It's beginning to look a lot like Solstice

What I'm up to:

Reading:
Lots and lots of little bits of Polisci, trying to find a text for January's class.

Listening to:

Watching:
The Invisible Man videos Joe and Sarah got me for Solstice!  I'd forgotten that the first episode was full of so many squelchy bits, so it wasn't quite Sarah's cup of tea, but we've all been enjoying the episodes since then.  It's a lighthearted, snarky, buddy sorta show, and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy the dynamic between Fawkes and Hobbes.  I'm also amused to see how much Fawkes reminds me of Fraction's Hawkeye.

Doing:
Being on Vacation!  I powered through two anti-procrastination days and got everything but a couple errands (to the bank and post office) off my work GTD list.  I'll be taking care of those two errands this afternoon, and I am not going to think about work again until Monday January 4th (with the exception of doing some reading to prep for classes, but the feeling of happily anticipating an upcoming class is very different from and much more pleasant that the feeling of "oh, geez, I really need to finish up X,Y,and Z paperwork before I can relax".

Eating/Cooking:
Sloppy lentils, lots of chopped salad, some slow-cooked apple spice cake.  I put the cake in a different vessel from usual, because I couldn't find the usual one.  Because of that the top baked really fast and the innards baked really slowly, leading to crunchiness on top and puddingyness further down, after baking it for nearly twice as long as usual. I'm also exploring new tea options, since my source for Irish Breakfast tea went out of business.  She's been selling off her leftover stock, so I've had something to tide me over, but I'm not really thrilled with the last batch (the taste is only a little better than what I'd get from bagged tea and seems as if it's lost a lot of its subtler notes) and I suspect I'm only going to give it one more try before I decide to switch entirely to a new source.  I've ordered a couple samplers from Adagio Teas.  So far their Irish Breakfast tea is not as whimsical or nuanced as I'm looking for.  A lot more like the straightforward punch-in-the-face flavor of English Breakfast, to me.  I also ordered a sampler of fujian baroque, which I haven't yet tried -- it's described as having notes of cocoa, fruitiness and "glimmers of spice", so I'm hoping it may have the whimsy that I'm looking for.

Something that went particularly well, this week:
Powering through a whole lot of work in just two days.  Go me!  Also, our RPG group finally successfully contained the evil space cube we've been tracking for months!

Something that went less well:
I'm not quite 100% -- some combination of exhaustion, dehydration, congestion, reflux, anxiety, and sorrow -- and I'm growing seriously frustrated.

Something I'm grateful for:
My sweet kiddo, who surprised me the other day by cleaning the entire house while I was out having breakfast with friends.  I came home expecting to need to spend a couple hours cleaning for the afternoon's RPG and instead walked in the door to an almost totally tidy house.  She's such a sweetie, and I'm extremely grateful.

Something I'm thinking about:
Something totally superficial -- I noticed when I was out with friends that they were all dressed in classic examples of their own styles, and I was dressed in a grubby old coat that had been Joe's for years until it stopped coming clean in the wash (and then I started wearing it when my old coat gave out and I couldn't be bothered to go shopping for a new one), a tshirt that I wear when all the stuff I love is in the wash (one of those "it's clean, it fits, and it's civilized (read: doesn't have any rude or snarky sayings printed on it)" shirts), and a pair of jeans that have seen better days.  I have no real style of my own right now, for a variety of reasons, and it's starting to affect my outlook and the way I carry myself.   So I've decided to challenge myself -- as soon as I rack up 100 hours of exercise and ruthlessly clear out my closets, I will take myself on a truly indulgent shopping spree to refill those closets with a (modest) wardrobe I genuinely love.  I can buy a handful of pieces before that if I genuinely need them, but the big wardrobe overhaul won't happen until mid-Spring, going by my exercise schedule when I'm on track (which I haven't been since Summer, hence the challenge).

Something I'm looking forward to:
Christmas Eve with my family.  It won't be quite like the old days, but almost everyone I was hoping to see will be able to make it, and just the thought of it warms and cheers me.

