There are days... you know. Like "it's been one of Those Days" (with a capital D). When you are buried in schoolwork and your computer mysteriously goes kaput. And you get hit with several Large and Unexpected bills. And you go out on a limb to try this great bread recipe which is guaranteed to work except your boyfriend keeps telling you it isn't rising enough and despite your optimism he is Right and it's a complete failure. And it's Lent so you can't even eat chocolate to cheer yourself up and the failed bread is a poor substitute... And then you step in... well, you know, somewhere on your way to the gym to burn off the bread and have to scrape it off to the best of your ability in the Y bathroom...
On "Those Days" counting your blessings in the conventional sense simply is not enough and you have to pull out The Book.
You know? Ruth Werner's A Massage Therapist's Guide to Pathology, Third Edition? It works every time. All I need is to spend a few minutes leafing through that weighty tome, perusing the vivid full color pictures and reading descriptions including phrases like "This is an extraordinarily painful condition" or "itching gets continually worse and worse" or "crust forms once blisters have erupted" and I feel better right away.
I am then able to give thanks again. Thank you tubby little body for carrying me through the 34 years of my life without a single cold sore or genital herpes outbreak! No Shingles! No Scabies! No Fibromyalgia! No Rheumatoid Arthritis! Hallelujah and Amen!
That picture of Jock itch Really gives me the willies...
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Milepebbles
Maybe it's the fact that Lent is right around the corner, but I have such an urge to go stand on the roof and pronounce in stentorian tones, "It is Finished..."
Not that anything is actually really finished per se. Tomorrow I will get up at the regular time and go to work and then to school. I have a paper due and two exams this coming week to stress out over too...
But there have been a lot of what you might call "semi-endings" this week.
I went to the dentist, finally!, not once but twice this week. But that's not really over as I have to go back in four months, to suffer further indignities no doubt.
And then I had the very last of my twelve-series structural work sessions (the KMI sessions I've blogged about before). Since it was the Last session and I won't be working with that therapist ever again (Sniff!), I thought this too seemed rather final, until I was told that my body would continue integrating the changes for the next two months or so...
And then just today I had a practical exam in Swedish. And discovered that we were Finished with Swedish! We've now done full body sessions. That's it. The last 4 and a half months of my life came to fruition and I didn't even realize that it was happening until it was Over! Well, sort of over. We still have the clinic with the public and practice sessions to get ready for the clinic and of course we will be using these techniques in all of our work from here on out...
But I am claiming some semblance of achievement and closure. At least for tonight.
Ahem!
It Is--Sort Of, To Some Extent, In a Manner of Speaking, Partially--Finished!
Not that anything is actually really finished per se. Tomorrow I will get up at the regular time and go to work and then to school. I have a paper due and two exams this coming week to stress out over too...
But there have been a lot of what you might call "semi-endings" this week.
I went to the dentist, finally!, not once but twice this week. But that's not really over as I have to go back in four months, to suffer further indignities no doubt.
And then I had the very last of my twelve-series structural work sessions (the KMI sessions I've blogged about before). Since it was the Last session and I won't be working with that therapist ever again (Sniff!), I thought this too seemed rather final, until I was told that my body would continue integrating the changes for the next two months or so...
And then just today I had a practical exam in Swedish. And discovered that we were Finished with Swedish! We've now done full body sessions. That's it. The last 4 and a half months of my life came to fruition and I didn't even realize that it was happening until it was Over! Well, sort of over. We still have the clinic with the public and practice sessions to get ready for the clinic and of course we will be using these techniques in all of our work from here on out...
But I am claiming some semblance of achievement and closure. At least for tonight.
Ahem!
It Is--Sort Of, To Some Extent, In a Manner of Speaking, Partially--Finished!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
My Favorite Day of the Whole Year!
My favorite day of the whole year Used to be Christmas Day...
Christmas Eve was lots of work and lots of being at church and oyster stew (blech!) and--because you were dressed up all day between church services and therefore not bundled up as usual--it was also the Coldest day of the year. Now I rather like my dad's Christmas Eve service and as a child I thought it was the best church service of the whole year. But as I've gotten older and taken on more and more responsibilities, it has unfortunately lost some of its magic. Last year, for instance, I sang solos at all four services. I also helped set up for all four services. I did the children's sermon at the early morning service and spent the rest of the day passing out candles and stars, ringing bells, singing with the choir, cleaning up after services and turning off the lights for the candle lighting in the evening. It was, to say the least, a very full day.
