Old-School Question Time Post

Time: 8:28pm

Wearing: t-shirt and shorts! (It's been a magnificently hot day, and I've been hiding inside in the blessedly cool air conditioning. I'm so glad that I used this year's tax return and bought an air conditioner on the very first hot day of the year. I was not going to wait and see how hot this house could get.)

I'm procrastinating from: the pile of unfolded laundry, the full dishwasher, and figuring out what I'm doing with my life.

Tea of the day: mango green iced tea. (Murchies!)

On the TV: first season of Poirot

I'm amused by: period pieces from the 1980s, when you get bits of 80s fashion here and there.

I'm oddly pleased about: the amount of time I spent hanging laundry on the line today. It was such a nice excuse to spend time out in the sun, which always helps my mental health. And we have a lilac bush that's blooming now, which makes the whole backyard a lovely place.

Legless Wonder Once Again

So, I'm going through the "build-up" phase of my new batch of allergy shot serum. This is always an adventure, because until you reach the "maintenance dose," you're getting too little of your allergy shot, and instead of it making you feel better, it makes you feel terrible. You get the symptoms of that particular allergy rather than relief from it. So, last week, while I was getting the build-up shots for my the dust and mold allergies, I got hives and a scratchy throat. But now I'm getting the build-up shots for my food allergies. This is always the weird time, because my reaction is never what you'd expect from food allergies: my joints get so swollen that it gets hard to use my legs.

Yep, I'm a legless wonder again.

So, because words aren't forming very coherently in my head right now (tiredness is the other symptom; also, it is nearly my bedtime), I'll structure the rest of this post in my old blog format. Question time!

Time: 10:54pm

I am wearing: grey cardigan, bright blue t-shirt, charcoal dress pants, rubber-soled slippers.

Tea: Library Tea from Murchies.

I am procrastinating from: cleaning this messy house, and going to bed.

I am most pleased about: how today I managed to find excuses in four straight seminars to sing part of "Mack the Knife." In the third seminar, several of my students sang with me. (Excuse: a student said "The book keeps talking about this song like everyone knows it. What is 'Mack the Knife?'")

I love: Being in a field where you spend your day teaching students about Peter Lorre, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and "Mack the Knife."

Speaking of teaching: Maybe I'm so tired because I taught the same seminar four times in a row today. It's a strange and draining experience, having the same conversation over and over.

Oddest moment of my evening: I had to explain to my nerdier-than-me husband what "pwned" means.

Most pleasant thing I can think of at the moment: bumblebees. Is there a better word to say? Bumblebees. Why are theoretical bees so pleasant? (Not that I enjoy being around actual bees.)

Having read the above few lines: I see some clear evidence that I ought to go to sleep now.

Saturday Morning Question Time

Time: 8:58AM, by the clock on the computer.

Location: Futon

I am wearing: pyjamas, hair in a bobbly ponytail, rubber-soled slippers

Current music: Simon and Garfunkel singing "Bye Bye Love" (I've been working my way through the record of Bridge Over Troubled Water)

I'm procrastinating from: cleaning the house before Janny flies here tomorrow.

Where I've been since Monday: Quieting my brain. Considering the fact that I have problems controlling my anxiety on a good day, the recovery from such such a long stretch of non-stop stress and panic (with bonus episodes of uncontrollable crying because I'm convinced I won't be able to handle the exams) took me several days. On Tuesday I overdid it and made myself busy all day. On Wednesday, I fell apart because I realised that, at my current pace, I wouldn't get a change to stop before Janny arrived. I ended the day by bursting into tears while trying to make muffins for prayer meeting, after which Chris decided that we were not hosting prayer meeting that evening and that I was heading for bed. Thursday morning I spent mid-panic attack, hyperventilating about how I was going to find the emotional energy to volunteer at Chris's school's walk-a-thon that afternoon. The funny thing is that the walk-a-thon was actually where I began to finally decompress.

What ended up helping: Talking out all my crazy thoughts with Chris. Also, having my friend Rebecca over for lunch yesterday (she had taken the day off); we had a picnic on the back lawn while wearing silly hats.

How I feel now: Calm. I can't really handle any new major stresses yet, but I'm not getting stressed out by everyday life anymore. I'm also happy. It really is nice finally being able to stop and relax without feeling guilty that I should be accomplishing something.

Question Time Again

Time: 12:37pm

Tea of choice: Butchart Gardens' "Teaberry" black tea.

I am procrastinating from: finishing that One Last Book (again, but this time from a different list) before my meeting with Dr. Supervisor this afternoon.

