Eigenblogger Turns 14!
AHOY, PEOPLE!
So today marks my 14th year of blogging. That’s 14 years of daily nonsense.
That’s a lot of nonsense. 5,115 days’ worth, to be exact.
Thanks to those of you who still read this on occasion. I don’t understand why you do it, but thank you. I’m not going to do anything special for this anniversary because who freaking cares, but 15 is coming up next year and we all know I like numbers divisible by 5, so there will be something big for that one.
YAY!
Has spring finally come to Calgary???
Maybe?????????
I was able to go running/walking without a jacket today, which was a fantastic feeling. I actually ran nine miles ‘cause it just felt so nice out and it was so much more enjoyable than the cold hell that it’s been up here all year.
Also, the skin on my arms didn’t erupt, which is good, but I remember that it took a little bit of time (and sun exposure) for that to happen last year, so we’ll see.
Maybe it won’t even happen again.
Edit: today was the warmest it’s been since September last year. That’s too freaking long for the temperatures to be lower than they were today, holy hell.
Pout…pout…LET IT ALL OUT! This is the weather we complain about, come on…
I love how every other day this week has been sunny/warm/both, but today was cloudy/windy/cold. Because Nate and I wanted to walk together.
But we walked together anyway, because it feels like we’ve only gotten like three weekends to actually do that so far this week.
And then we came home and I found a very relevant little map:
I love how Calgary’s in its own personal hell in Alberta (it’s riiiight under the title in that pink region). “You bitches are going to get a snowy April and you’re going to like it.”
Edit: goddammit, Calgary!
7,000,000,000
This video seems highly relevant nowadays.
Sorry, I actually posted this video in a blog way back in 2010*, but I’ve been thinking about it recently. Can’t imagine why…
*It was around the time you came to visit me in Vancouver, Maddie; let’s see if I can get the correct date…March 16, 2010? *checks* Fucking nailed it. Why do I have this kind of memory for stupid things like specific dates and entire movie dialogues but can’t remember if I had dinner last night?
LOOK AT THIS GARBAGE WEATHER
LOOK AT IT.
I hate it.
At least I have my treadmill now, so I used that for the first time today instead of having to trudge through like four inches of snow.
Thank you to my wonderful husband for a) helping me haul it up the stairs to our condo and b) helping me put it together once we got it up here.
Yay.
TREADMILL OMFG
So it didn’t end up coming yesterday, but IT’S HERE NOW!
AND IT’S HUGE!
AND IT’S DOWN IN THE MAIN LOBBY, MEANING NATE AND I WILL HAVE TO HAUL IT UP A FEW FLIGHTS OF STAIRS TONIGHT!
EDIT: Turns out the first workout involving the treadmill was an arm workout. There was no way I could have done that without Nate. But here’s the ‘mill all set up (from a few days later):
Poof-da-woof
MY TREADMILL IS SUPPOSED TO BE HERE TOMORROW LASDJFLSDJFLASFJ
In other news, it’s still the dead of winter here, temperature-wise. Today the “feels like” temperature was 5 when I started my walk.
F I V E.
It is A P R I L.
And it’s supposed to snow like five days out of the next two weeks.
I reiterate: A P R I L.
It was also cloudy and dreary as hell today, which kills my motivation to do anything. I am solar-powered, yo. I needs da sun.
Bye.
Look at this adorable girl
She loves to grind her teeth and chin on my toes. And purr incessantly while she does so.
That is all.
CLOUDSKY
Y’all, look at this fantastic cloud boundary. So sharp.
I risked my fingers freezing off for this, too. It’s so freaking cold here right now, but it wasn’t cold enough to deter me from taking cool cloud pictures.
‘Cause that’s how I roll.
Long Hair? DON’T CARE!
Seriously, why did I ever have long hair? It was a pain in the ass and looked terrible. Not like I’m a supermodel or anything with short hair (I’m still just as ugly and stupid-looking), but at least I look more “naturally” ugly and stupid-looking, if that makes any sense.
Probably not.
Freaking Virus, Yo
I want to preface this blog by saying that given the current circumstances, Nate and I have it pretty good.
We both still have jobs and neither job is in danger (probably).
We can still pay our condo fees, mortgage, bills, etc.
We are both healthy (as far as we know).
Everyone we care about is healthy (as far as we know).
So our situation could be much, much worse in many different ways.
But that doesn’t change the fact that I am angry and disappointed.
I’m angry that my mom is finally able to retire this year but won’t get to travel (at least for a while), which is what she immediately wanted to do. Hell, she can’t even go to, like, a mall to celebrate.
I’m angry that Nate and I had an awesome retirement trip planned out for her that was going to be awesome for all three of us. Redwoods? Mets games? Family hangout time? Gone.
I’m angry that I’ve finally gotten a semester completely off for the first time since 2017 and most of the long walks that I haven’t been able to do because I’ve been too busy I now can’t do because of social distancing restrictions (or just general “I don’t want to take the risk by going to Walmart/taking the bus/sharing this path with 100 people who don’t understand the concept of covering their mouth when they cough).
I’m angry about not knowing how long all this will last.
