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xifengO hai thar Delilah. I'm back.
I don't know that I'm doing 100% better. The job situation still hasn't improved (though I've gotten two raises, one cost-of-living and one performance-based), and, consequently, neither has the financial situation (though I'm not doing as badly as I could be, given the circumstances). I'm still in therapy (big surprise, I obviously have some issues to work through). Mom still hasn't got a job, and that weighs on us. (She was up for a job, made it to the second-interview round, and was in the hiring company's top three candidates…and they picked someone else. Well, I wish them joy of their vastly inferior employee.)
On the other hand: I've lost some weight (part one in a bazillion-part series), am generally eating better most of the time (I really fell off the wagon this week, though), and am exercising more regularly. I'm less socially isolated than I had been. (I am so bad at meeting people in real life. SO BAD. Trufax.) I'm still getting interviews, so obviously I'm doing something right. And damn it, I miss my friends.
Events of the past two months behind the jump, if anybody cares.
End of June, 2009:
+ Green bean plant started to produce beans. :D
+ The lingering aftereffects of conjunctivitis that I had been complaining about were, in fact, an inflammation; I had the bacterial variant of conjunctivitis, rather than the viral, and my eyes became inflamed as a result of fighting off the bacteria, thus proving that my immune system works. W00t, I guess. So I was on an anti-inflammatory.
July, 2009:
+ We went picking blueberries; I got sunburnt, but it cleared up fairly soon. Also, visited THE BIG PEACH for peaches (what else?).
+ Vegetables in evidence! By the middle of the month, we had a small cucumber (not ready to pick) and another one on the way. We had a zucchini (also not ready to pick), wax beans (not ready to pick), more green beans, green peppers the size of your thumbnail, small green globes of tomatoes, and incipient eggplant.
+ Went to the second annual Jane Austen Festival in Louisville, KY, during the course of which we toured the Locust Grove mansion (very appropriate for the occasion, btw), saw the Regency style show, and had high tea. And I gazed longingly with my burning, myopic eyes on books I could not afford.
+ Went to Ainsley's and stayed up past midnight baking. We made peach cobbler and the Pains decided to try her hand at yeast bread, which she'd never made before.
+ Drama with H's family. Actually, the drama happened in May and H didn't tell me about it until July.
+ Ainsley was fired from Wal-Mart, ostensibly due to absenteeism, but the circumstances were very sketchy (she was told by Lol-Mart Salaried Management, who are as gods in the Schema of Sam, that her absences were within the acceptable range). Ultimately, after talking to her mother the attorney, she decided to sue the store.
+ Yet more wisdom teeth started to erupt.
+ The Brandywine FINALLY started to produce tomatoes. (For those of you keeping score, this was the tomato plant that was wrenched out of its pot by the storm in May.)
+ I had conjunctivitis. AGAIN.
August, 2009
+ During a cancer screen, the lolmom was found to have an adenomatous polyp of unusual size in her lower intestine. (Adenomatous polyps can become cancerous. There are other kinds of polyps, whose name I forget, that are always benign and never become cancerous.) The doctor said it was likely benign, but showed signs of possibly being pre-cancerous; he removed it and shipped it for biopsy. Mom isn't in immediate danger or anything but will need a follow-up check.
+ I actually started learning Cantonese with flashcards and grammatical notes and memorization, as opposed to just making noises about learning Cantonese. I can now tell![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pixelation to show me the fish of her brother Raoul. (Since I haven't got audio aids right now, I'm sure that's basically anything I might tell her. I KNOW YOUR BROTHER RAOUL HAS THIS FISH, OKAY, PIXEL, SO DON'T EVEN START ABOUT HOW YOU DON'T HAVE ANY BROTHERS.)
+ Also, I decided that I am going to actually start losing weight, with an added carrot-and-stick tack: if, within 6 months, I fail to drop enough weight to fit into pants a size smaller than I now wear, I have to get rid of them. Forever. This caused a certain amount of NOOOOO I DUN WANNA GET RID OF MY CLOOOOOTHES &c &c &c.
