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Invitations: ordered. Commence palpitations. Eh, I'm only (sort of) kidding. I'm confident the invites will be just right, and since they were an Etsy purchase, the whole process was stress-free and entirely without any pressure. So... there. ( warning: wedding-y rambling ahead )Tags: bhu, derby, family, holidays, mother, teh fiance, thanksgiving, wedding madness
current location: blue house up
current mood:  accomplished
current music: mass effect (*blammo!*)
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ok, i copied the quiz from bec. my responses aren't formatted well b/c i have henna on my left fingertips & typing is therefore a little dicey. nonetheless... What is your current obsession? roller derby and training for roller derby. i don't cross train nearly enough, and it's pretty much all i think about. getting stronger, building endurance, getting a handle on strategy & gameplay. progress is incremental but steady. it has totally infected my brain. What's for dinner? i ate some tasty bite indian food from a pouch. delicious, but my digestive system will get its revenge on me later :( What's the last thing you bought? a cupcake. at lunch. i looooove cupcakes. What are you listening to right now? the mentalist on tv. it's an entertaining show altogether, and i think the lead actor guy (with the vests!) is kinda (ok really) hot. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? i'm pretty om doing what i'm doing right this minute... i don't really have a strong desire to be anywhere else atm... What's your favorite quote (for now)? "Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal." -Henry Ford What's your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe? i'll be honest, i'm not really in love with my wardrobe these days. my jeans are worn & i have an over-abundance of work shirts (mostly polos). i do rather like my new sneakers, but there are many days when all i can think about is getting home & putting my pj's on. What's your dream job? something web/computer based & investigative or problem solving in nature, that pays well with reasonable hours & generous time off. What's your worst habit? i'm untidy & i procrastinate... Do you admire anyone’s style? yes... Describe your personal style? functional, simple, casual. this usually means t-shirts, jeans, and some kind of unusual or unique necklace. oh, shoes are important, too. i rarely skimp on the shoes. What are your favorite movies? the big lebowski up wall-e run lola run ummm... there are more but i can't call them to ming right now. What inspires you? Lots of people in my life inspire me for so many different reasons. -- i stole that answer from bec but it was worth it b/c it's a good one! What's your favorite book? right now, the years of rice and salt by kim stanley robinson used to be the city, not long after by pat murphy always have loved the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy books by douglas adams, and recently got hooked on the discworld novels by terry pratchett Do you collect something? no, but i have a rather extensive collection of journals & stationery that i try not to add to What do you like most about yourself? that i'm always trying, seeking, and learning new things. i don't do stagnation... it bores me. TAG YOU'RE IT! Tags: bhu, derby, misc etc, quizzy, random
current location: blue house up
current mood:  random
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Surly. That's how I'm feeling this morning. I bought a half-size bottle of wine last night that tasted terrible. I just wanted a little relaxer, but it was difficult to deal with b/c it tasted like the inside of a tire. Meh. Too late to do anything about it now. I'll probably drink some tonight anyway. I have practice tonight, where I'm sure to get guilt-tripped by our extremely anal-rententive director of merchandise/marketing. She's already managed to put a passive-aggressive post on our message board about how everything would be easier if everyone just read the boards like they're supposed to. Except... 1) the people reading that post are the ones reading the boards (DUH), and 2) you can see on the main forum page who's recently logged in. WHY NOT JUST EMAIL THE PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T LOGGED IN FOR A FEW DAYS instead of bitching at the ones who have? I do not understand. This is the same woman who complained that the staples in our last bout's programs (which I was responsible for) were "uneven," which caused some people not to be able to open their programs all the way. Um, WHAT? I stapled ~300 of those damn things BY HAND, of which the league paid for NONE thanks to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) onethousandcats, and I can promise you none of them were stapled so erratically that they could not be opened. Also, see above re: not paying for them to be printed, collated, or stapled. The next time I hear the word "staple" from her I'm going to STAPLE HER FACE. I remember now why I tend to shy away from group activities/endeavors. Thankfully, I also remember why I ever participated in them in the first place: because the rewards for participating in the activity outweigh having to deal with the difficulties of the group. At this point, that equation still tips toward the "rewards" end of the scale (and in a major way: I love this sport). If/when that stops being the case, I will reconsider. SO COME TO OUR BOUT ON SATURDAY B/C IT WILL BE AWESOME. Tickets here or at the door. Tags: derby, jj smash, work, wtf
