Snow falling on cedars… or something like them, anyway.

(That link prompts a download of a short .mpeg of snow falling outside one of our windows today…)

My neck and back have been really stiff and crunchy lately. It could quite possibly be my body compensating or reacting to the increased carpal tunnel pain… or so I’ve read in some of the articles I’ve been checking out lately.

But I’m awake and in pain - wrist, wisdom toothache, earache from toothache, and cramps. I just took two sleeping pills so that I can just drift off and get some good deep sleep.

I started reading the new Beatles book tonight. Yesterday I finished re-reading Memoirs of a Geisha. I still enjoyed it, but I am going to have to follow that up with some non-fiction like this Beatles book and possibly Geisha: A Life book.

I’m going to watch Law and Order for a little while longer and then get to sleep.

So I got back from watching three hilarious episodes of Family Guy a few minutes ago.

I was talking with LJ about my wisdom tooth extraction since he is the friend who is driving me there, waiting while they perform the extraction and then driving me home. I told him about a note for my family that I left on the fridge relating to the surgery as well.

The note basically informs my family that during my convalescence, I will need someone to bring me soup and yogurt and such things - and for added humor, I included very specific requests such as “Campbell’s Manhattan Clam Chowder - served lukewarm” or “Stonyfield Farms Caramel Underground yogurt - available at Whole Foods in Montclair.” That sort of thing. My mom understood the spirit in which it was intended (shock) while my little sister thought I was being a demanding bitch. Oh, well.

Anyway, I was telling LJ that I also included a request for vichysoisse on there - a lovely potato and leek cream soup, in case you’re not familiar with the stuff - and he mentioned that he, too, loves the vichysoisse. I mentioned that my family would not be able to find it, and even if they did, they wouldn’t buy it for me since they’d think it was pretentious soup.

(Here’s where the good friend piece comes in.)

LJ said, “I’ll bring you vichysoisse or whatever else you want.” I told him that was totally unnecessary since it would require him to enter my house and deal with my family - something he is LOATHE to do because of a certain family member - and he replied that he would do it anyway in this case because that’s what friends do for friends. I don’t feel that I can expand on the whole story of what transpired to make entering my house such an unfavorable thing, but suffice it to say that this was really touching and meant a lot to me - that he would offer to a) bring me some of my ridiculous pretentious French soup and b) that he would be willing to enter my family’s home to do so.

Then we noticed that the title of the Family Guy episode was “Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High” and laughter ensued for the next 90 minutes as we watched the first three episodes of season three.

There’s hasn’t been much action on the forum, so I’m a little worried. However, I’m starting a new forum thread, which I hope will generate some action. I need recommendations for books I can read in my upcoming four-day Percocet-induced haze.

So my New Year’s Eve plans are absolutely lackluster; I’ll be sitting home. My sister is having friends over to eat, drink and be merry, so I guess I’ll be a part of that.

Be that as it may, it’s actually sort of how I prefer things to be. If I’m not spending time with friends, it’s not worth leaving the house. I’m not going to go into New York, I’m not going to go to some random bar. I’ll be here.

At least I’ll get a chance to do some hostessing and preparing of foods for my sister’s friends. They’ll be “chips and alcohol” types, but bruschetta never hurt anyone. Fondue is good too, but requires more effort. Though a white wine and brie fondue is easy. I’ll see.

I have to stop at the bank in the morning anyway and get some cash flow so I can take care of some errands like getting my wool coat dry cleaned, paying for parking tomorrow (hoping there’s a half-day - that’s the rumor, anyway), and other such fun. I can get some extra brie fundage just in case.

Tonight, however, I’m capping off the night by watching some episodes of “Family Guy” with LJ. He wanted to watch a movie, but he won’t be home until 10:30 and that’s a bit late for me to start watching a movie if I’m not in my bed already. Then I won’t see him until next year - like many of my friends, unfortunately.

So… yeah. I’ve got a bit of the end of the year blues.

The forum is back. New and improved.

http://www.researchgirl.com/omnium/

Well, I’ll hope anyway. It’s my first time using the phpBB platform for a forum, and it’s pretty clear how it works, but I’m not sure if I enabled everything I wanted to. If you run into any problems, shoot me an email - eva at researchgirl dot com.

(b.n. My spam filter and settings combine to be a sort of email gestapo, by the way, so just be patient. If I don’t respond right away, it means something is caught in limbo - aka the spam folder - on the server and that I’ll be checking it in a day or so to rescue any honorable email.)

For now, I’m only publicizing it here… in a few days or weeks perhaps, I shall add a link sitewide. I’m just taking it slowly for now. If there’s little to no interest, I won’t struggle to maintain this. Additionally, if you want to be a moderator, I can hook you up. Just get in touch.

