I'm Getting to It

I feel like I've been awake forever, and all of that time I've just been ... getting things done. Does that make any sense?

I wasn't worried about R flying last night, really I wasn't, but I didn't fall asleep until two-ish, about the time her connecting flight would have been leaving for New York. I slept well once I slept, but I got up at 5:45, so, you know, not much.

It's another car-swapping day, so after school I went with K to bring R's car back to her apartment, and then we picked up K's car at the service station, and when the Hubs gets home, we're dropping his off. Notice that my car isn't involved in any of this, yet I am part of every trip, and if anyone is without a car tomorrow, it will be me.

So I'm looking into acupuncture, because my shoulders and neck are really sore and stiff and not getting better. I would definitely do it, if I could only track down the right doctor and find out how much and such. (It's not covered, but certain providers will give me a discount with my insurance card.) I'm also thinking about looking into a possible cause of the sore shoulders and neck, which would be doing something about the excessive weight I'm carrying around on my frontage. I called my insurance, who said that breast reduction is covered if it's medically necessary and not cosmetic. And I'm thinking, a surgeon won't even do it unless you're big enough, and that size would be by definition medically necessary. I don't think you could do it just for cosmetic reasons, although I assume there are cosmetic benefits. I don't know, the woman on the phone was not terribly clear. And what kind of doctor would have to certify the necessity of it? An orthopedist? Questions, questions.

Anyway, the Sibs had a little surgical procedure this morning and is fine, I talked to her earlier, but I'm going to give her a call before I have to go out again to the service station.

WATCHING WIFE SWAP :: ENTRY #1939
READING: Slam by Nick Hornby

The Continuing Saga

Turns out that the registration that looked current to me yesterday turned out to be a 6 instead of an 8 in the clear light of today, therefore, it was two years' ago registration and not this year's. I called somewhere to see if I could renew it even though it's not my car -- I can't -- and found out that it was renewed, the card just isn't in the car. At which point, I'm done.

I did very little today, which was fine. After the therapist, I went to the cleaners even though it isn't Saturday and had the pants I bought for the wedding pinned and left them there to be shortened. Now, sewing happens to be one of those few domestic tasks I have mastered, but not these pants; they're chiffon and lined, so it's really like four pant legs two of which will show every stitch, and I know my limits.

(Hey, maybe I'll get back to sewing when I retire. It certainly has occurred to me that I will happily make every grandchild's Halloween costume, as I made my own kids'. Not that there are grandchildren yet, or anywhere on the horizon. But hope spring eternal, you know.)

I have no other news. As annoying as the whole car thing has been, that kid has been true to her word and had either called or texted every day since she's been away. Truth be told, I would not have been so good to my mother. Oh, maybe I would have by the time I was R's age, which is 27, but for sure not at 22 or 23. I can just hear me: "Ma! I'm not a little kid! I am not calling you every day!" Of course, technology was different then. Who knows, maybe with today's cellphones, I would have called every day when I was in England and Wales at 21. Looking back at the time I was stuck on campus in a blizzard, I wish I had had a cellphone to let my parents know I was okay, because I knew how terribly worried they were, even then.

Okay, I'm giving the Sibs a quick call and then looking through my new book on digestion, which th4e nutritionist recommended and which came today. Yum.

WATCHING TWO AND A HALF MEN :: ENTRY #1830
SUMMER BOOK #5: Better Digestion by The American Dietetic Association

I Slaved Over a Hot Stove!

For at least an hour and a half!

Yes, it's true; I prepared animal flesh, using heat and various other ingredients. I also prepared a few vegetables, those among the few I can eat. Everything is neatly packed up and frozen and marked so that I can pull out all the parts of a meal I need, and even not eat the same thing every day.

Then we ordered pizza for dinner. It's possible that I don't have this exactly down pat yet.

(When I was a kid, my mother would ask me every single day what I wanted for dinner the next day. I absolutely hated this; why was it my job to decide what dinner would be? As a result, I now give dinner minimal thought. Usually around 5:00, K or I will say to each other, What do you feel like eating tonight? I am the anti-Shirl. And she probably asked me because I was a picky eater, and she preferred to make something that I would actually eat.)

When I talked to R last night, she insisted that the registration was in the car, so I looked again this morning, and it was. It was not in the little registration holder, where it was supposed to be; she had just shoved it under the pile of everything else in her glove compartment, still in the envelope it came in. So I'm taking it in tomorrow. That'll be one less thing to worry about. And I even remembered to register my car and the Hubs' online today, and took care of K's tuition bill. I am so accomplished today!

And now I'm going to collapse, thank you, and either start a new book or play solitaire for hours and hours. It could go either way.

WATCHING PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES :: ENTRY #1829
SUMMER BOOK #5: Big Russ and Me by Tim Russert

Details, Details

So, R being away on vacation makes this a good time to get all our cars serviced, because if we borrow hers, then we have a spare to rotate among the three of us, depending on whose car is in the shop which day.

It all sounds so simple.

After I made these arrangements, I remembered hearing her say that her car had been due for inspection in June, so the night before she left, I told her she'd better bring me back a nice present from Mexico, since I was clearly going to have to take her car for inspection the first day I had it. She doesn't take the car to work, and only really drives around at night or on weekends, so she's less likely to be noticed than I am, driving around in the daylight. (Our cars have colored windshield stickers that tell when they have to be inspected next.) I was driving the car back here from her place a few hours ago and I suddenly noticed that her sticker -- I could only see it from the back -- is green. I don't think the sticker in my car is green. When I got home, I got out and looked at her sticker from the front. Yes indeed, it was due for inspection in June. June 2007.

