dirtylibrarian | Entries tagged with update

I've been lousy with the LJ as of late. Busy, busy, and finding my blogging needs satisfied by Twitter as of late, though it certainly is not challenging me as a writer at all.

October summary:

Watched Rocket Science. Can barely even remember what it was about. Debating, I think.
Hosted my sci-fi book group at my house. Bought a tres leches cake.
Had friends over for leftover cake and nachos.
Went and saw Sigur Ros. Amazing show.
Watched 10,000 BC with my mom. I think it was written by a 13 year old.
Played pinball.
Started hiking with new group of friends, acquired through Yelp. First week: dim sum and Tiger Mountain.
Gin and Tacos party at

capn_jil 's
Watched Burn After Reading With Mom. She hated it, I rather liked it.
Watched Waitress with mom. Contemplated pie.
Watched To Catch a Thief. Contemplated the French Riviara.
Watched last debates. Drank beer.
Had a nice enough lunch date.
Went to many happy hours, birthday parties.
Hiked Little Si. Absorbed sunlight.
Watched Bigger Stronger Faster. Good solid questioning documentary.
Watched PS I Love You. Sappy as all hell.
Stayed in and read a whole evening!
Developed a fresh crush.
Attended an Oyster Frenzy.
Went to a Muppet themed party.
Hiked to Snow Lake.
Drank many types of pumpkin beer.
Watched AKA Tommy Chong. Was disappointed.
Went to see John and Hank Green.
Had a nice enough second date.
Followed

jemale and

kiplet 's baby's birth over twitter, flickr.
Attended costume parties.

Gee willikers! No wonder I've felt busy.

Next weekend: Lynda Barry writing workshop in Portland....I'm so excited!

I'm sooooo behind on LJ. Twitter has become my preferred form of blogging lately, mostly for convenience sake. This is the first leisurely day I've just sit around in front of my computer messing around and relaxing. Feels really nice.

September was very busy. Things I did:

Went and saw Mike Daisy and Reggie Watt with

jillbertini . (Fun).
Finished watching The Wire with

lara7 . (Loved it!)
Went fly fishing with my retired friends J. & S. (Relaxing).
Did a little sewing with

marssaxman . (Tiny bit of mending).
Had dinner with

juliebata and

holyoutlaw before they moved.
Went camping with

marssaxman and A.
Went bowling (and was given a hard time about my perfectionism...so many 9s!)
Watched Atonement. (Good, but not great).
Watched Lars and the Real Girl (Sweet).
Went backpacking with friends H. and P. at Mt. Baker. (Exhausting, but great).
Went to

lara7 's housewarming party.
Had dinner with an old coworker.
Flew to California where I did bridal party things, including: rode in a Hummer limo (to my mortification), soaked in mud at a spa, got my nails done with the rest of the bridal party, got an updo, and was in my brother's wedding. Also saw lots of family, and took a surfing lesson.

Since I got back Monday night, I have:
Watched Be Kind Rewind (sadly not as good as I hoped).
Watched Dan in Real Life (Disney family drama for adults...a bit lame).
Watched Rocket Science (maybe good if you are a debate nerd).
Hosted bookgroup at my house...made avocado spread, bought Tres Leches cake.
Had

lara7 ,

juliebata , G.,

capn_jil and friend over for leftover cake and nachos.

Plan for today:
Get 8 bags of potting soil and compost out of trunk.
Weed and compost garden.
Run errands in Renton.
Go swimming.
Dinner and Sigur Ros with a Yelp friend.

Hoping to downshift a bit, and relax more this month!

I'm winding down from my day off at home, and realized I haven't really updated this much.

Short version: my vacation in Portland was really lovely. Got to hang out with

thisisnotanlj ,

snagvictim ,

jemale ,

kiplet ,

pfarley ,

colleencoover ,

erikamoen ,

nevikmoore ,

mudron and

quirkybird . Ate a ton of great food (which I yelped about briefly, than became exhausted), read a stack of graphic novels, went canoeing and ice skating and roller skating and to an amusement park. Took lots of naps, and swam a bunch in a lovely pool. Perfect, really.

Drove home in pouring (and occationally scary) rain. Car has been making funny sounds this week, which makes me nervous. Don't know when I'll have time to bring it in. I am really thinking it is time to consider getting a newer one, but at the same time having a newer car in my neighborhood without a garage seems like a bad idea. Hmph.

