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Sunday, March 17, 2024

lead a snot into temptation

Did a bit more decluttering this weekend - I swear it never ends. Who knew I was such a packrat?!

This time I went through my art toys a second time and got rid of things I haven't used in *forever*. My art hobby is quite inexpensive. Pencils, pens, sketchbooks, etc. are so darn cheap.  It's easy to bring stuff home and let it sit. I swear they all get together at night and multiply.

Last weekend, Magnum and I were out for a walk and I wanted to walk passed a cute little art supply store I'd heard of but had never been to. So we walked on by and I caught a glimpse. Magnum noted that the store was open, did I want to go in?

NOPE! I'd end up bringing home something I don't need - like going to the animal shelter!


I drew this anime character on Friday during Snowday 2. I've never really drawn anime before, but I'd read that the creator of Dragonball books, show, and whatever else, died last week. 

I don't know the plot or characters of Dragonball, but I've seen them in the periphery - the weird hair, the baggy pants...

Anyways, good snowday fun.

We got a decent amount of heavy, wet snow, but not nearly as much as areas south of us. Ours was just a "normal" spring snow - about 7 inches - while I see friends to the south buried under 2+ feet. No thanks.




That bit of anime fun got me to declutter the stuff packed into my little art supply case after I discovered the cute graphic pencil I used to draw the weird-haired dude.

Now I'm just down to my faves, including the pencil. In celebration, I drew another anime weird-haired character



In the meantime, Magnum completed our 2023 tax return. I swear he has all the fun.


Thursday, March 14, 2024

pow, right in the...

College is closed, having us a snow day, although there's not a whole lot of snow out there at the moment. Tomorrow is already a "remote operations" day, which in my case means simply another day of no testing center.



I do have a couple of tutees to zoom with later, so not a total day of langor. It IS Pi Day, afterall. I've showered. 



And we have a few signs of spring already. I snapped this pic a few days ago along the creek path.



So, yesterday morning I was at the gym and doing some of my PT exercises. Now, I'd gone to the PT originally because of a fritzed foot, and the foot feels fine now. But the issue exposed hip weakness as the likely cause.

I say weakness, and "Dr. J" countered with opportunites

"I'm a tutor, I play those same word games", I made known. 

Dr. J is a super nice guy and knowledgeable physician, quick to establish rapport. I've learned lots from him and am glad of my decision to give PT a try.

One area we've been working is my TFL muscle, which I'd never known of before. If one is wearing a pair of girl jeans with teeny girl pockets, and puts the finger tips in the teeny pocket, their fingers are on or very close to the TFL. 

I had dry needling in the TFL at my last appointment, and Dr. J was very keen on how that might be an emotionally/mentally sensitive area for him to be accessing - getting my reassurance, letting me tuck the drape into my elastic waist band, etc. - before him going in

Seriously, I had no qualms. He's a doctor, plus I knew from other dry needling sessions on other areas that this would be helpful, and it was.

So yesterday, I was at the gym, working on my opportunities, and I guess I stood up weird or something and felt a little *tweak* right near the pubic bone, right in the cooch.

It was at that point I wished I had a female PT. Although I'm sure the structure of whatever I'd tweaked is present in both men and women, how to phrase it if I asked Dr. J about it?

"... right in the vag/ cooch/ cha cha/ girly bits/ etc..."

Thankfully, it improved as the day wore on, and I've no more sensation of "it". But this is the main reason I typically prefer a female doctor. My PCP is female, and I have an annual checkup coming up shortly.

We'll probably talk briefly of "sensitive" topics - like allergies and stuff - before moving on to her updating me on her kids.


Saturday, March 9, 2024

looking from a window above

Happy Saturday, it's been a busy week. Let's see, I...

  • was installed as chapter Prez at PEO
  • met with all the tutees
  • worked an extra shift to fill in for a coworker
  • had another dry needling sesh with the PT

All in all, a good week, and I'm ready for the weekend - only to lose an hour of it.



