Oof.

I'm pretty proud of myself.

Today started badly - I woke at 7:30, decided I was tired, set a timer for 30 minutes...and woke up at TEN A.M.  One of my friends pointed out that my body clearly needed the rest, so I shouldn't feel bad, but I still do.

Then, I checked my email and I'd forgotten to turn in my timesheet yesterday.  ACK.  Sent some frantic emails and got the whole thing sorted out in half an hour or so, many blessings upon the payroll woman who was so patient with me!!!

Finally managed to settle down and get some work done, then headed off to class.  After class I buttonholed the professor and told him about my woes in regards to graduating on time/GIS certificate/classes offered next semester, and he gave me the name of a professor to email, and assured me (as did another student waiting in line) that they "make substitutions" all the time.  I have all my fingers and toes crossed; I haven't heard back yet, but I'm sure he's a very busy man, and this isn't the easiest time of the semester for anyone!

Was full of hope on my way home and got a lot more work done before heading off to scuba.  We had such a fun lecture, all about nautical archaeology, and then went to dive lab and learned how to dive with full-face masks.  It is extremely weird - EXTREMELY! - but I'm glad to know how to do it.  We're going to do one more dive lab (at least) with them, but I'll be very glad to go back to the regular setup. 

Then I came home, thinking I could finish my conference poster in half an hour or so and get to bed.  HA!

First, I realized this computer doesn't have Picasa on it, so I tried to download it...and Google is no longer supporting Picasa!!  It was so damn simple and useful and I just LOVED it.  Now I have to save up and buy Lightroom, and I'm simply FURIOUS about it.  I'll just edit all my photos on my old laptop until I have the money for Lightroom, sucks to Google.  I downloaded GIMP to get what I needed done, done, and THEN Rhino started screwing up so that it took me well over an hour to do what should have taken two minutes.  It was my fault for leaving it open for hours and letting my computer sleep with the program running, but still.  GRR!

Then I had to finish the actual poster and as you can see by this timestamp, it took me until 1:30 am, so THREE hours to do what I thought would take 30 minutes.  But I've emailed it off to a couple people to proofread it for me, and I've sent the three amphorae I've done to the people on the project for their comments, so I have really done very well today.

But now it's time to go to bed and collapse.  I was going to get up early tomorrow and Get Things Done before work so I could have a lovely, relaxed Friday evening after work, but now...not looking like it.  Sigh.  Grad school is not for the faint of heart!

Oh, Wednesday

I've actually managed to get a lot done today.  It didn't start well - I slept better last night than I did the night before, but still not well, and woke up with mucous all up in my head and chest and feeling like crud.

Nevertheless, I made it to class, and although I may have zoned out once or twice (seriously, did not get enough sleep), I managed to pay attention and asked a few questions and I think I learned something, so yay for that.

Then I went to a meeting and waited for 40 minutes but the guy never showed.  I'm pretty mad about that, but one of my profs looked at my work and gave me a few pointers, so that was nice.

Went home and conked out immediately for around an hour before getting up and doing some work.  Managed to get a lot done before my meeting at 5, and got home around 7.  Did the dishes, fed the birds, had dinner, did my laundry (just finished folding and hanging the last of it), sent a bunch of emails, took out the trash, worked on thesis stuff, and I've just settled down to work on a novel.

I'm really relieved that tomorrow all I have to do is work and show up to class.  Once I get home tomorrow night, and wash all my scuba gear, I'm going to kick back on the couch with a beer and watch some Netflix.

Could still do with a hug, though.

More Bad News

Every time I "rise above" something crappy, and get my life on an even keel, BOOM.  Something else gets me right in the gut.

People keep telling me that once this is over, I'll be able to handle anything.  But will I?  And do I even want to?  How often do people in real life actually get kicked in the ovaries, over and over and over again?

Bills, Bills, Bills

This morning I've paid my rent, my utilities, my cable, and my health insurance.  Sling and Netflix and the gym all auto-deduct from my account.  That's everything, right?  I won't pay my credit card for a day or two...it won't be due til the 12th, and I want a nice free couple of hours where I can sit down and do my accounts and figure out how much I can afford to put on my card (conference expenses...forcing me to pay off in installments instead of all at once like I usually do) this month.

I need to publish a book and have it be wildly successful - or winning the lotto works, too.

Easter Weekend

Had a busy, crazy weekend.  Got some work done, not enough, but when is "enough" ever enough?

Made a special Easter dinner tonight: Greek-style rabbit, Harvard beets, broccoli, and rosemary potatoes.

Made the rabbit with oregano, allspice, white wine, salt, pepper and olive oil.  It was pretty good, although I don't think I did it well enough.

Here are the recipes I used:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/229016/rabbit-greek-recipe/?internalSource=recipe%20hub&referringId=16356&referringContentType=recipe%20hub

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/rosemary-roasted-potatoes-recipe.html

I need to get back to work.  Sigh.  I could sure use a hug.

Spring Break: Tuesday

My list:
DO one thing: mended my grill
Read/Watch something new: The Royal Diaries Cleopatra VII and Dear America Voyage on the Great Titanic
Earn money: one shift at nonprofit job
Make one thing: bacon-wrapped jalapenos for dinner


Had a quiet sort of day.  I slept late, went straight to my friend's house to care for her kitties, came home and went back to sleep.  My body must have REALLY needed it because I didn't wake up til 1 pm!  I pottered around the house getting some work done and finally made a list and went shopping.  Got new screws for my grill, some shorts since the weather is just getting hotter and hotter, a new water bottle (aluminum, so hopefully it won't break when some idiot knocks it over), some new books at Half Price Books (that store is dangerous even though it only has a very little of the stuff I want), and two ENORMOUS canvases at Michael's because all canvases are 70% off.  I might even go back and get one or two more.  I've always wanted to work with a large piece and now I finally have the opportunity.


