Grumpy grump grump

* My hip bursitis is telling me it's back. I do not approve of this. (Perhaps we're going to get worse weather tonight than predicted). (At least my teeth are better and that one weird front tooth with the calcified channel has stopped hurting when I bite down on stuff)

* I've decided I'm going to have to go to bed at 8 or 8:30 for the next few days just to get enough sleep. Combination of stupid beta blocker making me tired and girl-stuff making me tired. Of course that cuts into my limited "free" time.

* I'm stalled again on this manuscript and am questioning myself - is this good enough to even try publishing it? (At least it's not like some journals in some disciplines, as someone on ITFF shared - apparently some journals in a particular field have a "submission fee" and THE JOURNAL KEEPS THE FEE IF IT REJECTS YOUR PAPER. If that were the case in my field, I'd never publish, and if that meant I had to quit my job, fine. That just feels so wrong.... and it seems to me it works against people doing innovative research that might not work out)

* I happened to see a bit of national news last night. Are we in a cycle of unusual human depravity, or am I just noticing it more. And why hasn't a giant cloud or pillar of fire or something shown up and gone, "I DON'T CARE WHO STARTED IT. YOU NEED TO STOP IT NOW"? That's what I want to see happen.

* Local news story on an alleged new trend: "Mantiquing." Antiquing for men. Two thoughts on this: I know men who have done antiquing for years but I suppose as they fit a certain, shall we say, preconceived notion about men who antique, that isn't news, and second, something I've done for a long time and which has been seen as worthy of being ignored or as slightly risible is now interesting because guys are doing it. It's like the men who knit getting lionized because they're doing something that slightly violates a gender stereotype we have.

(I wonder if some of the men who knit are annoyed by that, or if they all just enjoy the attention. I'd be kind of annoyed if someone did the "look at you! You have a uterus and yet you can teach math!" thing to me. No, wait, I'd be beyond annoyed.)

I dunno. It's just so strange. I think in some ways the 1970s were more relaxed about gender roles than we are now. (And Legos were better then....most stores don't sell just plain boxes of Legos any more, it has to be the Superhero! set or the Star Wars! set or the Legos for Girls! set)

also I'm irritated because I haven't had the time to do anything like antiquing in a long time.

* I had blood drawn for the measles titer yesterday. I guess not many people get these, the phlebotomist asked me if I was a nursing student (I'd say I was surprised I looked young enough, but we get a lot of non-trads and career changers). I think the nursing students are required to show proof of immunity to a number of contagious diseases.....

this morning my arm itches and hurts where they blood was taken. I wonder if I'm sensitive to whatever kind of stuff they used to disinfect the skin. (She didn't ask me, like the blood bank people do, if I was allergic to a certain thing....it used to be iodine they used but now they use something else, I forget what it's called)

No, I don't know yet. I suppose they have to send the samples out. They're supposed to call me. The only good news so far is that the receptionist said she thought my insurance would pay most or all of the titer's cost. (So I won't wind up doing what I was tempted to do....try to send the bill to Jenny McCarthy....)


* I misread the title of this article and got all excited because I thought it said, "Ina Garten microwaves her oatmeal and it's still perfect" (not "Is still perfect," which is a debatable claim).

I've been eating oatmeal most every day for breakfast lately. This started in the tail end of this fall's respiratory virus, which apparently left a lot of lingering sinus inflammation, which was translated to my teeth, which made my teeth hurt, and also, because of Eustachian tube weirdness, anything crunchy sounded super-loud (TOOTH CRACKINGLY loud) to me....so I was off my usual Krave cereal. But I still needed food. "Oatmeal is soft" I thought. "I can eat oatmeal"

So I started doing it. But as I have a shortage of both saucepans and time, the typical stovetop cooking was out....so I started microwaving it. Microwaved oatmeal is okay, maybe even pretty good, but it's not quite the same as when cooked on a stovetop*. So I thought, "Aha. Maybe Ina Garten has some wonderful secret to make microwaved oatmeal perfect."

Nope. Well, she does add the recommended salt, because "otherwise it's like library paste" but given that I have such a tiny ration of sodium in a day, I'm not gonna do that. (She also only puts sweetener on it "on her birthday" Okay, fine, whatever. I put sweetener on it every day because dangit, life is short, and I don't have diabetes yet, so I'm going to)

(*And it strikes me that this article from the Onion (I need not say that's a satirical site, need I?) is somehow somewhat related ("Man brings lunch from home to cut down on small joys.") And yeah, I bring my lunch from home and some days it is kind of....well, not exactly depressing, that's too strong a word....but disappointing. Then again, waiting an hour to get a table at Roma's or blowing my entire week's sodium budget somewhere on maybe-not-very-good-food is less appealing. My real goal, my real pleasure, would be to have enough time to GO HOME for lunch, to root in the fridge for exactly what I want AT THAT MOMENT (rather than having to plan at 6 am, when I'm still tired and have just worked out and so am not hungry, for what I might possibly want at noon). And I can make a proper cup of tea at home. And if I have enough time, I can do a little piano practice....but most days of the week, there's too little time for me to go home for lunch)