current location: work
current mood:  cranky
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Overheard at Kohl's in Stow: They are a couple, aged 35-40ish, walking purposefully toward the checkouts/exit. They pass the women's underwear section. She: without breaking stride, scoffs, says, "Who would wear those striped bras?!" He: whiplash-turns to look, stops walking so suddenly I hear sneakers squeak on the floor, pauses, says, "...well I hope you will." She: continues walking, says nothing. Sad, funny, or both? I laughed. Tags: lolz, random, work
current location: work
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I left work 45 minutes early this afternoon. I claimed digestive trouble (which was partly true!), but mostly I just wanted to kill all humans. I felt this was as good a reason as any to use "emergency" time and get the hell out. I'm feeling much better now. I don't know what the problem was, but the solution appears to have been 2 slices of crunchy toast with blueberry jam and some fresh air via the trail in the park. The park is flooded, by the way: ( soggy!! )My preferred route was totally inundated, which was a bummer, but I improvised. Actually, more than half the park was inaccessible because of high water. Welcome, Spring! I love that I had enough daylight not only to do that, but to walk to the library to return my overdue books as well. It's a PITA, but the time change has its benefits for sure. Now ask me how I feel about it tomorrow morning. Heh. Finally, anyone reading this should come & see our Roller Derby Expo this Friday @ Springfield Lake Roller Rink: ( CLICK. DO IT NOW. )Open skate starts at 7PM, and our expo/mini-scrimmage is at 10PM; admission $10. I will almost assuredly not be participating in the scrimmage... but onethousandcats almost assuredly will be, and it will be awesome. Come support us hot skate-tastic bitches. We'll also be in the St. Patrick's Day parade in downtown Akron on Saturday, so... yeah. Come see us there, too ;) Hopefully tomorrow I'll be less misantrhopic. It would make life easier, anyhow. Final note: I totally adore Steve-O's partner's peacock dress from Dancing With the Stars tonight. It wins! Go Google it. You'll agree, I'm sure. Bye, now! Tags: bhu, derby, jj smash, random, work
current location: blue house up
current mood: better
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I think I have (mild) runner's knee. Oddly, it seems to be the result of skating. My knees have been sore by turns for about a week and a half, but it's a different kind of sore than I recall feeling when I started running last year. A quick Google search of "common knee injuries" turned up the following information on this website: Description:
Pain around and sometimes behind the kneecap... The pain often feels worst when running downhill or walking down stairs, and the knee is often stiff and sore after sitting down for long periods. You might hear a crunching or clicking sound when you bend or extend your knee." Yep, that's what I've got. The remedy, it seems, is to build up thigh/quad strength and make sure my feet are getting the proper support. I also should probably be employing the old standby, RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation). I've been wearing the self-sticking ACE bandage wraps on my knees for the last several practices, but mostly to help my knee pads from slipping. I'll see if upgrading to the actual ACE knee support/brace thingies will improve the situation. Generally, once I get good & warmed up at practice I don't notice the knees much; it's the day after when I walk down stairs I definitely feel it. Maybe this week I'll do some non-skating exercise for a bit of a change. It's the week before a bout, anyway... the league is going to be focused on getting ready for that (strategy & scrimmages & stuff) rather than on technique and general conditioning. Or at least that's how it's been during past pre-bout weeks. *shrug* Changing tacks... I have to order save the date cards for the wedding. We put the downpayment on the ceremony/reception venue last week, and now I need to take that next step. Every task I undertake for this wedding makes me feel anxious... I'm not anxious about getting married. That doesn't worry me. It's making sure I get all the details in order. I also worry about etiquette missteps... I really don't know which conventions are considered 'tacky' or not - wedding website? Registry or registries? Favors? Travel information/accommodations? Argh. And I'm supposed to know about all of this. After all, isn't this the event I've been dreaming about since I was a little girl??? Clearly, I am defective (*eyeroll*). And that's about it at the moment. Now it's off to kill that smell coming from... somewhere in the kitchen. Oh joy. Tags: bhu, derby, wedding madness