My current surroundings: Chris is fixing one of our dining room chairs right now, as I sit on the lousy futon, under my SAD lamp. (I am amazed by how much work my husband can get done while he's on holidays. I am far more skilled than he is at the Fine Art of Doing Nothing. Seriously: yesterday he re-caulked the entire bathroom and got rid of all of the black mold. He's also re-organising our office right now, at the same time as he fixes the chair. And this is his idea of the Best Vacation Ever. Whaaaa?)

I am feeling: shockingly competent, after my fantastic meeting with my Canadian history prof yesterday. She said that she's confident that I'm ready for my exams and that I'll do really well. She also said that she's noticed that I have a lot more self-confidence and focus than I had when I started here. (Well, of course! I was freaked out and feeling shy and awkward during my first year here.)

I am also feeling: wiggley about the prospect of Ky moving here this summer.

Current pop cultural fixations: Iron Chef America and (again) America's Next Top Model. I try to quit and I always go back.

I am listening to: The little boy upstairs, roaring.

Again, I am a legless wonder

For those who have been wondering where I've been for the past few days, they should refer to this post from my early days of blogging. Actually, the swelling this year is also in my shoulders, my neck and my jaw. Which has just been fabulous for my productivity. (Actually, I've gotten a shocking amount of work done. Just not as much as I would have liked to have done.) I don't know if it's that my allergies are worse because I'm under so much stress, or if it's the fact that I've dragged out my "build-up" process for so long, but this year has been much harder than the last few.

And so, in honour of my Legless Wonder days, and because I'm apparently incapable of talking without whining lately, I'll give you everything else in simple question/answer format.

Time: 10:52pm

Current Soundtrack: Chris finishing up washing every single dish in the house. (It's been one of those weeks.)

Good parts of the last half of my week:
a.) Structuring entire days around the teas I would drink (my biggest motivator is tea);
b.) Organizing an entire referendum campaign over the course of my lunch break at the university on Wednesday;
c.) Both of us taking a break at supper every day (read: between 7-8pm) to watch M*A*S*H and Scrubs reruns;
d.) Being sucked back in to Top Model in time to see the (horrific as usual) makeovers.
e.) Finally starting to feel like I'm getting things together for my exams.

Ambivalent part of my week: Finding that library book that was presumed lost (and especially presumed to be left at the hospital when I was visiting a friend), wedged in a weird place behind a piece of furniture. After I had to pay all those lost book fines and replaced the book.

Tea of the day: Wild Strawberry Green tea, from T. (A birthday present from Meg.) Actually, first it was a big mug of seamist from Silk Road, because the food allergies had given me a tummyache.

When I'm done with my comps, I will miss the least: trying to parse the impenetrable prose of 1980s film historians who have decided that they're going to use semiotics and structuralism. (Okay fine, I'll have to deal with them again when I'm writing my dissertation. But I get a break from them for a few weeks, right?)

Most recent method of annoying Chris: Singing the terrible Burlington Coat Factory jingle, which mostly consists of a woman endlessly shrieking, "Family VA-lues! Family Va-Lues!"

An old-school post, as I use old-school methods

Time: 4:18pm

I am wearing: the blue sweater that Janny gave me for Christmas last year, and these nice brown dress pants I bought at Jacob last winter. I'm barefoot right now, although I keep putting on and taking off my signature rubber-soled slippers.

Location: the futon. Before I wrote this, I was bouncing on the exercise ball, because then I'm moving around while I'm reading.

Tea of choice: Pear Oolong, purchased at T when I was visiting Meg and Karl. It's a wee bit less finicky than my old standby, Pear Tree Green. It steeps for 90 seconds instead of thirty. And you can use boiling water, rather than "not quite boiling."

Teapot of choice: the clear Bodum, because I'm drinking a loose leaf tea.

Teacup of choice: the green-and-blue flowered cup and saucer I bought on clearance at the KaDeWe.

(Note: those of you who ended up seeing a truncated version of this first, apparently my fingers don't know the difference between "Ctrl" and "Shift".)

Music: Gypsy Kings, on my Study Music playlist

Old-school study methods being used: I have lit about a bazillion candles, to distract from the gloomy day outside, bouncing on the exercise ball, dressing up to work.

Today's progress: half a book.

I am procrastinating from: reading the other half of that book, e-mailing my supervisor to ask if we can discuss my funding application, reading the e-mail detailing all the work I'll be doing to help organize a conference.

I'm dorkily excited about: the fact that Chris came home with a.) the details of his health benefits, and b.) an Entertainment coupon book for the next year. Sweet. I love the Entertainment Book.