In contrast, imagine the wondrous indolence of Christmas Day. With nowhere to go and nothing that has to be done, Christmas Day is traditionally the one day that my family is allowed to stay in our pajamas, bask in the warmth of a fire, open stockings and presents, eat all manner of Christmas goodies and play with our new toys.
And there were always toys to play with! Even once Kurt and I outgrew our Star Wars action figures (or, I should say, Mom and Dad stopped buying them for us... One is Never too old for Star Wars action figures!) there were always computer gadgets and games. Videos, books, and electronic bumblepuppies of all sorts. Lots of fun things to share.
But not this year... With the coming of in-laws and babies our traditions have perforce changed and as a result Kurt and I did not even get to Mom and Dad's until Christmas afternoon. Then there was much to do to have Christmas dinner and catch up and open stockings and presents and to prepare for the trip to see the extended family the next day. And actually, there was very little in the way of toys to play with anyway. In my old age I asked for practical gifts like extra sheets for my massage table and warm socks and anatomy flashcards for school... and that is exactly what I got...
So it was that this year Today, December 30, 2007, became my favorite day of the year.
Dan and I woke up this morning to the wonderful realization that it was a day when we didn't have anyone to visit, no presents to buy, no parties to attend, nothing to wrap or open, no school to go to, no classes to teach. Just a blissfully grey and rainy day with nothing to do but play. And, bless his heart, Dan Did get a toy for Christmas that he has been sharing with me.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I now know what my two degrees in classical voice were for. As Mom always says, "Nothing you learn is ever wasted." Those six years of higher education were for the sole purpose of preparing me for my newly found vocation. I have spent the whole day sitting on the couch in my pajamas, playing Guitar Hero II and becoming a rock goddess.
It's a tough job. Fortunately I have all day. And now I really must get back to it. I want to master Mötley Crüe's immortal classic "Shout at the Devil" at medium difficulty before Dan pulls an intervention, pries the little plastic guitar from my frozen fingers and hides it somewhere.
Christmas Eve was lots of work and lots of being at church and oyster stew (blech!) and--because you were dressed up all day between church services and therefore not bundled up as usual--it was also the Coldest day of the year. Now I rather like my dad's Christmas Eve service and as a child I thought it was the best church service of the whole year. But as I've gotten older and taken on more and more responsibilities, it has unfortunately lost some of its magic. Last year, for instance, I sang solos at all four services. I also helped set up for all four services. I did the children's sermon at the early morning service and spent the rest of the day passing out candles and stars, ringing bells, singing with the choir, cleaning up after services and turning off the lights for the candle lighting in the evening. It was, to say the least, a very full day.
In contrast, imagine the wondrous indolence of Christmas Day. With nowhere to go and nothing that has to be done, Christmas Day is traditionally the one day that my family is allowed to stay in our pajamas, bask in the warmth of a fire, open stockings and presents, eat all manner of Christmas goodies and play with our new toys.
And there were always toys to play with! Even once Kurt and I outgrew our Star Wars action figures (or, I should say, Mom and Dad stopped buying them for us... One is Never too old for Star Wars action figures!) there were always computer gadgets and games. Videos, books, and electronic bumblepuppies of all sorts. Lots of fun things to share.
But not this year... With the coming of in-laws and babies our traditions have perforce changed and as a result Kurt and I did not even get to Mom and Dad's until Christmas afternoon. Then there was much to do to have Christmas dinner and catch up and open stockings and presents and to prepare for the trip to see the extended family the next day. And actually, there was very little in the way of toys to play with anyway. In my old age I asked for practical gifts like extra sheets for my massage table and warm socks and anatomy flashcards for school... and that is exactly what I got...
So it was that this year Today, December 30, 2007, became my favorite day of the year.
Dan and I woke up this morning to the wonderful realization that it was a day when we didn't have anyone to visit, no presents to buy, no parties to attend, nothing to wrap or open, no school to go to, no classes to teach. Just a blissfully grey and rainy day with nothing to do but play. And, bless his heart, Dan Did get a toy for Christmas that he has been sharing with me.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I now know what my two degrees in classical voice were for. As Mom always says, "Nothing you learn is ever wasted." Those six years of higher education were for the sole purpose of preparing me for my newly found vocation. I have spent the whole day sitting on the couch in my pajamas, playing Guitar Hero II and becoming a rock goddess.
