La Vie En Rose for 2005 June

(1) Sun Jun 05 2005 13:19 PST Gym pet peeves & health ponderings: I really hate it when people do this:

Hog an elliptical machine by putting their stuff on it then standing by it stretching for 5 minutes. Hello? Someone could be using it while you are just standing there stretching!

Yack on their phone at the gym. Seriously weird. I don't care if it helps to pass the time. Who wants to be yacked at while the yacker is going "huff huff puff"? Who wants to listen to one end of a conversation while they are trying to work out? Thank goodness for iPods.

Use a machine for a chair while you sit and yack for half an hour to your long-lost friend you happen to see at the gym. I really hate this because one of the yackers in invariabley sitting on the only machine left I want to use. I feel like a jerk going up and asking "are you using this" when they are clearly not so get off please. I still do it, but I feel like a jerk.

Pregnant women wearing a sports bra and no shirt. Just.... ew!

There is this old guy who is at 24 all the time, Chuck and Garrett call him the mayor, because he goes arond saying hello to everyone and shaking their hands. I've never seen him actually working out. It was a bit weird at first but I think I am used to it now. He is probably just lonely.

Generally I like to be left alone when I am at the gym. I'm not there to socialize! Unless I've gone there with someone, or I'm at a Pilates class, I don't want to be yacked at.

Anyway. I think I have a bit of the hypocrandriac (I'm sure that's spelled wrong) syndrome. I've become rather obsessed with finding a cure for my chronic tiredness and sleeping. I know it's not my throid because I saw all those doctors about it senoir year of high school. I thought it was because I wasn't getting enough excercise, but then I joined the gym (and I go all the time, too!). Then I read in one of my women pilots books about the girl who couldn't stay awake for her endurance flights, and her doctor said she wasn't getting enough protein, so she started a diet of steak & eggs and problem solved! So I have been trying to eat a lot of protein. More meat, hard-boiled eggs, beef jerky, tuna... problem not solved. Then today at chez 24 I saw an ad for b-24 or whatever the vitamin is. Fatigued? asked the tv. Irritable? Yes, i thought. Now of course I will go buy some b-12 tablets. maybe it will help!

Probably though, I need to solve the sleeping problem by using my super self-dicipline to just not sleep as much. You can probably guess that this it not working very well.

I probably do need to see a dietrician. I get soooo irritable when I haven't eaten. I probably have low blood sugar or something. Maybe it's diabeties. Fab!

(11) Sun Jun 05 2005 13:30 PST And while we're here: You know what name I like? Vera. Vera Brittain. Vera Lynn. It's just so...patriotic. Ish. You don't see many Veras about, and it's a really nice name. I think if I have a second daughter, I'll totally name her Vera. Failing that, a character in a book.

(4) Sun Jun 05 2005 23:01 PST Blaaaaatherings: You know how there are some things that you just feel so good and relieved about doing, that whenever you put them off and off and finally do them, you think you must be crazy not to do it all the time! So then you get in the habit for a little bit, but then you get behind, and the cycle repeats itself... I am that way about a lot of things. I go through stages where my desk is all empty and organized. I go through phases where I write in my journal every night and get all my thoughts out so they are not clouding up my brain.

Anyway. My room is all clean--or organized, I should say. It's nice. The only problem is Tonks is right in the middle of the floor and I was going to lay out my yoga matt and do stretches. I should really *clean* it. But I'm going to work and do other stuff all day tomorrow--Mondays are always a bit crowded because MLI practice takes a big hunk out of my evening--so it will have to wait till I get back from LA.

I've been writing in my jounral really regularily for over a year now--probably an average of 4-5 times a week. But then I go through these phases where I just get so laaaazy, and I don't bother for a week or more. And I hate it, because it makes me feel so unresolved, or something. All that tension building up. But then I've been doing this new thing where if I'm just sitting at my computer I'll open up a word doc and type. Kind of like I am doing now on crummy. It's good because I can type a lot faster than I can write (have finally gotten to that point!) so there is a lot less thinking involved. But then there is nothing like curling up in bed at the end of a day with a pretty journal with pretty pictures glued in and a pretty pen to write it all down. I don't want to switch between the two because then it won't be a chronological story. But then does that really matter? I suppose I could print & paste, but one of the benefits of typing, I think, not taking up even more space in the universe with my ditherings. So who knows. Certainly not me.

