No public Twitter messages.Monday, February 1, 2010
So, I struggled whether to post this, but it isn’t everyday that I have a blog rant/inspiration. To the men in the audience, this is probably something you don’t want to hear about. To those courageous men, it might fascinate you.
I just got back from from an annual gynecological exam. You know, routine. First of all, my copay just went up, apparently. Second of all, my office just hired a nurse practitioner around a year ago. My first visit in this office was with the doctor. Then, I got gardisil shots (which is another entry all together) with this nurse practitioner, which is fine, but she was also doubling as a birthcontrol consultant and in beginning she made me feel a little uncomfortable. For example, she touted using condoms, which is good… but she talked about them with me in a bit of … let’s say condescending manner. I like her, but I wasn’t quite sure of that yet then. I will also say, I picked this office due to it’s facilities (it just moved right next to my office), doctor recommendations, and because he was a male doctor. Seriously. So, it caught me off guard when the nurse practioner was the one giving me my annual, today. My reasoning is this: I’m used to men being down there. Women, I am not.
On a separate note, if you’re a nurse practioner, shouldn’t you be better at drawing blood? I once had a terrible experience with another doctor drawing blood. However, for the past 2-3 years, I’ve had positive painless experiences. I guess I let my guard down. She pricked me on the right hand, and could draw nothing. It bled out, it still hurts. She found a vein, finally, on my left arm, and it was more than uncomfortable. Uhg.
She was quite nice, though, and very polite. She is very sweet and tried her best, I know.
Fail on my part: I kind of scheduled this appointment a little too close to my period. Since you can’t schedule the appointment even a day before your last appointment, I scheduled it today. (Last year, my appt was Jan 29.) I didn’t think about anything else. Woops.
Rant: Why do doctors only give Birth Control prescriptions out in 12 month increments? Other than Deprovera/Seasonale, meant to skip periods, all other birth control is given in 28 day increments. That is considered a month. Now, what about those last 2-3 days at the end of our calendar month? That, my dear, causes most women to run out before their next annual. Case in point, 28 x 12 != 365. In fact, 28×12=336, and 365-336=29… a whole extra cycle + 1day. I expect doctors to know that women have 13 cycles a year, if regulated by birthcontrol. Just sayin’.
Monday, January 25, 2010
How is it all ready almost February? Of course, I saw all those hearts and chocolates covered in red tutus everywhere, but didn’t we just celebrate Christmas and New Years? I’m looking forward to Valentine’s day week, not because it’s Valentine’s day, but because the Monday following is PRESIDENT’S DAY! That means it’s a long weekend for me, bitchez!
But seriously, I find that I want the days to go by faster, because everyday seems more tedious than the one before. Is that depression? And then I realize I lost a whole month, and I kind of want the months to pass by too, because I should be out of this funk when I get more sun, and when more paycheck days go by. Haha. That’s sad, though, because I don’t have too much youth left, imagine if I spend most of the rest of my 20s that way. What a waste! I should be delighting in the days that go by… and the only analogy I can come up with is savoring every bite of my thai curry noodle soup today. Figures. Each day grows dinner once lunch time is over. 
Then I look forward to dinner. Then… sleep.
I’m finding it hard to keep my up my discipline, about work, being frugal, about eating right, and going to the gym. I feel like each day crawls by, but all of a sudden, I’m still caught by surprise. That’s not a way to live. More and more, I am convinced by that.
I feel like perhaps I need a resolution. Not a New Year’s one, but goals for this month. This month’s goals were to go to the gym for at least an hour 4 times a week and keep the apartment clean. I had an easier time doing the former than latter. Still, I should clean the apartment today, so I can say I did it. I need fun projects, though, like reading a book a week for 56 weeks? I should be able to read that much, right? I used to read 200+pages a day for Grad school… freakin’ german Philosophers, for godsakes.
First and second week of January, other than my fashion magazines, I’ve been reading Malcom Gladwell’s “What the Dog Saw.” Ryan got Nocturnes by Ishiguro for Christmas, and I loved his “Remains of the Day,” so I read that. The story, unfortunately, was a bit sterile, especially compared to “Remains…” I started Davies’ “Fifth Business,” but I let Ryan read it first. I took his finished, “Tokyo Vice” by Adelstein, which I am pouring through. Now I am seeing Yakuza’s in every elvis haired older Japanese male.
