Author: Heather Meadows

You know, I think the desk thing is just peripheral. I was also very emotional this morning when I watched the first episode of Full Moon wo Sagashite again–during Mitsuki’s song, I started crying. Of course, that was a good kind of emotion, but still.

There is one thing I’m upset about in general that may be affecting my emotional state, and that is this: if I had realized I had Monday off sooner, I could have gone to Kentucky this weekend. I could have seen my family on my birthday weekend!

But as it is, I’ve already made plans to have a birthday party on Sunday and agreed to feed my in-laws’ dog (the one who lives outside, not the pampered pomeranians) and water their plants while they’re in Charlotte for NASCAR. So I’m basically stuck here this weekend, and I’m feeling stupid for not thinking about the existence of paid holidays sooner.

On the bright side, I don’t have to go in to 2go-Box until Tuesday (my birthday), and Robert says he’ll buy me breakfast. So I guess that’s cool; I’ll have a nice day of rest on Memorial Day, and free food never hurts.

Still, I can tell you that I am totally having a quarter pounder for lunch today.

Just as I had gotten settled in at my desk, I’m told that we’ll probably be moving my desk so that a door behind it can be opened, to facilitate people coming into my office through that door to talk to us rather than going around the hall. Either these people will either be talking right over my desk, or the right part of my L shaped desk will have to be removed from the office so they can get in.

I don’t want people talking over me, so if I have to I guess I’ll halve my desk.

I guess it’s not really a big deal, but for some reason I’m finding it very upsetting.

I’ve been going to the Riverwalk a lot lately, and I haven’t been good about blogging about it, so today, while I was there, I called in an audiopost to get you up to speed. Hopefully I’ll have some pictures uploaded tonight.

My Wings DVDs have shipped! What a nice birthday present :)

Two seasons for $30 is a great price. It looks like the first season is pretty short, but still. Given what they’re charging for seasons of Monk, I consider myself lucky. Hopefully none of the cast members will become freakishly popular and drive up the price of the next set (like Teri Hatcher did with Lois & Clark–sheesh!).

Reading the synopsis of the first two seasons of Wings, I was surprised by a couple of things. First, I’d forgotten that Brian was married to Carol, who had been dating Joe. (What’s with ex-wives named Carol?) And second, Megan Mullally (of Will & Grace fame) is “the town tramp”. I immediately thought, “Bunny? Lowell’s wife? She doesn’t look like Megan Mullally, does she?” But it’s not her; Bunny’s played by Laura Innes, and Mullally plays a woman named Cindy in one episode. Regardless, it’ll be funny to see Mullally in Wings.

I can’t wait to see the original Helen Chappell (I swear that’s how her name is spelled, despite what Amazon and the IMDb say), the smart, funny, beautiful woman who is passionate about her music. Towards the end of the series she seemed to forget she ever played the cello. (I actually once made a webpage about how stupid Helen became in later seasons…)

Episode 9 of Haruhi is going to be episode 14. o_o

I’m starting to wonder if they’re actually planning on filling in the gaps or not.

By the way, I was right about what was really going on on the island! Yay! (Kyon was hilarious.)

But what was with Koizumi staring at Kyon’s mole at the end? That was vaguely disturbing/gross. I can only imagine that 1) it’s not really a mole or 2) moles mean something…maybe Koizumi was lying when he told Kyon he was a normal human.

Or maybe Koizumi just has a thing for Kyon, and he was thinking, “Aww, how cute, he has a mole behind his ear.”

Eww.

Last night I dreamed I got on a scale and it said I weighed 320 pounds.

It was so upsetting. :>

I don’t normally wake up right away from my upsetting dreams, or if I do I don’t remember it…instead I seem to go on to something else. So I didn’t remember the dream until I started getting ready for my day.

I hopped onto the scale just in case.

I’ve been maintaining, but I’m maintaining an all-time high weight (assuming I wasn’t higher during my first year of college, which is possible). I really don’t want to go above this. I’d really rather go down. But my eating habits have been so unhealthy due to my schedule…it’s hard to get up the gumption to cook a meal when you’ve been at work until 7 or 7:30 or 8 at night.

