6:33p Hypoglycemic..?
My blood sugar drops. I start shaking, my hands are cold, and all I can think about is food. It's hard to focus and I just need to eat. I get really grouchy until I get enough food to satisfy my body. I can't do anything. I can't work or hold a good conversation, sometimes I think it's dangerous for me to be driving.
Today I was supposed to go grocery shopping after work. I brought a pbj sandwich, a nectarine and some carrots for lunch. I didn't bring snacks, so I had nothing after breakfast until lunch, and nothing after lunch. Usually I have one snack between breakfast and lunch, and then two snacks before dinner, and then a final evening snack ( = 7 meals a day). I planned badly because I was in a rush to get out this morning, I thought I would be OK, worst case there was probably a vending machine or somewhere close to get food...
Well, I got caught up in the relatively mind-numbing task of putting together necklaces while watching episodes of 30Rock and The Office on Hulu. And suddenly it was almost 6, almost time to go, and my blood sugar had dropped.
I had to make the decision to go home instead of grocery shopping... Even though I bought a soda at the vending machine (there is no food vending) and chugged it, it's not enough sugar/calories. Unfortunately I had to go home.
So now I am having a bagel for dinner, apparently, and some vegetables that I have lying around. Or maybe I'll have some pasta. But I didn't go grocery shopping and now there's a baseball game so there's no hope of me driving anywhere in the neighborhood for the rest of the night.
This never used to happen but I think that was partially because I ate so much junk all the time. Now that I am eating healthier I need to eat more often. I just ran out of Cheerios and other snacks I usually bring with me so I had nothing to bring today.
It's also annoying because when I eat when I'm shaking, I don't taste or enjoy the food. I am really just eating to put calories and sugar into my system. I had a piece of a kind of cake we had leftover, which is really tasty, but I didn't taste it, I just wolfed it while I waited for my toast. I had two pieces of toast with peanut butter and finally I stopped shaking. So that's half a bottle of pepsi, a small piece of cake and two pieces of peanut butter toast. That's how much food I needed to stop shaking.
AHH so annoying. Imagine fasting like this! I barely make it to the end of Yom Kippur, and every year it's worse.
7:10p To reiterate...
I highly recommend Go-Go Robics II (or even just excessive viewing of Pontani Sister routines) to my friends in White Elephant, and those who are otherwise inspired to dance. The song I was going to perform to at TNE just popped up on a shuffle and my brain immediately fired the thought, "Go-go!"
After listening for a moment longer, I realized that it is, in fact, not really suited for full-on go-go treatment, but I do have some new ideas for that half-finished choreography. My point is that I'd been approaching it almost exclusively from a belly dancing perspective (which it's not really suited for) because that's the way I've a) trained my body to move and b) trained my brain to think about movement.
What I'm saying here is that exposing yourselves to new styles of movement is really a very good idea. Heck, if you have the cash, check out a couple of dance courses. Or, okay, take the Pontani Sister's workshop in Brooklyn (it's only $15 if you pre-register).
In unrelated news: OMFG, I'm going to go see Creature Feature this Saturday! Squee!
4:05p forever leering, forever dashing, forever looking for peers
--Pale Yellow, The Ditty Bops
Emily, a college friend of baronmind's, was in town last night and crashed with us after we dragged her out for Mediterranean food and rock climbing. At one point we got to talking about The Five Love Languages by Dr. Gary Chapman. It's (apparently) written from a very Christian perspective which isn't exactly a great way to sell a book to most of the folks on my friends list, I know. But the basic premise seems really sound, if a bit too intuitive to require a whole book on the subject.
Basically, people express (and understand expressions of) love in five so-called languages: physical contact, quality time, acts of service, affirmations/compliments, and gift giving. The idea is that everyone uses all these languages to some degree, but that we each have one or two primary languages and when our partner's (or partners') primary language is different from our own we don't always adequately express our love for each other. It's not that you're not telling each other, "I love you," it's just that you're, well, saying it in different languages.
I, for instance, am a physical contact person. And no, it's not a sex thing. Don't get me wrong--sex is great--but I've had plenty of hugs that were far more meaningful than, say, most of the sex I had in college. And it's not that I need constant physical contact, it's just that touch is the way I display affection, and the fastest way to communicate affection to me.
On the other hand, I'm not a quality time person. I mean, it's great, and I always enjoy spending time with the people I love (because this is not just about romantic relationships), but for me "quality time" can be watching a movie or rock climbing or even something as mundane as grocery shopping with someone. Whereas for someone whose primary love language is quality time, they may need to sit down over a cup of coffee and talk for hours with the people they love. And that's great too... but I don't feel rejected and unloved if, for instance, Micah and I go a couple of days without a conversation that doesn't coincide with an activity.
Now, having it all laid out like that it's easy to look out and say, "Yes, duh. And?" Still, it's an interesting thing to think about how this applies to the people in my life and my relationships with them.
current mood: contemplative current music: Pale Yellow - The Ditty Bops
10:45p First day of the new life
Yesterday was my last day at CEI. I was surprised at how many people stopped by to congratulate me. Lots of fond wishes and best luck for the future. Most of my close friends at work (and even some of my customers) told me that they hated me for leaving but wished me the best. Hopefully I will be able to keep in touch with a lot of the people who I have grown to know well.