Cheers!

My pimples, that is. The few that were sprinkled across my forehead and causing me some embarrassment are basically gone. I’ve never had bad skin, so getting these ZITS when I’m soon to be 28 years old is a little, well, bizarre to me. Oh, well. Almost gone now…

I should’ve been in bed half an hour ago to keep with the schedule I’m trying to maintain. If I’m in bed by 10:30, even if I can’t fall asleep for several hours, I’ll have been in bed and RESTING for that time. Sometimes it’s the best I can get. However, tonight I caught an 8 p.m. showing of “The Producers” with Vin.

Methinks he enjoyed it at least a little since he laughed out loud during a few scenes and that’s usually a good sign. When we got out of the theatre, he had some complimentary things to say about all of the cast members and made the observation that, for him (someone who’s never seen a musical on stage or on the screen), the only thing that was a little difficult to “get with” was the style of acting; that over-the-top Broadway style. But, sayeth he, “I caught onto it about an hour into the movie.”

I promised that even though he seemed to like this one, I would not force any additional movie musicals upon him. That would be cruel indeed.

So here are the thoughts I jotted down today that I knew I wanted to write about tonight and which I feel guilty writing about since I should be getting into bed. Oh, well. If I don’t write, then I’ll be up thinking and end up getting up in 2 or 3 hours to write just to get things OUT OF MY HEAD!!!

Better now than later, I feel.

Item 1) The Forum.

Of course, getting back this late prevented me from completing the things I wanted to complete on the forum before I let it “go live.” I am trying to choose between two design templates and the degree to which I can customize each one to my tastes and satisfaction will determine which one gets to stay and which one gets to go.
Wait for it…

Item 2) Desperation Lunches.

Does anyone else keep a stock of desperation lunches at work? These are lunches for days when you have no money, don’t feel like spending money, didn’t bring food from home (for various reasons), feel lazy, don’t really know what you want, or just don’t really feel hungry but KNOW you should eat so you don’t pig out when you get home.

I keep a stock of these at work in one of my filing cabinets. I need to upgrade it to healthier things since today I had a Chicken-Flavored Cup of Noodle and some whole wheat crackers. Pure salt water, noodles and then crackers with salt. Mmm. Healthy. I also have a can of 99% fat free chicken chili in there, as well as some Dole Fruit Cups (in their own juice, always - NEVER in syrup!!) and some pistachios. Then a can opener, a Pyrex container with lid, and a proper spoon and fork. I’m thinking that I need to get some healthier soups in there, perhaps some dried fruit, a can or two of tuna (though the stink factor is a consideration in the office) and then some of the pre-made ethnic food “in a pouch” things they sell at Trader Joe’s which are quite tasty, inexpensive and have a LONG shelf-life - with no preservatives since they’re vacuum sealed, I believe.

Point being - does anyone else do desperation lunches? This might be a forum post… because I like to keep things EXCITING.

Item 3) and 4) The Train.

(These are tied in…)

This morning, there were very few people commuting into work, via train anyway. Kids have the week off from school and I think a lot of parents followed suit to spend time with their families. Fewer people = upset the whole seating strategy struggle and power dynamic on the train. It was weird. Normally, each train car has two columns of seats: the three-seaters and the two-seaters. When people get into an empty train, they will usually start by getting into the “window-seat” of a three-seater row, thus allowing themselves AMPLE room. Some of us (I am in this group) will take the “window seat” of a two-seater.

I think my method - the window seat of the two-seater - is the superior method, simply because of human nature. In the following diagrams, X marks occupied seat, O marks empty seat, underscore marks aisle and line marks window:

Now, let’s say that all the window seats on the three-seaters fill up, and then the window seats on the two-seaters fill up:

|XO__OOX|

The next seat to go is the “aisle seat” of the three-seater, represented thus:

|XO__XOX|

Using my method, you have a greater chance of being left in peace and NOT having a seatmate. Of course, if you get one, they’re right next to you. However, the risk to me is worth it - it will take longer for someone to sit next to you since they’ll fill up the seats with a space between them and the other human being before sitting right next to someone.

The additional benefit of my method is that even IF you get a cozy seatmate in your two-seater, they are almost GUARANTEED to move to the three-seater aisle seat the MOMENT someone else gets off and frees it up. We don’t like to be that close to strangers. Unless it’s in a club or on an elevator and then that’s called frottage and I believe you can be prosecuted.

The second portion of the train story also goes back to this morning. It was quiet on the train, so every sound seemed amplified since there was little white noise or murmur to distract from it. There was a woman on the train this morning tapping away on her laptop.

