How do you spell relief?

I believe the correct spelling would be: D-E-A-D W-A-S-P.

Does that sound a bit cold-blooded?

Mike found my little winged tormentor crouched on a cabinet hinge in the kitchen. I must say, those critters know how to stay well-hidden in plain sight.

freakin' out!

Okay, so there's been a wasp in the house for the last two days...

He appears on walls, windows, or wherever and succeeds in generally giving me the major creeps. I can't kill it because I have a phobia, and even the thought of approaching it makes me nauseous. I see spots, start to hyperventilate, the works.

Said creepy insect then goes into hiding as soon as Mike gets home. Thus, I find myself walking around in constant fear, because I KNOW it's here somewhere.

Z. has suggested hypnotherapy for the treatment of severe phobia. Not a terrible idea, but not particularly helpful NOW.

Yuck. I'm moving out. I'll be back in January.

Some Monday Stats

# of times I hit the snooze button this morning: 2

# of unpleasant phone calls received: 4

# of pleasant phone calls received: 2

# of hours spent sitting in doctor's office: 2

# of aspirin taken today: 4

Estimated cost of MA: $24, 736.00 (tuition only!)

# of hours spend sulking over estimated cost of MA: indeterminate



You get the idea....Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

wow. this makes me sound boring...

You Are An ISTJ

The Duty Fulfiller You are responsible, reliable, and hardworking - you get the job done. You prefer productive hobbies, like woodworking or knittings. Quiet and serious, you are well prepared for whatever life hands you. Conservative and down-to-earth, you hardly ever do anything crazy. In love, you are loyal and honest. If you commit yourself to someone, then you're fully committed. For you, love is something that happens naturally. And you don't need romantic gestures to feel loved. At work, you remember details well and are happy to take on any responsibility. You would make a great business executive, accountant, or lawyer. How you see yourself: Decisive, stable, and dependable When other people don't get you, they see you as: Boring, conservative, and egotistical

What's Your Personality Type?

I can't imagine anything I'd hate more than being an accountant.

thunder in the vicinity

I love the way weather.com sometimes describes a storm as "thunder in the vicinity." It sounds like the title for a poem.

It's been a weird week. I am strangely fixated on the weather.

The tornado sirens went off twice today. The first time it creeped me out and I sat huddled in the basement waiting for the roof to blow off. The second time, I just sat on the couch and watched a rerun of CSI. How quickly one gets jaded by a false alarm!

I've also been looking for GRE Test prep materials on Amazon.com. The thought of studying for this exam gets less and less appealing every time I try to get started. The books are costly too, because there's one for math, and another one for verbal...and I don't even want to contemplate the subject test for literature. No doubt I should have a reading list compiled that would probably take me a year to finish...Ack. My brain hurts.

I did find this suggestion for which books are most helpful...but I'd hate to have to buy four books!

***

Thunder remains in the vicinity, making it hard to sleep. I'm reading The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant, hoping it will make me drowsy...Every now and then, I stop and scribble cool words in my journal, which I might use for something later on.

This is not making me sleepy.

I'm only happy when it rains...

Day 2, rain.

Gloomy. I skipped pilates this morning, and I'm feeling guilty. However, I am in the midst of some kind of massive allergy attack--mold spores, maybe? Is that hydrocortisone cream all over my keyboard? Crap.

Having shirked my workout responsibilities today, I feel the need to brainstorm a list of productive, non-guilt inspiring things to do:

--Clean the kitchen, including throwing out the 75 or so plastic bags living in the cabinet under the sink.

--Help Z. organize his school supplies...I can't believe he goes back tomorrow! Way too soon for summer vacation to end!

--Write something, dammit. It's been a week already.

--Scour monster.com for such excellent career opportunities as "proofreader" and "dog-walker." Try to decide which one is preferable...(Either way, I'm cleaning up someone else's sh*t.)


Of course, if I'm feeling self-indulgent, I may decide to spend the day reading novels with no literary value whatsoever, and baking cookies.

Actually, that sounds pretty good.

rain, rain, go away.....

