| Signal Boost: Poly Teaching Resources |
[Nov. 19th, 2009|09:39 am] |
A friend who's a college Sociology instructor asks, Anyone know of a good video resource that discusses non-monogamous relationships and other "non-traditional" family relationships in a sane, balanced, responsible fashion? |
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| Bump: Why Monogamy or Non-Monogamy? |
[Nov. 16th, 2009|09:49 pm] |
One of the other assignments I'm working on now that I have time to again is my final project on monogamy and non-monogamy for my human sexuality class. I could still use some more data, so if you haven't yet responded to my previous request for input and are willing to share, I would appreciate it. As a reminder, you may choose to comment anonymously, and all replies will be anonymized when I present the data for my presentation. |
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| The Best Ever Indie Rock Band Out of Durham |
[Nov. 16th, 2009|09:16 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | concerts, music | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "Hand Ball" - The Mountain Goats | ] |
I did take a short break this weekend to go see the Mountain Goats with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) byronium and gayathri, and I'm glad I did. The Mountain Goats always put on a fantastic show--I just love that John Darnielle's such a huge freaking dork and so obviously enjoys being on stage--but this one was especially awesome due to John's fondness for his San Francisco audience and the high volume of older, more obscure songs he played. I am not one of those pretentious twats who's always whining about how they like a band's older and more obscure stuff better (I am a completely different sort of pretentious twat), but it was super special to hear some of my favorites from the lo-fi years played live. I mean, "Hand Ball," ohmygod. And "Maize Stalk Drinking Blood." And "Attention All Pickpockets"! I believe I may have gotten a bit swoony at points.
( Full Setlist )
The opening act was pretty good, too. A violinist named Owen Pallett who calls himself Final Fantasy? He's got sort of an Andrew Bird thing going on with the strings and the looping, and though the effect for most of the songs wasn't as brilliant (or melodic) as when Andrew Bird does it, when it did work, it was impressive. And it was amazing when he joined the Mountain Goats for a few songs, especially "Going to Bristol."
I continue to dislike both the Fillmore and non-seated shows, and as far as my feet are concerned if I never go to another non-seated show again it will be too soon for them, but of course the caveat is "unless it's the Mountain Goats." Or David Bowie. |
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| Also? I can kill you with my brain. |
[Nov. 16th, 2009|07:44 pm] |
For the past couple weeks, and especially the past weekend, I've had my head buried pretty deeply in my thesis. I was freaking out a little about it for awhile, but I turned the 2nd draft in this afternoon, and while there's still a lot of work left to do to get the whole thing finished by the 7th, I'm pleased with my progress and feel good about putting it away for the next day or two in favor of working on other assignments.
After I turned the draft in I dropped in on my major advisor to see if she had time to look over my file with me and make sure I'm really-truly for really real on track for graduation in December. She did, and I am! Even though I've been broadcasting it everywhere all day it still hasn't quite sunk in, but I'm sure it will soon. |
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| Braintrust: Headphone Recommendations? |
[Nov. 8th, 2009|09:44 pm] |
I love my Etymotic ER-6i headphones to death--literally. I can't seem to keep a pair for much more than a year before they die, no matter how gentle I am with them. My current pair is exhibiting the characteristic shorted-headphone death rattle so it's time to get new ones, but I want to try something else maybe a little more durable. Any suggestions, audiophiles? I have a strong preference for in-ear noise-cancelling or noise-reducing headphones, but will consider other options if they are awesome.
UPDATE: Thanks for the input! After reading headphone review forums instead of doing my homework doing some research, I decided to go with the Klipsch Image S4. I'll post a review when I get 'em. |
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| We are all made of stories, plural. |
[Nov. 3rd, 2009|09:50 am] |
Last week in my public health leadership class we discussed working with a diverse student body, and our instructors showed us this fantastic TED talk by Chimamanda Adichie, "The Dangers of A Single Story." It resonated more with me than almost anything else I've heard on the subject of diversity and -isms, because it's about a very specific, concrete, and everyday thing--the stories we have of people--and it applies not just in the realms of race and gender and orientation, but to any way we might identify or label someone and make assumptions about them based on that: age, class, place of residence, political affiliation, profession, hobby, etc. And for those who might be weary of the usual tropes of the discourse, or those who work with people who have become desensitized to it, this is a really fresh and powerful way to approach it.
It's nearly 20 minutes, but well worth taking the time to watch.
(Thanks to dimethirwen for reminding me I've been wanting to post this.) |
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| NaTheWriMo |
[Nov. 2nd, 2009|10:45 am] |
I still have yet to do a successful NaNoWriMo, but each year I try is a valuable experience, and I always finish the month with something that, while it may not be the novel I set out to write, eventually turns into something I'm happy with. I won't be participating this year, though; for me this year, November is National Thesis Writing Month.
My thesis is due on December 7, and though it's only a fraction of the length of a 50,000-word novel, and I've already started it, I still need to make sure I put in a significant amount of work on it each day this month. The NaNoWriMo model is a great way to trick myself into doing it plan and structure the rest of my research and writing time so that I'm not scrambling to finish such a big project at the last minute.
