Archive for the 'Vanity' Category

Well, hello there

Published at July 24, 2010 in Iron, Library stuff, Kitties, Health, New York Fugging City, work work work and Vanity. 0 Comments

Been some time since I dropped by this place.  I’m still alive.  I can’t even say I’ve been terribly busy lately, what with having graduated library school and gotten laid off sometime in May.  I *can* say that I’ve been wiped out by the heat and not really all that interested in writing.  I don’t even read many blogs anymore, just a handful, and a lot of them are design blogs.

I’ve spent the summer looking for a permanent library gig, and it’s going well so far.  I had nothing, nothing at all for months, but this month everything’s started happening.  I’ve got some local interviews, and some on the West Coast; any of them would require me to move from my current apartment, if not from New York, so I’ve started packing up. All things being equal, I’d rather not have to change cities and buy a car.  I like my life here.

From what I’ve been hearing from some of my references, the potential employers who’ve been checking up on me don’t seem to really understand what it is I’ve been doing for the past ten years since I jumped off the partnership track — even though I’ve told them in the interview, and on my resume, etc.  It’s like they don’t understand that you can practice law even if you’re not employed by a law firm as a full-time associate on a traditional path.  Well, at least a couple of them have now been educated by my references.  This won’t really be a concern when I go for the next job, because I’ll have a track record as a law librarian, which is something they’ll understand.

Personally?  I’ve been using my time off to focus on fitness.  I looked back over my logbook, which I started in January, and I haven’t really been going to the gym as often as I’d like to think I do.  A lot of that had to do with injury, but a lot of it was just mismanaged time — I’d get a late start to the day, and then didn’t want to start a workout at 8pm when I had to go to work in the morning.  But now I have not a whole lot else to do, since it’s been so hot that a lot of the outdoor stuff I’d like to do seems unappealing.  The gym, however, is air-conditioned (though the weight room’s unit’s been out).  I’ve also just — like, this week — started running again.  It’s going well so far, though I know from experience it’s not until week 5 or so on the Couch to 5K plan that things start really going haywire with my ITB.  My plan is to do each week twice, and hope that’s enough time for my body to adapt, and to foam-roll the living fuck out of my lower body.

Dating’s sort of not been happening.  I’ve gone on a couple, but reluctantly since I don’t know if I’ll be here in a month.  Nothing’s come of them, but they were pleasant enough ways to pass the time.

The pets are both bad and good.  They’re all currently in good health, but Sugarplum had cancer surgery in April and just wasn’t healing, and wasn’t healing, and wasn’t healing.  Every time it looked like her wound was closing, I’d go to check on it and there would be A GIANT HOLE IN MY CAT.  The vet even did a second surgery to clean up the edges, but it still wasn’t healing, and he started taking it personally.  Finally, they decided she has really poor circulation and needed to be treated as if she’s diabetic.  So she spent three weeks at the vet’s office in a sterile cage, getting compresses and wound care and mainlining antibiotics and — strangest of all — snuggling up to the staff.   Amazingly, when I picked her up, the giant hole was down to nothing, and she was indeed all cuddly, for about a week.  Then she became the crankypants I know and love.

Notes from a broad

Published at December 7, 2009 in Vanity. 0 Comments

Still here.  Things are busy.  I’ve got my final papers and presentations due, I’m back at work (at least for the time being), I’m still going to the gym when I’m not nursing an injury (I’ve managed to tweak my rotator cuff, my quad, my lower ab, and my hip all in the past two weeks), I’m kindasorta seeing someone (though that’s a barrel of neurotic monkeys).

Oh, and I had the swine flu!  It was less than epic.  I was disappointed, what with it being a global pandemic and all.

