Friday Night, Yeah

I am afraid to check and see how often I have written here, "I'm tired", "I'm so tired", and the like.

Oh, all right, here's a hint. When I search my published posts for "tired", it brings up 131 results*. Out of 1121. And while a few of those may be referring to something other than my own energy levels ... well, it's doubtful. I don't spend much time writing about how a current trend is just tired. So there we are.

*"Exhausted" only gets ten, and "fatigue" two. I guess I'm pretty dedicated to "tired".

Anyway! I stopped for groceries on my way home, and after powering around the store, and hauling it all upstairs, I think a little fatigue is not surprising. I wanted to show you one of the things I bought, since it falls into the category of "Didn't Know It Existed, But Now I Must Have It". I was buying more spaghetti for the next time I make spaghetti pie, and look at this:


Pre-broken spaghetti! It's probably all sorts of wrong to serious fans of Italian food, but I'm delighted. No longer must I choose between breaking the spaghetti by hand (which is hard on the hands) and having it clump up, and have to be cut in the casserole. It's the little things. Speaking of which, as long as the pasta was on sale, I went for fun, too:


Just call me easily amused.

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I'm working away on the second sock in the raspberry yarn. I do like the stitch definition of this yarn: the pattern shows up nice and clear. I briefly hated the yarn when I had that problem that I tried to fix by dropping down two stitches, then by ripping the whole thing back a few rounds. The yarn seemed to un-twist into multiple strands, and was a bitch to get back on the needles (not that fixing mistakes is my forte; how many of my knitting disaster stories start out, "I saw a mistake I made a few rows back, and tried to fix it by..."? But this was extreme). Once I got it straight again, though, it's been fine.

Still, my feelings for the yarn are "like", not "love", so I'll be interested, when this one is done, to move on to the Socks That Rock lightweight. I loved the mediumweight: how will the lightweight compare?

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Light therapy update: I can not say that I found it easy to get up this morning, but! It was not as impossible as it has been recently. In the last few weeks, I've been abusing the snooze button, hitting it several times and falling desperately back to sleep at once each time. This morning I didn't want to get up, but I did, and before the alarm went off again. It's an improvement. Could still be a coincidence. I haven't noticed any other changes in health or mood or energy. Further updates as events warrant.

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And how are the cats doing with the expanded perch area, you ask?

Well, there's been some of this:


And some of this:


So far, so good.

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In conclusion, I'm not sure if The Awl is a "real" newspaper, or is more like The Onion, but I adore their headline about the engagement of Prince William:

Unemployed English Girl to Wed Soldier from Welfare Family

A Little of This, A Little of That

The Bruins held on last night to win over the Rangers, and came into tonight's game against the Panthers with that little 2-game winning streak I was hoping for. It amuses me that both Tyler Seguin and Mark Recchi scored, since Recchi, who I believe is the oldest player in the NHL right now*, came into the league in 1988-89, while Seguin was born in 1992. Yet they're playing together quite well. Funny game, hockey.

*He's older than I am! Long may he reign; it will be a dark day for me when there aren't any players in the NHL older than I am.

They're up 1-0 after 2 periods, but not playing well enough for my comfort. We shall see.

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I mentioned on Sunday that I ordered a therapy light, to try to counteract the oh-shit-winter-dark-cold-doom-doooooooooommmmm feelings that come over me at this time of year. It actually arrived on Tuesday, much to my surprise*, since the free-super-saver-shipping said it would take 5 to 8 days or so. Anyway, I charged it and set it up, and started using it Wednesday morning. I don't want to overdo it, so I'm using the recommended "dosage" of half-power and 15 minutes**, and will see how it affects me, if at all, before I up anything.

*Not that I'm unhappy about how fast it came. Just, you know, surprised.
**Which fits neatly into my "reading the paper, with breakfast" slot on the schedule

It's early days yet, though I will say I had less trouble getting up this morning than I have had recently. Could be a coincidence, of course.

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Most days, there are two women working together in the cube next to mine. I don't know who they are, or even what department they're in, but by the very nature of working together, they are talking much of the time. It can be a little annoying, though I understand these things happen in office environments, and after all I love my MP3 player for this reason among others.

Still. A few things that cross my mind:

• Making an effort to talk quietly is appreciated, but one person shushing the other is surprisingly even more distracting than speaking loudly. Ssssshhhh!
• Having your cell phone on at work is not my favorite thing. Not answering it promptly is just rude. Particularly when your subsequent conversations do not sound critical ("Have you looked in the closet?"), and yes I am judging your conversation. I wouldn't if I couldn't hear it, hint hint.
• Putting your phone on vibrate is one of those things that seems like it's being considerate, but you know, I can hear it going bzzzz-bzzzz on the desk. Over and over.
  
• If that was your lunch you were eating at 2:30 one afternoon, while working, then I sympathize. But your talking with your mouth full is something I could do without hearing (MP3 to the rescue again), and the strong odor of vinegar drifting into my desk area had me thinking longingly of nose plugs.
  

Not very professional, I think.

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My mother arrives 4 weeks from tomorrow for Christmas. Wow! As a kid, it seemed that the time from Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas was endless, but not these days. Zoom! Whoosh!