I am both eagerly looking forward to and slightly terrified of finally finishing this thing. |
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| The most wonderful time of the year |
[Oct. 31st, 2009|01:22 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | halloween, music, sugar | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  happy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Oingo Boingo - "Dead Man's Party" | ] |
Happy Halloween
from
rhiannonstone and rao!
We don't have any particular plans tonight--most of the Halloween parties I've been invited to have already happened, and I only managed to make it to one of them (but that one was awesome!)--but the apartment is decorated, we're stocked up on candy both sugary and chocolatey, and we have a bunch of good movies, TV, and music queued up to keep us entertained while we wait for the costumed kidlets to come by. And I'm still dressing up in my truly outrageous Jem costume! Pictures later, maybe. ;)
Revised from the version I posted earlier this week on Facebook, here's ( this year's Halloween playlist. ) |
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| Braintrust: Fail Recovery Resources |
[Oct. 29th, 2009|10:27 pm] |
I've read some great LJ and Dreamwidth posts over the past few years on being inclusive and dealing with fail re: feminism, racism, and sexual diversity. Sadly I haven't bookmarked any of them, and I need some inspiration for leading a discussion about it with a group of young college students who are dealing with the aftermath of their very first fail (okay, it's partly my fail, too, but certainly not my first!). What are your favorite 101-level resources? Doesn't have to be LJ or Dreamwidth, I just know there are quite a few good journals posts out there, specifically in fandom-related journals. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 15th, 2009|09:59 am] |
I am realizing that while I have recommended Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy to several of you, I think I may have forgotten to mention that it is insane. Thankfully, snarp picks up my slack: At one point it’s Christmas Time In Hell.
Saetan gives presents to all the dead children in hell and weeps because the children are dead and in hell, and he gets a present for the first time in a couple thousand years and he opens it on Christmas Eve because he can’t wait because a little girl has taught him how to feel joy again and I swear to god the book is absolutely not joking. This is an actual thing that Anne Bishop thought of! And felt should be in her book! The magic cock ring book! Which also has at least three separate castration scenes, possibly more, and one of them is on the fifth page and in another one the hero demonstrates his gallantry and angst by rendering the guy unconscious and stalking off to cover objects in ice! The ice represents his soul. And then there's book two. Further commentary here, where vito_excalibur wins an Internet of her very own for titling her post about the magic cockring book "If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it." |
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| Braintrust: Why Monogamy or Non-Monogamy? |
[Oct. 12th, 2009|05:20 pm] |
UPDATE 11/22 - Survey now closed! Thank you all so much for sharing.
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I asked a similar question earlier this year for a SHEP presentation, but this time it's for my final Evolution of Human Sexuality project, and I'm looking for answers from both sides plus an additional data point. I'd appreciate input even from folks who answered the last time I asked, whether or not the answer is different. Help me out with my final by answering the following completely unscientific survey:
1. Do you prefer to be in monogamous or non-monogamous relationships? (For my purposes, "non-monogamous relationships" means consensually non-monogamous/polyamorous/open relationships.)
2. Why?
3. What gender do you identify as?
Anonymous comments are enabled. If you'd prefer, you can email me at myrealfirstname @ berkeley dot edu. All replies will be anonymized when I present the data for my final project.
EDIT: Edited the wording of question 1 for clarity. |
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| Safety first! |
[Oct. 1st, 2009|03:43 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | friends, sex ed | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | touched | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The Faint - "Worked Up So Sexual" | ] |
I keep forgetting to post about this, but I pulled the shirt out of the clean laundry just now and was reminded. Paul sent me a message while I was out Saturday night saying I had a package from Thailand, which intrigued me because I didn't remember ordering anything from Thailand. It turned out to be a dress I bought on eBay, but interestingly, there was another mysterious package that had also ultimately made its way to me from Thailand. There was no return address, though I thought I recognized the handwriting on the address label, and I was right: novalis and regyt had thoughtfully sent me a t-shirt they found during their honeymoon travels, from Cabbages and Condoms Restaurant in Thailand. "Saw this shirt and thought of you." Aww. :) Thanks, guys! It does indeed fit--just barely, but somehow that seems appropriate. ;)
( A closer look )
As a sex educator I am compelled to point out that the "Don't swallow" warning makes no sense, because there is no evidence that swallowing increases your risk of HIV transmission. Swallow or spit, just don't let it sit! |
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| Blame it on the gay dance mix/Blame it on the San Francisco sunshine |
[Sep. 30th, 2009|10:12 pm] |
I'm not entirely sure how it's already Wednesday evening; I still feel like I'm recovering from the weekend! It was a long and exhausting one, but in a good way. Saturday byronium, gayathri, and I met up with some friends of G's for an afternoon of kite-flying, and it was nice to take my kite out and enjoy the sunshine and the company. Though as peaceful and relaxing as holding the single line and watching my pretty little purple diamond float against the sky is, I'm starting to think I might want a two-line to play with after all. I've crashed byronium's every time I've tried it, but that's what practice is for, right? :)
I parted ways with them in the evening and headed off to an erotic reading, where I got to hear some of my favorite local pervs read their amazing work. I left after the first half because I was starting to pumpkin hard, and went home to rest up for Folsmas festivities.
