No Chaser

Dentist

Yesterday, I went to the dentist.  Today, my teeth are quite clean.  I like the dentist.

posted by: NoChaser at November 30, 2007 09:13 | link | comments |

Sunday

I am inspired by Planbreaker, who has been doing great Sunday reports for the last three weeks, to blog my Sunday experience.

This past Sunday:  I woke up from a night of very vivid dreams and thought about them for an hour or so, had a couple phone conversations, ate leftover Salmon Pot Pie for brunch, read some Zen, did laundry, took a walk, snuggled Nellicious back from a visit with her family, read some NYT, took a very long walk, went to the main art museum in town, ate homemade soup for dinner, saw the Hal Ashby movie _The Landlord_, enjoyed that big bright moon and sang a little ditty on my walk home, drank some Silk Nog with Scotch while Google-chatting with Little Miss Sunshine, crashed.

Quite eventful for me.

posted by: NoChaser at November 27, 2007 10:43 | link | comments (3) |

Yay! and Yum!

Dude.  So, check it out.  I've been negotiating with my boss for a week to come on as a full-time employee rather than a contractor.  And, today, we finally finished that, for me, really unpleasant dance with both of us happy about the result.  Yay!

Side note is that I saw the Joe Strummer documentary with Baby Bro last night, and today I am wearing my Joe Strummer tribute outfit, which I believe helped seal the deal with my boss.  Not because he is a Joe Strummer fan, only because Strummer rules and has been a source of inspiration and power for me since I was like 13.  The movie is quite good, by the way, and I recommend it.

To celebrate, I made a delicious fennel and leek risotto (with a touch of lavender and lemon) topped with a fried egg and served with green beans.  I drank a nice Sauvignon Blanc with it.  Yum!

posted by: NoChaser at November 19, 2007 19:32 | link | comments (1) |

A nice thing

Walking by a bus layover spot yesterday, I noticed the driver was taking his break time to do Tai Chi in the grass nearby.  Nice.

posted by: NoChaser at November 16, 2007 09:32 | link | comments (1) |

Yesterday

Yesterday was like ... I don't even know ...

First, I wake up to an email from my boss offering to meet with me sometime that afternoon about my status/potential promotion, a conversation I have been waiting to have for a few weeks now.  Of course, I'm both excited and nervous about that.

Then, about 2, my friend Birdie calls to tell me she turned in her dossier for her pre-tenure review.  This is good news, a huge relief for Birdie who has been stressing about this for quite some time.

My boss and I don't meet until 4:30, and then it's looking good but still not completely resolved, so I have had that low-grade stress all day long and will continue to have it until the issue is resolved "in the next couple of days."

And, now I will leave out names because I'm guessing these people will not want everyone who reads my blog and may recognize them to know their business.

After work, I call Friend 1 to let her know how it went since she had kindly coached me before my meeting, and she is happy and ready to chill out after a kind of long and weird day that involved both motorcycle pants and a sort of misplacement of her office.

I don't get home until 6:15, and at 6:30, I get a call from Friend 2 who is finally ending a 3-year drama-filled on-and-off relationship with a married woman.  We have been talking about this for years, so I know how hard it is for her, but she sounds resolute, and I am glad for her.  This is intense and difficult, but it is a good thing.

When we get off the phone, I check my email and find that Friend 3 just heard that her cousin's girlfriend had hung herself.  Bloody hell!  I try to call her, but no answer.  No doubt she is on the phone with family members trying to help somehow.  I know she'll call later.

After a round of silly email with my brother about Thanksgiving and his birthday, I am about to sign off and get some dinner.  But, for some reason, I feel like I should be on email, so I stay on-line and read an article I have been wanting to read, send a few more emails, and then, bam! ... Friend 1 emails to say that her mother is in the hospital and it looks like she had a heart attack.  I'm not to call because she has to coordinate with her brother, try to get in touch with her mom at the hospital, etc. 

So, instead, I call the Thai place down the street; it's around 7:45 now, and I am very glad I ate that Luna Bar at 3.  After dinner, I check email again to see if there are any updates, and yes, Friend 2 has sent me the breakup email.  And it is a good email, stern but kind.  I write her back to tell her so.  I want to call, but it is late where she is, and I hope she is sleeping.

I try to meditate, which is difficult.  I get in bed and am asleep by 9:30.  At 1, I wake up, filled with concern for my friends.  I check my email to find that Friend 1's mom has stabilized and she was able to talk to her, and Friend 1 seems good in her email, so I feel better about that.  Still no news from Friend 3, but since her drama did not directly affect her, I am able to rest easy on that account.  I finally get back to sleep around 3. 

This morning, Friend 3 calls on her way to work to see how my meeting went, but, although I had just been replaying what happened at work, it is the last thing I want to discuss with all the other things going on, so we talk about everything else.  She has managed to contact her cousin and another relative who lives closer and can provide better support.  We agree that of all the drama from yesterday, this one is just truly horrible.

I'm off the phone with her for maybe ten minutes, and Friend 2 texts me to give me an update on her situation which now involves a string of childish emails, so I get on-line and read the emails she has forwarded and then call her.  We talk about that whole thing, and she is even more resolved about her decision now, seeing so clearly the absurdity and selfishness of her former paramour's behavior.

Now, I'm just waiting to hear from Friend 1.  I will do my yoga and eat breakfast and have a slow start on work tasks.  I hope today will be a bit more quiet. 

posted by: NoChaser at November 14, 2007 09:21 | link | comments (3) |

I am tired

Why?  Because I have had something alcoholic to drink every night for over a week.  This is unusual for me.  While in the Corn, I started drinking quite often because what else was there to do?  But, then, I realized it was going to be a bad habit, so I slowed down. 

For about a year and a half, I have dramatically limited the frequency of my alcohol consumption.  I will often go a week without a beer or a glass of wine.  I very rarely drink hard alcohol. 

But not this week.  No, this week, I've had it all:  Scotch, Calvados, wine, beer.  And, I've had it every night.  Why?  No real reason.  Just opportunities I suppose, like several social events that included booze.

I was thinking of asking my brother out for pizza tonight, but how can I have pizza with my brother and not drink beer?  No, I will have to have a beer, so I may wait until next week for a pizza date.  Either that or I can begin my sobering up period on Thursday.

posted by: NoChaser at November 07, 2007 13:21 | link | comments (5) |