Mon Jun 06 2005 17:01 PST I know how you feel about me but I'm asking you to put your feelings aside for something more important: Happy D-Day everyone. Yay for beating Nazis and liberating France!

(1) Tue Jun 07 2005 16:23 PST I must not spend $100 on a book: I have just resolved not to buy any more books till I've read all or most of the ones I already have. (Unless it's something really special, like HP). But I suppose it doesn't count if I've already read it, right? Noooo, this one is out of my budget. But still, I want it! Even if they did get the title wrong. Just a little bit wrong.

All the same, I’m planning on going used book shopping in every rare book shop I can find once I hit the UK. There ought to be lots of goodies there, I am hoping, and for less.

(3) Wed Jun 08 2005 15:54 PST Maybe I should take lunch breaks more often: I am having a bit of a crap week. But I had lunch with Christina and we got Inn-N-Out and had a picnic in the park then walked around on the running path, so now I feel better. Plus I am exciting for John & Susie to move to So Cal.

(1) Thu Jun 09 2005 18:18 PST "What does he take me for?": I've just started reading a book called The Rape of Belgium, a cheerful book, as you can probably tell by the title. The exchange, recounted here, between Alfred and his cousin Wilhelm, reminds me of the series of telegrams exchanged between the Kaiser and another of his cousins, Tsar Nicholas, a few days later, I think. The essense it the same: the ability to maintain friendly relations and prevent European war is in your hands. All you have to do is step aside/sit and do nothing while we march through your neutral territory/allow our ally to mass armies on your frontier. Small price to pay for peace, right?

Fri Jun 10 2005 17:05 PST Pour moi c'est oui/History jokes can be funny: There is a quote in the Newsweek article on the EU referendums on the constitution in France and the Netherlands last week from one one the "founding fathers" of the EU, Kohnstamm. "None of the founding fathers had any illusions that it would be easy to build Europe through consensus and common interests, instead of war and conquest. But that didn't deter them then, and shouldn't now, he says. "I've seen so many crises--and seen so many crises overcome--that I am absolutely certain that this process will go on.""

This perspective explains why it's easy to take so-called "set-backs" with a grain of salt. I'm sure Europe will get to a constitution eventually. Rome wasn't built in a day.

A speaking of EU, Sumana sent me a link to this great blog of an MEP (Member of European Parliament) from Yorkshire. There is some really good stuff, especially in the "humour" section:

Corbett was seated next to Otto von Habsburg (son of the last emperor). Once, when Austria played against Hungary at football, I was curious to see his reaction and asked whether he had seen the match. "What match?" He asked. "Austria-Hungary" I replied. "Oh," he said, "who against?"

(1) Fri Jun 10 2005 18:24 PST Why are financial institutions out to get me?: Stupid, stupid bank. Apparantly they have a policy of holding every check that gets deposited in an ATM for four days. And how exactly one is supposed to do business when one gets paid at the end of the month and has to give money to one's mom for bills at the beginning, well. I suppose that is not the problem. As long as the bank can keep charging $23 per "over drawn" charge (even though there is actually money in the account) I guess they are happy. They send a nice letter saying they will give a refund for such charges if I did not recieve the notice at the time of the deposit, and the check is paid. But as the lady on the phone said, this only counts if you make the deposit in the branch and not at an ATM, because an ATM has no way of giving you notice. Well, that covers all the bases nicely. And it's so easy to make a deposit in a branch when there's 2 of them and they're not open on Saturdays. Ohhhh hate.

Yelled at the lady on the phone, and then felt bad because she's only allowed to reverse one of the fees and I have TWO. TWO. That's forty-six dollars. I'm going in person (when I'll have time, no idea) to explain how utterly ridculous it is that they are charging me $23 for HAVING ENOUGH MONEY in my account for a check I wrote, when I don't even spend that much money a week on FOOD. I swear, if they don't give my money back, I'll close my account (but not until I make sure everything is cleared, I learned that lesson last time.) I may anyway, out of protest to the ridculousness of the whole thing. Maybe I'll just not have a checking account, and deal in cash and money orders. or something.

How on earth is one supposed to get ahead in life when people who are supposed to be on one's side, helping one (ie credit unions) are looking for every chance to suck one's blood. I was feeling much better but now have been plunged back into the depths of despair of Tuesday and Wednesday. I am so frustrated I want to cry. If I ever get to the point in life where I don't have to worry about money, I don't know what I'll do. All that stress and energy can go towards a worthy cause, like global poverty. Ohhh the injustice of it all.