+ Conjunctivitis failed to clear up and actually got worse; I went to the optometrist, who thought I had a recurrent bacterial infection and gave me medication for a couple of months. Better this than never being able to wear eye makeup again.
+ Ainsley attempted to set me up with her friend Karie. Due to pervasive and non-negotiable H (and other reasons), this was made of fail, but Karie is cool, we have some things in common, and I would hang out with her anyway, so no harm done.
+ I went to a really Lord of the Flies party at Ainsley's, in keeping with stated policy of not refusing social events for stupid reasons. I love her, but I do not get why she wanted me to see everybody drunk and behaving like an ass.
+ I went out with Ainsley and Karie. We had no particular plans, but wound up playing miniature golf, and then went to the park on the Ohio River, where Ainsley made me sick on the tire swing. (Karie wisely declined to get on the tire swing while Ainsley was demonstrating her mad tire-swing skillz.)
+ Almost sold my soul and contemplated getting in touch with local so-called "universities" to ask about business degrees, but then remembered that a high-powered, corporate job would a.) be boring as shit, b.) likely not allow me my weekends and evenings free, c.) do nothing meaningful and not even be entertaining whilst doing it, and d.) not allow me to look the way I want to look. Also e.) might require me to talk to my father in an effort to gain information about areas of business that are possibly less boring as shit.
+ Lost eight pounds in my first week of walking the straight and narrow. No lie. I am reasonably sure that this was not a scale malfunction-we have a mechanical scale and both times I made sure that it was set exactly to 0 before I stepped on. It may have been a function of my body screaming OH NOES!!!! L33 CUT OFF OUR CRAP SUPPLY!!!!!
+ The August food report: Chicken roll-ups with red onion, goat cheese, and salsa verde. Salmon burgers (recipe here; you need to use fresh salmon, obviously, but they debuted at our house to rave reviews. Ainsley wolfed down two of them, which I took as high praise). Stir-fried chicken and peppers and snow peas (I made a marinade for the chicken from soy sauce, sesame oil, and ginger dressing--here's the stuff I used).
+ Mom and I went to the Children's Museum of Evansville (cMoe) and had a blast. It probably would have been a lot more fun when X-chan and I were little kids, but it's enjoyable for adults too. Especially the Quack Factory. (Blue plastic balls! Launching balls! Giant climbing ducks! Whirlpools! Dams!) When I'm filthy stinking rich, I'm totally going to have a giant nose like the one in the Live Big exhibit; every time insurance salesmen or sommat come in, I'm going to climb inside and insist that they address me only while I am in the nose. Also, I totally want the playable laser harp, too.
+ I had to switch therapists, as mine got married and went to Wisconsin. I have yet to see new therapist, but my appointment is next week, so.
+ More drama with my grandmother, whose health is up and down these days. She had cataract surgery on her other eye and is okay now on the eye front, but she hasn't been doing the rehab exercises as diligently as she probably should and it's pretty much decided that she's going to need to sell the house and go to assisted living. I hope to God I'm not going to have to go through the same thing with the lolmom.
+ I went to Bloomington, forgot about the library's wonky hours, spent the night, bought provisions at the Sahara Mart, nearly sobbed on realizing that I had forgotten what organic food tasted like, woke up in the middle of the night, begged Zeus to bring me home again, and had a spinach-and-feta croissant for breakfast. (It was the least destructive of anything I could have eaten at the Scholars' Inn.) Oh, and you know what? In Bloomington, we have shit to do. Evansville has FUCK-ALL.
+ Wanda and I visited the Newburgh Lol-Mart, which was hilarious (more for the company than for the sake of the new 'Mart; we buzzed Ainsley, who refused to join us), and wound up at Sonic chilling in Wanda's car and eating ice cream.
+ The Brandywine tomatoes started to turn red!
In conclusion: back now. Hi.
