I lament

Worked through a chapter in two cognitive behavioural therapy workbooks and read a chapter in a library book on orchids (the latter while I was at Tire Discounters). So that's three chapters of reading in one day, more than I've done in a while. Tomorrow I pick up a book from the library on soil amendments. I've got several psychology and gardening books out right now, and some CDs. My roommate insists I'm holding books hostage, but I do pretty well with the non-fiction. Unfortunately, fiction has been a struggle of late. I think my attention span has shrunk, and maybe my introvertism is not so strong as it once is. It's hard for me to choose to do things alone, like read, or watch something. I listen to music pretty readily, but that doesn't require much investment of effort. It's been like this for several years. They talk about writer's block, but I've heard of others who say they have reader's block. That's what it feels like. Even when it's a good story, I struggle. It's so bad for a librarian to struggle with reading. I feel strange because of it. I'm going to try to set a little time each night for reading, even if it's for half an hour, and maybe do some studying as well. My languages, for example, are so rusty, and I brought my Latin, Biblical Hebrew, and Ancient Greek books with me when I moved here. The Spanish and German may have to be something I work on with Duolingo or some such; those books are in storage.

I think the best description I've ever seen of what I'm going to can be found in the Stages of a Reader cartoon you may have seen on the Internet.

I'm at the library

I'm not sure how long I can sit up and type; after work and everything this afternoon I came home, laid down for about an hour, and my shoulders and neck finally unbunched to the point where I was no longer in pain. It was a bit better today, but still bad, and it's already bunched back up some in the hour I've been back up and gone out.

I wanted to get some books on job hunting, and as a special bonus prize I snagged the first season of 'Lou Grant', a show I really enjoyed as a kid, which was not available on video until recently. I also decided to pick up, on the recommendation of one of the staff (you know, on the shelf with a card saying, 'I couldn't put it down') a book by V.E. Schwab called A Darker Shade of Magic, which looked intriguing. In all, I checked out nine items, paid off a fine (I know, bad librarian), and now I'm sitting by the front window typing.

It's amazing how much I type these day, but rarely write anything by hand. I was working on a Greek lesson the other day (mainly because I wanted to stimulate the little grey cells, as Poirot always put it, and I've always been embarrassed that I only made it to the aorist in Ancient Greek, about a semester and a half). I don't have special software that writes out the language (including the diacritics, anyway), and so I was writing it out by hand, and my hand kept cramping up and sometimes I'd just sort of flail and fail to write a letter correctly. I must practice some more; I don't want to lose the ability to write for any length of time.

Today it was hard to be productive with the pain, but I got what I needed done, did some online searching, and then took a friend to get a shot and some blood work at two different offices. Afterwards we went to Captain D's, and I had a nice salmon salad. I shared my cheese sticks with him, and he gave me his hush puppies. :) Then I helped him with something at the house, came home, and it wasn't quite 6 pm. That's when I laid down, then got up at 7 pm, put some other clothes on (I got some cherry preserves on my skirt somehow), and came over here. I browsed the shelves for awhile. I've decided that I do like the new branch after all, even though it is no longer in walking distance (and if I took the bus, I'd have to go downtown and transfer to another one, even though they're not that far). Richmond Road was terribly backed up where they're doing some paving, but I was able to avoid it for the most part, just crossing straight across it. I need to get some gas, but I may have to wait until tomorrow since they're doing the work at night.

Okay, I guess I need to go ahead and go. The library's going to close in a little while and I'm really starting to hurt. I have pain just going down my left arm. Maybe one of my co-workers is right, and I should go back to physical therapy. Right now, though, I'm going to go home, take some ibuprofen and the tizanidine (but not that much, as last night it made me a little sick to my stomach), and lie back down. I hate that I'm not really doing much at home, but really, I guess what's important is that I function at work, can do my job well, and then come home and try to ease it up. Good night, if I don't write any more tonight.

Ahhh

I'm finally home,  and I'm stretched out with my neck and back straight and it feels much better,  although I've got numbness and tingling going down my sides where the pressure is temporarily off the nerves.  I've been wanting to lie down all day because I knew it would help.  I've taken arthritis Tylenol,  but it didn't really touch it.  I need an anti-inflammatory,  like ibuprofen or naproxen,  even though they're not great for the kidneys.  I think I still have a little ibuprofen somewhere,  although I gave my big bottle to A. I've also used muscle rub,  which helped just a bit.  I took my preliminary dose of tizanidine a little while ago,  which is a mild muscle relaxant.  That will probably help more. I'll take the rest before actually going to bed.