(3) Sat Jun 11 2005 22:21 PST Working hard for the money (and not spending a thing): I decided to go back to Russo's to work on Saturdays--for a number of reasons, but mostly because I miss the job & the people there. They must have missed me too, because there was a serious Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo shortage that needed solving. I love telling people about our upcoming HP party, and the best part was when a girl came in looking for Sophie Kinsella. My book-seller sleuth skills enabled me to tell her the next one is coming out July 19th (a great reading week for me), but she needed a book for a trip and had already read Bridget Jones, so I pointed her towards Georgia Nicholson. My book-seller magic 8 ball says she'll be back at Russo's for the rest of the series (6 books long) and for the Kinsella book next month. That is the best part about the job. Plus I got to work with Chaz, and he is fab. He tries to be all mean and cynical, but really he is just a tease. He was totally horrified when I did a realistic puppet show with the new finger puppets--a mouse and an owl.

But of course Saturdays are busiest because everyone is in doing their shopping and waiting for their movie. Which is good because it's never slow, but bad for the same reason. Luckily Chris came to rescue me on my lunch break, and I was glad to get away for a while. At the end of my shift my feet were killing me. It takes a while to get used to that kind of thing.

Also someone came in asking about The Historian, a Dracula book--there was an article in Newsweek about it. It's not out yet but I got her to buy a gift cert instead. The author got a $2 million advance. I need to get in on some of that kind of action.

Then I went to MLI show. As much fun as we have, it is a bit frustrating because we have been having really good practices and try as we may, can never have as good shows. We went out to eat afterwards at the "MG" (macaroni grill) and I couldn't afford the cheapest thing on the menu. So I just sat and ate bread and was a bum. I think I have been getting down too easily lately when I ought to focus on the good things. As I said to Garrett, as long as you're happy with your job and you like the people you live with, those are the most important things in your life. So I ought to remember that and be happier.

Sun Jun 12 2005 12:14 PST Shalala: I am going off to Cambria with the ace gang for an un-deserved vacation. And I am leaving Dave here. So talk to y'all Wednesday soir.

(2) Wed Jun 15 2005 20:41 PST "Psychics? I thought it said physics!": I'm back. We had a great time in Cambria. There was much laughter. We went to the beach, sat around, ate a lot, watched Arrested Development, played games (such as Apples to Apples), threatened Becca with makeovers, and were just generally lazy. Now it is back to life and work, and possibly the gym. Oh yeah, we also watched The Incredibles, which I hadn't seen before, and it really lived up to all the hype (of my friends). Here's a funny story:

After the movie I was standing in the bathroom doorway when Becca finished brushing her teeth. "I'm invisible girl!" I said, putting my hood up. "You're not insubtantial girl," she replied pointedly. Later in bed we were talking about what our super names would be, and I said I'd be imagination girl, and everything I thought up would appear (like in the Room of Requirement). "You could be insubtantial girl," Becca suggested. "Yes, but what would my powers be?" I wondered. "I guess no one could ever attack me, but then, no one could ever, like, hug me." "I want to be insubtantial girl!" Becca exclaimed.

I took up The Notebook and I read about 50 pages before I gave up. I was midly curious about the plotline and how the main characters would overcome the various barriers to their romance, but I didn't want to read another 150 pages of lawn-moving to find out. Maybe the movie is better. It's a bit discouraging how so often the books that get all the hype are mediocre, and really good books remain unknown.

I hope Sumana is feeling better. I thought it was interesting that she said she was feeling "at sixes and sevens." I'm sure it's a really old phrase; the first time I heard it was in "Don't cry for me Argentina." But I like the think it orginated from the gridlock that occurred when the "six" started up the EEC (now the EU) and the ever-skeptical British began their own free-er trade club of seven.

(6) Thu Jun 16 2005 12:49 PST One more month yaaaaaaay: I went to el banko and after a half hour of debating finally got a refund for my fees. They are really uptight. Argh. But I suppose they are used to having to argue with people and have it down to an artform. Anyway I think I will be extra careful not to incur anymore fees now that I know what all they charge for and all their idosyncratic proceedures. No more ATMS for Rachie, nonon. Once, in a delrious haze, I accidentally stuck my Kern Schools card into the Wells Fargo ATM to make a deposit and realised my mistake after entering my pin and seeing a checking account. I didn't even do anything and they still charged me $2. Nor did they ATM ask me if I wanted to accept the fee! Grr. Oh well. $2 is not that big of a deal now that I have my $69 back. Maybe later I will open an account with Union Bank as I hear they are nice, but I am beginning to be wary of all financial institutions.

