Quodlibets

26 in 2006 rewind

So my sister did her wrap-up, and at the end she talked about some heavy premonition thing she's got going on, that makes her worry about next year.  That's really, really weird, because last night I was saying to S that I feel really uneasy right now, like something's not right, and I can't figure out what it is.  It's pretty scary that Kate and I are both feeling uneasy about next year, and makes me a little more scared than I otherwise might be.  Anyhow, I have a feeling that I may have done worse than my sister on the 26 in 2006 thing.  So without further ado....

1. Apply to a graduate program in library science.  At least one.  Yeah, no.  I decided this wasn't the year for that.  But I most likely WILL be applying to a program that is 100% online in the next year.
2. Watch the whole Monty Python series.  (I actually will attempt it this year.)  Yeah, no.  It's still completely shrink-wrapped.  But I did watch many other series--Weeds, Sex and the City, OC, Office.
3. Find a new apartment for S and I to move into (in the city?). YES!  We do live in the city, in a new apartment, and we LOVE it.
4. Floss every night.  I wish I could cross this off.  I did it for six months, but then we moved, things got interrupted, and anh.
5. Go to a museum every once in a while.  No.
6. Listen to audiobooks again.  Yes.  I listen to audiobooks nearly everyday, and I've got a fat audible gift certificate that will keep me in them.
7. Stop feeling like such a failure, and concentrate more on my successes.  It's hard to measure the success of this one, but I feel like it's definitely been the case this year.
8. Cook dinner at least two nights a week.  And by cook, I mean, start with RAW ingredients and, voila! meal.  Oh, this one burns me, because I totally did this until we moved.  And I've already discussed my kitchen here, and sigh, it just isn't happening.
9. Try to loosen up and go with the flow more often.  I'm pretty sure this hasn't been a success.  But I don't know.
10. At the grocery store, make fewer impulse buys that won't get eaten.  Definitely.  We've been 10 times better, and I would say that 90% of what we buy now eventually gets eaten, which is a HUGE improvement over last year.
11. Donate something every month to some charity, be it clothes, food, or money.  No, it hasn't happened every month.  But we've been really quite good.  It was a reality for the first 4 months of the year, and then when we moved in July, we donated bags and bags of items to Goodwill.  We then didn't do much unti this month, when I donated a little bit of money to some good causes.
12. Make an exciting new mix for my iPod based on Q101's "13 Years in 13 Days" thingy.  Yes, I did this.  I spent a lot of money doing this.
13. Try to see a few comedy shows this next year.  No.
14. Exercise at least three times a week.  I've never been able to maintain that while working full-time, and this year, I'm gonna try.  No, not even close.  Haven't really worked out once since we moved.  It SUCKS to not have a workout room.
15. Be a little more patient about certain elements of my life that come with what I've chosen.  If that's cryptic, it's because I'm trying to be tactful.  But don't worry, it probably doesn't have anything to do with you.  Now, here's one that I never should have written.  I don't even remember what it means anymore, and if I think hard, I can think of one thing that it could apply to, and the situation only got worse, so that's not good.
16. Get a kitty.  If I can convince S that I simply must have one and he should work with me on the issue.  Also no.  S is very, very allergic, and I'm allergic too, I found out.  So no, unless I can convince S to get shots.
17. Vote, and convince others to do the same.  I didn't vote, but we all know why.  Also, I re-registered, AGAIN, and still haven't gotten a card.  I'm going to try one more time, and then I'm going to get angry.
18. Try to cultivate some sort of relationship with my brother, if he'll let me.  Well.....things ARE better with Litty.  I even went to visit him at college.  So maybe yes.
19. I am not going to smoke.  NO cigarettes at all.  It's not like I'm a regular smoker now, so this just means that I'll have to cut out those every once in a while social cigs.  Boy, do I like those, but boy, I should stop smoking.  I did have some cigarettes.  In fact, I had A LOT of cigarettes in Vegas in June.  Oh well.
20. Clean out the fridge once a month.  Our fridge is always in a state of disgustingness--though mostly without mold.  Yes, absolutely.  Our fridge is 90 million times better now.  I clean it out almost weekly now.
21. Try to organize the books in the apartment.  Even though that might mean boxing books up and storing them somewhere else.  Ha! No.  But I did catalogue them online, at LibraryThing.
    