I was not expecting the odor

Published at October 16, 2009 in Aging gracefully or not, Health, Vanity, Travel and Uncategorized. 13 Comments

I just got back, as I said in the last post, from Montreal. The primary reason I went there was to get Lasik (Canada has more advanced technology than the US, and even when the FDA approves certain equipment, such as the particular laser I was treated with, the earlier approval means that Canadian eye surgeons have more experience with the equipment than their American counterparts. Plus, it’s cheaper. And it’s Montreal). I was tired of being extremely nearsighted, and what with the onset of reading glasses* and all, it was looking like I’d be in very expensive and unworkable progressive lenses before too long. Why not get the nearsightedness fixed, and then worry about the aging-related reading glasses as a single prescription?

So I biffed off up North, where the many public wi-fi networks refused to speak to my netbook. And after a few days of sightseeing and wonderful meals and lovely chocolat chaud, I went to the clinic for my surgery. The pre-op and post-op is being done locally, but I went to Montreal for the actual surgery.

I knew there would be Clockwork Orange eyelid clamps. I probably should have guessed that, yes, everyone makes the same Clockwork Orange joke when the clamps are put in. I knew there would be some “pressure,” though I hadn’t really been clear on what it was for (apparently, to make you go temporarily blind so you don’t see the blade that’s cutting the flap in your cornea) or how much it would hurt when my orbital bone was pushed on.

I did not, however, know that there was going to be an odor — specifically, the odor of burning hair. It was apparently just the laser burning some carbon in the air, not my eyeball getting vaporized. But disconcerting, nonetheless.

It was over in minutes. The first half-hour afterwards was just fine, if things were blurry and I had the world’s goofiest-looking eye shields on my face. Then the anaesthetic wore off, and the burning and itching and feeling of sand-in-the-eyes started. That lasted four hours or so, during which time I was instructed to rest but not sleep — as if I could fall asleep with my eyes burning like that — and to blink at least every five minutes to keep things lubricated. I got very familiar with the limitations of my hotel room, which featured not a separate bathroom, but a sink, shower stall and toilet closet right in the room. As a concept, not terribly objectionable — until you realize that the legroom in the toilet nook leaves a little something to be desired, and it’s not possible to both take the wide stance necessary to position yourself correctly AND pull your pants down. Others before me had similar issues, or at least that’s how I interpret the fact that the seat was forever popping out of place.

After four hours or so, things started feeling much better, but I had to leave the shields on nonetheless until the following morning. Whereupon I removed them and went back to the clinic for my first-day checkup. My vision was 20/15, which is right about where it should be, since they overcorrect due to the fact that as the eyes heal, they naturally settle out a little, so I should end up with 20/20. I had a little inflammation in one eye, so they had me use the antibiotic drops more frequently for the first two days; I also have dryness, which is normal, so I have drops for that as well.

I’m quite pleased.  Things are kind of foggy, I’ll need to use reading glasses for a few weeks until the overcorrection settles out, I have haloes at night, and my eyes are dry, but that’s all normal and should go away within a few days or weeks.   But for the first time since fourth grade, I can fucking SEE without glasses or contacts.  Yay!

____

* About those expensive progressive lenses that optometrist tried to push on me:  turns out I NEVER ACTUALLY NEEDED THEM AT ALL.  The doctor who did my pre-op for surgery figured that my contacts were overcorrecting my vision, which made reading a little difficult.  So he put me into weaker contacts, and that solved the reading problem while still enabling me to see distances.  Boy, am I glad I pushed back on those instead of spending almost $500 to solve a problem I didn’t even have.

It’s good to have skillz

Published at June 7, 2009 in Clotheshorsery, Domesticity, Books, Fun Stuff, I see fat people and Vanity. 2 Comments

I went to the reading of Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby’s book on Friday night at Re/Dress, a plus-sized vintage/resale boutique in Brooklyn. I’m not the world’s biggest fan of shopping, in part because at my size, it’s difficult to find *anything,* let alone anything fashionable and at the same time age-appropriate* or suitable for my body type (please let the tyrrany of the Empire waist come to an end). But I also get grumpy in stores, which makes vintage shopping kind of a trial (and when you add in the musty smell that is inevitable among vintage clothing and which also turns me off used bookstores, well), because you kinda have to look at EVERYTHING because everything is one-of-a-kind.

