The Mono

Caught up on LJ (I hit "skip=120"). Whew.

Lots of stuff brewing up for a thought-provoking post... hopefully later.

Today I baked rolls -- the usual little cheese rolls for school mornings, plus big fat Lunch Rolls as an experiment. One set has canadian bacon and American cheese (the cheese escaped wherever it could, but came out well otherwise) and the other has deli turkey, dill havarti, and a squirt of pesto added after they had cooled down a bit. All of them are now in the freezer; I'll test-drive them next week.

That was all the energy I had, sadly. I really need to plant stuff out, but simply walking around the house has been exhausting me this weekend. Sigh.

It's been a long week... I gave myself permission to veg today.

I did drive into Pleasant Hill after breakfast, to check out the Master Gardener Help Desk... the schedule said that it had two MGs on duty, which is a full set, but I figured I could at least check out what was in the "pending" file. I ended up helping with the currently open cases as well, chatting with the MGs (we're always so social, I tend to forget that) and closing three cases by the end. I hadn't worked the desk for about a year, and every time I do it I remember how much I like it. I'm hoping to do it just about every other Friday until the end of term, then maybe more often in summer. They have three stations now, and the warm weather has brought enough work for three people, at least by the end of the week.

The interesting thing was when I overheard one of the other MGs fielding a call about a possible brown recluse spider. I told her afterward that it would be pretty funny if that call was from a friend of mine who had found it in the bathroom a day or two ago.... sure enough, around 11:30 or so pure_agnostic and hopeforyou walk in with a glass jar. At least I had some warning that I might see them; they hadn't known I'm a Master Gardener, I think, so they really hadn't expected to see me. :)

In case anyone else has occasion to use the information: the Master Gardener program is collecting specimens of suspected brown recluse spiders for a project at U.C. Riverside. They'll be shipped to an entomologist for identification, and the people who found them will be told what the spider was. I can't recall how long this is going on for, but I seem to recall it's all summer... since brown recluses are not known to haunt Central or Northern California (their territory tends toward the Southwest) I'm personally interested in whether people are finding them here. I keep being told we don't have them, other than the odd individual, and if they manage to establish a hold here that's something we all need to know about.

I haven't done much of anything for the rest of the day, but since walking the length of the yard and back wore me out, I think that's a good thing. At least I watered the fruit trees, and thinned the tiny nectarines.

Most things have gone well today. Everything that has gone wrong has involved a piece of electronic equipment. ( To wit: )

My Meizu is fine, though I can't listen to it without headphones, and my watch hasn't rebelled. I'm praying that my laptop doesn't decide to chip in once I get home.

I just wanted to let people know that I am thoroughly, ecstatically, boundlessly happy.

Even when school starts again, the multiple reasons for that happiness will still be there, and under the "aaargh" of school stress will still be the kernel of glowy contentment. I see no date of termination for it.

I thought you'd like to know. :)

I hope everyone else is enjoying their weekend... I made the decision to drop any parties, social obligations, or plans to go out, and I'm spending the weekend at home by myself. I don't regret it at all. There was one small thing I was going to go to Friday night, but it got moved to another weekend, so I spent the evening reading (both published fiction and my own work). It says something about my improved state of mind that I have enough brain cycles to get interested in my own stories again, pulling them out and reading them to visit the "friends" that live in my head. I'm not feeling quite up to writing again, but I'm getting there.

Today I have repotted my orchid, gotten my usual set of comic books and groceries, failed to connect with my brewer friend (oh well), worked on the front yard trench, dug out the first tomato bed in the garden, weeded around the fruit trees out front, ordered seeds, fixed my Fastweb profile, and looked through a bunch of scholarship/fellowship offerings. I need to fix my FAFSA for this year, but otherwise I've gotten everything essential out of the way.

( Down in the trenches )

Meanwhile my brain has been working out a way to make a drought-tolerant, wind-resistant, heat-loving front yard for very little money -- I've got 90% of the place solved already for about $100-120 and a few weekends of reasonable work. As if I didn't have enough challenges. I've never claimed to be sane...