I had a lot of fun at the fair. I initially had mixed feelings about going, partly because I'd been feeling more exhausted than sexy and partly because I was going solo with no set plans for the first time, but as always, it all worked out. I ended up meeting up with some of the folks from the workshop here in Berkeley and heading over to the city with them--they were all so excited about their first Folsom! It was adorable and infectious--and I got to see and hug and spend a little time with with nearly everyone I was hoping to while I was there. And I think I looked pretty cute, too, though I haven't yet come across any pictures that actually show my outfit. After I was Done with the crowds and the walking and the sun I met byronium for an early dinner at Home (thus continuing the tradition of post-Folsom refueling with their delicious mac and cheese!) and spent a lovely evening with him.
I gotta say, I love living a life that allows for kite-flying in the park, an erotic reading, a leather street fair, and gourmet macaroni and cheese all in the same weekend. :) |
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| This is the time when we reflect on the things we've done. |
[Sep. 26th, 2009|10:33 am] |
Post-presentation I am usually both buzzed and tired. Thursday night was no different, though I came home feeling both much more profoundly. I think I need to figure out some sort of presentation aftercare, because recovering from a particularly successful one is a lot like my experience of top drop: I put my heart and soul into it, we all have a great time, and then it's over and I'm totally drained and everyone's gone. Which is okay, because that's the way it works, but maybe I should make sure to schedule a little self-care time right after, to decompress, reflect, and eat something.
But it was indeed a particularly successful one! I really had no idea how the workshop was going to go--who, if anyone, was going to turn up, and whether or not I'd be able to pull it off--so it was kind of a nice surprise to realize how well it was going. There was a good turnout, ~20 people ranging from community members with years of experience in the scene to eager gender and sexuality students who'd done their homework to a small group of girls who'd never heard anyone talk about this stuff out loud, in earnest, before. That mix led to a lot of great discussion and a fantastic energy. I had an elaborate outline, but the presentation ended up evolving kind of organically, shaped by everyone's questions and interests. The activities and toy show-and-tell were big hits, as I'd expected (even though I left a crucial piece of one of the activities at home and had to improvise), but so was the Q & A session, and the myth-debunking, and the term definition, and everything else! It wasn't flawless--there were a couple times I almost lost control of the room (once due to one particularly outspoken individual, and once just because people were so excited they all started talking at once), and I noticed a few annoying verbal and gestural tics I need to quash--but I handled all the minor issues that arose and just generally felt like I was at the top of my game, and the great comments (and a request for an interview and a repeat performance!) I got afterward confirmed it.
And now I am extra-psyched for both the Folsom Street Fair this weekend and all my upcoming workshops! |
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| PSA: Web Security Exploit on LJ |
[Sep. 23rd, 2009|08:22 am] |
Yesterday LJ experienced a web security exploit that affected the security of some locked posts. Read more about it here, double-check the security settings of your recent entries, and use the Edit Journal Entries page to quickly scan your most recent posts for embedded flash you didn't put there yourself. |
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| T-frickin'-R! |
[Sep. 20th, 2009|12:20 am] |
I can think of several people on my friendslist who might have sent this card to Postsecret, except most of them already have a man as badass as Teddy. ;)
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| I can has thesis topic! |
[Sep. 16th, 2009|01:53 pm] |
Eee! My advisor not only accepted my thesis proposal, he declared it "excellent" and made me present my topic to the rest of my cohort first thing this morning. I'm finally starting to feel like I can actually pull this off. "This" being surviving the semester, completing my thesis, and graduating. ;) |
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| I can has a thesis topic? |
[Sep. 15th, 2009|10:10 pm] |
I met with my thesis advisor last week and left incredibly frustrated. He's a nice guy, but obviously has no interest in or understanding of any of my areas of study, and when I laid out all my big, exciting ideas for him he gave me very little feedback other than dismissing things he didn't understand or already had an opinion about. The meeting did help drive home the fact that this project is just an analysis and synthesis of existing research, which eliminated some of my more ambitious ideas (and helped me reframe the paper in my head as a glorified research paper--or a long, well-written Wikipedia page), and gave me a better sense of the scope and specificity I should be aiming for. So when I had a flash of inspiration the other night, I was able to frame it properly--well, once I ran my half-formed ideas by Paul and spent time grasping for the right words to say what was in my head. Yesterday, after a flurry of more brainstorming and research and mad typing, I handed in my proposal for The Wisdom of Crowdsourcing: Case Studies in Mass Collaboration.
I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner. Well, okay, yes I do. There's a pretty big disconnect between the statement of purpose I wrote when I applied for this program and the classes I've been taking to achieve it. My statement of purpose described what I thought I should be pursuing, but the classes I've been taking, on linguistics and cognitive science and information theory and sociology and culture, have been based for the most part on what I am actually interested in, on what I spend much of my time thinking about and doing. My proposed thesis topic is, as it should be, a culmination and reflection of that, and it excites the hell out of me.
