suzanne, posts by tag: caomh - LiveJournal

I went to my first Unitarian Universalists service today.

And now I really want a confetti cannon.

A few weeks ago my partner Kevin and I were discussing the cuteness factor of baby hiccups. (Well actually we were debating which was cuter, baby hiccups or baby yawns.) Now I have the hiccups and they aren't at all cute or fuzzy. As I was pondering this I realized that I hadn't posted a pointless poll in quite a while.

So while I'm waiting for my meeting to start....

My life has a soundtrack. I put on headphones when I bike to work (in one ear only). I have CDs in the car. I have iTunes on my office computer. I do not have an iPod. I have an iRiver, it's cute too.

Usually my work soundtrack is composed of classical music, light pop, and occasionally some very light rock. Maybe a bit of new-agey stuff thrown in. But, when I'm QA-ing, and especially when I'm working a beta-release I want heavy metal. (Disclaimer: What I consider to be heavy is probably not what most people consider heavy. It's my journal, and I'm calling it heavy.)

I was discussing this oddness with teinedreugan today, and he handed me this lovely summation:

I get a mental image of slogging through heaps of code, weapons in hand as you look for the infiltrators/bugs and the inevitable booby-traps. Vietnam, Armageddon style, but with more computers.

Yeah, just like that. *slides headphones back on*

I'm also amused that LJ is insisting that his name be replaced with one of the following: tendering, tenderizing, androgen, intriguing, nitrogen, androgyny, or dandering.

My boss and I are working our way through our annual mutual admiration evaluation, (You're the best. No, no, /you're/ the best), when he mentions that our web-hosting company is tagging their meeting at the end of the SSP conference. He emits a long-suffering sigh, and apologetically tells me that I'll need to attend. My boss absolutely hates conferences and traveling for business purposes. After I convince him that I don't mind them in the least, please send me on more if you need to, I get around to asking where this particular conference is.

Boston. You know. Boston. Where teinedreugan and lilairen and my god-cats live. Yep. /That/ boston.

My bosses are apologizing for interrupting my work schedule in order to fly me to Boston to attend business conferences. I brush off the work part, telling them that if Biochem is ready for publication while I'm gone, I can always QA it and push it up from Heather and Kevin's house, and by the way they won't need to pay for a hotel room either— I'll crash with friends. Gushing continues. "You mean we'll be able to turn this into a usability study for you working away from the office? and our remote equipment?" Suzi tilts her head. "Um, I guess you could see it that way. Sure." "Well, that'll mean you might need to stay an extra couple days there. Is that ok?"

Oh darn. *grins*

And even better? My boss still has to attend too. For some reason the idea of possibly getting to introduce teinedreugan to my boss just amuses the heck out of me.

EDITED: to correct spelling

Things are going pretty well. lilarien's visit proceeds wonderfully, and I haven't been angsting about the cleaning I should be doing - yet. I'm apparently taking the long weekend as permission to be lazy and read-y. Five books in 3 days. YAY! Two were re-reads, three were the Avarayan Rising trilogy by Judith Tarr which I enjoyed very much and highly recommend. *purrs*

Strange dream this morning. Involved my mom and I finding a very small (fit-in-the-palm-of-my-hand) white dog being harrassed by a stray Russian Grey cat. We adopted the cat, hey its my dream, and took the dog to the vet to be checked out. Except this was a "mascot" vet who worked in some sports arena. It was really fun watching the little dog be MRI'd in the tube that had been designed for horses. He - the dog - was fine and he, the vet, became convinced that the dog's once and future owner was somewhere in the stadium, eating hotdogs and watching whatever sport was happening. So we let the dog loose on a very long leash (go, my little one, be free! Free! But not too free!) and sure enough he found his owner. A small lady with big hair who was so pleased that she rewarded me and mom with 2 million dollars. We were so pleased that we named our new cat after her. Lilian. (which was the name of my childhood cabbage patch doll.)

So now, I go off for tea with my friend, and we chat and be friends. Later on I may go fabric geeking with brooksmoses and lilarien to get fabric for our new quilt, or we may wait and do that another day. Perhaps after Brooks and I actually pick a pattern. Yeah. That might be useful.

Which reminds me that I've promised several people that I would post pictures of the finished quilt and cross stitch. Ack! Must go to tea! Ack! Will do when I get back! Bye.

suzi

I'm feeling a bit better this evening, even if I'm not going to get much cleaning type stuff done. I'm looking forward to lilarien being here.

I realized as I was, well, recovering last night that railing at the universe wasn't actually going to help much. I was going to have to put some effort into it too, specifically by timing my meals better, and choosing foods that won't make me sick. Yes, I know, pretty straightforward. But I'm still learning what my limits are and how to treat this.

