A Thursday Roundup

13. My new dish for this month was pumpernickel bread---somehow, I'd never made any. It's quite tasty, and makes me happy: I hadn't had pumpernickel in literally years, since it's not a thing out here.

24/28. I'm making new appointments with the dentist and hand doctor once I finish this entry. Got the numbers here and everything.

43. I'm looking through all the books I have... and am now cataloguing all the books I own but haven't read yet. Ohhh man it's scary big (and does not include library books, eek). So, here's the full list, numbering currently at 101(!) books:

1. Julian Barbour, The End of Time
2. S.C. Gwynne, Empire of the Summer Moon
3. Hans C. Chanian, Einstein's Mistakes
4. Suppes, Axiomatic Set Theory
5. Apostol, Calculus
6. Lay, Linear Algebra and its Applications
7. Bergmann, Moor and Nelson, The Logic Book
8. R.F. Leslie, Three Old English Elegies
9. Eric Gerald Stanely, The Owl and the Nightingale
10. Ekko Danmark, The Ugly Duckling
11. Chomsky, Aspects of the Theory of Syntax
12. Ayer, Language, Truth and Logic
13. Jespersen, Growth and Structures of the English Language
14. Partee et al, Mathematical Methods for Linguistics
15. Whorf, Language, Thought and Reality
16. Repp, Negation in Gapping
17. Tomoko Ishizuka, The Passive in Japanese
18. Jordan and Chaplin, Reading Japanese
19. Ashby, Read Real Japanese
20. Selden, Annotated Literary Gems 1
21. Selden, Annotated Literary Gems 2
22. Chekhov in J
23. Fujiwara, The Emperor Horikawa Diary
24. M.F.K. Fisher, The Art of Eating
25. Heatter, Maida Heatter's Cakes
26. McKee, Making Craft Cider
27. Lass, Approaches to English Historical Linguistics
28. Dewey, Essays in Experimental Logic
29. MFA Boston, Art and Artifice
30. Lucas, Dinosaurs: The Textbook
31. Allan, The Oxford Handbook of the History of Linguistics
32. Gorey, Amphigorey Also
33. Ken Schramm, The Complete Meadmaker
34. A.S. Byatt, Ragnarok
35. Emily Dickinson, Favorite Poems
36. Karen Joy Fowler, What I Didn't See and Other Stories
37. Jo Walton, Among Others
38. Catherynne Valente, Six-Gun Snow White
39. A Treasury of the World's Best Loved Poems
40. Juster, La Caseta Magica
41. MFK Fisher, A Life in Letters
42. Montaigne's Travel Journal
43. The Complete Montaigne
44. Thoreau, Walden
45. Ashbery, And the Stars Were Shining
46. Eliot, The Waste-Land and Other Writings
47. Frost, The Road Not Taken and Other Poems
48. Keats, Lyric Poems
49. Roethke, The Collected Poems
50. Rosetti, Goblin Market and Other Poems
51. Shapiro, After a Lost Original
52. Shakespeare, Sonnets
53. Yeats, Easter 1916 and Other Poems
54. The Quran
55. The Bible
56. モーテル・クロニクルズ
57. 馬追い旅日記
58. 　Neruda, Viente poemas de amor y una cancion desesperada, cien sonetos de amor
59. Esquivel, Como agua para chocolate
60. Crowley, Traduciendo el cielo
61. Ocho siglos de poesia catalana
62. Mueller and Aelbrecht, Contemporary Algebra and Trigonometry
63. Children of the Arbat
64. Hemingway, The Short Stories
65. まんが日本昔話し
66. Wolfe, You Can't Go Home Again
67. Taylor, The Global Translator's Handbook
68. Yasutaka Tsutsu, Paprika
69. Aesop, Fables
70. Barr, Invitation to Cryptography
71. Indigo
72. Marquez, Cien anos de soledad
73. Catherynne Valente, The Folded World
74. Valente, Deathless
75. Valente, In the Mere
76. Peake, Gormenghast Novels
77. Anderson, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
78. The Best American Essays 1991
79. Napier, Hands
80. Hobbes, Leviathan
81. Plato, The Republic
82. Barwise and Etchemendy, Language, Proof and Logic
83. Oates, Best American Essays
84. Zadie Smith, Changing My Mind
85. Lamb, Essays of Elia and the Last Essays of Elia
86. Wallace, Death and Rebirth of the Seneca
87. Bellamy, Looking Backward
88. The Complete Oscar Wilde
89. Heaney, Electric Light
90. The Oxford Book of English Verse
91. The Collected Poems of Yeats
92. Winterson, Written on the Body
93. Winterson, Oranges are the Only Fruit
94. Reage, The Story of O
95. Hamilton et al, The Federalist Papers
96. Sapir, Language
97. Pinker, The Language Instinct
98. Lakoff, Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things
99. Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier
100. The Lais of Marie de France
101. The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer
102. Catherynne Valente, Apocrypha
103. Neil Gaiman, Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes
104. Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book
105. E.B. Hudspeth, The Resurrectionist
106. Rhiannon Held, Silver
107. Brian Vaughn, Saga: vol 1
108. Catherynne Valente, The Melancholy of Mechagirl
109. Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane
110. Cheryl Strayed, ed., Best American Essays 2013

