Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

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1. I seriously don't understand cheering for a college team that represents a school that you did not attend (ahem Ducks/USC/Stanford/Texas A&M fans). Where's your school loyalty? And why does it seem like just the huge, big schools have all of these extraneous fans? Why doesn't, say, I don't know, New Mexico state? Why like Oregon or USC or whatever instead of New Mexico? I just don't understand. Please explain it to me.

2. I'm getting a flu shot for the first time on Friday. I'll do the actual shot, as opposed to the spray with the live virus, so I'm not worried about getting sick. All the doctors and experts recommend for people in my situation- the idea of being knocked on my soon-to-be fat ass with the flu seems pretty unattractive. 


3. This month I'm aiming to walk the equivalent to a "5k a day" (isn't it catchy?). Some days more, some days none, but I'm hoping that by the end of the month I'll end up somewhere around 90-100 miles. I also returned to yoga  last night and I'm getting an indoor trainer for my bike for my birthday, so exercise is definitely being amped up in November. I could not be happier.

4. NaNoWriMo is not going well. Let's just leave it at that for right now.

5. I have to confess a terrible, irrational fear that I have (well one of them, anyway): restarting, updating, and turning off my laptop or iPhone legitimately scares me. I wish I was joking, but when I installed the updates to my laptop last week I hovered around and started to panic when the reboot screen was on for what I felt was too long. Thankfully some smooth-talking and gentle petting brought it back to status quo.

[source]

6. As I write this I'm supposed to be looking for a new restaurant to make reservations at for our upcoming anniversary. And yet once again I'm reminded that not only does my area have shitty hospitals and very little culture, it also has the worst options for foods (unless you like chains, than we've got them all). I'm trying to find somewhere new and cool within a thirty mile radius and it's not happening. Time to expand the search.

7. My family (as in my mom and siblings) have agreed to minimize Christmas gift giving a bit this year- we're all just happy to have vacation time at this point. I so love that we decided on this, and not just because it means less expenditures, haha. We're all adults- we have what we want and we don't really need anything. The holiday gimmies are so out of control in our society.

 
8. I'm making myself an awesome thirtieth birthday with lots of sprinkles and could give two fucks about what anyone thinks (that doesn't so defensive or anything...). I love baking, I prefer homemade, and I'm guaranteed to get what I want. And no I'm not sharing. Some possible contenders:

[classic Devil's Food Cake; source] 
 
[Salted Caramel Six Layer Chocolate Cake; source]
 
[That Chocolate Cake; source]
[Chocolate Cake with PB Frosting; source]

There's a trend...
 
9. I just started Sylvia Plath poetry with my students and have began reading The Bell Jar. Might as well kick off the holiday season with some uplifting cheeriness, right? Just as long as no one puts their head in the oven...

10. You know what the fox says? The fox says "shut the fuck up and leave me alone," that's what the fox says. My students discovered the video six weeks after my husband showed me and will occasionally as "what does a fox say" when I ask if they have any questions. What's next, a video for a giraffe?


10 comments:

  1. I just have to say that the Berenstain Bears have a book for all occasions. Me like.

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  2. I love the 5k a day goal. I've been trying to figure out how to get more steps in my day. I have a desk job and my fitbit looks like I sleep all day.

    My family cut back on the Christmas giving once we all had kids. It felt ridiculous to be buying things for each other. We'd rather just spend the time together.

    Those cakes look amazing. Good for you. You deserve the cake you want.

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  3. Your post reminds me that I have to get my flu shot to complete my pre-clinical requirements, lol.

    That macro about the 99 problems is so true xP

    Those cakes...mmm...are you leaning towards a particular one at the moment?

    I've been meaning to re-read The Bell Jar. I read it a few years ago and quite liked it, thought it was interesting, but the details escape me now...

    Hope NaNo picks up for you! :)

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  4. I so wish my family would nix the gift-giving. I'm terrible at coming up with ideas for gifts... and I'm usually not crazy about the gifts I receive either (and I can only assume others feel the same way about mine). Not in a "why didn't I get better stuff?" way, just in a "I hate that you felt obligated to get me something that I really don't need and now just adds to the clutter" way. Which, maybe I'm missing the holiday spirit either way... but I'd much rather get nothing at all then some of the random stuff I've gotten over the years.

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  5. Have fun with all your exercise! I love yoga, there's just something about the muscle burn it provides during poses (which I hate when it's happening but love afterwards!)

    Christmas can get a bit insane with all the gifts can't it? Keeping it simple is key I think, no one needs stress around holiday time.

    The salted caramel chocolate cake looks amazing. Actually they all do, but there's just something about salted caramel :)

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  6. Oh god cakes two and three please. You can bake for me anytime.

    For Christmas, we do the four gift want-need-wear-read thing. It's worked out well and the kids have done well with it. As an added bonus, I don't lose my mind due to clutter (I often fall in the super anal organized category, unfortunately).

    And if you keep up the exercise, you'll be grateful to yourself come May and June.

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  7. My family ditched gifts for the adults a few years ago (to my great relief). Now we all make a charity donation in the family name instead - it has allowed us to be surprisingly creative. For example, if you donate through Oxfam you can buy your family a toilet for Christmas. Or a sewage pipe. Our gifts mostly relate to farts and bums. Because we are all actually five-years-old.

    Whilst you're baking, I'll take the salted caramel layer cake. Ta.

    I wish the fox would fucking shut up as well. And my kids know that.

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  8. I have an indoor trainer for my bike and I love it! I finally gave into the weather and decided to set it back up just the other day.

    And that's awesome about gift-giving, it really is out of control. A few years ago I decided I was doing edible gifts for everyone, mainly homemade chocolates. Everyone seems to enjoy them and it's really help cut down on all the crazy expenses for us and for those we might exchange gifts with as they've gotten the message we're not going to be spending a bunch of money each year.

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  9. Yay for the flu shot! (I'm so predictable.)
    I hate that fox song. I don't understand why it is supposed to be funny.
    NaNoWriMo is actually sorta kinda going okay here. As in my word count was up to date yesterday, but I have a feeling it will slide this weekend again.
    oh well.

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  10. NaNoWriMo isn't going great for me either, hope it picks up for you soon. I know how you feel with I have 99 problems and 86 of them are irrational pic, I'm not too bad with restarting (although I'm not great, so you're not alone there) but I worry about the most ridiculous things.

    "You know what the fox says? The fox says "shut the fuck up and leave me alone," that's what the fox says. "
    This cracked me up so much!

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