serinde

In some sort of over-compensation, my brane kept waking me up throughout the early morning, so at 5:25 I said "oh fuck it" and got up. 5 min. of brisk walking on the elliptical, 10 min. of stretching, 5 min. of cursing and digging out a hat and jacket because it is POURING RAIN, 20 min. of sixty seconds of running alternating with ninety seconds of walking.

Observations:
1) I really need a ~~watch~~ chronograph with a LIGHT. Because it is TOO DARK TO SEE IT.
2) I'm doing my running around the park behind our house, which has cement walks, which AIUI is the worst thing to run on. I was trying to land as lightly as I could, but I still have a little bit of what feels like jarring ouch in my right shin. I am not sure there's any other option at this time, because though running on the grass may be an option in warmer weather, when it's frozen and uneven (or muddy, like right now) it is even less of a win than cement.
3) Because it was raining, and therefore both warmer and more humid than it has been of late, I didn't have the icy-air-in-my-lungs issue to contend with. I'm sure I will before long. (It occurs to me, whether the saline nasal gel they recommend for Burning Man might not help?)

I have also made a deal with myself, that as long as I keep to my workout schedule, I can eat according to Phase 2 of South Beach (that is, some amount of whole grain bread and some fruit). If I schluff off, it's back to Strict Horrible Time until the next time I run.

I have (finally) finished the Sabres-themed tea cozy for our large tea pot. (That is, I finished knitting it and I sewed the two halves together; I do still have to twist a cord to go through the drawstring top, but it is currently around the teapot and Does What It Should.)

I've also repaired the kludge on my raincoat so the stupid pointless wrist-buckled straps don't come apart constantly, and I am 80% finished replacing the zipper on my Not-A-Vivienne-Westwood skirt.

This burst of needle activity has been brought to you by "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" (which, I admit, is not anywhere near as wretched as I anticipated) and "BBC Crown Jewels" concerts.

Or, "Pollo al Forno col Pomodoro Fresco e la Cipolle". Maybe. I think. I MADE IT UP.

Trying to come up with something that is a) South Beach compliant and b) I actually wanted to eat, I let myself be inspired by Happy New Cookbook. I chopped half a yellow onion and two garlic cloves, and let them slowly cook in a bit of olive oil. When the scent was pretty well filling up the room, I dumped it all over the three boneless, skinless breasts in an 8X8 baking dish, ground some pepper over top, covered with foil and put in a 350 deg. oven.

Meantime, I peeled two vine-grown tomatoes (still a pain in the ass) and chopped them coarsely.

About 5 minutes before I figured it was done, I raised the oven to about 380, removed the foil, and put the tomatoes over top. (Only then it cooked for maybe 10-15 minutes because I got involved with laundry.)

I meant to add basil, but I forgot. It was still pretty good.

Am trying to book hotel space in Melbourne for the weekend of Mar. 29-30th. I'm not saying that it's a Bethlehemic You Are Staying In A Stable situation, but availability is definitely...limited; more so than I would have anticipated this early out. Is there something significant about that weekend that I wot not of? Will we be dodging hordes of $FANGROUP on the streets?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Special Exhibitions: Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy

This exhibition will explore the symbolic and metaphorical associations between fashion and the superhero. Featuring movie costumes, avant-garde haute couture, and high-performance sportswear, it will reveal how the superhero serves as the ultimate metaphor for fashion and its ability to empower and transform the human body. Objects will be organized thematically around particular superheroes, whose movie costumes and superpowers will be catalysts for the discussion of key concepts of superheroism and their expression in fashion.

Opens in May. I am on it like white on rice. If they could only find a way to work in rock music, it would be everything I ever wanted. (Well, also if it was by Versace instead of Armani. Details--!)

I set out exercise clothes. I taped the print-outs of the stretches to the wall downstairs. I confirmed that the heart-rate monitor watch has a stop watch function. And I set the alarm for 5:45.

PM.

For some reason, I am approaching my 20 min. of walking/jogging tomorrow morning with the kind of trepidation and ONOZ one usually reserves for firewalking up Mt. Everest. Is this because I need to create drama (because we haven't had BLOODY WELL ENOUGH RECENTLY), or because my lizard brain wants me not to do it?

In other news, during supergroup time tonight we have found an answer to the extreme annoyance of being tell-spammed by idiots advertising Chinese goldfarming sites: we tell-spam them back, either with our insane cries of "Po!" (long story) or by extended Engrish ads for

elibalin's fictional hatfarming creation, MAOHATS.COM. (Which reminds me, we must snarf that domain name before someone else does.)

