random stuff update

It's been an age since I felt like posting anything. Lots has been going on, some interesting, some not.

I went to a concert yesterday sponsored by a local radio station and it was a lot of fun. It was a $30 ticket for 10 bands/performers. I only really wanted to see 4 of them but we stayed through most of them from 11:30am-8pm, at which point we'd had enough sun and music. My favorites were Sum41, Ace young(yes, he is even more gorgeous than when we last saw on Idol 2 yrs ago), Simple Plan and Natasha Bedenfield. Everyone else was ok or just boring.

My friend got very burnt. I asked her the day before if she planned on wearing sunscreen and she said maybe on her face(boy was she sorry last night - she even had patches of scorched skin on her feet). I actually meant to wear some on my arms at least since I haven't been exposed to any serious sun in a long time but I forgot. My arms were burning a bit last night, especially my left one and when I looked at it last night, I could see why...




My arms are usually the color of my shoulders and even though I wear short sleeves every day, there is not normally a contrast. I did have the presence of mind to wear jeans and a hat/shades for most of the day (my friend wore sleeveless tank and shorts - not so good for her). I'd considered wearing a tank top but thought I shouldn't b/c it was supposed to be 81° and very sunny. So I was mostly covered but wished I had put some sunscreen on my arms, they are kinda itchy today. I am so not used to real sun anymore.

I am in a weird mood today. I should have gone to church, but it was rainy with lots of thunder and lightning and I didn't want to drive through that. Of course if I had gotten ready anyway, I could have gone b/c now the sun is suddenly shining and all the rain is gone. I might try to go tonight. I say that but I never seem to do so if I miss the earlier service. Sigh.

Yesterday was a fun day. The only thing that sort of marred it was another friend of ours (who didn't go to the concert with us). I was telling her about G's sunburn and mentioned that my arm was kinda warm and itchy as well. She said, why are you talking about your sunburn(as if it was preposterous for me to do so), G's is so much worse, why are even mentioning yours? Well, for one thing, you are supposed to be my friend and listen when I say something.
This girl is always thinking the worse of everything I do. I don't know why she wants to be my friend. The things she says sometimes indicate otherwise. Maybe she doesn't, but doesn't have anyone else to hang out with/who will come pick her up(since she doesn't have a car) and that's why she still says she wants to hang out. I have been feeling this way about this girl all year. She's supposed to be taking a temporary position at another site for a few months and lately I've been thinking that I can't wait till she goes. I don't think it was always this way. But it is definitely this way lately. I don't know what I did or if I did anything that's made her so passive-aggressive towards me. But you know what, I don't care anymore. I just want to have friends I can talk to who don't second guess everything I say. I feel like I need to censor the things I tell her b/c she always seems to be judging me negatively. I can't just talk or vent or anything.

I was telling her about a work colleague who gets upset whenever she makes a grammar mistake (English is not her first language). I found it amusing that she gets upset about it b/c in general her English is pretty flawless. My friend interpreted my saying and her response was "you make fun of her for making grammar mistakes, shame on you". I had to say, no, I don't make fun of her, I think it's funny that she is upset about something so minor. She started back-tracking at that moment, "oh I'm sorry I thought that". Right. I mean she misunderstood me and immediately came up with a negative interpretation of the situation. There have been many instances like that. I just don't understand where it's coming from and frankly I just want it/her to go away. I don't want to have to deal with it. It hurts my feelings and I don't need that shit. I just don't. Another favorite thing she says lately is "you don't have to defend yourself". It's like her new thing. I want to say (and have said), "I'm not defending myself, I'm just expanding on my point". I have not changed but she certainly has and I don't care for it. I don't care for it at all.

I recently got my green card(which is not really green :). This is really great for several reasons. One is that traveling will be easier b/c I won't have to get approval each time I return. Two, I can go to Canada without having to apply for a $100 visa. Three(and the one I care about most)is that with it I can get a second job which I have been considering for a while. Before I had it, I could only work legally with my work permit at my current job, no where else. With it I have more options. So I decided to get another job now that I can, part-time of course, at a local pharmacy. It is mostly cashier duty ~10-15hr a week. I've done two shifts so far and boy was I exhausted at the end of the week. What with my regular 50hr job, it was tiring. The register is fairly easy and they say I'm a natural.