A Monday Roundup

So, life has still been a bit crazy---a bit unmoored and lost at sea with no paddles sort of situation. I'm simply continuing on the "try to get things back together" tack.

1. Have done at least a bit of afghaning, though not as much as I'd like.

13. Realized I've not done any new cooking for this month; I'm going to have to change that! Don't want to lose out on the really easy goals here.

15--20. Nothing new on any of the financial front.

21. Have been eating fruit like a maniac.

24/28. I'm calling my dentist and hand doctor today to reschedule the appointments that get fracked up in the Great Wedding Week.

29. Still utter suck at the vitamins. Ugh.

34. 4213 songs now, booyah.

48. Watched a few new movies, including The Great Gatsby and The Hulk. Let's just say that I'd watch Gatsby again, but if anyone ever tries to turn Eric Bana into the Hulk again I will smash so many things.

75. I managed to make it to a new restaurant: Gayle's, over in Capitola. Not sure how I hadn't been there before. It was generally quite delicious---good sandwich, good (dry!) macchiato, excellent dessert. Nom.

Oh lord, it has been a while. These last few months have been... hard, to say the least. My three-year relationship came grinding to a rather painful halt, and so let's just say that I've not been as, ah, good about doing things. Especially things that are not immediately necessary. It's simply not pleasant.

However, let me update what I can now; I've probably forgotten some things, and I need to generally re-settle my life, but---gonna do my best here and all.

1. The current goal is to finish the white afghan by the end of the summer. If I do a few rows on each panel a day, I should definitely be able to do it. Now, let's just hope that I remember to do that.

2. Added more yarn to the yarn bin. Whoops. Admittedly, this is supposed to be for some gifts I'm making---but I'm having difficulty getting the shop to order the rest of the yarn I need. I can only cross my fingers. >.<

3. I think that, at this point, I'm getting pretty good at figuring out the type of clothes that look good on me. (Pencil skirts and dresses with fitted bodices (either pencil or A skirts); pants that are fitted through the hips and either straight or bootcut below; shirts with boat and v-necks; fitted button-ups; blazers; and so on.)

4. The revamping of the wardrobe continues; I just recently got some semi-casual dresses that I can wear for summer and teaching.

12. Nail polish experimentation is, I think, something I can say I've done now. Recent polishes include an amazing silver metallic, Essie No Place Like Chrome, and Essie Lollipop (looove this color, just a beautiful bright true red). Essie is probably, at this point, my favorite of the polish companies.

13. I've done at least a bit of cooking recently. There was a parmesan chicken recipe in March---marinate the chicken, coat with parmesan and crumbs, eat very happily. April had a red lentil soup that I love and that is, huzzah, very cheap! And for May, a cocoa nib dacquoise, which is a cake I must make again and again, I love it.

22. I've been doing a bit better about exercising. I've not been great with doing it 3x a week, of course, but I'm getting better---I've been trying to get to 10,000 steps a day or more, which means that I've been going for walks more, and have also gone for a few runs here and there. It's not great, but it's better, and it's that upward trajectory that I most want to push on.

25. The skin is generally doing better---lots of lotion seems to help a lot, imagine that.

28. I had an appointment with a sports medicine doctor for my hands, but then had it cancelled by the doctor's office due to some scheduling difficulties. So, it's back to trying to figure that out.

29. Have been utter fail on the multi-vitamins. Ugh.

30. Less fail on calling the parentals recently.

34. Have been listening to a lot of music! 4192 out of 6406 songs. Of course, we'll see what happens when I inevitably go on another music acquisition spree (which is in the making; I've been wanting to get Lykke Li and Ellie Goulding for a while, among others).

