A Post

I'm embarrassed to post after a three month absence, particularly because I don't have much to say, and that's why I stopped posting in the first place. I actually have had some meaningful observations lately, but posting about them seemed like such work that I didn't do it.

Perhaps I'll get around to talking about one or two of those ideas sometime soon. In the meantime, the news of my life is:

My new Kindle has cracked my literary world wide open. I've only bought two full-price books*, but I'm downloading oodles of samples. For those who wonder, I chose the Kindle over the Nook (the only two readers I considered) because the page refresh is faster and I found navigation on the Nook to be difficult. I do wish I could put library downloads on my Kindle without hacking it, but the page refresh issue was a deal-breaker.

I went to Cub Scout Day Camp again (last week), this year as the camp administrator. It was a nightmare job involving 2+ weeks of little to no sleep every night. In fact, I'm blogging right now as a way of procrastinating some camp paperwork I need to do tonight. I think if I do it again, my parents will disown me and my friend Gwen will have me committed to a mental institution.

I'm growing vegetables (and fruit) for the first time, all in containers. One tomato plant appears to have been struck down by blossom end rot, but the other two plants look good. All three pepper plants have fruit, though only one plant looks healthy; the other two look anemic, or whatever is the plant equivalent of anemic. Two of the six strawberry plants are dead, but the others are alive, if in varying states of health. The strawberries are all fruitless and growing at microspeed.

I'm taking a break from British crime drama and British period drama miniseries on Netflix to watch all of The X Files. What a great show.

I'm in a book club that is about to have its 5th monthly meeting. So now I can say I have a social life.

I finally have a go-to meal for taking to sick families: cheese lasagna with green salad and (store bought) bread. I'm no longer in fear of having to take a meal to someone. It isn't the most economical meal, but it's fairly foolproof and simple.

Yours in shallowness,

Auntie K

*The Price We Paid: The Extraordinary Story of the Willie and Martin Handcart Pioneers

Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice

Math Error

I just realized that five into thirty is six, and not three. Glad to know that yesterday's double dose of Robitussin DM didn't do any damage.

Maybe I need to find a new fantasy career(s). Nurses and pharmacists, even fantasy ones, shouldn't be making errors like that. Or perhaps this is salvageable after all, if Lippincott will agree to include a basic arithmetic table in their next Nursing Drug Guide. Under every entry.

You Know You're an Adult When

you're sick but can't sleep, so you get up and do housework instead.

Four out of Five

"Burnout is characterized by emotional exhaustion, and negative attitudes and feelings toward one's co-workers and job role. Burnout is associated with job dissatisfaction, low commitment to the job and absenteeism."

Susan M. Wilson, "Avoid the Burn." gradPSYCH, March 2011, Vol 9, No. 2, p. 17

What?

I spent the entire work day, from the moment I hit the door, either prepping to teach a class, teaching a class, or working at the reference desk (I did eat a very tasty green banana somewhere in there).

Now, even after an hour of a bit of Internet browsing and sending Cub Scout emails, and eating some yogurt, I still feel like I've lost an entire day. I'm awarding the label "time warp" to this post.