girl in greenwood

I've had one of those days where just about everything happens like I planned. It's not that my day was exceptionally great or anything - just that it went totally smoothly.

I got up 30 minutes early and had so much extra time while getting ready that I put in some laundry, applied eye makeup, and got to sit and read for 10 minutes before going to catch the bus.

There was a fresh pot of coffee when I arrived at the office.

I had a free sandwich card at the sandwich shop at lunchtime.

I went to the gym to work out even though M*, my workout buddy, was sick.

I studied last night and during my workout today and felt pretty darn ready for my exam tonight.

I got to take a nap on the bus, using my new furry coat's hood for a pillow.

I got to drive to school which is so much more civilized than taking the bus.

I think I did really well on the last lab exam! Thank goodness. Now, no more lab for the rest of the quarter... and only 2 more lectures. Of course there's a giant final exam looming, but that's okay.

I took flyers and posters by the coffeeshop where R*'s band is playing Sunday, which made for a happy husband.

Black beans were on sale for $.85 a can at my grocery store so I stocked up.

R* got out the new cannisters we got over the holiday and loaded all the assorted coffee crap into them, making for a happy wife!

And now, I've got time to go read before dinner and bed. So that's what I'm off to do.

I'm not very good at putting on makeup. I don't know if I missed that part of my girl education, or if my mom was a poor role model because her idea of putting on makeup was wearing mascara, or if I was just doomed because I grew up in the Midwest in the 80s. Regardless, I found some eyeshadow that I can wear without looking like a doofus! Thanks, Revlon! In case you were wondering, I'm using the Bronze color. Although I'm thinking I would like Taupe as well.

We got back from Thanksgiving at my parents' house last night. It was probably the best visit at their house that R* and I have ever had. Usually after a couple of days, R* and my mom start driving each other nuts... but this time, everyone was fine the whole time. We had a lovely holiday dinner with turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy and sweet potato casserole and squash casserole and cranberry sauce and homemade rolls and deep-fried mackerel. Yes, one of those things doesn't fit. My dad had a Korean student who joined us and the mackerel was his contribution. And actually, although it didn't go with the meal, it tasted really good. We followed dinner with pumpkin pie (homemade) and sweet potato/pecan/bourbon pie (from St. Clouds restaurant here in Seattle).

I got a speeding ticket on Highway 26 in Grant County. You know how R* got this new car named Jed? He is really, really fast. And I was driving him for the first time. And I kind of stepped on it because we were going up a hill and around a curve and in my little car that means you have to push hard on the gas... but then I got to the top of the hill and there was a cop sitting there and I was going 78 in a 60 and now I owe Grant County $122.

I have been very withdrawn in the last several days - I'm not sure what is wrong with me. Perhaps it's because of the time change - it gets dark so freakin' early this time of year. Perhaps it's because I'm tired - working fulltime and going to school is not exactly relaxing. Perhaps I'm just going through a cycle of depression. R* has pointedly wondered if I might consider altering my medication... I feel resistant to that suggestion but I can't come up with any logical reasons why. It has been bad enough a couple of nights recently that to get to sleep, I had to make a list in my head of all the reasons I have to be happy, to prevent myself from getting all worked up and crying. I have a lot of good reasons, want to hear some of 'em?

1. We have two furry healthy cats who love us both and show us love by sleeping on the bed and purring. It's substantially more difficult to be sad when there's a big black cat purring in your ear. (The big black cat likes to sleep between our heads at night.)

2. R* has really gone to town on Christmas this year. We decided that since we're going out of town for the actual holiday, we're going to give each other gifts as they arrive instead of in one big opening ceremony. And a surge of doo-dads has resulted! R* bought a big(ger) widescreen TV - it's the smallest one Toshiba makes at 26", but it is bright and lovely and HDTV compatible, and fits perfectly in our not-very-big living room. As I mentioned previously, this development has bumped Old-Livingroom-TV into the bedroom, and Old-Bedroom-TV into the studio space downstairs, where it can be used for yoga videos. Best of all, the new DVR showed up and is our new best friend. Love it! Can't believe we lived without it all this time!