48. I've also watched a fair number of movies recently: Captain America, Dark City, Iron Man 3, Up are all among them.

75. I realized that if I limit my new restaurants to just restaurants in town, that I actually might not be able to make 25 restaurants. I've eaten at a LOT of different places; so, I'm allowing myself to also add restaurants in the general area. So, Zeni's goes on (also, SO good).

Finally, I'm adding another goal: Writing a letter to my end-of-this-project self.

Saturday Roundup

I was definitely not perfectly in my Lenten goal to not spend too much---March is going to be very tight financially, as I was also frivolous in my troublesome categories this past month, too. I'm kind of hitting myself over the head about it; I need to be less of an eejit about this.

9. My music bit has progressed a tiny bit---I'm going to contact some profs in the music department at my uni, I think, for help in finding a violin and for some basic lessons. However, I might have to wait until my finances settle down a bit---they're a bit crazy at the moment.

12. The nail polish fun times continue! I've got an Essie deep blue that is fantastic, and goes on super easy and thick (and looks great with gold glitter over it). I've got gold fingernails right now, though, which is pretty much just happiness.

13. New recipes, oh yes: For February there was also salted caramel brownies off of Smitten Kitchen, which are so amazing that I'm making them again today; for March, there's a parmesan chicken recipe that is super simple and which will definitely be going in my repeat book.

22. I exercised quite a bit this last week! I went to the gym twice, and then also went to swing dance---which was absolutely fantastic, oh my god. I'm definitely going again. I'm also upping my daily step goal to 10,000; I can only hope that I'll be able to get continually more active!

25/26/29. Skin and teeth are doing well, and I've been taking my damn vitamins regularly. \o/

28. The hands are... okay. I've been writing too much, and they're aching. I think it may finally be time to bust out more money for ergonomically better computer equipment.

30. Have called Mum and Dad more! It's been fun. :D

48. I watched the Avengers yesterday with K. and C. Oh my, so very good.

75. In the realm of new restaurants---I forgot to mention the time I went to the Owl's Nest (which was fine for campus food, if not great otherwise).

77. The need for a new computer seems to get bigger and bigger---this computer is barely charging now. I'm crossing my fingers that nothing busts. :(

90. I'm working on edits for a journal submission. With luck, it will be submitted before the end of the month.

Roundup (Monday)

5. Have a couple of things to add to the green cookbook---why is it that I'm so lazy in writing things down? :(

9. I'm thinking I will try to learn violin. I'm checking out cheap violins and looking around for lessons now.

12. Nail polish remains awesomely fun.

13. I've done a couple new dishes. I've played with another style of pakhlava---this one with store-bought phyllo, to use up the phyllo from the börekler. It went well. The second was chicken kijiyaki, which is delicious and is going to get made many, many more times because it's also amazingly simple.

25/26/28/29. I'm doing well on these self-care things---I'm moisturizing, brushing regularly, taking my pills. Go me!

34. Music: Currently 3914 of 6406.

39. Been better this last week, at least, with making the bed.

75. If a cupcakery counts as a restaurant, I've now been to Sparkz. I also went to the Delmarette for the first time, and have decided that I will be frequenting it quite a bit---it's a great spot. Great coffee, great food, reasonable prices, and just a very cozy little cafe. Love it.

Hopefully I can cross the damn afghan off the list soon...

Roundup (Saturday)

Well, I've been good this week about a number of things! However, I haven't been keeping well within my budget---although I don't really mention it on here, I have a budget worked out that's supposed to keep me within the amount of money I make in a year. Unfortunately, the last month I've been a little frivolous. So, I've decided that I have a Lenten pledge: to stay perfectly in budget for the entirety of Lent. This is not part of the 1001, but I might talk about it here; it's definitely a sort of goal!

This is going to be fun. :)

Otherwise:

1. I made more progress on the afghan this last week, but I've also managed to hurt my hands (which I think is partly due to crocheting the entire time I watched Quantum of Solace with my housemate J--). I think I need to take a bit of a break, alas.

25/26/29. I've been good about these this week! Lots of taking my pills and moisturizing.

28. My hands hurt. It sucks. I need to find some way to make typing less painful.

48. I didn't put this down before, but I watched Thor a few weeks ago with a friend, and while chatting with a bunch of HiHers. I enjoyed that quite a bit.

55. A friend has decided to join me on the 10 books. We've got some plotting going---Solaris by Stanislaw Lem is on there, at the least, and probably Master and Margarita by Bulgakov as well.

