Forgot

it was full moon until I saw it come out from some clouds out my window. I never tire of the moon's spell.

Yay!

So things have been announced officially at work, and I can talk about it here. On Friday I accepted another position at Shriners, Revenue Cycle Specialist, which handles getting authorisations and referrals for outpatient clinic visits, scheduling off-site requisitions such as MRIs, and backing up the person who does the surgery authorisations and other things. It means a promotion to a higher grade, a decent raise, my own office and phone, and I'm really happy with it. While I won't be with our team as much, as the two of us are on a different floor than the scheduling department, and I will miss that, I will be closer to my long-term friends/lunch bunch. I will still be filling in for a lady who is going on maternity leave in one of the other departments as well [we're going to discuss how that's going to work in the next day or so, as her due date is fast approaching]. The next few weeks of transitioning and doing that will be very busy. But all in all, I'm pretty stoked.

But I'm the smart one, right?

So last night it was miserable in my room.  There was no air conditioning still (it's been about two weeks), the ceiling fans were on, but it was almost 84 degrees with 60% humidity and I really had trouble dealing with it, but finally got to sleep.  The least amount of cloth near me (which is, of course, what I sleep on) was almost too much.

Fast forward to this morning, when I suddenly realise that when we came home last night I utterly forgot to open my window.  So much for skipping first grade, being in a gifted and talented programme, and doing so well in school.  None of that matters if you can't get outside your own head long enough to process sensory evidence and open up a freaking window when you're hot. :)

Something wonderful

happened today that will improve my life, and I have to stay mum about it at least for a few days, and it's driving me crazy. :)  I never have been great at keeping secrets.  But let's just say I'm feeling very good about life today.

The last week or so

I've been watching a mourning dove that has been roosting in a tree near the shuttle stop by the main hospital at the University of Kentucky.  Today I saw her hatchlings for the first time:

I'm not sure if you can see them well, as this picture was taken several feet away so as not to disturb them, then cropped, but I hope you can.  Anyway, they made my day.  And the other day she was sitting on her nest despite a lot of wind.  Here's to continued well-being.

Okay, I'm officially annoyed

I was planning to vote for Jim Gray for Congress, but as I was doing some last minute research, I did consider Amy McGrath as a candidate, but had decided for the most part to go with my first choice. Then I got this text from someone with her campaign that I don't know, telling me to go vote and at least implying I should vote for her, which settled the issue for me, as I do not appreciate unsolicited campaign texts. After all, there are still people who pay per text, and I'm sure I'm not the only person who got this. Granted, mine are unlimited, but still, it is intrusive and unwarranted. I'd also like to know where they got my name and cell phone number, as to my knowledge I haven't given that number out to a political organisation, and it was obviously not a random text, as they called me by name. So in doing this, 'Sam' lost a potential vote for his campaign. Grrr.

Apparently, when checking on this, while it is illegal for companies to send unsolicited texts without consent, campaigns are exempt as they are non-commercial, even though they often use such texts to solicit money or votes. But I did find lots of other people who didn't like this kind of spam. So I'm not alone.

Still considering if it's worth texting back my feelings on the subject, but it's probably some sort of bot texting, anyway. :(

Scary

Had a bit of a scare yesterday as the lower part of my face and jaw went numb on the drive from work. I couldn't smile properly, but it was on both sides, not just on one like a stroke. Fortunately my roommate used to work in orthopaedics/neurology in a hospital years ago. He checked my pupils, grip, etc. We finally decided that it was a pinched nerve in my neck, as I'd been jostled badly while on the shuttle when it hit a bump in the road. It hurt all along my spine, and my neck has been bothering me lately anyway. I feel fine today, didn't need to go to the ER or anything, thankfully, but man, that was a very troubling hour or so, and it wasn't back to normal till later that night.

Sigh -- annoyance -- and, oh, hee hee

Good news: A former friend who owes me quite a bit of money sent me a payment.

Bad news: The man, who is 50 years old, did something that just made me facepalm. Instead of tearing the perforated counter cheque off like a normal person, he cut it out around the middle so that there is my name, his signature, and the amount, but no routing number, account number, or even a cheque number. Basically, it is a useless piece of paper. He did the same for someone else I know. And probably all the ones he sent out for bills. When he was told that this does not work, he was surprised and then the true horror of what he had done dawned on him. I am considering framing the otherwise weird little slip of paper for future cackling. Hopefully, he will send a real cheque when he gets the ones he ordered.

Finally

Finished the laundry and we made his bed. Now I'm in my bed listening to the Bastille station on Pandora, specifically The Lumineers' 'Cleopatra' under the two fans. I got a lot accomplished. Also, I made my friend's mom's day by bringing over the big basket of purple petunias he'd sent me out for. She's said she wanted to adopt me. It made the fact that my own mom and grandmothers are gone seem a little less sad.

