things i should be doing instead

i should be doing other things (didn't i mention in the last blog entry i made a promise to myself to devote time to my artwork?). but i'd rather sit here in the cool, dark room, blogging. listening to background noise of the football game the other half is watching. listening to pip whine and fredo purr. enjoying the sound the keys make as i type. i don't want to do anything else right now. i am content typing in the dark with the glow of the computer to guide me (though i am sure an optometrist would scold me). as i sit here i am imagining it raining outside. kind of like the imaginings of a child. instead it was another cooker today; but i'll still think of rain. i should be cleaning out my book bag and purse, purging them of miscellaneous notes, and totally taking advantage of my new personal assistant, sandy (you might have heard of her). i should be locating my sample ballot so that i can vote on tuesday. i should be making lunches for tomorrow so i don't have to do it in the morning. i should be writing lesson plans so i am not scrambling to gather materials. i should be labeling the spices that i moved from the cabinet into the drawer (side labels are no longer useful). i should be finishing the last load of laundry from yesterday, returning phone calls, going to yoga, working on my art, planning the rest of the week's menu, and ordering my halloween costume. i'm not stressing; it will all get done. right now i'd rather sit here in the dark, listening to the rain.

monotype-maker's denial: mechanical reproduction is my immediate future

oh how many ideas i have floating around my head...especially now that i am kicking the "severe bronchial infection" out of my system. problem is, who has time to devote to seeing these ideas thru to fruition? with the 2 hour commute, various "chores" (dinner, paying bills, cleaning the house, groceries, the like), yoga (oh, and i'm not really doing that these days, at least not in the last three weeks), and catching up on life other than chores (that would be the other fun stuff. like napping, watching really bad tv--a total waste, i know, oh and blogging). i am sure i have left some things out. you get the idea. anyway, i am writing this mostly to make a written promise to myself that "i will set time aside each week to bring my concepts to life." a glimpse of what's to come...man vs. machine, part II. i figure that since i have succumbed to using technology to express my ideas in the virtual world, as well as the conceptual world, might as well continue it all in the real world. stay tuned...

what type are you? it's more than left brain/right brain...

so a few weeks back the other half came home with this personality test he had to take for work. this threw me a bit as i wondered the purpose of the test...to really understand the company's employees??? to determine how "crazy" one is??? to determine if the employee is in the right field??? who knows. he took the test, as required, and sent in the results. then on friday he went to a conference to discuss the results of the test, what it all means. i am still a bit confused as to the purpose of all of this. anyway, according to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test, he is an INFJ or Introverted-Intuitve-Feeling-Judging type. then he came home and was eager for me to take this test (i was a bit interested, but other things have taken precedence these days over understanding what type of person i already know i am). but i took the test anyway. i am an ESFJ or Extraverted-Sensing-Feeling-Judging type. what does this all mean to you? in a nutshell, the other half looks inward for answers and uses intuition to help make decisions while i am a tactile person and use the outside world to make decisions. this left me with, "well, okay. so which is better?" that's me. the answer-seeking competitor who quickly became frustrated with the plethora of information to disseminate and now just wants the other half to explain what it all means. you, on the otherhand, might be interested for other reasons...of course based on your type. i am sure this has left you with wanting to figure out that type, even though you already know. go on. take a similar version for yourself for free at: www.humanmetrics.com and click on jung typology test.

sick bed

i must get out of bed, and would if only i felt better. oh how i despise the deep cough, sniffly nose, sore throat, and overall exhaustion. since late monday afternoon, i think i have slept a total of something ridiculous like 35 hours, and it's only noon on wednesday, as a i write this from bed...thank goodness for wireless internet. am i hungry? thirsty? yes and no. i think i'll just go back to sleep...

those wascally wabbits...and other critters of note...

oil sensor light update...here goes...

i brought my car in for the light, asked what it could be, and was given three possibilities...one: the sensor went sour (not a common problem, but would be covered under warranty); two: i bottomed-out in my travels (um, yeah...NO); three: a rodent nibbled at my wires. ding ding ding! door number three won me a three hundred and sixty four dollar not-covered-under-warranty expense. apparently living out in the country (well it certainly ain't the city) brings with it living with country mice...or so i thought. my very nice service advisor told me about a woman who had this happen four times to her car (same model as mine) and it led her to extensive research...put a bag of potpourri in the splash pan (directly below the wiring harness that was nibbled) and the fragrance bouquet drives the critters away. well, i could have done this but was oh so worried about the sachet catching fire. this led me to my own extensive research (thank you fellow audi forum members who post TOTALLY unhelpful pics of cats armed with rifles--an apparent joke to kill the rodents--simply OUT OF THE QUESTION); such research options included moth balls (poisonous), fox urine powder (unavailable immediately), mouse traps (um, yeah...NO), or a very spicy cayenne pepper granule (i chose the latter and sprinkled it under my car last night). how did i choose this? well, according to my research, the rodent in question isn't such...it's a lovely little conejo (yes, i live on a street with conejo in the name, and fyi, conejo=bunny rabbit). thanks. apparently audi oil wiring uses soy in the plastic, an attractive feeding choice for my furry neighbors. hopefully (fingers, toes, arms, legs, eyes seriously crossed) this will fix the problem.

other critters of note...pip and fredo (aka total pains in the asses aka my cats)...why must fredo pee on the leg of the couch, right next to his litter box? because pip stinks it up! more research underway for this problem.