What I'm up to:

Reading:
I have no idea if this is insane or part of a radical (for me) retreat, but I gathered up about a dozen books, this afternoon, that I'd would really love to finish before the end of the year.  They're all pretty short, and I have a lot of free time between now and January 1st, so it's certainly doable as long as I keep remembering that my intention is to spend most of the next 3 weeks reading.  The first book is Ex Libris (yet again) because I didn't quite finish making it all the way through the essays, last time, and if I don't finish it I don't feel right including it on my list of books read that year.

Listening to:

Watching:

This silly thing:

Doing:
Getting ready for the end of the year.  Making a capture list for those work and home tasks that would be really lovely to be able to cross off before January gets here.  Trying out different ways of keeping in touch with folks that don't involve FB.

Eating/Cooking:
White bean stew over egg noodles.  Biscuits and gravy with eggs.

Something that went particularly well, this week:
I have a collaborative craft project that I feel quite sentimental about, and I'm especially enjoying playing with that this week.  I'm also appreciating the way weaving layer upon layer of that project has helped me to see how I might weave layer upon layer of peace upon and throughout my life.  Has helped me see how I might begin to experience the layering of Peace as delightful and gratifying, instead of falling into experiencing it as drudgery or deprivation.

Something that went less well:
Bits of the week were rough.  We wound up needing to cancel a bunch of plans, this weekend, because various members of the household were under the weather.

Something I'm grateful for:
It's getting repetitive, I know, but I'm grateful for my little family and my safe little home.

Something I'm thinking about:
Where to best put my volunteer/activist resources.  What can we do to nudge the world back in the direction of compassion, lovingkindness, inclusivity, live-and-let-live?

Something I'm looking forward to:

Winter Break.  My winter break readathon.  Singing with friends on Friday, singing with my family at Christmas.

The main thing I'm doing right now is getting off FB for awhile.  The constant shrill headlines, no matter how I try to adjust and manage my newsfeed, are just too much.  When I want to read news I go to news sites -- that's not what I'm looking for when I go somewhere wanting to be social with my friends.

For the moment I'm getting my online social needs met through a bunch of different sites -- goodreads for book reviews and discussions, sparkpeople for folks to check in with for fitness and health goals, mindbloom for GTD lists.  Since I have no friends over at mindbloom at the moment, though, it's not quite what I'm looking for.  I like being companionably chatty throughout the day, kvetching about my task list or celebrating when I've gotten something done.  I tried shifting one of my main support networks off FB but I suspect it's not going to work out. I imagine something will emerge to meet that need for online chatty connection, or else I'll find/create another way to meet it, maybe offline.  

What I'm up to:

Reading:
Still nothing much. A little fanfic. A little neuroscience, a little polisci. Mostly pausing -- happily anticipating sinking into lots of reading, this Winter. Contemplating my gorgeous piles of books to be read.
(note on NaNoWriMo: I did not come close to finishing a novel. But in this last month I've written more of this story I've been carrying around in my heart than I had in the last several years.)

Listening to:
I've been listening a *lot* of this:

In Glee Club I let the kids choose the songs we sing, and one of them really, really wants to sing this at our winter concert. So, since it's proving almost impossible to get the melody to stick in my head, I'm listening to this song over and over. And *over*.



Watching:
Lots of Top Chef.

Doing:
Shopping. We spent some anniversary money on a new storage structure for the kitchen, and filled in spaces in our winter wardrobes. Exchanging St. Nicholas Day stockings.

Eating/Cooking:
Black Bean Meatball Subs. Vegetable Potpie (we ate a hell of a lot of it, last weekend, and it was really, really good).

Something that went particularly well, this week:
Neuroscience class. A game of Werewolf.

Something that went less well:
The reflux is through the roof, right now, as is the anxiety. I have a plan for fixing those things, but I need to figure out how to keep myself on track.

Something I'm grateful for:
My little family. My safe little home.

Something I'm thinking about:
A programming project I want to take on.

Something I'm looking forward to:
Getting the kitchen thoroughly cleaned and reorganized.