I can really do with the extra cash (it pays a couple $ above minimum wage) and I can put it directly towards my credit cards. I already have pretty decent interest rates on them (10.9% is the highest one)I just want to get them paid off sooner and I think this will help a lot. I expect that I should be able to pay off most of them within a couple years or so if I put an extra $200 towards them every month. I'm planning to pay off the lower balances first. Once I do this, I can consider traveling home again. Lately, the cost is $1200/ticket. I can't afford that. I'd have to put it on a credit card. I am determined to pay them off before incurring anymore debt. I did pay for a trip in October - my friend's getting married in Vegas, but that's the last thing until I pay them off. Once I get most of them paid off, that'll be another $300-400 I could be saving instead.
Another good thing that will help is that my car loan will be paid off by next year freeing up another ~$200/mth. I can't sleep sometimes thinking about my debt. I've been so exhausted lately though that insomnia has not been an issue.

I have also not been to the gym in a while, I think I've been 2x since June began. Not enough. I've got to get back on track with that.

A new guy started a week ago and he's in my group at work and I have a crush. I feel kinda silly about it - more details later(if there are more details).

latest tunes

I bought this Tonic CD "Lemon Parade" 5yrs ago I think, mainly b/c it was on saleand had that song "If You Could Only See". I didn't really listen to anything else on it. Recently I picked it up to listen in the car. There are 3 other tracks on it that I play repeatedly of late. "Mountain" is one I just can't get enough of. this morning on my 20min drive to work I listened to it on repeat 4 times. "Casual Affair" and "Open Up Your Eyes" are also good.

Seven Songs

Anna tagged me for this :)

1. Half Acre...Hem - I found this song b/c I was looking for the song to the liberty mutual ad(can be found on YouTube) and found this in my search.

2. Teardrop...Massive Attack - I'm really into House these days and it's the theme song for it, it was just in my head so I went out and got their CD Mezzanine.

3. Slowly...Macy Gray - I really love the lyrics to this song, "slow-ow-ly, why can't we just take our time" in Macy G's lovely raspy voice.

4. Lips Of An Angel...Hinder - I don't quite agree with the lyrics b/c it's basically a song about cheating but I love the arrangement, and his voice, and the guitars are perfect, not too much or too little.

5. Like A California King...Everclear - I discovered this when I was listening to this everclear album I've had for a few years now but never noticed this song, it even has a bonus bit at the end. With lyrics like "I will burn you just like teenage love, I will eat you just like meat" I can't resist, not exactly a happy song.

6. It's Beginning To Get To Me...Snow Patrol - I've been listening to this song every morning on the way to work, it wakes me up. Love the lyrics, "you are the only thing that makes sense, just ignore all this present tense".

7. Bright Lights...Matchbox Twenty - one of their best songs.

It was tough to only choose seven :)

I suppose I have to tag...Eddie, SFC and ESC

music

at the wedding, we danced to music from the late 70s, the 80s and early 90s. All the dances involving specific movements, we danced to most of them...the macarena? yes...the electric slide? yes...also to several other songs that didn't have movements/dances per se, we made up movements them or rather my sis and the best man made up movements and we all followed along. It was great fun. Since then, I've been listening to many old faves, not all played at the wedding but still from around that time like...
i think we're alone now...debbie gibson
heaven is a place on earth...belinda carlyle
it must have been love...roxette
super trooper...abba
material girl...madonna
the sidewinder sleeps tonight...R.E.M.
tell it to my heart...taylor dayne
hungry heart...bruce springsteen