Heading towards sleep now, a couple of hours late by my timeline, but hey, it'll work. Good night.

It is a pleasant morning

I am almost ready to begin my chores, which I'm dreading a bit because the air conditioning is not working.  So we have the windows open and it's 77 degrees right now inside and perfectly fine under the ceiling fan at the moment, but that's going to change, as it'll be pushing 90 this afternoon.

I awoke to birds chirping and plenty of sunshine coming through my windows.  I've had a shower and am in the minimum acceptable clothes (denim shorts and a light blouse I usually wear a tank top under but I'm choosing to forego that today, as there are solid panels in all the important places).

As my agenda states, I have a full day planned.  I want to get my hair cut; it's atrocious and it's been more than six months.  I'm thinking of a short layered bob.  Also, a friend who is homebound right now with cancer asked me to pick out a hanging basket of petunias for his mom yesterday for Mother's Day, so I did so and will deliver it when they're up and ready, around noon.

There's the normal Sunday chores to do, laundry (mine and YKIWA's, and that includes his bedding), and helping him apply for a part-time job at the public library and applying for two jobs at the University of Kentucky for me.  One of them was the one, reposted, that I terribly flubbed the phone interview on last year.  I'm hoping they'll give me another chance.  I'd tried to do it on my lunch break surrounded by distractions, and it didn't go well.  But it is in my field of health science librarianship, I would do a good job, and I'm very qualified.  I'm just terrified of interviews, at least ones that are by committee.  I do fine one-on-one, and can teach one-on-one, in small groups, and larger ones.  But being grilled by 3-5 people, whether on the phone or in person, flummoxes me.  This is ultimately why I didn't finish my graduate studies in ancient, mediaeval, and early modern history.  Thank goodness the library science master's degree didn't require an oral defence.  But I am going to apply again anyway.  The other one I may get dinged on because I haven't been in an academic library setting in some time, and while I was trained by the best for the job, I don't have a lot of professional-level experience in aspects of it.  Again, I can do the job, and I think I would be good at it, but it would mean changing things back to what I trained for rather than what I've been doing for 20 years.  But I'm up for it.

Okay, the cat boxes aren't going to clean themselves.  One more review of the timeline/agenda, and I'm ready to go.  Have a great day, including a great Mother's Day (I'm a little sad this year, as I have neither mother nor grandmother to give flowers to and spend time with).  So I'll try to use this opportunity to get some things accomplished.

Rattling and scurrying

There is a squirrel directly outside my window that is building a nest, I presume, as she or he is pulling small branches off the tree and taking it up into it. :)

This beauty

opened up overnight.  I was happy to see it when I woke up this morning:

This is the fourth time this one has bloomed since I've had it.  IT's a regular trooper.  The blooms are actually a little small, but quite lovely.  I have another sending out a shoot right now, as well.

Timeline of my ambition

SUNDAY, MAY 13^TH AGENDA

0800      Wake up. Shower. Caffeinate. Take medicine.

0915      Do cat boxes.

0930      Take out trash and recyclables.

1000      Clean the bathroom.
1030      Start laundry.

1045      Go to Supercuts.

1100      Get haircut.

1145      Go to a friend’s. Take his mom’s flowers he had me get for her.

1200      Visit for a bit.

1230      Go to the storage unit.

1245      Drop off winter clothes.

1300      Root for exercise equipment.

1330      Return home. Rest.
1430      Sweep whole house.

1530      Rest.
1545      Mop kitchen and bath tile.
1615      Wash mophead.
1630      Go to Kroger for bread yeast. -- Put off until tomorrow.
1700      Start bread maker.  -- Put off until tomorrow.

1730      Cover Letter-YKWIA

1800      Cover letter 1. -- Put off until tomorrow.

1830      Cover letter 2. -- Put off until tomorrow.

1900      Feed animals.

1915      Apply for the job for YKWIA.

2045      Read.  -- Not up to it tonight.

2115      Listen to music.

2200      Go to bed.

UPDATE: I also unpacked the exercise equipment, blew up the balance ball, and put things away.   The cat is enjoying the box, so I haven't recycled it yet. I brought in my microwave from storage as well since the one we're using is perhaps on its last legs, but then it's way over 30 years old.  Mine is only 26. :)

My job applications aren't due for a couple of weeks to a month, so I'm going to work on those tomorrow.  I'm still working on the laundry, actually.  I've done all his clothes, my clothes (and I put all of mine away from last week and today), and I'm about halfway through his bedding.  So it'll probably be a later night than 10 pm.  Also, the bread I made yesterday came out better than I thought--it had a huge air bubble in the bottom, but not in the top half so I can wait for the yeast and the new loaf.