22. Try to institute some sort of special date night for S and I.  I'm not talking about garden-variety, dinner and a movie dates, but special things.  Different places, things we haven't done, expensive/delicious/once-in-a-while restaurants.  Even if it's only once a month.  Ha, no.  We're still not doing anything like this.
23. Get a new cell phone.  Mine is ancient and barely works.  I did get a lovely new cell phone.  Only it sucks too, because there's no headset for it.
24. Lose more weight/stick to WW for another six months starting on Tuesday.  I did that last year, and it really worked.  I'd like to do the same thing as last year.  No.
25. S really wants to make ice cream again.  I solemnly swear I will happily watch him do it.  No, although he still agitates about it occasionally.
26. Have a better year than last.  Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.

9/26.  I suck.  I'm making no lists this year, either, because I'm throwing 100% of my energy into the whole WW thing t his year.  So yeah.  WW, and let's hope that premonition thing means nothing.

Red Hot Box o' Questions

So, per my sister, the first question:

would you rather live by the beach or in the mountains?

Sadly, neither.  I'm happy in a city, I've recently discovered.  I'm not into all that outdoorsy stuff, at all.  I hate beaches, and I don't think I'd be happy in mountains, either.  This question is slightly boring, because I can't really think of anything else to say about this.  I'm anti-nature.

Manzanilla Queen

Something else I'm obsessed with?  Green olives.  The big ones with pimentos in them; I like to jimmy them out of jar with a spoon (they're always pretty wedged in; the company that makes them packs them in this long skinny jar.  Fat round objects in long skinny jar = badness) and then I like to suck the juice out of them through the end with the small hole in it, so as not to suck the pimento out of them.  Then I bite them, and because they're so big, they take a few bites to get through.  I absolutely love the tangy saltiness of them, and though I've liked green olives for just about as long as I can remember, my mom never bought/buys these big mambo jambos, and these things are where it's at.

Sometimes I go through more than a jar a week, though that hasn't happened since early/late November.  For a while, I was bring four or five in my lunch, and that would honestly be the item I saved for last, while eating.  (I'm not a mixer-upper at lunch.  I like to eat every item independently alone.  Usually I eat any raw vegetable item first, say carrot sticks or whatnot, and then the sandwich or yogurt, and then, if I have a 100-cal pack, I'll eat that, followed by sugar-free jello, if I have that.  And of course, olives come last, if I have them.  But you get my point.)  Lately, I've been eating fewer olives, and I'm not sure why, because every time I open the fridge, my mouth waters when my eyes catch sight of the olives.

In case you're wondering, because I know it sounds like this weird craving thing, I'm totally not pregnant.  Trust me, totally not.  I apparently just have an overwhelming passion for olives.  It's funny, because I think that most of the places I eat at give the olive short shrift.  I can't remember the last time I had olives at a restaurant, unless it was a tapas place, in which case, there's always olives around.  Still, olives are the kind of pleasure that you can really only experience in the home.  Standing at your counter.  Digging around in a jar, and sucking the juice out of.  Maybe it's just me.

In the Morning

I'm kind of obsessed with CSN(Y) right now.  S and I saw them in September, remember, and we both really enjoyed the concert, even the songs we didn't know so well.  That convinced me that I needed to have some more CSNY cds in my house (because I actually don't have any but So Far, their semi-greatest hits), so I put the four disc CSN box set on my Amazon wishlist, thinking that it was highly probable that my dad would want to foster my music tastes, and that I would end up with it at some point.  I didn't know it, but that point would come on December 25th, and I can't express to you how glad I am. 

Right now I'm pretty entrenched in the first two discs (though I'll get to the second two at some point), and I just think this is SUCH a good box set.  I actually didn't realize how much I liked this band until basically this morning, when I started listening.  I'm fascinated by them; the "family" tree in the booklet that came with the box set is incredible, listing every single band any one of the four guys has been in, along with some bands that other people they play with often have been in.  It's insane, and it's really neat.  I know I talked about the whole CSNY dynamic in my last post about them (linked to up there), but it's like their voices are made for each other.  Their version of Blackbird makes me want to cry tears of joy, it's so beautiful.  And then there are songs like Helplessly Hoping and Suite: Judy Blue Eyes and Deja Vu and Find the Cost of Freedom and that's it, I'm lost in their voices. 

So that's what I'm doing on this December 27th of 2006:  listening to (and loving) CSN(Y).

Christmas wrap-up (or unwrap?)