What I really find myself wishing is that I could move myself - and my lovely job - to Portland, where I could become a bicycle commuter like all my lovely friends there. Man, I love it down there. Seattle is starting to feel too big and spread out to me...but I really adore my job, yet don't want to move to Everett. What to do, what to do?

Today I did unpacked, did laundry, painted the heat grill in the bathroom (and a bit of wall I missed taping off), caught up on clearing out bloglines and LJ backlog reading, touched up the edges of the lilac bathroom walls, went grocery shopping, prepared my lunch for the week, did dishes (oops...actually I just filled up the sink and forgot about it until now), and attempted to catch up on my book log. For not going anywhere today, I still feel like I didn't do enough. Arg. Glad I got a week of vacation in, instead of 8 days of that ;)

I fell asleep on the couch trying to catch up on library DVD watching after a busy weekend, and woke up at 2am with a serious belly ache. Laying down in bed just made me feel barfy, so it was off to the Internet for me with a Belikin glass of fizzy water.

Why the bellyache? I ate WAY too much rich food this weekend. Ok, just too much food in general. On my vacation I was the model of eating just right, with maybe one evening of overindulgence. But today in particular, whew!

I apologize for not doing a better job of a trip report for my vacation in Belize...but by the time I had updated Scott's blog and posted almost 500 photos on flickr, I felt spent. It was an amazing vacation, one of the best I've ever had. Outstanding company, deep levels of relaxation, lots to see, little to do other than snorkel and lounge. I keep joking that if it had been any better I would have stayed, and that is near to the truth. If you are looking for a sunny, reasonably affordable vacation where you do as little as possible, I highly recommend Belize. I don't know when I am going back...but someday for sure.

Last weekend, my dad and his new girlfriend picked me at the airport. It was great seeing him and meeting her, but also overwhelming as my brain was still in Belize. She took over my kitchen and wonderful food...which is pretty much where the week's binge began ;)

Sunday was an old co-worker's retirement party. This is from my old job where they had the most fabulous pot lucks, so I had to try a bit of everything. Here is a horrible picture of me from that day. Ah well, at least I appear to be entertaining conversationally and in outfit.

Tuesday I was the only person to show up to the yoga class I've been attending. I'm kinda surprised they haven't canceled it already...it is at 4:30 and I think the most people I've seen there was four. But it was kinda cool having a private session, though a bit unnerving. To have one person you are not intimate with focusing exclusively on you for over an hour is a weird thing.

That evening I went to an excellent going away party...and at a reasonable amount of cheese, and a bit too much champaign.

Wednesday I hung out after work with one of my best friends, M., who happily made us a nice healthy pasta dish with feta and organic greens. We caught up, and watched a couple episodes of Flight of the Concords.

Thursday night I went over to my pals Z. and E.'s place and was impressed to see the many improvements they have made since my ex J. and his gaggle of computer geek pals moved out, and she moved in. E. and I went out to dinner at La Medusa, where I indulged in a new terribly guilty pleasure: pork belly. OMG. Sinful. Someday I may look back and see this as the turning point where my health went wrong.

Friday night I went out with some folks to Honey Hole, and planned to head home early and get some stuff done, but was happily distracted by an invite from

carapace_green and

johnaegard to go out for a bite at Machiavelli. I had already ate, but that didn't stop me from having a Jack and Ginger Ale (not something I will do again) and a taste of her tuna. It was super to see them...it had been way too long.

Saturday and Sunday was a road trip up to Port Townsend with

marssaxman. I have been aching to go camping for sometime, but damned if it isn't hard to find anyone willing to go outside of summer. I bugged Mars to go earlier this week, and he told me he had a wedding to go to in Port Townsend. When he admitted he didn't know where he was staying, I suggested we could camp. I ended up going to the wedding, too. This was the closest I've come to crashing a wedding before, and it was really fun. The couple were absolutely lovely folks, and it turned out there were a good handful of people at the wedding I already knew (hello

channingbird!). Plus I made some totally new friends too. I put a ton of effort into learning names, and so far the retention is high.