Of concern is the heat.  Tomorrow in addition to the yeast, I am going to stop by the storage unit and get my fans, something I should have done today, but he is almost never really hot.  But he was today, and the dogs certainly were--we can put the fans in the living room and that should help, as it's the only room other than the bathroom without a ceiling fan.

Okay,  either the washer or dryer just buzzed, so I should go check on the bedding.  Have a good night if I don't write more.

Thunderstorm!

Brenda left just a little while ago and I fed the dogs, let them out, and then let them back in within a much smaller timeframe than usual as it was very dark and gloomy, much different from the mild, sunshine-full day we'd had so far.  Now the thunder, lightning, and rain have really started, so I'm glad they've come inside.

We didn't wind up playing the game.  We did go to the Indian restaurant Masala, over in Beaumont, to celebrate a belated birthday for me and something else that is a bit private, but let's say was a long time coming (really, and that's why the celebration was belated) but represents a very, very good turning point in one of our lives.

We stopped by our friend's house to say hello (Brenda had not seen him in quite a while), and then came back to play the game, but we wound up watching Batman: Gotham by Gaslight instead, which we have out from Netflix.  It was fun.

I'm working on laundry.  I've almost finished YKWIA's, and I have started on mine.  I don't think I'll get to the bedclothes today after all.  But I did the cat boxes, took out all the trash and recyclables, and cleaned the bathroom.  We knew it was going to rain later, so I didn't touch the tile, as it was just going to get muddy tonight.

It is so humid! YKWIA opened a couple of windows in the living room/study, but while there's a breeze it's not really making it in here, although the cat, satiated from his meal, is happily watching out the window.  I'm sweating and considering going into my room/the library to put the ceiling fans on. I've had quite a bit of caffeine today, so I'm not really sleepy or anything, just hot.

Okay, I should go check the dryer.  Have a good night.  I may write more, but for now I'm signing off.

Chuckle

Him: 'Lisa, Lisa, wake up! It's 8:30!'
Me: 'So?'
Him: 'It's 8:30, and you're not at work!'
Me: 'It's Sunday.'
Him: 'What?'
Me: 'It's Sunday. We're going to eat Indian food later.'
Him: 'Oh, that's right. I thought that it was Monday.'

At first, I thought he was joking with me, but he honestly woke up and thought it was Monday. :) Ah, well.

Stop the stigma

My Name is Wil Wheaton. I live with chronic Depression, and I am not ashamed.

Who knew Wil Wheaton and I shared so many similarities? He's just a little better at describing everyday life with depression and anxiety disorders than I am. I'm going to take a page from his book and start writing that I live with mental illness, but it does not define me. I live with bipolar disorder, social anxiety, generalised anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, hoarding syndrome, driving anxiety, among other things. I am afraid almost every moment of my life. It's crippling at times, but I still get up and go to work each day and take one step at a time. I take a good blend of medication -- a mood stabilizer and atypical antipsychotic (I'm not psychotic, but it works for other things, and you shouldn't give someone worth bipolar disorder SSRI antidepressants, as they can trigger mania), and an anti-anxiety medication. That helps immensely. Therapy has helped, too. But I will never be cured. I know that ust like I live with chronic diabetes that can be managed, but never really completely cured, no matter what some people claim in diet books. It's another type of illness, just an imbalance in my brain chemistry rather than the hormone imbalance behind diabetes. It's nothing to be ashamed or stigmatised by, although it often is. So I'm writing about this now. I live with mental illness every day. It is a constant companion questioning my every move. But I'm ultimately the one on the driver's seat. It is my life. I struggle, but I choose to live as fully as possible

Disturbing

Earlier I was at the Redding Road Thornton's, and as I was getting ready to pump gas a man left his wife and two children in the car while he went in to pay. Another woman stopped behind the car and just blew the horn like how dare they just be sitting at the pump she wanted. Fortunately, the pump on the other side became free and she angrily drove over there and started emptying trash from her car. I don't know what her problem was, or how her day's gone. I do know she was being a complete ass, and I'd like to think it had nothing to do with the fact that the woman in the car with her small children was wearing a hijab (headscarf). I would like to think that, but given the current climate in our country, I don't have faith in the inherent good of everyone. Once she moved to the other pump and the situation wasn't escalating I didn't interfere, but I was about to right as she moved. Life is too short for pettiness and prejudice.

The Muslim woman was doing nothing wrong, didn't deserve to have some whackadoo harassing her, and the kids were something like two. Dad came back out and starting pumping and I'd finished, so I left. But I feel bad that for a moment or two that mother was probably quite worried for herself and her children, and no one should have to worry that a small thing like that could escalate beyond that. She kind of laid low and tried to ignore it, and I guess that worked. But my point is, she shouldn't have had to deal with the other woman's overblown sense of entitlement in the first place.