I just need to plan better and get my dinner prep done in the morning. I know this, I just haven’t done it.

I also haven’t been packing lunch like I should. I’m getting tired of Healthy Choice dinners, yogurt, granola bars, and raisins, so I tend to go out for lunch several times a week.

And the exercise just isn’t there.

If I don’t want to be unhealthy for the rest of my life, I need to start doing something.

It seems like a lot has happened lately, and I don’t remember it all to write it down.

This morning I took 520 to work, just to be different. As my car trundled up Knox Avenue I thought that this was the only way to travel, in an old car with the window rolled down and the wind blowing my hair everywhere. I wanted to be in a pickup truck, an old banged up truck with no air conditioning–and I thought that trucks nowadays are too much like cars. They don’t feel real anymore.

I wanted to be heading out on a trip, to a lake, to somewhere where I could enjoy the hot sun and cool breeze.

But instead I went to work, and it was okay.

I am itching to go somewhere, though. I may try to plan an overnight trip to Charleston with Brooke soon.

Brooke and I went to The Bee’s Knees tonight and had four different tapas: goat cheese bruschetta, crab cakes, crab and artichoke dip, and samosas. After that we each had a ridiculously expensive creme brulee. It was all so delicious.

Brooke suggested we try some wine, so we each ordered a glass. And I didn’t like it. I really do not like the taste of alcohol, it seems. It could be psychological, a reaction drawn from my avoidance of alcohol for so much of my life. But maybe I just honestly don’t like the taste.

That would be kind of a load off my mind, I think. It would mean that I don’t drink because I don’t like to, not because I’m afraid to.

I’ve taken quite a few pictures lately that I need to get posted. Yesterday I went to Riverwalk during my lunchbreak and took all kinds of shots. It was pretty hot out, but the lighting wasn’t too bad in the shade. I’m not sure where all the other pictures on my camera were taken…I need to download them and find out.

But for now, I’m headed to bed. I’m too tired to deal with it :)

I will mention that I finished off Touch before work this morning. I love that series so much. It’s a nice ending; it ties things together without being final. But as I’ve mentioned before, I’m not sure I want to see the movies. I think the series’ ending is enough of a conclusion for me.

There’s a new episode of Good Witch of the West out, and I’m getting it now. I’ve found myself looking forward to seeing what happens next in this show more than any other lately; maybe I have a new favorite.

I doubt anything will ever match Kyou Kara Maou, though.

Ever have one of those days that feels like nothing more than a jumbled collection of missteps?

MySpace is okay…I like how customizable it is (which I’m presuming based on Spaces I’ve seen, not that I’ve actually done anything in particular with mine). But I hate the fact that the blog archives are so inaccessible. Why can’t they implement a nice sidebar menu with categories and dates? I’m pretty sure nobody copyrighted that layout ;P

While perusing this blog today, I came across the following:

I was at the urinal one afternoon this week when I felt the urge to release a bilabial fricative.

XD

Our new apartment is so much better with heat than the one at Springhouse. Part of it is because our windows don’t get direct sunlight; in front we’ve got stairs blocking most of them, and in back we’ve got a deck above us, and the sun doesn’t rise and set directly across from our windows, either. Part of it is being on the ground floor; hot air rises and cool air settles, and I imagine the apartment above us blocks the sun’s heat for us–and when they run their air conditioner, it helps us out too. Part of it is just that these apartments are newer than Springhouse; they’ve likely got better insulation, and it’s obvious that the windows are much nicer.

What that all boils down to is this: it’s 90 degrees out, but I have no need to run the air conditioner.

I love it!

Today has been pretty good so far. I met with a client this morning (the one who lives in a mansion), and that project is going smoothly. Afterwards I checked out Fury’s Ferry Road–all four lanes are open now, and it’s very nice. Somebody even planted pretty flowers on the median.

Since I was there, I decided to stop by 2go-Box and see if Robert was around. I had my laptop with me, and I didn’t have anything else to do, so I figured I could get some work done. He was there, so I settled in and finished up a few new webpages, and then got started on a print ad, which I will finish up either this weekend or Monday morning.

After a couple of hours I realized I was really hungry, so I headed home and made hot dogs and butter noodles. Sean got up for the food and is now in his natural habitat; I’m at my desk, and there’s a load of laundry in the washer.