I also got my tax refund, so I ordered my new laptop.  It'll take awhile to get here, so I'm hoping the visual driver on this one doesn't completely fail before I get it.  Fingers crossed...


Planning to stay up a little while tonight and get some other work done, and do as much work as possible tomorrow morning so I can snooze in the afternoon and do some FUN stuff, like paint and write and go for a walk in the sunshine and daydream about winning the lotto so I can live a life of art and beauty without having to worry about the damn bills - just like Virginia Woolf talked about.

Spring Break

It's been quite the hectic few days for me.  Thursday I had two midterms as well as a dive lab and had a miserable day.  Friday I had work at both my jobs and then I collapsed on the couch and watched the first half of Bosch season two, which was just released that day.  Saturday I again worked at both my jobs and then finished Bosch (don't judge me) as well as getting some other work done.

Sunday I used my free ticket to the Sherwood Forest Faire and had a pretty good time.  I tried some "Iron Age Cider" and a couple beers I don't remember - I think one was called Hopping Goat? and I liked them.  They had a fabulous falconry stage exhibition which I watched through twice, and donated a dollar to.  Would've liked to have given more, but I had limited cash on me, and NONE of the food/beverage places took plastic!!!  I wish you could pet the birds, but they are birds of prey and it's simply not tenable.  I also was very naughty and used part of my tax return to buy myself a replica of a Roman gladiolus.  I've seen them at Ren Fests before and they usually cost $150 or more.  This one was a mere $80 AND marked as "discounted" so I got it for just $50!! 

Of course, now I need the belt to wear it on, and to figure out what costume I want to go with it.  My immediate desire was to make a flowy tunic/stola combo and basically be a badass Roman warrior maiden.  But part of me wants to go even more off-authentic and make myself a barbarian outfit (don't even start with the racist/revisionist history crap...some things have to remain fun and barbarian costumes are right up there with my plague doctor getups) or something else a little crazy.  I just don't have the equipment (or skill) to feminize a Roman centurion getup (yet) so I'll have to think of something else.

I don't know if I got a mild case of sunstroke or what on Sunday (I had three alcoholic drinks and three BOTTLES of water while I was at the festival, and came home and drank gallons more from my purifier) but I started throwing up Sunday night and was thoroughly miserable until I finally managed to fall asleep around 1 am.

Today I woke up feeling much better, and stayed in bed for an extra half-hour luxuriating in the fact that I was no longer aching throughout every inch of my being.  I got some work done and went to my retail job for five hours before heading to CVS to pick up some shampoo, then home to write up a grocery list and change into comfy clothes. 

I had to stop at my friend's place on the way - her grandma is in hospital and I agreed to watch her cats while she was away - and fed the kitties but one of them sniffed me and then ran away deciding I was not cuddle material, and the other one just growled and sat looking out the window, clearly wanting his mommy to come home.

I got my groceries then came home and got down to work at my nonprofit job.  Once that was done, I started dinner, did the dishes, and made two bottles of blueberry rum.  After I ate, I put on House of Wax (the 1953 version - I'm APPALLED they ever remade it!) and did some work on my thesis.  I've finally finished for the night and I have Murdoch Mysteries on while I update this blog and think about all the cleaning I should have done today.

I've also made a Spring Break goal to do one thing per day, read or watch something new per day, earn some money per day, and make (at least) one thing per day.


Monday:
DO one thing: did the dishes, worked on my thesis
Read/Watch something new: The House of Wax (1953)
Earn money: one shift at retail job, one shift at nonprofit job
Make one thing: two bottles of blueberry rum



Hoping tomorrow I can send my novel off again to a new agent.  If I do, I think that should count for my "do" task for the day.  I also must remember to get to Home Depot and buy a screw and bolt for my damn grill, since a screw fell out and now it won't open or close properly.  Sigh.  So over working and being responsible.  I really need to just win the lottery so I can spend my life writing for fun and traveling the world!!

How I feel about today:

I am grumpy because yesterday I prepared for rainy weather and it was hot and sunny and I sweated like a pig. 

I am grumpy because today I prepared for sunny weather and it's been raining all damn day so I got wet and squelchy.

I am grumpy because I stayed after class to talk to the lecturer because he was very cool and very interesting, but after talking to everyone else (!!!) he zoomed off and even though I tried to catch him, NOPE.

I am grumpy because I went to work to get my schedule for next week and it wasn't up yet, so I had to talk to my boss and she says to come back at 5 pm and it'll be done, which means I have to schlep out at 5 pm, which I technically can do because I'm calling out of my meeting tonight.

I am grumpy because I'm calling out of my meeting tonight because I need to study more for the TWO midterms I have tomorrow.

I am grumpy because two months ago I bought a $10 umbrella from CVS because it looked like rain and I couldn't find my old one.  When I opened it up today, one of the spokes was sheared through and thus it barely protected me as I marched from bus stop to class and home and all those jolly journeys (while wearing sandals).

And I'm REALLY grumpy because everyone is on my case and acting like my ONLY PRIORITY should be whatever they know me for.  Sorry, guys, but you KNOW I'm working two jobs, taking classes full time, doing a thesis, and working on my scientific diver certification.  I cannot dedicate my entire self to each of you because I don't have six clones!!!

I might have stopped off at Kroger on the way home from checking my schedule and I may have just demolished half the bag of chips that I bought, and I may have spicy curly fries in the oven right now with a chunk of leftover t-bone, and I might have a Twix bar waiting for after lunch...