pre-bedtime bloggin'

Poo. My new West Elm bed frame (in chocolate) didn't make it here today. Rather, I wasn't here to receive it. Hopefully tomorrow they can leave it in the backyard and I can dash out of work at 3. We'll see. I really want to get it set up and start looking at alternative ideas for headboards. For now I'm thinking paint or a blik graphic. I don't have space for a 'real' headboard. It feels good getting some of my furniture upgraded to 'adult.' I foresee cute little fabric/canvas storage boxes underneath it peakin' on out. Storage for shit I don't have.

Remember how my 2008 started off super shitty and stayed that way for awhile? Friends and family getting cancers, wicked bout of depression that I'm hoping was seasonal, stress at work when we were "asking" someone to leave, a forced stint in the single world...it was bad. In the past month or two things have turned around, which makes me question my declaration that 2008 is the worst year ever. In my quest to find memoir-y blogs for a potential assignment, I came across a call girl blog that had some meme on gratitude. I traced it back and it was clearly some self-started meme, not some giant never ending making its way 'round the internets meme. Whatever. It seemed like a good and positive idea. So...

Five things for which I have gratitude:

1. My health. My friend Isobelle had lymphoma, uncle had (keyword here is HAD, he just found out they think its gone) prostate cancer, grandma went to the hospital, mom's always sick, Leticia getting a hip replacement at 28. Yikes. I'm really grateful that I have no major health problems. I've been able to train for a marathon with only a brief setback that was self-imposed (lazy stretching habits). I haven't been sick with any great frequency, and those illnesses are nothing more than colds. Watching some near and dears have life threatening conditions this year has really made me appreciate my health. It ain't something to squander.

2. My job. I love my job, and I love all the opportunities it has given me over two years. I love my coworkers. A long time ago I had really horrid coworkers and it can run a job. I think its actually fun to go to my job. I love that they think I'm worthy and capable of being a lecturer for a semester long course. I think the school does some really innovative cool stuff. I'm also really f'ing lucky that I have above average job security in this awesome recession.

3. The centuries of women who came before me and fought for what is/was just. In preparing for my course I've been refreshing on various civil rights movements including the many waves of feminism. I know that I have far fewer hurdles in life because of women who made a big ole stink and refused to be told to shut up or calm down.

4. My apartment. It sounds materialistic yes. But it's more than just really liking my apartment. Its being grateful that I even have a roof over my head, let alone one that I was able to select that meets my needs and I can live in without roommates. One that is a safe place and a place of refuge. Not many people can say that about their living situations. I know that no matter what shit came my way during the day, I can come home to my sanctuary with zero intrusions.

5. Supportive family, friends and boyfriend. There have certainly been times this year that I've needed support more than normal - March-April-May being the most obvious and public one. Then the marathon - the financial donations as well as the words of encouragement and the stream of "I'm proud of you I could never do that" comments make me feel all warm and fuzzy. I've never had to ask for money before for an activity and I was pretty amazed at people's generosity. The marathon has dominated my life the past few months and people have let me prattle on and on about it when its probably really uninteresting.

Getting futher behind

I ran 17 miles at 6 am on Saturday. As a result I did absolutely nothing all weekend except lay on the couch and slip in and out of naps. And eat a ton. Running that much makes you a vacuum of anything edible. Then I went back to work and found out I'll be a lecturer for one of the courses where I work. As in, I make the syllabus, pick the content, teach every class, grade the papers, the works. Like professor without a PhD. I'm really really excited about it, and I have a cool theme picked out for it, but its overwhelming right now. I was given 2 weeks to get it ready - first class is August 25th. So here I am frantically thinking about how to lay out the semester. This is in addition to my normal work duties, so I basically got a second job. Thankfully it pays well, and all that money can go to debts I seem to be unable to shake off.

Speaking of bad money habits - I'm waiting at home for a bit to see if I can catch UPS. They are delivering a new bed frame to me. I'm sure they won't arrive when I'm at home, but I have meetings and teaching today at work and a White Sox game at night.

Finally, a congratulations to Nate on his last day of Real World Employment before beginning grad school. Ch-ch-ch-changes.

Too $hort

- Saw the White Sox (and lil Alexei Ramirez!) beat the Tigers.
- Griffey was not playing (booo)
- Played some decent but not awesome board game Tuesday, was really tired.
- Seeing two old Madison friends tonight.
- Doing nothing tomorrow so I can be up at 4:45 a.m. Saturday.
- Therapy, then running this afternoon
- Made doggy yearly check up appointment
- Did not call back my aunt or dad because of busy-land
- Dog acted a fool all last night and this morning
- No hot water thanks to storm flooding my basement
- Patricia and Juan are moving back to SF which makes me want to get back now more than ever (told ya LA sucks!).

Lists

I have an itch to write some lists of stuff.

By the numbers (I started with 3's and 2's and tried to go as far as I could):

Enchiladas I ate at La Condesa Friday: 3
Glasses of wine I had at Jacob's new place Saturday: 2

Number of cacti I bought this weekend: 3
Different types of cacti: 2

Movies I saw last week: 3
Movies I liked from that list: 2

Average times a day my dog craps: 3
Times she's crapped so far today: 2

Stretches I have to do today: 3
Number of times I have to do them: 2

Dinner plates I own: 3
Dinner plates used Saturday night: 2

Pieces of mail I got today: 3
Pieces of mail I opened today: 2


and for bragging rights...

