Stretching...

I've been too busy with life to do much updating lately.

Yesterday I slept in accidentally and missed the big Sunday run. My running partner knocked, but since we have stupid, stupid woodpeckers attacking the side of our bedroom, I didn't wake up. Good times. They did 8 miles in the cold and the rain, so I'm not really feeling all that bad. In the afternoon I went out and did 30 minutes at a hard and fast pace. Today I got up and joined the aforementioned running partner on a 7.25 trek (walking and running) to the Portland Running Company so she could get fitted for shoes and then back. I invested in a fancy pair of running shorts and two fancy bras specifically designed for those of us who are flat (they had a line of bras for the less-than-well-endowed called "Handfuls" that I wanted to buy just for the name, but they're not recommended for more than a couple of miles, so I picked something else).

Today is basically laundry and sulking at the sweater I'm making for AK (the process for picking up the stitches for the pocket on the front is admittedly clever, but it's intensely frustrating). And napping. Napping sounds like an excellent plan.

Baggage

Finished the knitted cotton shopping bag today. After a few failed attempts, I managed to bind off a reasonable number of stitches and then knit up some handles for the damnable thing. The handles don't quite line up the way that they're supposed to, but the thing looks reasonable and is finished. I'm slated to knit two more (one for the sister for our birthday and one for my mom for Mother's day), so I should be able to figure it out. There's still a fair amount of cotton left over and I'm tempted to try my hand at some dishcloths (matching ones shipped out with the bags would be a nice touch).

Headachey and vaguely coming down with something on top of everything else. I've spent the evening curled up in bed with a boy and that aforementioned bag, which was exactly what I needed. There's still too much going on in my life. I keep thinking that I'm cutting down on responsibilities and projects, only to suddenly find myself covered under three or four more. At some point I either have to learn how to say no or how to ask for help... more the former than the latter though.

Bedtime...

Culling and Cutting

I keep trying to avoid the news so I don't hear anymore on the raid of the FLDS compound in Texas. Just reading about it makes me ill; I'm terrified for these girls, for what they've experienced and the struggles they'll face in the future.

Yesterday I cleared out half the closets in the house and all my drawers and bagged up clothes and shoes for Goodwill. When AK comes home we'll go through his closet (he never throws anything away) and then I'll feel somewhat settled for spring. I also reorganized all the DVDs, CDs, and my books. I can find things now (you would think someone who works in a library would be better about these things). I've just been feeling so overwhelmed lately by the amount of stuff that fills this apartment. Some of it is needful and useful and some of it is nice to have around, and a lot of it we can do without. There's no point in holding on to clothes I haven't worn in 4 years or books I never read or cookware that friends could use. I come from a family where you either moved every 4 years or you completely went through everything you owned. I know that someday I'll have to look at the three boxes of college and grad school notebooks and photocopies, but not today. Today I am happy that all my Margaret Atwood novels are stacked together and that I can find my work shoes in under a minute.

It's less awkward to type than to talk...

I suppose that my body agreed that I've been too busy and too stressed lately with work and life in general. Last Saturday I noticed that I was losing my sense of taste, but chalked it up to a cold. On Sunday, about ten minutes before a number of friends were supposed to converge on the apartment for dinner, I noticed that my face wasn't working right. I was trying to rinse my mouth and noticed that water was shooting out of the left side. I started to call the Urgent Care Advice Nurse, since I could move everything else on that side of my body, but couldn't get through. AK came home about five minutes later, put me in the car, and drove to a clinic on the other side of town.

I've been diagnosed with Bell's Palsy. It's by no means life threatening. Basically I've lost my sense of taste, the ability to close my left eye easily, and the ability to control my facial muscles on the left side of my face. I was diagnosed and treated within hours of noticing the symptoms and have been stocked up with the requisite steroids and antivirals. I called out this entire week at work, since my eyes tire easily, I have to remember to take my pills five times a day, and it's difficult to eat or drink without looking like a total freakazoid.

The PA who saw me also suggested that this could be the result of stress (because I haven't been busting my ass at work, applying to graduate schools, worrying about AKs car, or a friend's visa, or my performance reviews...). A friend, echoed this, reminding me that sometimes our bodies break down as a way of forcing us to sit still for a minute. It's frustrating as hell, since it'll be at least a month before things are normal again. I am grateful that this is more of an inconvenience than anything else, but it's still hard for me. I'm not used to sitting still or calling out for work in Circ. My coworkers have been amazing covering everything, so I have no reason to worry. It's just hard to stop moving.

On a happier note, I helped a friend out in her lab on Monday. I rinsed out test tubes filled with the stuff that mothballs are made out of and bacterial gunk, and then rinsed them in bleach and put them in an industrial dishwasher (with door like Star Trek.. truly the most impressive piece of machinery they own). I then labeled 200 more test tubes, labeled 200 of those little plastic tubes with caps and watched my friend begin the inoculation of her subjects... or whatever that meant. I'd like to help her out again, since she hasn't any undergraduates or anyone else but herself on the project. It was actually rather relaxing, which of course my friend found astonishing. But you guys know me. I got to spend the day cleaning stuff and then putting labels on them and then putting them in order. And free coffee and tacos.

AK will be heading up to Seattle on weekends until Nationals to work with a group of saberists. It's pretty exciting since it means a new set of people to work out with (if I can head up with him on a Sunday). L, one of the fencers up there, is someone I'm looking forward to training with. We seem to be on the same track, fencing-wise, progressing in a similar fashion. I'd also like to become more familiar with the train up to Seattle (if things work out, I'll be heading up there often) and wandering around the city. However the odds of me ever getting a job up there is slim to none (over saturated with MLIS grads).