Areas of Unrest

25 January 2004 - Feeling More Caught Up

Celebrity deaths of the week are Ann Miller and Captain Kangaroo. I'm reasonably sure I saw the former tap dance on some variety show or other, but I don't think I ever actually watched Captain Kangaroo. In fact, I can't really remember watching children's television very much. I must have watched Shari Lewis, because I remember having a Lamb Chop hand puppet that I was quite fond of, and I know I watched a few cartoons (Magilla Gorilla and Speed Racer come to mind) but my mother's taste dominated our television viewing. That meant game shows, some sports (Mets games and the oddities of Wide World of Sports), and sitcoms. We didn't have a second TV until much later and, even then, that was used pretty much exclusively by my father to watch football.

I'm finally feeling like I have things back under control. I've gotten through all the mail that accumulated while I was gone, done the annual desk drawer cleanout, and am pretty much back to the normal, gradual decluttering. It's suprising that I made so much progress, since I was in Los Angeles much of the week. Business travel is often exhausting, but Wednesday was particularly bad. I had to drive to and from Azusa (an hour each way) and the meeting ran over eleven hours, with essentially no breaks. And I still had a couple of hours of writing up notes and handling email to do when I got back to the hotel. I did take a break for dinner (unexciting Mexican food at Cozymel's, because I wasn't up to anything interesting) but it was still a ridiculously long day. At least the trip was productive. That may be why I was able to recover fairly quickly and actually get things done this weekend.

I still haven't managed to get myself re-enthused about writing here. Writing the Vietnam travelogue was fine, but my day to day life doesn't make for compelling reading. I'm not actually bored at work, but most of what I do lacks obvious drama. Nobody is going to make a television program out of my hours of telephone tag, trying to find out if two people have sorted out which organization signs the cover page of a document first. We're expecting lots of fireworks this week, but budget updates are hardly the stuff of epics. The amusing parts are only amusing to insiders.

So, in the interests of at least doing something, here's my attempt at the commonality thing that's making the rounds, obtained from Shmuel.The rules are:

1. Copy this entire list into your journal or blog or what have you.
2. Bold the things you have in common with me (i.e. the things I have bolded are those I have in common with Shmuel).
3. Whatever isn't bolded, replace with things about you, ideally along the same lines as what you've replaced.

So here's the list:

1. I am pretty self-conscious in new or unusual social settings.
2. Schweppes Bitter Lemon is my favorite beverage.
3. I have no interest in having kids.
4. I love fountain pens.
5. Displays of double-jointedness creep me out a bit.
6. I love it when I get some free time, with absolutely no obligation other than sitting and being alone in my own thoughts.
7. I'm a stickler about using the actual HTML for lists rather just using line breaks and entering the numbers by hand.
8. It's hard for me to meet new people, because of the aforementioned self-consciousness.
9. Sometimes I think I might be too independent and headstrong to enjoy being in a long-term relationship.
10. Despite the independence, I'm still conducting the world's longest running brief meaningless fling.
11. I have bad vision. (Very nearsighted, in my case.)
12. I sometimes wish I had a cat.
13. I sometimes worry that I'm not as ambitious as some of my friends.
14. I have great hair, but it's a pain in the neck to maintain it.
15. I'm an excellent dancer.
16. I'm think most of what I listened to in college probably qualifies as whiny wannabe punk music.
17. I speak/read/write more than one language. Though far from fluently.
18. I very rarely drink any milk.
19. I've never had a blood transfusion.
20. I like hot bubble baths.
21. I love rock'n'roll, so put another dime in the jukebox, baby. I also want to know you find a jukebox that costs just a dime.
22. I am at best ambivalent about the prospect of marriage.
23. I'm was thoroughly sick of school by the end of my second year of grad school.
24. I try to sew. Well, not lately, but it's been known to happen.
25. I've read Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny, and I can't imagine why I would ever re-read it.
26. I can read faster than a lot of other people.
27. I am effective at, but very compulsive about, managing my money.
28. I think most cats are pretty cool.
29. I rarely watch television.
30. I would enjoy a vacation to someplace warm.
31. I thoroughly enjoy people watching.
32. I think I have changed a lot in just the past couple of years.
33. I'm generally glad my family doesn't live near me.
34. I get most of my exercise walking to and from the metro station.
35. I wish I could sing without people cringing.
36. I like to cook, but rarely do.
37. I'm scared of what my own government might do in the name of pursuing outside terrorists, but I think the controls we have in place will triumph over the worst abuses.
38. I need more energy.
39. I love sleep.
40. I like having time to think.
41. I kind of wish I could move.
42. I can't read myself to sleep; reading keeps me awake.
43. I took enough electives in school, I think.
44. A good mug of hot cocoa might be nice.
45. I feel fortunate to have my job.
46. I don't think there's any particular food place I'm addicted to.
47. I am learning how to let it all go.
48. Most of my scars are pinkish in color.
49. I e-mail people back eventually, but it can take months.
50. I want to visit England. Again.
51. I am addicted to reading.
52. I almost always get a federal tax refund. In California, I always ended up owing the state, but I did get a refund from Virginia last year.