Miles I ran Saturday morning: 8
Time the 8 miles started: 7 a.m.

Miles I will run next Saturday morning: 17
Time the 17 miles will start: 6 a.m.

Skeletons in the closet:

For those of you who know me, I really dislike the acquisition and storage of material items that aren't utilitarian. I don't like owning books, CDs, DVDs, trinkets...I keep just enough clothes in my closet to feel like I have options but not so many that it'd be hard to move, etc. That's most of what it comes down to - moving. I've moved 10 times since 1999. The less I have to pack each time the better. Sometimes I get really obsessive about it and I'll spend a day culling things. I'm at a point where the only 'leisure' items I have left are here because they have sentimental value, and even then I'm picking off some of them to be donated.

However...

I have this spare room that I want to turn into an office-esque space. Right now it's filled with junk. Yes, junk. As in, goods that I do not use. I moved them here from my old place in February and I'm not sure why. I am having trouble tossing them and I'm embarrassed about it, so let's see what some of those items are.

1. Packing materials for the Williams-Sonoma set of 10 glass mixing bowls I got for Christmas. I knew I was moving a few months after Christmas so I kept them for the move. That was 6 months ago. I don't plan on moving again anytime soon, and if I do I could always find a way to pack them.

2. Cords. Cords. Cords. Lots of cords to electronics I don't have anymore, like my dead and gone iRiver. Enough USB cables to...do something that I can't figure out right now. At least 3 sets of AV cables I don't need. Ethernet cables. I'm afraid I may need them sometime so I hold onto them. I haven't used any of the cables in two years.

3. A broom-ish thing that was made to hold cleaning pads that aren't even on the market anymore. I haven't tossed it because of the fear that I may need it again, but its absolutely useless without the cleaning pads.

4. A corner shower stall 3-tiered shelf unit. It doesn't fit in my shower, I've never used it, I will never use it, but I feel like I'm wasting money if I donate it somewhere.

5. An assortment of free conference tote bags that I've only used to move things from one apartment to the other. They are ugly, I don't need them, and can surely find an extra box next time I move.

6. A suitcase that is broken. Speaks for itself.

And as soon as I buy the proper desk and shelving for that room I'll have two end tables and one media console that I will never use.

Sounds like I need to do a sidewalk sale. I also have an old flat iron and coffee maker as a result of upgrades I've made in the past few weeks.

I missed you, you big dumb blog

Whoops, almost a week has passed! Guess I've been busy. Monday and Tuesday were work-busy, Wednesday and Thursday were personal-busy. Work shmerk. Wednesday Nate and I saw the Dark Knight. Two kids, ages 4-5ish and 7ish, sat next to me. They were pretty entertaining. The older kid told the younger kid the following: "My dad told me some cops think that because they are cops they can do anything they want. One cop got DRUNK one time and got mad at a bartender and he beat her up because he said he was a cop and could do whatever he wants." The little kid was awed. The other awesome bit was during a movie preview that was showing a high school football game scene.

4 year old: Look the Super Bowl
7 year old: That's not the Super Bowl
4yo: Yes it is
7yo: No it is not
4yo: Well its not really, it's just something pretending to be the Super Bowl
7yo: It's NOT THE SUPERBOWL
4yo: Fine what is it then
7yo: I think its rugby
4yo: What's the super bowl in rugby?

I was almost drowning in adorableness from these two. The movie was inappropriate for a 4 year old I think. Both kids had their hands covering their eyes for the last 40 minutes of the film. Poor cute kids.

I turned my phone back on after the movie and had a text from my older brother that sounded alarming. He doesn't text ever let alone with a "Call me before mom gets to you!!!" message. Basically, my grandma's in the hospital. For awhile it was bad, then ok, then worse, and now it seems ok again and she should be 'fine'. Regardless, it's stressful for everyone and sad and scary because I'd consider her a sort of matriarch in our family.

Thursday night Edward came over for a double dose of Duplasses. The Duplass brothers direct those irritating mumblecore films that I can't seem to stop watching and I don't know why. The Puffy Chair, movie one, was irritating. It had some sort of story arch which was different than most mumbles but not the story arc was so predictable! Embarrassingly, the boyfriend and girlfriend had a few conversations that I swear they stole from my mouth verbatim, went back in time 3 years, and put in the movie. I guess that's why I watch these things - there's just enough self-identifying to make it interesting. But the self-identifying parts are always the "god that's so annoying and awful but holy shit I do that how stupid" parts.

The second was a preview/screening copy of the unreleased Baghead he had to write a review for. I liked it! It wasn't even mumblecore, it just a movie. It's on sony picture classics no less. I laughed, was entertained, a bit spooked (its semi-suspense horror genre), and it was nice and short. It also did not feature and Duplass' acting, which maybe helped. Greta Gerwig was in it, and I think she's super cute. So good job on that one.

Tonight I'll get dinner with Nate and go to bed early for my 7 am run Saturday. I've missed my fellow 7am'ers! It'll be fun to see them again and talk about pervert stuff and discuss the half naked runners that go by. That's how we cover the hours and hours of running we do.