Of course I can challenge myself to find new work projects, some freelance projects, etc… but that won’t be very enjoyable… and then my procrastination comes out. It’s an uphill battle.
Maybe my resolution should be 3 posts a week? HAHA, start with 1 post a week?
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
I went to Portland, came back, started the new year at work, had a million annual reviews (ok… just 2), and on a whole felt so unmotivated by everything except my gym membership. In the midst of that, lo and behold, no update.
For the first time in my life, I got offered a first class ticket + a $300 voucher if I would take the evening flight instead of my super early morning flight into PDX. However, I decided not to take it, since although I can just go my mother’s place and hang out (and bite the Newark train fee), I didn’t want to lose a whole day of doing nothing (and I took off from work – precisely so I would get to the west coast early enough to actually do something). So, I got to PDX, Ryan and I got lunch, and then my friend George was going to come over and crash at Ry’s parents’ place for the night. Well, some crazy ass snow came. It shut the town down. George couldn’t even drive to our place, since he wouldn’t be able to climb the snowy hills. If I had taken that later flight and got there at 10pm, I would’ve been stranded!
Portland was fun and relaxing. I didn’t do any crazy shit and I spent most of the time stuffing my face. I gained 6lbs in 7 days, people. Almost 1 delicious pound per day. This was, of course, before the New Year and it’s been 2-3 weeks and I finally just got to my pre-Portland weight. Sigh. Which is still like 15 more pounds than I was at my fittest 2 or so years ago.
I’m trying to go to the gym at least 4 times a week. However, fitting my workout around work is cutting most of the it short. 30 minute run here, 10-15 minute weight session there… At least I managed to lose those 6lbs. WHO PUTS ON THAT MUCH WEIGHT AT ONCE?
Anyway, I should change the topic. While Ryan was still in Portland, I was staying with my mother in Manhattan, because I was lazy and didn’t have the XBox at home… and then what was I going to do? Errr… I mean, I missed Ryan. Not the XBox. Ahem. So, while I was at home, I was also flipping through a copy of Elle magazine I bought for the plane ride and there was this crazy set of article of a bunch of bored editors challenging themselves to change up on feature of their appearance everyday… not clothes, but hair and make-up. I think it was interesting, but obviously in the realm of, “you ran out of ideas, didn’t you? This is something I would crazily do for my blog if I thought I had enough discipline.”
So, for a series of 3 days? Less than a week, I know. I came into the office with a Snooki/bumpit half ponytail and lots of eyeliner and shadow. People in the office would ask me, “what looks different about you?” And I would say, “this load of makeup on my face that I never wear?” And they would reply, “No, you did your hair differently.” Facesmack. Still, I will never be afraid of too much make-up again, after Cambodia. 3 Neutrogena face wipes and there was still make up on my face. They gave me new eyelids for shitssake! Anyway, so I know bored when I see it.
Like, for example, there was a time in elementary school where I saw how long I can go without wearing the same top twice. I started raiding my mother’s closet… yes, in elementary school, and cycled through ALL my t-shirts. I am pretty sure I lasted at least 3 months. No joke. I just wore a different tshirt every single day. I had a lot of damn t-shirts. (And yes, this was happening while I was wearing all those crazy leggings, because no one clued me into the fact that leggings were no longer acceptable for everyday. I think my first pair of jeans was this black skinny jeans, because I was that devasted about my leggings.)
Now, I am back to my careless aray of dressing kind of like Liz Lemon from 30 Rock, sans make-up, and seeing how long I can continue to get dressed in 10 minutes flat in the morning. Meh. If I think about going to the gym later in the day, I don’t even want to bother doing my hair or make-up. This is a far cry from my last job where I would make an effort to sort of dress up. I was also single then.
Although I am thinking that sometime in the future, I need to rock these eyelid tattoos the girl in the Elle magazine rocked… in pink and purple leopard print that goes over the entirety of the eyelid.