Oy. This is not a simple hours-at-the-inspection-station thing. That would certainly involve some sort of fine. This is more like a take-the-car-to-a-private-inspection-facility thing. I looked them up, I made a list, I'll call in the morning.

Except.

Just for the hell of it, I went out to check the car. The current registration is not there. It's either in her wallet -- in Mexico -- or it was never renewed. Either way, the whole project is now OUT OF MY HANDS. HA! (I just hope that after a year+ of escaping detection, I don't get caught with a ticket in the next few days. (Talk about your irony.) I'll try to stay local and limit my activities, I guess.

I have some cooking on tap for tomorrow, which is to say that I actually purchased some dead animal product today. (Chicken.) I'm working on improving my breakfast and lunch, but on days we don't go out for dinner, there's just nothing here to eat. (I just had a tuna sandwich.)

And that's me for today. It's always something.


WATCHING PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES :: ENTRY #1828
SUMMER BOOK #4: Standing in the Rainbow by Fannie Flagg

iPhone? Anybody Got an iPhone?

What a long, strange day it's been, but still, on the crazy scale: 2 out of 10, so not bad. Even though weird shit happened today.

K was determined to get an iPhone today. Got on line at the AT&T store at 6:30 in the A.M., and yet did not score one. She got home around 11:00, disappointed, but not discouraged. I had been to physical therapy in the meantime, that went well, and I had no other plans for the day.

We took a ride to see if we could find the school she's been assigned to for student teaching, which was a piece of cake. Got some lunch, came home, both took naps, and she asked if I had any interest in going to an Apple Store, not the one close to home but not that far, one that she doesn't know how to get to.

Got there at 3:00, our part of the line moved into the store at 5:15. Let me tell you, they were mighty nice there, distributing cold water bottles and donuts to the people waiting on line, and giving updates about what was available. By this point, I was gonna get me one; I earned it by putting in my line time! Anyway, by 5:45, we could see that we were not getting out of there before 7:30 or 8:00, and R is picking K up to go to a party at 8:15, which first requires showering, hair drying, etc. So we left. And I have since read that the best we could have done tonight was get the phones but not get them activated, because that whole system is down.

Oh, come on. You knew I'd cave on the iPhone. It was only a matter of time. And still, I'm not in a hurry. K wants hers tomorrow, but I can wait a week if I have to.

My biggie of the day was a nasty speeding ticket I got this morning. You know, I was driving along, thinking "Wow, it's really great to feel good for two days in a row" and then I heard the sirens. Ah well. An extremely polite an professional young police officer, who made it clear that the state was making them crack down -- which I knew -- and that even though he has the radar proof, I should really really go to traffic court and plead not guilty. I'm guessing that will reduce the fine ($200!!!) and the points on my license (5!!!!!) So I have to call on Monday and work that out. Five points is a lot, and will not affect my insurance in any pleasant way, which just went up anyway, a little, because of K's accident, not to mention her new car. And we have the highest insurance rates in the country, you know.

Ah well.


WATCHING TWO AND A HALF MEN :: ENTRY #1803
SUMMER BOOK #3: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

On To the Rest of My Day

(There was an earlier entry today, but really, it's not worth it.)

So, it's about 7:50 a.m., and K calls to say she's been in an accident. (Shit.) She sounded okay and said she was okay, and said there wasn't much damage on the car, but she didn't really know what to do, so I said to get all the other person's information, call the police, yada yada yada, and call me back. She hasn't called back yet. I don't know if she continued on to the gym or just went home. I really hate to think of damage on her six-week old car. I also really really hope it was the other person who hit her. And certainly, the second I heard the word "accident" my guts went into overtime. While I was on that excursion, I ran into the Martian V.P. in the hall and tried to explain to her how degrading it is to have to call someone whenever I have to go to the bathroom, which is her plan. It would be degrading for anyone. I don't think any of this is personal, I just think it's all stupid.

Later (since I'm writing the rest of this roughly twelve hours after I wrote the previous paragraph.) I still haven't seen K's car because she had already gone off to class by the time I got home, but I talked to her later in the day and emailed here and there, and it does seem to have been her fault, but I don't think it's a big deal. It was one of those merging-onto-a-highway things; the car in front of her stopped but she was looking back and she went forward and bumped it. It's the accident that I think everybody has once, and she's driven for seven years now without any accidents at all. I don't think this is even worth reporting to insurance, but she did call the police and so there will be a report. She said she felt bad because the car in front of her was full of Mexican men, and now she's afraid she's responsible for their being deported. Now, for all we know, they're all here legally, so I think that part's an over-reaction, but there ya go.

And last night's epic thunderstorms knocked out the rail line that goes into the city from R's town, so before 8:15 this morning, I'd heard from both of them by phone, which is not a great way to start my day. (R just wanted me to check the NJ Transit website for information.) I also emailed with her later, so the day turned out relatively okay for both of them, but boy, am I tired of putting out fires. I must say though that they pretty much handled their own fires today, they just felt compelled to share them with me.

So, karma. I've been thinking a lot about karma today. It's a concept that really has a place in many religions and cultures. I believe the Christian equivalent is divine retribution. My Orthodox Jewish grandfather and his mother, I know, believed that by doing mitzvahs (good deeds) in this life they would earn their way into heaven, so to speak. I tend to believe that what goes around comes around, or, as it was better put by John Lennon, instant karma's gonna get you.

But true karma, I think, means that your actions in this life will determine in what form you will return in your next life. So I'm trying to figure out in what form my sister's first husband, the one I call here Satan J, could possibly return. At the moment, I'm thinking that his most likely scenario is that he'll be convicted of a crime he didn't commit and then be continually raped in prison for as long as he lives, which should be a long time. He is a vile and worthless human being masquerading as the nice guy next door. I don't wish him illness or ill health in this life -- although he's already got that -- but I do hope that somehow he will reap what he has sown.