current location: blue house up
current mood: mellow
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Derby practice last night was... brutal. Not in the "omg I am so sore from all the kickass stuff we did to our muscles" brutal, either. It was emotionally, physically, and mentally painful & frustrating, and I don't feel that I got out of it what I could have. It began with me feeling made of left feet and my shins rebelling against me during the warm-up and the first drill. Add that to my (literally) being the odd girl out (true story: odd number of girls divided into skill-matched pairs = the JJ stands alone). I was instructed to "chase" the least speedy of the groups, which I busted my ass to do and still basically failed. Next up: pack skating, which I am terrible at and terrified of. "There is only one way to get better at that," said Gwyn. She is 100% right, of course, so I threw myself into the fray. Imagine, for those of you who are not participating in this sport, that you are skating within inches of other women at speeds you can barely maintain on your own with no distraction. That's pack skating lite; we haven't even gotten into blocking and passing and moving laterally across the track and also having to know where the hell everyone else is at all times. The ladies I was packed with were (per usual) extremely helpful and encouraging. They pushed and pulled me and kept me up where I needed to be, and I was concentrating like hell on not flying straight off the track into a post or wall. It was working (well, "working") until I wheel-locked with a girl and took us both down. Because of our relative positions, she fell forward like we're supposed to, and I fell back on my butt/tailbone area. Shooting pain, tiny sparkly stars, uncomfortable hot sensation running up my spine... you know, the usual for when you drop your whole body-weight on the wrong set of bones & nerves. I exited the track and tried to stretch it out, but ended up crawling off behind one of the rink walls, curling up into a fetal position, and crying. Win. To compound things... well, here's a little analogy. Your beer mug is about 1/3 full. Under normal circumstances this is not a problem or a hazard. Now slam your beer mug down onto the bar and see what happens to the liquid inside. Yes, I am trying to tell you that I peed myself. But only a little. Does that make it any less awful? Somehow I think not. I had several layers of 'bottoms' on, and it really was only a little, so I was able to put myself back together and get back on the track. Yes, I got back on the track. I sat out one other drill for the evening, but pushed myself to keep up for the rest of them. I was mentally wrecked by the time we closed down the rink, though. I tried not to focus on the grand failure this practice was for me, which was surprisingly easy to do. We had a little love-fest as we were stretching: what do you like best about derby? The thing is, while I felt like a total loser last night, I received nothing but encouragement from all of the women there. They want me to be there, they want me to get better, and they definitely make me feel welcome. If the atmosphere at practice were anything less than this, I don't think I'd be as willing to go back. So, while last night was extraordinarily difficult, I don't put too much stock in it. After all, when I started I couldn't do any of what I did last night. Baby steps. Now, back to work for me, where I will continue counting down the hours until I can take a nice, long, cozy nap. Tags: derby, work
current location: work
current mood:  bruised
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Here's a list of the 100 greatest novels that I stole from Grace's Facebook, and now I'm going to see how many I've read. Strikethroughs mean I've read it. Italics mean I've started it or read part of it. ( the list awaits below the cut )Hm. I ended up with 26 titles I've read, 4 I've started but not finished, and 70 remaining to be read. I counter, however, that in some cases the list is repetitive (Bronte, Austen, Dickens, etc), and in others reductive (Kingsolver, Morrison). I mean, really, how much Jane Austen should a person have read? And how did Austen make the list several times and Kingsolver only once? A travesty, to be sure. That said, I don't know the list's provenance. I could probably find a better list online somewhere with a little searching. And I just might. Oh, and every time I see the name "Jack Kerouac," I think of that contemptible song by The 10,000 Maniacs, " Hey Jack Kerouac"... and then it sticks in my head. And if you click on the link you can share in my misery. You're welcome ;) Tags: bhu, books, random
