I GOT SHOT
BY A NEEDLE
IN THE ARM
Now I am COVID boosted. We’ll see what the side effects are for this one. Can’t be worse than the second shot, yo. That was rough.
MICRO
Want a nice quick summary of the micronutrients important in the human body? Check this video out!
(I’m mostly posting this so that I can come back to it later myself, haha)
Time for Early Morning Running!
So it’s that time of year again when I’m going to have to start getting up obnoxiously early to go running. Specifically, I’m getting up at 4 AM so that I can start my run at 4:30.
Pros:
- No one is out at that time of day and it’s GREAT
- I’m done with my run and back home by around 9 AM, which means I’ve got the whole rest of the day to do my nonsense
- It’s nice and cool out (relatively)
Cons:
- I HATE GOING TO BED EARLY
- I HATE GETTING UP EARLY
- Seriously, it takes so much effort to get up that early for me. Like…4 AM is my natural bedtime.
- As the year progresses, it will start staying darker longer in the morning, which is always super depressing
BLAAAAAAH
Last Day of Classes!
I’m freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
At least until the actual fall semester starts, haha. Having spring off was REALLY nice, though. I’m not sure which of the two shorter semesters is better for teaching. Spring is nice because then you have a really long break until Fall, but Summer is nice because then you get a break right after the Winter semester and there is NO ONE on campus in the Summer.
Meh.
I Met the Sky
What did YOU do today?
The Bird is Unhinged
This is exactly the level of terror that the Duolingo owl inspires. Love it.
I also love how Duolingo itself has fully embraced the “this owl is a psychopath stalker and will not hesitate to use violence” in its own marketing campaign.
Why not?
A – Annoyance: People. Just…people.
B – Bestest Friend[s]: I don’t have any.
C – Car: Don’t have one.
D – Day or night: I’m a night owl, but I prefer the day.
E – Easiest person to talk to? Probably my mom or my husband.
F – Favorite Month: February.
G – Gummy Bears or Worms: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh bears.
H – Hair Color: BLACKER THAN THE BLACKEST BLACK TIMES INFINITY
I – Ice Cream: Oreo.
J – Jewelry: Ostentatious earrings.
K – Kindergarten: Yes, that was a thing.
L – Longest Car Ride: Probably when Nate and I drove from Flagstaff to Idaho Falls. Though that drive from San Francisco to Las Vegas felt even longer.
M – Most missed person: Some of my friends from college.
N – Number of Siblings: ZERO!
O – One regret: Going to London, ON. Apart from seeing some landmarks across the US, there was nothing really beneficial that came out of going there. It was a waste of time and money and was super stressful.
P- Part of your appearance you like least? God, all of it. I am an ugly human being.
Q- Quote: “Become who you are.” I was that pretentious teen in high school who used that as their yearbook quote.
R – Reality TV Show: Top Chef!
S – Shoe: Saucony Kinvaras. There is no other shoe for me.
T – Time you woke up: Like 5-ish.
U – Unpredictable? Nah, I don’t think so.
V – Vegetable you hate: I like most vegetables. Can I count tomato, even though it’s technically a fruit?
W- Worst Habits: Bro, let’s not go there.
X – X-Rays: I think I had one on my leg when we were worried I had a hairline fracture in my (let’s see if I can remember the name of this bone without looking it up) tibia? Yeah, tibia!
Y – Year you were born: 1988.
Z – Zoom: UGH.
Frenchie
So I’m REALLY enjoying learning French, and I’ve just discovered that you can take some French classes through the U of C’s Continuing Education program. I’m seriously considering taking this one, specifically.
And then I can work on this certificate.
Wouldn’t that be super cool?
I also think that I get like one free class a year as a faculty member, so might as well take advantage of that.
Shoutout to Fitly
I’m pretty sure I’ve posted about these before, but if you are into running and want a fantastic running pack, give Fitly a try.
Their minimalist pack is SO light and comfortable. I wear this in the fall/winter/spring (when I don’t need to take water with me) and I seriously forget I’m wearing it.