Anyway. I listened to my Borrowed Heaven CD and Franz Ferdinand all the way to La and now I feel better. Plus I am excited for HBP. One more month yaaay.

I had a sudden epihany last night that maybe my plan to spend two weeks of November in London might interfere with my plan to do Nanowrimo again. Well maybe not. I was going to write my Study Abroad novel so perhaps seeing the sights and smelling the smells will get me inspired. But it will definitely interfere with my plan to volunteer as Municipal Liasion for Bako. Doubtful, though, that anyone else would want to do it, anyway.

Thu Jun 16 2005 15:59 PST Um...: Does anyone here know Flemish?

(3) Fri Jun 17 2005 22:11 PST: I think driving throws off my equilibrium. I'm always triping over stuff when I get back. Plus my ears feel all funny.

Anyway. There was something I thought of writing when I was in the car, but now I can't remember what it is. Oh well. I'm a red-head again, thanks to Christina, who I may have convinced to come up to Bako for the HBP (I can't WAIT) release instead of waiting for laaaame Amazon to drop it at the door. That's about it. Becca is ignoring me on IM right now.

(4) Sun Jun 19 2005 16:36 PST: I cleaned my room and vaccumed up all the spiders. Now it is all pretty and organized except for all the crap on my desk and toiletries and make-up on my dresser. I guess you never realise how much of that kind of stuff you have till it is all spread out. I really need to scrub the bathroom but I am too lazy. Oh well. I also did laundry and washed my sheets. Not only is Jelly Bean a bed hog, she sheds a LOT.

(2) Mon Jun 20 2005 17:04 PST Someday I'll get a hang of this writing thing. : I was tres discouraged yest. while wading through the crap I wrote in the dregs of November. Instead of getting totally bummed and ditching the whole project (tempting as I've had a new idea I've been getting more and more excited about), I got myself psyched about how I can make the next part totally awesome from the first draft. So that's what I've been working on today, and I must say, it is le awesome. I am skipping from Decmeber 1915 to June 1918 and explaining the important things from the past when the oportune moment comes (and not in boring "Emma had been working at the hospital since february blah blah" or "Kingie was an ambulance driver who blah blah" but through revealing conversation or implication or however. I think this will make it more fun to read because I LOVE having to figure things out piece by piece and putting it all together, being kept on the edge of my seat not knowing what I will find out next. So yay.

Stacy: i want to be in the acknowledgements
you can write this
thank you to stacy edgar for absolutely nothing. she just wanted her name in here. so there you go
Me: hhaha
no actually i wrote the acknowledgements in my head one day while driving
Stacy: haha
Rachel: I think you were "my fellow expert in randomn knowledge" or something
the only one that will care about tha fact that Olive King, Isabel Hutton, and Elsie Inglis are characters in theis book
Stacy: haha
YAY

(1) Tue Jun 21 2005 18:35 PST Random Post: Do you ever feel like there is just too much information? I mean, on teensy, tiny, obscure subject, let alone in the whole world, and you'll never be able to properly analyze and compare, because you'll never be able to remember enough of it at once? Does anyone else ever feel like that? Every day? Ok.

In other news, I have a weird taste in my mouth and no idea why. Maybe it was the BBQ chips. I've tried chewing gum, drinking soda, eating a bananna... Meh. Also, it's been two years exactly since OOTP came out. Less than one month to go till HBP. Whoo!

(6) Wed Jun 22 2005 11:50 PST: I remembered what I wanted to write about on Friday. Before driving back I stopped to get Inn-N-Out and there were a ton of nicely-dressed family type groups in Westwood, which I thought was odd until I remembered that it was UCLA graduation. A whole year has passed since my own graduation! ...It would have been more poignant if I'd remembered to write about it then.

Here is a little annoying thing. Whenever I want to search archives or something for World War I, I have to do it like ten times with "WWI" "World War I" "World War One" "First World War" "Great War" &c &c. Can't we have just one phrase or abreviation? I suppose that is asking too much from a world that can't even agree on electrical outlets.

(2) Wed Jun 22 2005 16:37 PST Oh, Sarah: Sometimes I feel like I ought to put more effort into making my journal entries well-written and amusant, because one never knows if, ninety years from now, someone will be reading it for research on whatever, and really appreciate the easy-to-readness.