current location: blue house up
current mood:  WASTING TIME
current music: like mary down in mexico on all souls day
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...well, you get the idea. While certainly not the coldest temperature the nation has seen this week (hi, Cedar Rapids!), I still think it's notable: 
[image saved at about 9:30 this morning]10 below, biatch. I don't care who you are, that's cold! Neighbor's car wouldn't start this morning. I managed to make it out a few minutes early & tried to start my car so we could jump hers, and... no dice. Luckily, Zi was able to start her car, so she drove. We attempted to jump Neighbor's car when she got there, but even with it hooked up to life support it was only emitting little clicks (mine, otoh, was coughing and wheezing and trying to turn over... so not dead yet). Fail! Anyhoo. Interesting morning. And Zi & I still made it in to work on time to grab breakfast before logging in. What can I say? We're good. And that's all for now, kiddos. Back to the working I go. Tags: bhu, neighbor chick, weather/seasons, work, zi
current location: work
current mood: chilly!
current music: disturbia
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I finally got around to making the squash & black bean empanadas I've been meaning to make since before Thanksgiving. I printed the recipe and I've been carrying it around in my purse (or, as Teh Fiance likes to call it, my Bag of Holding), and I'm SO GLAD I did that: the blog I got the recipe from has since removed it from teh internets! Praise for printers! Anyway, since I can't link you directly to the recipe like the lazy bum I am, I'll transcribe it here and post my photos of the results - which results, btw, were rather yummy. ( Squash & Black Bean Empanadas )Oh, and speaking of Teh Fiance, he is back among the ranks of the insured (health insurance, and praise jeebus for that) as of January 1st. In celebration of that, on New Year's Day he went for the inaugural bicycle ride of 2009... with MUCH layering to fight the temps. Here's the final result of his gear accumulation (I was able to snap the photo just before he dashed out - he claimed the temp inside was sweltering under all the clothes and he couldn't wait to get out in the cold): The only thing that wasn't well insulated, as he discovered early in his ride, were his shoes. He returned home an hour or so after leaving and was seriously worried that he'd gotten frostbite. Luckily, he didn't, and he has since remedied this problem with appropriate footwear. Still: this picture makes me laugh... oh, how I love this guy ♥ Tags: adventure, bhu, bicycles, cooking, product review, recipe of the (!!), teh fiance
current location: blue house up
current mood: mellow
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I dreamed last night that Teh Fiance bought our wedding band set and brought it home to show me. It was exactly what I didn't want: wildly expensive, huge stone(s), flashy & extravagant. Actually, it looked like a gaudier version of ( this: )I was horrified. Then I was horrified at having felt horrified, because this wonderful, loving man had gone out and purchased something he felt reflected my worth, and that any other woman would swoon over. How ungrateful, right? So, against my better judgment, I tried on the set (the large single stone, btw, was deep green just like my engagement ring, but HUGE). I really made an effort to get my brain around the rings. I tried to imagine myself wearing them every day, I tried to conjure up some genuine appreciation for them. Underneath it all, though, I felt miffed. I had already explained to him what I'd wanted... why hadn't he listened? I had, in fact, specifically stated that I didn't want anything so extreme. Why had he gone against what I wanted? Why had he spent such an astronomical sum on something we'd both agreed was - for us - a waste of our money? We're not rich, how dare he put us financially so far in the hole! Why must I pretend to like something that I had already (and specifically) expressed great disinterest in? Then, after wandering around in this dream trying like hell to change my feelings about the ring set and his motivation(s) for purchasing such, he told me they were fakes. Gumball-machine rings. And he gave me a box with exactly the band I'd wanted all along in it. I very nearly cried with relief when I saw it. He'd listened after all. How could I have doubted? Tags: bhu, dreams, teh fiance, wedding madness
current location: blue house up
current mood: oy.