Well, Merry Christmas, the day after.  I didn't bring my computer to my mom's house, so I didn't blog Eve, or Day.  Which was nice, actually.  It was a busy, hectic, fun, wonderful two days, and I hope yours was as well.  But now it's over, and I'm having an absolutely NEEDED holiday week from work (my employer gives us all a week off, with pay), cleaning my house, assimilating our presents into the house.  That's mostly an easy process, because a lot of the things are useful items that already have places in the house--sheets, dishes, knee-socks, a beautiful new vase--but it means I have a lot of cleaning and neatening and organizing to do.  I was actually moving fast and doing a lot of good this morning, but then I cut the bottom of my foot at 10:30 and things went to hell.  It's not a big cut, or a deep cut, but it's in a bad spot, and it still hurts when I put a lot of pressure on it, so that's bad.  I'm still going to do stuff, but it'll just be a little slower and more careful, that's all.

I'm not 100% sure how I cut my foot.  (S is always marvelling at how I'm capable of injuring myself semi-severely with no idea of how I've done it.  It happens ALL THE TIME, and I'm left moaning and whimpering and saying "I don't know" when people ask me what happened to me.  Which makes people think nothing is really wrong, but really it is.  Like this morning.  I don't know what cut my foot, but there was blood coming out of it and so ergo, I must have done something.)  I think there may be something wrong with the carpet at the place it meets the tile in our apartment.  Like, it's worn down and a staple is sticking out?  Is that possible?  Regardless, when I looked at the spot it happened, there was nothing visibly metal and sharp sticking out of the carpet, so I really can't say that it was a staple.  It's a little scary, because it could very well happen again, and there'd be no way to know for certain, because there's nothing identifying the place on the carpet where it happened.

Ah, well.  Christmas is over, and in a few short days it's New Year's (which is the lamest holiday ever, but means I have a week off, so okay.), and then it's a YEAR on the job and it's only 4 months 'til Italy, and S's brother is coming to visit....and there's a lot happening.  But it feels good.

Remember how unlucky I've been?

It gets worse.  Or it might get worse.  My throat feels as if it might erupt into a full-blown soreness tomorrow, which might indicate that I'm getting a cold.  If it is a cold, this won't be my first Christmas with one.  The first Christmas that S and I spent together, I had the kind of cold that knocks you on your ass, and knocks you on your ass voiceless.  By the end of Xmas Eve, I was completely dead, in that "I'm sick, but it's okay" kind of a way. 

The thing about this Xmas is that I've got to work extra hours tomorrow and Thurs. (though if I'm really sick, I won't; I'll just have to deal with it all), because I took yesterday off, a day off that was pre-planned far in advance of the sickness of last week.  See, that's the other thing that sucks.  I exhausted my sick-time last week, with that little bug (or whatever it was) that had me chained to the couch (and toilet) in pain and misery.  And I've got no options tomorrow, because S is coming out to meet me at my work (on the train) and I'm going to then drive us both to meet his mom, who is in town for one night only, and that night is tomorrow.  (It's a long story, and I don't really feel like explaining right now, but suffice it to say that we were not supposed to be going to her; she was supposed to be coming to us.)

Anyway, the long and the short of it is that I'm probably getting sick again (and I have a pretty good hunch why, and that is another long story that involves pretty disgusting facts of my life, facts that I'm not sure if I'm ready for my dad and other assorted family members to read), which is incredibly unlucky, no?  First my car, then me, and wait, then me again.  Remarkably, S hasn't been sick yet, and didn't get sick last time I had a cold, so maybe this one will spare him too.  He didn't get that stomach thing (which sort of reinforces the idea that it was something I ate, but still.  Yeesh.) either, which is good.  He's apparently more hardy than me.  I'm pretty sure I would know if he had the stomach thing.  But actually, if he got a mild cold, I might not know.  He's kind of stoic like that.

But that wasn't the point.  The point was:  Could my christmas season get any more unlucky?  (Knock on wood, cross your fingers, jeez.)