It's a tough job. Fortunately I have all day. And now I really must get back to it. I want to master Mötley Crüe's immortal classic "Shout at the Devil" at medium difficulty before Dan pulls an intervention, pries the little plastic guitar from my frozen fingers and hides it somewhere.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Frostalgia
I've had a sentimental pang recently for the wonders of Christmas in Chicago…
The tree in the Sears Tower lobby, Kristkindl Market in Daley Plaza, the windows and Walnut Room at Marshall Field's (it will Always be Marshall Field's to me!) and the trees and bushes all up and down Lake Shore Drive outlined in gorgeous white lights… Going to The Music Box to see White Christmas and It’s a Wonderful Life and the Broadway Christmas concert and Heike's Cookie Exchange party and Zoo Lights. There were so many kitschy, cool things to do with my single friends.
The office where I worked was beautifully decorated and there were festive events and the big office holiday party… Then I would hop on a train after a crazy last day at work and chug through the snowy wonderland to my parent's place in Princeton. It was like taking the Hogwarts Express and I always saved a really good book for the trip, or napped. Napping was also a favorite train activity!
Down here it was in the high 70's all last week and there doesn't seem to be much in the way of decorating. There’s not even a Hint of snow. Even I, never without my down comforter coat, haven’t broken out a winter coat yet! (The King Singers are singing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" as I write this!)
I haven't seen that many trees and lights up. Mostly what I see is the madness of over full parking lots and crazy traffic. We do have cards up in the office to decorate but one of my bosses started putting up the Sample cards way back in September when they first arrived so I've kind of learned to block them out which undermines their festive spirit.
So I've been thinking fondly of my Christmases in Chicago... And then a friend reminded me of the unpleasant reality of frozen boogers… and I snapped out of it! : )
I hope all of you, no matter where you might be when reading this, are having a Joyful and Blessed holiday season. Much love to you all.
The tree in the Sears Tower lobby, Kristkindl Market in Daley Plaza, the windows and Walnut Room at Marshall Field's (it will Always be Marshall Field's to me!) and the trees and bushes all up and down Lake Shore Drive outlined in gorgeous white lights… Going to The Music Box to see White Christmas and It’s a Wonderful Life and the Broadway Christmas concert and Heike's Cookie Exchange party and Zoo Lights. There were so many kitschy, cool things to do with my single friends.
The office where I worked was beautifully decorated and there were festive events and the big office holiday party… Then I would hop on a train after a crazy last day at work and chug through the snowy wonderland to my parent's place in Princeton. It was like taking the Hogwarts Express and I always saved a really good book for the trip, or napped. Napping was also a favorite train activity!
Down here it was in the high 70's all last week and there doesn't seem to be much in the way of decorating. There’s not even a Hint of snow. Even I, never without my down comforter coat, haven’t broken out a winter coat yet! (The King Singers are singing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" as I write this!)
I haven't seen that many trees and lights up. Mostly what I see is the madness of over full parking lots and crazy traffic. We do have cards up in the office to decorate but one of my bosses started putting up the Sample cards way back in September when they first arrived so I've kind of learned to block them out which undermines their festive spirit.
So I've been thinking fondly of my Christmases in Chicago... And then a friend reminded me of the unpleasant reality of frozen boogers… and I snapped out of it! : )
I hope all of you, no matter where you might be when reading this, are having a Joyful and Blessed holiday season. Much love to you all.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Final Lee
I made it! My last final of the semester was accomplished today. Whew! (So far the grades I've gotten back have been good too!)
Thursday, December 13, 2007
You Know You're Old When...
Sometimes it hits me at the strangest times. Like when I'm sitting on the couch at 10:30 after a long day and I just want to chat with a girlfriend and after waking up a couple of people I realize that there is No One that I can safely call at 10:30 to chat with anymore.
Move mountains to help me out of a crisis? Yes. Chat with me at 10:30 on a Wednesday night... No.
Move mountains to help me out of a crisis? Yes. Chat with me at 10:30 on a Wednesday night... No.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Bravo!
I saw Dan's one man version of David Sedaris's The Santaland Diaries last night and I have to send some props out his way...
He was fantastic! The characters were hilarious and over the top. And his narrator was disarming and frank. The staging was smooth and he left us wanting more. There were a couple of moments where even I was eating out of the palm of his hand (and I've heard him running lines for weeks now so I wasn't expecting too many surprises.) The audience loved him!
And so do I.
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