Not my idea of a fun way to while away the afternoon. And it’s not like I can even get into shoe shopping, because of my big feet. I do have jewelry, though! Which is important when you wear the same drab old outfit nearly every day. Continue reading ‘It’s good to have skillz’

Not exactly the result I had in mind.

Published at May 14, 2009 in Frivolity and Vanity. 2 Comments

Just for shits and giggles, I decided to try Fun Betty. Because why not? And since I can’t dye the hair on my head pink and keep my job, might as well give this a shot.

The application wasn’t bad at all; both the bleach and the dye are thick and pastelike and don’t run, so you don’t have to worry about getting any on your vulva (assuming you follow the instructions and DO NOT APPLY TO YOUR LABIA). And it worked pretty well, as a dye.

The problem? Well, between the rather high red content of the pink and the texture of the hair, it sort of looks like I’m wearing Bozo’s merkin.

Eep!

Published at March 22, 2009 in Spend!, Clotheshorsery and Vanity. 10 Comments

I just spent an ungodly sum of money on a dress. A fancy dress. A dress I may never wear but once.

But, damn, it’s a nice dress. And it makes me look fantastic. And it’s fancy enough for a fancypants black-tie-optional event, which is something I’m going to next week.

I’d spent the whole afternoon Saturday looking for something, anything, that I could wear and look good in and feel good in and maybe not have to fork over almost as much as I would like to spend on a flight to Iceland for. Lane Bryant had some cute dresses, but they all had Empire waists — which make me look simultaneously hunchbacked and pregnant — and also had major static issues. Most of the stuff at Macy’s either had Empire waists, needed special underwear, or was matronly.

So I went to Leelee’s Valise, a store I try to avoid because it makes me want to spend money. But damn, they have some gorgeous stuff.

And let me tell you, after an afternoon spent trying on stuff that looked cute on the hanger but made me look horrible, it was nice to be handed a pretty broad selection of beautiful, well-made dresses that made me look great. And the killer one was this knee-length Tadashi dress with a black ruched-chiffon bodice and skirt and lace-over-nude sleeves with a little bit of sparkle (something like this one, but with a portrait neckline). I walked out and looked at myself in the mirror and was almost speechless. I looked really damned good.

I actually bought a different dress at first. Not that I didn’t love the Tadashi, but that price tag was giving me fits. And I don’t go to many fancypants black-tie-optional events, so I figured that I’d be better off buying a cheaper dress I could dress up with accessories and probably get more use out of. I will most definitely be going to cocktail parties and dinners at library conferences. Librarians, I am learning, network like nobody’s business. Nobody likes a good conference, complete with opening receptions and closing dinners, like a librarian. But the Tadashi might be a bit much for that kind of event — though it might not, but I won’t know until I actually go to one.

So I got the cheaper dress. But that lovely, gorgeous Tadashi dress was still calling to me.

I started looking for shoes. I wanted gold, but so many gold shoes look tacky. But I found these, and fell in love.

I spoke to my sister, who’s also coming up for the event (our aunt is being honored for her work with a Catholic foundation). She was going to wear a black wrap dress that she’d worn to her company Christmas party. I was again hearing the call of the Tadashi, so I offered to let her wear the lace boudoir dress, which would give me an excuse to go get the Tadashi. Which is what I did.

And you know? Now I have something to wear to fancypants events. It won’t go out of style, since it’s classic, I know it looks good on me, if I lose weight I can have it taken in and if I gain weight I can sell it on eBay.

I’ll just have to start going to more fancypants events, that’s all.

It had to happen someday, so why not the year I turn 40?

Published at January 11, 2009 in Aging gracefully or not and Vanity. 7 Comments

I went to get my eyes checked yesterday for the first time in 7 years (I know, I know). Turns out there have been many advances in contact-lens technology since then, and there might in fact be nothing wrong with my itchy, dry eyes that a better lens can’t fix. Which I might have found out had I had my eyes checked in all that time, but the place where I get my lens refills never pressed the issue by, you know, following state law and asking me for a new scrip every two years. Well, not until they hired someone new, who asked me on my new refill.

