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Entry the Five Hundred and Fourth02 February 2003 Grounded I am enjoying my increasing interest in yoga. It's teaching me how to be much more mindful of my body and what I'm doing with it. I find myself slipping into moments of meditation during the day where I'm suddenly aware of my spinal posture, or how I'm standing and where my weight is distributed. I usually find myself straightening up, widening my collarbones and chest and evening out my breathing. Or I'll find myself feeling where my weight is falling on my feet, and how that is affecting my balance and posture. These little moments of awareness, where I'm suddenly centered right there, right then, and paying attention to little else than what my body is doing have been so relaxing to experience. I love it, and I feel more grounded for it. Went out to NRJTM's place last night for a get-together, which was nice. The mix of folks was pretty good and most came out and chatted pretty well. As usual everyone ended up in the kitchen chatting. *grin* That room is such a social setting - when/if I design a house the kitchen will be an integral and open part of any entertaining space to take advantage of that phenomenon. After the party Richard and I went out to Remingtons. Ran into several friends (including Brian, who is finally updating his site), the place was packed, and Richard got asked out to dance several times. Was nice to see him out there enjoying himself at that. He's all angsty about his trip to Japan this month, so a night out was a good thing. Eventually made it home and crashed with him. After a late breakfast over the Post, he went home to see friends and I got cleaned up, biked down to get groceries, vacuumed, napped, did yoga. A full day, but a relaxing one. Cleaning, as always, helps any mood I might be in, even if already in a good mood. Is a calming thing for me, like cooking, and like yoga. Stuff just feels better afterwards, more grounded and clear. Archives |
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Entry the Five Hundred and Fifth03 February 2003 Piddly Crap 03/2/3 8:57 a.m. The groundedness gave way eventually to my usual Sunday night jitters, exacerbated by tonight's commission meeting. Should have popped a melatonin, but by the time I realized what was happening it was too late. Needless to say I did not run this morning. ... Got back late, late this evening from the meeting. This after calling in what appeared to be an entire circuit of lights which had blown through most of my SMD. I'm afraid the late return will once again mean no run tomorrow. Not happy about that, but I'll make sure to crash early tomorrow and get a run in on Wednesday. So I guess groundedness doesn't always lead to good sleep. :-p Work ended up being a bunch of stuff that was not what I wanted to be doing. Got it done, did it well, but I'm now that much further behind. Essentially an office is complaining they don't have enough money, which is utter bullshit, and I had to prove it was bullshit. Waste of my time, and my office's time, but something we have to do, unfortunately. As if there weren't enough policy stuff for me to write, I have to do piddly crap like that. Can you tell I was not amused to waste my day like that? Thought so. Anyway, now is time to crash so I can attempt to get up and run, or at least get up and go through the paper and get to work on time. Archives |
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Entry the Five Hundred and Sixth04 February 2003 Stealing moments When I wasn't trying to get through an analysis that was a total waste of my time the past two days, I was trying to draft a letter about rat abatement in the neighborhood and find out why all our street lights are out. Fun, fun. Was just a matter of stealing time between calls and data massaging. Came home after work (stayed late). Walked through the neighborhood after getting some groceries (and chatting with the grocer about the plan to replace the lights on the main drag with something other than the hideous cobra-head style things on there now). Saw that lights are still out all over the place. Introduced myself to the local Korean grocer, finally. Want to make a habit of stopping in there to say hello since it's on my way home from the neighborhood. Whipped up a nice tofu and veggie thing over brown rice, a little hoummus for appetizer, a good cabernet and some soy cream for dessert tonight. A little time consuming, but worth the effort. Had thought about buying some take out Chinese, but that wasn't appealing in the end. Was better off getting fresh groceries and cooking anyway, since I had the time this evening. Other than that I putzed this evening, which I needed. And now it's time to grab some sleep and force myself to get up and get some running done tomorrow. Too long without, and that's not good. Gotta keep it up to keep my body going and fighting off the temptation to use caffeine. Archives |
