program and still a number of children who sit in the big service with us. And you know what? Apart from the occasional crying baby or squirming toddler it's ok. And when I get seated next to a particularly difficult situation there's this great thing called the "power of motion" that I posess which allows me to move to a better spot, away from said squirmy children.

Maybe we can all start wearing pajamas to church too, to avoid those pesky, itchy fabrics which might distract us from God. Actually, sitting on backless metal bleachers for two hours is way the heck more uncomfortable and distracting then dealing with a few children.

And this is reason #793 why churches drive me crazy.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Blog frequency directly related to illness... have you noticed?

Have you often noticed that it's not exactly uncommon for me to start a blog explaining to you how I'm sick? I think I've discovered that's one of the few times I'm sitting on the sofa and don't really feel well enough to do something productive (i.e. read a book, clean the house, write a paper, etc), so hey, time to blog.

And yes, I was home from work for most of today with a killer headache. I NEVER used to have headaches. About...oh, three years ago, though, that completely changed. It's true: your body does start to slowly decompose after 21.

My brother is getting married in...13 days! Exciting, huh? I'm glad we get Ashley in the family; she's amazing. And has awesome style. Mike and I are candle-lighters. Since it involves lighting things on fire, it seems he's really looking forward to it.

Ok, I give up for now. Going to go whine more about my head. Happy Monday...

Monday, May 19, 2008

Tip...

American Consumer Survey.

Join and take random surveys wherein you often just end up admiting either ignorance or apathy. For example, do I feel strongly that snack crackers should have 2 g or less of monounsaturated fate? And do I find myself much more likely to buy crackers with lots of fiber than those with low sodium? I don't freakin' know! But I will be more than happy to communicate that to you via electronic survey and receive a small compensation in the mail 4-6 weeks later.

Genius.

Well, bedtime for me. Should have already been snoozing, actually. But that riveting offer of snack cracker opinion abundance was more than I could resist.

Happy Monday, all.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Priorities

I heard a young woman say today that she was feeling a little flustered and upset over the gay marriage ban being overturned in California. Had a little trouble sleeping last night, you know?

Funny how the 20,000 dead in China didn't figure into it. Or everyone dying of disease in Myanmar. But I guess as Christians we're more concerned about legislating morality (which I don't think we're allowed to do anyway) than about those dying and suffering all over the world.

At least we have our priorities straight *dripping sarcasm

And on a "happier" note: Dieted for 5 days. Gained 2 pounds.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Gotta...

animal
more cat pictures


Lose some weight. A happy marriage is not great on the waistline. And of course I marry the guy who couldn't put on weight if he wanted to. If, God forbid, we ever end up with genetic offspring, I really, REALLY hope they get his genes.

Addition to the family

No, I'm not pregnant. Get your mind out of the gutter.

Mike and I adopted a kitten for Clio at the humane society a couple of days ago. It was sooner than we had planned, but Clio was driving us nuts. She's getting used to the new kid.

Anyway, Blaise Cleveland the Antidisestablishmentarian joined the family Thursday night. Blaise for Pascal, Cleveland for Lady in the Water, and antidisestablishmentarian because Michael's obsessed with that word. He's a russian blue, but does not look at all like Turk. That's a good thing.

Anyway, life with two kids again. It's good.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

C'est La Vie

I was reading back to earlier this year where I blogged some crack about how I was looking forward to things picking up and becoming interesting. Well, so far for '08 mike and I have had:

A sibling end up in ICU
A co-worker pass away
Our cat pass away
Mike's job get cut for next year
A major health upset for me

Really, we're only a 1/3 of the way into '08, right? RIGHT?

Don't get me wrong; good things have happened as well. I'm just not used to all of the bad ganging up and hitting us all at once. Ah, well. I think I'm feeling extra down because I was hit with this weird flu thing today. Shakes, fever, nausea, whole deal!

Good news, though: I have decided on the subject for my independent study grad class, which will hopefully culminate in the cementing of my thesis. Ready? The effects of German Romanticism on late 19th Century American Literature! YAYYY! Of course it will get way, way more narrowed down than that, but it's a start.

Oh, one of the best movies I've seen lately? Juno. I know I'm just about the last person in the country to jump on that particular bandwagon, but give me a break! The pitfalls of no television.

Just about to start reading Jesus for President. I'll let you know how it goes.

Friday, May 2, 2008

farewell

We took Turkish to the vet yesterday; he hadn't been eating or drinking. Unfortunately, we also found out he had some form of blood disorder. We had to put him down.

Aristophanes Turkish The Destroyer: the best of cats. We miss you, friend.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

...

Yes, I know I haven't blogged in forever. Some amazing family insanity went down a few weeks ago and Michael and I have been trying to recover ever since. We're doing better, though.

It's just life. I'll blog something interesting or funny or inane another day. Tonight: sleep.