Now I just get to hope my proposal is approved! |
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| Gardasil for The Mens |
[Sep. 10th, 2009|11:52 am] |
Finally! FDA panel urges HPV vaccine be given to boys WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Boys may soon be able to get Gardasil, the vaccine given to girls and young women to prevent infection by four types of human papillomavirus.
A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee voted Wednesday to recommend that the vaccine be made available to boys and young men aged 9 to 26 for protection against genital warts caused by HPV.
The vaccine protects against four types of HPV, and two of those are believed to be responsible for 70 percent of cervical and anal cancers, and HPV-associated penile and throat-and-neck cancers. The other two cause 90 percent of genital warts cases, researchers say.( Read more... ) |
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| Help! Models Needed for Mock Pelvic Exams |
[Sep. 9th, 2009|05:32 pm] |
Not as shady as it sounds! Part of the training for peer educators in the campus sexual health education program I coordinate is to observe a mock pelvic exam so that they have a thorough understanding of what one is like, since an important part of our jobs is counseling young women before their first annual exams. Due to scheduling issues, we're short a couple of models this year. Wanna help?
We're looking for 2 women to participate in 2 mock/demo pelvic exams at the Tang Center the evening of Tuesday, September 15. Each participant will have 2 pelvic exams (including all aspects of the women's annual exam except for the actual swabbing of cervical cells) performed on them by a Nurse Practitioner from University Health Services while being observed by a small group of peer educators from SHEP.
There is no official compensation for participation other than the warm glow of satisfaction you'll get from knowing that you've assisted in the training of a fantastic group of campus sex educators--though I will buy dinner for any friends of mine or friends-of-friends who participate to show my appreciation.
Observing a mock pelvic exam is a decades-old SHEP tradition and an incredibly valuable experience for our peer educators. Please help us keep this educational tradition alive for this year's peers!
If you're interested, contact me ASAP for details. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 7th, 2009|09:32 pm] |
I lied about not having to cook again for awhile. I had to make more corn muffins to go with the chowder! And then there were lemons that had to be used, so they became lemon drops, but I don't know if mixing drinks counts as cooking. This is not me complaining.
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I'd planned on getting some cleaning done today, and I did a bit, but my foot wasn't very happy about it so I've spent most of the day working on homework (I actually woke up this morning with the solution to my first Metaphor assignment in my head, how awesome is that?) and researching graduate programs.
I've been more than a little conflicted about what to do after graduation for awhile, since my original academic plans got derailed more than once and I keep finding so many things I'm passionate about, but after spending the past few weeks doing some serious introspection, considering the reality of what I'm good at and enjoy doing rather than the intangible ideal of what I think I should be doing, and talking to various people in the field, I think I've finally figured out what sort of program will give me the experience, skill development, and legitimacy I need to do more of what I'm already doing, on a professional level, and take it even further: a Master of Public Health. There are still plenty of logistics to work out, but I have an appointment with the Career Center and I've signed up for info sessions at Berkeley's and SFSU's respective Schools of Public Health, and we'll go from there.
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My 10-year reunion is at the end of the month. I'll admit to being ever-so-slightly curious about what it would be like to see some of my NNSH classmates after a decade, but not enough to miss classes or the Folsom Street Fair for it, so I RSVP'd my regrets ages ago. Apparently I'm not the only one, either; from what I understand, there are barely enough people buying tickets to cover the cost of renting the venue. There's been some minor Facebook drama surrounding the poor response, which just confirms that I made the right decision. Some of the comments made it clear that some people haven't changed at all in the past 10 years, so what's the point of seeing them again? But one of the organizers posted this tonight, which I think is one of the most insightful things anyone's said about the reunion so far: [Redacted] realizes why people are not coming to the reunion! They didn't party with us in 99 so why would they want to in 09? Why indeed? Of course, then he goes on to talk about how fewer attendees means more drinks for him, so I don't think he meant for it to be that insightful. ;) But it's still a valid point. Why spend time and money to go hang out with people we barely interacted with in the first place? Thanks to the wonders of the modern age I'm able to keep in touch with most of the people I really want to keep in touch with, and who want to keep in touch with me; a reunion just seems kind of pointless. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 6th, 2009|09:45 pm] |
It's been a great weekend so far, both productive and relaxing, but right now I'm dealing with the result of some self-care planning fail. I've been out of the boot all week (ice massage: it sucks, but it works!), but haven't been on my feet for more than a short time each day, just long enough to walk to and from the one class a day I have now that I've re-jiggered my schedule. It's felt so great to be fully mobile again that I opted to walk to brunch and coffee this morning and wander leisurely around town for a bit, forgetting that I'd planned to spend the rest of the day on my feet canning, cleaning, and cooking. Oops. So after 7 hours of it I'm in more pain than I've been in for a couple weeks, but I've also got a cleaned and organized pantry and lots of great food! ;)
Paul and I picked up 25 lbs. of heirloom tomatoes--huge, ugly, and delicious Jubilees and Big Rainbows--from the Preservationist Society on Friday, and I spent a few hours this afternoon chopping them up and squishing them into jars. I didn't think to take pictures (and I'm too tired to do it now), but the final result is as pretty as it is practical: jewel-like jars of vivid orange with bright splashes of red here and there. After canning several quarts I still had a bunch of tomatoes left over, ones that were too soft or bruised to preserve but still perfectly edible, so after I cleaned up from canning I made a big batch of tomato soup and put half in the fridge for lunches next week, and the other half in the freezer for the not-too-distant future. After that, I cleaned the many ears o' corn I picked up at the farmer's market yesterday and turned most of them into a pot of corn chowder, which we had for dinner tonight and will probably have for dinner again tomorrow. I shouldn't have to actually cook again for a few days.