I overheard the fellows right behind me talking about a bomb scare on a college campus that happened yesterday... I was curious (the cute guy was saying that nothing like that had happened while he attended that college), so I asked where they were talking about.

Did you guess they were talking about U.C. Davis? I didn't. The older fellow said that it happened around the middle of the day yesterday, while I was on campus, but the bulletin sitting in my mailbox says it was actually "last night". They found explosive materials; rumor has it they included two complete pipe bombs. I hadn't heard anything about it until the train ride.

That was an interesting start to the morning.

On the personal side, I'm feeling relaxed and a little lazy, but not as exhausted as I have been. I'm feeling pretty good, partly because I calmly and smoothly complimented the cute guy on his looks, and he took it well. Yay for courage.

I need to send off another slew of email to plant path professors... I guess the morning can't be all fun and games. :)

Edit: Apparently it was the night before last, and the evacuation lasted until noon yesterday. Color me oblivious.

I feel wonderful. For the first time in who knows how long, I just feel great.

Not only have I had two weeks out of contact with 409 -- I was being exposed on a weekly, possibly daily basis up in Davis -- the antibiotics I got for my sinus infection seem to have wiped out the low-grade infection in my tonsils (for now). My immune system is standing down. Add to that lots of fresh air and rest, and wow. More energy = more things done in less time = less stress = happier system = more energy. That's a spiral I can get behind. :)

( What I got done this weekend: )

I'm astounded. I haven't gotten a huge amount of homework done, but my stress level is way down; I feel less rushed, like I have time and ability to get the work done by the time it's due. I feel so much better about being caught up on gardening -- I can start digging any time it dries out enough, and I'm going to sow seeds right on time.

I'm enjoying this. I hope it sticks around for a bit. :)

I decided to postpone my tonsillectomy until July. It seemed prudent.

I've dumped my social calendar again -- it's gotten to the point that there isn't much left to dump. I have the English Composition exam tomorrow (pass that and I have one less class next quarter), then I get to whip up a class schedule for registration (Monday 6-10am) and study for my plant biotech midterm later Monday morning. Not sure whether I'm going to go to seminar that afternoon; I may be too tired. That leaves me the rest of Monday and the next two days to get my Crop Ecology homework done and study for my History midterm on Thursday. I have to remember to vote somewhere in there (maybe Monday on my way back home, as I drive right past the County Clerk's office). Then it's quiet until my Crop Ecology midterm the following Thursday, which I'll have to cram madly for. That week I should start talking to Plant Path professors and touring labs.

School has turned into my equivalent of The Job I Hate. It eats far too much of my time, makes me unhappy and stressed, and compensates me far too little. I end up crying at the start of the week because I don't want to go back again, distressingly often. I have one more quarter to go, and I'm trying as hard as I can to make sure it sucks as little as possible, but at this point it's bordering on emotional torture. Ready To Be Done Now.

The rest of my life is fine ("How was the play, Mr. Lincoln?") This too shall pass. I've gotten all my ducks in a row, to my knowledge -- and trust me, I've left none of this to chance -- so that by June I will finally have that little piece of paper.

Grad school will be different; time management will be much more in my own hands, and with fewer formal classes (and more hands-on work) I expect to have a bit more of my weekends and evenings free, with no PhD thesis to be a slave to. Let's hope I actually do get in. *crossed fingers*

It's been a busy week.

( Christmas )

( No slack time )

( Decemberween )

( New Year's Eve )

The end of the year came very quickly for me, and I haven't had much of a chance to collect myself and figure out where I'm at. I'll do some of that today. Happy New Year, all; may it be better than last year.

So I took the GRE yesterday afternoon. It was an experience, but overall not bad.

( The GRE, then a nice dinner )

( This morning )

So now I'm done for a while... TV with knaveofhearts tonight, then nothing concrete. Oh, a possible party, or flexible engagements with friends... but no appointments as such. I can relax at last.

1) We still have the ideal climate in which to store popcorn. (After five years, the old yellow type has substantially improved in popping efficiency, and is now very close to 100%.)

