Since I lost a Facebook posting of my and my friends' reviews of Star Trek: Into Darkness, here's a book review.
My review from GoodReads:
Why Does the World Exist: An Existential Detective Story by Jim Holt
I hate
this book. It's a bunch of (White) men pontificating on an obtuse topic
that has no practical value. Despite my best efforts, I did finish
reading it. But I will be blaming my book club for years to come about
the waste of my time.
The only vaguely positive thing that might have come out of reading it is that I now know that people have tried to answer this "Why is there Something rather than Nothing?" question for centuries. That's it. I learned it's a tough question. An impossible question. And that people have wasted their time on it for a very long time.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Membership Care Committee
Recently, I joined the Membership Care Committee at my fellowship. Because it's such a small congregation, this small group (of women) are in charge of both membership stuff and the, well, caring stuff. I joined to contact new visitors since that's an effort that many congregations aren't very good at. But joining this committee also means that I'm asked to do some of the caring part.
I'm not a touchy-feely person. I mean, I'm all about cuddling with people that I care about, but being empathic and supportive to just anybody? Not really my thing.
Today, we had a memorial service at the fellowship. The 33-year old brother of one of our members, another young adult, died suddenly. I really wanted to be there for the young adult and her family, so I was willing to do this caring bit.
I helped set up tables and chairs, I laid out platters of cookies, and helped keep the drinks cool. During the service, I also took the 4-year old daughter of the young adult to the playroom.
I found that I really enjoyed being of service. Being able to support someone, or some family, during a really hard time for them was very gratifying. I'm still not touchy-feely, but I guess I can fulfill all duties for the Membership Care Committee.
I'm not a touchy-feely person. I mean, I'm all about cuddling with people that I care about, but being empathic and supportive to just anybody? Not really my thing.
Today, we had a memorial service at the fellowship. The 33-year old brother of one of our members, another young adult, died suddenly. I really wanted to be there for the young adult and her family, so I was willing to do this caring bit.
I helped set up tables and chairs, I laid out platters of cookies, and helped keep the drinks cool. During the service, I also took the 4-year old daughter of the young adult to the playroom.
I found that I really enjoyed being of service. Being able to support someone, or some family, during a really hard time for them was very gratifying. I'm still not touchy-feely, but I guess I can fulfill all duties for the Membership Care Committee.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Accidental Five Miles
This evening, I went to my first running club event. We met near the river walk path. I figured that I wouldn't keep up with most of them, but didn't want to have them loop around without me. So I was very relieved when the host stayed back at all of the turn-offs to wait for me (and the woman behind me).
The running went well. The first mile, as always, made me regret going. But then I got in a groove, like I usually do. Jogging isn't as light and refreshing as it used to be, but that's probably because I weigh around 20 pounds heavier than I used to.
After running 2.6 miles (round trip), the group met up again near the parking lot. It took me 30 minutes, which is my normal time (3 miles on flat ground is taking me about 35 minutes at this point). Some runners were going to keep going the other way, so I said that I would walk behind them but that they had to make sure to find me and tell me when to turn around or I would just keep walking!
As they jogged away, I also started jogging, albeit slowly. I still had some energy left in me. I saw them take a side path, so I followed it, too. That's the last that I ever saw of them. I eventually hit the main path again, and took it back to the parking lot. That second run (with walking intervals) took another 35 minutes, and covered 2.3 miles (round trip).
As I was jogging, I got pretty angry at the other runners. As a woman, I don't want to be running alone on side paths but they didn't seem concerned about me once we started on the second run.
It reminded me of some hiking groups I have been a part of; they say that they are welcome to all levels, but end up leaving people behind. It's no fun to be left behind.
Plus, the sun was starting to set. That always makes me worried that I'll be running in the dark.
And I got blisters.
In sum, my first experience with this running club wasn't that great. Well, it started out really good, but then turned not-so-good. On the bright side, it wasn't too hard to do the 5 miles, not counting the blisters.
The running went well. The first mile, as always, made me regret going. But then I got in a groove, like I usually do. Jogging isn't as light and refreshing as it used to be, but that's probably because I weigh around 20 pounds heavier than I used to.
