The last 30 days

In reverse chronological order:

1. I turned 30.
2. I went to a wedding in St. Louis.
3. My mom had a lumpectomy, which went well. Next will probably be some radiation and then hopefully we will hear no more from this cancer.
4. I started a new job at my old employer. And I got my own office. With a door (but no windows...).
5. I went to a wedding in Las Vegas.
6. I started teaching freshman comp at the university where I recently completed my master's.
7. I flew to Salt Lake City for 36 hours to see my grandfather.
8. Bill started teaching. 
9. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.
10. My 94 year-old grandfather's health took a significant turn for the worse. 
11. Bill and I went to San Francisco for the Stein exhibits at SFMOMA and the Contemporary Jewish Museum.

Here's hoping the next month 30 days are a little less eventful (I haven't watched a teen drama for weeks!). But hooray for weddings and birthdays and museums and new jobs at museums. And especially hooray for good friends and fiances.

DIY Success!

I have successfully replicated an internet DIY project. While I have had much success with following cooking instructions on the internet, I have not attempted craft projects of any kind.

While some might argue that toenail painting is, in fact, not a craft project, I will respectfully disagree. Toenail painting is painting on a small, wiggly surface. To someone so remedial in the finer motor skills, to someone who was forced to practice her cursive S's in the hallway because she could not slant them like her other letters, this is an enormous accomplishment.

This morning, I encountered this DIY tutorial via the Martha Stewart Weddings Twitter. This weekend I thought often that I should change my toenail polish, so, this being a Monday morning of underemployment, I decided to listen to some tunes and go at it. I have to be honest, my little piggies look pretty sweet. Thus, I offer to you their likeness.

I won't even tell you how much time I spent running around my apartment figuring out the best place to capture them via cell phone camera. And, OK, I know I colored a bit outside of the lines, but I think this bodes well for future wedding-related crafts.

Yikes

If it's not bad enough that I've spent much of the summer catching up on the oeuvre of ABC Family and the CW, now, while watching Switched at Birth, I've developed a crush on a teenager. And unlike my crush on the smokin' hot Tim Riggins of Friday Night Lights, this teenager is an actual teenager. Born in 1993. Like my... students? Eww. Let's not go there.

But, yes, Sean Berdy, deaf star of not-that-lame, set-in-my-hometown Switched at Birth, you are my new teen drama crush. 

Confession

I'm unemployed, and I spend my mornings checking the websites of the twenty-one places I've identified as worthy potential employers and periodically sending off a CV.

And watching Make It or Break It.

Yes. That is the teen gymnastics program on ABC Family. With Candace Cameron always yammering on about abstinence and God. But people are always doing flips! Off the uneven bars! And bouncing around on the floor like springs. I love it when people fly. Even if they are all stunt doubles. OK, and there is so much drama. And gymnastic competitions and backstabbing and everything that makes for exceptional teen programming. Except sex. Only evil rich girl is doing it and that's seemingly meant to be one of her myriad character flaws.

And before that, I watched Vampire Diaries. The whole first season went by and not a single person smiled. It was amazing.

I can't imagine what I would be doing if I had cable. Probably watching What Not to Wear.

Oh, and, I cry while watching Make It or Break It. Only a little, only sometimes.

Goals for the rest of the summer

1) Finish The Corrections. Which is tedious, but should be done. I am 3/4 of the way done, so best soldier on.
2) Develop an opinion about Miranda July.
3) Start working on my oft-declared goal of being about to do the splits by the time I am 30.
4) Lesson-plan. Which means doing some truly odious reading.
5) Run more than three miles. Not sure how long is reasonable to shoot for, but I did agree to train for a 10k with a friend of mine who recently had a baby. Since I've been running 2.5-3 miles on a regular basis for most of the summer, I decided to take the incentive to run longer. But I think running a race sounds like about the lamest thing on the planet, and since I've vowed never to trust people who tell me to add protein powder to anything, I doubt you, imagined reader, race runner, and protein-powder eater, could persuade me otherwise. Still, it is important to try the things you think you hate, even if that just means you end up more resolute in your contempt.
6) Eat more salad.
7) Do something fun that involves leaving Los Angeles. Probably after mi amor finishes his qualifying exams in August. And before I have to start the school year in mid-August. I suppose a weekend getaway is all we will be able to muster up. But maybe that will be the time to check out all the Gertrude Stein activity in SF.


