Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Wednesday morning things

* To be honest, my sleep schedule is STILL messed up from the time change. (It's always worse in spring. In the fall, my body is like "yay another hour of sleep" that first night, and then after that, I'm good, and I wake up at the usual time.)

* Today is just going to be long, no bones about it: class in the morning, field lab this afternoon, student coming in AFTER field lab (no, this is not the chronically absent and unreliable student) to make up an exam - I moved the exam and it's inconvenient for several people). Then I have Elders' meeting at 6 and Board at 6:30. I am hoping I have enough time between the student making up the exam and Elders' meeting to at least wash my hair, because pollen from the field lab.

 * There is someone here (student) that I am helping who is being very demanding, who seems to expect lots of extra treatment, expecting I go way out of my way. And of course I don't hear even the ghost of a thank you. I am trying to be forgiving and say "maybe the person is embarrassed at being so demanding and they realize they are a problem so it's hard for them to say 'thank you'" but I'm having a hard time with that.

* So yeah. I just need a break. I'm not even going to say "I need to be fussed over a little" because knowing some of my dad's chronic health issues and the time dealing with them it takes my mom, I know I can have no expectation of being fussed over. (That is the saddest thing, I think, about being an unattached adult in this world: you have no one to fuss over you. As I've complained copiously: I do a lot of cheerleading of others, a lot of emotional support, and frankly, a lot of unthanked labor. But I don't often feel like I'm on the receiving end of any of that, and while I can suck it up and keep soldiering on, at times it gets hard)

* I'm just not feeling it today. I'm sure part of it is the long day, part of it is going to Board meeting tonight knowing Steve won't be there. Part of it is just worries about everything: other people in my life who are not doing well, worries about the future of my career (in today's Regents newsletter, there was a warning about buying prescriptions online, and now I'm anxiously wondering if this is a lead-up to our drug coverage getting axed), worries about the state of the world in general.

(I wrote all of that before 10 am)

* Weirdly, as I walked into my 10 am class (ecology lecture, though about half of it was explaining the sampling techniques we will use this afternoon) I had a huge burst of energy. Sometimes that happens to me and I act positively caffeinated. I think I scared the students a little.

(I think it's some kind of weird effect of the cardio workout, which I did this morning - for a couple hours after it I'm tired/low-energy, but then things re-equilibrate and I get a burst of energy. And my mood goes way up, which is a desirable thing and is a reason I exercise as much as for any kind of weight-loss effect)

* There will probably be no pie for me on pi day. (I did allude to it in class, because I was talking about measuring tree diameters using a DBH tape, which is scaled to a factor of pi, so when you wrap the tape around the circumference of the tree, it tells you the diameter. Yup some ecologist/forester years back was either (a) sufficiently lazy or (b) sufficiently compulsive to be bugged by the inaccuracy of other diameter-measuring methods that he* came up with a tape that did it automatically)

(*I assume it was a "he," the measurement is called "Diameter at breast height" but it assumes said "breast" is 4.5 feet off the ground, which would assume a height of around 6' tall. Also, I DOUBT a woman would put the word "breast" in a measurement after years of hearing guys snicker about it. Wikipedia offers no help, other than to teach me the term "butt swell" (the wide spot at the base of the tree, which makes my inner 12 year old giggle). I had always called it "base" or "root flare" before this...)

* I do need to make time (Maybe tomorrow if not today) to wind off two skeins of yarn. I am taking the current socks-on-the-needles (some just-simple weird striped socks of Online, and the current pair of Weasley Homestead socks) but I also want to wind off the "Storm" colored birthday yarn (for a pattern called Will O' the Wisp that seems ideal for it. And I have some funny stripey yarn from (I think it is) Fibernymph in a colorway called "Time to make the donuts" (YES, in Dunkin' Donuts colors: hot pink, orange, and brown. And I had to have it because I sometimes say to myself, under my breath, "Time to make the donuts" as I head off to class*)

I also dug out the "Suß" yarn and the "Paddington's Garden" pattern; I think that's going to be the one "bigger" project I take along. (That yarn is already wound off and ready to go).

(*I sometimes wonder: would I have been happier as a "little old donut maker" instead of what I do? I mean, even given the crazy-early hours bakers have to get up - I kind of keep those hours NOW. And everyone likes donuts so I assume a lot of the people coming into a bakery are happy. And even though donuts are "controversial" in some circles (the sugar in them. Or the fat. Or the gluten), you don't see people doing "die ins" outside donut factories or throwing, I don't know, melted butter on bakers like people sometimes do surrounding the sale of meat. Then again, making donuts probably pays even less than professing does these days, so....)

*But yeah - no pie for me on pi day. I will have approximately one hour to wash my hair/eat/maybe do Duolingo or piano practice/find a devotional for Elders' meeting when I get home. So not even time to go get corn chips and have "Fritos chili pie" with the leftover chili I will be inhaling for my dinner. (And nothing else pie-like in the house: not even a Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie). And probably no time AFTER board meeting; I am expecting between choosing a new vice-moderator (Steve was Vice Moderator before) and the presentation from the person who is starting up a homeless shelter in town, I am predicting it will be after 8 when I finally get home.

* Then again, my mom did get (and freeze, so it will stay fresh) a little cake for me from the really good cake shop in their town. Their insurance agent sends a coupon every year for a free (small, like 5") birthday cake and she went and got my dad's yesterday and got one for me at the same time. (The cake shop is hard to get to, so I can see only doing one trek out there). Chocolate cake with almond frosting - she knows what I like.

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