2) Two cobs of yellow makes a great deal more than four quarts popped. I've been dealing with strawberry popcorn's tiny kernels too much.

3) Holding the lid on does help to contain the popcorn, even when the volume is too great for the pot.

4) Do not touch the pot afterward, even in passing. (I have a lovely blister on my right pinky fingertip now.)

5) You must add a little oil to make the cheese powder stick to the popcorn.

6) "Rest and relaxation" lasts only so long as my dad doesn't need an assistant to help him rebuild the wall in the other room.

I'm tired. I want to stop going up and down the stairs and running plywood through the table saw. I want to sit down, eat my popcorn, and watch something on the computer.

I was driving home and wondering what was different -- it was quiet, somehow, despite the stereo and the road noise. Then I figured it out: I was missing the constant din of school in the back of my head. No calculations of when I was going to study, what assignments I was keeping track of, essays that I was formulating... just silence.

It feels strange to be myself again.

I'm already a little way into the Season of Hope, and I need to do some work on that before Christmas and the grace period are upon me -- but I'm getting an odd sort of grace period right now, and I think I'll let myself just take a few days to breathe and look around.

Today was a series of unusual events, but largely good ones. ( Read more... )

So here I am, back home, posting at the end of my day. My throat is sore again... ah, well, two days of not being sick was nice. I have nowhere to be tomorrow, and Sunday I just have a Dr. J appointment, badly needed. I think I'll take it easy for a bit.

Homemade bread is a blessing. Good homemade bread, fresh and warm from the oven with a little butter, rivals good sex. In my opinion. Perhaps the years of hunting for a good store-bought loaf without wheat, and now the fact that if I want it I have to craft it myself, has something to do with that -- but I've always appreciated bread.

( Last night's baking, and a few related thoughts... )

Life is generally good right now -- while I'm still waiting on ENT to call me for a medical appointment, my throat is only a tiny bit sore right now, and the systemic inflammation seems to be a little better. I'm dog-tired, but no one expects much from me this week, and I get a nice four-day weekend before finals. I get to drop a class for next quarter, so I'll take three (and three in spring). I'm waiting for the garden to dry out a little, and for me to have some time, before I finally transplant stuff. And my home life is very good. Yay December.

My throat is sore again. We're down to about a 15-day cycle now. After three attempts to get a referral through to Woodland, all I'm hearing from my insurance lady now is silence. (Edit: she just sent me mail saying she faxed the damn thing personally. I'll call Woodland tomorrow.)

The orange cheese powder I got from Barry Farms tastes very familiar (which is good). I have no idea whether it will meet foogod's criteria, but it tastes like some incarnation of Kraft's. I'm content.

I'm very tired; I may bomb the biochem midterm tomorrow, but I'm too burned out to care much.

Despite the fact that I'm at high risk of tetanus (I deal with thorns and dig barehanded in dirt), I haven't had a shot since '89. My secondary doctor discovered this and, of course, tried to convince me to get one. I do believe she found the only way I could be scared into it: they'd immunize me against whooping cough as well, which (she reminded me) is currently sweeping across college campuses, including ours. My lungs are weak to start with... I'm seriously calculating now when I could afford to spend a day or so in bed with a fever and have little use of my left arm for most of a week, which is what I get with tetanus shots. Way to go, doc.

I got all three professors to agree to write referrals. I need to finish my statement of purpose and get them signed up for the online thingie. But all that aside... I got the people I wanted! Woo!

My Russian teacher will give us a take-home final (she found out that the scheduled final was from 6-8 in the evening, which decided her). That almost makes up for my irritation at getting downgraded on my paper because her expectations weren't revealed until after we turned it in. I was tired enough that I snarked about it... to her face. Whoops.

(Edit: it would seem the snark (and later discussion of the story in question) had the effect of making her soften the penalty; apparently she misinterpreted my subtlety as lack of diligence. No effect on my overall grade, not that I was worried about it. Still, I feel a little better.)

Less than two weeks to go. I'll make it.

No school today, by Order of the Supreme Person In Charge (me).

I needed that. Boy howdy, did I ever.