Their hydro running pack is what I wear in the summer when it’s hot enough that I want to bring water just in case. Compared to a lot of the other water-carrying running packs I see people wear, this one is super low profile and doesn’t bounce around much (and probably wouldn’t bounce at all on anyone who’s even a little bit larger/taller than me. I’m so short I have to have everything on the tightest setting and it’s still a bit big, haha).
I’ve only seen one other person with a Fitly up here, which is shocking, ‘cause they’re SO GOOD.
Get one!
(I’m not getting paid by them, I promise.)
deGrom!!
HE IS BACK
Edit: and of course the Mets lose because the bullpen sucks and why should deGrom deserve run support anyway???
You know what’s better than a migraine?
Being five miles out on a walk and getting that sweet, sweet scintillating scotoma aura in the middle of your vision and you have to deal with partial vision loss for 30 minutes and then the migraine itself for another several hours and then that fuzzy, out-of-it post-migraine feeling after that.
THE FUN NEVER STOPS I TELLS YA
On a completely unrelated note, my job title has apparently changed. I am no longer a “lecturer” but am instead an “assistant professor (teaching).” Which sounds WAY cooler, so I’ll take it.
If I actually get tenure when I apply for it I’ll become an associate professor.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Rex!
HEYOOOOOOO so today is our 6th wedding anniversary!
That’s pretty wild. Sometimes it seems like we’ve been married for much longer than that; sometimes it seems like it’s been much shorter. It’s a bummer that we can’t go do our “regular” anniversary thing (getting Denny’s and staying at Best Western overnight), but I guess this is the third year we haven’t been able to do that, so I guess it’s 50/50 and no longer our “usual” thing.
But whatevs, we can do other things! Like play Jeopardy! and Pictionary. Observe:
(Nate’s Pictionary phrase was “drinking fountain” but of course I had to make it dramatic after I’d guessed it.)
In fact, Pictionary led me to a great idea for a terrible movie. It’d be called “Tutankhamun Rex” and it would be about an anthropologist who discovers a mummified T-Rex skeleton that is then found to be a pharaoh. Who also has guns for arms.
Something would happen to the mummy (it’d get struck by lightning?) and the Rex Pharaoh would come back to life. His catchphrase would be “Tuten’s commin’!” which he would yell before firing off his arm guns.
(It’d be directed by Michael Bay.)
I suspect it would win all the Oscars.
PIE ME, BITCH
(title has nothing to do with blog, as per usual)
1. Have you ever tried to learn (or re-learn) a foreign language as an adult? Which one? What worked for you?
I’m trying to learn French right now. I hate that I didn’t have the guts to try to take a language in high school/college. It’s also pretty sad that I have FIVE COLLEGE DEGREES and not one of them required even a semester of language. Not even philosophy. Not. Even. Philosophy.
2. Do you donate blood? Do you know your blood type?
I’m O+ I’m pretty sure, but I’ve never donated blood. I wanted to in high school, but I was “profoundly anemic” and couldn’t.
3. Have you ever been in a play or musical?
Yes! I was in all of St. Mary’s all-school spring and Christmas musicals, but I don’t know if they count. I was Violet’s mom in our fifth (fourth?) grade “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” play. I was the waitress Gina in our eighth grade “Chateau La Roache.” I was the housekeeper (I think?) in our high school drama play of…uh, that Ayn Rand play. The courtroom one. I can’t remember the name and I can’t be bothered to look it up because Ayn Rand.
4. Do you use certain text or ring tones for specific people? Who gets their own? Or do you just use the default on your phone?
I downloaded the old ICQ “uh-oh!” sound and I use that for my text tone for everyone now.
5. When did you get your first digital camera? Do you still shoot on actual film, or all digital now?
I still have my digital camera, but I can’t remember when I got it. I just use my phone now.
6. What do you think someone else would say the most daring thing you’ve done is?
Probably sky diving, but THEY HAVE NO IDEA
7. Do you talk with your hands?
Yup.
8. Do you have a lucky number? What is it, and what is the story behind it?
I dig 11, but any number with repeating digits seems to find its way into my life.
9. What kind of milk did you drink, growing up? And now?
Skim at my mom’s, 2% at my dad’s. When I drink milk now (which is rare) it’s 1%. Or chocolate.