( Corn Chowder with Bacon )
( Fresh Tomato Soup )
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Speaking of corn, thanks for all the great cornbread recipe suggestions! Last night I tried a slight variation of the corn muffin recipe suggested by joyce and jeni (leaving out the fresh corn kernels), and it was exactly what I was looking for: sweet, but not too sweet, and just the right compromise between cakey and crumbly. It was super easy to make, and it paired perfectly with last night's spicy beer-steamed peel-and-eat shrimp and tonight's corn chowder. I'll definitely be making it again.
( Corn Muffins ) |
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| Braintrust: ISO Cornbread Win |
[Sep. 4th, 2009|10:17 pm] |
I promised Paul I'd make cornbread this weekend to go with a shrimp dish, but I wasn't pleased with the last couple recipes I tried, and I don't want to waste time and ingredients on another randomly-chosen recipe. Will you share your favorite cornbread recipes with me? I like it sweet and unadulterated (but you knew that already). |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 3rd, 2009|06:57 pm] |
The last few lines of this poem popped into my head earlier this week after a delicious dinner, but then I got too distracted to share it. So here it is now:
Recipe for a Salad
by Sydney Smith
To make this condiment, your poet begs
The pounded yellow of two hard-boil'd eggs;
Two boiled potatoes, passed through kitchen sieve,
Smoothness and softness to the salad give.
Let onion atoms lurk within the bowl,
And, half-suspected, animate the whole.
Of mordant mustard add a single spoon,
Distrust the condiment that bites so soon;
But deem it not, thou man of herbs, a fault
To add a double quantity of salt;
Four times the spoon with oil of Lucca crown,
And twice with vinegar procur'd from town;
And lastly, o'er the flavour'd compound toss
A magic soupçon of anchovy sauce.
Oh, green and glorious! Oh, herbaceous treat!
'Twould tempt the dying anchorite to eat:
Back to the world he'd turn his fleeting soul,
And plunge his fingers in the salad-bowl!
Serenely full, the epicure would say,
"Fate cannot harm me, I have dined today." |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 3rd, 2009|09:30 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | paul | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | cheerful | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Hans Zimmer - "You're So Cool" | ] |
Happy birthday to my rock, my pillow, my best friend, my partner in crime, and my playmate-for-life, rao! I am so very glad that you exist, and that I get to share in that existence. |
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| Three Weird Things Before Breakfast |
[Aug. 31st, 2009|08:59 am] |
They're making a movie out of Jon Ronson's awesome book The Men Who Stare At Goats, a nonfiction account of the U.S. military's research into psychic powers and supernatural weapons. It looks like a big-budget mainstream deal, too, with a pretty much perfect cast. Who else but George Clooney, Kevin Spacey, and Jeff Bridges should be in a movie about soldiers who try to learn Jedi mind tricks and kill goats with their eyes?
In other strange news, Disney is going to buy Marvel Entertainment, and the British police are planning to re-examine the case of Brian Jones' death. Man, if ever there was a time I was grateful to no longer have any contact with the Psycho Ex, this is it. He thought he was Brian Jones reincarnated, and always insisted he was murdered by Anita Pallenberg. He would be 16 different kinds of insufferable right now. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 30th, 2009|04:15 pm] |
Friday's physical therapy session went well. My physical therapist is a personable guy who really knows his stuff and was supportive without being annoying or over-solicitous. He spent about half an hour evaluating my pain locations and levels, stride, and range of motion, and then the rest of the visit was spent doing the first round of actual physical therapy modalities: ultrasound, torture "massage" with a deformed metal popsicle stick called a Graston tool, and electrical muscle stimulation with an e-stim machine. I have to admit that I giggled a bit when he asked me if I knew how an e-stim machine worked; I certainly do, though this was the first I'd ever seen it used in a legitimate medical context. ;) (Hey, I wonder if insurance would subsidize the purchase of one for home use? Hmm...) After that, he told me what I need to do every night at home: stretches to increase hamstring and other tendon flexibility, range-of-motion exercises, ice massage, and wearing that @#$%^&* night splint as often as I can stand it. I'm also supposed to get my ass on the exerbike or into the pool a few times a week to get some low-impact exercise in, which is something I need to do anyway. Thank goodness for my RSF membership and a class schedule that actually allows time for gym visits!
