If I knew I wouldn’t fail…

Posted on 25 January 2010 | Leave a comment

I would learn how to free-climb, only super free climb, like super-humanly. I have always wanted to know what it would feel like to climb up the side of a building with the cars honking beneath me in the middle of rush hour. I imagine people as small as the cliched ant looking up at me and pointing while the news cameras roll and wondering sometimes out loud, who is that woman who is scaling the side of the Hancock Building, and why is she doing it? “I am doing this because I couldn’t fail!” I would scream.

Or what it would feel like to cling to the face of a sheer cliff as the wind blew past and the birds circled. I wouldn’t think twice about scaling up the front of Half Dome and hanging by one hand, swinging like a chimp from a tire in the zoo. Only I would scream, “I did it because I couldn’t fail!” I would grin to myself like a small child, because my hands would stick like Spiderma’s to the rocky surface of the gigantic cliff.

Perhaps the most exhilarating feeling of all would be climbing the thick trunks of trees to the top of the rain forest canopy. I am not sure this can be done, but since I can’t fail at what I have chosen to do, I will climb those trees and then sleep in the branches high above the screeching animals below. I would gaze out over the lush green carpet, and count my blessings by tens. There wouldn’t be anyone else around so I wouldn’t have to explain that I only did it because I couldn’t fail.

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Posted in Just for Fun

Well, there go the Vikings.

Posted on 24 January 2010 | 2 comments

The Vikings lost. Sad day.

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I am thankful for Merideth and her ability to talk me out of trees.

Food: banana, juice, pure bar, chocolate milk, Kashi frozen lunch, Lorna Doones, decaf Americano, Puerto vegetarian nachos, Klondike bar

Exercise: walked the dogs, ran 30 minutes

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Posted in Food, Running

Sleep Schedules Can Mess You Up

Posted on 23 January 2010 | Leave a comment

Today was supposed to be a day of getting lots of work finished. In fact, I was supposed to finish my dissertation proposal revision today. Instead, I worked on my stuff for teaching because I was incredibly groggy all day and didn’t think I needed to concentrate as intently on reading a bad textbook about children’s literature as I would need to concentrate on my dissertation proposal.

I think I should write a review of this book and submit to some education journal. Because it is so poorly organized and schizophrenic, it is difficult for me to follow what the authors are saying sometimes. I wish they would have simply put all the information about each genre together in separate sections, maybe include a section about fantasy, one about contemporary realistic fiction, and so on, and then break it down into grade levels. But, no, the authors decide it is way better to break it down by age level and then by genre, so the reader of the textbook never gets a complete definition of, or feel for, what the author means by science fiction, or informational text. Their focus is on developmental stages and literature, which I dig, but it’s like wading through the poo-canal at McCullough Park in flip-flops searching for your disc golf disc in the middle of winter.

Sometimes my sleep schedules get all messed up, and for the past week I haven’t slept well. I even had a few nightmares, which always sucks. When I wasn’t wasn’t having horrible dreams, I would wake up at 2 or so and be awake until 4ish when I would finally fall back to sleep. I haven’t gone to bed before 11 any night this week and have been up by 730 in the morning at the latest. If you know me, you know I need at least 8 hours of decent sleep to function.

Since I have only been getting about 6 hours, which haven’t been of the best quality, I have fallen asleep twice in the middle of the day. I already wrote about playing Rip Van Winkle in the library, but I had the amazing opportunity (note the sarcasm) to play him again today. I really didn’t have time for a nap, but as I already said was a bit groggy, so foolishly I thought I would take a Jack-nap—a short rejuvenating nap—to get myself going for the afternoon study session. Well, when 6:09 rolled around and I woke up in time to make dinner, I realized that I need to figure out how to get this sleeping thing under control. Any suggestions?

Both of my grandmothers now have Alzheimer’s. My Grams will soon have to be placed in a nursing home that has a special Alzheimer’s unit, and my mom and Aunt Zoe are looking for a decent one that still takes Medicaid/Medicare. My grandma has been in Warren Home in a locked-down Alzheimer’s unit for so long, I don’t really even remember what she looks like. I don’t want to discuss this matter for two reasons: (1) It makes me incredibly sad that two such amazing god-fearing women have to suffer in this manner, and (2) I am already starting to forget things. I am 35, too young to forget as much as I do, and Alzheimer’s is hereditary. It scares me.. This is the extent to which I wish to discuss this matter.