also got a few CDs while in the UK - actually my sis got them for me as a thank-you. Picked up Macy Gray's latest "Big". It is an awesome CD. I've been playing 3 or 4 of the songs over and over. The best tracks are Strange Behaviour, Slowly, Get Out and One For Me. Treat Me Like Your Money and Ghetto Love aren't too shabby either. I think this is the first Macy Gray CD that I've listened/liked almost all the way through.
Also got Norah Jones' "Not Too Late", Haven't found any I really like on the CD yet. But I haven't really given it a good listen yet so who knows.
Also got "Sam's Town" by the Killers and "the Open Door" by Evanescence as well as a rock compilation CD "greatest rock ballads". It has many gems on it including "because the night" by patti smith, "can't fight this feeling" by reo speedwagon, and even "eternal flame" by the bangles. Couldn't pass up the chance to own that now could I?

I'm in a slightly better frame of mind than I was earlier - took my inhaler during my mini-meltdown and that helped in addition to some deep-breathing exercises.
I should have known that things couldn't possibly go anywhere from the moment he said "who's ABBA?".

no more ice please

I hate ice storms. I hate ice on my walkway to my car, I hate ice sheets covering all the surfaces of my car. I finally bought some de-icer tonight. Trying to scrape ice sheets off the windows and windshield sucks. I don't mind the rain so much as long as the temp stays above freezing. I wouldn't even mind 4-5in of snow instead of this crap ice.

My joints hurt tonight. Don't know what is up with that.
When I went boxing last Thur, it was first real workout in a month. I felt fine on Fri and thought I'd gotten away from the usu pain after not exercising for so long. Nope. Could barely take my shirt off Sat morning without pain - my ribs, my shoulders, my back muscles all ached. Better today. Went to yoga today and we did several new positions that I didn't care for much. I was having a bit of wrist trouble and one position in particular, I think it was triangle or some sun salutation (hard to keep them all straight :) really hurt while I trying to get in position but I wasn't sure how to get out of position without falling over so I just waited for instructions from S. She told me I should have said something, that I was in pain. She always tries to find ways to help us change/alter position so that we're doing the positions correctly/in such a way as not to cause pain. It was still good though. We also did a bit of abdominal work. S was impressed with how long I could hold certain positions - all training from my boxing class :)

I finally got a chance to listen to the T.e.a.d.a CD I bought after I saw them live late last year. I love, love, love it. Track 4(3rd link on their site ) is my favorite.

I did major cleaning of my apt Sat, even put up pictures, finally unpacked and put away the suitcases from my trip. My apt is so neat and tidy - trying to keep it that way.

I want a turtle but with all the stuff I'd need to get, it just doesn't seem so practical to me anymore. Sadly, no turtle :( At least not in the near future. Instead I will have to transplant my 2 plants whose leaves are turning yellow. I know it's b/c they need more room. Maybe I also get a couple more plants as well. Not the same as turtles I know but still something.

I also went shopping with Z Sat evening. Very productive. Found perfect shoes to go with my dress for prom aka company Holiday party. And they were on sale(50% off). Also bought a 2nd pair which made my feet look so cute and dare i say sexy that I had to get them. Z agreed. They were 65% off. Total was $71. Not bad at all.

Still on my all-cash diet = credit money even with my debit card doesn't seem like real money to me. So no more of that this year. Only using cash, except at the pump b/c it's a pain to go in and out of the serviec station when I can just swipe, get my gas and go. But I have budgeted the money for it. Also keeping track of my expenses - so I can figure out what the hell I spend my money on and why I never seem to have enough. Actually I kinda know why I don't - mostly b/c I buy tons of crap I don't really need. That's all well and good but this year is all about control and curbing my excesses i.e. impulsive spending.

concert

Tonight went to concert "irish Christmas In America". My main reason for wanting to go was this new group I'm interested in called T_e_a_d_a (tay-da) - they play traditional irish music. They were joined by a fe other musicians as well. This amazing harpist (is that the right word?)Grainne Hambly and also Tommy Martin who is amazing on uillean pipes and tin whistles.