Food for the weekend:

Saturday breakfast - salmon crepe at Essential Bakery.
Saturday lunch - fresh crab, straight from the dock, eaten plain from the shell at picnic table. Thanks for this idea skotkik!
Saturday afternoon - post-wedding assorted goodies, but my focus was cheeses. Mmmmmmm.
Saturday evening - wedding reception dinner. Yummy, and not too over the top. Cake tasted like bubblegum? Lots of wine and champaign.
Sunday morning - coffee and instant oatmeal at campsite.
Sunday noonish - post-wedding brunch buffet - OMG...overindulgence city. A heap of thin and crispy bacon. Yummy sausages. Eggs Benedict. Shrimp and crab cake. Blueberries on french toast with whipped cream. Stale decaf. Grapefruit juice. Chocolate cake. Prime rib. Ug.
Sunday mid-afternoon - A beer in the State park, on a bunker, in the sun. Ah.
Sunday late afternoon - Dinner in Kingston at the Main Street Ale House. Split with Mars: steamed clams, candied garlic salad, and crab melts. Another beer.
Sunday early evening - the straw that broke the camel's back: Espresso chip ice cream in a waffle cone. I knew better. I ate every last bite anyways. And now I suffer.

Overall, way too much booze, coffee, cheese, meat and food in general this week. Tomorrow, errr...make that today, I seriously shall examine my diet and make some much needed shifts, or at least show actual restraint.
Camping was great. I can't recommend Fort Worden State Park enough! We set up our tents at a great site, close to the beach but with trees for shelter...excellent for an unseen reservation! I brought my 15 degree bag and my favorite fuzzy blanket to line it, plus two pillows and two sleeping pads...why suffer when car camping? I recalled my one reservation about camping, when I woke in the wee hours of the night and had to pee. But once I got bundled up and out of the tent, the sky was absolutely magnificent, and I saw a shooting start.

After brunch, we spent a long afternoon exploring some of the park's many abandoned bunkers and other random military installations. I'll post a bunch of photos on flickr later, but this place is amazing. And it had many of my favorite things to photograph: rust, peeling paint, moss, and other people taking pictures!

Here is a better picture of me taken by Mars on the way home. Check out the cute new hat! Unexpectedly I did a bit of shopping on this trip: hat, black knee socks made out of bamboo, purple knee socks, socks that look like sharks are eating my legs, a fancy green pearl and abalone shell bracelet for me, and a gift for my mom.

Ok. My stomach is still not as steady as I would like, but I should probably try and get back to bed.

I'm back from Belize. Too dazed to do a full blog post today. Maybe tomorrow. My goals for today are few. Download pictures. Pick up mail at post office.

I had an amazing time. I was sad to come home. A good part of me wanted to move there. For real.

More later, when my brain catches up with my body.

I've been up for about 21 hours, so this will be pretty short. Photos and 101 updates tomorrow.

I just wanted to say what a totally excellent day I've had.

4:50 - woke up
5:15 - left house
5:25 - bought donuts
5:35 - picked up friend
6:00 - Early Bird bowling at the Sunset
8:30 - breakfast at the Sunset
9:10 - Goodwill
10:00 - estate sale
11:00 - dropped friend off
11:15 - yard sale
11:30 - met another friend at MOHAI
2:00 - high tea
4:30 - hung out with friends and their sweet baby
6:00 - Trader Joes
7:30 - holyoutlaw and juliebata over for dinner, anime and Stranger Than Fiction
11:30 - dozed off on couch
12:00 - got on computer and started downloading photos, etc...
1:25 - sleepy, must go to bed

Today has been a nice home day.

I woke up at 5...again! It is as though my body has reset its clock and I can't rewire it. Ah well, I was able to fall back asleep for a bit this time. Maybe I should just start getting up and using this as time to write?

Puttered around the house, and caught up with my pal Heather in Chicago and

anneheathen by IM.

Did my taxes and was frustrated to find that the sick leave and vacation payout I got from my last job knocked me into a different tax bracket and seriously cut back my refund. Ah well...certainly won't have that problem for 2008. To get all the papers I needed to do my taxes I had to finally go through a big box that had piled up...got rid of a ton of stuff there...that felt great.

Went for a good run...all the way down to Seward Park AND around it. Walked up the huge hill on the way back, but then ran the rest of the way home. Hooray!

