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Or it's Monday, innit?
Have done something to my neck, probably sitting badly at work every night because there's only an old banged up recliner for the nurse and sometimes I get lazy and just don't bother to get well situated, or get up and do exercises or anything. So am now (thank you, al) doing exercises to regain strength in my right shoulder. *sigh* prevention is so much better than repair. *lifts things*
Flipping through the channels looking for a good documentary or something, came across this description of The 6th Day (Ahnold Governator, back in the day): In the near future, a helicopter narrowly avoids an assasination attempt, then returns home to find he has been replaced by a clone who shares his memories; agents of hte cloning corporation target him...
Wait what? A helicopter's been cloned, and Ahnold plays the whirly-bird? Well hell, that explains California's finances, right? o.O
I don't miss the stress of uni, but I do miss having an excuse/reason/obligation to be outside in the sun, learning new things, getting some strides in, 2 or 3 times a week. Am hoping that with cooler weather and better sleeping I can work out a real schedule that includes studying for the IELTS just in case I can find work in the UK. I'm not really doing "RN level" work here now (according to custom and reimbursement by Medi-Cal), but my agency does give me difficult families who need an RN's understanding of family theory and case management, so I feel like I can at least TRY to find work in the UK. Just in case.
So, I'm just sayin'- I'm back in the study mode some. Funny how that works.
ETA another good site with shoulder exercises including v. short quicktime movies.
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As much as I didn't want to do this quite yet, I find that the twin deadlines of Graduation Day and Leaving for Europe are coming more quickly than I'm prepared for.
So it is with some sorrow and a bit of relief that I'm putting EnjoyIt on vacation.
If there's something you know you wanted, let me know- Everything will be there when I get back, and I'll be re-opening it while I find someplace else to list my books. If there's something you REALLY wanted soon, PM me here, and we can work it out.
I have really enjoyed this project, and am so very very appreciative of all of you who commented, supported, advertised, helped with problem-solving, donated, and of course, BOUGHT BOOKS!
Blessings on your heads.
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| 2009-05-08 12:55 |
| Friday, Friday |
| Public |
| amazon, car, despair work, economics, fun, hope, peace-work, sleep, star trek, uni |
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The good news: my Facebook Cause, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons is gaining members. You can be one!
The Happiness Project.
I managed to get the car to the mechanic's without its either blowing up or falling to pieces on the freeway. We'll find out what we find out, eh? It's an '88 Volvo wagon- I'm sure it's got a few miles left on it, if it can just find them.
Ah, what the hell. It's all good news, isn't it? The only thing is, I won't be seeing Star Trek today at 1:30, so that's $8.00 I'm considering donated to the cause of Hunter Urban's college fund. Just something to look forward to then, innit? Bones McCoy, I'm on my way.
Alrighty then. Since I can't ship any books, go to Star Trek, or stay up any longer, and I am graduating AND raising money for my Cause, I think I'll get some zzzzzs. Yay for nights off!
And blessings on your heads, y'all. Each and every one of you.
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| 2009-05-06 07:36 |
| State of the Slashfairy, three weeks and counting |
| Public |
| amazon, aoop, despair work, europe 2009, facebook, friends, life, peace-work, twitter, uni, wordpress |
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Yep, I'm graduating! have to pick up my cap&gown over at uni this week. If I remember I'll do it after work before my mammogram on Friday. *eyeroll* life of an older student.
EnjoyIt will go on vacation May 25th (last day I can ship) because I'm leaving for Europe May 26th! (London-Germany-Denmark-Germany-London) Home July 8th, back to work probably the 12th. Thank you every one who has bought or will buy, who has passed the word to friends and co-workers. It's been a real joy, becoming a book-seller, and it's made the difference between being able to pull off this trip nicely and have it be a grind and a worry.
Have started a WordPress Blog as a professional place to write; those of you who read along know that peace-work and despair-work are two lifetime interests/pursuits for me. My entire aim with pursuing my bachelors' has been to get the base for doing work in this area- yes, I know people do work in it without college degrees, but I want to change something in Nursing, open up a dialogue inside Nursing, so I thought I'd better get a bit more academic education in Nursing to give me some place to stand. It worked: I feel/AM better prepared to state my case. Now I'm making the place from which to speak. It's very satisfying.