I don't know that I'm doing 100% better. The job situation still hasn't improved (though I've gotten two raises, one cost-of-living and one performance-based), and, consequently, neither has the financial situation (though I'm not doing as badly as I could be, given the circumstances). I'm still in therapy (big surprise, I obviously have some issues to work through). Mom still hasn't got a job, and that weighs on us. (She was up for a job, made it to the second-interview round, and was in the hiring company's top three candidates…and they picked someone else. Well, I wish them joy of their vastly inferior employee.)
On the other hand: I've lost some weight (part one in a bazillion-part series), am generally eating better most of the time (I really fell off the wagon this week, though), and am exercising more regularly. I'm less socially isolated than I had been. (I am so bad at meeting people in real life. SO BAD. Trufax.) I'm still getting interviews, so obviously I'm doing something right. And damn it, I miss my friends.
Events of the past two months behind the jump, if anybody cares.
End of June, 2009:
+ Green bean plant started to produce beans. :D
+ The lingering aftereffects of conjunctivitis that I had been complaining about were, in fact, an inflammation; I had the bacterial variant of conjunctivitis, rather than the viral, and my eyes became inflamed as a result of fighting off the bacteria, thus proving that my immune system works. W00t, I guess. So I was on an anti-inflammatory.
July, 2009:
+ We went picking blueberries; I got sunburnt, but it cleared up fairly soon. Also, visited THE BIG PEACH for peaches (what else?).
+ Vegetables in evidence! By the middle of the month, we had a small cucumber (not ready to pick) and another one on the way. We had a zucchini (also not ready to pick), wax beans (not ready to pick), more green beans, green peppers the size of your thumbnail, small green globes of tomatoes, and incipient eggplant.
+ Went to the second annual Jane Austen Festival in Louisville, KY, during the course of which we toured the Locust Grove mansion (very appropriate for the occasion, btw), saw the Regency style show, and had high tea. And I gazed longingly with my burning, myopic eyes on books I could not afford.
+ Went to Ainsley's and stayed up past midnight baking. We made peach cobbler and the Pains decided to try her hand at yeast bread, which she'd never made before.
+ Drama with H's family. Actually, the drama happened in May and H didn't tell me about it until July.
+ Ainsley was fired from Wal-Mart, ostensibly due to absenteeism, but the circumstances were very sketchy (she was told by Lol-Mart Salaried Management, who are as gods in the Schema of Sam, that her absences were within the acceptable range). Ultimately, after talking to her mother the attorney, she decided to sue the store.
+ Yet more wisdom teeth started to erupt.
+ The Brandywine FINALLY started to produce tomatoes. (For those of you keeping score, this was the tomato plant that was wrenched out of its pot by the storm in May.)
+ I had conjunctivitis. AGAIN.
August, 2009
+ During a cancer screen, the lolmom was found to have an adenomatous polyp of unusual size in her lower intestine. (Adenomatous polyps can become cancerous. There are other kinds of polyps, whose name I forget, that are always benign and never become cancerous.) The doctor said it was likely benign, but showed signs of possibly being pre-cancerous; he removed it and shipped it for biopsy. Mom isn't in immediate danger or anything but will need a follow-up check.
+ I actually started learning Cantonese with flashcards and grammatical notes and memorization, as opposed to just making noises about learning Cantonese. I can now tell
pixelation to show me the fish of her brother Raoul. (Since I haven't got audio aids right now, I'm sure that's basically anything I might tell her. I KNOW YOUR BROTHER RAOUL HAS THIS FISH, OKAY, PIXEL, SO DON'T EVEN START ABOUT HOW YOU DON'T HAVE ANY BROTHERS.)+ Also, I decided that I am going to actually start losing weight, with an added carrot-and-stick tack: if, within 6 months, I fail to drop enough weight to fit into pants a size smaller than I now wear, I have to get rid of them. Forever. This caused a certain amount of NOOOOO I DUN WANNA GET RID OF MY CLOOOOOTHES &c &c &c.
+ Conjunctivitis failed to clear up and actually got worse; I went to the optometrist, who thought I had a recurrent bacterial infection and gave me medication for a couple of months. Better this than never being able to wear eye makeup again.