71. I'm putting into motion the things necessary for renewing my passport. Time to figure this into my budget. :(

90. I'm working on a journal submission! Eeee! (And plotting two more, wow, self.)

Roundup (Saturday)

I've added a new goal: Take my daily vitamin! I've also updated my completed goals (I've got six totally out of the way! Yeah!), and the ones that I've failed at (goals that have been expressed not as habits, but as "do this regularly". I've not done that for the breast exams or for Lang-8, and I'm fine with having failed and now just trying to do my best. It gives me stuff to have goals for in my next 1001, after all. :))

1. White afghan: I'm still making slow, but not insubstantial, progress. I've gotten another panel done, and I started the next one, which is perhaps one-quarter of the way done. Once I finish this panel, I should only have one more to go. My goal is to finish before my spring break. ::squeal::

3. I'm slowly figuring out some things about what looks good on me. First, it's not necessarily that I look bad in certain things. It's that I'm uncomfortable in them. This is a very useful thing for me to be figuring out. I'm certainly hyper-critical of my body (there's a lot I should be unpacking about that), and I need to be aware of when I am being hyper-critical. Second, I've definitely found things that I think are very flattering. For example, I've known for a long time that boot cut jeans are good for me. It took a lot longer to internalize the fact that I look good in pencil skirts.

It has also helped that I got re-fitted for bras, and discovered that (surprise surprise!) my band is smaller than what I was wearing, and my cup substantially bigger. I'm a small hourglassy lady and my measurements are not found in your average store---alas. However, it's amazing what wearing a bra that actually fits you can do for your self-esteem, not to mention your physical comfort.

4. New bras = my wardrobe is automatically revamped. ;)

7. This upcoming month, I've decided that I would like to try at least two new puddings/custards and one new candy. Go me. It's on my to-do list that I have here on my desk.

12. I've been playing with nail polish like mad! I've discovered that I like OPI polishes a lot---they're thick and smooth but they don't chip. They also come in some really fantastic colors. I'm wearing a deep purple now that I adore.

13. I've enjoyed my one-new-dish still, of course. December was full of candies, and was quite fun. In January, I made a handful of random things, but I'm especially proud of my cheese börekler (phyllo rolls filled with a cheese mixture). They're very tasty. I'm going to try a meat-filled version for tomorrow, I think, and then go and mess with a few more recipes; I've got all this leftover phyllo!

23. I've been failing at the exams, although I'm now going to go do one because I only ever seem to remember if I write here! This, at least, is a really good reason to keep doing my 1001!

25/26/28. I've been much better at these ones---taking better care of my skin, and my teeth and hands. I've even been moisturizing at night occassionally (!), and I got some Vitamin E oil to use on my nails when they're not polished, so that they don't get tooo dry. I hope it will work.

42. I restarted La Caseta Mágica (i.e. the translation of the Phantom Tollbooth into Spanish). I'm excited, because I remember way more than I thought I would.

46. I'm working hard on trying to get more Lang-8 in, both in Japanese and Spanish. I've actually written it into my schedule, craycray.

52. I actually hosted a real, non-potluck mini-dinner party last month! My friends P. and Ni. came over for dinner; I made all sorts of appetizers, they brought a bit of wine and bread, and we had a bunch of pasta alla norma (which unfortunately N. wasn't wild about, because he's not wild about eggplant). Nevertheless, it was a real, nice, sit-down event. I would still like to host a bigger one sometime, though. . . maybe up to a whole four people invited? Maybe even SIX?

71. I desperately need to renew my passport. Uuugh of all the things I don't want to bother doing. . . this is one of them. Such a pain in the ass.

75. I went to Hulu's last month with some folks, which was completely new for me. I'm not sure I'd like it when the bar crowd comes in, but for happy hour, it was great. Additionally, N. and I ate at Rosie's, which we had never done before---just had a drink or two at the bar. I was really pleased with both, and I think I'd like to try Rosie's for brunch some time, too.

Roundup (Saturday)

Finally, a less-overdue roundup!

1. Afghan: Making slow and occassional progress. I've been writing enough recently that the hands are acting up a bit, alas.

4. Wardrobe revamping is in continuous progress; I'm in the process of getting rid of a few things now.

7. I've decided that the second thing I need to work on perfecting is candies. I'm decent at caramels and at tempering chocolate, but there's such a world of brittles and toffees and hard candies and. . . oh yes. Although I give myself leeway to not doing anything that tends to require corn syrup, because ew.