I'll be going back once a week for at least a month, though due to some scheduling wackiness, my next appointment isn't for another couple of weeks. The short-term goal is to reduce pain enough so that I can walk without the boot; the long-term goal is to reduce the chronic pain and actually heal the injured tendons and fascia. I am feeling pretty optimistic, and already seeing some benefit from the stretches and ice massage from the past couple of days. |
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| Summer's Almost Gone |
[Aug. 25th, 2009|07:11 pm] |
I have had a gloriously lazy and relaxing day today. I left the house only to get an iced spiced mocha and a fabulous massage at Bodywork Central (Rhi recommends!) this morning, and spent the rest of the day at home reading, napping, and doing absolutely nothing of consequence. It sounds decadent, but I needed it; with Summer session finals and SHEP training and administrative work, I've been going nonstop for the last couple weeks, and with Fall classes starting tomorrow (eep!), I don't expect to have another day off anytime soon.
Both Summer classes and SHEP training went well, though. I worked harder and had more fun than I expected to in my Summer classes, and I aced them both. Despite a crazy professor who was a psycho hosebeast to me one day and acting like my bestest friend the next, I kind of fell in love with narrative theory and would seriously consider changing my major if it weren't my final semester and I weren't already a little torn about what to do next, school-wise.
SHEP has also required a lot more work on my part than I expected these past couple weeks, but planning, developing, and successfully implementing the training of 22 brand-new sex educators feels amazing, as does being trained myself to work in the clinic doing pre-colposcopy education and peer sexual health counseling.
Man, I have got to figure out a way to do this stuff and get paid for it.
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I have a pretty light courseload for next semester to leave time for SHEP and to work on my thesis, and I'm looking forward to all my classes--even Metaphor, even though it's going to be taught by George Lakoff himself. I'm sure I'll figure out a way to avoid being suffocated by his ego. ;) Theory of Knowledge and Evolution of Human Sexuality are both also taught by rockstars in their fields--Barry Stroud and Malcolm Potts, respectively--and are both classes I've wanted to take since I started at Berkeley, so I'm pretty excited.
( Fall Classes )
I'm not quite ready for classes to start tomorrow, though. I don't think it's quite sunk in yet that this is my last semester at Berkeley. |
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| Foot Update |
[Aug. 25th, 2009|06:18 pm] |
I'm still having issues with my right foot, and have had to wear the Boot of Doom pretty much every day since I got it; the couple of days I tried to go without it were pretty disastrous. It got progressively better during the first week, but then stopped improving, and started hurting even when I wasn't using it. I finally got an appointment with the Sports Medicine clinic last week, where I met with an awesome clinician who was both businesslike and compassionate, and really knew her stuff. She, like the doc from Urgent Care, thinks I most likely have a stress-related and/or compensatory tendon injury--specifically to the peroneal brevis tendon. (The glowy red bit where the tendon attaches to the 5th metatarsal is where I have the most pain, though any movement that involves that tendon or pressure on the 5th metatarsal hurts.) She spent a lot of time talking to me about my plantar fasciitis problems, too, because the injuries are likely related and treatment is similar: rest, elevation, icing, and stretching. Since I've been doing all those (well, except for the resting) and haven't been getting better, we're stepping it up a bit with a night splint and physical therapy. The night splints have improved in design since I last looked into them a few years ago, but they're still pretty unpleasant to wear; I haven't been able to fall asleep with mine on since I got it, though I keep trying! My first physical therapy appointment is Friday, and I'm both looking forward to and dreading it. I'm really hoping it helps, though, because dragging this boot around all the time sucks, and being in constant pain--the bad kind, and with not nearly enough of the good kind to distract me from it--sucks even more. |
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| Catching Up: More Adventures in Food |
[Aug. 16th, 2009|01:20 am] |
Last weekend Paul and I celebrated our 9th anniversary with dinner at (where else?) Chez Panisse on Friday. I looked at the menu when it was posted the week before and was a little apprehensive, because it didn't look particularly appetizing to me. The first course alone contained two of the flavors I loathe most in the world, melon and fresh mint, and the main course contained a third hated flavor: black olives. There was also the matter of the rose geranium ice cream and the powerfully unpleasant associations I have with geraniums, which grew all around the house in Spring Hope. But I had faith in the power of Panisse--they have, after all, gotten me to enjoy both eggplant and fennel--so we kept our reservations. And I'm glad we did; dinner was fantastic! The cucumber-melon-mint soup is definitely something I wouldn't eat again, but it wasn't as bad as I'd expected (though I still couldn't make myself eat more than a small bite of the melon, and I felt terrible when our server noticed and offered to bring me something else), and the rest of the menu had been slightly tweaked so that black olives no longer appeared anywhere on it. What was still there was amazing: pan-seared salmon with an Indian-spiced squash blossom sauce, smoky grilled quail with a medley of shell beans and the best tomato chutney I've ever had the pleasure of tasting, and a deliciously fresh and fruity dessert that neither tasted nor smelled of any geranium I've ever met. It was actually probably one of my favorite meals I've had at CP, and a perfect way to celebrate our anniversary.