+ Ainsley attempted to set me up with her friend Karie. Due to pervasive and non-negotiable H (and other reasons), this was made of fail, but Karie is cool, we have some things in common, and I would hang out with her anyway, so no harm done.
+ I went to a really Lord of the Flies party at Ainsley's, in keeping with stated policy of not refusing social events for stupid reasons. I love her, but I do not get why she wanted me to see everybody drunk and behaving like an ass.
+ I went out with Ainsley and Karie. We had no particular plans, but wound up playing miniature golf, and then went to the park on the Ohio River, where Ainsley made me sick on the tire swing. (Karie wisely declined to get on the tire swing while Ainsley was demonstrating her mad tire-swing skillz.)
+ Almost sold my soul and contemplated getting in touch with local so-called "universities" to ask about business degrees, but then remembered that a high-powered, corporate job would a.) be boring as shit, b.) likely not allow me my weekends and evenings free, c.) do nothing meaningful and not even be entertaining whilst doing it, and d.) not allow me to look the way I want to look. Also e.) might require me to talk to my father in an effort to gain information about areas of business that are possibly less boring as shit.
+ Lost eight pounds in my first week of walking the straight and narrow. No lie. I am reasonably sure that this was not a scale malfunction-we have a mechanical scale and both times I made sure that it was set exactly to 0 before I stepped on. It may have been a function of my body screaming OH NOES!!!! L33 CUT OFF OUR CRAP SUPPLY!!!!!
+ The August food report: Chicken roll-ups with red onion, goat cheese, and salsa verde. Salmon burgers (recipe here; you need to use fresh salmon, obviously, but they debuted at our house to rave reviews. Ainsley wolfed down two of them, which I took as high praise). Stir-fried chicken and peppers and snow peas (I made a marinade for the chicken from soy sauce, sesame oil, and ginger dressing--here's the stuff I used).
+ Mom and I went to the Children's Museum of Evansville (cMoe) and had a blast. It probably would have been a lot more fun when X-chan and I were little kids, but it's enjoyable for adults too. Especially the Quack Factory. (Blue plastic balls! Launching balls! Giant climbing ducks! Whirlpools! Dams!) When I'm filthy stinking rich, I'm totally going to have a giant nose like the one in the Live Big exhibit; every time insurance salesmen or sommat come in, I'm going to climb inside and insist that they address me only while I am in the nose. Also, I totally want the playable laser harp, too.
+ I had to switch therapists, as mine got married and went to Wisconsin. I have yet to see new therapist, but my appointment is next week, so.
+ More drama with my grandmother, whose health is up and down these days. She had cataract surgery on her other eye and is okay now on the eye front, but she hasn't been doing the rehab exercises as diligently as she probably should and it's pretty much decided that she's going to need to sell the house and go to assisted living. I hope to God I'm not going to have to go through the same thing with the lolmom.
+ I went to Bloomington, forgot about the library's wonky hours, spent the night, bought provisions at the Sahara Mart, nearly sobbed on realizing that I had forgotten what organic food tasted like, woke up in the middle of the night, begged Zeus to bring me home again, and had a spinach-and-feta croissant for breakfast. (It was the least destructive of anything I could have eaten at the Scholars' Inn.) Oh, and you know what? In Bloomington, we have shit to do. Evansville has FUCK-ALL.
+ Wanda and I visited the Newburgh Lol-Mart, which was hilarious (more for the company than for the sake of the new 'Mart; we buzzed Ainsley, who refused to join us), and wound up at Sonic chilling in Wanda's car and eating ice cream.
+ The Brandywine tomatoes started to turn red!
In conclusion: back now. Hi.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-09-04 06:15 pm (UTC)Please do!! :D I can find Mandarin at Chapters (which is GREAT!!) but not Cantonese.
Here be one (I'll do it within a week or so. I'm kinda at a low place right now so I'll be taking a SHORT break from posting in my LJ but will log on to see what's up with you guys)
+ First: If you've been tagged, you must write your answers in your own LJ and replace any question that you dislike with a new, original question.
+ Second: Tag eight people. Don't refuse to do that. Don't tag whoever tagged you.