Heavens, I am just full of the cliché tonight.

My bento box lunch was just adorable, and very filling. Oh, the sites to look at, if you're so inclined, are laptoplunches.com and justbento.com. When I was putting tomorrow's lunch together just before, I also made tamagoyaki, which is a kind of Japanese omelette served cold in a bento. I haven't eaten it yet, but I'll let you know. Yes, I actually prepared food from scratch. It happens.


WATCHING FAMILY GUY :: ENTRY #1779

Ever So Briefly

A very long, but not particularly unpleasant day, but I logged in to type this about two hours ago, at which point I remembered that I forgot to make lunch for tomorrow which I had started to do two hours before that, so, in brief:

The colonoscopy went well, and as predicted, I came home, ate breakfast, slept for an hour and a half, and woke up feeling terrific. At which point I drove to my haircut (which I wasn't supposed to do, but I was fine), and later to physical therapy.

My sister isn't sure if she'll have the energy tomorrow to go to the Apple store at six p.m. I swear I'll have to go buy her a computer myself. We'll see where that goes.

JJ, eldest nephew, was finally -- finally! -- approved this morning as having his Master's thesis complete and correct and will be getting his degree -- finally -- on Friday. They made him bring in old papers he had written for some of his classwork to prove his grades, since so many of his professors have retired and couldn't vouch for him. So it looks like he may get a real job someday in the future after all.

And the Hubs' car, aka Jack's old car, is finally on the ropes. The exhaust system is going, and that's too big to fix. Once again, that which I feared for years -- having to replace all three cars in one year -- is coming to pass.

And now, time to crash. I've been up since four this morning, and didn't sleep much before that, and it's back to work tomorrow.

WATCHING L/O :: ENTRY #1757

The Report

But first. I was just about to start typing here when I got an email that distracted me. A dear friend sent me a video of her four year old granddaughter, who has cerebral palsy, walking. First with a walker. Then with tiny little pink canes. And then, just walking, without crutches or walker or anything. Very excellent.

So I did go to the radiology place today, along with the Sibs, and we had our boobies variously x-rayed and whatnot, and I had no needle biopsy. Hooray! So now we both need to have mammograms and sonograms every six months, and I need to get that MRI once a year. This is all okay.

Our appointment was pushed back to 2.30, so after lunch, we had time to go to Barnes and Noble and Target. A very big day for all concerned.

After I got home, K and I dropped off my car for service and then went out for some foodie, and I got to drive her very cute little car for the first time. I like it mucho. I will have my car forever now, which is fine, but that little bitty Toyota Yaris was a nice driving car, if anyone's interested.

I set my alarm for later this morning -- six -- but I woke up at 5.30 anyway. Even so, I didn't get into the shower until nearly 6.30, and I still got out of the house by seven. How this all happened I do not know, although I did have my breakfast before shower, and I didn't need to make my lunch today because I was leaving school early, before lunch. (And went to the Olive Garden, yum.) So this is a good thing. And now I also don't have to walk to school tomorrow -- no car -- because K, who isn't going in to work, is going to get up early and drive me. (She's staying home to write a final paper for class, and figures she might as well get an early start at it.) So that's good for me, too, and now I can bring my lunch, which I wouldn't have wanted to carry if I was walking.

And now I'm off to put tomorrow's jeans in the dryer, and then settle down for Ugly Betty. I'm going to go to sleep right after, and we'll watch Lost tomorrow night.


WATCHING MASH :: ENTRY #1749

News of the Day

Well, the news here is that one of us has actually, finally achieved a brand new car.

Okay, it isn't exactly brand new, but it's as good as. It's a 2008 with only 9000 miles on it and it was a dealer's car, it never had an actual owner before. So that counts. It is cute as a button. (K is actually going out now to look at it one more time before she settles in to do some schoolwork and go to bed.) Here it is:



I'm glad she's happy. I certainly hope it lasts through the weekend. (Just kidding. I mean, I'm not, but I am.)

Otherwise, school is just schooling along. It occurred to me today that I am going to retire someday (duh) and probably the same year as the SCM, so each of us had better write up a little manual of what we do. I started on it today, since it will take some time, plus I'll add and change as I go along. And then I realized that since the *pardon me* moron who's supposed to observe me this year forgot again yesterday, I can hand him this as evidence of what I do and something I've done. Not that he'll read it, because two years ago when I gave him all the documentation on how I supervised closing down the whole library, he took it as if I was putting poison in his hands and then asked if I could just make a list of two or three things I'd done that year. Whatever. I don't gots to do his job, too, on top of mine, y'know?

(Many years back, I'm guessing 22 or so, there was this toy that was heavily advertised on TV, a large piano keyboard that you put on the floor and "play" by dancing on it. It was the home version of the thing in the movie "Big." Anyway, the TV ad was accompanied by a very serious announcer's voice that intoned at the end: "If you've got feet, you can play ... " whatever it was called. And little two year old K heard this one day, and turned to me, both puzzled by the commercial and very sure of her own knowledge, and announced "Everybody gots feet." Just a little word history, there, folks.)

I had a most unsatisfying dinner at IHOP, ordinarily one of my favorite places since breakfast for dinner is one of my favorite meals, but the weirdest thing was that the coffee smelled funny. Now listen, doesn't coffee have a distinctive and wonderful aroma? This smelled like maybe they had used some sort of cleaning solvent instead of water, or like the cup had been taken out of musty storage after years and washed with some sort of industrial strength cleanser. Okay, everybody say EEEUUUUWWW. But I don't seem to be dead yet, and I think if I'd actually drunk poison I'd know by now, right? So I'm okay. I'm just saying. (Why did I drink the smelly coffee? I don't know, it was coffee, I ordered coffee, I drank it. I'm not claiming to be Einstein here.)