"The inevitable and reiterated "where" [is] heard on every side. "Where are the stretchers?" "Where are my forceps?" "Where are we to dine?" "Where are the dead to be put?" "Where are the Germans?" No one stops to answer. People ask everybody ten times over to do the same thing, and use anything that is lying about."

--Sarah Macnaughtan, My War Experiences in two continents. (She was a writer, too, so I'm sure that helped.)

Also, my friend Heidi sent me a link to this vair amusant BBC story. Bravo, Poland.

Fri Jun 24 2005 10:25 PST Brillant: I managed to leave my computer power cord at work. So now I have less than half a battery to get me through till Tuesday. Which means I can't work on things like my novel or my work stuff on my computer.

But I can get around that. And on the bright side this means I'll have to severly limit timewasting activities such as solitaire and obsessive-compulsive weblog checking. Hmmm... maybe I should leave my power cord at work ALL the time!

But the music. For shame! The music.....

Sad.

(7) Sun Jun 26 2005 21:35 PST Books & Rivers: Earlier I thought of something to write about but as usual, now I don't remember. It was probably a quote from the book I'm reading, Paris 1919 by Margaret Macmillan, v.g. I've decided to try and read it all before Harry Potter. In theory I have been alternating one non-fiction book with one fiction book, but I don't think it's worked out that way. There was the new Georgia Nicholson book, and the new book in the In the Garden trilogy, and I had to read those right away. Plus the Notebook for failed vacation reading. Harry Potter will be the same--I'll *have* to start reading it right away, whether I've finished Paris or not. I know it's almost 3 weeks away, but I've already been working on this book for a couple months. It's really well written and interesting, but I have a harder time than I think I would otherwise because I read so much heavy stuff for work. I was going to make a review list of all the books I've read recently but it will have to wait till Dave comes back to life.

It's been a pretty slow weekend round here. Last night after MLI I went over to watch "This is Spinal Tap" at Chris' but I was so tired from being up since 7 for Russo's that I feel asleep. It was good though. A bunch of the gang was over and the girls got really squeamish when JoDeena started talking about the details of her operation. I think all the WWI reading has de-sqeamished me. Ish.

Anyway, today I did a bit of scrapbooking and more of reading Miss Sarah, and Tonksie has started his diet. We shall see how that goes. He has already figured out where the normal food is hidden and started trying to sneak in. I weighed him and he is 15 pounds! Tomorrow MLI practice is canceled so I am going to Pilates for the first time in ages (maybe I should take Tonks, hee!)

Oh yes, I remember what I wanted to mention. When I was driving back from the gym I saw people swimming in the Kern River--a ton of them! It was a regular beach. This reminded me of something I learned in my London class, how (I don't know when but it might have been the twenties) they dumped a bunch of sand on the bank of the Thames and called it a beach so the people who couldn't afford Brighton could have their holiday there. There are pictures of all these people hanging out on (and in) "London Beach." I think it was the grossness factor that reminded me. A river running through a city will never feel "clean" to me. I remember one MIA activity where everyone got in the river but I cast my "jaundiced eye."

I got into a little game of "Would I rather" with myself and wondered if I would rather go into the Kern River or the Thames. Obviously the Thames, if only because by default I would then be in London rather than Bakersfield, but otherwise speaking, the only reason I'd be in either would be due to *falling* in, and in that case I'd rather be in the Kern. I'd have a much better chance at survival and the water would be a lot warmer.

They say that the Thames is actually one of the cleanest rivers in Europe, now that it is past its "Midde Age sewage system" and "Great Stink 1851" stages. It doesn't look very clean but it's an esquary right and the tide kicks up a lot of sediment. Ohh, the things you learn in college...

(2) Mon Jun 27 2005 21:23 PST: So I am lazy and didn't go to Pilates. I was going to take Gretel for a walk instead but I forgot. And I can only stand reading so much of Miss Sarah because she is just so *sensitive* and takes it all so much more to heart than most of the girls. Which is good, but exhausting. The good news is I am progressing along all(most) areas of life and am now going to curl in bed with my novel and a purple pen. Tomorrow I am going back to LA and Dave shall be reunited with his power cord and come out of his coma.

Tonksie doesn't like his new diet food. He only nibbles at a little bit at a time, I guess until he isn't hugry anymore--kind of like how I was with the dorm food. And I wonder why I didn't gain the Freshman five till I went to England (no, kidding, I don't wonder).