Friday Randomness

I’m reading the new novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and at almost half way in, I’m loving it.  It’s the story of a Nigerian girl who comes to America to get an education, because the colleges in Nigeria keep closing down due to strikes.  She’s getting ready to go back to Nigeria, many years later, and see what the world there has for her…but right now we’re in flashbacks, her college life, trying to live as an American African (different from an African American), trying to pay for tuition and rent and so on.  Trying to overcome her self hatred at some of the things she has done.

I’m adjusting to live without soda.  I really think giving it up entirely is the way to go, because I have tried SO many times to cut down to one a day, and it never lasts more than a week or so.  Of course, I’m only a week and a half into this, but so far so good.

I’ve discovered something shocking.  I like tea.  Ted says that he thinks my problem, previously, was that I was only drinking crappy American tea, which can tend towards bitter.  I decided to try his tea, which he drinks the British way, with milk and sugar.  PGTips.  I had a cup yesterday, and a cup today, and I enjoyed both of them.  I’m not going to lie to you and say that if I were offered a choice between a nice cold coke or a cup of tea, I would choose the tea.  I wouldn’t.  But it’s nice in its own way.

I’m also adjusting to the standing desk.  My goal was 50/50 standing and sitting.  But the switching between the two isn’t as simple as I had hoped, so I’m standing most of the time, taking breaks to sit for meetings or phone calls or reviewing paper.  It’s fine most of the time, but at the end of the day, my feet hurt.  I’m wearing good shoes, I have carpet, I don’t know that I want to further clutter our office with padding that would make moving my chair a pain should I choose to use it.  Sometimes I just wish we had a bigger house.  Big enough that my desk could have two monitors, one high and one low, and I could switch between them at will.  Maybe that will actually happen (without moving) next year, when I’m scheduled to get a laptop for work.   We’ll see.

Stockton was nice last week.  I took Grandma and Aunt Flo to Red Lobster, and we had scampi and biscuits.  It was pretty darned good.  They wanted wine, so we had wine at noon, even though I hadn’t had breakfast.  Which made me realize, I was having wine for breakfast.  Oh well, I guess that’s not any more strange than scampi for breakfast, right?

Went to the funeral for Rosemary’s grandmother.  I didn’t know her well, I had only met her a few times.  But I was sad for Rosemary, who is so devastated, and loves her grandma so very much.  I got to talk to some friends from High School and get all caught up on their lives so far, so overall it was a really nice day.

I got some good news today, on the smaller scale of life, but it excited me nonetheless.  I’m not sure if I can tell you yet, so you’ll just have to wait.  Not as good as a wonderful new job, or a clean biopsy, or a trip to Paris or anything, but good.

Today I have to go shopping for a few Thanksgiving items.  Maya’s girl scout troop volunteers every year at a ‘Basket Brigade’, filling and delivering baskets of holiday items to families in need.  That’s tomorrow, so today I shop.

Other plans for the weekend?  Not many.  I need to make progress on my book…I have about 300 pages to go, and it’s a library book with a wait list, due next Saturday I think.

You?  Anything exciting going on this weekend?

6 Comments

  • Nance

    I’m so intrigued by your imminent Good News Announcement. I keep trying to think of what it could be. It’s a sickness with me; I always try to figure things out, and I can’t let things go until I exhaust every possibility in my head.

    I used to drink my hot tea with milk and sugar always. But because I was always sick as a child, and my mother always prescribed hot tea, I now associate hot tea with illness. Even the smell of it is very off-putting, especially with lemon. Rick had to give up coffee entirely, due to his blood pressure, and he is a confirmed tea drinker (Earl Grey and Irish Breakfast). Earl Grey nearly puts me over the edge.

    Tomorrow, I am flying out for Gettysburg and staying a bit over a week. It is Remembrance time–150 years since the dedication of the cemetery and the Gettysburg Address. I’ll be staying with family and doing all sorts of history-laden stuff, including a side trip to DC to visit the Soldiers’ Home, where Mary and President Lincoln used to live in the summer. Rick, who is not retired, will be home with the cats.

    Bravo on your Soda Program. And your Standing Desk. But that’s a lot of Self-Improvement at once. Pretty soon I’ll have to refer to you as St. J.

    • J

      Nance, your vacation sounds fabulous and right up your Lincoln-loving alley! I hope you have a wonderful, sometimes somber, sometimes silly time. (The somber is for Gettysburg, obvs)

      The good news will probably be so anti-climactic that you will say, “Oh…” when I spill the beans. But it’s exciting to me, and I will share as soon as I know I can do so. 🙂

  • simon

    I love the fact that you’re getting into tea. Brits always insist that it’s impossible to get a decent cuppa outside the UK. Do you or Ted ever drink chai?
    I like the idea of the standing desk as I’ve really been noticing recently the effects of sitting all day long. I try to get up and move around whenever I can but it’s not easy. I doubt they’d install one of those at work for me unless I could prove it were medically necessary.

    • J

      Ted likes Chai, but I’m not a fan. Or, I don’t THINK I am. Perhaps this new, desk standing, tea drinking me will give it another try and change her mind.

      This standing desk was about $140 on Amazon. You could buy it and just plop it on your desk at work. The downside is I don’t have a chair that’s tall enough to sit at and use the standing desk, so it’s more difficult to do the balanced 50/50 I was planning. So I’m still figuring it out.

  • Rain Trueax

    Have you tried sparkling beverages like Talking Rain as a substitute for the Cokes? they have a slight flavor but no sweetness and are, I think, pretty healthy. It’s what my kids drink.

    On the week-end, we sell cattle today which is not my favorite thing but alas needed. If you’re already dealing with something depressing, quit reading right here as…

    My 4-year old cat was diagnosed this week with an incurable congenital illness which will have her dying far too soon. She got skinnier and skinnier as the doctor tried to figure out what was going on. Now we know and it’s not good news. The hope is she can die on her own, but if she can’t, probably Monday we will ask the veterinarian, who offered this service, to come out and help her die. We live a long way out; so it will not be cheap, but she was a rescue cat who had been dumped twice and I don’t want her to ever fear it’s happening again.

    I’ve been grieving a lot, of course, wrote about it in my blog with a warning to not read for those already sad, but it is life and we will get another kitten as soon as we find the right one as we have two cats right now and don’t want one of them to feel alone for longer than need be for us to find the right cat. You never replace such a beloved animal but there is one out there who will also need a good home. I just wish Pepper had had a longer life but she had an unseen time bomb within and not much you can do about that 🙁

    • J

      Rain, I’m so sorry to hear about your cat. 🙁 That’s devastating. Today is Sunday, so I guess you’re either mourning your sweet friend, or preparing for the unpleasant task of tomorrow. I’ve been there, with our beloved Genevieve, and it was indeed horrid. The house still feels empty without her.