Because of the flare-up,  I emptied my backpack of every little thing I could. It's not very heavy,  really,  mostly medicine and toiletries.  I don't even have a book in it now, just my Kindle and a single-subject notebook  for taking notes along with a couple of Kindle books on ancient Greek.

Today I had my teeth cleaned and then went to YKWIA's and went to the grocery for a few items he needed. Now I'm home listening to Pandora. Think I'll set an alarm and lie here in a darkened room stretched out for a little while.  The plan is to blog on the computer later (I'm on my phone right now).  And I found a job I can apply for and want to learn a little more about writing a curriculum vitae,  as it is academic and requires one,  so I need probably need to tweak mine.

Okay,  that's all for now.

So one of my several majors in school

was Classical Civilisation, and I am a Classics geek. [My BA degree is in history and sociology, with an honours programme, but I went back after graduating with my master's in library science and completed the classical civilisation major and a minor in Judaic studies. I was, sadly, only one class away from completing a linguistics major--phonological analysis was never taught at a time that fit into my schedule in all the years I was in school.] One good thing about my education is that I can read both Classical and Mediaeval Latin, between the Classics courses and the graduate work I did in history. I didn't get as far in Greek, though, dropping out about the time we got to the aorist tense, which Wikipedia defines as 'a term for a set of verb forms that usually express perfective aspect and refer to past events, similar to a preterite.' But, it continues, 'The word comes from Ancient Greek aóristos "indefinite", as the aorist was the unmarked (default) form of the verb, and thus did not have the implications of the imperfective aspect, which referred to an ongoing or repeated situation, or the perfect, which referred to a situation with a continuing relevance; instead it described an action "pure and simple".' If that makes your brain hurt, well, it did mine as a well. I would like to go back and study my Ancient Greek textbooks (I have both of the first two semesters' worth).

But even though my Greek isn't that great, I still love things to do with Classical Greece, and one mystery series I'm working my way through is Gary Corby's, which is set in the childhood of Socrates. In fact, the main protagonist is Socrates' brother. The first book of the series is The Pericles Commission. Then there's The Ionia Sanction, The Marathon Conspiracy, Sacred Games (I have all of those, though I'm still reading), and finally Death Ex Machina.

I also read Gary Corby's blog, A Dead Man Fell from the Sky..., the title of which is taken from the first line of his first book. I started reading it before he actually had any of his books published officially, and found it to be quite enjoyable. The latest entry is on Classical Greek music and I really enjoyed it. If you are interested in Greek, Classics, or music, You should check it out. And you might check your library for his books as well.

After sleeping till 11 am, I got up and ate, and then got cold (which almost never happens), so I crawled back in the bed and didn't come out till 2 pm. So I got a LOT of rest. A and I went on a two-hour journey through two grocery stores in order to get everything on the list, including the one nearest me, which is a huge Kroger that has clothes and housewares as well. But they didn't have the right creamer, so we stopped by Chinoe's Kroger for that. After that, YKWIA splurged slightly and we got dinner from Jin Jin, so I went and picked that up (I had my usual, Kung Pao Tofu). We ate, A watching a classic movie about the Roosevelts, and YKWIA and I watching an episode of 'Lost Girl' on Netflix. Then I left, because they wanted to watch the premiere of 'American Horror Story: Hotel' (I'm just not into that show--I watched 'Coven', but I haven't seen the others, and YKWIA thinks I'm just a wuss because it's too scary for me.) So I came home, and I watched the final episode of the second season of 'Sherlock'. I'd though I hadn't seen much of it, but I had. But I haven't watched the episodes from the third season yet, and so it set those up. Now I'm listening to the OneRepublic Pandora station, with candles and incense burning, and the windows open. It's a pleasant night, and there were no game notes to do because we haven't played in two weeks (due to a wedding and an illness), and I got the notes finished quite some time ago.

I think before I go to bed I'm going to do a little reading. I didn't the other day when I thought I would; I was just too tired. I'm more than halfway finished with my book (Hollow City, by Ransom Riggs, and I'd like to go ahead and finish it. There is a third book in the series out called Library of Souls. That's not one I own; I'll have to get it through the library. I really do like the series, and I am concerned about what Tim Burton is going to do with the film adaptation. There is an excellent book trailer for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children on YouTube:



Hmmm...the other day I found two unused AA batteries; now my mouse is dying, so I changed them out. Serendipity, indeed. And yes, I turn my mouse off, usually, after each use. Which is why the batteries have lasted at least two years.

