On Sympathy

I'm still in a lot of pain today. I don't know what the deal is. I even spent time last night simply laying low and trying to not stress things out, but yes my neck is still immobile.

Yesterday it turned out one of my coworkers was in pretty much the exact same position, with a stiff neck attributed to ??? As we were discussing this at lunch I was thinking how difficult it is to be sympathetic to pain when you're not feeling it. I can obviously sympathize with her as we are both struggling with something similar, but there is a part of me that was thinking that my pain is probably worse... which is ridiculous, right? She could be on the verge of tears and I could simply be uncomfortable. But, for instance, my mother has a disease called Fibromyalgia which is essentially a constant inflammation of the muscles. This causes her to be in pain pretty much at all times. I think it is so difficult to be sensitive to this and understand the ways in which pain undermines your mood. Like right now, I don't want to talk to anyone because I am in pain... I bet she feels that way all the time. It reminds me of how every time I get sick I remember how much it sucks to be sick and then I remember that some people are sick all the time and that must absolutely blow.

Anyway, I'm just reminding myself that it is a good idea to be sympathetic toward people rather than hard nosed on the issue which I can often be.

I caught an episode of The Hills last night. I haven't watched it this season, but I was reminded what I've been missing. (Upon LC's return from Italia) “You know how when you walk by a construction site? And all the guys, like, whistle at you? Italy’s kind of like a construction site.”

No Way!

Mary just pointed out this small piece of amazingness to me.

Click this link: http://www.thelaze.blogpot.com/

Mmm. Hmm. Oh. Yea.

Mary's response: "I'm telling you man. Watch out."

I just keep hearing

I have a terrible pain in my neck.
This happens to me every once in a while and I simply cannot turn my head. I would prefer to just be at home right now and not turning my head toward the television, but I just have to soldier through.

You know the thing that the worries me most about this "financial crisis" currently taking place here in America is the ways in which I don't feel it now and wonder how I'll feel it in the future.

It's like gas, for instance, I don't feel it directly because I don't drive a car but I do feel it in that when I go to the grocery store now it often costs me $100 which is much more than it used to cost me.

I just keep hearing about it on the radio each morning and it hit me this morning that I may very well feel this quite severely in the future.

It's amazing how all of my friends are out of town right now.
Seriously, almost everyone.
I have keys to two different cars that are not mine and I thought that I should come up with something to go do or get or something... but I can think of nothing. I guess what one typically does when one has access to a car is go to suburbs (read: Ikea), but that's not in my area of need right now.

Time to eat fake chicken.

Laugh your abs away

I find this workout horrifying but at the same time something I can totally get behind!

You should see me now

I have coffee spilled down the entire side of my shirt and so I ran to th bathroom to soak it with cold water and now I'm simply wet. But I mean, this is just a standard Monday. I would say most pieces of clothing I own have a coffee stain somewhere.

This was a gorgeous weekend. Indian Summer style, maybe? I suppose it is too early to be an Indian Summer, but it was mid 70's to 80's with beautiful sunny skies and light breeze. I don't think one could ask for more during mid September. It was a weekend of leisure, for the most part. Friday I enjoyed some drinks with coworkers, did a little bit of cleaning at home and then watched Tina do her laundry while I took in some trashy television. Saturday was generally lazy until later in the afternoon when Ryan and I made our way over to the Hideout Block Party. Although I was less familiar with the lineup this year, I ended up having a really nice time (if not simply because Jessica was kind enough to give us the hookup with it all). My highlight of the weekend's music was this band called Monotonix from Israel. I have seen a show like this in a long time... which you can see a piece of it below.



The dude was literally sitting on top of his bass drum, being lifted above the crowd and continuing to play. He also lit his drumsticks and symbols on fire to start the show off. It was pretty amazing and I was in the perfect spot, standing atop a barricade to the side so I didn't have to be in the mix but could see it all. I also enjoyed Neko Case (as I always do) and I thought Ratatat put on a pretty amazing show with some sweet videos that accompanied each of their songs. I love how video is such a big part of so many band's show now. I'm into it.

That picture is just from my iPhone, which I find to be impressive, the quality, ya know. I took some film pictures but I don't have those back yet.

Sunday was more of the block party, a cookout, making omelettes. I dunno. Good stuff.

I finally got my free Obama button from moveon.org, and it is pretty awesomely vintage appearing.



I'm displaying it proudly on my backpack.

That being said, I leave you with this quote.

"One reason I'm glad Sarah Palin is on the ticket: I'm a huge Deadliest Catch fan, and [the Palins] know them! I can't wait to meet them!" —Cindy McCain, appearing with husband John just now on The Rachael Ray Show.

Sweet sweet fantasy baby

I did this really smart/dumb thing.

The back story is that it is a commitment of mine to get out of credit car debt by the end of this year. I think I can do it as I have paid a LOT off in just the past six months and it gets exciting... kind of like when you start to get in shape and you want to work out more because you see yourself getting closer to what you want. So anyway, I've become a bit obsessed with putting every extra bit of money toward my debt and I've made a lot of headway because of this obsession.

Actually, to be perfectly honest, while I rode my bike to work this morning I was fantasizing about the day when I could blog that I am CC debt free. It will be a sweet day and I'm excited for it.

BUT! This month I got a little over zealous, making a huge payment on my debt and well, leaving myself with not much else. So I am penny pinching in the name of making too large a payment on my debt.

You know it is funny because I talk quite openly about my debt and it seems to make some people uncomfortable. We were speaking of this at lunch not too long ago and it is a taboo topic amongst some as though I have acted irresponsibly by accruing debt in the first place and maybe that is somewhat the case but my debt is simply from a few years ago when life was less financially stable for me, so I don't necessarily regret my decisions but rather, I look forward to putting those decisions completely behind me.

Now if I could just actually work out AND be out of debt.

I'm glad for Friday. This weekend is the Hideout Block Party.

Skylark Photobooth

Friday night, after our dance excursion, Tina and I spent some time in the photobooth.



We're pretty cute, eh?

I honestly can't speak much of what has been going on lately. I simply don't remember as my brain has been clouded with work, work and more work. Can someone make that stop? I know that on Tuesday night I taught a voice lesson and then rode up to Andersonville with Ryan to eat a delicious meal at Kopi and one of the more wonderful slices of carrot cake I have had in well... a life time? Yesterday evening I embarked on my second class, which I have to say that one of my favorite thing about grad school classes is the way the population changes from class one to class two. All the annoying people from class one? gone! They were replaced some new very interesting and enjoyable folks who signed up for the class late. Lucky me! After class I spent the rest of the evening with the ladies watching wednesday night television before they all go on their different trips.

In other news, I itch again. I have no idea what is going on and there really isn't a ways to google itching so maybe I need to go to the Dr.

Also, some moisture SOMEHOW got in behind my camera lens and I feel really bummed cause I can't get in their to clean it out and it doesn't seem to be going away.

These are the ways in which my life has ceased to remain interesting.