Miscellany

(1) A great Carolyn Hax quote:

not a lot of people are naturally drawn to search their souls. It's dark and spidery in there. Usually they need to get to the point where the alternative is so much worse that they're finally willing to go in.

(2) Is it any wonder that, in my youth, I was *outraged* that my mother would not let me have these?

How delightful I would have imagined I looked!

Can a miscellany consist of merely 2 items?

Jittery yet exhausted

Does this happen to you? You're exhausted and would like to drink some coffee, but your nerve endings feel like they're outside you. More jitteriness doesn't seem like a good idea. Taking "vitamin K" and coffee together seems counterproductive. Urgh. Perhaps a nap...

PM update: Coffee is good for exhaustion. K(lonopin) is good for anxiety. My nerves are back where they should be, on the inside, not exposed to the air. A good balance of relaxed energy is achieved.

Office law: even if you have your own private office, if you wear slipper socks that look like these and try to sneak down the hall to the bathroom because you never, ever, see anyone in the hall, you will, simply by virtue of wearing these socks, run into eleventy-seven people.

PS this is the muted version provided by my cell phone. The actual socks are ever so much more garish.

The Grumbler

Max cannot resist vocalizing in response to the many territorial insults he receives each and every day, including pedestrians, bikes, skateboards, and scooters. In order to honor my fervent requests that he not bark at each one, he has learned to do this instead. I apologize for the video quality; evidently my camera's not very good at this and my fan is loud.

A bit of color

Taken at the McGuffey Art Center.

Greens + carrots + apples + strawberries =

Brown. Brown juice! It looked very unappetizing, but tasted pretty good. Having drunk pure kale juice with a dash of strawberry last weekend, this was definitely an improvement, flavor-wise. I am going to have to look into the aesthetic part. Or just close my eyes and drink. I felt quite zippy afterward, which is either a testament to juice's nutritional goodness or the placebo effect.

Having had 8 glorious hours of sleep last night, I wound up having a fairly productive day, productive in that good, weekend, not work type way. I had my hair shaved off -- ok, not quite shaved, but it is very, very short. Spiky short. Not a style that I admire on others, although my very nice young stylist told me that I totally rock it. That should have made me feel good, but instead I feel like a grandmother. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I reverted to my natural color which is a lot more gray than I had remembered. I like it though, and no more expensive and long trips to the parlor of beauty.

I also finally bought dog and cat food (good stuff -- they've been eating crap and the cat has been eating dog food -- sorry Rosalie!), went on a secret mission, and saw some photographs that were part of the "Festival of the Photograph." It was fun to make a point of seeing art, it's something that I like so much but forget to do for months on end.

I cannot reveal to you the secret mission unless it all ends gloriously sometime in the future.

My little Pomeranian, Max, is having some kind of back problem, which has been rough for him. He perked up a lot today, though, which was nice, and I hope he's on the mend.

Well, that's all I've got. Maybe tomorrow there will be pictures...

Not the best

I'm feeling kind of blah. Haven't felt like writing, haven't felt I had anything to say, you know, blah. Maybe I'm bored. I don't generally get bored, but when I don't have time to follow my own inclinations either intellectually or puttering-around wise, it does happen. I do notice I'm having trouble mustering the appropriate feelings and reactions to things. It's a little bit like anhedonia, except that I am still taking an interest in life, just, uh, not so much in people. Maybe I shouldn't say that on the internet. But I suppose it's something most people feel from time to time, and it's not directed against a particular person or persons.

I feel isolated but as I think this is my own fault, I then conclude I have no right to feel anything about it. Which is not how feelings work, as we know. Plus blaming oneself for having feelings is the fast track to depression. The trick, as one of my friends has been telling me, is to observe without judgment or blame. Then you can take action or not. I used to know this but it seems I temporarily forgot.

Somehow just writing about it makes me feel better. Kind of a bummer for the readers, though!

In CSA news, I'm happy to report that I ate an exceedingly righteous salad for dinner tonight. It's hard for me to get excited about salad -- I mean, it's good, but it really can only be so good, you know? So I get excited about the fact that it's good for my health, and that I'm not wasting as many veggies as I would otherwise. Speaking of which, joining a CSA when one is not used to preparing fresh food is a bit of an adjustment. I have been wasteful, I must confess. But I'm getting better. Last week, when I got everything home, I just stood over the box sampling the wares, most of which I can't identify. It makes me understand how people can eat raw -- I also feel a connection with our foraging past. It's kind of amazing the variety of tastes found in a bunch of leaves. Amazing AND delicious! The strawberries have been great, too.

We are in the "heavy greens" portion of the harvest, since it's early in the year, and my plans to dehydrate things I can't use is not working out, because to the best of my knowledge, dehydrating lettuce would be a mistake. Maybe a tasty kale chip? Unless my dehydrating expert chimes in here, I'm waiting until later in the season for that step. Luckily, I have a juicing expert on my extensive staff! She convinced me to purchase a juicer, for those special times when one is overwhelmed by veggies. I think this will be a fabulous solution and look forward to putting it into action this weekend. I'll report back. You can't stop me.