The 8th Nerve

After a long and cold winter, this new fangled 70 degree weather feels almost too warm. I think my body is at the point where 55 degrees is the optimum, most comfortable temperature. The warmer weather also makes me sleepy until I adjust to it. Steve says that they have a word for it in German, to refer to spring tiredness. They don’t have a word for it in English (except perhaps “spring tiredness”), but it still happens.

Yesterday was the first really warm day- high 70s. I wasn’t ready to trust it and still wore winter-like, dark clothes to work with shoes and thick socks. That day, I realized how out of step I am with the collective female psyche. All the women at the agency, with one or two exceptions including me, had all spontaneously and simultaneously donned light colored short sleeved shirts, capris, and sandals or flip flops. How did they all do this at once? How did they all have neat new spring shoes? Even if I knew enough that yesterday was the day to dress all springy, I still would have been hopelessly out of date fashion-wise. I don’t even own a pair of capris.

Tonight is the next to last class! It’s hard to believe I’ve nearly completed a year and a half of the program. Stats, assessment, physiology, the internship and thesis loom as the final hurdles next year. Bring it on..

Day #30- I’ve been running 5 days a week for a month now. It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. Next week I’ll start running 6 days a week. I’ve definitely noticed the benefits of improved mood, energy, and I now weigh what my driver’s license says. During this month I’ve discovered three new things- I like to cook, I like to write in this journal, and I like, sometimes love, to run. I’m waiting for Steve to get home from work so we can go hit those miles.

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Apr 29th 2003Uncategorized

Which Humor
Troubles the Disposition of YOUR Body?

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Apr 28th 2003Uncategorized

When I refer to hearing impairment I mean someone who has hearing loss and wears hearing aids. They are not completely deaf, and can hear voices. Just not very well!

I think I must confuse a lot of people. I don’t notice it because I’m so used to the way things are, but for others it must take getting used to. Here I am, a young person asking “What?” as often as an old geezer with a cane. I speak clearly and normally, yet when you talk to me, communication becomes more difficult. One time you talk to me and I hear everything you said just fine. Another time you talk to me and all I do is act confused or nod and smile with very little relation to what you’re actually telling me. One minute I’m down to earth, the next, I’m in the clouds.

Some things the hearing impaired person wishes everyone else knew..

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Apr 28th 2003Uncategorized

These are a couple scanned pictures that my Mom sent. I was trying to figure out how to center the pictures and have them side by side, but no luck yet.

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Apr 27th 2003Uncategorized

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Apr 27th 2003Uncategorized

I heard on this cold rainy Saturday that my family’s dog, Cocoa, died. I was a sophomore in high school when we got her from the humane society. She had been removed from the home she was in before because it was abusive or neglectful. My family had never had a dog before, just cats, but we were excited to give it a try. We brought her home and she started running around the house barking and howling. We were all so taken aback and we didn’t know what to do. Tensions started running high as one person thought we should do this and another was harping on doing something else. Finally it culminated in my Dad snapping “Well, you don’t know dip about a dog!” After a moment of stunned silence, we all burst out laughing.

Cocoa had the air of a long-suffering house wife. She was patient, gentle, non-complaining as she plopped down with a sigh and rested her head on her paws. She had a great relationship with the cat and they’d wrestle each other. She had two brown circles above her eyes and they’d move up and down along with her facial expression as she waited patiently, inquisitively while you ate.

Steve and I brought our cat, Aschi, to my parent’s house a couple years ago. Aschi was scared to death and slunk around the house with eyes as big as saucers. Cocoa wanted to befriend her so badly. Aschi went and squeezed under the hutch in the dining room, and Cocoa went and lay next to the hutch, keeping protective watch. Every once in a while she tried to encourage her to come out.

It’s so hard when a pet dies.

Day #27- We ran four miles in the downpour. I wore a ski band around my head to keep my hearing aids from getting wet. That, in addition to my t-shirt tucked into my baggy windpants which were Urkel-high due to my water bottle belt, was stylin’ indeed. We ran a slower pace due to our late night. It was relaxing, my breathing didn’t labor and I really enjoyed it. We still did it in 40 minutes. Runs like these make the whole thing worth while.