Got home and jumped straight into yard work. Cleaned off the front porch. Cleared out planters, all three flower beds and both of my raised veggie beds, plus trimmed dead wood off of willow tree. I must have been out there three hours...but now it looks great. I realized I've got a bunch of busy weekends ahead of me, so this had to be done if anything is going to get planted in the random free moment. Plus, next time I have a nice day off, that lawn is going to need mowing!

Yesterday my contractor came and finished the trim in the bathroom and the framing of the window above the shower on its "outside". I spent some time today sanding in preparation for finally painting the bathroom, and painted the frame above the washer/dryer.

Then I made shrimp and Chinese sausage fried rice. Mmmmmm.

Now, a well earned veg-out...Season Three of Deadwood. Hooray!

Current Mood: accomplished

Got home last night from an exhausting ALA in Philadelphia.

Acquired a nasty sounding cough yesterday. Woke up with a 100.5 fever today. Bah.

Back to bed.

Current Mood: groggy

Thank goodness!

Now I'm going to turn up the heat, drink huge amounts of liquid and get well.

I am determined to have fun this weekend.

Home at last! This was not too bad of a trip to Spokane, all things considered.   Not that I have any desire to go back anytime soon.

Down side:
1. Trapped in Spokane for 5 days.
2. Baby brother drove me crazy.
3. Icy and cold.
4. Yearly obligatory mass.
5. Airport delays.
6. Working 10 days before and 3 days after to make it work.

Up side:
1. Good quality time with folks.
2. Shopping with oldest pal.
3. Snow!
4. Snowshoeing.
5. Hikes.
6. Took a ton of pictures (347 downloaded, more edited out earlier).
7. Watched a bunch of movies
    a) Charlie Wilson's War (pretty decent, but Phillip Seymour Hoffman made it for me...I adore him).
    b) Year of the Dog (sucked ass...do not watch this movie)
    c) Blood Diamond (pretty good, though I slept through a bit in the middle).
    d) The Golden Compass (lovely and everything I could have hoped for...armored bears were especially AWESOME).
    e) Train Man (sweetest Japanese geek romance ever!)
    f) Sweeney Todd (again, all I hoped for)
    g) Lucky You (I could not stay awake at all...so boring to watch people play poker).
8. Volunteered.
9. Excellent presents.
    a) fancy pepper mill I've longed for
    b) awesome heirloom scrimshaw from Grandma
    c) cheese knives!
    d) very nice socks
    e) more I am totally forgetting because I am tired
10) Introduced the family to Hot Apple Cider with Buttershots.

Now I must go to bed if I really hope to get up and swim before work.

So far my trip home for the holidays has been reasonably calm. I have not reached angry, stressed or depressed. Just mildly annoyed. And that shallowness of breath that comes with being in an atmosphere that one finds repressive for reasons unexplainable.

I had expected no internet, so was pleasantly surprised to find my brother had hooked it up the minute he got a new job earlier this week. I had to run Ad-Aware (76 critical objects) and Spybot (156 items) to get it running smoothly, clean the monitor (dusty), mouse (sticky), and keyboard (gooey) to bear touching it, and move about 90 files from the desktop into my brother's folder. And now it is reasonable for brief mental escapes from that which is my hometown.

My poor parents have no idea why I hate it here, and when pressed I find it hard to explain. But from the second I touch down on the ground, I'm pretty much ready to leave. But I think the hard work I have put into anxiety management this year has paid off. I was perfectly calm at the airport, content to listen to my music and write cards as I would be at home. The flight was effortless, one graphic novel and a tomato juice and it was over. My middle brother is not joining us this year, and I think that takes a little pressure off...he is always the one who wants everything to be just so. (I'm just a bit annoyed with him right now...he told everyone just to send giftcards to make things easy since he wasn't coming home...and then we get a huge box of presents with GORGEOUS handmade individualized stockings from his fiance).

The game plan for the weekend is to watch movies. Shitloads of movies. Dad is addicted to AMC's $5 before noon plan. I brought all the library DVDs I had checked out. And my brother has all sorts of things he wants to force me to watch. I'll do a full report later.

The other thing I've decided to do is report on Spokane through Yelp. One of my friends is crazy about this site, so I'm playing with it. I do like the concept, and it is a different sort of writing exercise, which I'm all game for...my only resolutions for 2008 are going to be related to writing.

Ok...Mom woke up. Time to give her tea and attention.