Ok, I've a chance at an early bed this morning, and I'm going to take it. Blessings on your heads.
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New listings at EnjoyIt: more movies, CDs, books. I've turned up a number of things that are not in Amazon's inventory: out-of-print children's books, young adult books, and adult books of all kinds: reference, non-fiction, fiction; and CDs. I'm going to scan those and post them here, in hopes that there'll be something you've been looking AGES for and this will re-unite you. PLEASE, if you would, when you to to Amazon, go in through my store: I get referral bonuses when you do, if you buy something there. And please, if you would, buy something from me (if there's something you want) or pass the news of my little store on to friends. It all helps. Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who's bought, advertised, or just said "yay!"
I think there're still anime/manga goodies at LoyalDreamer's place, so if you tend more that way, drop by and see what she's got.
Who knows? we might have those Mother's Day, Father's Day, Graduation... out-of-the-blue "Because I thought of you!" presents.
Otherwise, sleep has been at a real premium, for no single reason. I'm sure hoping to sleep today AND tonight, though. Yoga/stretching/physical therapy program continues apace: it must be working, because a) I notice when I'm sore (which is good) and the difference between that and achey (which is not so good).
FINALLY nearly finished with these two little papers for Critical Thinking. This is where sleep is so essential- I can work, I can chat, I can sell movies. But I can't write good papers without adequate sleep. *sigh* in two weeks I'll have the house to myself for two weeks. I'm hoping to have that time to finish these, get them to the prof, and do any changes he wants.
I know there've been some sad things happen this week in friends' and acquaintances lives. You are in my thoughts.
The rest of you, be well, have fun, and blessings on ALL your heads.
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I know I'm spamming with the Amazon links, so no more of those until I have fresh movies up there, and start putting books up. (My books are so old, and not pristine, but a lot of them are out of print, and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be reading them anytime soon, so why not let them find new homes, if they can?)
But it's working, it's working- I've made some money at it, I've made some space, getting the movies to new homes, I'm supporting the economy (at least the Postal Service and the mailer-envelope people, and Longs, Walgreen's, and Raley's), and I'm feeling oddly accomplished about it all.
I'm also managing to do some yoga and stretching every night I work (though not always on my nights/days off, there's just not the space in my room). I take my yoga mat and block and strap and pillow and ice packs with me to work, and do what I can. And that's helping, too.
Sleep remains an issue. Mostly that's just night shift. And a bit of arthritis, now, and sometimes too much monkey-mind scampering over the synapses. Otoh, I'm eating more healthily- I know this for a fact, because I'm doing better keeping track of my expenses every day week or two- it's part of the Financial Intelligence track of Your Money or Your Life, and I like breaking it down into the exact things that I buy. It helps me see what habits I'm in, where I'm not paying attention, and where my life energy's leaking away from where I want it to be to somewhere else, somewhere that doesn't contribute to my over-all well-being.
I'm not able to visit as much on AIM or YIM as I'd like. I hit Facebook off and on, but can't really keep up with the green patch goodies and pirates vs. ninjas (sorry). I'm doing a bit of writing, here and there, but most of it's just scraps and doesn't make its way out of the notebooks. When I read, I'm reading Adrienne Rich and Ariel Dorfman and Ray Bradbury and Barbara Tuchman and Howard Zinn, but mostly I'm not even reading, these days. I'm nearly done with the two critical thinking papers (down to the freakin' wire, what?) and will be graduating in May, then off to Europe, and friends, and beloveds, and adventures.
It's ok. I feel, for the most part, accomplished, well cared for, intelligent, able to think for myself and ask for help with things I can't do by myself, and really. That's not bad. Can't complain about that. :)
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and so very little brain available for sorting the words to begin writing about anything.
mostly because it's such a relief to be (nearly) done with uni. i'm terrified of the student loan debt, but it'll be manageable- i just need to remember to breathe, and it'll work out. these last two papers are coming along, finally, thanks to help from friends (what WOULD we do without friends, i ask you?), and i expect to have them done well enough and in the mail to the professor by friday.