I have banished the Paperwork Shoggoth, and created a pile of shreddings that is roughly as large as me. (Seriously.) The desk is clean, except for a small tray of things I am keeping for reference. Everything has its (labelled) folder in the filing cabinet. This took me about six hours, all told.

Minor fail: I can't use my laptop at the desk, because it can't get wireless. (Which is odd, since one can get it just fine from the TV room, a few steps away.) Edit:

sweh can get signal just fine from the same location with his Eeeeeeee so I don't know what the hell is going on.

Too tired to post more, or more creatively, at this time.

Current Mood: exhausted

It is clear that there is a time-delay on holiday-induced weight gain. (Duh.) I am Not Amused, and will not stand for these results. And it seems increasingly clear that I won't be able to slot aikido in for the next while. Ergo:

1) I begin another round of South Beach after tomorrow morning's shopping trip. In spite of this wonderful cookbook. I made Spaghetti col Pomodoro Fresco e la Cipolla last night and boy was it good. Well it should be, with SIX TABLESPOONS OF BUTTER.

2) Next Monday, I shall begin a walk-to-run program. I'll jump out of bed at 6am, put on running clothes, and immediately go out into the January cold for half an hour.

(Pause for gales of laughter.)

I post these things here because it's much more likely I'll bring myself up to the mark when the alternative is public Fail.

(I have also signed up for the weekly yoga class the employee-wellbeing program offers at work, but it does not start til late Feb.)

D&D got called on accout of Steve anticipating not leaving work til after 7, so I bit the bullet and started on the Paperwork Shoggoth.

This was not as easy as it sounds. When I got home and was hungry and looked at usual post-trip bleh house mess, I went five rounds with the crazy; but took a big glass of Man Up, You Big Whiner and reminded myself that I have absolutely nothing to feel woeful about compared to 80% of the universe (at least), and snarled myself into a more productive state. Unloaded & reloaded the dishwasher, put chicken-and-rice in the oven (you'll know that one,

shechameleon), put away the load of towels from the dryer, disposed of the cardboard forest that was growing up around the beer/soda receptacle, and cleaned the catbox. Then, on to the shoggoth.

A bit of background: I am (and this upcoming statement is for some reason cause for surprise & disbelief among a portion of my acquaintance), perhaps, somewhat disorganized. (Pause for howls of laughter from

sweh.) Part of it is nature, part is nurture, and part is the fact that I really am trying to juggle about three too many balls at any given time. I have tried various techniques to cope with this, and have clawed my way to at least a bare stability where I don't drop too many things on my foot, but I always have a vague background feeling of Imminent Doom related to this. Upon twin glowing recommendations from

sedai and

spride, I checked out this "Getting Things Done" book & associated method. Mirabile dictu, it seems to actually be working for me. I have not yet achieved full implementation, no, not by a long chalk; but even the initial passes have worked wonders on my brain, my mental state, and my productivity. Mostly I've only done it at work so far, but I'm shifting it to use at home, and the big thing standing in my way initially is the Paperwork Shoggoth. (Which is composed of over a year's worth of bills, statements, and miscellaneous whatever that I've dealt with but haven't stored, so it's all in a giant pile on top of my desk--thus rendering it useless for any purpose at all.) So tonight, I opened and sorted every single piece of un-dealt-with mail, and this weekend I shall file until my fingers bleed and every single item is in its destined location. And then I shall deal with every item as soon as it comes into the house. I shall take it downstairs, I shall pay it (or whatever needs doin'), and I shall immediately rotate a quarter-turn and file it. (Which

sweh has been trying to get me to do for years. I'm sorry, lovey, I'm a slow learner.)

This was not without cost. There is a long slice on my arm now from a particularly vicious catalog that did not want to go gently into the goodnight of the waste bin. But it went.

Current Mood: productive

Or, "The country cousin seeks guidance". So, here we are, eventually to depart for Faraway Lands, and I realize that there are a lot of things that my previous travels have not prepared me for, not even going to London. Wherefore, these questions:

1. Phone. We have plain ole CDMA phones, which as I understand it don't work in the rest of the world. And which, as I understand it, I can't just buy a different SIM card to make work in Australia. What do I do?