After running 2.6 miles (round trip), the group met up again near the parking lot. It took me 30 minutes, which is my normal time (3 miles on flat ground is taking me about 35 minutes at this point). Some runners were going to keep going the other way, so I said that I would walk behind them but that they had to make sure to find me and tell me when to turn around or I would just keep walking!
As they jogged away, I also started jogging, albeit slowly. I still had some energy left in me. I saw them take a side path, so I followed it, too. That's the last that I ever saw of them. I eventually hit the main path again, and took it back to the parking lot. That second run (with walking intervals) took another 35 minutes, and covered 2.3 miles (round trip).
As I was jogging, I got pretty angry at the other runners. As a woman, I don't want to be running alone on side paths but they didn't seem concerned about me once we started on the second run.
It reminded me of some hiking groups I have been a part of; they say that they are welcome to all levels, but end up leaving people behind. It's no fun to be left behind.
Plus, the sun was starting to set. That always makes me worried that I'll be running in the dark.
And I got blisters.
In sum, my first experience with this running club wasn't that great. Well, it started out really good, but then turned not-so-good. On the bright side, it wasn't too hard to do the 5 miles, not counting the blisters.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
TV & Eating
When lecturing about classical conditioning, I often mention how people who generally snack while they watch TV end up feeling like they're hungry whenever they watch TV. Even if they just ate.
I'm not immune. When I'm working at home, I usually take a break for lunch or dinner and watch something on Netflix while eating. So whenever I want a break, I want to be hungry. And when I do watch TV without eating, I feel like something's missing.
But I've also noticed something else about TV and eating. When watching certain shows, I end up craving certain foods. For example, I want coffee and cherry pie whenever I think about Twin Peaks. If you ever watched even a couple of episodes of that show, you know that the main character had coffee and pie almost every episode.
I'm re-watching Roswell now. Many of the scenes are at the main character's work, the Crashdown Cafe. It's a diner. People order french fries a lot. And milk shakes. So now I'm craving shakes and fries.
The only other food-related viewing incident that I've had was when I watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in the theater. I guess I didn't eat enough before watching that movie, because I had a hypoglycemic reaction to watching all of that candy and sweets. I started getting a headache, then got nauseous. Classic response when my blood sugar level drops too quickly. I guess just seeing the candy increased my blood sugar level, which then crashed since I didn't have any real (protein-filled) food. So I threw up. I almost made it to the bathroom. :/
I wonder what foods others crave based on what their TV show characters are eating?
I'm not immune. When I'm working at home, I usually take a break for lunch or dinner and watch something on Netflix while eating. So whenever I want a break, I want to be hungry. And when I do watch TV without eating, I feel like something's missing.
But I've also noticed something else about TV and eating. When watching certain shows, I end up craving certain foods. For example, I want coffee and cherry pie whenever I think about Twin Peaks. If you ever watched even a couple of episodes of that show, you know that the main character had coffee and pie almost every episode.
I'm re-watching Roswell now. Many of the scenes are at the main character's work, the Crashdown Cafe. It's a diner. People order french fries a lot. And milk shakes. So now I'm craving shakes and fries.
The only other food-related viewing incident that I've had was when I watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in the theater. I guess I didn't eat enough before watching that movie, because I had a hypoglycemic reaction to watching all of that candy and sweets. I started getting a headache, then got nauseous. Classic response when my blood sugar level drops too quickly. I guess just seeing the candy increased my blood sugar level, which then crashed since I didn't have any real (protein-filled) food. So I threw up. I almost made it to the bathroom. :/
I wonder what foods others crave based on what their TV show characters are eating?
Sleep & Sick Squared
I've had a head and chest cold for the past week. Since it's been around so long, I think I'm going to call it Phoebe.
What's worse, is that I had a cold a few weeks ago! I've never gotten sick so often.
Yesterday was a full day of sickness.
I did get to sleep in, to about 10:30am. I got out of bed about 11:30am and cleaned my apartment a bit. I then called my mother, but she wasn't home. Then I fell asleep in my Lazy Boy. I some point, I moved to the couch. I woke up around 3pm, and got up around 3:30pm.