but i'm also rendered wordless (as i babble on) by such an intense love for being alive. i want - well, not to live forever, that'd be a lot of work, and lonely, after a while- but i want to live for a good nother 20 years or so, and i want it so MUCH- desire's dangerous, it's a hook dangling us over disappointment and failure, regret and depression- but oh, oh! i do love being alive, and living, and having a life to live in, and i just- i have to say so this once, early in the (christian, western, revised-several-times) calendar year.
anyway. /sentimentality- i'm tired, tonight, and that always makes the barrier between pleasure and weepiness very thin for me (if that's even what it's between... ah, rambling).
short list of what i'm up to:
catching up with the people i've let drift away (or drifted away from) over the last two years. you know who you are, and i swear i'm here, coming back to you.
keeping healthy/getting healthier (today's not-sleeping-well aside).
finishing these papers, and thus, uni.
earning/saving/appreciating money.
getting 'life-chore' things taken care of- car serviced, medical appointments made, storage pared down, fun had.
writing.
seeing family- younger son was here for christmas; older son and grandson came a few days ago, and we went to see Yes Man (fun, that); and am gathering up scraps of old favorite fabrics to send to my mother for the quilt she's making for my brother's new baby-to-be.
reading for pleasure, watching ken burns, taking care of my tiny winter garden (jeez, the frost didn't help last night, did it? lol! i know, i know, it's not snow. thank god- we've no sanding, no snowplows, no snow tires).
taking this marvelous education i've gotten, and the life experience i've had during the getting of said education, and creating an even deeper and more textured understanding of life.
so. that is all. i didn't participate in any holiday fic-things, nor have i really written any fic/the little au for a while, but there's wonderful things out there in the holiday fic-world, and the men are still around, talking quietly amongst themselves.
fandom brought me to lj, lj brought me to a new understanding of how big and how small this world is, and that's brought me all of you.
blessings on your heads, y'all.
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five more weeks of uni.
as much as i'm enjoying these classes- and i am, i really am- i'll be SO glad not to be obligated outside the house 7 days a week. i really really like being home.
that said, i'm getting itchy feet again. my spring is going to be devoted to getting my finances and my body in even better shape. i've been working and saving, and i'm proud of what i've accomplished, but now come my student loans to pay off and that's going to be a change. also, i've been eating MUCH better than i have in years and years (and i was eating pretty ok, the last 3-4 years) but it's time to get regular exercise, find out what's going on with this hip, and work on being fit and having decent stamina by my 60th birthday (god, am i going to be 60 in 2011? hand me that calendar, will you? *stares*).
i ALSO have a bunch of non-uni reading to do, a rather large storage of useful-but-no-longer-necessary-to-me things to go through and pass on (yes! freecycle.org) and a garden to get going on.
i ran into one of my favorite instructors from the nursing program today. it seems i will have the record of taking the longest- maybe second-longest -length of time to graduate from the RN-to-BSN program at my uni of any student in its history to date. she said today she REALLY wants me to invite her to my graduation. i've been on the fence about walking graduation, but something she said gives me the confidence to do it.
funny, how the right word from someone i respect and know cares about how i do can change everything.
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so sleepy today. two more nights of work for this week.
paper due tues on the border documentary as genre and as an expression of Chicano/Latino postmodernism, contrasting Chulas Fronteras (clips here and here) with El Mojado (The Wetback) (more information here ).
so.
will be either reading/taking notes, or sleeping, today, tomorrow, monday, and tues before class.
take care of yourselves.
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ok. 8 weeks- no, 7 weeks, i think, of uni left. *whew*
class let out early today, so had the hip x-rays done. should find out within a week what's next, and if they show what's hurting. added fish oil and chondroitin/glucosamine/msm (which i now recall helping me with my knees some long years ago) (and thanks to ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) stormatdusk who reminded me of them), so we'll see.
in the meantime, the same-old same-old- work, uni, trying to get enough sleep. which i'm gonna go try and do right now. xoxo until later.