2. Laptop. That is, to bring or not to bring. Previously I whinged about my original plan of using it as an amusement device for the long long [insert Dr. Cox "long" routine] long flight being a non-starter. OTOH, it strikes me that having Teh Intarwubs readily available to us while we decide what to do on a given day is a good notion. But: will it be readily available? Are Melbourne and Sydney veritable garden lands of free wireless? Or would I be lugging around a 13" MacBrick?

3. Is it really hard to switch to driving on the other side of the road?

They found Heath Ledger dead in his apartment. No sign of foul play at this time, but they found pills near him. (Nothing about what pills, mind you...).

I'm really woeful about this. I've not seen a lot of his movies but, so far, I've been amazed at how he disappears into roles (as opposed to most actors in vogue right now, who make you ever so aware that you are watching Handsome Actor Foo Bar), and I was settling down to many happy years of watching him go forth and conquer.

dariodevil is on the phone with a friend right now, and was commenting that Ledger is known to be a Seriously Method Actor and that perhaps disappearing into the role of the Joker was more than he could cope with. Now it's not like there's any good reason for such a death to happen, but that would be a worse'n than many.

I am bundled in the comfy chair with two blankets, two cats, a mug of herbal tea, a pile of zinc drops, a box of Kleenex, and Mister Laptop. And I have just discovered that Pages comes with a "project proposal" template, huzzah. I suspect that, given the environment of $WORK, this will be dramatic overkill (and that $BOSS is just expecting me to come in and talk at him and scribble on his whiteboard a bit); but I think it will help me get all my thoughts into a presentable fashion. And it's probably good practice.

Have developed a sore throat over the course of the last hour. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO. I cannot be sick this week.

...in which I realize that Beastmaster was a far, far better movie when I was 10.

Though I still go completely stupid for the tiger and the ferret binking noses at the end.

Am home from merry con-going.

audiovile's brand new computer is not working AGAIN--this time the hard drive, apparently (and he has a recurring touch of the crystal spins).

elibalin is ill of fatigue. Found that

dariodevil hasn't been able to sleep for nearly the whole time I've been gone (but at least he's sleeping now). House is in the disaster state we left it. Don't know if

naudia and Brian have even left Boston yet. Must spend all of tomorrow writing project proposals to present unto The Boss on Wednesday.

Iz can be nap tiem now plz? No, no it can't. Iz can be unpacking and laundry and feeding people tiem now.

Apparently in this our 21st century global wossname, I can't use my laptop to entertain me on my 26 hours in transit, because cattle class still has no power outlets.

At last, my morning has stopped screaming long enough for me to be able to say:

Happy birthday,

shechameleon!

When I went to bed, I was promised 5-8" of snow with predictions of IMMINENT DOOM and--perhaps? could it be?--a chance of a snow day.

I wake up to find a barely noticeable sprinkle of white frosting the grass.

Brainstorming for yet another spread out of my new cookbook...

Noci in Camicia
Pomodori Ripieni con Formaggio Caprino ed Erba Cipollina
La "Turta" di Spinaci e Riso
Tortellini col Sugo Fresco di Pomodoro
Conchiglie col Sugo di Salsicce, Panna e Pomodoro
Risotto col Radicchio Rosso
Cipolle Ripiene al Forno
Melanzane al Forno
Finocchi in Insalata con Salsa Piccante
Torta di Cioccolato con Uvetta e Pignoli
Riso Nero

And, of course, Fragole all'Aceto Balsamico, since it was such a hit last time.

I can't bear to let go any of these options.

Profile

serinde

December 2024

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

Syndicate

Page Summary

Style Credit

Style: Descending for Paletteable by branchandroot
Resources: Blue Jupiter

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Jan. 17th, 2026 08:33 pm

Recent Entries

And I Ran, I Ran...Not Real Far Away, Actually

A project! Finished!

From the Experimental Kitchen: Baked Chicken with Tomatoes and Onions

National End Of Summer Weekend, or something

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

My Fail is classically lame.

My Internal Drama, Let Me Show You It

Productive Cat Is Kinda Tired

And, A Few Corporeal Resolutions

Productive Cat Is Productive

The World Is A Very Big Place

Heath Ledger Mortuus Est

Go Go Gadget Project Management!

Crap.

A Moment of Revelation

splat

"one world", my foot

PSA, At Least If You Know Both Of Us

O NOES TEH SKY IZ FALLING!!11!~ oh wait

Wanted: Wal*Mart size portion of Settle Down, Beavis