In other news, I'm really glad the weekend is here, and I'm going to sleep VERY well tonight. I made it through the week at work but am still clearly not back to baseline, which is a bit scary considering that I'm flying cross country in a week. Mom is coming up tomorrow to help me with some stuff around here, which is amazing of her considering that tomorrow's weather forecast would normally be enough to keep her off the roads. I've got a lot to do to get ready for the trip, so needless to say I totally appreciate that she's willing to take a chance on driving in not-perfect conditions.
- Mood:here
- Music:"Over My Shoulder" - Tara Nevins
In other news, I'm slogging through my first day back at work. I'm V-E-R-Y weak and have fuzz brain. I already screwed up a chart note and got a call from the doctor in question to correct the error. Oops. :::runs and hides::: At least he was kind about it when I told him about my illness and that I'm just getting back into the swing of things. Needless to say, I've been making an effort to work mindfully since that little embarrassment.
Back to it. Four more hours. I CAN DO IT!
- Mood:working
I can't believe the Red Sox declined the option on Alex Gonzalez! I had really taken a shine to the guy, and I thought he was doing a really nice job for us. :::is all sadface:::
In other news, my ankle got REALLY sore after my last post; it was aching terribly (to the point of whimpering) even when I put no weight on it, which is a change from before. I took a look at it and there's some redness and warmth. There was a little bit of redness the day after I did it (the nurse practitioner commented on it), but the aching and warmth? It reminded me of the way my "crankle" felt last year. Now I'm wondering if I could possibly have a cellulitis on top of the sprain, or even a touch of arthritis or gout (both of which were mentioned as possibilities by my doctor during the crankle saga). What I did for the short term was take half a Percocet (whiich knocked me for a loop as usual) and lie in bed with the leg propped. I even napped a bit to whatever game was on MLBN, and although the pain is mostly gone I'm going to call for an appointment as soon as the office opens (even before I get to work) and have it looked at. I'm also going to reschedule my two mental health appointments that I was supposed to have this week. After all, both my therapist and my psychiatrist have offices on second floors of buildings with no elevators, and other than crawl up flights of stairs I don't think I can get there...
- Location:In the kitchen
- Mood:
sad
And now the Red Sox are done too. I'm too stunned to even find words right now. I do know that I need some time to calm down before I head to the store to do my grocery shopping, though. My eyes are too red to go out in public anyway.
At least the team that beat us is one that I enjoy watching -- lots of good players, and Bobby Abreu has been one of my favorites for years. He may look like a Muppet, but he's just amazing. Also, they're playing with a higher purpose right now, doing it for Nick, if you will. So if they end up facing the Yankees in the ALCS I'll root for them. But right now? I want to slap the shit out of those guys. Seeing my boys walk out of the dugout for the last time, seeing Tek sitting there watching as it all slipped away, seeing Pap sitting there after the meltdown. Just...painful.
Well, I guess I'll be getting lots of decluttering done sooner rather than later, won't I?
- Mood:devastated
Last night baseball proved to be my VERY short lullaby, as I was out like a light moments after my head hit the pillow, even though the Red Sox game was going on with the volume set at a medium level. I must have some sort of sixth baseball sense, though, because just as I had awakened at an opportune moment the previous night, this time my eyes flew open in the top of the ninth, and of course what I saw on the TV screen did not make me happy. Hopefully things will go better, MUCH better, tonight....
That's it for now. Thanks to a stop at the soul food restaurant near my office, and a messy platter of ribs that took awhile to eat, I'm stuck here until 7:00 tonight, so I have miles to go before I sleep.
- Location:My cubicle
- Mood: bored
- Music:"More Than a Whisper" - Nanci Griffith
My Internet travels this morning, as always, have included the Red Sox section of the Globe, and it looks like Wakey is done for the year. :::hugs him::: I had Gameday going last night even though I was busy doing other things around the house, and honestly? I'm glad I skipped the live broadcast of that game. Ugh.
Finally, here's a timely quote I found in an article over at Salon.com yesterday (one of my favorite websites for political and social commentary), on the subject of decluttering. "Most of the stuff left behind, though, was just random big-box store dreck, the crap that fills your closet or basement, biding its time before going off to the landfill. Attachments, as they say, lead to stress, and when you're looking at a new start in new circumstances, why not discard what you don't need, what's holding you back in some past situation you want to be free of." Yes. Exactly.
Time to get ready for work. Enjoy the day, y'all.
