The 8th Nerve

10Ks make me happy. Even if they have killer hills.

Playing music makes Steve happy. Even if they have killer speakers.

I tried to relish in my Thanksgiving break and sleep in this morning. But alas, at 8 am the workmen were putting their ladders against the bedroom windows and pounding siding into the house with such a racket that EVEN I couldn’t sleep through it. The bedroom was shaking and it was like being assaulted by the wrath of God.

Let’s see, what did I accomplish today? We taught Lucky how to give high five! Then I went downtown and took a marathon chunk out of my Christmas shopping. This is definitely the earliest I’ve ever started holiday shopping.

It has been a while since I have made fun of my mail. I received this catalogue in the mail:

Isn’t it sweet? The guy is all like “I’d rather read my Fraunch, but here, I will disdainfully give you an ornament.” And the girl is all “Oh you, silly!” Of course. That is how I would respond as well. I would not say “Get your pretentious ass off the couch, act happy and stop RUINING MY CHRISTMAS DECORATING.”

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Nov 20th 2007Misc & Pictures

I can only speculate on why my entries have been dwindling after four years of consistent blogging.

- Something (but what?) in my life is now being fulfilled that wasn’t before.
- Perhaps I no longer feel as strongly that I am not able to express myself except through writing here.
- Maybe the next step in self-development or processing or whatever was happening here is a visual one.
- Or maybe it is a meditative, wordless one.
- Maybe my blog was a phase of the angsty, “what the hell am I doing” 20s and now that the 30s are a mere four months away, I’m settling into something different.
- Maybe the blog needs an overhaul. A new theme or direction.
- Maybe my new job channels the energy I used to have for writing. It certainly exercises different muscles of the psyche.

I know I don’t want to shut it down entirely. That would make me sad.

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Oct 14th 2007Introspection & Misc

I gave into my craving for a lake. I found a cabin that was available for rent next week, on the other side of the state. I’m surprised we found anything on a short notice. I surfed the web but the prospect of calling around aimlessly on a short notice trying to find out if anything was available next week was daunting. Then I found a listing of rentals and some of those ads had an “availability calendar” where you can immediately see what’s available and when. Most were booked solid. Finally I found a place that was booked solid except for the very next week. I emailed the owners and they wrote me right back. God bless the internet.

So here is to swimming and fishing and watching the water from the porch and the stack of library books we picked up yesterday. Be back in mid-August.

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Aug 2nd 2007Misc

I received Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in the mail around noon on Saturday and at approximately 5pm today, I finished the last page. So fantastic. I will not say anything about it, no spoilers here I promise.

I think JK Rowling captures the psychology of childhood and coming of age in such a remarkable, ingenious way in her storytelling. I could go on and on about the symbolism, not just the larger picture of good and evil and being human, but in the dynamics between adults and children and between peers. The movies based upon the book can never effectively portray what she does so well in her descriptions of the range of emotional experience. She puts together scenes of grief and unspeakable evil with scenes that are inexplicably comforting and magical. I love her sense of humor too.

This weekend we also fit in a show at Higher Ground, rock star night in Best Western’s suite and midnight swimming in the pool, trip to Sandbar for more swimming and lying on the beach, and a BBQ tonight.

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Jul 22nd 2007Books & Introspection & Misc

I’m going to have to work on my technique so it doesn’t feel like I’m paddling entirely with my arms. Apparently you’re supposed to get your power from your torso.

Question (Dwight Shrute voice): Today is Monday. If I want to talk about this coming weekend, do I say “this weekend” or do I say “next weekend” ? If I say “this weekend” on a Monday or Tuesday, it feels like I am referring the past weekend we just had. But if I say “next weekend” on a Monday or Tuesday, it feels like I’m referring to the weekend after the coming weekend. I have no problems with this vernacular on a Thursday or Friday (”this weekend” clearly refers to the coming weekend and “next weekend” is the one after), but earlier in the week it never feels right.

Normally I wouldn’t really be discussing the weekend on a Monday or Tuesday anyway, but this? next? weekend is the Brewfest, which is worthy of discussing well in advance!

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Jul 16th 2007Misc & Pictures

The other day, for the first time in my life, I laughed until I cried. I might have gotten teary while laughing before, but this time, I literally had tears rolling down my cheeks. All that because of some aside made by a comedian we were watching on Last Comic Standing. It wasn’t even the punchline. He was going on about his friends telling him he needed to make a will and plan for events like being in a coma. The comedian imitated his friends pressuring him to get a living will:

You want to have a tube in your belly don’t you? So you can get snacks? You want to get snacks don’t you? Snacks while you sleep?

This was in the middle of the monologue, but Steve and I were dying. We both simultaneously thought that was absolutely uproarious. Steve hit rewind so that we could hear it again and laugh until we were curled up in fetal positions to protect our stomach muscles. In my case, I was wiping my eyes.

Snacks while you sleep!

That’s one of the things I love about my relationship with Steve. We both instinctively found that hilarious to a degree I don’t think would have been possible with anyone else. And I always love to hear him laugh.

Dear God, it’s going to be hot tomorrow.

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Jun 25th 2007Everyday life & Misc

We received a recall notice in the mail from the former owners of this house. They said it didn’t match their stuff, so maybe it was for this house. They were right. Apparently our GE dishwasher has a significant risk of catching fire while washing our dishes. Another good reason to buy a house by owner and get to know the people who are selling your house. It might keep your house from burning to the ground.