They also had a few dancers - one got the smile thing down perfectly - you know exactly what I mean if you've ever seen Riverdance, those danceers grin from ear to ear as if they are having the most fabulous time ever! Well one had the smile down, another was concerned with her skirt flying up during the kicks and the last one was definitely counting. But they were still fun to watch.

They were supposed to have Cathie Ryan from Cherish The Ladies but instead they had a guy Michael Londra whose voice is so clear and true, he needs no accompaniment. Truly amazing.

One of the guys from (Tristan) read poems and also told in a narrative fashion stories about Irish Christmas traditions both ancient and modern. His voice - I must confess that I couldn't understand half of what he was saying even when he was speaking English - still, I could listen to him all day. So much so (I blame my reaction partly on the lure of his voice) that during this skit thing they were doing, he pretended to fall ill and lay flat on the stage. At this point one of the other band members called out "is there a doctor in the house?". To my shame, I kinda shouted out "i could be one!" Then he called out for me to come up and at that point I realized that I was insane. I quickly settled myself but good in my seat. Our seats were excellent ones about 4 rows back from the stage - they let move there from our original seats which were fairly close to the stage but on far right so they told us we could move for a better view. Yeah, so after my outburst, they continued with their skit. One of them had a whole spiel about how he could revive the dead make an old woman on crutches skip again.
I bought their latest CD. All in all a great night.

boxing gloves

I bought boxing gloves and wraps. I really wanted red gloves but they didn't have them in the size I wanted :(. Oh well. This way I can keep boxing without having to use the smelly-no doubt-fungus-infested-gloves that they give us at the gym. They never disinfect them so they stink - like you can't even imagine. It takes 3-4 thorough hand washings to remove the stink from my hands. That's how bad they are. I didn't want to get them until I was sure that I'd stick with it. I've bought many things with the thought that I'd use them regularly, only to have them just sitting there for years after being used only once or twice.

cold

Finally figured why my apt was so damn cold all the time...my windows were partially open at the top. Landlord told me that if i wanted to open the bottom window half-way or fully that I needed to prop up the top window or it would drop down and break. That's all he said to me. I interpret this to mean that I would only opne the windows less than half-way and everything should be fine. Right? NO! The top part of the stupid window opens a little whenever you opne the bottom part, even if you only open it 1/4 way or 1/8 of the way. I only realized this last Thurs b/c I cooked and needed to open the windows - yeah kinda heated the pan too high, burning eyes, etc....That's when I noticed for the first time that the top of the stupid window was open. On seeing that, I run around my apt checking every window - all open at the top. NO wonder, insects have been crawling in at their leisure. I've been wondering how they are getting in so frequently...they had an engraved invitation...open unscreened top windows everywhere and all. So I had to do major climbing up on step-stools and window sills to get the damn things closed completely. That night was the first time that the bathroom mirror fogged up after my shower.

Only problem now is that I don't have any control of the heat. He told me to turn it off when I was out. I tried. It'd been in the off position all weekend. I've woken up several times the past couple nights b/c it's been so hot - feels like I'm stiffling. I had to sleep with my fan directly on me last night to get relief. it all seems so ridiculous to me. There is only one "thermostat". A generous term for a box in my living room marked "Lo/Off/High". At my old apt, they turned on the heat from the main, and I could open or closed the gas valve for each of the room's radiators. Here, not so much. They are painted in place so I can't adjust any of them. Plus I get heat from the front and bottom apts as well. I guess there's just no pleasing me is there? Too cold. Too hot. This'll be a good thing one it gets really cold out.

Saw "The Departed" Sat night. It was interesting, kept my attention. Too much senseless killing for my taste but my friends said that's Scorcese's trademark. Then went out for coffee.