- Location:In my PJs
Last night's warm and fuzzy feeling of watching the Cardinals celebrate (a soaking wet Albert, a mischievous Julio spraying champagne everywhere, among other amusing sights) did NOT carry over to witnessing today's division-clinching win by the Yankees at the expense of the Red Sox. Just sayin'. Hey, at least the Rangers lost too, so our Wild Card lead remains the same. I also didn't much care for the scene later in the afternoon when both Julio and Albert were stranded by a game-ending, game-losing GIDP by Ryan Ludwick. Just sayin'.
In happier news, my decluttering continued today with a vengeance. Although I'm absolutely exhausted (probably because I haven't yet ingested enough calories to make up for the energy I expended today), I managed to squeeze one more box of old books into my car to take to recycling, and to the Goodwill bags I added a bunch of drinking glasses that I found wrapped in newspaper in a box. They're in good condition but definitely not anything I need to keep, especially after finding the "jars with handles" glasses yesterday, which were really cute and sparklingly new -- they even still had the price tags on 'em. Tomorrow evening my very full car will be cleared out, as I will stop by both the recycling center and Goodwill on my way home, and then the decluttering cycle begins anew.
By the way, today's very small "keep" pile included my paperjournal from my "summer on the road" the year I relocated from NY to NC (a bit odiferous, but ALL paperjournals must stay, I'm sorry -- and a quick glance through the book had me itching to sit down and read it cover to cover). Also, I found a large bag of REAL silverware. It's old -- I think it was my grandmother's silver. It's definitely good quality stuff -- I love the weight and heft of it, and am looking forward to using it in place of my cheap lightweight stuff!
Time for more calories, but before I go, I'm sending happy birthday wishes to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
queen_dream as well as to redsox_njdevils (wherever she may have gotten to); both of them have birthdays today. ALSO...a very happy birthday TOMORROW tonew_world_smurf (giving the big birthday shoutout a day early just in case I don't make a post tomorrow). I hope wonderful days are had by all!
And now...salad and shrimp pasta, or something like that. Cheers!
- Location:In my jammies
- Mood: drained
- Music:Birds in the yard, cars passing by
Started out being lazy because it's been so dark and chilly and wet out all day, but once I got rolling? Never fear! I got a hell of a lot of decluttering done -- spent about two hours on it this afternoon with the help of a heretofore unheard R&B station that I put on in the back room while I was working back there. First I cleaned the windowsills so it wouldn't be such a grimy proposition to open and close them. I also cleaned the panes on the front window while I was at it. Then, window fan working furiously to clear the air, I got down to business. The end result is that the entire back seat of my car is full of a) flattened cardboard as well as a box of musty books that Raye said need to be recycled because no one will accept them for reselling if they smell, and b) clothes and miscellanous stuff to go to Goodwill. My city garbage container is nearly full -- I maybe have room for a couple more bags, but garbage doesn't go out until Tuesday night so I need to pace myself. My big throwaways included an old exercise mat and a tarp that I got to use for camping at fiddle conventions (I never used either of these items and they've gotten totally nasty).
I'm starting to see an appreciable difference in that room, and I already have my next couple of sessions planned, which should result in three fewer boxes rotting back there. Bonus points today for finding a bag filled with really pretty teacups and a couple of glass beer steins! I'm going to wash them and then decide whether they stay or get donated.
I'm hoping that today's baseball games will be made of win, unlike last night, when both my teams lost (causing the Cardinals to fail to clinch their division). RIght now the Sox/NYY game is a pitcher's duel in the 7th, with the only score unfortunately coming on a HR by Cano. Hopefully our bats will wake up before it's too late. As for the Cardinals, they'll be on MBLN tonight, although I may just catch the game here in the kitchen so I can start catching up on a whole shitload of e-mails as well as a sinkful of dishes. Nothing like a little multitasking!
ETA: Well, that sucked. At least VMart's win streak continues at 25. And the massive area of rain will finally move out of here in the next couple of hours. The bad news is that all this rain is the harbinger of a cold front and it's supposed to drop into the 40s for the next several nights. I won't turn the heat on yet, thanks to my stubbornness and the hardy Northern blood in my veins, but atm I've got a long-sleeved shirt over my Bay t-shirt, and it looks like I'll have to sleep with my bedroom window closed tonight for the first time in months. :::sadface:::
- Location:Home
- Mood:accomplished
- Music:BOS/NYY on FOX
The bad: Flipping back over to the Red Sox game, which was going well early on, only to find that the bullpen had imploded. I was in sore need of sleep so did the right thing by my body. When I went to bed we were down 9-8. I was hoping to awake to news of a comeback victory, but alas, that was not the case. I'm officially pissed at MDC...so much so that I deleted the icon of him that I've had for so long. At this point it wouldn't bother me if he just went away.