Bit and Pieces

• Macys.com through Amazon refunded me the 9.95 for shipping, thank god.  Now I don't have to go postal on them.
• I saw that Bill Gates said something about buying CDs and ripping them, and how that's the best way to get music onto your digital music machine, whichever one you use.  (Bill wants it to be a Zune, obviously, which is in fact the most corrupt player if you're concerned about DRM and copyright issues, or even the music industry as a whole.  Don't buy a Zune!)  The thing is, what Bill is suggesting is in fact illegal.  It's technically illegal for you to take music off of a CD and put it on a machine that will play it without the presence of the CD.  That's only one troubling aspect of copyright and music, and believe me, the issues surrounding digital music are worse, and at best, copyright laws fails to balance the interests of the consumer and creator so egregiously that almost anything you do with digital music besides play it on the one mp3 player you first transferred it onto is illegal.  I've been doing my homework on this copyright stuff, and let me just say that I'm very troubled by all of it.  It's purely greed that motivates people to prohibit what should be fair use of an item YOU purchase, NOT rent.  And it's purely disgusting.
• In the "hits just keep on coming" category, it appears that the present I've bought for my sister may not arrive in time for Xmas.  I can't really get angry, because I've been kept apprised of the situation, and it's looking like a customs issue at the Port of LA.  I don't know what the actual problem is, but suffice it to say the product isn't remotely illegal, so who knows.  I'm not interested in cancelling the order, because I think it's a great present, so at least I have some little shitties to give my sis on Xmas morning if the present doesn't arrive.  Still, bad luck, eh?
• I'm having some book problems.  Still.  I'm having a hard time reading anything.  Nothing looks good, and even going into stores and buying books isn't helping.  (Don't worry, gift buyers, I haven't bought anything.)  I've started no fewer than 5 books, only to put them down at some point between the first 30 or so pages.  I don't know what it is.  Boredom and ennui and just plain being tired of books, I guess.  Six hours of reading a day will do that to you, I guess.
• I'm going to make the tuna salsa that I made for my dinner party for Christmas Eve at my mom's house.  I"m a little worried, only because it was so good last time, and everyone liked it, and what if no one does at Xmas Eve?  I mean, if S ate it, it has to be okay, because he's pickier than picky.  But you just never know if people will like it.  I'm vacillating between making a single and double batch.  If lots of people like it, a single batch won't be enough.  Six people licked the bowl clean at my dinner party, and there'll be tons more than six at my mom's.  But if no one likes it but S and I, and maybe my dad and his wife, and maybe my mom, then a double batch is too much.  Hmmmm.
• The shirt I'm wearing today is an a-one cleavage/bra shower.  I wore it because it's red, and today was the jingle mingle holiday employee breakfast here, and I thought that for once in my life I wouldn't be a contrarian.  But I'm constantly looking down at my boobs, making sure I'm not flashing the whole world my bland nude-colored bra.  In retrospect, I should have just been contrary and worn a shirt that doesn't expose me to the world every five minutes.
• Last day of finals here, which means that a) it's dead and b) it'll be even deader next week.  I can't think of how I'll pass 36 hours in this place and not want to cut my throat every ten minutes.  Do you think it would be bad if I sewed during work?

That's all for now, I guess.

Christmas Meme

Because everyone else has done it, and I love Xmas.

1.  Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?  Am I allowed to choose neither? 

2.  Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?  There are Santas who don't wrap presents?  I'm astonished. 

3.  Colored lights on tree/house or white?  Colored, only and ever.  I love playful Xmas trees, full of funky, fun, and homemade ornaments, replete with colored lights.

4.  Do you hang mistletoe?  I don't really get mistletoe.  Who needs an excuse to kiss?

5.  When do you put your decorations up?  Weekend after Thanksgiving.  But oddly enough, the only decorations I have are my tree and ornaments.

6.  What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?  Ummm, Italian beef, hands down.

7.  Favorite Holiday memory as a child?  I loved Christmas Eve.  Still do.

8.  When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?  To be honest, I don't remember.  Because by the time I was old enough to understand, we had to maintain the illusion for my baby brother.

9.  Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?  Yes, but only from extended family.

10.  What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him? I don't really remember leaving cookies for Santa.

11.  Snow! Love it or dread it?  I say I hate it, but the idea of living somewhere that doesn't have snow chills my insides.

12.  Can you ice skate?  I've never been skating.  For some reason, I wasn't invited (or didn't want to go?) on the fateful Katie-injury trip, and after that, I didn't so much want to go.

13.  Do you remember your favorite gift?  Hello, no.  Every year I get lots of things I love.

14.  What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?  Family, hands-down.

15.  What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?  I don't really like desserts.  Melting Moments, I guess, if I have to pick.