And, well, I wasn’t seeing so well out of my old, scratched glasses and the contacts were getting miserable to wear, and blurry. So I shuffled off to the eye doctor yesterday with my beloved yet somewhat battered 7-year-old Alain Mikli frames, hoping to get out of there with a simple change of lenses and exam for less than $300 or so.

It was not to be. Now that I am 40, I have entered the land of reading glasses, which for me means (more expensive) progressive lenses since I’m also blind as a bat. As for the contacts, they’re hooking me up with better, moister lenses but doing the monovision thing as well, which means slightly undercorrecting my nondominant eye for reading but fully correcting the dominant eye for distance vision (and, possibly, correcting the slight astigmatism in that eye, but we’re doing a trial of the non-astigmatism-correcting lens first). Unfortunately, this cost me more than I’d hoped to get away with, but that’s what you get for putting these things off, I suppose.

And hell, if it means I can freaking SEE again, it will be worth it.

Back to school

Published at November 3, 2008 in Vanity. 9 Comments

I got into library school!  Classes meet at night, and I have to figure out how many classes to take (I have been advised that most people who work full-time take 3-6 credits per semester, but I think I have to take 12 in the first semester, then 9 in each of the next two in order to graduate when I want to.  If 12 is too much, then I can drop one and stretch it out another semester).  The school has a program for summer study with the University of London, and since I never got to do anything like that in college or law school, I feel like it’s now or never.   I could do 3 weeks in London, no problem.

There’s also a summer program in Florence, and I love Florence, but it’s geared to art and architecture librarians, so I don’t know that it’s the right one for me.

Still alive

Published at August 18, 2008 in Food and Vanity. 3 Comments

This whole not-having-internet-at-work thing is really cutting into my posting time. Even if I don’t actually post at work, I can at least keep an eye on the news and what other blogs are saying. So I have to do that at home, which means I spend all my time reading and little posting.
Though, in some respects, I’m caring less.

The lefty blogosphere really showed its ugly side during the primaries, and I’ve lost my taste for a lot of it. I’ve removed a lot of blogs I used to read regularly from the blogroll here because of the way they changed during the primary; others I just don’t get around to reading. And, well, I’m not sure I miss it very much.

I’m glad I still have this place, where I can talk about whatever’s on my mind whether or not it has to do with politics. But I don’t really link to other blogs here, and few people read it. Which is just how I like it, frankly.

And one of these days, I’ll find the cord to my camera so I can download some photos, and I can start foodblogging again. I’m so happy to have my knives and my pots and pans again, and it’s not so brutally hot anymore. I’m now right near this fantastic grocery store, Fairway. It’s right on the bus line that goes by my apartment, and they deliver free if you spend over $100. I’ve only been there once, but it’s Grocery Wonderland.  I should be able to find some interesting stuff to play with.

Another moving day

Published at August 2, 2008 in Domesticity and Vanity. 1 Comment

Tomorrow’s the big day; I’m moving into my new apartment.

Jesus, moving sucks. And this one’s going to be easier than the last one two months ago, since I got rid of a HUGE amount of stuff then, and I’ve gotten rid of even more stuff (mostly papers, non-perishable food, the cable box and socks with holes).

But it would be easier still if I didn’t have so much crap left. My fantasy is to divest myself of enough crap that I could live in an Airstream trailer or on a boat or in a small cabin.

Ha!

Goal for now: Move without hurting myself again. I think it can be done; I’ve got two people helping me move out of the sublet, so I can avoid going up and down the stairs until we get to the new place by doing a fire line down the stairs with me at the bottom, loading the car. Only one flight of stairs at the new place, with all three of us taking the stuff up. The kitties will be the last out of the sublet and the first into the new place, and this time I’ll be able to get them into the bathroom before we start so they’re safe and less stressed out.

Sucky thing:  I won’t get cable and internet until Tuesday, and no cooking gas until Thursday.  The power will be on, though!  So the washer will work.