Have you ever lied to a teacher/boss to get out of a deadline?
What kind of magazines do you read?
What's your current favorite song?
What's really creepy?
Who is your celebrity crush and why?
What's your current fandom/obsession/addiction?
What are you listening to right now?
What are you most excited for?
What websites do you always visit when you go online?
What was the last thing you bought?
What was the cutest thing you've seen today?
Does the weather affect your mood?
What is your zodiac sign?
Do you want to learn another language?
5 things you can't live without:
What's the meaning of life?
What's something you'd like to say to someone right now?
If you weren't doing this meme, what would you be doing instead?
Say something to the person who tagged you:
no subject
Date: 2009-09-04 07:04 pm (UTC)Okay, linx0rz ahoy. Not comprehensive, but hopefully enough to get you started.
FlashCan (http://cantonese.matrixnetwork.co.uk/) is a flashcard program you can download. It's designed for use with the Teach Yourself book, but you can probably get some use out of it anyway; it has a quiz mode and a Mandarin dictionary file as well. :)
Chinese Character Database with Word-Formations: Phonologically Disambiguated According to the Cantonese Dialect (http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-can/). You can set this to be English-language. Unfortunately, the links to the talking syllabaries are no longer active.
Chinese Lessons: Cantonese (http://www.chinese-lessons.com/cantonese/). They've also got a Mandarin section on the main site--and sound files!
Chinese (Cantonese) Help Sheets (http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/). This site has more sound files, a bazillion print-friendly worksheets, and an online dictionary. :) There's also a tool that helps you read and parse Chinese websites.
Learn Chinese (http://www.learnchineseez.com) - both Mandarin and Cantonese resources. :D
Will I ever post the meme in my journal? THE SUSPENSE WILL KILL YOU. :O
no subject
Date: 2009-09-04 07:11 pm (UTC)I'll sit here waiting, patiently? :o
no subject
Date: 2009-09-05 05:22 am (UTC)OMG I SHALL DRAG OUT THE MEME POSTAGE TO UNBEARABLE HEIGHTS OF SUSPENSE!!!11
no subject
Date: 2009-09-05 05:31 am (UTC)It will be up when I wake up, I sense these things. :D Not really. I decided to post my answers before I take a SHORT break.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-05 05:55 am (UTC)CURSE YOU AND YOUR USING THE FORCE TO SENSE MY MEMES. HOW AM I TO KEEP THESE THINGS SEKRIT???? DDDD:
I forgot to ask if you saw your aunt this summer and if so, how she reacted to my ttly pimp-ass pictures of Mr
ScumSam.no subject
Date: 2009-09-05 05:59 am (UTC)She saw, she laughed, I HAVE SURVIVED MY WHOLE TIME THERE.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-05 05:39 pm (UTC)HURRAH. I AM GLAD YOU DID NOT DIE.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-05 05:50 pm (UTC)I thought I was gonna, though. All those bugs eating me alive. Fuuuuuuuuuuck. :(
no subject
Date: 2009-09-05 06:01 pm (UTC)It is kind of fun to read other people's answers, though. I'm ttly with you there. :D
BUGS MUST DIE. >(
no subject
Date: 2009-09-05 06:14 pm (UTC)As soon as I come back from my short break, I'll break all my friends' pages with memes and quizzes and questions and more. :D
Strangely enough, we didn't have that many in these parts this summer. With all the houses going up, they all packed up and left to go more North country across the land.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-05 06:33 pm (UTC)BUT WHO DECIDES WHAT IS EVIL?? THAT IS PROBLEMATIC SOMETIMES.
Hurrah! I look forward to having my friends' page broken.
Unfortunately, no such luck here. The bugs have proven adept at getting into my car and tormenting me while I'm driving.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-05 07:16 pm (UTC)Free Timmys I'd be in line for that, holy shit. O__O
TIMMYS IS EVIL!! Right??
I should do that with pictures of my boyfriend.
It's nearing autumn now. THEY WILL ALL PERISH!! Or, go to sleep.