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MIA a bit because of reading for uni, and fighting off a sinus infection with sleep, hydration, nutrition, and Zicam. damn viruses.
however. by my count, 8 weeks of uni left, and the two papers for Critical Thinking (which, it seems, will just need to wait until i have two well-rested, not-arrogant brain cells to rub together), and, all other things being equal, i'll be able to graduate.
and then it's just all about getting healthy, as best i can. even better nutrition. appropriate exercise, as much as i can fit in around work and sleep. saving money, to cut down worry over travel and getting older. writing! oh, writing, and beading, and gardening! and sewing! and reading for fun!
so i DO have a plan. but for today, it's probably to finish work, go home, rinse my sinuses, have a nice hot bath, rinse my sinuses again, take my meds, and curl up in bed with the laptop and my uni reading until i crash.
and if I wake up in time and feel rested enough, catch the late (8:20 pm) show of Appaloosa before work at the lad's house tonight.
and that's the news from here. how are all y'all?
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nearly caught up on sleep, and guess what? i can read my textbooks, they make sense, and i can take notes. amazing.
heading home in half an hour. two nights off; two chapters yet to read in native american studies (and NOT looking forward to getting the midterm back) and two for chicano/latino film studies. cautiously optimistic about that midterm.
catch you on the flip side.
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well.
no, not in the debates- though i hear that Mr. McCain did not comport himself as well as one would expect.
but in myself. did NOT do well with the midterm for Native American studies class. partly because i'm just exhausted- i swear, if i don't get 8-10 hours straight, deep sleep within the next 24, i'm just gonna be a big bawling ball of baby- and partly because i didn't have the same rigorous kind of review that the film review forced on me in my other class.
so i think what i need to do is type up my notes within 24 hours of that class, and cross-ref them with the book Right Then. this poor class gets the short end of my energy and attention, and it's not fair to the class, to the teacher, or to me.
i now return you to your regular lives. i'll be here at work, trying to read coursework.
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so, it is autumn, even here, even in northern coastal-ish california, where there are still tomatoes on the vine and i have the temerity to start bok choy and peas, in case i can get a crop in before the real chill comes.
but it is autumn. the days are shorter, the nights darker-feeling. our election less than a month away, and it seems it will be a battle (i made phone calls for Obama last night).
still, i have hope. there are figs ripening on the trees at uni, and apples, and i have found two persimmon trees there as well; uni itself, the coursework, goes as well as it can, and the reading and movies continue to be both interesting and food for thought.
i know the economy world-wide is ricocheting off people's lives with little care for individuals. in my own mind, this is the 60-year cost-come-home for maintaining nuclear arsenals and living as consumers rather than producers, as creatures of habit and want instead of partners with nature and each other- but i find that, once i've used those ideas as a way to settle my own thoughts, i have to step back from them or i become arrogant, and judge, and i have no extra energy to devote to being right or condemnatory. i need to focus on keeping my personal economy honest and functioning as best i can, not giving my life energy over to this latest round of bread and circuses and sleight-of-hand.
i've mentioned it before, but i shall yet again: the ideas and practices in Your Money or Your Life have given me a way to live in this world and be of it, and yet not be completely at the mercy of prevailing winds of woe and upset. it's easy to find the book on www.alibris.com, used, for not very much- and support independent booksellers by buying it there- and it's worth the reading and taking your time but doing, eventually, the steps it takes to reach financial intelligence, financial integrity, and financial independence.
so. time for a nap before uni. then native american studies, come home for a bit, study, perhaps nap again, then work tonight at the lads.
be well, be gracious, be kind, be blessed. be excellent to one another.
ETA: The Kindness Offensive in London. *G*
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have abut 80 pages of Native American Studies reading to finish by next Saturday. Means I must concentrate on this.
Car needs to be smogged (for my EU/UK friends- have its biennial government-mandated check-up and [pray] pass California's emissions standards). This is going to take a bit of finagling of both time (I can't get to work without a car) and money (please, please let it pass without needing major work, or worse).
I really have to not spend too much time with news of politics, the economy, and world events. It's too easy to fall from 'have to get the car taken care of' to 'I'll be homeless living on twigs' if I read from the debates to the bail-out to Zimbabwe. That's false reasoning (or no reasoning, really), doesn't illuminate anything, steals energy I need to do the actual problem-solving required to be a good citizen, and prevents me from having any real understanding of just how dire things are in other places, like Zimbabwe. Not that that couldn't happen here- history proves anything can happen anywhere, as the very good book for Native American Studies is proving (well-researched and well-written, Indians in American History by Hoxie and Iverson). But it's not happening right-this-minute. I do not need to buy up 50 gallons of water and 10 gallons of gasoline (all I have storage for, myself) and curse myself for not drying 100lbs of apples this fall and burying nuts for winter. That's insane.