LOL, K just came in from the driveway giggling and smiling; she washed her windshield. Her old car had a hole in the windshield fluid tank, so she hasn't done that in a long time, and she was very excited. Ach, it's the little things, so they say.

(My tattoo, btw, is amusing people at school. Those of my general generation get it at once, the younger not as much. But they're all amused by it. Hey, I try.)

WATCHING BEAUTY AND THE GEEK :: ENTRY #1741

Back to Work

Ah yes, I was back at work today. My five classes went really well. Here's the link to the new sample website I made for them, which links me to history through my tattoos.

Last night I reached my goal of copying over all the old dland entries from my first year (2002, October through December) and last year (I had the first three months of 2007 to finish.) So now I only have four years (!) to go, or something like about a thousand entries. That oughta keep me out of trouble for a while.

I'm feeling all tense this afternoon, and I can't even identify why so I can try to work it out. Maybe it's the rain, and the cold; I don't know. I had to put the heat back on when I got home, and I got my feet all wet getting in and out of the car and such. I may be nervous about getting K's car tomorrow, because I always anticipate disaster. I don't know. I would like that knot in my stomach to go away now, please.

Ach, I just remembered I don't have a lottery ticket for tonight, and how am I going to win if I don't have a ticket? I know that money doesn't buy happiness, but it sure would take some of the pressure off, y'know?

So I guess that's it. I've got a load of laundry to get from the basement and put away, and I really wanted this pizza I had in the freezer so I sort of ate dinner at 4:15, which wasn't too smart, since now it's almost 5 and I'd really like to eat dinner again. A dilemma. On the other hand, I'd be happy to pick out tomorrow's clothes and set up the coffee maker now, and go to sleep for the night. It's not that I'm tired, particularly, just bored, and tense. I really wish I knew what the hell that was. No reason for it that I can see.

Oh well.

WATCHING THE GOLDEN GIRLS :: ENTRY #1740

VaCaDay Last *sob*

Yes, it's back to work tomorrow, and as if to remind me, today is a raw, gray day. This past week has been spectacular, weather-wise, and although I'm not much of an outdoor person, I enjoyed every minute of it.

I never got around to writing yesterday. R came by after lunch and stayed through dinner, and then K and I watched The Goblet of Fire on TV, which prompted me to watch The Order of the Phoenix today. I watched some other strange things that happened to be on, I think two movies yesterday and one today, but I don't remember what they are. Hmm.

Earlier today, on our way to Target, K said something about now when I get stressed she's going to tell me to read my new tattoo and remember what it means. (What will be, will be.) Uh ... yes. That's one of the reasons I got, I told her, so that I would always see it and remember that things are just going to happen and I can't let myself get crazy over it. Yes, it's my tattoo. I picked it. I get it.

She is just the happiest little clam these days (despite a three-day stomach ache) over the new car coming on Tuesday. I just hope nothing happens to mess up the deal; I'm always afraid of something happening to mess up something good that's coming. She's out now for a drive, saying an extended farewell to her old car. It's a 1995 Chevy that she's had for seven years; it has well over 100k miles on it. Won't be missed, certainly by me, and I think not for long by her either.

Next Sunday we will be going to the ILs for the FIL's 80th birthday party. I talked to the SIL this morning (who just got back from DisneyWorld, yay for her!) and we discussed the gifts to get him. Oh yes, excellent gifts are expected, apparently. He would like a GPS system and a DVD recorder. Well, okay, love of gadgets and toys are something he and I have in common. But seriously. A GPS system? He can't drive anymore and he never goes anywhere. The DVD recorder I can see, a little -- I picked one up for him at Target this morning -- but it will take until his 90th birthday for him to figure out how to use it. (He was once incredibly slick with this kind of stuff.) I've got more to rant on with him, but I'll pass for today. He really is a sweetheart, and I'm very, very fond of him, but sometimes he could drive a person crazy. Hey, my own parents drove me crazy and I loved them a lot. So I guess I shouldn't complain (although you know I will.)

It's not going back to school I mind, as such, but I don't relish the thought of an alarm at 5.30 am -- ooh, gotta set that alarm -- and all the steps involved in getting myself out of the house. I took all that stuff at a very easy pace this week. As it is, I've already laid out my clothes and taken out my lunch bag, and gotten the coffee pot ready. I have a very busy day tomorrow: five classes starting my website/autobiography project, and I'm looking forward to that. I threw together another example for them last night, which I'll share with you when I work the bugs out of it. Basically, I realized that I connect to history with my choice of tattoos and what each one stands for, so that's it, but I don't have FrontPage on my Mac (my webpage authoring software of choice) so I had to use Word, and the pages don't link together properly. I did check the HTML and it looks right, it just doesn't work. Anyway, I have it on a flash drive and I think my first class isn't until second period, so I should get a chance to fix it and upload it.

Speaking of birthdays, my sister's 60th is coming up in a few weeks. (I keep seeing commercials on TV for people to visit Israel, to celebrate Israel's 60th birthday. Same day, same birthday. They heard Ben-Gurion's announcement of Israeli independence on the day my sister was born.) Anyway, I'm working on a little celebration for her, one that doesn't involve everyone in the free world, since her family has grown huge in the last few years between step-children and children's spouses. She also just recently woke up and realized -- hello -- that it's possible for a person to own DVDs -- is she really my sister? -- so I'm thinking about the big set of Rogers and Hammerstein musicals, but I have to make sure Wonderful Niece hasn't already gotten it.

