Why does food hate me?

So I was at the doctor a couple weeks ago and she ordered some blood work to be done because I’m having some erratic issues with food (also a puffy thyroid). I’ve yet to get said blood work drawn given my dislike for sharp needles and things being removed from my body that have every right to be there. (I swear I’m going!) We’ve determined I’m lactose intolerant and should reduce my cheese intake by 85%. 85%!?! Are you kidding me!?! I don’t think I have that in me. It also seems that I am intolerant to refined sugar; which is in practically everything. I’m told- “everything in moderation”.

Yesterday I thought that I would try a no-wheat (also something that may be the culprit) no-dairy day. I started the morning with green tea. For lunch I decided on sushi and fresh grapes. Did you know that Soy Sauce has wheat in it!?! Yeah, neither did I! So of course I got mad at myself for not reading the ingredient list before I started eating and already screwing up my first day of my diet experiment. So I had lasagna for dinner. I haven’t done the diet experiment today at all.

This Quiet is Deafening

My head is filled with noise about what I should do with myself today, tomorrow, for the rest of my life. All this noise is canceling itself out and leaving me in silence. I lack motivation. I lack energy. I lack care. I’ve been sitting on my sofa wasting away nights like some slob. What the hell?

I’m not depressed- get over yourselves my little amateur Psychologists. I’m actually quite happy. I am in love with a wonderful man, we just purchased a fantastic condo in an amazing location in my favorite city. I’m just, I don’t know. Bored. Can you be bored when you’re so busy?

I think I’m pissed off that Fall completely bypassed us this year. Fall ALWAYS makes me happy. It always puts me in the right place before the city slowly slips into its 4 month hibernation. The leaves have barely changed and they are already falling off the trees. I’m wearing gloves outside and broke down the other day and even wore a hat. I NEED my Fall. I need pumpkins, crisp leaves on the ground, bright oranges and reds in the tree tops. I need sweater and jeans (minus the coat) weather. I can’t do 6 months of winter. I’m already feeling the onset of cabin fever!

M and I still have stuff to do to the condo. I think that once we start decorating I’ll feel better about being trapped inside. We still have some painting to do, blinds to hang, pictures to frame. Once the inside feels like us I’ll be happier. Right now it feels too institutional. I’ll post pictures soon…

Hello all! So this is just a test run to see how this whole blogging from your phone works...

Wow

So it's been awhile...

Um so I'm on vacation right now (Oregon Tail yo!) and you can check out the adventure on M.'s page here: Strang place.

I will be updating again upon my return...

Cha-Cha-Changes

Hello my dedicated readers. I imagine you were about at your wits end coming to this page time after time and seeing no updates at all. I know my life is so riveting it gets you through the day and I apologize but grad school is back to kicking my ass and I really haven’t had that much to update you guys on until now.

First- I got promoted out of retail!!!! That’s right- I am the new Graduate Advisor for Digital Filmmaking & Video Production and Visual Effects & Motion Graphics at my school. I am super excited about this amazing opportunity. I have a background in film studies so I am very happy to be getting back into that field. I will have opportunities to meet with people in the industry and learn all the tools that the industry is using today. I will start sometime in Mid-October.

Second- I’m moving. We found a beautiful little 2-flat in a quiet little neighborhood in Albany Park and will be moving in for October 1st. I am very excited about our new place that offers us much more space and both inside and out.

So right now I have 2 weeks to pack up the whole apartment, balance that with this group project for school that is taking over my life, train the person who takes over my current position and get trained for my new position. Joy. Top that off with the nasty cold I’m battling right now and I’ve got a lot on my plate. But I am super excited about all these changes and can’t wait to get settled in to my new pad and new job.

Life is a highway...I want to ride it...

In a three-folds effort to get my relatively inactive ass in shape, justify having the things I have, and saving some money I have started riding my bike to work. As much as I’d like you all to think of me as inexpiably hardcore I must confess it’s only about 3-4 miles from my apartment to work. It’s still a workout and my ass can tell you- it’s a brutal one.

The first stage of my biking commute began with me announcing to multiple people that I was considering it. The second stage consisted of internet research. I searched for bike routes, proper hand signals, rules of the road, etc. Plotted my course through the concrete jungle. Stage three took me on a walking tour of my proposed course. I investigated road conditions, amount of hills, traffic patterns. Stage four was an experiment in endurance. Stage five- execution.

I have always been fascinated by the elite group of “bikers” on the roads around Chicago. Diving in and around traffic. Disobeying all traffic laws. Seemingly having no care for their physical safety. I would love to say that I’m one of these daredevil speedsters on the road but alas this is me were talking about. I ride kind of slow with my powder blue helmet and cushioned gloves. My bike chain makes an awful grinding sound and only one brake works the way it should. If I can get this to become a habit I will invest in getting my bike fixed and maybe add a few accessories and such but for now my crooked handle bars and me will forge ahead through the concrete jungle and take on the world.

Strangers On A Train

Tonight was one of those nights that the air hits you like a wall after you step out of your freezing office for the day. The air was so thick it was hard to breath. I was instantly sweaty, instantly tired, and instantly annoyed. I slinked onto the platform bench and excitingly slipped my hand into my bag and produced my latest weakness… The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I fan out the pages and skim my fingers across the edges inhaling that wonderful fragrance paperback novels give off. I’m instantly unaware of everything around me and absorbed again in 1970’s Afghanistan. I look up when I feel the rush of air across my face as the Brown Line pulls into the station.

On board the train I rest my back against the windowed wall that divides the entryway from the sitting passengers. As any responsible city commuter does, I survey my fellow train passengers when my eyes come to rest on a familiar gray-green paperback tucked under an arm of a middle-aged man in a blue dress shirt. The man stands directly across from me and I’m filled with a mixture of childish excitement and reserve. I manage to fumble out something like “book-same” followed by a unnecessary nervous giggle. Seeing confusion spread across his face I instantly hold my book up and feel the smile stretch my cheeks. His face… priceless. Unadulterated excitement.

There was an explosion of animated, childlike enthusiasm between us. We started talking over each other, interrupting one another unable to contain our composure wanting to express our impressions of the book, how we couldn’t put it down, how it was one of the best novels we’d read in some time. He was much further into the novel than me and I could see the anguish on his face as he tried to edit himself. He kept repeating “I won’t give anything away… so much happens!”

After heated conversation and two stops on the train we smiled at each other and dove back into our books. When my stop came and I slowly reacquainted myself with where I was I glanced up at my fellow bookworm and we both whispered “enjoy” with a meaningful smile. I stepped off the train and reentered that sticky, hot air this time blissfully unaware.