The gravy returneth

I'm wearing a new shirt that has black, raspberry, purple, and pink stripes. As manic as it might sound,  I think it looks very cool.  I have decided to call it my grape jelly shirt. Goal to build work wardrobe: begun.

I still have a cold, but doing much better today than I was on Monday. Monday = death on toast. Tuesday = grumpy gravy on a biscuit with a stuffy head. Thought many times about licking King V's coffee cup so he would get the cold and hopefully stop badgering me about how I felt and asking if was I able to attend digital photography class on Monday night (nope) and blah blah blah words words talking talking TALKING.

Today = day three of not having Starbucks, greasy breakfast sandwich, and the all-too-literal pound cake for breakfast. Mental resolution to take better care of self because Jesus Christ I don't want to die when I'm 50: begun.

I'm having an aversion lately to attending water aerobics. I think it must be the chlorine / dry skin / winter weather thing because I normally like swimming and w.a. very much. I also need a new suit, but that hasn't stopped me from attending the class in the past. A few well-placed safety pins on a suit that has lost ALL of its elastic and I'm good to go. Forgetting said safety pins = naked water panicking. I love skinny dipping/chunky dunking, but only when it’s a planned event.

Still haven't picked up the mug I decorated last week. Keep forgetting. Duh huh huh.

Raisin Bran for breakfast. Yum.

Made coffee. Got the water to coffee ratio right for once. Delicious.

Recent CD purchase: Sinead O'Connor, Collaborations. Big fan. Never owned a S O'C CD before. Glad this one is good. Also glad it only cost me $4 because I got a gift card for my birthday.

Purchases to make this weekend: Encyclopedia on witchcraft from local homo bookstore. Ani DiFranco's Out of Range.

Attended memorial service for a former boss on Saturday evening. How I forgot I would run into all the crazy-ass faculty I used to work for/with is completely beyond me. Saw the select few people I really liked when I worked in academia. Basically ignored the rest and they did the same to me.  I was there only for my ex-boss who was a really great guy. Nice to work for someone in academia who wasn’t a complete tool. Said ex-boss also taught my Chaucer class when I was an undergrad and told us where all the dirty parts were in The Canterbury Tales, which he read in (what sounded like) flawless Old English. Bitchin. I will miss him a lot.

After the memorial service, I read poetry in front of a WHOLE bunch of strangers. Was glad to be performing/reading again, but my hands were shaking so bad after my multi-month hiatus from reading that I had to concentrate very hard on holding the paper steady so I could read my words. Oy. It's Wednesday and I'm STILL glad the reading is over. At one point in the middle of a long poem -- a sestina, no less -- I lost my place. Gotta know you're performing in a safe place if you unconsciously and nervously mumble, "I lost my place" into the mic and a kind voice floats out of the crowd and says, "It's okay. Take your time." Guess the shaking and sweating was a little more visible than I thought.

I'll be reading poetry again this coming Saturday. Different venue, different crowd. Oh, and someone I know will be there with me, so it shouldn't be nearly as nerve-wracking as Saturday was. Also, it will only have been a week since my last reading instead of six months.

I have a new ocean blue shirt to wear to work tomorrow. The rest of my purchase-by-catalog clothes have to go back for various reasons. Sadly, there is no box on the merchandise return form for "Wow, that's a lot uglier in person than it was in the catalog," but I’ll figure something out. Glad I lucked out with the grape jelly shirt.

On the CD player at work: Such Great Heights, The Postal Service. Yes.

Our administrative assistant has turned in her notice.  Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap! She’ll be traveling with her husband and starting a home-based business when they return home, which doesn’t gel with continuing to work here. It’s really too bad because she’s smart and organized and has whipped this place into shape. We’re going to start looking for a new office monkey soon. I can only hope s/he is half as good. Too bad that really awesome employee also equals completely overqualified to work as a secretary.

I'm aiming to get back to yoga and meditation soon.  I got back to writing and I definitely feel freer. Same with the stretching and the mind vacationing. I'm working on beating back my desire for everything to be perfect oh my Goddess it's not perfect what if someone finds out I have flaws because that kind of thinking is destructive and useless and pretty much guarantees that I never do anything creative since I'm paralyzed by fear. Fuck. That. Noise.