Oh, okay, I guess I'm going to go watch Thursday's Lost now. Again. I hate it being on at 10. I'm not sure if I'm alert enough at that hour to catch everything.

WATCHING NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC :: ENTRY #1739

VaCaDay 6

Just an average, ordinary day. Bought a car, got a tattoo.

Okay, K is buying the car, but with some assistance, which is okay. We looked at Toyotas yesterday, and at Hondas and Mazdas today. (Speaking of Mazdas, am I the only one who hears "Mazda" and thinks "Piston engines go boing boing boing boing boing, Mazda engines go hmmmmmmmmmm"? Okay, I am.)

Anyway. The upshot is that she is getting a one-year old Yaris with only 9000 miles on it because it was a showroom car for two or three thousand dollars less than she could have gotten a three or four year old Honda or Mazda with a lot more miles. This is a used car that is essentially a new car, with the new car warranty and all, and all up-to-date stuff in it. The Yaris is a strange little car, but it looks very nice and dependable. We'll pick it up on Tuesday, although she says she has "The Veruca Salts", which is to say, She wants is NOOOOWWW! Although she understands that we need to go to the bank, call the insurance, etc.

The tattoo took literally five minutes. At the moment, it's still bandaged, so I'll get you a picture tomorrow.

And that's it. The weather has just been remarkable this week, a perfect vacation week. Oh, I forgot. This little bit of news. Now, we have this fabulous bike/walking path that runs along a river through several towns. Although this did not happen in our town, it happened this morning right near the part of the path where K walks every morning, but didn't today, because we were car shopping. On our way home, we rode over a bridge over the path and there were news trucks covering the story of the bear on the bike path. Swell.

Okay, that's really it. Boy, you don't know how much you use your right hand (if you're right handed) until you've got a big black plastic bandage over your wrist, and you're thinking about how often that part of your arm where the tattoo is touches stuff.



WATCHING L/O :: ENTRY #1737

VaCaDay 5

It was a very random day.

I woke up to an absolutely dreadful smell coming from the kitchen. It took some hunting to detect that its source was the refrigerator -- after I'd emptied the compost bucket and cleaned it with boiling water -- and then I scrubbed out the inside of the fridge. No luck. Turns out it was some garlic-heavy food that the Hubs had made last night for tonight's dinner. It was just a bit overpowering.

What took up most of my day was copying over old diary entries, now that I have a rhythm going. I did fifty, maybe, maybe more. The interesting part of doing this is reading the old entries. Although I only have a few more to go and then 2007 is finished, I decided to work on 2002, and I only have a few of those left, too. These were my first diary entries, since I started in October, 2002, and wasn't very good about the every day thing then. Some of it is startling, but not in a bad way; my father was still alive then and so of course I referred to him, to talking to him, and so on. The whole process (the copying over, not diary-keeping in general, although that too) has become a little addictive. I'll probably do more tomorrow, if I get the chance, but I think I'm finished for tonight.

We actually put down a deposit on a car for K today, although we'll be looking more tomorrow. Her current car, a 1995 Chevy Cavalier with a dented in front fender, has now lost its air conditioning, which will cost maybe $800 to fix. No point in putting that much money in that old a car. (Over 110k miles on it.) We're looking for a decent used car that we can finance through the dealer, and we have one now (a Toyota), but we're going to look at Hondas tomorrow, and then go to her crazy college (see yesterday's entry) and then it's new tattoo time for me!

I'm going to read a bit now, I think. A Thousand Splendid Suns. Depressing, but very good.

WATCHING MASH :: ENTRY #1736

In a World ...

where insanity rules ....

Okay, so we are having a teacher-training day on Friday, but until today, we weren't told what we were going to be doing. We got a notice this morning that said a) they're not going to tell us until Friday; they're asking us to take "a leap of faith," and b) please bring in a picture of our children (or any child we feel connected to; not everyone is a parent) by Thursday, to be used in Friday's session. To which I say:

WTF? I am so not doing this.

Given my current state of mind, this sparked an anxiety attack in me, in which I began to wonder if we're going to be doing some sort of touchy-feely sensitivity thing on Friday, and trust me, I am not doing that. No one wants to see me open up emotionally in public; I don't even like doing that in private, and these days I'm only an inch away, at best, from breaking down at any minute. A picture of my children? Fuggedaboudit. My children are adults, and quite well known in this school, and I would not do this without their consent, which they wouldn't give and I wouldn't ask them to. I was all bent out of shape over this, wanted to talk to the boss but he was out. I got the assistant boss -- the V.P., as it were -- but we really couldn't connect with each other because I don't speak her native tongue, which is apparently Martian. (Well, she's bringing in a picture of her daughter. Well, la de da for her. She is bringing in, no doubt, a professionally taken head shot of her daughter, since I saw one on the desk in her office. I.Am.So.Impressed.)

I'm much better now, because lunch and other conversations with colleagues have informed me that everyone thinks this is very weird and a lot of people are just not doing it. Some said it a lot less nicely than that. I over-reacted, I can see now, but my over-reaction switch is turned on these days, so there's not much I can do about that. But I must remember to avoid talking to the Martian whenever possible. This leaves me with only one administrator in the school I am willing to talk to, who is the boss. Him I like. The others not so much.

I have many missions after school today, and have not yet heard whether or not K's car is fixed. He usually doesn't call until five or so, so that's what I'll expect. I just hope it's not too late to turn in the rental car. Which I'd rather not drive around everywhere, but it's not like I can't drive; it's a car, I'll drive it. It's just that when I turn around to look back to back up or something and I see this huge expanse of empty seats it feels like such a waste. And I'm sure I'm going to hit something, or someone is going to hit me. I want my little car back. Or even K's relatively little car, even if it is a sedan. (I'm not a sedan fan.)