For my first day of freedom, I went to go deposit the last of the funds, with the signed lease agreement, to the property manager's office. I got the keys and went off to go inspect our new home. As you can see the walls were pre-painted with some lovely bright colors that really make the place cheery. And of course, completely clash with all our furniture. So tonight was the email to the owners asking to paint and the trip to Home Depot to look into paint colors that would go with our couch (which is our main piece of furniture that isn't black or dark brown).
So we have some ideas as to what color we would paint in. Need to get painting supplies if all things are good to go ahead. And hopefully we are able to do this before the furniture is moved in. The house, being shut up or 2-3 weeks needs a good airing and a good once over to get rid of the lingering pet smell. (Every house gets it if you don't air it out and have pets.)
The owners of the house left us a gift certificate to their favorite restaurant in the area and a bottle of champagne in the fridge to celebrate moving in. I can't tell you how much they ROCK. We'll need to send them something in thanks.
So now the grand process of moving starts, with Alex only having 9 more working days to go. I think we have 4 or 5 days where we are both off, where most of the heavy moving will happen. Exciting, n'est pas? Now to just find a reasonable sleeper sofa and some armchairs.
4:28p The Pontani Sisters kicked my ass.
A few weeks ago mostlybent and I were emailing about the sudden proliferation of burlesque work out videos and after some related web surfing, she introduced me to the Go-Go Burlesque* stylings of The World Famous Pontani Sisters. I've been enamored ever since, and recently purchased Go-Go Robics II (the first dvd being apparently out of print).
I've gotten in the habit of doing a work out dvd on my days off so that I'm not just sitting on my butt on days that I'm not biking. Today I popped in my brand new Go-Go Robics dvd, and I loved it. I heartily recommend it to my friends in WEBS and HoH. The stuff they teach you could fit into RHPS as a really neat sound drop or preshow on beach night, if nothing else, and I just generally think it's a good idea for people in a troupe like White Elephant to be constantly exposing themselves (no pun intended) to new types of movements.
All that being said, if you're thinking of picking this up, be warned of a few things. First, the production quality is very low. Second, they don't do an especially good job of explaining the moves they're teaching you. They're all simple moves--the work out comes as they build onto each other and eventually form a full length routine--so I expect the kinds of people I'm recommending this to will have no problem picking them up.
Even if you're not doing the moves perfectly (as I'm sure I wasn't all the time) it's excellent cardio.
*Much more Go-Go than Burlesque, but burlesque and related nostalgia is much more on the rise than go-go and related nostalgia, so three beautiful women dancing in their skivvies naturally get lumped in with the whole new burlesque movement.
12:07p You know....
You know, it's totally true, but it's also not true. Seriously, I know. Damn bastards. They tease. Someday, maybe right before I leave, I'll call 'em on it. I mean, what've I got to lose, right? Nothin', tha's what. So before I leave, I'm gonna tow all the lines and see if I get any bites. Nothing ventured nothing gained, yeah?
ETA: It's also damned funny when you're totally joking but you turn out to be right on the money without even realizing it.
current mood: drunk current music: Arrested Development ~ something in season 3
In other news, I pass roadkill with some frequency on my commute to and from work. Since I'm on my bike, I'm usually going slowly and my morbid curiosity means that I generally manage to identify it. Raccoons and groundhogs are bad enough, but today, just a couple blocks from the house, I passed--what was once--a beautiful, tortoise shell kitten. Couldn't have been more than a few months old.
baronmind's having the house painted, and I was glad that I reminded the painters on the way out that--while, of course, doors and windows sometimes had to be left ajar to dry--they were never to leave anything open so wide that my cats could get out. I'd given this instruction to one of the painters a couple of days ago, and the conversation that followed made it clear that he was a huge animal lover, and I felt completely reassured. If they hadn't stopped me on my way out this morning to mention they were painting the doors I would never have brought it up again.
Even so, I was surprisingly relieved when I got home and both my boys were still safely inside.
If you've been to the house, you know we don't exactly live in an urban area. Technically, I suppose it's suburbia, although it's far more rural than what I grew up thinking of as The Suburbs. It's not The Sticks, by any means, but... well, you get the picture. My point is that I'm astonished when people ask me why I don't let the cats outside. Don't get me wrong, if I could trust them to stay in the yard, I'm sure they'd have a blast out there... But cats aren't like dogs. Your average fence isn't really an issue for them, and they will get out.
The state Algernon was in when I found him was bad enough... but that kitten today.
10:11p Still not ignoring you....
What a crazy week. Luckily it turned out very well.
One more week to go at CEI. So far I have handed over 2 or my 14 accounts. More to do this week to transfer the rest of it without selling anyone short. I find my mood getting lighter each day I get closer to my last day.
The best news is that one of my current customers offered me a job. He made me a handsome offer and I accepted. The bad news is that their offices are in Princeton, which will necessitate an hour commute each day. The good news is that the benefits and salary are amazingly good. (Right now I stand at a 30% raise in salary and a manager's title.) It's a nice reward for my year and a half in purgatory.
So my last day at work is Thursday August 14th. The 15th I go get the keys for the house in Philadelphia. Moving commences that day and lasts until September 1st. The new job starts September 2nd.
Quite a month.
Alex is still looking for employment, but he had a promising interview with Ikea. Well, with at least with one of us working it takes quite a bit of strain off. Alex wants to be a house frau. *Heh*
I finally got to see it today, and I was so the opposite of disappointed. It was... words fail. Seriously. Pencil! Best. Magic trick. Evar. I am pleased.
current mood: bouncy current music: Tommie watching some Russian movie.
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