I loathe it:
- stress
- clutter
- voicemail
- advertising
- re-shoots
- unfolded laundry
- wasted food
- working in the evening
- forgetting to take daily photos
- forgetting in general
- discomfort
- fitful sleep
- bank of america
- natural hot springs
- moss
- spring in seattle
- getting ready to go to europe
- funny little bird noises
- projector!
- ikea. i admit.
- river rapids
- body heat
- professional respect
- strong coffee
- new lamps
Last year, I hiked the Lover's Lane Loop alone and ended up soaking wet, covered in mud, tired, cold, and injured. Half of the hike was essentially in rushing streams. This year the winter has been different - longer and colder - and half of the trail is still covered in feet of snow. The brush hasn't been cleared from the trail yet either, so it can essentially be classified as a pain in the ass. We got all of a quarter mile or so up the trail and decided to turn around. It must be nice in the summer when the trail is clear and dry.
Soaking in that hot water is relaxing in a way I can't describe. I fall asleep at 9:30 every night I'm there and have strange dreams. There's something beyond simply nice hot water going on there. I mean - I take hot baths at home regularly and never feel quite like that. I'm glad I've decided t make this an annual sojourn. I just wish I could have stayed longer. Now I have to start thinking about my trip to Europe in just over 2 weeks!
This week has been... Lost footage, miscommunication, driving around a lot, meetings (starting at 7:30 a.m. yesterday), a trip to the gym for once, tiredness, clinching, chocolate, watching Cold Feet on DVD, dinners in three of my favorite restaurants, nice clients, gantt charts, laundry, returning dvds far and wide, running late, coffee. Coffee. I need coffee.
In a few hours, after I return some dvds, pick up some prescriptions, go to the chiropractor, and have a 90 minute conference call, the man-friend and I will be hopping on a ferry and then driving to the Sol Duc hotsprings, for two days of standing still.
Amongst the many things that have lately been distracting me from blog-land is producing a DVD for patients recently diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. The first edition of the DVD was my first official producer role four years ago, and now we are revising it with new and updated information. Two of the new sections are testimonials from family caregivers and interviews with young children of people with Parkinson's.
Carolyn is in her seventies and her husband Wayne was diagnosed with Parkinson's ten years ago. They have been married forty years and rarely have I seen someone so in obviously and honestly in love. She does not see the disease as a burden (though clearly it is), but rather as a journey they did not plan to take. Over the course of this journey they have learned a lot about themselves and one another, she has improved her physical health and lost weight, and she sees them as caring for one another, as opposed to her taking care of someone who is sick. Parkinson's Disease does not make life easier for anyone, but this woman takes the good with the bad and they live a full and relatively happy life. It's just not the one they expected.
And who can predict these things?
Betty Jane is the sixteen year old daughter of a man with PD. She has two younger siblings. Her father is on permanent disability, and she is the only person in the family who is able to work. She has a job at a grocery store and admits that some days she comes home tired and frustrated. At the same time she considers herself lucky. Unlike other kids her age, who she teases for being spoiled, she can cook meals, and knows how to care for herself. Of course, no child should have to go through that. But if there are no other options, it is much better to look to the positive side of things than to become bitter and live in despair.
Life does not always cooperate with our wishes, and these are two women who have accepted that and learned how to flourish in hardship. Hats off to Carolyn and Betty Jane.
my lovely, witty friend Lily Moriarty has started using vox and would be a fine addition to any neighborhood.
Three times now I have received a small padded envelope from a company called Hercules Hooks, addressed to someone with my last name and the same apartment number at an address a half mile from here. Does this mysterious "Dee" exist? After the third delivery I got fed up and opened it. Apparently the post office refuses to acknowledge the fact that despite the last name, this "Dee" lives at a completely different location. It's a collection of wire "Hercules Hooks" that one shoves right into the wall to hang up to 150 lbs. "As Seen on TV." Sorry, Dee.
I've discovered it means:
- Internet slang for "Hope This Helps", "Hope That Helps", "Happy To Help", "Hit The Hay", or "Hand To Hand"
Awful:
- The cold rain... goes on and on
- I miss yoga
- Playing the Bad Cop
- My grandfather has both Alzheimer's and a loaded shotgun
- Faxing
- Tight jeans
- Spare tire of flesh
- Hypocrisy
- Getting up in the morning
- painful shoes
- too much stuff
- Bird cuddles
- Being adored
- Galaktaboureka
- Pumpkin bread
- Sleep
- Saturday afternoon in the sun
- Being appreciated
- The breakfast nook
- Hot baths
- Rental cars
- Good burgers
- Theater
- Elliott Bay Books
Spring has arrived! It may only last one day, so I am going to do my best to soak it up. Along with all the other sun-deprived Seattle-ites I will be in a park with a book, showing off my pasty legs. But first I must do some dishes. My most procrastinated chore.
I feel I have been neglecting my blog-reading and writing lately, but I guess that means I have more going on in "real" life. I'm still here, though. Just a bit less often.
Songs and long reflective essays forthcoming... after Spring goes back to damp and chilly.
tuesday seems to be difficult to attain.
worsts:
• sitting on a folding chair all day
• car exhaust
• idiots (yes, it is "idiot week" in my town... I wish I had had some warning)
• getting sleepy at 9pm
• dust
• the hesitancy of spring to spring
• neck spasm
• complacency
• bureaucracy
• people who don't check their email for over a month
• clients who do math, badly
bests:
• seeing a friend on the Martha Stewart show (surreal, but good)
• good sex
• Vio's and their galaktoboureko.
• red wine prevents senile dementia
• travel planning
• work satisfaction
• furniture rearrangement
• parrot baths
• an aunt who will bird-sit for 3 weeks, saving me $15/day boarding fees
• girltalk
• waiting for waiting for godot