The worst: My landlady called me yesterday morning to inform me that I should buy a can of ant spray, because it's worked for her sister-in-law and a visit from an exterminator would cost $400-500. I'm pretty sure this is a lie, seeing as how the problem involves just one wall of the kitchen and my landlady has been known to tell whopping lies to suit her desire to spend absolutely no money on home maintenance. I tried to tell her that this would only solve the surface problem, and she said to spray outside, it takes awhile to get back to the nest. Of course, dead ants don't go back to the nest, and there's concrete outside that wall rather than dirt, but there was no telling her that. She wouldn't budge. Ant spray it will be if they come back again. :::sigh:::
This makes me even more determined to get the heck out of dodge. I don't deserve to live in those conditions (I mean, I'm literally finding ants crawling ON ME on a regular basis). It was too rainy last night to do any decluttering that would involve running outside with dust cloths or going out to the car to load flattened cardboard, so I cleared out my T-shirt drawer. Well over a dozen items are ready to go to Goodwill. Tonight I'll be focusing on the back room again, at least for a little while.
Back to it here. I've got plenty to keep me busy for the rest of the work day.
- Location:Work
- Mood:working
- Music:Computer keyboards across the room
Has it really been a week since I've posted? I think that's my longest hiatus since I've been on LJ. It's been one of those weeks, though. Just so much going on that I hardly know where to start.
My stomach is rumbling so I will (mercifully) stop writing and go fix dinner, after which it's time to tackle a good-sized backlog of e-mails. Thank goodness for the holiday weekend so I don't have to try to do them all at once!
- Location:Leaning on a hot pack
- Mood: sore
Last night's baseball outing with my family didn't happen because there was a good-sized T-storm moving through when we made our decision around 5:00, with a HUGE area of rain headed straight towards us. Rather than sit on metal bleachers in drizzle (with a 2-month-old baby who was being super fussy yesterday), we decided we'd wait until next summer's visit for a Tourists game. Unfortunately (thus the "waaahh" tag), the big rain petered out about an hour away, and it wasn't half bad out by game time, just cloudy and damp (which my sister and her family are used to, as they live in Portland, Oregon). Too late, though...as it would have taken them probably an hour to get things together and drive to Asheville. I felt badly for being so alarmist about the pending weather when I talked to my brother-in-law (although really, who knew the rain would break up?) and tried to call to apologize for that but ended up leaving a message. If all goes well I may get to see them early in the week for a family cookout before they head back to Oregon. :::crosses fingers:::
Anyway, instead of live baseball I flipped back and forth between the Red Sox and Cardinals games all evening. The short of it? Yay for wins, both a rain-delayed win at Fenway and a walkoff win in St. Louis (thanks to #41 from Albert!). And Julio, who had been in a slump lately, seems to be coming out of it. He had a couple of hits last night and, by the way, he also made a webgemmesque catch-roll-throw from his knees from pretty far out between first and second that had the announcers hollering.
Off to the races here, but I must first wish a very Happy Birthday to
hanachan01 -- hope it's a great one!Later...
- Location:Still in my PJs!
- Mood:
rejuvenated
Also, here's hoping that Jacoby recovers quickly from last night's sliding mishap. I'd like to see him set the season steals bar a little bit higher, actually...much higher.
Meanwhile, here in Asheville, it's not looking good for live baseball tonight. We're in a nasty weather pattern and tonight's forecast calls for a 70% chance of rain and T-storms. But my brother-in-law, ever the optimist, told me that he'll decide by 5:00 this afternoon and let me know whether the pilgrimage to McCormick Field is still on. If the weather doesn't break, of course, it'll be a moot point. After all, last night's game was postponed...but just the same, I brought a comfy baseball shirt and other ballpark-necessary items to work with me.
- Location:Work
- Mood: cheerful
I don't know whether it's the heat or the time I spent (both yesterday and today) lying perfectly still in an MRI machine, doing nothing but breathing while weird repetitive noises went on all around me (which activity tends to put me to sleep), but I'm so wiped out as to need to go to bed, like...as soon as I post this. Fortunately, I can watch the end of the Sox game in bed, as it's on ESPN. I did want to check in, though, with a little bit of baysbawl talk.