I really felt terrible the other day. Part of it may have been stress and being tired, but I think a lot of it was allergies. I keep forgetting that I have those. They were never a problem until I moved to Augusta, but now that I’m here I get horrible headaches and a feeling that I just can’t function. I’m pretty positive that’s what was going on Wednesday.

We’ve had some rain, and I think that’s why I felt better yesterday and today.

I haven’t decided yet what to do for my birthday. The general plan is putt-putt, but I’d like to do other stuff too. The main issue for me is how to entertain in this apartment. The TV should work with game systems, presuming we can rent one or get someone to bring one over. But I don’t have a table for people to eat at. We can use the kotatsu and the bar table, and people can also sit on the couch, so it might be okay. I just don’t want people to feel uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, a computer can’t be hooked up to that TV, and we don’t have a DVD player, so if we watch anything it will be on one of our computers. That might be a little weird/uncomfortable, too.

So I don’t know. Maybe I will just plan on eating out and putt-putt, and then we can come back here to hang out and not do anything in particular. That might work out better than trying to figure out how to entertain properly.

I mean, Get Out of Here, Curse You–that’s fantastic!

Apparently in Japan the book is called Devil’s Dance, and I’m not really sure why. From what I can tell of the plot, I don’t think it fits. Who is supposed to be the devil?

I’ll have to see if I can find the actual Japanese name when I’m home tonight…but regardless, why not something like Dete ike, kuso yarou? [Edit 5/21: the title is Akuma no Dance.]

In any case, it sounds like an interesting book. However, as the article points out, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince just came out over there*. Amazon.co.jp is all about Harry Potter. Who knows if Saddam’s book will get any play?

The original manuscript was smuggled out of Iraq by one of Saddam Hussein’s daughters, Raghad, and a copy given to Japanese journalist and translator Itsuko Hirata.

“The novel is dated to the times of ancient tribal society but the tribal warfare depicted in the novel is strikingly similar to what happened and is happening in the Iraqi war — totally,” Hirata told Reuters before the book’s release.

Like, fer sure! ;>

Hirata believes the current novel, issued in a cover patterned with violets, was written by Saddam and has a melodic clarity to it that suggests it could be adapted to the stage.

“I really think this book should be made into a musical,” she said. “And once this is done, it should play in the heart of his enemy’s country, on Broadway.”

I could actually see that happening.

(The whole “melodic clarity” thing helps explain why Hirata might have wanted to call it Devil’s Dance…but still. How can you possibly top Get Out of Here, Curse You? The only thing that might is Snakes on a Plane.)

* The title Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is translated as ハリー・ポッターと謎のプリンス. They used the English “Prince” instead of ojisama, which makes sense if you’ve read the book, but also makes me wonder about how they dealt with some of the discussions about who the “prince” is.

Addendum 5/21: I just bothered to look up 謎, and discovered that it means puzzle or enigma. Maybe it’s too rude to say “half-blood”? Or maybe they use “half-blood” in the story, and just not for the title. I’m actually not sure how to say “half-blood” in Japanese anyway.

It doesn’t happen often that I feel this run down, but whenever I do I make sure to check the mirror to see what color my lips are.

The day I was diagnosed with cancer, Mom says my lips were as pale as my skin.

Today my lips look normal, but I don’t feel right. I don’t respond quickly to questions. While it’s not the normal sort of tired haze, I do feel some sort of dampening on my brain, and I have a mild headache, too. Earlier, while I was just sitting at my desk, I suddenly felt very dizzy, and rode out the feeling with a sense of unease.

I had just eaten a bag of chips and some cookies and drunk a grape soda, so I started wondering if my bad habits have finally come around to bite me in the ass–if I have developed diabetes. (I have no idea if dizziness is a symptom of diabetes. But since I am terrified of getting diabetes, that’s one of the first things I think of whenever I start to feel weird. The other thing is–you guessed it–“Maybe I’m pregnant!”)

I don’t know what the deal is, but I’m going to eat my unhealthy Krystal’s lunch and then rest my head on my desk for awhile. Whatever it is, it doesn’t seem to be affecting my appetite.