Good night, all. Happy almost spring.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Norris for President

Funny Pictures
moar funny pictures

Chuck Norris for president? Anyone? His chief export is pain!

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Melville and General Absurdity

A quick update on the medication front (because I know everyone's dying of curiosity)...

Things got more stable, I met with my doc to discuss treatment options after he said "lithium" and I said "hell no." We've pushed it off to a more last-ditch effort option, which I'm more comfortable with. 1 in 25 people develop a goiter (what?!?!) and I have to do regular blood tests to make sure I'm not destroying my kidneys.

Eeek.

Anyway, the lithium bullet is dodged for now. I'm trying to finish up my paper on "The Stranger" and Camus' use of language to create "the absurd." I can't even begin to explain the concept in less than a five page paper, so you're on your own. Just don't rely on the current Wikipedia entry; no good.

We also had the fantastic luck to get tickets to "Moby Dick: Rehearsed," a semi-comedic/drama version of the book put together by Orson Welles (yes, Animal Farm Welles). It was in the Beckman auditorium at CalTech(the ceiling looks like Las Vegas threw up on it; it's so great! Michael and I are trying to figure out how we can work the theme into our bedroom). The actors were amazingly talented and it had the good luck to be scheduled right before the due date on my paper comparing/contrasting the function of nature upon humanity in Moby Dick and The Scarlet Letter. I'm loving the theme, but a little behind because Melville...well...Melville didn't know when to shut up, and it is taking me forever to wade through that inability. Sorry Herman.

Anyway, there you go. We bought bikes to exercise and run errands around town, and one mile up the road this morning my chain system broke. Poo! We're exchanging it tomorrow. We also got a humidifier to help deal with the bloody nose issue (yes, we have one), which is working out just fine. Clio is still working on getting over her fascination with it.

That's mostly it. We're both plugging along as well as we can. I've spent most of today on the sofa because I tweaked my back, or something. At least it makes me sit down and write some.

Happy Saturday...

Friday, January 25, 2008

For the love...

My new psychiatrist upped one of my meds, and a couple of weeks into the dosage I promptly turned unstable, massively depressive, and started having obsessive thoughts. I love bipolar. Always interesting. And because Kaiser's system leaves something to be desired, I don't get to meet with him again for, oh, about a month. So I'm just living with a substandard dosage until then. When I'll get to try ANOTHER medication that will probably have strange side effects.

Try to reign in the jealousy, people. It takes a lot of effort to be this crazy.

Mike and I did get to spend last weekend up in SLO, however, and enjoyed it immensely. It poured all the way home, but our time there was beatiful. Lots of grape juice (seriously, Castoro winery. Check it out. Best grape juice ever...and Mike says their wine isn't bad either). Found the best pastry shop in town, checked out a bunch of coffee shops, BEST FRIES EVER (Bel Frites), avante garde food (Big Sky Cafe), and my Aunt Terri's doppleganger at this weird bike shop/coffee shop down the street from our hotel.

I love local hippie places.

Anyway, great fun. The cats were super needy when we got back, as usual. I got no work done at all, and we watched t.v. (a half dozen episodes of project runway). We don't own t.v., so getting to watch mindless programming is actually fun, as opposed to annoying, which is how I tend to feel about it when watching it every day. I honestly don't know if I'd ever want t.v. again. You can get it all on netflix anyway!

Anyway, good times; it's nice to get away.

One year! Whoohoo!

Friday, January 11, 2008

Just Stuff

I have everything in the world going on at work, but I really can't deal with it away from the office (or it would take over my life), so be assured that I'm not callously going about my day and ignoring people close to me in pain... I've just been dealing with those emotions all week. Break time.

Saw Punch-Drunk Love. I loved it. I really did. It was Adam Sandler in a perpetually nasty blue suit, but it was great. Cinematography is really unique; check it out.

I'm working on my first paper for grad school: The Scarlet Letter (it's like being 15 in American Lit all over again!). I'm enjoying it so far, though.

Some of the other secretaries and profs are starting a reading group based on the Nobel Laureates called "The Liminal Salon." We're all way awesome. And angsty, since our first read is Camus' The Stranger. And no, no one I've spoken to has been able to pinpoint the pronunciation of that name.

And...that's that, pretty much. Life is busy, but moderately boring (better than busy and interesting...that was last year).

Maybe tomorrow will be more interesting...in a non-stressful way. I'll keep you posted.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Happy 2008 Everybody!

Just that. Have a great year!

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Sorry, sorry: the catch-up blog.

Ok, so here was Mike and I's holiday season:

Wednesday, December 19th: last day of work for a few weeks. Whoohoo!

