A Little Too Personal

Written 08/30/11

A few things that made me happy today:

1.| During the car ride home: singing inappropriate songs in a Bessie Smith voice. Like Van Halen’s “Panama.” Other favorites included Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust,” and the Weird Al Yankovic medley version of “Sweet Cherry Pie.”

2.| Getting a faboo haircut from the lovely Bridgett Dohmen at Rochelle’s in Eau Claire.

3.| Matt washed my hair tonight after I colored it. Having him wash my hair is one of the things I like best in the world. It turned out hella less red than I wanted, but it will fade up as it always does. Or I’ll just color it again…

4.| My shoes came in the mail! I bought a pair of Troentorp clogs at the State Fair, but they didn’t have my size there, so they shipped a pair to me and they were on my doorstep today. I love getting things in the mail. Since I hate shopping, that works out. Also, they have hobnails, which makes them extra cool.

5.| Got to connect with a friend for a while. We have the same sense of humor. We’re like little junior high boys, snickering about stupid jokes. Tonight’s gigglefest subject: Emo Phillips. It’s okay. You don’t have to understand.

6.| Andy Partridge (late of XTC) wrote the theme for “Wonderfalls,” and it still makes me happy every time I hear it. It is so complex, layered, and interesting that my brain isn’t nearly done chewing on it.

7.| I made chana masala tonight and the house smells dreamy.

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This has been a more than weird year. My lovely boss retired, and I got three new “bosses” in his place. They are lovely, too, but it will be a lot of adjusting. My parents retired and they’ll be able to relax (hopefully) and enjoy the grandkids.

Matt was diagnosed with sleep apnea and we’ve dealt with all the strange-iosity that comes with a whole new setup. In addition, he hurt his shoulder at some point last year. He is in pain a good chunk of the time. He’s done physical therapy, massage, chiropractic, cortisone shots…and nothing seems to help. It’s hard for me to see him in pain all the time. Really hard.

We are also both state employees. Under the new budget bill, we are taking home about $500 less a month. We’ve always been frugal so we will survive, but it is a big punch in the gut. Deflating, demoralizing, defenestrating…think of a word with de- in the front of it, and it probably will fit.

I’m also taking nine graduate credits next semester. Three of the credits are already mostly done, but it is still a big, looming wall of OMFG.

I guess my point is that almost every piece of ground, flooring, and carpet has shifted under my feet within the last few months. There’s more that I don’t care to share, but part of the reason I did this project was to try and mitigate some of the difficulty I’ve had with it all.

A few of you have said that you’ve enjoyed my blog and I thank you for that. When looking at the little bits of joy in my day, though, I just found that pretty much all I was talking about was what I ate. I hate it when all people talk about is what they ate. It is boring.