Going for my yearly physical with my regular doctor this week. I haven't seen her in 9mths. A lot of time, Since I saw her last, I've lost 7lbs, 2 1/2 inches on my waist. I've also been exercising 3-4times a week most weeks. Big changes. I was very ambivalent when she first suggested I take tablets for my "anxiety". anything else seemed preferable to that. As is I have to take several meds for my asthma twice a day, every day. Just wasn't prepared to take anything else. Therapy seemed preferable. It' helped me more than I thought it would. I also think the exercise helps a lot as well. I find it difficult to relax normally. When I exercise, my mind can turn off for that hr and I don't have to think or worry about anything else. It's helps me just be in that moment. I need that break. When I miss a few days without exercising - I notice the difference. And it's not a good difference.

Did yoga during my lunch hr at work. 4 of us were there today. It was great. Several of my muscles/joints cricked and cracked during the session but they are no worse for wear.
Tomorrow's boxing. I skipped last Thurs b/c I twisted my ankle - stepped on it funny while walking down stairs at work. Ridiculour I know. I've iced it for the past few nights. Still went for my am walk on Sat and it was a little tender but on the mend. In any event I hope my doc is impressed with my progress. I can tell her that she was right even though it took several months before I believed her.

Feel much better now all that is off my chest.

Fri at last

Went to boxing twice this week after doing my usual weight routine. I have lightened up my weight routine a bit (less reps/lighter weights in some cases) b/c I quite sore on the weekend. My knees and quads are the muscles that are really achy tonight, as well my calf.

Planned to take 1/2 day today, seemed like a good plan yesterday. But then today it was so rainy - i thought that I'd just come home and sleep. Still sounds good right? Except that if I sleep during the day, I have a hard time sleeping at night. Again, normally not a problem if the next day is Sat. Except that I have a defensive driving class tomorrow morning(have to be there by 830am). Class is boring true, but, food is provided and last time - the cookies were delicious. Plus it's only every 3yrs and it's great to get 10% deduction on my car ins. I can use all the deductions I can get. So I figured I 'd just stick it out today. I was very sleepy at times. But made it to the end. Did have a small nap on the futon for like 20min. But I'm kind sleepy now so no harm done. Bed in 5min.

Had to go to a seminar earlier this week. The mandate came from the senior VP of our dept that we should attend - meaning of course that it was mandatory and he would be checking to see who missed it. Yeah so I went. 90 min of my life..gone...poof! The man talked non-stop for 90min. Normally when you are given a time slot of 50min for a presentation, they expect you talk for 45min-hr max leaving the remaining time for questions. This guy kept saying that he'd come back to "that" or "talk more in detail about this" later. After he'd already bored us for an hr. Unbelievable. He had at least 100 slides if not more. Half of them could have been (and should have been) cut since they repreesented very similar data points. I don't recall much of the crap he talked about since I spent half the time trying to stay awake (this takes a lot of brain power) and the other half of the time being annoyed at having to be there.

Finally the bad karma, the bad juju, the skewed alignment of the planets that affect me are all gone. The chemistry gods are smiling on me again. So my boss told me that when our group head did the reaction I've been trying to redo he didn't add one of the chemicals that I added (perfectly legit for me to have done since I got the procedure from a literature reference) but apparently for this particular substrate, it is critical not to add it. Would have been nice to know that piece of info 3 weeks ago but no big. I repeated the reaction (4th time) and it worked. I could have done a happy dance today when I saw my product crashing out (chemist speak for solid coming out of solution). And what's even better is that I have a decent yield. I've left it to dry over the weekend but as is, it's at 90% and I expect to lose about 5-10% of the wieght after it's dried. Even so, still decent. Thank you God. I was getting really discouraged by it all and really needed this...success! Should have set up a couple reactions this weekend but was too tired to do it. By the time I got my results back for the reaction starting materials, it was 5pm and I was more than ready to leave.

This week I got 3 huge zits on my face. What is up with that? So not working for me. I managed not to pick the first 2 and they are both almost gone. The 3rd oneis just out and harder to ignore since it's near my chin - the others were on my forehead and didn't drive me to scratch them like this one does. I need to leave it alone b/c I tend to scar easily whenever I pick at them and the scars never fade, they just gets darker.

I'm off to bed. Nite.