Today has been a nice, restful day at home. Time to catch up on blogging, reading, and cooking.

Friday my father and I went for a nice long walk at Alki, where we saw sea mammals, birds, dead things, and ate yummy treats. Then Dad kindly mowed the lawn (which hadn't been done since July) while I cleaned out the basement, then made a satisfying run to Goodwill. I then went to a story telling party at

leeeah's place, where I ran into a number of folks I hadn't seen in a while, and read The Elephant's Child (people do love a good story about spanking). Then back home, so Dad and I could finish watching the first season of Weeds.

Saturday was a work day. I met my friend Q. after work for a hot dippy sandwich, then came home and took a hot bath. I tried to read until Dad got back from his friend's, but by 8:45 I was passed out, and remained so until morning. I never sleep that much, and it was nice.

Sunday was more work. Came home and tried to power through Heroes season one, but didn't get terribly far. Debated keeping it past the due date, but am so busy with other projects, books, etc...right now, decided to return it and order again.

Today I also got new tabs for my car, watched a bit more of Heroes, wrote some birthday and get-well cards, made soup, and am now going to get ready to head out to be

jillbertini's guest at yoga. Maybe shoot a few games of pool afterwards.

I feel incredibly relaxed, accomplished, and happy. A tad bit lonely, but not sad...which seems odd to me, but I'm not complaining.

Thanksgiving was very good. Went for a walk/jog/walk/walk with my dad. All the way down to Seward Park, around, and back. Figured out how to bring my camera when I go running Just beautiful out. . Then we headed down to my aunt's house, smoothly leaving all we brought for her in the backseat of the car. Doh. Got to meet my cousin's new kiddo. Ate good food. Wasn't forced to sit next to my step-grandmother's single step-son (nice enough guy, I suppose...but isn't he technically my uncle?). Went for a walk on the beach and took pictures of some of my favorite things (leaves, moon, mushrooms, Mt. Rainier, seaweed, peeling paint). Once again made off with the turkey carcass (for making soup tomorrow). Snuck into a state park with my dad and went down to another beach (would have been super romantic, with anyone other than my father. Bah.) Drove home. Downloaded and sorted through bazillion pictures. Watched 6 episodes of Weeds with dad.

I'm feeling super thankful. Thankful for living in such a lovely part of the country. Thankful for relatives that feed me with absolutely no drama. Thankful for free library DVDs. Thankful for my cozy home. Thankful for an interesting and challenging job. Thankful for my many varied wonderful friends. Thankful for my great, yet still improving health. Thankful that I am in a place where I can be so thoroughly thankful.

Hope you are too.

This is proving to be an interesting weekend. As I left work yesterday, I realized I had not made any plans for the weekend, and that I wanted to get out and have fun. I have discovered myself to have vast stores of energy I did not expect. So far this weekend I:

1) went out for Ethiopian food with a huge group of people
2) played pool in a dive bar (the jukebox had so much bass I expected the balls to be shaking)
3) went dancing until 2am
4) hung out until 3am
5) got up at 8:30am and went and swam a mile
6) went on a 4 mile hike
7) took a 10 minute cat nap
8) went out for sushi
9) hung out until after midnight
10) took another wee cat nap
11) drove home
12) have found myself to be mysteriously wakeful

I'm frankly amazed with myself. I've reserved tomorrow for doing absolutely nothing, but already I'm feeling urges to go running and do a major house cleaning/purging.

I drove to Stanwood this morning for an all day workshop. The view was nice.

There were eagles. I saw 6 at one time!

And some bugs.

Then I went home, and ran around Seward Park. Which was chilly, but oh so lovely. This is why I hesitate to join a gym. No view like this in a gym!

Today seems to be all about the pumpkin.

I met

jillbertini at a bagel place this morning and had a pumpkin bagel with cream cheese and some plum juice. Then we walked downtown and caught a 10:05 showing of Superbad. It was everything I expected. Obnoxious. Crude. And pretty darn funny.

Then we headed back up Capitol Hill (my exercise for the day), and went to the Farmers Market. I ran into 3 people I knew. One woman I know only from skinny-dipping parties, and totally could not place with her clothes on. Two gay guys who I know from entirely different circles, but were together...one a former Portlander I know from Burning Man, the other the contractor who is doing the finish work for my bathroom. Funny.

