A Flurry of a Day

A Flurry of a Day

My middle sister called me at 0630 to do her a favor. I was to take my niece somewhere as she was not feeling good. I had about three hours of sleep. We had to be at the place by 0800 so needed to leave soon. She gave us money for a cab and off we went, only to find an hour later we didn’t have to be there at all. I was annoyed and so was my niece. My niece went off to school and I figure I would go to Harvard to get my beanie hat and did. It was fricken so cold this morning and it didn’t warm up. When I got to the bus station to head home, there were snow flurries flying around. I decided then, my day is done and I am going to stay home.

I still need to make a few phone calls today but I think after the lunch time hours, I will just make one. It will be to my father’s doctor to make an appointment for him so his medications aren’t being held hostage.

While making a cup of tea just now, I noticed a different tea bag in the box. Bigelow left a trial bag of American Breakfast Tea. I tried it rather than my regular English Breakfast. It is about the same with a little more flavor than the English tea. It is also a little stronger, but I might have steeped it a little longer than I usually do. I like it, but then I am a fan of black teas anyways.

Not sure if I mentioned it in a previous blog, but I entered a reading challenge through a book website. My goal is to read 20 books this year. One of the books that I marked as read counted toward my goal. The other did not. I might have to figure out why or just let it be. I just realized that I don’t really have 20 books that I can read. I will have to buy some more I guess. I still have the Dostoevsky collection. I think there are at least 10 books in there. It will be a pleasure to read them all. Dostoevsky is not an easy read like S.E. Hinton. But we’ll see how far I get. I got at least four books on my to do list before I can read the Brothers Karamazov. That is going to be the most challenging to read.

Man, my pizza place is losing my business because I keep putting off getting pizza or a sub from them. I am actually craving their pizza or a nice steak and cheese sub from them. Their steak and cheese calzone is pretty good, too. I was good though, I had the left over pizza my mother made last night. She would have killed me if I bought pizza instead of eating hers.

I have gone back to listening to Eric Church. I just love this album so much that even though I was mixing it up with other artists, I just wanted Church’s songs. I think this is the longest I have gone listening to one piece of music for so long. I feel like I am neglecting the other music that I bought as I really haven’t listened to it. But these songs by Church just speak to me more than any other artist does.

My mood has been relatively good today despite being woken up before dawn. I didn’t get to do what I wanted to today. I haven’t showered but I did brush my teeth. I was going to take a shower when I came home but the house was too cold. And I wanted to warm up some. I might take a shower before bed. I also need to fill my pill box. Because I was out and about so early, I had to skip my morning BP meds.

I didn’t leave the house with my cane, which now turned out to be a big mistake. My thigh pain has returned. I did a lot of walking this morning and my thigh just didn’t like it. My ankle hasn’t flared up yet but I know it will later tonight. I really am not going to do much else today except read and maybe write in my journal. Or maybe even blog this evening. These activities should keep me off my feet!

Dead Poet’s Society

Dead Poet’s Society

I watched Dead Poet’s Society for the first time. I cried at the end. It was the second movie with Robin Williams that I have seen since his death. I thought there would be a hanging not a shooting death but I knew there was a suicide in it. The aftermath can be so scary. I miss Robin Williams very much. I have loved every character that he played. It’s so hard watching him perform knowing that he is dead.

My mother made pizza for supper. She also wanted me to do a “few chores” before we ate. I was too busy watching the movie and unlike my TiVo, I couldn’t pause it. It was very frustrating. So I snuck a few slices in between the low points of the movie. That tided me over until the end. I had to keep my face hidden because I couldn’t allow my mother to see that I had been crying. She would have thought something more was going on. Then when I was trying to remember to find my glasses, I had a smile on my face so she said something about that. There is no in between with her. It drives me crazy. You just have to be miserable like her, I guess.

I wanted to read a chapter or two of the Outsiders but I am feeling low and not really in a reading mood. I don’t know why, but every time I watch a television show or movie I feel tired afterwards. I am sure crying didn’t help. That always exhausts me.

I partially watched a pitiful football game. The Patriots were supposed to be playing but I don’t know who showed up in their uniforms. They were just awful. I thought they were going to comeback in the final quarter but no one showed up. It was just terrible.

My thigh pain has returned. I was limping most of the day. Sitting watching the movie didn’t help it. I haven’t taken anything for it, yet. I am afraid that if I do, I will fall asleep. I really don’t want to wake up again around 0330. That’s an awful time to wake up. I know that is probably why I am so tired, because I didn’t sleep well. I am thinking of going out tomorrow but I have a lot of phone calls to make. I got to find out if I am still enrolled in my insurance as I didn’t receive a confirmation of benefits like I usually do. I’m kind of anxious to make the call because I hate making calls. I am always afraid I am going to be rejected or be spoken to in a mean manner. I think I still have benefits because I think I would have received paperwork for COBRA if it lapsed. I just don’t know if my premium went up or not.

I made no effort today to clear my bed off. Between the movie and football game, I really haven’t spent that much time in my room today. I still need to fill my pill box for the week. I really don’t want to go through every pill bottle every night like I did last week. Even then I was just taking what I felt like taking.