16.  What is your favorite holiday tradition?  I'm not sure.  Maybe S and I can make one of our own.

17.  What tops your tree?  Nothing.  Haven't found a tree topper I like.

18.  Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving?  Everyone always goes on and on about how much they love giving gifts, and it's probably true.  I tend to love it so much I go overboard, and spend way too much.  But damn, who doesn't like getting?

19.  What is your favorite Christmas Carol?   "God Rest Ye Marry Gentlemen" or "Greensleeves".  Done traditionally.  Also, like my dad, Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown Xmas.

20.  Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Yuck.  Yuck, yuck, yuck.

Erm

I've been listening to Outlander, as you know, and I've also said that I've read that book four or five times.  Well, I've also read the other books in the series more than once (each); I hate Dragonfly in Amber, but I've even read that three or four times.  Anyway, I like my Gabaldon, even though the books are getting progressively worse.  (I mean, shit, does Claire or Bree or Jamie HAVE to be raped in every goddamn book?)  But I keep reading because, well, because I just love it so freaking much.  I'm pretty sure it's full-on Jamie Frasier love, but it's also probably more complicated than that.

I can't really see where Gabaldon is taking the books, mostly because I really don't care to read another long sea voyage (back to Scotland to get the press?) and I really could care less about Jamie and Claire and the Revolutionary War.  I'm frankly miffed that Bree and Roger and the kids went back to modern times without Claire and Jamie.  So again, where does that leave the books?  On Gabaldon's website, she states that the books will end in 1800, whatever that means.  And what of the graves in Scotland, and the fact that Claire and Jamie are supposedly headed there?

So what I've decided is that I want to just end this whole past thing, and bring Jamie to 1974.  That'd make a brilliant book, what with the Scottish Highlander first seeing an airplane and a car and you get the point.  I know Gabaldon won't do it, because I'm pretty sure that Jamie CAN'T go back through the stones, at least according to her own narrative.  But it's fiction after all, and god, what a good book that would be.  Some of my favorite parts of the Outlander series are those moments when Claire or Bree or Roger is explaining something from these times to Jamie.  So it only follows that a whole book of that alone woudl be great, right?  Like I've said, it won't ever happen. 

So it's pointless to hope.  In fact, I don't even know why I've written this all down, because I must sound like a blithering idiot, what with the Highlander and the stones, and so on.  But I was thinking it, and well *shrug*, I guess I felt like exposing the world to my blithering idiocy.

(This is off-topic, but ever since I started listening to that damn audiobook, I think in a Scottish accent.  My attempt at a Scottish accent is always pitiful, so I never really do say anything in the accent, but now that I'm thinking in it, it makes me want to use stupid Scottish phrases and a stupid accent whenever I say anything at all.  It's really rather annoying.)

APOPLECTIC

My god.  My god my god my god.  Could I be any less lucky?  Something I ordered for S for Xmas, from Macy's through Amazon,  hasn't arrived.  It "shipped" over a week ago.

But you know why it hasn't arrived?  Because it NEVER shipped.  Yes, that's right, the tracking number on my Amazon account must have been false, because it NEVER shipped.  And it never shipped because it's NO LONGER AVAILABLE, which means I am down a present less than two weeks before Xmas. 

And you know what?  Now there's no way in hell I'll be able to find an exact replacement for this item, which makes me SO INCREDIBLY ANGRY that I'm overusing caps, because it's probably not available anywhere. 

I don't fucking care if this is an Amazon problem, I am holding Macy's responsible, because I've never had Amazon NOT tell me when something hasn't shipped for that reason (and in fact, I've had Amazon contact me by email and tell me something wasn't currently available, even though I'd "purchased" it.).  I've said that I'm never shopping at Macy's, ever, but I thought maybe if I really needed something (like this), I'd purchase through them.  Never again.  What a crappy, crappy store.

Update:  JESUS GOD IN HEAVEN.  I hate this company even more right this minute.  After being told I'd be refunded for my order, I've in fact found out I'm only being refunded for the item I ordered, and NOT the shipping and handling fee.  So I paid shipping and handling on an item that NEVER shipped to me.  I can't call Macy's right now, but I've already emailed them, and I will be calling them at the first chance I get tomorrow.  If they don't refund me the shipping and handling, I'm taking this straight to Consumerist, because this is absolute BULLSHIT.  I'm even angrier now than I was yesterday, and I was steaming.  Now?  BOILING. WITH. RAGE.