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Entry the Five Hundred and Seventh05 February 2003 Matter of Perspective Nothing like not quite witnessing a shooting to bring things into perspective. Was out on neighborhood patrol this evening when we got the report, via our police officer, that there'd been a shooting two blocks away (no bodies involved, just property damage). So we wandered over with him, to one of the dark streets. We actually ended up helping the police find casings with our flashlights because of the lack of lighting. What a mess. Otherwise today was unremarkable. My Big Boss continues to hold back information on major correspondence projects, forcing me to redo the responses and have to get extensions. Whee. It actually wasn't too bad today, all things considered. And compared with shootings in the neighborhood, redoing a memo isn't that big a deal. Archives |
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Entry the Five Hundred and Eighth06 February 2003 Dry/Interviews/Lights Curse this dry weather! I am nothing but a big ball of "itch" at the moment. Had to go dose myself up with body butter to stop it and now I smell like a nut candy. Feh. I run a humidifier every night during the winter months to help with head colds, but it doesn't seem to be helping my skin. And it's not like I don't drink tons of water each day, either. *scratch, scratch, scratch* It's incredibly distracting. In other news, I got picked to be on the selection committee to interview new recruits for the queer liaison unit on the local police force. Woo-hoo! Interviewing hunky new recruits. Gotta love it. (yes, I am exaggerating there, but I am looking forward to the interview process) Ah, connections. The lights were partially on tonight, and I suspect that work will be delayed tomorrow because of the snow. Archives |
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Entry the Five Hundred and Ninth07 February 2003 On Hair and Heads I wanted to run my fingers through his hair. Short-cropped, tousled from his hat, the back of his neck beckoned at me and fairly demanded to have fingers run slowly, sensuously along the back of his head. Or the gentleman in front of him, with the slight wave to his thick hair. A hint of grey showed through here and there, and a well-trimmed scruff adorned his pink cheeks. Hair becomes a sensuous thing in the winter. Many grow their hair longer, hoping for the extra warmth it will bring. Wavy curls which are otherwise kept under strict control come peeking out, or sometimes blossom in full, gorgeous glory, inviting fingers to feel and play with the longer textures that come with it. It pops out from under caps, or appears, mussed and pressed down once the hats come off. Others go in the opposite direction, sheering down to a bare minimum to avoid the dreaded "hat hair." It still comes out from under hats with a distinctive change in the matt, often showing differences in direction that cry out for smoothing, or ruffling, depending on the handler's mood. All of this brings out this fascination I have with people's hair (or lack thereof). I love to run my hands along someone's head, feeling this very sensitive area of their body (particularly when kissing them). The texture of the head varies so much from person to person, and haircut to haircut. Archives |
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Entry the Five Hundred and Tenth10 February 2003 Catching Up Had a run going there with updates, then came the weekend. Oh well Saw Twelfth Night last night at the Folger. Lots of music, lots of cute men on stage with fuzzy chests. Very yummy. The one actor playing the Duke Orsino was just yummy. Off to Lawrence's place afterward for drinks, which was my mistake. Was more than a tad tired today, but that's okay, have a quiet evening tonight, no plans save sleep, so will be caught up tomorrow. Not sure if I'll run in the morning or just do yoga; we'll see when I get up. In the meantime it's going to be popping a melatonin and zonking early I fear. Tried to do laundry, but the place was packed, so perhaps after testimony tomorrow. This week is jam-packed, save tonight and Saturday, so 'twill be nuts. Am looking forward to all of it, especially Soup Night next Sunday, but need to get to bed here soon so I can run and be rested for the mess that comes next. Archives |