So, not too much of the 'news' (or as it should be more accurately called, bread and circuses). Concentrate on finishing uni, on staying (getting more) healthy, on saving money for summer.
Back to the book while my girl is still sleeping. She continues to slowly slip; progressive diseases are unforgiving. But her family loves her, and I'm amazed that it's two years I've been working here with them. It's an honor.
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may not have 'net at the lad's house for a bit (that'd affect Weds nights/Thurs mornings, and Sun nights/Mon mornings). no way to know until i get there, but his family's having a spot of bother with the bills, so...
anyway. will do uni reading if no 'net there. always a bright side, eh? text if you need me, i'll have the cell.
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Well. This has definitely been a challenge. I don't suppose it counts, the couple of days I posted more than once on that day, evening out the ones I missed.
I'm going to cheat, a bit, and post the film review paper I've written for my Chicano/Latino Film Studies class. I know it has flaws, both from a film review technique point of view, and as a piece of writing, but this is as far as I got before I just couldn't write anymore on it. And you know? I have a little place of pride for it. It's been a long time since I wrote a paper for school that used what I know as a nurse in a non-nursing class in a way that actually seems like it works.
Anyway. on with the show. and thanks for reading this month, and keeping me company. Blessings on your heads.
~~( Real Women Have Curves )
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making progress on the paper for Latina/Chicana film studies. thank goodness. of course, a good deal of it will have to be scrapped and rewritten as a film review and not a nursing research paper (maniacal laugh) but at least it's being written!
i could live without this constant low-grade sinus headache. ah. sonoma county, allergy capital of the world. (or so we style ourselves.) *makes note to get more sinus rinse at market*
am i the only person who has, in their fat bottom, the equivalent of at least ten car-tanks of petrol stored? one of the great freedoms of not being in uni will be having time to walk to the market and shop. *nods*
nothing else atm- am at work, plugging away at paper, and mulling over larger issues such as why it's so hard to define what nurses do and have it be reimbursed well. (not me, but in general, in the world.)
as you were. enjoy your saturday.
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have missed some more, i think. damn night shift. or lack of organization. or laziness. something.
first: paper for Chicana/o //Latina/o Film Studies: analysis of Real Women Have Curves using historical context and concentrating on the soundtrack used in the film. which might be crazy. but the songs
1. Chica Dificil (Aterciopelados)
2. No Le Hace (Banda Llaneros)
3. Que Rico El Mambo (PiRez Prado)
4. Voy A Quitarme El Anillo Norteqo (Marisela)
5. Perdida (Trio Los Panchos)
6. Si En Un Final (Eliades Ochoa)
7. La Niqa (Lila Downs)
8. Luto (Aterciopelados)
9. Aqui No Sera
10. Tenemos La Culpa (Banda Llaneros)
11. Vuelta De Hoja (Grupo Caricias)
12. Felicidades (Jose Zamora,Manuel Edgar Lujan)
seem to me important somehow. I need to ground my review of the movie in the era of the late 80's early 90's, and something about Latina/Chicana feminism and fat acceptance/weight issues/eating disorders at that time... i need more time, more focus, and less curiosity *(keep reading when i need to be taking notes, compiling, winnowing down)* second: keep reading Native American Studies coursework [mid-term is on chapters 1-10 of our primary text, luckily very interesting book that is giving me a new perspective about pre-contact Native culture, ecology, economies, and religions and how that changed post-contact (or post-rolling-waves-of-contact-influence, including diseases, non-native plants and animals, and world-economies)]. third: keep working on paper for Critical Thinking- have finally separated out the original student's sentences into trains of thought, now must find the arguments in them and diagram and analyze same. then respond to those in my own diagrammed and analyzed paper. hell. all i need to do is do NOTHING ELSE for two days out of every 7 for the next 12 weeks, and i should be ok. *keeps chipping away at the weeks to get the damn 2 days in one place instead of in an hour here and two there and never at the same time each week*
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