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I am thankful for being able to make conscientious decisions.

Exercise: walked the dogs, ran 3 miles

Food: banana, juice, pure bar, chocolate milk, salad, left over pizza, Lorna Doones, Ginger Ale, Spicy Basil pasta with tofu, mushrooms, and pinenuts, bread

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Posted in Dissertation, Food, Insomnia, Reading, School, Teaching, Vegetarian or Vegan

Soy Milk Charge! BWs and Moustaches.

Posted on 22 January 2010 | Leave a comment

I had the opportunity to spend time with several friends today. First I got to have coffee and pal around with Elizabeth, which is always a good time. We went to the Tillotson Starbucks and had some of the shadiest service I have ever had there. One girl was working while the other two who were supposed to be stood at the end of the counter chatting with an off-duty shift leader and another person who wasn’t buying coffee. Finally, when the line reached almost to the door, the girl who was working looked down the counter and said, “Could one of you help me?” A little ridiculous, and they now charge $.50 for soy milk (as creamer) in an Americano. Really? Fifty cents for a splash of soy? Starbucks, oh, Starbucks, stop trying to pretend that you are my friend. It is getting more than a little felt up.

When we left Starbucks, we then went to Shoe Carnival so I could pick up my new running shoes. I will be wearing the heck out of them between now and May 8. I got two pairs of the same shoe, but one is light grey and purple and the other is dark grey and fuschia. I think I may wear one of each color at the same time, just for shits and giggles. And, I think it would be fun to have two shoes of two different colors. You know, like a trumped up version of wearing two different colors of shoe laces.

Elizabeth was thinking about getting some new Chucks, but they are so stinking expensive—$39.99 at Shoe Carnival—that she opted against it. “You know,” she said, “Chucks were the only type of shoes Ben and I could have as kids, and they were $5 a pair!” I reminded her that even when we were in high school they were between $15 and $20. Of course, that was before they were haute couture. Now that Converse is cool, their clothing and shoes are ridiculously expensive. And at least their clothing is made for tiny folks. Size XL in their women’s clothes is similar to most clothing lines’ M. It’s great for the self-esteem.

Finally, I ended the night hanging out with some old high school friends at BWs. I had their veggie burger with Caribbean Jerk sauce and some onion rings. My dinner was fantastic. We took some amazing photos, too.

Special, huh?

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I am thankful for laughing until I almost pee my pants.

Food: juice, pure bar, chocolate milk, pizza and breadstick, veggie burger with onion rings, four Lorna Doones, decaf Americano, scone, popcorn

Exercise: walked dogs

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Posted in Coffee, Food, Relationships, Vegetarian or Vegan

Rip Van Winkle

Posted on 21 January 2010 | Leave a comment

Only not so absurd. Since I have become addicted to Sherlock Holmes and have to tear myself away from him in order to accomplish anything else, I decided that I would stop in the library to read one short chapter of the book. Then I would move from the library to my office to work on my dissertation, giving myself not only time delineation, but also physical space delineation. I thought the very act of stopping to have a pleasant read at the library would energize me for the long afternoon of working on my proposal and hammering away at things I didn’t necessarily want to think about on a day so absurdly disgusting as today. Surprise. I was going to read from about one o’clock until whenever I finished “The Red-Headed League.”

At 3:30, I woke up with a start and realized I had fallen asleep and essentially slept through my office hours and my dissertation proposal time. I blame this on my Wild-Fire Tomato soup that I had for lunch. I think it had chicken broth in it. Does chicken have tryptophan? Or did I just catch a major case of sleep exhaustion from the intensity of Holmes and Watson’s debacle with John Clay? On further exploration, I find that chicken does in fact contain the same amount of tryptophan as turkey. Well, f. I must admit that I had dreams of Irene Adler, which were welcome. I love somebody with a little wicked, wild side. Strange. Elementary.

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I am thankful for food labeling.

Food: banana, juice, pure bar, chocolate milk, chicken-laced tomato soup, salad, papa john’s, two chocolate covered grahams

Exercise: walked the dogs, walked from Burris to RB, swam a mile, ran for 30 minutes

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Posted in Dissertation, Food, Reading, Running, Swimming, Vegetarian or Vegan