I called my mom again, and she was home, so we talked for awhile. Our weekly chat. I started to get a sinus headache while on the phone.
After that, I had some stew and watched Netflix. I felt like sleeping again, but thought that that would be ridiculous. So I baked no-fat cupcakes. Turns out, I had baked them before and they were gross both times. When they were baking, I went into my office to work on a lecture, but really just checked stuff out online. Then an old friend called, so I got to talk with her. Happy times!
I had to get off of the phone to get ready to go to another friend's house. Since I felt awful (still had that headache, plus the cough and congestion), I took some cold medication. With one of those gross cupcakes. During my shower, I felt worse and worse. When I was all ready, I laid down. Eventually, I texted my friend to say that I couldn't make it. Within 5 minutes I threw up. Ug.
I went back to bed, but kept coughing. I figured that the meds that I'd taken earlier were ejected, I took some Nyquil and watched another episode of Roswell on Netflix. After that, I was able to get to sleep.
I'm feeling better today, but still coughing. At least I'm not nauseous! I think it was the cupcake.
What's worse, is that I had a cold a few weeks ago! I've never gotten sick so often.
Yesterday was a full day of sickness.
I did get to sleep in, to about 10:30am. I got out of bed about 11:30am and cleaned my apartment a bit. I then called my mother, but she wasn't home. Then I fell asleep in my Lazy Boy. I some point, I moved to the couch. I woke up around 3pm, and got up around 3:30pm.
I called my mom again, and she was home, so we talked for awhile. Our weekly chat. I started to get a sinus headache while on the phone.
After that, I had some stew and watched Netflix. I felt like sleeping again, but thought that that would be ridiculous. So I baked no-fat cupcakes. Turns out, I had baked them before and they were gross both times. When they were baking, I went into my office to work on a lecture, but really just checked stuff out online. Then an old friend called, so I got to talk with her. Happy times!
I had to get off of the phone to get ready to go to another friend's house. Since I felt awful (still had that headache, plus the cough and congestion), I took some cold medication. With one of those gross cupcakes. During my shower, I felt worse and worse. When I was all ready, I laid down. Eventually, I texted my friend to say that I couldn't make it. Within 5 minutes I threw up. Ug.
I went back to bed, but kept coughing. I figured that the meds that I'd taken earlier were ejected, I took some Nyquil and watched another episode of Roswell on Netflix. After that, I was able to get to sleep.
I'm feeling better today, but still coughing. At least I'm not nauseous! I think it was the cupcake.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
New Year Completion: 2012 to 2013
My accomplishments, wins, and breakthroughs this year were:
Got a teaching job!!!
Easily completed the Pendleton 5k Mud Run.
Started dating Gary.
My unmet expectations, failures, and breakdowns this year were:
Not getting a job closer to the kids.
Not losing weight.
I learned this year: that I still enjoy teaching.
What am I doing that’s working for me?
Visiting family.
What am I tolerating?
Grading too much.
Skipping workouts, or not working out hard enough.
What am I willing to take responsibility for?
Over-grading.
I would like to acknowledge myself for:
Bravely starting a new job and new life.
The breakthrough that I would like to have next year is: balance grading and the rest of my life.
The judgment, philosophy, or belief that I’m willing to let go of to support that breakthrough is that: I have to read everything.
What I can count on myself for is:
Loving my kids
Intelligence
Humor
Trying
Trying new things
Got a teaching job!!!
Easily completed the Pendleton 5k Mud Run.
Started dating Gary.
My unmet expectations, failures, and breakdowns this year were:
Not getting a job closer to the kids.
Not losing weight.
I learned this year: that I still enjoy teaching.
What am I doing that’s working for me?
Visiting family.
What am I tolerating?
Grading too much.
Skipping workouts, or not working out hard enough.
What am I willing to take responsibility for?
Over-grading.
I would like to acknowledge myself for:
Bravely starting a new job and new life.
The breakthrough that I would like to have next year is: balance grading and the rest of my life.
The judgment, philosophy, or belief that I’m willing to let go of to support that breakthrough is that: I have to read everything.
What I can count on myself for is:
Loving my kids
Intelligence
Humor
Trying
Trying new things
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