And when I say “tapping away,” I mean jackhammering like there was diamonds in them thar hills. I couldn’t see her hands, but I could tell from the heaviness with which her fingers were hitting the keyboard (the volume - on a laptop? You have to be beating the shit out of that thing to command this noise) that she was typing the way that you see secretaries typing in old movies on typewriters - their fingers drawn up like spiders’ legs or prancing ponies and them slamming down on the keys with the force of an anvil. Those arched fingers that sort of pause there, curled up in the air, ready to STRIKE. And she had long acrylic nails, I could hear this too from the residual clicking, aside from the general clacking of the keys.

It was SOO loud and so frustrating - I tried to cover my ears with my hands in some subtle way, but that was uncomfortable and not subtle. So, I found a clean tissue in my purse in the little plastic Kleenex wrapper. I tore it in half and then half again. Each quarter was folded up 4 times into a little rectangular cylinder which I then used as a makeshift EARPLUG in each of my ears because this noise was so grating and was actually making me sort of antsy and angry. The earplugs helped and I napped for at least the last 20 minutes of my train ride.

Those were today’s thoughts.

Well, that - and I want to travel to China. The Yunnan province - the area that was known as Shangri-La. But more on that tomorrow.

FORUM
1. The public square or marketplace of an ancient Roman city that was the assembly place for judicial activity and public business.
2. A public meeting place for open discussion.
3. A medium of open discussion or voicing of ideas, such as a newspaper or a radio or television program.

OMNIUM GATHERUM
A miscellaneous collection; a hodgepodge.

Yup. I’ve decided the forum can return. Perhaps there will be more participation than last time? I honestly have no sense of how many people ready this regularly, so it’s a chance. If it tanks, I remove it. That’s one of the great things about fluid media - you can always wipe it up with Bounty.

I’ll post the URL later tonight when I’ve fine-tuned the categories and whatnot. I found a pretty chill template on the phpBB website - which I’ve already installed - and we’ll see if I want to customize it further.

Feedback is appreciated.

Having all the members of the family home together for a fourth day in a row is bound to get everyone upset… we can’t spend that much time together and still remain civil.

So, just now, I had dragged down a very heavy cardboard box full of magazines and dragged it down the stairs on the landing so I could carry it out to the trash later. Let me stress that it was VERY heavy and I could not lift it myself, hence the dragging down the stairs. My father started shouting for me to bring it outside and I said I’d do it later since it was too heavy to carry myself and I would figure out some way with a luggage cart or something later.

NO. That would not do. So he insisted that we carry it down together. Fine - I put on some shoes and we started carrying it down the stairs. At this point, my brother decided to stick his nose where it absolutely did not belong and started yelling, “Are you guys f’ing retarded??? Can’t you carry a f’ing box down the stairs yourself?” My father replied that it was very heavy and my brother retorted back that I managed to carry it down the stairs in the first place - I replied that I’d basically kicked it down the stairs… didn’t have to lift it. The stairs to the basement - unlike the stairs going up - are carpeted and not as easy to drag something along. I said I couldn’t do it myself and he called me a fat whore and told my father, “See how useless your f’ing fat whore daughter is?”

My father just told him to stop using the “f” word.

My brother then pushed past me and my father - almost sending my father down the stairs, grabbed the box and carried it down himself (it gave me a slight “ha!” to see how he was taken aback by the weight of the box) and kept carrying on angrily about the stupidity and laziness of the family. I’m sorry, but I’m not a 6″ tall, 225-pound guy and neither is my father. Lifting a large 60-pound box of magazines isn’t the easiest thing… it’s ungainly and heavy.

I’m still trying to clean, but my mother is bringing a friend over since she needs something notarized and I happen to be a notary public. She just called me to tell me that the document to notarize also needs to be written and that she’ll need me to write it. I told her that I can’t WRITE the document AND notarize it. She can write it and I can notarize it - she balked at that and says that her English (after 30 years in the country) isn’t good enough to write the document.

What is the document? Oh. That’s the fun part. It just needs to state that her friend’s husband is authorized to pick up an accident report from the police station since she can’t get there during the hours it’s open. My god, that requires a master’s degree in English and some doctoral work. Wow.

I hate DVD commercials.

That is, the promotional commercials that now appear before even the MENU on a DVD. Sometimes, you can’t even skip/fast forward through them.

When I am sitting down to watch “The Golden Girls”, I don’t need to see promo pieces for “The Princess Diaries”, “Home Improvement” or “Mary Poppins” (as much as I love the last one there.)

Besides, I paid for this DVD and I don’t need them to try to sell me another. Coming attractions are one thing, but “also available on DVD” is another.

So this was my little complaint for this morning. Off I go.