( Clicky for the full menu )
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The rest of the weekend was both productive and relaxing. After we picked up canning supplies and a bunch of fresh produce from the farmer's market, I canned small test batches of pickled jalapeno slices, pickled green zebra tomatoes, and mixed heirloom tomatoes. The canning process worked well, even in my tiny kitchen (though the canning pot just barely fits on my stove), and the jar of jalapenos I opened up to taste-test today was perfect.
We also opened up the jar of salsa from the canning workshop to give it a taste before I use the same recipe to make a whole bunch, and it was delicious! Way better than a jar from the store. It needs a little more salt and a lot more heat--we went easy on both at the workshop since we were making it for a group with varied tastes--but that's easily remedied. I got a bunch more tomatoes and jalapenos at today's farmer's market, and I'm going to get to work on a big batch of salsa tomorrow. It'll be a nice break from writing my final essay for Summer session. |
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| Adventures in Food |
[Aug. 8th, 2009|05:47 pm] |
Last weekend I went to the Happy Girl tomato canning workshop I'd mentioned awhile back. It was fun! It was held in an adorable house in Temescal that reminded me a little bit of Grandma's house in Engelhard and a little bit of what the LBTI might have been like if it had been kept in better shape. The 10 of us plus two folks from Happy Girl gathered in the livingroom to introduce ourselves and learn the basics of hot water bath canning, then we got to work chopping and blending and squishing and stuffing and boiling. We made salsa, spicy tomato juice (a by-product of the salsa-making), crushed tomatoes, and lightly pickled whole tomatoes with basil and garlic. The fruits of our labors: 40+ jars of tomatoey goodness.
I'm super-excited about doing a bunch more canning, especially tomatoes, since we use so many tomato products. It'll be nice to have the food security in both the short-term (not having to run to the store whenever I need tomatoes for a sauce or soup) and the long-term (not having to worry about being able to get to the store, or having the money to buy food, in an emergency situation), and to have control over what goes into the preserved foods we're eating, and to be able to enjoy delicious heirloom tomatoes in the middle of winter. Last week I cleared off some shelves so there's actually space to store things, and today we picked up some more jars and a better canning setup than I had. I also got a bunch of tomatoes, jalapenos, and pickling cucumbers at the farmer's market, and I'm going to get started tomorrow!
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Last weekend I also cooked some pimientos de padron I'd been surprised to find at the farmer's market. I didn't think they were widely available here, but a couple local farms have been growing them and they've been showing up at restaurants and farmer's markets all over the Bay area for the past couple years. Pimientos de padron are also known as Russian Roulette peppers because, while most of them are quite mild, 1 in every 10 or so is supposed to be mouth-blisteringly hot. I've enjoyed taking the risk at tapas bars (somehow it's always me who gets the hot ones, which I don't mind at all!) and was looking forward to having the same small adventure at home, but I was disappointed. They were quite tasty--and really, how could pan-roasted green chiles dusted with salt not be?--but out of approximately 3 dozen chiles, only 2 of them were remotely spicy, and those were more like jalapenos than habaneros. I found out later that some farmers actually make an effort to harvest the peppers as early as possible to avoid the hot ones, which start showing up as the plants mature. That's not very fun at all! I'll have to ask around at the next farmer's market to make sure I'm picking from a batch likely to have a few hidden hot ones. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 31st, 2009|08:21 pm] |
My right foot has been hurting for a few days. Not my normal everyday stabbed-in-the-heel-with-a-knitting-needle foot pain, but a new and interesting sort of foot pain--the lateral edge of my foot feels like someone has twisted it inward and beat on it with a hammer. I chalked it up to wackiness resulting from overcompensating for my normal pain and assumed it would go away with some stretching and some rest, but it only got worse: yesterday afternoon it hurt so much to walk that I cut my farmer's market trip short, limped home, and had to curl up into a ball on the couch for awhile.
The Tang Center proper didn't have any appointments available for almost two weeks (I guess all the graduating seniors are scrambling to get as much as possible done before their student insurance expires?), so Paul drove me to Urgent Care as soon as they opened this morning. I expected to be camped out there for awhile but it went pretty quickly, and I was there for just under two hours all told. After I met with the triage nurse and spent way too much time choosing an appropriate descriptor from one of their 3 multi-dimensional pain assessment scales, an incredibly gorgeous (as well as friendly and sharp) doctor I'd never seen there before poked at my foot a bit, moved it about while he asked how much it hurt, then sent me down the hall for x-rays. He insisted on giving me a crutch to help me down the hall; when I protested he said, "You might have a broken foot, and making you walk to get your broken foot x-rayed would be lame." I groaned at the horrible pun I thought he was making, but apparently he was being totally straight. Oops. X-rays confirmed it wasn't a fracture, so after more poking he diagnosed me with some sort of unspecified tendinopathy, gave me a fabulous new piece of footwear to wear for the next 3-5 days, and instructed me to present myself to the Sports Medicine Clinic if it wasn't significantly improved after 7 days. I'm also supposed to rest and elevate and ice and stretch etc.