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Okay, I'm taking stardiver's bait. Here's my book list from 2008: 1) Hand Felted Jewelry... (nonfiction), Carol Huber Cypher 2) Ragtime, EL Doctorow, unfinished3) Fifty Degrees Below, Kim Stanley Robinson, unfinished4) Terra Antarctica... (nonfiction), William Fox, unfinished5) Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, Anne Rice 6) Christ the Lord: Road to Cana, Anne Rice 7) Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson 8) The Last Continent, Terry Pratchett 9) The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri 10) The Difference Engine, William Gibson 11) The Assassination of Jesse James..., Ron Hansen 12) A Model World and Other Stories, Michael Chabon 13) The Years of Rice and Salt, Kim Stanley Robinson 14) Prodigal Summer, Barbara Kingsolver 15) Altared... (nonfiction, essays), Colleen Curran 16) Beast, Donna Jo Napoli 17) The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Michael Chabon 18) Mandala: A Novel of India, Pearl S. Buck, unfinished19) Weddings for Grown-ups (nonfiction), Carroll Stoner 20) Sanctuary, Paul Monette, unfinished21) Talk to the Hand..., Lynne Truss, unfinished22) Consider the Lobster (nonfiction, essays), David Foster Wallace, unfinished22 books total, including 7 unfinished and 1 re-read ( Bridge to Terabithia) Top picks, not counting the re-read: The Years of Rice and Salt, Beast, The Assassination of Jesse James..., Prodigal SummerForgettable: The Difference Engine, A Model World..., Christ the Lord... (both titles), RagtimeThoughts: I really should just purchase any future Kim Stanley Robinson I intend to read, because his writing style is so dense that it takes me forever to finish them. I ended up snagging The Years of Rice and Salt from Amazon, and I'm really glad I did. It was definitely worth the effort I put into it. I'd like to revisit some of this year's unfinished/forgettable titles someday. Maybe I'd get something different out of them at some point in the future. What's on my list for 2009: More Kingsolver. I'm amazed I haven't read her complete library yet. David Foster Wallace. Consider the Lobster was fascinating; I've heard great things about The Infinite Jest. If I get ambitious I'll dig into that. I found The Call of the Wild (Jack London) at a yard sale this summer for a couple of dollars... I LOVED that book as a kid, and I read it probably 8 or 10 times. I'm looking forward to re-reading it. In that same vein, I'd like to read the Newbery Medal winning titles. I've read a good chunk of them, and it would be nice to read them from an adult perspective and see what else I can gain from them. I wouldn't mind reading a couple of popular titles ( The Secret Life of Bees, The Time Traveler's Wife, The Lovely Bones, etc). Finally, I've been meaning for years to get to the big name authors one is supposed to have read (Gabriel Garcia Marquez - I actually have a couple of paperbacks of his that I haven't cracked yet, Toni Morrison, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway). 2009 may be the year to check off some of those authors. I tend to be a rather ADD reader, so having several parallel plans/lists works for me. I'm sure I won't get to everything on them this year, but I'll make an effort to hit one book from each category and see what catches my fancy. Is this a meme post? Only if you want it to be! I've love to know what others are reading, so feel free to post away. I imagine this will probably be my last post for 2008, and in the event that it is: HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! I hope 2009 will be a great year for all. ♥ Tags: bhu, books, currently reading, holidays
current location: blue house up
current mood: accomplished
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previous
silly
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are we there yet?
Amazed