One of my tutees is a high school kid who is the spitting image of Alison Moyet from her Yaz days - complete with eye makeup and hairstyle. 

Seriously, it's uncanny, to the point I almost asked them (preferred pronoun) if they purposely modeled themselves after her. Good times, those '80s!

But I haven't asked. "Alison" is quite intelligent. Wants to go to Yale. We shall see.



I've got one more PT session scheduled in a couple of weeks, and that's meant to be the end of it. It's been a good experience, and it's up to me to keep up with the exercises. The dry needling's been interesting, and I'm glad I decided to give it a try.

In other health news, a couple of articles crossed my radar this week. One article touting several benefits of beer almost has me jumping off the wagon I decided to jump on last year. The article mentions that some of the benefits come from studies of non-alcoholic beer, but I never really understood the point of such a thing.

Another piece of info was from a youtuber saying that menopausal women should get a good amount of calories from fat. From that, I did dig a bit deeper and found that

"...fats can help your body absorb nutrients it needs and may reduce the frequency and severity of menopause symptoms"

Something to do with estrogen. And there's the qualifier "healthy fats" like avocados (which I can't stand 🤢) . So... no cheesecake then?

Anyway, eat, drink, and be merry. For tonight, we lose an hour.


Sunday, March 3, 2024

hanging around

Ready for the chocolate shortage? Got a strategy? Our stash of dark chocolate Hershey kisses may soon become a product for only the rich and famous. Eat them or sell on the black market... hmmm...

So my decluttering continues. Just when I think I've gotten so minimal, I find other junk. I just chucked some dry erase markers - emphasis on DRY. During my last sweep of my office/ studio/ cat bathroom, I found a nice pad of bristol paper that I bought years ago.

Bristol paper is stronger and stiffer than "regular" drawing paper. I think it's actually sheets of paper that are pressed together to make it thicker and stronger and smoother. Anyway, it's very fun to play with.

Also, I worked yesterday, so this is kind of a short weekend for me. While at work, one of our testers was the cute emo kid who has been taking his HiSET (High School Equivalency Test - very similar to the more well-known GED) modules with us. 

He's actually quite intelligent and has been eating through his modules like nobody's business. This was probably his 3rd or 4th visit with us, and I got his station all set up. I turned around to check his pockets, socks, and sleeves, and he was standing there with his big cargo pants already all rolled up, with pockets turned out, all *I know the drill*



Then he went in and aced another module, came out and put away his scratch paper and pencils like he owns the place. 

I'm gonna miss that kid when he's done. Today, while going through markers and things, I found a sharpie that works and did a quick sketch of "Miles".

And the decluttering doesn't end with the physical stuff. I opened my Pinterest account - OH the crap it contained. 

Still deleting

Friday, March 1, 2024

what a feeling

 Congratulations, we made it to March, even with an extra February day.


It seemed like a good day for cheesy puns?

I had today off of work and got a few things checked off the to-do list. I typically have Fridays off, but this was the last one for a while. Coworker Star is leaving on a longish vacation, visiting family around the world, and I'll be covering her Fridays for the next few weeks. 

Around here, our March came in like a lamb, so should we be bracing for how it will end? We had sunny skies and temperatures in the 60's. I ran some errands and took my puttster car for a wash.


Ain't she pretty? Now for sure, we'll have a blizzard

She's 24 years old. Not too shabby for an old lady, I guess. 

She does spend most of her time sitting around in the garage, however.

And just between you and me, she is pretty  crap for driving in snow...




Speaking of old ladies, this week, I decided I should "not skip leg day" at the gym. I don't usually do much lower body strengthening, figuring bicycling and running had me covered. WELL, through my recent physical therapy Journey, the weaknesses have been revealed. 

And now I'm SO sore, youse guys. 


Sunday, February 25, 2024

crashing


I was out running in the wee mornig hours on Friday and decided to snap a pic of this sculpture at sunrise. 

