Opening Unlocked Doors

One goal I have for this year is to post more. In order to do that, I have to get less hung up on writing full-fledged posts and, as often as I can, do more sharing of the random detritus that runs through my head. Thus the Allison Krauss song - which is still running through my head. Help! I need something to replace it!

My new favorite blog: Serious Eats – www.seriouseats.com . It’s torture when you are hungry, but has a multitude of great ideas and information. For example, I now know not to waste my money on a *$ Tea Latte. I’ve already slowly weaned myself off of their Chai, so this should be fairly simple. Currently, I stick to the peppermint teas. What? Yes, I know that I’m basically paying for hot water and two tea bags, which I can easily do cheaper and more efficiently for myself at home. But sometimes I’m out and about and want a warm liquid, but I don’t want any caffeine or sugar. Ta da! Also, scroll down the front of the web page for recipes for homemade Girl Scout Cookies. Yum!

On Saturday, J and I went to see Twelfth Night, maintaining our two year old streak of seeing every major production of a Shakespeare play rolling into the new year. Yay! We watched a movie version of this play a couple of years ago, featuring Ben Kingsley as Feste and (I think) Nigel Hawthorne as Malvolio. The production on Saturday was SO much better. I was able to understand intricacies of the plot more and thoroughly enjoyed the acting throughout. We now have been to enough of these plays that we can recognize the actors from other productions. We can knowledgeably compare the merits and the failings of different productions. Our sophisticated theatergoing continues to get more sophisticated!

Did I mention that I’m not on my church’s Pastoral Search Committee anymore? Oh, yes. I dumped that activity a couple of months ago. Luckily, it was right before the Committee started meeting regularly and decisions were still being made about who else would be on the committee and who would chair it. I had delusions of being the Chair, but at this point I was in the middle of papers and exams and teaching and other draining, busy tasks, so I wised up and said, “NO. I cannot handle ONE more thing!” Of course, I felt horrible about resigning, even though those involved understood. Now, I am so relieved to not have another slate of meetings on my plate for the next 6 months.

There’s some lingering drama about whether I’ll be able to afford to take another class this semester. Don’t classes start today? Yes. Didn’t I already buy the book for my Social Psychology class? Yes. I am hoping upon hope something works out . . . which probably means it won’t, but I have to hope.

What else? I had a very lovely holiday. It was odd because Mr. Random went out to California to visit his family, but I remained alone in the DC area. I was much too worn out to want to spend two weeks visiting in-laws – my brain was simply fried and I just wished to revel in peace and quiet for a while. (Oh, by the way, Random Cat is much slimmer now than when she started on the “cat-kins” diet. However, she now acts as if she is starving all of the time and will take any opportunity to steal food off of your plate or out of your hand.) I did get to spend a lot of time with my own family, since both of my sisters were home for the holidays. It was nice to just have the Maiden Name girls together for a while.

Activities are slowly starting to ramp up again. I miss the quiet and self-directed-ness of the holiday break. Now it’s back to school and teaching and work and figuring out what the heck I’m supposed to be doing in this world . . .

Just so you know, I got an “A-“ in my Money and Banking Econ class. I worked my fanny off, so I feel I truly earned that grade. I’m rather disappointed that class is over. I thoroughly enjoyed both the professor and the topic. I have to figure out how to do incorporate more of those subjects into my current state of being so I don’t lose the knowledge I gained . . .

To end for today:

On Saturday, my friend J told me a story - the kind of story that comes up when you’re taking about random stuff and usually contains some larger, obvious truth that when you hear it you think, “I need to remember that!” I am hoping I get the story correct – I think I have most of it.

Some time ago, J had watched a show where there was a hypnotist. One of the things the hypnotist did was hypnotize a guy who was led into a dressing room at the store. The whole thing was filmed. The hypnotists told the guy that the door to the dressing room would be locked and that he wouldn’t be able to get out. Now, in reality, the door was NOT locked at all, but the man THOUGHT it was. The camera filmed the guy trying to get out of the dressing room and thinking that he was locked in, just working himself into a frenzy trying to get out.

How many times do we put “locks” around things that aren’t there? How many times do we have doors open in front of us, but for one reason or another we psych ourselves out of moving forward due to some imagined boundary?

After J told me that, we both thought about opportunities we had in the past that might have turned out differently if we hadn’t thought “Well, I can’t do *that*!” How many opportunities do I have in front of me now that I’m not recognizing?

I believe this is a good question to constantly keep in the forefront of my mind as I move forward though the year. Who knows, it maybe a good question for you guys too?

Waving warmly . . .

It's So Hard Admittin' When It's Quittin' Time

My boss, seeing my frazzled, exhausted state the past few days, told me to take the rest of the week off. That was awfully kind of her, and I eagerly took her up on her offer.

However, I’ve spent most of today checking my e-mail waiting for a coworker to finish editing a document so I can post it to the field, and writing up a few things that someone else asked me to help them with. Well, at least I’m at home on my couch . . .

The Random Cat spent the morning glued to the balcony window, watching all of the birds flying around and perching in the trees that are left standing near out condo. She sat hunched and ready to pounce, probably ardently hoping that I would open the screen door and let her prowl. There’s no chance of that – I can just see the Random Cat leaping off of the balcony, in a very ill-advised attempt to capture a bird, and while it would provide a moment of comic relief, having to go downstairs and pick up a splattered kitty does not appeal to me at all . . .

So, I’m still on edge . . . tomorrow I have a doctor’s appointment for a yearly check-up, which means I will have to drop Mr. Random off downtown and pick him up from work so I can use the car. I will also have to go into the office briefly to do something – I hope I can get there early enough to avoid people! So I’m thinking tomorrow won’t yield much rest either . . .

Maybe Friday? Fingers and toes crossed . . .

An ACTUAL Snapshot

I called this blog "Snapshots" because, at the time, I loved taking pictures. I still do, but I don't get to practice as much as I had in the past. Also, when I do take pics, they are usually for work, or uploaded to the other Random computer.

But now that I know how to upload pics ALL BY MYSELF (and it IS way easier than I thought), you guys might see a few more ACTUAL snapshots from me . . .

Tonight, let's start with this picture of the much slimmed down Random Cat stealing a hunk of bread from Panera. Unfortunately, that's the real color of our condo rug . . . I positively hate it . . . and please don't mind the old loafers in the background . . . and the fringe is from the table runner on the coffee table . . .

Random Cat is insufferable now. She is sufficiently slimmed down that now she can jump on counters - she could not before, which I thought was the best thing about her! She is also starving. all. the. time. so you if you are sitting on the couch or on the floor having a snack or a sandwich, she suddenly gets friendly and climbs all over you, trying to steal your food out of your mouth or off of your plate. She also now feels free to walk all over laptop keyboards, especially when very busy typing . . .

In short, she is now exhibiting true cat-like behavior, which is probably healthier all around, but I am ashamed to say that I rather liked it better when she was fat and lazy and lethargic . . .