Why hasn't the bell rung yet, hmm? Inquiring minds want to know.


WATCHING MASH :: ENTRY #1721

A Step Back, A Couple Steps Forward

An improved, if strange, day.

First, let me just say that I used all my new potions and things in the shower this morning and damn, I smell good. It's nearly two in the afternoon and I'm still in a nice little Burt's Bees cloud. I'm just saying. My shower took twice as long as usual, but okay. And my hair even came out in a manner acceptable to me today. So that's all cool.

Got a lot of stuff done at work this morning. Also good. And then the phone rang.

Slowly I turned ...

But it was okay, sort of. Yes, it was K, whose car would not start. But she sounded pretty good, and she said that she was feeling much better today. She would call AAA and get the battery jumped. All okay.

But then as I was sitting at my desk, my stress began to rise. She would fall apart. No wait, I would fall apart, and I would have to do it at school. Hmmm. I logged off my computer, called the main office and said I had an emergency at home but would probably be back, told the SCM, and took off. What I wanted to do was give K my car to use, since she has a week's worth of errands and things to take care of, not to mention class tonight, and I would wait for AAA and come back to school in her car.

AAA was, amazingly, already there when I got home. I could see immediately that K was not falling apart, was in very good humor, and did not look sick. Three cheers on this one, folks! Anyway, the guy could not charge the car and then noticed that the sparkplug cables have been "cut."

Now we're a little freaked out, both of us, but he said it could have been an animal. Uh, yeah. So I sent the kid into the house to get ready to go out, since I'm leaving her my car, and I followed the tow-truck to our own mechanic, who said it is absolutely animals, we're the second car this week where animals (probably squirrels) chewed the sparkplug wires. Imagine that.

Home again, I call for a rental car and waited nearly 45 minutes to get picked up. So that sucked, but listen to what I got done while I was waiting: I called the therapist's office and left a message. I am proud of me. I was also pleased to her that there are actually four women in the office, so I may not even have to see the one who has a kid in the high school. This was a big step, although I haven't even talked to someone yet; hopefully, someone will call me back this afternoon.

The other thing I did was turn off the caller ID on the Hubs' TV. Yes, since we got the cable phone and the HD cable TV, when the phone rings, the caller I.D. shows up on the TV screen. I turned mine off immediately because I didn't like it, but I had no idea that it showed up on his non-HD TV as well. He mentioned it the other day as a curiosity. Yes, well, I don't need him to be able to see who's calling and such when I'm on the phone. I will frequently not take the call waiting beep from his parents because they don't understand call waiting; you can't say to them "Hi, I'm on another call; I'll call you right back," because when you answer, they just start talking and you can't get a word in. So when I see them on the call waiting/caller I.D., I don't take it, I just finish the conversation I'm in and then call them right back. The Hubs is famously strange about his parents' phone calls in that he never really wants to talk on the phone but if they call and I don't get him right away he has one of his temper outbursts. Doesn't matter if he's eating dinner or what, I have no right not to get him for their call NOW. So, better for me if he can't see that they're calling. TMI?

So I have this giant minivan as a rental car because that's all they had, but they charged me for a compact car anyway. I was going to go to the mall this afternoon but I may pass until I have my own car back since I won't be afraid to park it. (I haven't driven a big car in a loooong time.) Ditto the supermarket. In which case I need to take a nap when I get home because I am just worn out. But I smell good.


WATCHING L/O :: ENTRY #1720

Still Here

Holding on. My stomach is better, taking baby steps there, and I took less of the meds today, so my head is clearer. My other ailments are not improving (although the stye in my eye is gone), so they need time. If that means home again on Monday, so be it. I cant do what I need to treat the various other irritations when I'm in school; I can't even sit upright in a chair for that long. So we'll see.

And anyway, the Hubs' car, which is really my father's old car, somehow died this morning and is now in the shop. Perhaps nothing serious, but again, we'll see. My choices for Monday are to drive him to work before I go in, if I go, or to stay home and have him just take my car. So far, door #2 is looking much better to me all around.

In the meantime, the tree is up, standing in the middle of the living room, but not lit or decorated yet. R, still temporarily catless, is spending the weekend here, so we'll get to the tree sometime before she goes home. Her cat has had the worst reaction ever to being neutered, has been allergic to stitches, developed infections, so forth, but is essentially okay. The vet has vowed to keep her at his clinic until she's 100% and do whatever she needs, all at no cost to R. So, a good guy. She figures she'll make a nice donation to his animal rescue program when it's all done. In the meantime, she goes to visit every other day or so and take Trillian out to play and cuddle.

And time to go back to my couch.

WATCHING TV LAND :: ENTRY #1648

They're Killing Me

I'm not saying my kids and I don't have some sort of co-dependent thing going on, although I'd prefer to say that we are "close." Either way, I'm happy I have a good relationship with them, and that we are friends, and that they feel they can talk to me when they need someone to talk to.

All that aside, they're killing me.

It's been a tough week for them. K, as you know, is sick. She is sick because the kid she tutors Saturday mornings has a mother who doesn't know that she's supposed to keep him home when he's sick. Maybe his 13 year old immune system can throw it off, but K's cannot. This is the beginning of her last week of classes for the semester, and she's missed class, hasn't gotten a paper done, and so on. Her nose is so messed up inside that she cannot eat without choking for air, because she can't breathe through her nose at all when she eats, which I guess is what normal people do. Anyway, she's not the world's best patient, as we all know, so it's been trying.