We went to our local Sears and looked at the dishwashers and figured, hey why not upgrade to one that might actually wash our dishes without melding coagulated bits of food to the plates and bowls? Then we saw some stoves and thought, I guess while we’re here we might as well…

Our current stove is from the 80s. The plates around each burner, once stainless steel, is a blackened, lumpy, crispy layer of charcoaled food. Hopeless to clean, so I’m just waiting for it to blacken and chunken entirely. (Chunken, what a fantastic word. To chunken). Then one day a knob broke off, rendering one of the back burners useless. The knob warped and melted a bit so we can’t get it back on. Then the timer knob snapped right off, so I use a pair of pliers to set the timer.

The oven itself still worked so I figured we’ll just use it until it dies. But then today I see one of those shiny new stoves on sale at Sears with settings that actually tell you when the oven is preheated and you can time how long it will cook any given item at a particular temperature. Instead of the buzzer going BLEHHHHHHHHHHHH and, if I’m the one cooking, Steve looks at me like “Sarah, the timer is going off, move your ass before the food burns” the oven will turn itself off while alerting you that it is doing so. Most likely with a dainty dinging noise instead of BLEHHHHHHHHHH.

Besides, if we don’t get a new one now, when we move, the buyers will probably take one look at the stove and make us buy a new one as a condition for sale of the house. Then we’d have to buy an oven and not even get to have a number of years of good use from it.

Oh, how I rationalize.

So I sat on one of the floor sample patio chairs and dissociated while Steve made the transaction. With the sale and the rebate on the dishwasher, it’s not a bad deal. I just don’t like spending, regardless. But the stove, it will be shiny!

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Jun 23rd 2007Everyday life & Misc

I went home this afternoon with a fever and by the time I got to the doctor I had a 103 degree fever, and my throat was killing me. I was relieved to hear that it was strep throat. A sore throat and fever was how my 6 week stint with bronchitis started and the thought of coughing for another six weeks was enough to get me to set up a doctor’s appointment within hours and be willing to sacrifice my soul for some powerful antibiotics.

Fortunately it was just strep throat. When I was a kid I got them all the time and by the time I was a teenager my tonsils looked like the surface of the moon. The “pink medicine” I got to take each time I had strep was yummy though and the only medicine I’ve ever known to taste good.

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the growing occurrence of being seen by doctors that appear to be my age.

Steve and I took a spontaneous trip to Montreal and stayed overnight this past weekend. We definitely need to go up there more often. I’m intrigued by how flat the land becomes as soon as we cross the border. Makes me wonder how much the landscape determines the boundaries between states and countries.

We found a hotel right around the corner from Rue St Catherine for a really decent price and big continental breakfast the next morning. The downside appeared to be that you had to request an iron and ironing board from the front desk. None of the rooms had their own. I calculate that 45% of their job at the front desk must consist of going up and down the elevator with the iron and ironing board. “All the irons were busy” when we requested one and we had to wait. Otherwise, great deal. If only I had known about this hotel all those other times I’ve been to Montreal! I would be hundreds of dollars richer.

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May 21st 2007Misc & Trips

“I agree completely. Especially in light of the really nice, non-objectifying picture of your boobs your husband just posted over on his site.

www.stevemaas.com/fog”

To which my response was: “Yeah, but those boobs are REAL.”

This was countered by: “Oh, I see. So it’s OK for men to objectify women as long as the boobs are REAL ; )”

To which I thought long and hard and replied thusly: “If it [REAL BOOBS] is the genuine authentic article, it is always deserving of recognition and praise! Like legitimate antiques and original works of art. Fake boobs on the other hand…that’s just false pretense and imitation. Like Pottery Barn and Olive Garden. When you view an original work of art, you should appreciate and admire for as long as you wish because it is making you a better person. However, if you have a meal at Olive Garden, you may enjoy the meal but you feel disgusting and less human afterwards because you just SOLD OUT (:”

That’s the difference. I think my previous entry also stems from a personal feeling of how there are handicaps and traumas of many different sorts that cannot ever be changed. One must spend a lifetime reconciling to it, but some people are going to take perfectly fine boobs and make them bigger any way they can because they don’t think they’re good enough or they need some sort of validation? Seriously, talk about spoiled.

I signed up for a 2 and a half day Diversity training. I know the trainers will make it a very thought provoking and enlightening experience despite the fact that it is a difficult and weighty topic. So I signed up, even though it is all weekend long. It’s going to be good.

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May 3rd 2007Misc

When I take Lucky for a walk, he’ll sometimes grab a bone to carry in his mouth for the entire walk. On the walks when he takes his bone along, he trots along like a dog on a mission. He does not stop to smell his usual smells. Cars and people that pass by (not that many, this is Vermont after all) must wonder what is sticking out of his mouth like a giant doobie. Never fails to crack me up.

PET PEEVE CORNER

I’m in one of my moods where I just want to vent and fume about things.

FAKE BOOBS. I can’t stand it when girls talk about getting them or think that they need them. For the love of God, boost your vain, immature, superficial ego some other way. Get into therapy and work on your insecurity issues and get to the root of your real complexes. Is your self-worth so low that you only feel good if men openly objectify you and other women hate your guts? Do you really want to look that disproportionate? If your body is not meant to have Barbie doll breasts, it is not meant to have Barbie doll breasts. There’s more to life than your appearance.

Are women with fake boobs even still capable of breast feeding? What happens when they get older and everything starts sagging except their pads of silicone? Even worse to contemplate, what is the life expectancy of silicone pads? If you get hit hard enough in the boob, will it pop? If you get old enough, will it spring a leak and gush into your bloodstream? I hope so.

PET PEEVE CORNER OVER.

Time to go walk Lucky. Let’s see if he takes his bone this time.

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May 1st 2007Misc