Author Archives: Cindy

modes of transport

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Yesterday I did something that I haven’t done since I got my driver’s license 13 years ago: I rode a bike. Dave and I both feel the need to be more active, and he already has a bike, so it sounded like something fun that we could do together. Krissy is thinking about selling her bike & getting a new one, so I asked if I could borrow hers to see if I wanted to buy it from her. She said ok and we set up a time for me to come get the bike. And of course, this being Krissy that we’re dealing with, when I went to pick it up, it had a flat tire. (Not just flat, blown-out flat. As in, needs a replacement.) So her roommate Judy lent me her bike for a while, even though it’s not for sale. It’s just an experiment to see if I enjoyed bike riding.

So, we went to REI so I could buy a helmet (safety first, kids), then headed over to Marymoor Park and rode around for about an hour. And that saying about once you learn to ride a bike, you never forget how? That actually is true. But it doesn’t mean that you’ll be very graceful at it if you haven’t done it for over a decade. I was pretty wobbly at first, and the concept of braking with the handlebars was completely alien to me. My instinct was to take my feet off the pedals and put them on the ground (which I’m sure amused plenty of bystanders). I got a little steadier as time went on, and by the end of the hour, I think I was doing pretty well.

And as it turns out, I really like bike riding! It was a lot of fun, and I only sustained very minor injuries. One was when I was pedaling too fast and my foot slipped off the pedal, and it came around and hit the back of my calf. And it’s one of those pedals with the cleat-type spokes on it for traction. So that hurt. The other was when I was first starting off, and in my wobbliness, I accidentally swerved into some blackberry bushes (which have thorns, for those of you who don’t know) and my right arm got scratched. But otherwise, I thought it was a lot of fun and it was a really good workout. An hour is probably not much for an experienced cyclist, but neither Dave nor I are exactly in stellar shape at the moment – although Dave seemed to be suffering less than me afterward. But it was fun.

Other stuff:
* I might have a new project at work, which I’m waiting to hear more about.
* Kris had a 2nd job interview today that went really well, and she’s hopefully going to have an offer in the near future.
* My cousin is now in ICU and on a ventilator, but we’re still trying to figure out how/when we’re going to meet up in Atlanta. Hopefully we’ll all make it there in time.

bad day

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(A) I flunked my test. This is really not that big a deal, as it has happened with well over half of the certification exams that I have taken in my life. I usually get nervous & choke the first time, then I pass it on the re-take. So, it’s annoying that I have to continue studying and take the exam again (probably next week), but it’s not exactly the end of the world. And my company pays for the re-take exam, so all the better.

(B) My cousin Teresa, who has cystic fibrosis, is very, very sick. Obviously, CF is a terminal illness so she’s been sick all of her life, but it’s looking like this might be close to the end for her. Her lung capacity is only about 20% of what normal person’s should be, she’s on morphine every 4 hours, taking tylenol with codeine in between the morphine doses, plus some other painkiller. My uncle is thinking of calling in hospice to take care of her at home so she doesn’t have to stay in the hospital. It’s a shit deal. She’s 19 years old, she’s the youngest of my generation, and she’s (most likely) going to be the first to go. It sucks. I wish I could say that more eloquently, but it just flat-out sucks.

So today, right before I went in to take my exam, I got a call from my other cousin Catherine, because she wants to organize a weekend in the near future where we all (meaning all 10 of my first cousins) meet up in Atlanta to say good-bye to Teresa. I think it’s a great idea – probably more meaningful than going to her funeral, whenever that may be – but I can’t afford it. I talked to my mom about it, and she offered me frequent flyer miles, so maybe I’ll be able to go after all. It’s just a grim situation, and thinking about it has left me utterly depressed. I’ve had a lump in my throat for the past 3 hours, but I can’t seem to cry.

Sorry for this bummer of a post, but that’s the story.

cocooning

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I’m finding it difficult to leave my apartment. Yesterday, I never got dressed or went outside at all. I didn’t even go downstairs to get my mail. I have a theory that this has something to do with the fact that I’ve been gone so long, so now I’m cocooning myself inside my apartment because I’m afraid that if I leave, I’ll be gone for a week again.

Today, however, I hit critical mass. Translation: I ran out of diet coke. So, pajamas were traded for actual clothes, make-up was applied (albeit half-assedly – it’s just the southern girl in me that won’t let me leave the house without powder & mascara), and I headed out for the supermarket. Over $150 later, I was back in the car, loaded down with groceries, and headed for home. Did I overdo it at the store? Perhaps. But woman cannot live by Lean Cuisine alone, and pretty much everything else in my apartment has gone bad/gotten thrown away over the past couple of months. So I got a little excited at the prospect of buying REAL food. At one point, I was walking through one of the aisles and this large, elderly, African-American woman pushed her cart past mine, surveyed my cart’s contents, and said, “You must have a family.”

I said, “No, actually, I’ve just been out of town for the past couple of months and there’s no food in my apartment, so I have to re-stock everything.”