As for the other one, who is, in fact, the world's best patient, her problem is not that she's sick. I think her problem is that she's stressed. She called me last Friday morning, having a meltdown over something or other, and again this morning. Her little cat, it turns out, is not a good patient, and chewed open her stitches the other night, having had her lady parts removed last Friday. So far this week, R has had to go in late to work twice and had to leave early twice, all for emergency vet appointments. And the cat is basically okay, and hopefully will not damage herself this time, but last night, they sent the cat home with new stitches and the warning "Don't let her lick them!" So of course, R was up all night making sure the cat didn't lick her stitches, and had to take her back this morning anyway to get a cone or something put on her. And I got the meltdown call.

Honestly, I don't know how people have their children later in life. I don't know how they have the stamina to put up with it. It isn't even just the toddler chasing when you're 45, it's the teenage thing when you're 60 -- how horrible that sounds -- and then whatever you've got for however long it goes on. I was thinking yesterday, if I won the lottery, I'd set K up in her own apartment before I even paid a bill or bought a car.

Okay, so, much later.

I had a very hectic afternoon, with one errand or another, out of the house, and in the house. I did have the luxury of the house to myself, up until the minute I was finishing with phone calls and was going to have some peace and quiet and then K came home early from class. Ah well, she went to class, and although she looks miserable, she must be feeling better because she's waaay less sick-y tonight. And R's evening is better -- talked to her twice, once she had a nap in her -- and the cat, hopefully, will deal with it all and let her sleep.

It is freaking cold out there. Possible rain and/or snow tomorrow, ick. I have so much less patience for winter as the years go by: don't wanna wear a coat, don't wanna drive or walk in the snow, don't wanna wear bulky layers and still be cold! I went to the ATM on my way to school this morning, but my window wouldn't open. Horrors! Electric windows not working is what killed my last car, you may recall. (Car was too old to get replacement parts for the third time.) But it worked fine after school, so I guess it was just frozen. Damn. That never happened before.

Oh, happy third night of Chanukah. We're doing very well this year; we've actually lit the candles all three nights and I've even said the prayer, which is not to say that I'm praying, just that I know, more or less, the right sounds to make when the Chanukah candles are being lit. My mother had a pamphlet with the phonetic pronunciation on it, which is how I learned it, although I think the prayer has two parts and I only know the first one. And unlike French or even Spanish, I cannot pull off a reasonable Hebrew accent, so it all sounds very un-official, if you know what I mean. But I say it anyway. On the sixth night, I also especially remember my Grandpa Sam, whose birthday was the sixth night of Chanukah. He only ever knew the real date of his birthday because once he got to America, he went to the office of a Yiddish newspaper and asked them to look up the date of the sixth night of Chanukah for the year he was born. (He knew how old he was, exactly, because he had been Bar Mitzvahed just before leaving the old country, so, 13.) It was December 16, 1892, just in case you're keeping track.

Well, I have rambled on here a bit more than I meant to, and now I'm off to change into my jammies and settle in for Ugly Betty.

WATCHING LAW AND ORDER :: ENTRY #1642

The Day Started With a Headache

Did I mention that I found the perfect -- for now -- lunchbag the other day? It's here. It's made of neoprene and you can stuff a lot of stuff into it, and the ladies in my lunch group oohed and aahed. They also make a wine carrier, which I think I will get the ILs for Christmas. (I am not much of a drinker, and because of meds I'm on now, I don't drink at all, but when we had dinner with them a few weeks ago, there were just wine bottles in bags coming out everywhere, so I know they'll get good use of this.)

So here's the fun thing I did when I got home from school today *giggle*: I started packing. But just a little. I took out the bags I'm going to use and pretty much just put toiletries and that stuff in them, the stuff that I keep in a bag for when I travel, like a travel toothbrush, a little alarm clock, like that. You would think that I travel all the time and need to be ready on the spur of the moment, but I pretty much started doing this when I would go on the senior class trip every year. And now it's all for DisneyWorld. Oh boy oh boy oh boy.

I finally got the doctor's appointment I needed today, which I did by going to the doctor's office in person. This phone thing was just not working out for me. I found out that the new podiatrist is not someone I went to high school with, although someone I did go to high school with and who has the same name did become a podiatrist. (This man I'm going to see is in his sixties and is semi-retired.) The other thing is that he only has office hours on Fridays, and only from 9 to 1. Hmm. So I guess next Friday I'm taking my first sick day for this year. I could take only a half day off in the morning -- I got the 9.00 that day -- but I also have an appointment at 3.00 with the butt doctor (it's coming along, thanks for asking, LA), which I could get to if I left school in a big hurry at the end of the day. But you know what? I remembered that the Chum is coming home from Maine on Sunday, so I emailed her and said if she wants to meet for lunch that day, I'll take the whole day. Hey, it's not like I'm not actually going to two doctor's appointments that day.

The little freshmen are still annoying (but individually, mostly sweet) and I still have 100 cards to go. And I won't be there tomorrow because I have an all-day meeting at the central office. (If any of you would like to call me in sick for that, the number is ...) I spoke to one of the administrators about the cards this afternoon, and I forgot that this is the guy who always infuriates me and knows how to do my job better than I do. He didn't get to me today, but he thinks it's brilliant when he comes up with a new approach that I gave up years ago because it didn't work.

And then K called me around 2.00 to say that the A/C wasn't working in her car, and her professor (that she works for) gave her an impossible task, and this, and that, and she was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, and I said "Uh huh ... uh huh ... oh, I'm so sorry," and inside I'm thinking "Oh god, I want to hang up the phone!" Yes, I know her car is falling apart, but the Hubs gets the next one, and then she gets his, which she really, really wants, actually. Anyway, she called me at home around 4.00 and things were much better, as in, she was a lot calmer. So that was nice.