Friday, December 25, 2009
I try to be a good gift giver. I mean, I try to care what people would like. Usually, I’m good at just envisioning what I would want. I’ve had Sophear and others claim that they enjoy my gifts. I also think the key is that I give gifts to people I know quite well. So, the other day when I was involved in the office white elephant, I thought it would be easy finding a gift. Then I started over thinking it. Do you spend the dollars on a gag gift? Something that doubles as funny and practical? Something completely awkward like a sex toy? Seriously. Or something that people would actually want. I had some initial ideas, like champagne from Trader Joe’s (since the cap was at $20, I can get something nice), but then I knew what some coworkers were doing… Snuggies. Yeah. For some reason this Yankees snuggie got stolen the most.
Tangent: I LOVE shopping for gifts when traveling. I guess, cause I just love shopping when I’m traveling. My mother has a problem, where she would be frugal in everyday life, but when I travel with her, she’s a crazy shopaholic. Anyway, it’s the best time to get gifts. And I actually kind of dislike being pressured to buy gifts. I like to browse a lot and buy gradually. I feel the stores pressure you to get certain gifts. Only certain things are available seasonally. If I thought about this earlier than I would have gone to my go to online store: Think Geek. I haven’t been shopping these days. Seriously. The first time I shopped in MONTHS was last week with Ryan and Tracy. That’s probably why I splurged on the mugs and earmuffs. I’ve been itching to buy things.
I actually had the perfect gift in mind, but it wasn’t anything I can pull off. Stevies’ model photos, autographed. There is this whole HILARIOUS story about how he used to be an Abercrombie and Fitch model, back in the day. Although he is a very good looking man, the idea of him being a 20-30 something six pack half naked model is kinda hilarious. After that got out, we hired a new customer service rep, ie. Kelly Kapor, called MJ and she ended up having these very posters on her wall. She recognized him! Funniest thing ever. Unfortunately, she lost the posters. Anyway. This guy is hilarious for other reasons that would take too long to go into, but it is an unintentional hilarity. Still, we all love him.
He’s the type of person to easily get persuaded to come into work in a Santa outfit and push back his vacation flight. Of course, in the end we told him he didn’t need to… although I do think someone should have dressed up after hours as Jesus, a la The Office, to be offensive. This guy is one of the most gullible person in the office. And he’s such a good sport about being Mark’s main tease.
I was trying to convince my boss to participate and wrap a huge box with a gift certificate to our company store or something. Haha. However, he’s just a scrooge. I pointed out that he could always rewrap the 100s of vendor gift baskets we received. Oh my gawd, this whole week I was munching on chocolates, chocolate cookies, butter cookies, buttercream frosted cookies, caramel popcorn, and chocolate popcorn. For real. I practically did not need lunch everyday (although that didn’t stop me). Insane.
I think I do good on individual gifts for people but these general gifts throw me off. It needs to be unisex and I don’t want to get something random. In the end, since I give out tea quite often, I got a tea set, and it was well received with the person that got it. It came with some dorky lap mug. I also enclosed a silicone teaspoon, which I thought was cool. And a variety of Stash tea.
I think it was the knowledge that last year the present that went through the most people’s hands were the lottery scratch offs. I didn’t understand it, but I thought maybe there was something I was missing. So, this year, I stole some scratch offs. Last year, 3 people stole scratch offs and I was puzzled. I stole the dartboard and kept it in the office. I screwed Ted over, who in the end got a leather wallet. So in the end, I got $18 in scratch offs. It wasn’t very satisfying, actually. I would have rather gotten the borders gift certificate or something. I was actually thinking of taking this one gift, but I’m glad I didn’t. I guess I need it., though It was a coin counting jar. Yup.
This year no one wrapped a present in a shoebox and duct tape, no security needed. 
And the for most part it was quiet, unlike last year. Last year it was Christmas Eve and last minute thing and we went to go find something during lunch in the snow storm. This year, my cube was my gift storage and I had wrapping glitter tissue and bags galore stored there, along with boxes for Sophear and Danny. This year my presents were different things for just lounging or something. I don’t know. I got them a cool “Around-the-World” tea set (see a pattern – I saw it when I was shopping for white elephant), silicone teaspoon, and other things that promote sitting on their bum.