10. What is your favorite kind of pie?
Not a big fan of pie.
11. Are you a note taker?
Yup. I doodle a lot too.
12. Do you have an eclectic mug collection, or is your stuff all matchy matchy?
I have a Black Mesa mug and a Chinese zodiac dragon mug. Both are used to hold pens.
13. Do you have a junk drawer in your house/garage/at work/wherever?
Not really.
14. What is the longest amount of time you’ve worked at one job – and what was/is it?
Current job! Since 2016.
15. How old were you when you took your first commercial flight? To where did you fly?
I was pretty much a baby. Probably St. Louis.
Riverdale, man
So Riverdale has, somehow, gotten even weirder.* They’re now in like some sort of alternate universe (?) town called Rivervale, which I thought would just be a one-episode thing but it’s been going on for a few episodes now. Rivervale Cheryl sacrificed Rivervale Archie, so he’s dead, but that’s not even the weirdest thing.
Like, let me describe this dream I had last night just to give you an idea of how weird things have gotten. In the dream, all the characters are fighting one another one-on-one. Jughead is fighting Reggie, and in the middle of this flaming metal arena, Jughead looks menacingly at Reggie and mutters, “say hello to Elizabeth for me.” And Reggie’s like, “who’s Elizabeth?” Then Jughead looks down at this raw chicken that’s just sitting on the ground, pulls a whip out of god knows where, and whips the raw chicken. This makes the chicken explode, launching Reggie across the arena and into the wall. And in answer to Reggie’s question, Jughead nods at the half-exploded raw chicken and says, “her.”
And when I woke up, I had to really think about whether that was all a dream or if that was actually part of the episode I’d watched yesterday.
It’s that weird now.
Edit: and now the LITERAL DEVIL is in Rivervale because PFFFFFT FUCK IT
Edit again from like six episodes later: WHAT IN THE HELLING HELL IS THIS SHOW ANYMORE
*Yes, I’m still watching Riverdale because I have trash taste. Deal.
A Friendly Reminder:
Just in case you’ve forgotten, we’re still in the midst of a pandemic. As much as some people/politicians/media want us to believe we can go back to normal without any consequences, we’re not there yet. Especially with these new variants.
The number of friends I’ve seen who are just out doing what the fuck ever – with no apparent safety precautions, including masking indoors – as if this whole thing is over – is utterly distressing.
I am disappoint.
And angry.
(Mostly angry.)
Some of Us Still Care
Or…
Or…
Maybe some of us are extremely careful and are vaccinated, distance from others (and, if we can’t, we wear an N95 whenever we’re around others), and are able to only be around people from our household (who also are never around others).
Does it mean we can’t go to restaurants? Sure. But is doing so really that important anyway? Ugh.
First World Problems: My Raviolis Come From Two Different Packages
So I have this thing where I don’t like to combine food items from different packages. Like, if I have a package of spaghetti and I don’t have enough left in the package to make a batch, I will leave the remaining noodles in the package and open a new one, making the batch of spaghetti completely from the new package.
I currently have seventeen bags of spaghetti that have less than a serving of noodles in them because I don’t want to throw them away but I can’t use them because using them means I have to combine them.
They are perfectly good noodles. There is nothing wrong with them. But I just can’t combine them because they come from different packages.
It’s the same with ravioli.
It’s the same with parmesan.
It’s the same with feta.
Hell, it’s the same with broccoli and broccoli doesn’t even come from a package. If I have two heads of broccoli that I bought at two different times, I can’t combine them.
What in the actual HELL.
Anyone else have this stupid issue?
A Year Without Jazzy
It’s been a year since we lost our sweetest little Jazz.
It’s been very hard.
I still have a lot of trouble going into our bedroom just because I always expect her to be on the bed. She LOVED bed.
She was such a wonderful little girl. I suspect all the health problems she had, including the cancer that eventually killed her, were due at least in part to living in that hoarding house. It’s not fair that she had to live like that and that those conditions probably shortened her life, but at least we were able to give her several years of happiness.
We miss you, Jazzy!
Eigenblogger 