Re: Very Sophisticated Earplugs

J asks why I don't include an alarm in my VSE. I guess that's a pretty good idea; I didn't think of that. Better than the "turkey timer" idea, I suppose. So, I want that, too.

::huff::

Dear readers,

Why don't you comment on my blog? It'd be so nice. You used to comment but now.... not so much. What happened? Is everyone mad at me?

Very Sophisticated Earplugs

Jesse has always been a snorer, often keeping me up or waking me from my sleep. It's even worse since his surgery because he's sleeping on his back. Normally, I'd poke him and ask him to turn over but I can't do that now.

For years, my mom-in-law has been suggesting I try earplugs and last night, I did. They worked ok. It was a good suggestion, but they make me feel vulnerable, more open to attack. I know this sounds crazy, but I'm concerned that I wouldn't hear an intruder. I shouldn't say this shortly before I am about to have a house guest (Rachel@Philly is coming for my birthday!), but I don't feel that this house is particularly safe.

There are some other problems that are not inherent to the earplugs themselves but to me:

1. I rely heavily on my white noise machine which I can't hear through the earplugs.
2. I often "can't" hear, don't hear, manage to ignore my alarm(s). The use of earplugs would certainly exacerbate this.

So, while I was dreaming of squirrel-hunting bitches, I was apparently also devising a plan for Very Sophisticated Earplugs. These earplugs would have a white noise machine built into them which would also improve their sound-muffling ability. They'd also have a timer/alarm. Let me see if I can explain this: you'd set the timer/alarm for your normal wake-up time and you'd also set your alarm clock. At the designated time, the central portion would pop out like a turkey timer, rendering them unable to muffle sound and allowing you to hear your alarm clock. I don't want them to pop out entirely since then you'd also have to find them. Just the center should pop to allow sound into the ear canal; the center should still remain a part of the earplug, though.

I don't know how to improve the earplugs to allow for me to hear attackers, though. I guess I have to keep working on this.

What do you think of my VSE?

"Overheard" in My Dream

Michael, my brother-in-law to Lisa: No bitch is truly alone until she's hunting squirrels.

In my dream, he then proceeded to tell me about a male scientist who was tracking and researching rabbits with exceedingly long stomachs. If I told you the details of this research, you'd know that my brain science is not sensible or accurate; therefore, it's much too difficult to try to explain further details.

This is my brain at work, folks.

Re: Spring 2010

I'm about to be a professional student. Oh, shittrumpet....

via Natalie Dee and Rachel@Canada

Life is Random and Unfair; Life is Pandemonium

As the title to this post (and the lyrics to a 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee song) suggests, there are a variety of changes happening in and around the J and L house. I'm going to try to give a thorough and long overdue update.

I've finished three weeks of school at Binghamton University. Generally, people fall into one or more of the following categories: they are really nice; they are really pretentious; they are from Long Island. Also, I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MANY UGGS! I haven't quite figured out if/where I fit in. Maybe I need my own Uggs. Maybe not.

Regarding the classes: they are incredibly difficult. In my first Intro to Human Development class, Dr. Merriwether told me and my 89 classmates that most of us will receive a C in her class. YIKES! That is not good enough!

There is a lot of controversy going on about BU in general and their basketball program specifically; and the controversy, unfortunately, involves my program (read about how this convoluted situation affects me in this week's NY Times article). Basically, my program, Human Development, will be getting exceedingly difficult to overcompensate for how easy it used to be (the dummy basketball players were funneled into HDEV because the program wasn't overly difficult and they needed to get good grades).

So, after spending a good portion of the past three weeks freaking out about how difficult school is going to be and about how I can't attend all the necessary review sessions and study groups because of my work schedule (not to mention the many extra hours of studying I don't have time to do in order to keep up), Jesse and I decided it'd be best if I give notice at bagel town. Granted, I haven't been thrilled with bagel town in a long while, but the impetus to move on so abruptly sincerely was my need to thoroughly focus on school.