Thanks to everyone who offered support and hugs. They were much appreciated, and helped more than you can imagine.

My real reason for posting this tonight though is so I can use my new user icon that I stole from "Movies in 15 minutes" writer cleolinda. I'm hoping it will make patroclus squee at me.

suzi

How do I get a question out of my head? There is a question I've been trying not to ask for about a month. It is inappropriate, would cause both myself and the intended askee considerable distress, and - to be frank - I don't really want to know the answer. More accurately, I don't want the askee to answer it, because it is wrong of me to ask.

But it just sits there, in my brain. I've typed it in an unsent e-mail. I've writen it on paper and thrown it away. I've burnt in a candle. I've written pages about why I want to ask, and yet there it sits. Just there.

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In other news, after a terribly frustrating work month, things are finally improving. Fluid Mechanics and Pharmacology and Toxicology posted today. The first only 42 days late, the second 22. Ah well, such is publishing. Now, if we can get physiology posted, we can take a breather for February and figure out what the heck went wrong before the next volume is due in March.

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So far, mostly due to work turning into an energy sink, I haven't done anything I promised to do yet. No excersize, no writing letters, no real journaling, no garden puttering. I know I've been battling sick for a few weeks, and terribly tired. But at the same time, I know I would feel better if I did those things. Especially the writing, to a variety of people. I feel bottled up.

Perhaps more accurately, I feel like a bottle of carbonated something that has been shaken for the past month and a half. I'm a little afraid of what will happen if I puncture the lid. Could be messy. Could be /very/ messy. I will need to fetch paper towels.

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In better news, I just baffled brooksmoses by asking him what the emotional equivelent of paper towels would be. He said, "I don't know." Somehow I am not shocked.

Yes, I'm back from my vacation in Boston. Actually I got in mid-Tuesday, but haven't really felt up to writing.

The trip itself was wonderful, as always. Cats! Baseball! Cuddling! Exploring! Ocean! teindreugan! lilarien! Unfortunately there were no thunderstorms, but one can't have everything I guess.

teindreugan and I spent lots of time just being together in ways that made us happy. Cuddling and watching baseball, cuddling and reading and napping, going to movies, walking around Boston. Oh, and of course other things which I won't mention here. *grins* I'm always amazed at how well we work together and how well our personalities mesh to make the relationship smooth and easy. Joyfull.

lilarien wasn't feeling up to much socialization, so we didn't really get to spend much time together. I completely understand that, and I'm glad she was honest about it rather than forcing it. I do wish I could have done something to help. Perhaps next time things will be better. Mrr.

The timing of the trip meant that I left brooksmoses to deal with the apartment "upgrades" on his own. It was a frustrating thing, and although I'm glad to have missed it, I wish I could have been there to help make it easier. Well, perhaps I couldn't have made it easier, but I bet I could have made it more surreal.

During the trip, I accidently baptized my laptop, Sulimo, with a glass of water. It does seem to have recovered, we think the pressure changes in the airplane might have helped dry out the hard disk. It still freezes up every once in a while, and we're not completely trusting it, but so far so good.

The last day or so of the trip, my spring sinus infection hit. The plane ride, certainly didn't help, and I've been pretty misrable since getting home. It does seem to be clearing up a little today, but my ears /still/ haven't popped back. I'm a little worried about the Great Big Sea concert tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be feeling even better by then. *sigh*

So, I think that catches everything back up. Whew.

This day seems to be getting longer and longer. I feel like I'm caught in another of those "last day of school" time warps. Except stranger. I'm getting ready to fly out to Boston for a week to visit teinedreugan and lilairen. Oh and of course my godcats, who don't have LJs, although perhaps they should.

Everything is busy and frantic in my head, although slow and calm on the outside. brooksmoses is being wonderful, above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to chores. All I have left to do is pack (grin), pay bills, and try to grab some sleep. The plane leaves in 7 hours and 40 minutes.

That seems both forever away, and waaaayyy to soon for me to get my bearings.

Suzanne, clock watching instead of packing

I have discovered that cats make wonderful personal trainers. I'm transcribing from a conversation I had this morning with lilarian and teinedreugan's cat Lennon.

Lennon: You crazy human! What are you doing? You're up, you're down, you touch your toes. . . Wait a second! If I sit at your feet you'll pet me every time you come up!

suzi: Ooof, arrggghh, ouch.

Lennon: Purr

Lennon: You stopped! Why did you stop? You can't stop petting me! Come on, you can do five more! I know you can. Please? "Mrowr?"

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Obviously. I need a cat.

suzi