Okay, I think I'll go do that. I'm listening to 'I Lived' by OneRepublic right now. I love that song. But I'll do some reading and then turn in, as Sunday morning will come soon enough and I need to go over and help get the house ready for company and get it ready for the game. A wants to take a walk and plant tulips and a hyacinth, too, so we'll see if we can get it all worked into the normal busy Sunday schedule. :)

A quiet Sunday

No game, of course, we're still waiting for me to get the go ahead to partially weight-bear, which I hope will come this week, along with the go ahead to take real showers rather than sponge and baby wipe baths. It's been so long--I am up to 58 days since the accident.

Today I actually watched TV. I'd hoped Brave was on Netflix but it wasn't, and I didn't feel like paying $5 to watch it on the cable's On Demand. So I watched figure skating instead. Javier Fernandez, although placing fourth at the Grand Prix finals, landed three quads, which hadn't been done since 2006, I think. He skated a beautiful programme. Later, I watched the nightly news and then of all things 'Dexter's Lab'. I always loved that cartoon.

I paid a couple of bills, but that was the only really 'important' thing I did. Tomorrow I am going to send out more holiday cards, pay more bills, check on one, and study a little ancient Greek and review some Latin. I feel like I've been letting my brain atrophy for awhile now since I've been out of school, and I am losing my languages.

I guess that's all for tonight. I just wanted to write a little before bed. Hope you had a good weekend.

I had a bit of an aquarium emergency this morning

but still got to work on time. I had not put water in it and it had gotten low enough that the pump was trying to get the water up but couldn't. I have one of those filters that has an intake valve, and the water goes through the filter and then falls back into the aquarium. So I filled up the tank, treating the water with both the anti-chlorine/chloramine stuff and with good nitrate-eating bacteria, and the fish are much happier. Their space just increased to double what it was. I am such a bad fish mom sometimes. I cleaned the algae off the glass as well, and now the water is happily tinkling down and the fish are swimming all about, and it's very relaxing to watch.

I started reviewing my Greek today (and I'm going to do some Latin before the night is over). I had five semesters of Latin (I have a Classical Civilisation degree, and one semester was Mediaeval Latin in the history graduate programme), but I dropped Greek in the first semester, about the time we got to the aorist. So I'm going to try to follow the adventures of Dikaiopolis and his family. I have both of the Athenaze books by Maurice Balme. They're standard at many universities and there are a lot of websites with exercises and supplemental material.

For Latin, I have a series of five small books called Ecce Romani! which follows the story of the Cornellii family, especially their children. I also have Wheelock's Latin Grammar (two different editions, the most recent I have being the 6th, on my Kindle. There is now a 7th out.)

I also just went through and downloaded several free Kindle books from Amazon. I'm getting back with my Kindle. For awhile there the tablet took precedence, as it was smaller (I have a Kindle 2, which is a behemoth compared to the newer ones, but by God it reads to me, and not all the new ones do), could be more easily packed, and I could read Kindle books on the tablet (but I don't really like to, I prefer eInk), so I've started taking it with me in my backpack.

Okay, I've paid some bills and gotten some things done on the computer. I think I'm going to go do a little studying and then maybe listen to some music. Bye for now.

Today

I did something I had not done in a long while. I studied a chapter of a language book. Ancient Greek, to be exact. I took 1 1/2 semesters of Greek ages ago (the aorist conquered me, I must confess, and I dropped the second class), but I have a vested interest in learning Attic Greek, being a pagan who, well, worships a Greek Goddess primarily. (Okay, She's probably not truly Greek in terms of belonging to Greece proper, but still....) My Latin is rusty, especially if someone speaks it to me (reading is much better), but I had a total of five semesters of Latin (four classical, one mediaeval), so I progressed further on it.

My Greek text (I have both volumes I and II) is Athenaze: An Introduction to Ancient Greek by Maurice Balme and Gilbert Lawall (apparently I have the UK edition; there's another on Amazon with a different cover). In it you follow farmer Dikaiopolis (or Dicaeopolis, depending on your transliteration tastes) through various exercises. I found that I could still read the text pretty well, although I needed to refer to the vocabulary occasionally.

It was nice to stretch my brain a little. I need to do more. And one of these days I will conquer the aorist tense.