Unfortunately, eliminating my (exceedingly minimal) income will certainly have repercussions. At this point, we're concentrating on how important it is for me to do well and finish my B.S. so I can get a real job. One of the more unfortunate repercussions is that I have to (further) postpone the arrival of my baby hedgie. Boooooooooooooooo!

So, I've covered work and school. Now, onto a sad note. Our close friends Emily and Philip, who have been having some pretty serious marriage difficulties for a while, have split up. If that's not bad enough, she's from Pittsburgh and he is from Rochester. That means that when they split up, they both leave town. It's so sad; I know I'm still processing it, so I can't imagine being in either of their situations. It hits me occasionally; I can't believe it's true. We had so many great times with them and it's hard to deal with the fact that we'll likely never be with them in the same capacity again.

I know I've covered a lot; so much has happened all at once! I know I am hoping for some respite soon; I am sure J is, too.

Some good news: J has been back to work since Tuesday and is healing nicely after his hernia repair surgery. I'm still doing all the manual labor around here, but that's nothing new. Ha! I am hoping he'll start driving again this weekend so I can stop hauling his gimpy ass around (again, that's nothing new)! I kid. You know I love my husby!

Pantophobia

I think I have it and I'm not being facetious.

Overheard in the Subaru

Lisa to Jesse, after loading the groceries into the car by herself: I know I'm supposed to be a modern woman who doesn't adhere to gender roles; but ever since your surgery, I am totally the man in this relationship.

Happy Valentines Hernia

Last Thursday, my sweet, sweet husby was taken away from me. They took him away from me for hours and when he was returned to me, he'd been shaved and couldn't walk. That's right. He had hernia repair surgery.

I was really nervous when he was gone, and I was very agitated because the waiting room they sent me to was chock full of people who were all very loud and fat and not good at sharing public spaces.

I didn't realize how much I take J for granted until he wasn't able to bring me a drink or tuck me in; I had to do those things for J--and a lot of other things, too! But I didn't mind. Here's some of the things I did especially for him when he had a hole in his abdomen:

• waited on him hand and foot
• made him homemade applesauce though I'd never made it before
• went out in the snows for ice cream because he wanted hot applesauce and ice cream
• shoveled snow
• choreographed a plan to get his car out of the shop
• helped him maneuver around the house and off the couch and into bed and so on

I love my husby so much; I may have fussed a little after his procedure because I'm stressed about school and a variety of other things, but the truth is that I didn't mind. I kind of liked taking care of him and trying to make him feel better.

p.s. Please feel bad for J when you see his hand bruised from the IV. Poor baby.

Overheard in the J and L House

Lisa to Jesse: I have to remember to take your underwears out of my purse.

I Have Such Ennui....

I've been up since 4:30 a.m. and my day went downhill from there (unplowed driveway, snowy roads, shitty job, not enough money, not enough time, too much time, too many car problems, too long day, still unplowed driveway).

J and I were getting on each other's nerves when we finally got home from our myriad stops and I decided it'd be best if we retreated to our separate corners: J to his computer, me to the shower to scrub, scrub, scrub my malaise away. I followed my new Ahava scrub with some hydrating shower creme, then some lemony and hydrating moisturizer. Finally, I layered on the Lush Mask of Magnaminty.

I feel better now. Not awesome, but better. Yay!

Overheard in HDEV348, or Why I'm Shitting Myself

"The bachelors degree is the new high school diploma."

As if this isn't stressful enough as it is....

Re: Re: Fall 2009 Grades

I only wish this could bolster my spirits for this semester, which I will try to tell you about soon.

Re: Fall 2009 Grades

Don't Believe Anything This Man Says

The cat is also full of lies.

Do You Know Urie?

If you're familiar with Urie Bronfenbrenner, the father of the Head Start program and lifelong advocate of children, you are certainly not surprised to know that he's showing up in my HDEV textbooks already. Guess what, friends! I knew Urie, who died in 2005, and his wife Liese when I worked at Kendal at Ithaca where they lived. He was a sweet man and his wife was devoted and caring. Read the obituary on my influential and fascinating acquaintance via Cornell.

image via Cornell