The Hubs has actually started to look for a car. Yes, we are all astonished. Did I say this part (I don't think so): on the ride home from seeing his folks over Labor Day weekend, he said he had driven a friend's Mercedes, and it was really nice. And I thought, well, that'll just about kill me, having to figure out how to pay for a fucking Mercedes (because he has no idea whatsoever what money we have, or more precisely, do not have), and I knew he was going to start looking for a car, but I had no idea what he wanted. The the next weekend, he went. What's he looking for? A gently used Toyota RAV4 or Honda CRV. ** extremely deep sigh of relief ** Still, I knew the time would come when we would have to replace all our cars at once, and it would have been nice if he had bought a car three years ago when I had the money just sitting in the bank. But foolish me, I spent it on college tuition since then.

If I had no children, I would be a very wealthy woman. I don't know what I'd spend it on, since I spend most of it on them, but you get my drift. But of course, my children are the best part of it all, so I'm not really complaining. Well, only that I don't want K to call me and complain when she's having a bad day.

And now the Hubs and his sought-after 1991 Oldsmobile with the missing side-trim are home.

WATCHING GILMORE GIRLS :: ENTRY #1586

Signs

Watch the watch.



Anyway, so if the video works, that's my cool watch that I've had since I was ... twelve, I think, maybe thirteen, that I wrote about the other day.

In other news. K says that wearing headphones is the universal sign for "don't talk to me," and while I think this should be correct, her lament, and mine, is that wearing headphone actually seems to be the sign to every idiot who crosses your path to start a pointless conversation with in which the most significant words spoken are the first three, forcing you to say "Wait a minute, wait a minute; I have headphones on," and then fumble at your ears and in your pockets for the pause button. Guess how my day started?

Actually, I walked to school again since K's car was in the shop, and listened to the UK audiobook of The Prisoner of Azkaban, and the school nurse started talking to me the minute I put my foot in the building, interfering with Stephen Fry's dulcet tones. But the car is good now, the Hubs and I just picked it up (K has gone to class with my car); the mechanic had to replace the alternator he put in last week and so there was no charge to us. That's my kind of pricing.

Aren't TV commercials idiotic? One caught my attention just before; it was for wipes for kids to use who are learning to use the toilet. I don't know what they're called, but the tagline that caught my attention was "xx wipes make wiping fun!" Uh ... excuse me. Under what circumstances does wiping one's ass need to be fun?

Okay, got to eat something.

WATCHING FRIENDS :: ENTRY #1585

Peevish

I am beset by my pet peeves, so I thought I'd share a couple of them with you.

1. Medical Studies

Every day, there are countless medical studies made public just so we can all have the shit scared out of us. They are all contradictory, and none of them make sense. Even so, there are headlines, there are stories. According to things that I've read recently

... because my waist measures more than 35 inches, I will most likely die an early death from cardiac disease.

... if I lose more than 20 pounds within 20 years of turning 70, I will most likely suffer from dementia. (That was one of my favorites.)

... if you smoke anywhere in the proximity of a child, you are most likely dooming that child to a lifetime of illness, most likely asthma at a young age. Also implied is that you are a sick criminal, and should be locked away from polite society for ever and ever and ever.

Now. I was exposed to smoke as a child, as were most baby-boomers, because our World War II parents were all smokers, and no one knew differently than to smoke around your children. My parents smoked in a closed car -- hey, it was cold -- on our 5+ hour trips to visit grandma in Massachusetts every other month, not to mention at all other times. My father apologized to me for this in his later years (he had actually quit when I was five or six.) Nothing to apologize for. That's the way things were then. Anyway, we lived, and relatively few of us had asthma as children, as I recall, or were unable to play high school sports, or ... you get the idea.

Those medical studies have got to go. I'm not pro-smoking, as such -- okay, I love and miss it, but that's another story; I know it's bad for you -- but this is probably a study done on rat-children anyway, since doing it on human children would be highly suspect, so, true or not, it's worthless shit to me.

2. Voice mail

Having personal voice mail, like having an answering machine, is one thing. When businesses use voice mail in place of having people to answer their phones, it drives me crazy.

I called to make a doctor's appointment before. The receptionist -- live -- answered the phone and asked how she could direct my call. I said I needed to make an appointment with Dr. X, and she put me through. The phone rang six times, and then I got the voice message of Dr. X's assistant, who schedules the appointments. She couldn't talk right now, and invited me to leave a detailed message, and she would call back. Well, you know, I called when it was a good time for me to talk. Maybe when she calls back, it won't be so good, like I could be busy at work and I don't really want to explain why I need the appointment when there are kids standing around me (although this is not the butt doctor, at least.) And I don't know when I'll be home, exactly. I finally did call from home, and left a detailed message -- it's a foot issue -- and K, making a sandwich in the kitchen nearby, called out "EEUUW!"

I don't think it's too much to ask to speak to a live person, or for a live person to call you back as soon as they get off another call. (Hours later, still no call back.) I'm not in this for their convenience. I am literally in this one for my health. Come on.

---

K's car is making a horrible noise -- what else is new -- so I'm walking to school tomorrow again, and she'll pick me up. I like walking there in the morning, and I need to be walking more, so I'm fine with that. I hope her car is ready by the time she has to go to class tomorrow night, but if not, no big deal, she'll take mine.

Sometimes, five years from now looks like a good idea.

Tomorrow I'm being trained to use a "Smart Board," which is best described as an interactive blackboard (except it's a white board.) When you project a webpage onto it, you can just touch the buttons with your hands, as if you were a mouse. It's an interesting technology.

I am the hungry. Wonder what I can go nuke for dinner?

WATCHING DR. PHIL :: ENTRY #1584