the challenge in the truth opposites attract (aka the allergy update)

so...it's only been two days since my last post, and oh what has happened! here's the update...i went to yoga saturday and then did a two hour yoga inversion workshop yesterday. upon leaving the yoga studio, my check oil light came on (okay, you're probably wondering what the hell this has to do with allergies). i couldn't drive my car today and the other half drove me to work and picked me up early to take me to my acupuncturist/allergist/all-knowing (for now) eastern medicine doctor/psychologist who i truly believes has esp...we'll call him "deal" (in so many ways, hopefully as in monetary, too, as health insurance covers him--for now). so the other half had expressed an interest in meeting deal, and whatd'ya know, the carpooling worked out. my 4:30 appointment turned into the other half getting an appointment, too, and we were there until 7 tonight! what does this all mean? what do i mean about the challenge in the truth that opposites attract? well, as in my previous posting i predicted that the other half would most likely have a whole slew of foods he can and cannot eat. and boy was i right! we are opposites in most nearly every single aspect of our lives (a whole other blog possibility), so it makes sense we are opposites in food. not the foods we enjoy (those are the same) but the foods that we can and cannot have. and now have i been charged with a serious task at hand of prepping breakfasts, lunches, and dinners that work for the both of us. for your reading pleasure, if you choose to accept the head-spinning complexities of chinese medicine, the following is what i have learned about myself, the other half, and what constitution/type we are.

what does all this constitution stuff mean? i am still trying to figure it out. according to deal i am a tai yang constitution and a shao yin type while the other half is a shao yin constitution and a tai yin type (more to come on this later). for these constitutions and types, there are specific foods to eat and certain ones to avoid. here goes...

i am to reduce by 80%: large amounts of land meat, eggs, wheat flour products, rye, dairy, watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, nuts, beans, mushrooms, root vegetables, zucchini, pumpkin, squash, olives, dark grapes, plums, peaches, bananas, pineapple, mango, strawberries, peppermint, flax, seeds, aloe, vitamins A, D, and E

the other half is to reduce by 80%: ocean-bottom seafood, eggs, pork, wheat, rye, iceberg and romaine, cucumber, buckwheat, watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, persimmon, strawberries, kiwi, mung beans, aloe, vitamins C and E, and green tea

i am to eat: buckwheat, rice, sprouted grains (non-wheat), tofu, fish, occasional land meats, lobster, clams, all things corn (starch, syrup, cobbed), tomatoes, potatoes, white grapes, cherries, apples, oranges, kiwi, seaweed, spices (ginger, cumin, curry, garlic, black pepper), green onion, dill, chives, green leaf vegetables, kale, honey, bee pollen, green tea, maple syrup, vitamins B and C

the other half is to eat: rice, soy, salmon, tuna, land meat, beans, all things corn, tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkin, squash, olives, root vegetables, dairy, pears, apples, lemons, peaches, plums, apricots, nuts, mushrooms, seaweed, spices, coffee, flax, seeds, cocoa, honey, bee pollen, maple syrup,vitamins A, D, and B.

so, yes, there are cross-overs. but the majority of contrasts of what he can eat compared to what i can eat are great. and so the challenge begins in kitchen stadium and i will prevail as the next iron chef (i mean cook).

auf wiedersehen rocky road

so much for my commitment to locally grown food (as for now). as of recently, i am to stay away from nuts and dairy and focus on buckwheat, rice, kiwi, cherry juice, and fish. how does this affect my farmer's market commitment? i am now challenged with devising meals using my new staples (as per my new allergist/accupuncturist), a tricky thing when i've never had buckwheat (if i have it didn't leave a lasting impression) nor have i ever cooked with it, and i have never made soba noodles from scratch--i do not have the time for this. so how do i know what meals to make? i don't but am currently researching this. so in the meantime i have made the trek to trader joe's and whole foods to buy my new staples. hoping to soon get an idea of meals, thus ingredients, thus my return to the farmer's market for most everything. oh, and my other half? well, he doesn't have the same allergic manifestations i have and according to the doc, is most likely affected by foods differently and will have a whole slew of his own personal meal ingredients (to be dteremined after his visit to the doc, if he so chooses thus starting something along the lines of if it ain't broke...); so my best estimation is that the other half will continue to eat whatever i cook and will now be on the same regimen as me. i, on the other hand, began seeing this new doc to relieve symptoms related to what i thought were seasonal allergies as well as to eliminate pain from a torn ligament in my right wrist. apparently my addiction to everything almond (the nut, the butter, the paste, the milk) as well as my addiction to everything dairy (the ice cream, the milk, the cheese, the yogurt, the cottage cheese, the butter) is the root of my symptoms and pain. the chinese elm tree on our deck which i was about ready to have uprooted, relocated, and replaced with something else--like a fake christmas tree--is just exacerbating the food allergies brewing within. and the pain in the right wrist which i was about to cast indefinitely (as surgery is terrifying) is inflamed due to the food allergies brewing within. so i am attempting to eliminate nuts (all, not just almonds) and dairy for the next two weeks to assess the improvements that my eastern medicine doctor guarantees. so far i am in 5 days. so far, so good. another note worth mentioning...i am a skeptic. big time. but i have to say, that after my first treatment of a total of 10 needles strategically impaled in various parts of my body, i noticed improvements. so i figure, hey, why not go for broke and see if weeding out the nuts and dairy makes my symptoms disappear. next up...treatment for depression from serious ice cream withdrawl.