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Entry the Five Hundred and Eleventh11 February 2003 Keeping Up? So, now I've testified publicly. Whee. Oversight hearings for the commission tonight at the city council chambers. My rep was there, as was the chair of the committee, and several staffers. Low-key, no pressure. No hard questions, very pro-forma. In other news, I've hit caffeine the past two days. Grrr. The next few will not be nice to my head. Damned withdrawal. Did run this morning, though, after my crash last night. Lots of ice, lots of snow, lots of ankle workout. Was fun. If I lived in a colder clime I'd take up snowshoes running. Seriously. I know, this from the man who despises cold and snow, but running on top of it without getting into it was nice. *checks temperature* Nope, still normal. Got some stuff done at work, but not nearly enough. This month is flying by and I can't keep up. Things just have to die, and that's that. Oh well. Will have some time to do research in South Carolina next week perhaps, but other than that, it's just going to lapse. Hate to say it, but I can't do it all. Archives |
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Entry the Five Hundred and Twelfth12 February 2003 Tossed Tossed all the plans I had for the work day directly out the window at about mid-morning. The Big Boss called us in and gave us marching orders for a particularly pressing issue that demanded our attention. Was more than a bit of a mess, and threw the entire office off, but it's needed work. I secretly hope, in my heart of hearts, though, that this proves to be an absolute fiasco and shows the very top management how they have screwed us so royally over the past year on the manpower issue that they have to work to get us more bodies. Being five people down for almost an entire year is too much for a staff of 13. That's almost half the office! And we can't manage our work effectively with so few people. In other news, I decided that for this week (and likely next week) I am saying to hell with the caffeine ban. I'm tired, I'm stressed, I'm in exactly the position where I most need to avoid the stuff, but I'm right back to it. I'll work on that later, but I don't have the fortitude to fight it at the moment. Archives |
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Entry the Five Hundred and Thirteenth13 February 2003 Black Friday Minus One I refuse to celebrate Valentine's Day. It's a false holiday, and besides, would be too nerve-wracking to choose between men, so screw it. Work was a mess, again. Seems to be the norm there now. I ended up taking charge of a project in order to try and find some stuff. We were spinning our wheels doing useless stuff that wasn't taking us anywhere, so I stopped that, got some better data, and am trying to find this mess-up now. Oy. Saw Richard off. He's headed to Japan for the next ten days to visit friends. Should be fun for him and he's been looking forward to it for ages now. The caffeination is going according to the usual schedule. I'm still hyper as all hell, even at 10 at night, so will be another Judy Garland Diet day (uppers in the day, downers at night - melatonin in this case). Whee. Better living through chemistry. I'm still glad this isn't my normal mode, and I look forward to the week after I'm out of town to come back down off this mess. Archives |
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Entry the Five Hundred and Fourteenth18 February 2003 Hurried Was all set to write an entry about how I've been treating myself badly all week/weekend (caffeine and alcohol - can we say dehydrated much?). Then I discovered that my flight out of national to South Carolina is in fact happening this afternoon, despite what I had thought, so indeed I do have to fly out today. So I'm packing frantically, trying to get my shit together for this presentation. Oh, and running by my office to get the laptop and other files. Oy. So, no real entry today, and not for the next few days. I will likely be able to post to the livejournal, and I'll be typing merrily away on the Palm while I'm gone, so should have stuff to say when I return late on Friday. And before I forget, I posted pictures of The Blizzard of 2003 as seen from outside my window. *grin* Archives |
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Entry the Five Hundred and Fifteenth23 February 2003 Alive, mostly Made it out and back to and from South Carolina pretty easily. Was stuck in line with five million teenagers (high school students) who had been stuck in town an extra two days. Their chaperons must have been saints - two extra days in a hotel, snowed inside, with no structured activities. Yet another reason I'm not especially in a hurry to have kids. My mouth is covered in canker sores at the moment, making me an incredibly testy person. They're healing, now that I'm home and have my "magic mouthwash" - but man I wish I'd had it with me on Wednesday when they started popping up. Ouch. Last time I travel without the stuff. In a nutshell, all the caffeine and booze served to dry up my system, which made my mouth ripe for the little buggers. Whee. Spent the weekend recovering, eating slowly, and resting. A lot of resting. Did finally have 1/2 a cup of coffee midafternoon today when I couldn't take the withdrawal headache any longer, but have been remarkably calm for two days off caffeine after binging on the stuff for two weeks. Ick. Does serve to remind why I dislike it so much. So, am home, am alive, am seeing my sweetie tomorrow evening, even if just for dinner and snuggles. We can be so sickening together... Archives |