First...congrats to Dustin and Kelli Pedroia on their new addition. I can't wait to see pictures of little Dylan! Also, great news in that Remy will be returning to the broadcast booth this Friday! And how 'bout that Papi and all his HRs? Mang is on a tear, and I love it! We're tied for the wild card lead again...now all we need to do is keep up the good work (and hope the Yankees start losing).
That's about it for now. Game's almost over, and we're still up 5-1, so I'm cautiously optimistic, and on that note, I'm going to watch the conclusion from the horizontal position. Comment replies? E-mails? Later in the week.
Ciao!
- Location:In my PJs
- Mood: exhausted
- Music:BOT/TOR on MLB.tv
On the subject of MS, while I was writing this the phone rang and it was the MRI office calling (yes, on a Saturday) to confirm my appointment as well as discuss my copay for the scans. Would...you..believe...about $750 out of pocket? FUCK! And here I was feeling all proud of myself for the fact that I was ABOUT to pay off my credit card, FINALLY. So much for that. :::hangs head::: I wish I didn't really need these scans. How I'll afford the plane ticket to Portland, not to mention a bunch of Christmas and birthday presents between now and then, I have no idea.
- Location:Here
- Mood:WTF?
Incidentally, last night Albert showed his softer side as he rushed to the aid of a fan who attempted to grab a foul ball along the first base line and ended up doing a face plant onto the field, bloodying his face and bending his neck at an awkward angle. He tried to get up, but Albert helped ease him back to the ground, and he remained there, talking to him and holding his neck steady all the way until a cervical collar was applied. He even helped lift him onto the stretcher so the medics could take him to the hospital (turned out he was bruised up but nothing worse, fortunately). To top it off, the fan was there with his 21-year-old son, who has Down syndrome (Albert and his wife run a foundation that helps Down syndrome folks, as they have a daughter who is so afflicted), and not only did Albert go over and soothe the young man, he also made sure that he got a souvenir ball. Every time I think Albert can't be any more awesome, he proves me wrong.
Laundry awaits, so that's it for the time being.
- Mood:chillin'
- Music:"Te Amo Tanto" - Flex
Leave it to me to have a delay in the most powerful part of my reaction to yesterday's trade. I guess I was in shock in the immediate aftermath. Today, however, while doing my usual blogosphere cruising, it occurred to me to check the following link:
http://www.csnne.com/wickedgoodsports/ju
Then I cried for real. When I got to the last paragraph I sobbed so hard that I aspirated a bit of coffee and had to cough strenuously to get it out of my lungs. I'm fine now, but just so sad. What an incredibly classy and thoughtful guy. He can rest assured that he'll have fans in Red Sox Nation no matter where he goes.
I made a Justin icon a long time ago but never liked it much so deleted it. In the past day I've seen some of my f-listers using theirs or uploading new ones in his honor, so I just made this one, which I like better even though it's nothing fancy.
- Location:In my nightgown
- Mood:somber
And Dice...I don't like your attitude.
Ugh, just ugh on all counts. Hopefully things will turn around tonight. I may even have more time to follow the game than I did last night, although I have a shitload of e-mails, comments, and PMs to catch up on (don't worry, I'm not ignoring those of you to whom I owe these things!). Longer post soon -- there's plenty to talk about but not enough time in which to say it.
- Location:The office
- Mood:
annoyed
( Yep, I'm talking about baseball yet again... )
Time for a shower and a sandwich...and then you know where I'll be -- in front of my funky old TV. Ciao!
- Location:STILL in my nightgown!
- Mood: refreshed
( baysbawl tawk... )
It has been a long day and an even longer week, so I'll probably head to bed fairly soon in hopes of being coherent and productive this weekend. Hope my f-listers are all doing wonderfully well. :D
- Location:In my nightgown
- Mood:
sleepy - Music:Passing traffic
HAPPY BIRTHDAY tolissa_ann!!! Hope it's a really good one for ya!
In other news, although I'm not all the way back to normal (whatever normal is for me), a good night's sleep definitely helped my state of mind. Too bad I chewed off all my fingernails prior to that sleep, but I don't mind starting over with 'em.
As for baseball matters, Dear Boys, please not to suck again tonight. Hopefully Commander Kickass will keep all y'all in line. :)
- Location:At work
- Mood:awake