Today, I:
- pinged my counselor for a reschedule
- pinged Woodland Ear/Nose/Throat (they still haven't gotten the referral) and
- refrained from hunting down and cockpunching the person responsible for the repeated screwups
- got honey
- got lots of rice flour and more spaghetti noodles from the Asian grocery
- got mash for the garden
- got a nice bread pan, storage containers for flour, and various other sundries
- did laundry
- cleaned out the ceramic crock and put it back in the cellar
- bathed the Oxford jam cakes in brandy to get them ready for Christmas
- watered my orchid
- fertilized Phil (O'Dendron... he's Irish) and the African violets
- potted up the sweet potato slips I'm hoping to grow in my window this winter
- ordered orange cheese powder from a place in Ohio

I need to redo my braid tomorrow, bake pie, and clear the dining-room table; I should do some homework and finish off the garden beds this weekend. I'm doing pretty well so far, though.

I was in a really good mood this afternoon. I stopped by E. J. Phair at about a quarter to 1, and when I walked up I knew as soon as I saw Morgan maneuvering the pallet-lift that I was in luck. He greeted me with "perfect timing!" and handed me a shovel; he had just then dumped the mash into the giant bin and lugged it outside with the lift. I filled my two buckets with mash and lugged them to the car, and now I'm ready to construct the garlic beds. Whee!

Once the Oxford jam cakes have had their drink, they'll go into the crock for airtight storage. These are heavy, dark, and rich, full of nuts and fruit, bathed one or two times a year in brandy; they are also completely gluten-free. If anyone out there would like to try one, let me know. I promise never to call it fruitcake. :)

I'm ready to not be sick now. I'm so done. It can go away any time...

I've got a referral to Ear/Nose/Throat, which may take me to Woodland instead of Sacramento (Sutter/Davis doesn't have anything free until February). I'm willing to miss class at this point; not being sick is more important to me than grades. The current bout started on Friday night, and instead of fading after four days, it's been six and it's still trying to climb into my sinuses. At least it's (mostly) been leaving my lungs alone after the first two days, and my throat isn't too swollen.

General consensus is that my tonsils are in the process of failing, and they're out of warranty... we'll see what ENT has to say. It would mean that this isn't one bug, but several in succession, minor things that my immune system would normally munch without a second thought. The interval is down to about 20 days, though, and the constant inflammatory immune response is hammering my chronic fatigue triggers. As if this quarter weren't difficult enough already.

I'm at home today, as Russian was cancelled and I took the quiz for Cuba yesterday in office hours. I wish I were well enough to take full advantage of a free day, but I'll use it to rest and relax and hope that helps out my immune system. I'm ensconced in bed with my laptop and a great deal of tea. Maybe after I drink the rest of the six or seven mugs' worth I'll stop feeling like my upper respiratory tract is cracking from dehydration.

I made raisin bread last night, and came pretty darned close to the objective. Some fine-tuning is required, of course, but I have lovely, moist, slightly chewy sweet bread with raisins and a little cinnamon. Damned good for a first attempt. I learned a great deal about handling the magic flour in the process, and about the manner and order of addition for both eggs and butter. If I had the time, I'd pull together my recipes and start on a wheat/gluten-free bread book. Much testing is still required for the kneaded breads, though I have several quite-adequate batter breads already, along with some desserts. (I really ought to try challah one of these days...)

I should find out whether Morgan's brewing this morning, and see about picking up some mash if I can. I won't dig much today, but I'd like to have the amendments on hand.

Bahahaha! Kids First! (SFW)

( A day spent at home )

The significance of the holiday doesn't escape me, but there's little I can do other than well-wishing. It's rather depressing to think about the current situation without having any recourse. Still... to the one two veterans on my friends list: this day's for you.

I got to the train station with more than five minutes to spare (taking Alhambra rather than Marina Vista makes all the difference), caught my train, and studied for the Ento midterm on the way up. Studied a bit more when I got there, then dropped email to the grad studies guy for Plant Path with an Essential Question.