OK, 7 seems like a reasonable number. I should probably come up with something wedding-related to do, but I'm not sure what that should be, so I won't think about it.

I win! I'm grand!

This blog is the number one search result on google for "I'm grand."

I'm thrilled. I loved it when the Irish peeps would say, "I'm grand, thanks, and you?" I loved it so much I blogged about it, and now, the internet gods have seen fit to grant me a spot at the top of the google charts.

Grandly,
Ruth

Summers actually are for reality television

1995, the summer before 8th grade. Otherwise known as the summer I spent weeks at a time watching MTV, the year of Alanis Morrisette's Jagged Little Pill & TLC's "Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls." Ahh, Buzz Clips. And the year I caught up on the first four seasons of the Real World.

Now I have about 16 years of reality television to catch up on, minus the many hours I spent in college watching Elimidate (it feels wrong to italicize that program, but I did it anyway). 

This summer has been the summer of Say Yes to the Dress, Teen Mom, and 16 & Pregnant. I see that Toddlers & Tiaras is on Netflix, too, so no doubt I'll explore that. Oh, look, I just pushed play.

And to make sure I remain high in your esteem: summers are also for reading. So far, I've read Edwidge Dandicatt's The Dew Breakers, Marilynne Robinson's Gilead, The Fug Girls' Spoiled, Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer, Morrison's Song of Solomon, the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy, and two wedding books (Offbeat Bride & Miss Manners). I'm currently reading The Corrections, and I'm pretty sure I forgot a book or two. Granted, not highest of brows on display here, but summer is not about Tristram Shandy or Paradise Lost, though last summer certainly was.

Triumph, and, a possible perk of unemployment

Just took my first run since the thyroidectomy, and it was shockingly easier than expected. I was slower than usual, but I did not find myself watching the clock (I've been following the couch to 5k plan for the last couple of months to get back in the running habit and I typically know exactly how much longer I have for each interval at any given point during my run).

For one, I was pleased to learn that I could actually run slower. I typically shuffle along, running a 9 minute mile regardless of what point I am at during my run (note-- I have never attempted to run more than 30 minutes or so and I'm sure that would change if I went on longer).  But today I only covered 2.44 miles and it took 35 minutes-- 18 minutes of running and 17, walking. Usually I'd squeeze nearly an extra mile out of that time. Alas, I ran slowly with nary and it was easy and pleasant, so I'm happy.

But best of all was the fact that I contentedly listened to the podcast without looking at my iPod every 30 seconds. This I attribute to the aforementioned unemployment. Yesterday I baked this apple cake and was startled when the timer went off after 20 minutes, having felt only a few of those pass. Today I ran my first 5 minute interval without looking at my iPod even once. Okay, I looked once but that was in amazement when I realized I had to be almost done. And I was.


Whoa.

A life update

So, apparently it's been over a year since I updated this blog. How bizarre.

I started a wedding planning tumblr. Yes, Bill and I are engaged. After 11 years of dating, and 7 of cohabitation. Despite our long ago commitment to each other, it is exciting.

Not sure what the point of resuscitating this blog is, exactly. Probably there is no point, except that I am under-programmed these days and have plenty of free time. Do I have any readers left? Will this show up on someone's RSS or whatever? Who knows!

Alas, I felt the urge to update. I got engaged, finished my master's, and got my thyroid out all in under a month. That month came to a close last Monday. Now I am effectively unemployed-- or at least, massively under-employed.

And I have my first job interview on Monday. And I realized, when pondering what to wear, that the suit I have was purchased in 2005, that I haven't gone on a job interview since 2007. So this weekend, I will figure out what to wear (not the suit-- it's too big now, anyway).

I wish I had not made this realization, as between 2004 and 2007, I went on dozens of interviews. I was a pro. Until I realized I hadn't had one in over four years, I felt pretty relaxed about the whole endeavor.

Alas, now I must put together an outfit, one that involves a scarf (which is itself a challenge) and thus disguises the falling off and crusty Steristrips that cover my surgical wound. Wish me luck.