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Apr 26th 2003Uncategorized

Which of Henry VIII’s wives are you?

this quiz was made by the groovtastic ghouls at Spookbot

Catarina was Henry’s first wife and was probably the only one of his six wives to truly love him. He tired of her, and she spent the last decade of her life in lonely exile. Yet when she was dying, alone and unloved, she wrote: “Lastly, I make this vow, that mine eyes desire thee above all things. Farewell.”

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Apr 26th 2003Uncategorized

I wanted to try this yesterday but didn’t get a chance to get on the computer. Steve, Matt and I met up at Rocky’s for some beers after work and then we went back to our place. We were going to go see a movie but we ended up staying and talking with quite some animation for nearly 6 hours. I didn’t get to bed until after 3 am.

These are questions put out every Friday on http://www.fridayfive.org .

1. What was the last TV show you watched?

Smallville. I loved how realistically Lana was able to spin kick a guy across the room after one training session.

2. What was the last thing you complained about?

Probably the fact that Steve’s clothes are lying in piles all around the hamper, but never actually in the hamper.

3. Who was the last person you complimented and what did you say?

My Mom. I said she has elegant ears, among other things.

4. What was the last thing you threw away?

Egg shells

5. What was the last website that you visited?

Selbtsbild

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Apr 26th 2003Uncategorized

This has been a very long week. And it’s only Tuesday. The combination of rain, cold, and the sore throat-sinus thing I have, plus the fact that my Tuesdays don’t end until class is over at 10pm has made for a particularly long day. The thing about my job is that there are no reprieves. There isn’t even a lunch hour. I eat at my desk as people bustle in and out of the office I share with three others. So I’ve come to enjoy small luxuries- sitting for a moment longer than I need to in my car before getting out, being able to close the door behind me in the bathroom. Today I especially needed it. During the moment that I could just be still, my mind drifted to the white beaches of Mexico or to a cabin on a small lake.

Once Steve and I once stood on a bridge that connected the Isle of Skye to the rest of Scotland. The sun was setting on another day. The last rays were illuminating the shoreline. We were so aware, so happy to be alive and standing completely in the moment. Surely we are put on earth for much more than working and making ends meet, yet it consumes most of our lives.

Day #23- Just two miles today, but it was hard going. The air smelled like worms.

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Apr 22nd 2003Uncategorized

The Easter bunny came. I woke up this morning and there was a chocolate egg on the bedside table. Then I found some on my contact lens case, in the drawer where I keep my toothpaste, and from there on I followed the trail downstairs and throughout the kitchen and living room.

Steve fooled me again. Using similar strategy that he applied to the topic of getting engaged, he devalued Easter and then, when I least expected it, he popped the question. Or in this case, a bunch of chocolate eggs. Then, using hints, he further surprised me with a big chocolate bunny hidden in the dryer. Then, when I thought I had found everything, he further sprang an easter basket on me, full of truffles and other chocolates in the revolving cabinet in the kitchen. The basket also had a white bunny that you wind up and it hippety hops across the room.

Wow. This, in addition to the basket of delights my mom sent and the package from Steve’s parents with marathon running sneakers and treats, has made for quite an Easter celebration.

I’ve come down with the sore throat and tiredness that Steve had a couple weeks ago. So I’ve been kind of out of it this weekend. If it plays out the way Steve’s did, my throat is going to feel like this for about a week. I was going to do all kinds of cleaning and organizing this weekend but so far I’ve only accomplished grocery shopping and two loads of laundry.

Grocery shopping is a big project now. I look through all kinds of recipes and make a list. Then the trip takes a couple hours because I’m hunting all over the store for obscure ingredients like red wine vinegar and heavy cream. At the same time though, it’s fun. I like making new things and wondering how it’s going to come out. Last night I made broiled salmon with tarragon sauce, wild mushroom riscotto and snap peas. We had white wine with it. It felt like we were eating at a classy restaurant. I have never cooked salmon before but I lucked out. It was so surprisingly good I did a victory dance at the table. I guess it’s official, I like to cook.

Happy Easter!

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Apr 20th 2003Uncategorized