13. December is going to be quite full of new recipes, as I'm making a bunch of candies. However, I have already tried making gnocchi. They're definitely better fresh, and not frozen.

19. Emergency fund is probably going to get dipped into during January---goddamned not getting paid for a good month. -_-

22. I have been active this week! I have walked downtown a lot! This isn't really exercise, in the concerted raising-of-pulse and working-of-muscles type, but it's better than nothing.

24. Dentist: Completed for December.

25/25: Doing well so far on the skin and teeth.

29. Doing well on calling Mum and Dad, too!

37/45. I wrote on Lang-8?

38. I've been. . . sort of making the bed. I've been straightening the covers, at least.

So, it's not been particularly exciting here in the last week---but I've been keeping my head above water, at least.

A Focus (Monday)

This is a post both sad and yet triumphant.

The sadness is because---I don't think I said it here yet---but my Aunt J. died of cancer in October. When we talk about people having hearts of gold, well, she had one. This isn't to say she was perfect (she had some views, particularly political ones and particularly views about the Arab world, that were a bit unpleasant). However, she was also a thoughtful, generous, supportive woman, with a love for poetry and books and cats and travel. When I think of people I want to be like, she's on my list. Suffice to say that I miss her, and think of her often, and am only glad that she's no longer suffering from her disease.

As I said, she was a generous and supportive woman. For most of my life, that support came in letters---she wanted to read my poetry, wanted to know about my schoolwork, called me "her scholar". In the last year, though, she also gave me some financial support. Part of it was in the form of a rather large cash gift, which went partly into paying off loan interest and partly into my emergency fund. As it turns out, she also left me an insurance policy from her days as an Army nurse.

Because of said policy, I have now been able to pay off all the interest on my Key loan (yes, all $2652.50 remaining interest), with some to spare for the emergency fund. It's difficult to describe exactly how much weight is lifted off me with that paid off. It's not going to capitalize; I can easily pay the $50 a month that accumulates; I am that much more freed from debt.

And so, I'm grateful.

A long overdue roundup (Thursday)

Again, I've not posted in ages, like a bad, bad person. In my defense, I've been travelling like a madwoman---a week and a half with my parents, a week and a half with N., four days in Spain, and now five days here in the UK. It's been quite busy.

A rundown of things (and hopefully a more detailed travelogue will follow):

1. Afghan: My hands are feeling better, but I'm so far from my yarn. ;_; I'm looking forward to getting back to it.

13. New dish: I made a squash soup with sage and thyme while at Nick's. It's not a really new thing for me---I've made squash soup before---but the exact recipe was new, off of Smitten Kitchen. It wasn't my favorite soup I've ever made, but I also forgot the cumin, so perhaps I'll try it again some time.

15. Key interest is still under $3000, at least. I should be getting a big chunk of money some time soon, which I will probably most put towards that, but I'm not counting on it yet.

21/22. Fruits and veggies: I've been kind of average recently---not a great job of keeping track of the noms, but not super horrible, either. I was exercising with C. quite a bit before leaving for this trip, but have been travelling and therefore my only exercise is from walking (which has been not bad at least). The most fun thing about this is that I started a walking challenge at Walker Tracker with a few folks, which has been really fun. I'm 4th out of 15 people, although I suspect several of those people have given up on updating. Still! I'm over the goal I'm trying to meet, which is 7k a day, and that pleases me. I'd love to be able to get it up to 10k, though. I'd feel very nice about that.

25/26. Skin and teeth are going pretty well, though I need to remember to set up an appointment to get my damn wisdom tooth out. :(

29. I've been better about contacting Mum and Dad, though still not perfect.

37/45. Utter fail on language practice and Lang-8. So sad.

40. I've completed my Goodreads for this year already! (Actually, I did this at the end of October. I've been reading like mad this year.)

61/62. I went on a lovely hike over the moors with W. the other day (to be recounted in more detail in a later entry). It was incredibly pleasant. I'd also been biking more, what with trying to bike to school. I'm really hoping to just be more active this year---I feel like utter shite whenever I'm just doing school stuff ALL the time.

84. I AM IN THE UK RIGHT NOW OMG. More later.

91. I've been to enough conferences this year---been to the (Mis)match workshop in Berlin, plus the workshop I just presented at in Spain. And now, for the Annual Meeting in January!

So, things are not looking too terribly desperate right now, although of course I'm freaking out over my dissertation and the job hunt. I'll ignore that now, though, and think of doing Other Things with life. :)