Loose ends

I've been at really loose ends the last few days. The situation with the people I usually refer to as "my stalkers" or "my fanboiz/fangirlz" has come to a quite unexpected conclusion; turns out the ex-mental patient was stalking her own sister (while lots of the people involved were falsely accusing me and a bunch of my friends of doing it). Two of the people involved have apologized to me for misdeeds, which I have accepted. It's a relief, but still weird.

I was running a bit late this morning and had a comedy of errors getting to church. I had to use the bathroom just as I needed to leave. The car was iced over and I had to sit and wait for it to defrost. Lots of people were driving very slowly (I got stuck behind a bus - whoda thunk the buses would be running at 8 am Sunday?) and then stuck in SF because a marathon was running up Pine Street. I did manage to slip in just before the Gospel so I wasn't "too late".

Had trouble giving over for one person still doggedly accusing me. Struggled with it all during the sermon and it was "back" later. St. Francis gave me my answer when I made my circuit around the cathedral after services - "Lord, make me an instrument of your peace." I will be working on that, to be sure.

It was a beautiful day, I got my plate back from B., and I went to Lush. Got some perfumed "Ginger" soap and it is making the office smell so good. Got a new bra at VS (definitely needed). Had a bath with a bath bomb. Ordered some things online. But I have been futzing around since I got home. Will study some (REALLY) and do some minor cooking - grate cheese for enchiladas (I can probably make them tomorrow) and bake salmon for my lunch. Not having the enchiladas last week did create Food Crises, and probably wasn't good for my concentration.

Stop me before I edit again!

I made some major rearrangements in the paper today. After I had zipped the file (which I thought was the final step). Several times. Each time saying "THIS is the LAST". I only tore myself away because I had to go to my acupuncture appointment. But I think it looks really great now. It does hang together and transition WELL IMO and I was worried about transitions. I also rearranged my introductory paragraph to fit how the paper actually developed. MUCH better now. This may be the difference between a bare pass and something much better, although a pass will do.

And I have to stop because I sent it. Mind you, I didn't see the item in Sent Items, so I will resend tomorrow. But I won't edit it, even if I find something else. Of course I was worried about "did I footnote or reference enough". Arrgh, arrrgh, arrrgh. But it reminded me of college when I did my last draft at the typewriter, which is why it took me so long to type a paper. (Back in those days it was typewriter, too. I have to wonder what I would have done with the Wonders of Word Processing (tm).)

I guess I'm almost back on track after two very worrying days (car accident and layoff fears).

If A. is reading this she is probably laughing her butt off.

Update

Well, it's gonna take two whole weeks for my car to get fixed. Yikes!! I was thinking maybe three days! I am glad I didn't decide to be brave and public transit it, especially since the insurance is paying. Estimated cost of repairs is a significant fraction of Blue Book value for my car ($4400 vs. $5600 low blue book - although my car goes up to about $8K for high blue book).

It's weird driving around town in a car that's NOT MINE. I rent cars frequently but I am Somewhere Else when I do it.

But I'm mobile again. (And spoiled by having a car. There is a lot I can do with public transit or shank's mare but I am used to roaming around. If it were summer with good weather likely and longer sunlight I might have foregone the rental. Although two weeks would be tough.)

A friend of mine had been sideswiped on the freeway before I had my accident, and another friend slipped and fell on an icy NYC sidewalk, so I'm hoping the "bad luck comes in threes" has been satisfied and everyone else is safe.

I also am almost done with the pretty-much-final revisions on the paper. I accepted A's changes and made some of my own. About the only thing I really need to do is login to my class account and write the title properly. I also want to print it out and eyeball it.

Urgh

Got in a car crash last night. Not my fault, and I both walked and drove away from it. Back is mildly tweaked, front right of car is smashed in.

Insurance and everyone has been Very Helpful but it has wrecked my concentration.

Good news was that A. said my paper was great and she had only minor suggestions. I think I'll deal with the body work and rental car and then come back to Edit.

I also left the pan of chicken enchiladas out overnight, so they will need to be trashed. Bummer, they were good.

Oh, Purr

Ever since Maya-cat recovered from her near Brush With Death, she's become an indoor cat. After the initial recovery period, she rarely went further than the back steps, and I got in the habit of setting my kitchen timer for 8 minutes (after which she would usually be back in).

But between time passing and the nice sunny weather we've had a bit of recently, she has been wanting out a lot and staying out longer.

Today I went on an eggroll expedition and left her lazing on her side in the sun on the back landing. I didn't have the heart to drag her in, and didn't want to leave the back door open (it's perfectly safe, but ...). She was happy to come back in but she seems to be more back to her old "indoor outdoor" self.

A Lush Life

Well, there was some conversation from the Brits on the Ship about Lush, which started me spinning my brain cells. And I am one of the few Americans with a store within easy striking distance ... so it called out my name as I was doing Christmas shopping.

I've been back. I bought bath bombs. They are great.

I'm exhausted from spending about seven hours yesterday trying to do the almost-final revision of the paper, and I had to work this morning. So into the tub I will go, even though I should really be having a shower instead to wash my hair.

Home stretch

I did four drafts of the paper in about as many days, and then had to take a couple of days off. Right now I am getting my fingers warmed up for typing since I think this is both the final draft and the place where I footnote it. Happily the sun is shining so I can spread the sources out in the living room and mark up the paper copy. Spent about half an hour yesterday tracking down URLs (to be cut-and-paste).

This is the one time I wish I had a printer at the house. I am wondering if I have a disk around to go off and print it at the copy shop. Maybe I could email it to myself (again).

Okay, time to stop procrastinating!

Modern Times

I learned that a net.pal of mine had gone into labor when I did my daily check of her blog. This is feeling very modern.

She doesn't have wireless so I don't think we'll be getting updates from the recovery room. Heh.

In other news I did the first draft of my paper for my certification yesterday. YAY ME!

Happy New Year

Well, I sat down on NYD to blog some, but apparently lots of people had the same idea. Had a nice, restful (if somewhat wet) octave of Christmas. Got some cool presents. Had a lovely time with parents at Christmas and with friends on NY (party, and "The Return of the King"). Am feeling better and drinking coffee! And I have even studied some for my exams today! That feels good to not procrastinate. I will do some more in a bit, then go off and run some errands. The sun is shining and the housecleaners are coming tomorrow.

This RotK parody pretty well sums that movie up, although I very much enjoyed all of the parts that didn't have Mordor scenery or scary orcs and spiders in them. Why didn't I make the explicit connection between the Rohirrim and the Norsemen before? Visuals help on some of this. Of course I hadn't given Tolkien much thought for the last thirty years - found out recently that he had lived in Edgbaston, Birmingham, where I attended university for a year.