Eating is a strange thing for me, in that I rarely feel hunger, but when I do, I’m ravenous. (And this was prior to taking opioids, which have made the situation even worse.) One of the things that this leads to, aside from never eating, is eating badly. Hence, chunky me!
So this week, I’m trying to get into better eating habits, amongst other things. That means learning how to eat properly. I’m not terribly interested in dieting, for several reasons, but I don’t thinkk that eating properly need equate dieting. But my tummy is looking at the food in front of me (peaches, half a large muffin, a hardboiled egg, coffee) and says “well, can I have the coffee and skip the rest?” Sadly, the answer is no.
I spent a good chunk of yesterday virtually investigating Albany: asking questions on Albany-related LiveJournal communities, poking around newspapers and Craigslist. It looks like it’ll be some sort of combination of Eugene, Oregon and Reno, Nevada. I admit, that intrigues me; I do miss some aspects of Reno. Of course, most of those aspects are probably the ones not being translated back east, but… I also liked Eugene, so it’s promising. I am beginning to suspect that I’m capable of living in just about any environment, so long as I have an internet connection and some folks around who enjoy the same things I do.
We’re trying to figure out getting me back there to do a walkabout, an idea complicated by the fact that it will take me all day to get back there, and I’d like to go during the week so that I can sit in on a class and see the campus as a whole. That doesn’t sound terribly complicated, until you realize that I have class MWF, and I can’t miss Friday class, as that’s the day I teach. I wonder if I could leave on the 2nd and come back late the 4th or 5th? I guess I could technically do it the Monday after, as well. Er, although it occurs to me that I should check their schedule and see when spring break is.
Anyhow. Isn’t my life exciting?
While I managed eating and exercising yesterday, as well as morning writing, I failed pretty miserably at everything else. Well, unless you consider writing up a recap of Grey’s Anatomy for Seattle MetBlogs and doing research about Albany as accomplishing things. I need to crack down a bit on myself today. I should get at least a few pages of writing on my thesis done, watch an episode or two of Stargate, and write corresponding papers to them. Not to mention perhaps read a chapter or two of a few different books. (Again, I reiterate: the exciting life of an academic.) I’ll be the first to admit that I need discipline, though, so longterm this is a good hell to walk through.
I’m sitting at the table, looking out the window into a stand of trees. Occasionally a squirrell the size of a small dog wanders by one of the tree branches, and behind the green I can see peaks of overcast grey. It’s going to be a cold day. If I look to the right, I can see out the living room windows; my parents cherry tree is starting to bloom. So although I’ll probably miss the UW trees, at least I get to see some. If I’m lucky, they’ll fully bloom and fall while I’m here. My father is pacing in the kitchen; he’s on the phone with one of his relatives, talking about the homestead in Alaska. It sounds like they’re going to split the property and sell half, developing the other half before they sell it for more money. This makes me kind of sad; although I know the homestead has no real value now, other than being a very pretty place, it’s something my grandparents worked hard for, and it seems like a shame to sell it. Then again, I wasn’t the one who had to grow up in a one room log cabin on that property; perhaps if I had, I’d be more inclined to sell it.
Anyhow, that’s it for forced writing on waking today. I spared you the talk about my dreams and nightmares, for which you should be thankful.