Utterly crappy outside today, and showing no sign of improvement...

All this wet weather is stirring up my allergies, too. Mmmmmmm, benadryl.

Sometimes I really like a good, stormy day, but I'm feeling blah about this one. You'd think I'd take advantage, and do some writing, but while the day is wet, my brain is completely dry. No good ideas for poems, or anything else for that matter.

Instead, I'm sitting at the computer obsessing about the whole work vs. grad school thing again...

I haven't really done any significant amount of studying for the GRE, yet, and time is growing short for that, if I want to take it in October. I can't seem to bring myself to deal with the math. Ugh.

Jobs that seem really appealing to me right now:

*baker
*professional psychic friend
*weaver of fine rugs
*barista

just for fun: ars poetica

Few things are more challenging than writing about writing. So fraught with pitfalls, solipsism, outright silliness (although the silliness can be charming). Admittedly, my attempts at ars poetica tend to be rather dismal, at best. Maybe because I'm not very good at humor writing...

These folks, on the other hand, have got it goin' on:

ars poetica: poems about poetry, updated daily

yeah, proabably.

The Movie Of Your Life Is A Cult Classic

Quirky, offbeat, and even a little campy - your life appeals to a select few. But if someone's obsessed with you, look out! Your fans are downright freaky. Your best movie matches: Office Space, Showgirls, The Big Lebowski

If Your Life Was a Movie, What Genre Would It Be?

Fortunately, I don't think I have any fans...

And I love Office Space (fab!) but hate Showgirls (yuk).

Just got back from seeing the Simpsons Movie...

Funny, but pretty much what you'd expect.

mild improvements :)

In general, I am bouncing back from feeling kind of blech...

Email problems resolved, for one!

Tentative good news about some long-standing health issues.

A pretty good weekend ahead, too:
a.) workshopping with Melissa on Friday, which is always fun+helpful
b.) date night with hubby on Saturday, which will not involve sweating my a$$ off in 90 degree heat at the race track
c.) Sunday, I plan to do absolutely nothing! maybe chill and watch some movies...or do some more writing if I am feeling especially productive...

Due to certain pressing family stuff, I am considering taking a slightly longer leave from the academic world than previously planned for...but I am hoping to use the time productively before pursuing my MA! This may not necessarily be such a bummer after all. (Perhaps. Maybe. I could sure use the rest, anyway.)

and now, for a little enlightenment...

I think Joy Nash is brilliant...and gorgeous.

Check out this video: A Fat Rant.



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serenity now!

Crummy day today...

Anxiety through the roof, no energy, no creative fire.

And a couple of pieces of bad news, as well.

But that's neither here nor there, I suppose.

Can't quite figure out which route to take in terms of grad program vs. picking up some extra web design training/certification.

Or perhaps finding some nice, quiet cubicle somewhere doing something vague and pointless for very little $$.

*sniff*

I just hate that sense of everything being in limbo...it's all so very Dantesque--

random late-night ramblings

I am currently pondering the following bits of miscellany:

a. Why is it that no matter how many times I proofread something, I am still finding typos? (Seriously, I can read something like thirty times, declare it perfect, send it out, and later discover some disgustingly obvious error....) I think my brain just fills in the blanks and glosses over mistakes or something. It only happens with reading my own stuff, though. I can proof the work of others something fierce.....

b. Why is it that I'm always drowsy when I need to stay awake, and wired when I need sleep?

c. Will I ever be able to balance on one foot?

d. What should I read next? Why does nothing on the shelf appeal to me?

e. Why, oh why, am I now having some serious problems with the new email server? Irritating, to say the least. I will probably spend tomorrow afternoon on the phone with tech support, and I'm sooooo not looking forward to that!

I'm sure there's even more weirdness floating around in my brain right now--

I probably shouldn't have had three iced teas at dinner tonight. If I didn't have to drive, I could have had some wine. I'd probably be sleeping right now....But I can't complain about a fun night out with fab women, chinese food, etc...Even though I am paying the price with current state of wakefulness.