It's a bronze sculpture that sits along a popular trail near the bike racks for a a botanical garden attraction. 

It "shades" a bench and one of those public bicycle repair stations.

It's titled "Cycologist" and actually makes me think of a multiple bicycle crash... in a tree?


Looking at the photo afterwards, it looks rather sinister and thorny in the darkness. 

So when I was in the area again this morning at a later hour, I snapped it again in the daylight. Still crashy/ thorny, but a little less sinister? Maybe?


So yes, I am able to run again and have been reminding my body of that for the last month or so. The physical therapy, including the dry needling, seems to have helped. I don't exactly feel 17 again, but I'll take what I can get.

Speaking of bicycles and crashes, Magnum and I were out walking around yesterday when we came across a fresh accident between a bicyclist and a (I think) pickup truck.

It happened on the other side of a busy road we were walking along. I looked over and saw a laid down road bike with its front wheel looking rather bent and possibly detatched? That's when I noticed the guy on the ground, the car with its hazard likes blinking and a pickup truck with its hood opened.

From my astute observations, I surmise that the pickup truck was going south and turned left to enter an apartment complex and hit the bicyclist going north in the bike lane. Probably a bystander then pulled their car into the apartment entance to block other traffic from the injured bicyclist.

Shortly afterward, all the first responders showed up - fire, ambulamps, po po. Traffic was blocked and rerouted at he intersection a little further south. I was actually impressed at the quick efficiency of it all.

The injured cyclist - wearing a helmet - was on his back and appeared to be conscious and speaking with his helpers. This was along a busy stretch that I personally wouldn't ride a bicycle on. There is a bike lane, yes, but PFFFT.  Now, I'm not victim blaming here, I'm sure he had the right of way. But a little common sense goes a long way.

Just about every close call I've ever had while bicycling in traffic involved someone turning left. In fact, [that one time I was hit], several years ago when I was bouncier, was by a woman who turned left into me. It seems that left-turning drivers are looking for oncoming cars and bicycles turn invisible. 



Friday, February 23, 2024

what's her face

She interviewed me, hired me, promoted me, then promoted me again - my boss from my job prior to me leaving to work at my current job. 

She'd been a good boss, I liked working for her, and I think it's safe to say she liked having me as an employee. I was a dietary supervisor at a full nursing facility where she was the dietary manager. Shortly before I left, she'd left for an administrative position at a largish senior living facility.

When I applied for my current job at the college, she served as a key reference. We kept in touch for a while after going our separate ways, but that died off as such things tend to do.

I've been working at the college for a little over two and a half years now. Yesterday, I got into work, looked over the list of people scheduled to come in for testing, and a certain name caught my eye. It was the same name as that former boss.

"Is it her?", I wondered. Her name is not particularly unique, but she spells her first name slightly different than is typical. 

Sure enough, PB (previous boss) came a-walkin' in at the appointed time. I recognized her by her hair and voice - which may sound funny, but when we worked together, we were deep in the throes of the covid pandemic, at a nursing facility no less.

Meaning, we were always fully masked and often moreso. I sometimes saw the faces from afar of coworkers as we took our socially distanced lunch breaks together. But the boss didn't eat lunch with us. I'd never actually seen her whole face and vice versa.

So, she came in yesterday, and I was all,

"Hey, I wondered if that was you on our roster!"

And she was all *as I imagine from the look on her unfamiliar whole face* "who the hell are you and why are you talking to me like that?", not to be fully attributed to test anxiety.

Pandemic Abby


I stated my name and the place we used to work, THEN she remembered me. We acknowledged the whole mask thing.

I recall one time I went in to speak with her about something on a day off, and she marveled at how different I looked. Although I was still masked, I wasn't wearing my hair band.

So, I see why I was so unrecognizable yesterday - no mask, no hair band - just out there, free range, spreading and absorbing whatever's in the air with my whole face.

And honestly, if I hadn't seen her name, I doubt I would've have recognized her either.