She said, “Well, you’re doing a damn fine job, girl. A damn fine job.”

Hmmm. Not sure how I feel about that statement, it made me feel a bit like I should be attending my local Overeaters Anonymous chapter.

Anyway, I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited about the produce section before. I guess living on fast food and whatever you can scrounge up at 7-11 will do that. I was practically crying with joy. Carrot sticks!! How long has it been since I’ve had a carrot stick?? Broccoli and mushrooms too, I can make stir-fry! And seedless green grapes are on sale! Hooray!!!

So yeah, today was good. And I’ve been productive at home too, I’m studying for my next Microsoft exam, which I’m hoping to be ready to take by Friday. (Fingers crossed.) For now, though, I have to leave my apartment yet again – to go to Krissy’s house to fix her computer, because apparently I am free tech support for all of my friends and family. Sigh.

cozy

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This is the reason I love working from home (this too). I just took these & had to share. Cute, no? You can see the spots on her tummy & legs from where she’s been licking herself bald, which is a stress reaction that she has periodically – usually it happens when we move, but this time it was probably brought on by my being gone so much lately. Poor kitty.

The Gym

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Last night I went to the gym for the first time in… oh, let’s not even try to guess how long. It’s been a while. Sure, I used the treadmill at the hotel a couple of times over the past 2 months, and I’ve been walking a lot (not having a rental car in a strange town tends to cause that), but I haven’t really worked out for quite some time. So I did, and it was a really wimpy workout because I didn’t want to make myself so sore that I couldn’t work out again today. But it felt good just to be there and know that I was doing something good for myself.

One annoying thing is that I forgot my walkman (it was still in my backpack from the plane trip), so I was forced to listen to the music that the gym plays on the loudspeaker. Which is ok, I guess, but I’m not a huge R&B fan, so it gets irritating after a while. Plus, I’ve found that when I have my own music on, I can zone out because I’m listening to a song that I really love, and I forget that I’m working out. Without my music, exercising can get a bit tedious.

So I found a new hobby to pass the time: make up stories about the other people at the gym. I’ve discovered that it really is a great place for people-watching. I mean sure, there are more than enough gym rats, and I didn’t waste much time trying to think of anything creative for them because I really just see them as mindless drones whose only thoughts are of the superficial variety. But there’s the middle-aged woman who’s in so-so shape and is working out like a maniac… I wonder if she’s just had a rough day at work, or if maybe she’s going through a divorce and is trying to get herself into prime dating shape. There’s the young girl who appears to be struggling with an eating disorder – running on the treadmill for an hour, with her ribs plainly visible below her sports bra, and her upper arms thinner in circumference than her elbows. There are the couples who work out together, and I imagine them at home, measuring out portions for each other’s meals, making sure that they both stick to their diet.

And then there was the guy who made me sad. He was hard to miss at the gym, because he was all over the place. Sometimes he’d just pace around the floor, sometimes he’d do a little dance around the room, sometimes he’d shadow box, sometimes he’d do these amazing Rockette kicks in the air. But he never stopped moving. It looked completely random, and he appeared to be mentally unstable. Then I noticed that he was pretty badly burned down one side of his body. I wondered if that was the result of a bad accident, or if (based on his ethnic heritage) he was the victim of a hate crime. Both ideas made me almost ill with sadness. Later, I saw another gym patron talking to him, and he appeared calmer. In fact, that was the only time I saw him stop moving. Maybe he’s just lonely and spazzing out is a good ice-breaking conversation piece. Who knows.

Point being, I really have to remember to bring my walkman with me to the gym.

The final vacation update, complete with Disneyland pictures and all, will be posted later. I’m still trying to get used to being home. (To quote Martha, it’s a good thing.)

beach pics

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After I got off work yesterday, Dave and I headed off to the beach. We didn’t know exactly where we were going, but we had a map and headed in the general direction of the Pacific Ocean. We wound up in Newport Beach, which is not far at all from Santa Ana. We took a ton of photos, which I added today (see the link on the right) during my downtime at work, which I have a lot of these days.

After the beach, we stopped at a sushi restaurant for dinner. This was my idea, surprisingly enough. I’ve always been vehemently opposed to even trying sushi, but there’s something about being near the water in southern California… I don’t know, it made me want to try it. So I did. And I liked it a lot. Scott once told me that he thought I would like eel, and I thought it sounded disgusting, but it happens that that was probably my favorite of all the things we tried.

Anyway, this week has been much more fun having Dave around. It’s a little weird being around each other so much because we haven’t done that yet, but it’s good. I think we’re getting a vibe for each other’s idiosyncracies (i.e., he likes to watch CNN at 3 a.m., and I tend to say/do things in the middle of the night that I don’t remember – apparently the other night I sat up in bed and said “what the….?”, and I have no idea why). And considering how I tend to be pretty demanding of my “me-time”, so far Dave hasn’t managed to really irritate me (yet), so I think that’s a good sign. 

One more day in the office, then… Disneyland, baby!! More pictures to follow, I’m sure.