3. The makeover of our bed into the World's Comfyest Bed is nearly complete. We've got a mission-style platform bed frame that we bought from L.L. Bean, and a nice firm mattress that we got from the manufacturer in Ballard. We added a featherbed a couple months ago, and this weekend I put on the flannel sheets and the heated mattress pad. We've already got two very soft cuddly blankets... and after the holiday, we'll have a new fluffy comforter and snazzy duvet cover.

4. We're going to visit my parents over the Thanksgiving holiday. I look forward to reading, wearing fuzzy pants, and eating lots of good food. We're even taking The Pie (sweet potato-pecan-bourbon) from St. Clouds with us.

5. I got the scores back from the quiz and test from lecture - I got 19/20 on the quiz and 46/50 on the test! I am flabbergasted, having thought I did poorly on both of them!

What I've been up to:

*Trip to Target wherein I bought $35 worth of Method cleaners. They're very affordable so you should get the idea that this is a whole lot of cleaners.

*Two more personal training appointments that have both included a few minutes where I said, "Whoa, I need to lie down" while spots swam before my eyes. After the first time, I thought it was a blood sugar thing. After the second time, I'm developing a theory that my low-ish blood pressure doesn't like me to get my heart pounding and then transition between sitting and standing too fast. Either way, it makes me feel like a dork.

*Big exam in anatomy class last night. I came away from it feeling like I'd studied all the wrong things. We shall see.

*After exam, had total freakout in lab with some of my classmates about what I will do if I'm not accepted to the nursing program for Fall 2005. Today, I came up with Plan B, which is to apply to Bellevue Community College as well as Shoreline. Surely they can't both turn me down!

I got the results of last week's lab exam last night - I got 42/50. I was kind of disappointed by that score - I felt like I'd done much better. Oh well. I calculate my grade in the class at 90% right now, which is in no way bad.

I'm having a full-on I Hate My Job day. It's no different than any other day, really. I think I'm just not so much mentally here, because there are so many other things occupying my mind right now. School, registration for next quarter, financial stuff, new TV getting delivered tomorrow which means old TV goes into bedroom which means older TV goes into basement for doing yoga videos, new side door getting installed tomorrow. And, we discovered that since R* works for the Evil Empire, he can get a new Comcast DVR for only the cost of the monthly service! No installation charges or anything!

I'm also trying to concentrate again on my health. I've had three personal training appointments, and it's feeling good so far. And I'm tracking what I put in my face with WeightWatchers online tools again. I'm not sure I would go so far as to say I'm moderating what I eat... but at least I'm tracking it.

Evidence Mounts That The Vote May Have Been Hacked

Even as bleeding-heart leftist as I am, I don't want to believe this. It just makes me want to throw up to think that it's possible. Is it possible?

Election result maps

Here's a collection of maps and cartograms that attempts to more accurately portray the election results. It de-emphasizes the size of the red states and instead emphasizes their populations. Very interesting.

Italian Sateen Tweed Comforter Cover

R* and I came to agreement on a comforter cover this weekend. We're getting a big down comforter to replace our quilt - we love the quilt because it was made for us by a friend out of fabrics we chose, but it is fraying around the edges and just doesn't seem as big since we got a queen-size bed. We looked at about 14,000 duvet options and FINALLY chose this one. The runner-up was perhaps more tasteful, but it's dry-clean only. And with two cats who sleep in the bed, that is just not practical.

I had my second lab exam in class last night. It went much, much better than the first one. More than half the questions were cat parts, and after several weeks of doing our own cat dissections, I knew that stuff inside and out. So to speak. The rest of the questions were either from sheep hearts or plastic models of human muscles. I don't expect that I got 100% right, but I'm sure I did well. That's a nice feeling.

