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This is where I spend a big chunk of my life. |
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Every year at this time, Christmas to New Year's, I take a break from email and the rest of the interweb while I play with kids and go to bed early every night. I've had a good break. I went to the playground a couple of times. It was gorgeous today. I've played hundreds of rounds of card and board games. I got in the tent.
I've been offline a lot this year, and not just in LJ world. A perfect storm of insidious new filters at work, an overheating AC adapter on the laptop, and, I'm shocked to say, exercise, have converged to keep me away from the social world online. My knee starting acting up in the spring, and I've been doing physical therapy, mostly at home, three or more times a week. I used to have those hours for writing about my days; now I process my thoughts while I count reps.
This is not to say I regret all the exercise. In fact, this fall I added an evening exercise class, so then I really had no time between work and sleep. But I do feel pretty good. I just haven't had time to tell anyone.
Here's what I read this year: (goodreads list). |
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Dec. 21st, 2011 @ 11:34 pm
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Why does LJ look so weird suddenly? (And not just because I'm on it.) It looks like new Gmail happened to it. |
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Sep. 28th, 2011 @ 09:42 pm
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It's a sign of pretty good times in Washington if the most exciting thing going on is the engineers rappelling down the Washington Monument. Yesterday there were a ton of microwave trucks and photogs with telephoto lenses for the first day of the survey, but only one guy came out of the hatch at the top and he pretty much stayed there the whole time. The live video online was actually a better view than from the street, because from the ground I couldn't tell if that was just an equipment pack on the hatch ledge, or if there was a person attached to it. Today there were only five or so microwave trucks and a handful of photogs and spectators, but so much more was happening. Today there were four rappellers, one on each side of the cap. I went back later and read that the team is two men and two women, and that they are three engineers and a park ranger from Denali in Alaska. My colleagues and I have been joking that this is what is meant by "other duties as required" when it appears in Fed job descriptions. I'm so jealous, because that really looks like fun.
This is from today (not my photo.) I was able to make out the one in the red shirt from the ground. According to the newspaper that is one of the female engineers. |
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No
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Sep. 11th, 2011 @ 04:27 pm
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I'm at home by myself and saying 'No' out loud. Instead of reading the newspaper, I flipped through the pages, saying 'No' to every article, every ad, every remembrance. Even the comics had something to say no to. I keep switching off the radio with 'No.' At the market I walked into a 'where I was' round robin conversation and had to walk away.
I'm surprised at myself for how I can't make this day into anything else, even though I know two people who are celebrating birthdays today. I can function all the days of the year, but I can't summon anything but sorrow today, and I just want to be left alone. |
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Aug. 12th, 2011 @ 10:41 pm
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I went looking for a little basket today to put some odds and ends in, and I remembered that there was a basket under the bed in my guestroom/office. I've lived in my house for about two years now, and apparently I've never missed any of this stuff, but this basket used to be on a bedside shelf in my old apartment, where I evidently put stuff down to review "later."
I found in this box three lipsticks, two powder compacts, two prescription eyeglasses in cases, four contact lens cases, two sleep masks, a card of bobby pins, various other hair accessories, three rubber bouncy balls, and a handful of safety pins, among other things. Some of this stuff I'll definitely donate, like the glasses, and a pair of barrettes still on the card, and my old alarm clock that works fine but which TA made me replace because it made too much noise, but I tossed the compacts and expired medications, except for the single Vioxx tablet that for some reason I want to hang on to. There's also an old journal from grad school that I'm loath to open but don't want to destroy either. I'll try out the lipsticks tomorrow and see if they're still good, and TA wants the sleep masks, and I guess I'll give the bouncy balls to the cats. |
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gross
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Jun. 19th, 2011 @ 09:44 pm
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Went to load the dishwasher and found a garden slug inside. No idea how it got there. |
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I'm surprising myself at how sad I am about the death of Clarence Clemons. It seemed like he was a part of every hit song featuring a saxophone for the last 35 years.* Why else would anyone recall "Freeway of Love"? His is the part of "Sun City" that I remember. (ok, and the weird matted-in crowds in the video) He and the rest of the E Street Band made Springsteen, and I can't think of him as anything other than a genius. He characterized the 80s for me.
*He's the only saxophonist of the era I can think of by name and by solo other than Greg Ham, Kenny G, and the session player for Gerry Rafferty on 'Baker Street.' |
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I have an unexpected guest arriving tonight: my awesome little sister. Her flight out of NJ is delayed, so she's going to miss her connecting flight to Nashville--so she's going to spend her Baltimore layover with me. This is such a welcome surprise, because I adore my sister and it's always so good to spend time with her. TA and I spent a frantic hour fervently cleaning the house and getting bedroom and bathroom ready, but now the house is ready for tonight and we're ahead on our cleanup for Friday night fun. |
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Apr. 26th, 2011 @ 12:33 pm
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1-800-CONTACTS creeped me out. When I said I'd like to place an order for lenses, the lady said, "Oh, hi. Is this Anne?"
I called from my home phone, so I know they pulled my customer profile from that, but it's still creepy that all I had to do was recite my address, and they had the rest, including a credit card number on file. |
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badcat's journal