I’m angry that my parents are in one of the most at-risk populations and, due to the border being closed and airlines being NOPE, it would be very difficult for me to get down to them if either of them got sick.
I’m angry that there are probably enough people who are still not taking this seriously enough that a second surge of this thing is probably going to hit once we start gradually opening things back up.
I’m just. Angry.
Sorry for the complaining. I need to do it somewhere.
Three Tiny Things for One Tiny Blog Post
One: This would make a beautiful tattoo. I love cardioids.
Two: “Steamed Hams Inc.” came on over shuffle while I was walking today and it made me remember what a treasure of the internet that song/video is.
Three: I feel like I will never be able to understand math the way a true mathematician understands math. I was hoping that my understanding and intuition of math would improve as I took more math courses (especially ones outside the more narrow focus of mathematical statistics, such as complex analysis), but I don’t think it ever really did. Maybe my focus was still too narrow, or maybe I’m lacking some basic fundamentals that help tie everything together. Or maybe I just don’t think like a mathematician. Or maybe even I’m still letting that basal fear of math that I’ve always had buried in my psyche prevent me from being able to look at math from different angles. Who knows. But it’s sad and embarrassing.
Circulation problems
I’m pretty sure I’ve got some sort of circulation problem in my hands. Either that or my cold tolerance is just pathetic. I don’t think that’s the case, though, as I can walk in -15 degree weather and be reasonably comfortable…
…except for my hands.
Like, in temperatures where I see a lot of other people either not wearing gloves or just wearing those thin little $2 gloves you can get at Walmart, I’ve got my thick winter gloves on and my fingers still feel like they’re on the verge of getting frostbite.
I don’t know if constantly exposing them to cold weather is making this worse, either. It’s to the point now that if I’m out for long enough in the cold, they ache like hell once I get back inside and get them warmed up (we’re talking aching for several hours here).
I’ve Googled “how to improve circulation” and of course the first result is “exercise!”
Fool, I do that for four hours a day, so that’s not going to help anything if it’s not already doing so. Do they make compression gloves? Maybe I should try compression gloves.
Freaking winter.
The Light at the End of the Tunnel
So on Tuesdays and Thursdays I get up at 5:30 AM so that I can go walking from 6 AM – 10 AM before I teach at 11 AM. Last semester I had to get up even earlier so that I could walk before my 9:30 AM class. As we transitioned from fall into winter, it of course got both darker and colder in the morning, which is very demotivating for someone who is basically powered by the sun.
But today was the first day I noticed that it is finally finally getting lighter outside. Not a lot lighter, but lighter.
It was still cold as all hell, but as I was turning around in Bowness to head back to campus, the sky was definitely lighter.
YAY.
I NEED LIGHT.
Spring Training!!!!!
FREAKING YAY I AM SO EXCITED FOR BASEBALL YOU HAVE NO IDEA
Baseball season = the warm, sunny, long-days part of the year. The best part of the year. I neeeeed.
Carz
This is pretty disgusting, honestly.
Why are they getting publicity without being punished for, I don’t know, blatantly breaking the law for pretty much this whole journey?
The more I walk, the more I realize just how much the world is catered towards cars/driving compared to other forms of transportation. And it really bothers me.
Sorry, I just found this article today and it’s all I’ve been able to think about,
I found the piece I took to State Drama
So when I was in 12th grade, one of the elective classes I took was drama. I don’t remember much from it other than us performing Ayn Rand’s “Night of January 16th” (I was Magda), us dicking around a LOT during class, and the tryouts and subsequent state drama competition.
I had two pieces I performed for the state drama competition. One was with my friend Bethany; we did a scene out of Hamlet. The other was a solo piece that my drama teacher thought would fit me very well. It was called Twirler, and after just a little digging on the Tubes, I found it here.
I remember practicing this. I remember buying a baton and making my costume. I remember practicing a southern accent.
(I don’t remember saying the “n” word, though; surely I would not have been comfortable with that. We must have subbed it out with something else.)
I remember the tryouts, too. The regional ones were held one weekend in our high school building and I had to give my “Twirler” performance in one of the math rooms, which just shot my anxiety straight through the roof.
But both of my pieces got called to go on to the state competition held somewhere in the south – either Twin Falls or Idaho Falls, I can’t remember. We couldn’t do the one with Bethany because she had some sort of other prior commitment, but I went and performed “Twirler.” They said I would have gotten into the final round had I not gone over time.
Which, you know, is how things always go with me.
But yeah. I just had a sudden flashback to that piece and wanted to see if I could find it.
END!
Lapsing (Again)
Calgary should use this as an official tourism video, seriously.
I know, I know. Another time-lapse. But this one is fantastic. The transitions are so smooth and beautiful, and that shot of The Bow building at 0:37 is stunning.
Nate got me a weighted blanket and OH MY GOD
Being beneath it is like what I would imagine being vacuum sealed would feel like. It’s so freaking comforting and calming. I was dubious at first, but it really helps mellow things out.
I can’t say if it actually helps me sleep better or not because I fall asleep within about a minute of lying down (no matter what), but it definitely felt good while I was awake.
I’d recommend trying one out!