My parents have been in town all week. Sunday night we went out for Thai food, after R* and my dad fixed the porch light at the house. Monday I had lunch with my parents since they were staying at a downtown hotel near my office, then they came over to the house for dinner. Mom and I made chicken & dumplings, which was the first time I've ever made it, and it was delicious! I'll be making that again. Tuesday was election day and we all know what happened then. I had a quiz in class and I think I did horribly on it - my head was just not in the game. I skipped lab review and just came home to study, and obsessively refresh election-tracking websites. I also went to the first personal-training session at the gym. Wednesday I took the day off work to spend time with my parents - Mom and I did a bunch of shopping, which is something we don't get to do together very often. Then we met R* in Belltown and went to Marrakesh for dinner. R* is impossible to surprise and I managed to surprise him! I was so proud! Marrakesh was a very fun experience, but I have to say that the food was not incredibly good. It was fine - but it could have been better. It did inspire me to look for a recipe for chicken with honey and prunes, because the sauce was fantastic.

Thursday I went back to work reluctantly, and did another personal training session. I'd been so very sore on Wednesday that I was a little afraid, but I managed to get through it. Sorely. I freaked out all afternoon about the lab exam, but like I said, it went well. My parents and R* picked me up after class and we went to dinner at Saltoro. Delicious! For dessert I had toasted walnuts with honey poured over them, topped by a slice of blue cheese. It tasted sooooo good and decadent.

Then this morning, I had breakfast with my parents at the Crumpet Shop in the market. I love that place - I don't know why I don't go by there more often. I did find out that I could get a big bowl of oat groats (basically hefty oatmeal) to go in the mornings for $2.75 - and it's two blocks from my bus stop. I'll try to retain that information. My parents are headed home now - they stopped by Uwajimaya on their way out of town and got a bubble tea while they were there. I've been raving about bubble tea to them for months so I'm glad they remembered to try it.

2004 Votes

This map represents the diffusion of Republican vs. Democratic votes throughout the states by color. The more red the color, the more Republican votes in the state. It is an interesting way of looking at it - it's not as though every single voter in, say, Indiana is a raving idiot. Utah, on the other hand... I think the nice folks at Dooce and Blurbomat might be the only Democratic voters in that state.

I don't know if I'm actually serious about moving to Canada... but I did get confirmation that they are experiencing the same nursing shortage we are in the US. So, if anyone is interested:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/

http://globeandmail.workopolis.com/content/resource/newcanadians/index.html

I haven't been posting lately because I am one big bundle of nerves. I have anxiety issues anyway, and between the pressure of my class and the clusterfuck of the presidential election, I have had trouble sleeping and keep finding myself clenching my jaw or my shoulders. My nails are all bitten off, too.

Last night I dreamed that I'd come to class to take a quiz, which was supposed to be easy and straightforward. But when I arrived, the teacher passed out a 100-question exam and told us we had 30 minutes to take the test! No one could finish it in that timeframe. I got so mad that I threw my test across the room and shouted, "This is all the president's fault!"

Speaking of which. I should be studying right now for Thursday's lab exam. And I am, between obsessively checking the election results. I'm watching all three of the networks plus CNN and FoxNews. They're all giving different information, although they seem to be starting to agree that Florida is going to Bush. This is really depressing to watch. It reminded me to put "What's the Matter with Kansas?" on my reserves list at the library - I am 172 of 172 hold requests. I guess I'm not the only one who is wondering what the hell is wrong with people.

My mom and dad are in town this week while my dad attends a convention. Tomorrow is R*'s birthday - we have plans for a whole evening of fun, but it's going to be hard to have a good time if we have President Poophead for a second term.

My one piece of really good news for today is that my coworker M* and I went to the gym together and signed up for 10 personal training sessions, and did the first one. Holy CRAP I am out of shape. But I can definitely tell that this is going to make a huge difference. I feel like my legs fell off somewhere in the gym, and I'm not sure they got reattached properly. They're certainly not working normally, and I anticipate that I will be in much pain tomorrow. But hey! I'm actually doing something!