Walking with the boot on is significantly less painful than walking without it, but it's still pretty painful, not to mention awkward, so I ended up cancelling my plans for the rest of the day. I'm not particularly happy about it--I was really looking forward to hanging out with my SFSI peeps, and meeting some new people at a party tonight--but I don't think going out in pain and wearing a clunky boot would have been much fun, either, so I s'pose it's for the best. |
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| Throwing dreams into space |
[Jul. 26th, 2009|05:45 pm] |
Despite dutifully slathering on SPF 70 and tucking it into my bag for later re-application, I managed to get sunburned at the Berkeley Kite Festival yesterday. I forgot to re-apply it to my face, and didn't think to put any on my back since it was fully covered, not realizing that my shirt rides up when I sit down, exposing a wide swath of my lily-white lower back to the nearest unshielded fusion reactor. Ow. One day I will get this whole skincare-in-the-sun thing right.
But my pink face kinda goes well with my newly-purple hair (what?), and the kite festival was fun! I met byronium, gayathri, and a handful of other neat people for a delicious brunch at Venus Saturday morning, and then we made our way to the festival and enjoyed watching the kite ballets, flying our own kites, and marveling at the huge variety of kites in the air. I resisted the urge to buy a two-line stunt kite because I'm not that coordinated yet, but I did pick up a Stowaway Diamond (in Purple Haze) and a colorful flip kite, and I can't wait to take them out and fly them again--especially the diamond, which looks absolutely gorgeous in the sky.
I don't know quite how to explain the appeal of simply flying a kite, but it fills me with a relaxed sort of glee, kind of like blowing bubbles but with an added sense of awe and wonder at both nature and simple engineering. And there's no other purpose to it but fun! As much as I like multi-tasking and doing things that involve both pleasure and personal growth, or fun and exercise, sometimes it's nice to do something simply because it brings you joy.
After the festival there was ice cream and wine shopping (and I bought more wine than I'd meant to, which is the hazard of places like Vintage Berkeley where everything is fantastic and under $25), and then I went home, ate chicken wings, and collapsed. Today has been a relatively relaxed day--we had fried chicken and coffee as usual, and bought groceries for the week, and caught up on TV over guacamole and chips--and even though I should spend the rest of the night working on some small assignments for next week, I'm happy to be able to do it in my jammies, with the music up and the windows open.
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I took a lot of pictures at the festival but didn't compensate well enough for the bright sun, so most of them are blown out beyond repair; I am especially sad that none of the pictures of gayathri getting her Atom in the air turned out well. I also noticed a troubling pattern of spots on every image, but haven't yet had time to figure out whether I just need to clean my lens or filter, or if it's time to take it in to Looking Glass for a sensor cleaning. |
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| Libertarian Trolls on the Moon |
[Jul. 20th, 2009|10:10 pm] |
Libertarian/anarchocapitalist commentary on today's moonwalk anniversary celebrations: patrissimo: it was a big government boondoggle. whatever.
when they go to the moon and make a profit, I'll cheer.
Anonymous commenter: I am as anarchocapitalist as they come but...THEY FUCKING LANDED ON THE MOON!
Can you honestly say this was not the most awesome use of stolen money in history? (The keyword for this userpic, FYI, is "science is awesome.") |
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| PSA: Local Pickling and Preserving Workshops |
[Jul. 19th, 2009|05:44 pm] |
This weekend while I was at the farmer's market I discovered that my favorite local pickle people, Happy Girl Kitchen Co., offer workshops on pickling and preserving in Oakland. How cool is that? There's one on pickles, one on fermented goodies (sauerkraut and kimchi), and one all about preserving and doing tasty things with heirloom tomatoes. I want to go to all of them, of course, but that's not financially feasible, so I've decided to go to the tomato workshop since preserving tomatoes is what I have the least experience with. Plus you get to learn how to make their delicious salsa and tomato juice!
Is anyone else interested? I was thinking of signing up for the August 2nd workshop since I'm all excited and stuff and that's the soonest one that's still got space, but I could be persuaded to sign up for a later one if other folks want to go together on another date. Or if anyone decides to go to one of the others, maybe we could get together sometime afterward to share what we've learned. |
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| I don't have a problem. |
[Jul. 18th, 2009|12:41 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
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Why?
Originally uploaded by lunchbreath.
This doesn't sound like anyone you know, does it? :) I actually stumbled across this a couple weeks ago, but was reminded of it just now because I'm buying yet another bag. As a companion to the new bag I acquired last week. Which is a larger version of a bag I already own. And yes, I need all of them! In my defense, I did sell a bunch of old messenger bags and backpacks I wasn't using, but that was mostly just to make room for the new bags.
( Bag Inventory ) |
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