I got both clicker questions in biochem right, then carved through the Ento midterm (fat packet, that; it felt like a final, and I had to hurry to get it done in an hour). I got an A on it, by the feel of things. Then I fetched my lunch, and ate chili and Caesar salad for $1.85 total. Five days of feeding myself in Davis this week (including dinner one day) for $21. Still under budget.

After that I bopped over to Women's Studies, confirmed that they'll back me up on the GE credit, ironed out procedure with the College of Biosci, and asked Women's Studies for the email that is (apparently) all they have to submit to the Dean of Biosci. Once that goes through and I triple-check, I'll dump a class from next quarter's schedule.

I picked up the reply to my Essential Question, then used that information to email three professors (two at Davis, one at DVC) with that peculiar blend of ingratiating, half-desperate, deferential flattery that marks a request for letters of recommendation on short notice. The deadline for the app is January 1st, and we have about three weeks before things get crazy with term papers and finals, then the holidays set in. I suspect one of the three may not be able to do it, and I have a reserve in mind, but I'm crossing my fingers because these three are top of my list for this. They know me best.

Then I took the Oakland train home, noting the crowd of people awaiting it and breathing a sigh of relief that I didn't take the previous train home -- that one goes to San Jose, and is busy on a light day. It must have been bursting at the seams.

I've been catching up on LJ (caught up on posts, not comments) and lily (4900 lines to go) this evening, with an interlude to watch an episode of CSI. I'm contemplating *gasp* organizing my room a bit. It's been a good day.

it's pouring. When I was out there fifteen minutes ago, the empty fountain had caught nearly 2". That's just this afternoon.

The reason I was out there was to frantically scrounge up as much plastic as I could to cover the garden beds. I was supposed to dig them up this weekend, to prep them for planting, as this is the first free weekend I've had (and maybe the only one this month). With every drop of rain that fell, I kept envisioning the soupy mud I was going to be dealing with... unless I could cover it over. But I haven't bought any more plastic dropcloths -- hell, I thought this storm was supposed to be showers, nothing more.

Between the air mattress that was outside to be cleaned (now it needs even more cleaning, but that's okay), a couple of soil bags I open up flat and keep around for such purposes, and (yay!) one last dropcloth from last year, I covered the relevant areas of the garden. Finding rocks to weigh them down was almost unnecessary -- the water pooled so fast they weren't going anywhere. The ground was horrible: still dry and hard from summer, impermeable, it collected a lot of standing water and finished it off with a thin film of slick mud. I didn't fall (miraculously) and I'm now getting warm and dry again. Hopefully the soil will be somewhat moist but not wet by Sunday.

I'm very, very glad my raincoat came at the beginning of this week... it was raining at school this morning too. It's a better coat than the last one: the same length, which leaves my knees exposed, but still the consistency of a lightweight windbreaker, and this one has snaps instead of the two-pull zipper. I don't have to fumble to get it closed every time, now. It's also black, with lots of pockets, and fits well over a hoodie. (Someone in my Ento class recognized Pintsize... another QC fan!) Now I just have to cut down a tough yard bag to make a rainproof cover for my schoolbag. It's "waterproofed" ripstop, and there's nothing vulnerable to water in the top flap, but...

At least Gwen-Jenny can't complain about my neglecting to wash her anymore. The whole world is a car wash right now...

I have a new room.

I'm currently lounging on my bed, connected to the net by wire, idly watching the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie on my TV.

eastbaygreg came over with his kid to help move things this morning... we got all the essentials moved over before they left. I did a bit more work afterward, but I'm done for the day. I have the bed, two bureaus, a set of shelves with books, a TV stand with enough to watch DVDs on, and a makeshift bedside table. I've found that I can still crimp a good ethernet cable. And I just gained a cat.

I need to buy a couple of nightstands; if I can't find good ones at Target, I'll make a foray to Ikea later this week. I should get a wireless access point for this part of the house, too. Greg has promised me a proper headboard, which will be nice.

The closet is still full of stuff that needs to be cleared out before I can move my hung clothes and boxes over. There's a bit more work to be done on the room, securing a power outlet properly and planing the other door to allow it to close fully (*sigh*), but that'll come in a couple of days. The essentials are done.