I bought a nice pumpkin, sampled pricey cheeses, and picked up a couple pieces of fruit. Then I went back to

jillbertini and her partner's apartment and had some delicious soup, yummy bread, and freshly harvest honey. Then we made greeting cards for a few hours. I love stationary, but have resisted stamp-art crafting up to this point. But I really needed some thank you notes, and haven't been able to find any I liked, so it was pretty nice making my own. And I loved using the embosser. It reminded me of when I used to do el-wire projects. I like making little things. What I really miss is making bassoon reeds, but until the day I have my own bassoon, there is absolutely no point in making those. Perhaps I'll try and get some of these neglected sewing projects done instead.

Back home, I brutalized the pumpkin and put it in the oven, where it is now roasting and filling the house with a delicious aroma.

Tomorrow night I will make:
Curried Pumpkin Soup
Curried Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin Scones

All new recipes I've been sent this month.

Now, I will relax and enjoy my Pumpkin Ale.

My buddy Dave was visiting from Chicago this weekend. Friday night we went to a birthday party. Saturday we had brunch at Easy Street in West Seattle, then drove around a bit, then took the water taxi to downtown! At Dave's request, we went seeking oysters, and found them at The Brooklyn, which was happily across

the street from the newly expanded Seattle Art Museum, which I had not yet explored. Then we had coffee, and went to meet up with

carapace_green who drove us around much of the rest of the evening. We went and checked out the new Cha Cha Lounge, then had a wonderful dinner at my favorite sushi place: Mashiko. Dave wanted to keep barhopping, so we went to West 5 (and ran into

terriblestorm on the way there, by chance) and later to the Stumbling Monk. Me? I'm officially over bar hopping. I'm not even sure I like bars any more at all. Today, we ate dim sum then I read, cooked, and cleaned most of the day, while Dave messed around on the computer. We did spend a bit of time jamming...Dave on my badly underused acoustic guitar and me on drums, which was really fun. He thinks I could be very good if I put my mind to it. We tried watching a movie from the library, but it was too scratched up, so I introduced him to the joy that is The Guru instead, and then took him to the airport. I'm beat...but have to get up early tomorrow to get an oil change in before heading to work. Bah.

Current Mood: exhausted

I'm having one of the laziest Saturdays ever.

technogreek is in NYC at BEA and every time we connect on the phone it is crazy loud and sounds like there are 1000 people in the room with him. I'm torn between being deeply jealous of all the fun he is having (and hanging out with bunches of my pals) and being gloriously happy to be at home doing nothing. I've had a few invites to get out of the house, but nothing has compelled me yet. Today I have:

* gazed with amazement upon flowering cactus
* washed some glass bricks
* made waffles for

carapace_green and

johnaegard
* watched A Good Woman
*caught up on blog reading
* weeded yard for 5 minutes
* uploaded pictures to print
* drank a glass of water

I'm not the best at doing little, but I'm trying to get better at it.

My horoscope is encouraging:

Saturday, June 2nd, 2007

Cancer (June 21 - Jul 22)

You need time away from the busy life, but today may not be your desired day of relaxation. Even if it's not a workday, you may feel too responsible to kick back and do nothing. The result is that you could speed up when you should be slowing down. Instead of reacting unconsciously, explore strategies to add more balance into your life.

Current Mood: relaxed

I just got done spending a few HOURS weed-whacking my yard. My arms hurt so much, I can barely hold them up to read or type. Looks like I will be spending the rest of the afternoon lounging about and watching DVDs.

It wouldn't have been so bad...but last year I tried to save money by buying a huge reel of weed-whacker cable, rather than pre-loaded cartridges. It did not work very well, ran out fast, and was hard to get to stay in place. I was frequently discouraged, and ended up not keeping up with my edging very well. But last weekend I went and got regular refills, and today went through 2 and a half of them. I even did a bit on my neighbor's side of the fence...since he was nice enough to mow the bit of my lawn outside the fence this week (I hope we can work out an ongoing arrangement...he always mows his lawn much shorter...makes me look terrible ;)

Anyhow, relatively speaking, it is still cheaper than hiring a service, and I got a work out. I was going to hire a service to come out and do this, plus aerate the lawn...but eh one I called never called me back. And with all the asbestos and furnace expenses, its probably for the best. But it feels great to have those things finally taken care of!