Thursday, December 20th: My first day off! (warning, long rambling story about the oldest cat) Took Turkish to the vet to get him checked out because he was pooping bloodiness on our bed...twice in nine hours. Poor guy wasn't feeling well. So I take him into the vet, he sees the resident orange kitty "Pumpkin," and freaks out. We actually had to muzzle him, which didn't really work since his face is shaped oddly (the vet assistant's words, not mine), and eventually the poor vet had to use leather gloves. Anyway, once the vet was actually able to do the exam, turns out he had a random tummy upset. We paid an exorbitant amount os money for that conclusion, of course, and he is now doing better, since we changed his litter back to clay. We were going environmental with "wheat litter," but he evidently did not take kindly to it. Now: less blood, no poo on bed. That was the high point of the day, really.

Friday, December 21st: Christmas party! Got to see Leah & Danny (and Abby!), Mica & Neil, and "the Rochenbach," on vacation from her work in Malawi. So good to see them all! Succesfully put up two strands of Christmas lights and redecorated the tree the kitties had succesfully un-decorated.

Saturday, December 22nd: Relaxed. Cleaned a bit. Read A Hundred Years of Solitude for school. Here's an example of the last twenty pages: people having an affair who turned out to be closely related had a baby with a pig's tail who was eaten by ants, after the childbirth death of the mother and shortly before the death of the father. I kid you not, the entire book is like that. I really hate Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Grrrr. But at least it's read.

Sunday, December 23rd: Drove down to San Diego and went to the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art (SDMCA. Catchy, huh?). Good space, but small. Mostly installation pieces by a single artist. And the museum people act like you're going to rip the 20-foot installation panel from the ceiling and smuggle it out in your purse. Long story short: not the best art experience. Went back to Oceanside, chilled with my family.

Monday, December 24th: Sea World! Our passes expired the 26th, so Mike, my parents, and I all went. Good times.

Tuesday, December 25th: Christmas!!!! Mom and Dad's in the morning, Papa & Grandma in the afternoon, and the Lake's in the evening. Played really old complicated board game called "Dungeons" that my six-year-old nephew is oddly adept at. failed miserably.

Wednesday: December 26th: Little to no activity. Lots of pajamas, reading, RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, and movies.

Thursday: December 27th: Laundry, groceries, and household stuff. Bought storage for our ornaments (because we actually have them this year). Ditto on the above.

Friday: December 28th: Went out to the Bookman in Orange and tried to pick up a few more texts for school. Ended up picking up a great book on Hiroshima. Read it Friday night/ Saturday morning. Popped over to IKEA for filials and ended up also purchasing a couple of large red velvet pillows. Awesome in a non-porno way, I swear! Clio has claimed any unoccupied pillow for her own. Then went to Don Jose's with my grandparents and Mom and Dad.

Saturday: December 29th: More laziness. In-N-Out for dinner. Various house-stuff. Finished taking down Christmas lights that were actually lit only twice, and not at all on Christmas. Failure.

Sunday: December 30th: Went to Little Tokyo for chocolate mushrooms (insert drool here). Picked up extra to ship to Steve and Sarah and to prove to my boss that they do indeed exist. Tried to go to the Getty, but was foiled by crazy numbers of people trying to go. Gave up and headed home. Dropped by BJ's (avocado egg rolls), Target (trashcan for paper recycle), and Borders (the last couple of books for school). Read Sex God by Rob Bell. Awesome.

And I'm spent! Now that I feel less guilty about the large time lapse between blogs I'll be able to write more often. Maybe.

Happy New Year!

Monday, December 17, 2007

I'm starting to see a trend...

I'm on antibiotics again. Not for a UTI; we got rid of that. Nope, my sinus infection returned.

Sorry. I'm not the funnest (yes, I said funnest) person to be around right now. On the bright side, I have only two days before my Christmas break from work. I'm hoping a slightly slower pace and more sleep will help.

There's tons going on as usual, so I'll try and feel better in the next couple of days and catch ya'all up.

Good night!

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

They should seasonally candy-coat antibiotics

So I have taken more antibiotics in the past year than the other 23 years of my life combined. Serious. Four UTI's and a sinus infection.

So, the fourth UTI struck kindly on a Sunday morning. Mike and I drag ourselves over to Kaiser that afternoon for the wonderful antibiotics, where the doctor looks at my tests and starts asking me all sorts of interesting questions, like "does it hurt when I do this?" Evidently the original test came out with crazy high protein levels, indicating a) bone cancer, b) kidney failure, or c) a false reading. In the end it was a falsely high reading, but I'll admit, I was a little freaked out. Mike said he wasn't. Hah.

Anyway, back on antibiotics, feeling better, enjoying the Christmas season. Yay!

Saturday, December 1, 2007

White and Silver and Blue all over...

We bought and put up a tree this morning. It is fabulous in an utterly tricked out, themed fashion.

And we spent all afternoon and evening doing the 4-year-old birthday/family dinner thing. Good times.

Lastly, ran into the Caitlings at Target. Great to see them! We're going to try and pull an evening together. We'll see how it goes...

Happy December, everybody!