Sunday Morning Blog

Sunday Morning Blog

My day had started at 0330. I woke up thinking about weird things and then having a conversation with them with the voices. I was up for a half hour before my ankle decided it was going to flare up on me. I took some meds and wrote to a friend as I didn’t wish her a happy new year yet. She is a dear friend who also has the same condition as me. We have been friends for at least 11 years now. Strange how that works. She is worried about my upcoming MRI and what will it show, too. I haven’t had anymore thigh pain the last few days. So maybe the herniated disc went back in place and healed on its own. The doc said it could do that. That will be a load off my shoulders if that is the case. It’s one week till I have the test.

I made breakfast. My mother made some bacon and I made some scrambled egg. I was going to have a burrito but I don’t know what I was thinking, I made toast. No burrito today. I am definitely going to have a burger for lunch with mashed potatoes and gravy. I think I will kind of make like a Salisbury steak. The burger tastes like it as it has onions and stuff in it. It’s made my by Ball Park. I love their hotdogs and now I love their burgers.

I didn’t make coffee today. I am still sort of sick so I made a cup of tea, black caffeinated. I will need at least three cups to equal one cup of coffee but it’s something to keep me away. I hope I don’t nap again. I keep thinking today is Monday. The holiday on Friday just messed me up. I have to shower sometime today. That is one of my goals for the day. I also need to start taking stuff off my bed so I can change the sheets. I also need to fix the bibliography that I have for the folder that I have of research articles on suicide. I have 4 more to add. I haven’t decided if I am going to just tack them on or rearrange the whole folder. Might be easier just to tack them on than rearrange everything. Damn. I just thought that I should have bought another magazine holder for my journals while I was in Harvard yesterday. I need another one for this year’s journals. I don’t know where I would but them but at least they would all be together. I also have to think about whether or not to be a member for AAS for another year. Only reason I am a member is to get the journal articles so I can keep abreast of the latest research.

For the first time in a year, my book sales for the month of December were zero for both paperback and kindle. I have stopped promoting the book on Twitter. It took some effort to come up with a sales pitch that would be contained in 140 characters. After a while, I just got bored with it. Some would like it but not buy it. With my depression being so bad during December, I just couldn’t put forth the effort. I’ll try again sometime this year when I am up to it. Self-promoting is very difficult.

Saturday Blog 40

I was going to order pizza but now I don’t have to because my mother is making it. She makes good pizza, though I love the dough more than the sauce and cheese. I got a calendar but it isn’t the one I wanted. They were out of them. I thought about ordering it on Amazon but I didn’t want to spend another $35 just for free shipping. I got a calendar at the Coop for $7 and I will make it work. Right now it’s too long and needs to be moved over so I can have access to my light switch. I really didn’t want to put another hole in the wall but seems I have no choice. While I was at the Coop, I saw a nice leather pouch with the Harvard logo on it. I so wanted to get it. I also wanted to get a knitted hat but refrained. I kept my hands in my pocket and just kept walking.

I got my Starbucks soy latte. Today was not the day for specialty drinks. I have been having the gags most of the day. They will come on suddenly and without reason so I think I am getting a migraine. My head doesn’t hurt yet, but I am sure it will later this evening.

I plan on watching a movie tonight. Last night I watched the Goonies. Ridiculous movie if I ever saw one. I really don’t get the appeal of the movie. I will watch Pretty Woman tonight. I love Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. It’s one of my favorite movies.

I almost didn’t go into Harvard today. I saw the bus home and almost decided to take it and go home with just my latte. But I pushed through the tiredness and trudged on. I went to my favorite stationary store and realized I forgot the pen I needed a refill on. So I bought some more V-Ball pens and another notebook. They didn’t have my calendar I wanted. They had every other calendar but the one I was looking for. A lot of pretty ones, too. But they were too big for the space that I needed it. Doesn’t matter now as I need to move up the nail and make another hole in the wall.

All I had to eat today was a pop tart. I couldn’t finish the second one. I have no appetite today. I am trying to drink more fluids so on the way home I bought some mineral water and a coke. I know I will drink the water. I can’t drink that much soda like I used to. I usually have a few sips a day until it’s gone. I plan on making a cup of tea when I am done with this blog. I need something warm to drink. I still am sick. I still have pain in my ankle as well. It didn’t help that while putting on my PJs my ankle turned. Luckily, I was standing by my bed or I think I would have fallen.

I entered a reading challenge this year through the website GoodReads. I finally finished the book Far From the Tree but for some reason it didn’t register in my challenge. Maybe it takes a day or so to do it. One of my friends suggested that I read “Game of Thrones”. I told her I already tried and failed to read it. I am just glad I didn’t buy the book set. It was just a weird book. I am going to try and read “Explorations in Personality” by Murray. I started it a few weeks ago. It is very dry reading but interesting. I keep calling the biases of the experiment but back then, you didn’t have diverse populations. It was mostly white people and middle class. The study that I am reading is about white undergraduates. Harvard wasn’t that diverse in the thirties. Book reminds me of the book George Apley. I never finished that book either because it was wicked dry reading and kind of boring. I hope to read Murray’s book as a tribute to Shneidman. That is my goal for 2016.