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Entry the Five Hundred and Sixteenth24 February 2003 Desire/Reality What I wanted to do was rip his clothes off, suck his tonsils out and screw him silly. What I did do was meet him for dinner, not let him kiss me anywhere near my mouth, and went home early so we could both crash. Life can so suck sometimes. Met Richard after work to say hello now that he's back from Japan and have some dinner with him. I missed him terribly, all the moreso when I finally saw him and just wanted to hold him and not let him go. But he's not feeling well (some leftover queasy tummy from the trip) and I've got my mouth full of cankers, plus a possible cold sore, so neither of us was up to much more than holding each other tight and being sorely, sorely disappointed in our respective bodies. And it's times like these that I despise my immune system. I try to help it along, but it doesn't seem to like me, period. Ah well, it's all healing, so that's for the best. But I still want to rip his clothes off and have my way with him. Damn it. Archives |
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Entry the Five Hundred and Seventeenth25 February 2003 Class/Meds 03/2/25 8:21 a.m. There is something to be said for taking training in the headquarters of the American Institute of Architects. All sorts of nice design elements in the place, like furniture and faucets. Almost makes me want to run out and get the latest copy of Wallpaper so I can drool over the ads and articles. 8:33 a.m. The course organizers just came in to tell us they had sent out an email at noon yesterday delaying the start to 9:30 from the announced 8:15 time to help accommodate parking because of the snow and code orange terror alert. We're a block or so from the white house, so several garages have been closed as 8:49 a.m. Big guy (tall, a little husky) just sat down across from me. Dark Washington power suit, white shirt, glasses, goatee. Cute, young, nice eye candy, but I have to say what sold him was the polished black leather ankle boots which, as seen when he crossed his legs, have "Harley Davidson" emblazoned across the bottom in bright red. *grin* 10:40 a.m. Okay, so not the most useful course I've ever had. It's in my practice area, so it's all refresher, but they could have at least tried to make it interesting since I did get up early to get here. The slides are merely pages from the manual with highlights. They've given us copies of the manual on a cd, complete with the highlights, but that's not a terribly big deal given that the manual is available for free download from that Big Government Agency's web site. One of the private industry participants has already complained bitterly about the quality of the handouts and slides, and properly so. As I said, not the best training I've ever attended. 1:03 p.m. As I suspected, I had to go buy lunch. They provided several veggie options, but all with cheese. Ah, well, I had a nice sandwich anyway. 3:43 p.m. Okay, I admit it, I'm a terrible bitch when it comes to watching people speak in public. I have years of experience in the area, I'm very comfortable doing it, so I judge fairly harshly when I watch. I won't go into detail, but let me just say that I want to give this man an electric shock every time he utters the sound "uh" between words. It might cure him of the habit, and it would certainly provide enough electricity to keep his hair on end, which would be amusing. ... Okay, enough kvetching about the class. More tomorrow, I'll bet, but enough today. Wasted a good hour of my evening (when I could have been sleeping!) running down to Kaiser to get antibiotics for a flare up in, of all cases, my chest. The spots where my nipple rings used to be (you know, the ones I took out TWO YEARS AGO!) developed tender spots and looked like they were infected, and I mentioned it when I was calling to make a regular appointment to see my new doctor later this week and the nurse got all freaked out and insisted I come down tonight. Waste of time! This could have been handled on Thursday or Friday and not tonight. So, out a co-pay, the meds cost, and a taxi ride. As well as the time I would have liked to have spent getting ready for bed. Dorks. Remind me not to listen to the silly on-call nurse again. Archives |
