So, the Endoscopy happened yesterday morning, and I'm still a bit loopy from the knockout drugs they gave me. As far as I can tell, the procedure went fine - I'll be honest, all I remember was smiling a bit as the drugs kicked in and 30 seconds later they were asking me how I was feeling (I'd been knocked out for about 45 minutes). Then Nick managed to get me to sleepwalk through the parking lot into the car, and he took me home and made me the most amazing egg sandwich EVAR, and I promptly kept trying to watch DVR and not sleep - to which my body said BAH! And I finally caved and went back to bed until 5ish.

So, not the most productive day I could have had, and I'm still pretty exhausted from the drugs. But things are looking up, and if this can somehow make it so that they know what's causing Stomach of Doom™ and STOP IT, then my life will improve.

Now to be on with the busyness.

that I am a fan of OKCupid.

I'm seriously looking forward to tomorrow night. Tee :-)

The dancing is my favorite. And there's already at least a dozen remixes on YouTube. RIGHTFULLY.

• Pretty girls are pretty. And it's nice when they kiss me.
• My life has gotten infinitely better since the goal stopped being "to lose X number of pounds" and became "find more fun ways to get exercise."
• Related: Zumba!!!
• Busy is fun. OMGCrazy, but also fun.

Today's note from the Universe:

"
The BIG THING, Dani, rarely happens when you ask for it, nor does it typically come from who or where you expect. It usually comes a bit later, from someone you didn't even know when you first asked, as a result of some weird turn of events that were impossible to foresee.

So, chill. Be patient. Enjoy the moment. And let your friends, employers, and partners off the hook. Besides, they're going to have enough to deal with when the BIG THING does arrive, if you know what I mean.

Won't be long,
    The Universe"

Can I just mention how amazed and awesomely grateful that I am that I

a) am starting to have an actual *team,*
b) the team includes onesnap, who I'm incredibly lucky to have On My Side,
c) shit is really starting to actually, you know, happen and junk?

OH, AND - I found a bus that goes from Watertown Yard directly to South Station, which effectively cuts my commute in 1/3?

OHMYGODLIFEISAWESOMELYAWESOME.

That is all.

So, it's now been about a week on the New Year's Healthy Living Experiment that Nick and I started after the new year, and while I have to say it hasn't been perfect, we both have been doing pretty darn good. To wit:

• I stopped drinking coffee this weekend.
• I don't crave sweets like I used to. Yesterday was probably the worst of it; got some cookies out to share with the ladies and then had a couple of yummy cream yogurts and a hot cocoa. But all of the indulgence was relatively moderate (the hot cocoa is only 110 calories a cup - score!) and it's the first time in a week I've even thought about eating that many sweet things.
• Except for a brief slideback on Friday, I've had no wheat at all - and my tummy is starting to appreciate that.
• I'm noticing that, for the most part, I don't miss cheese and eggs - which is the one thing I was worried about when we started this.
• I'm starting to get back into Yoga in a more significant way again - and my body is loving every single minute of it. Except for the crazy neck pain that I woke up in this morning.

I'm also noticing that, alas, poetry night requires of me a beer or two, which I'm working on. So I caved on that bit - but, I'm enjoying the rest of it so much I might stick with it beyond the two weeks.

For those keeping track, I'm starting to amend the "diet" as such:
• no "meat" except sea creatures;
• no dairy except for yogurt;
• no more than one sweet thing a day;
• no caffeine other than tea (mostly yerba maté or green tea, but I'm not opposed to black tea)
• as little glutenous stuff as humanly possible, lovingly accepting the fact that it's incredibly difficult to avoid it wholesale (and recognizing that this is not something Nick is interested in);
• alcohol no more than once a week, and in moderation.
• Lots of veggies.

If anyone else wants to join us in this, you are welcome to.

Again, as always, my life comes down to organizing the pile of things I've told myself and others I would do. But I persevere, and to my rescue comes RememberTheMilk.com (RTM) Key things to love:

1. You can add tasks really easily and break them up into various lists according to whatever context you want;
2. Adding a due date is as simple as typing it in while you type the task (i.e. "pick up cat food today" becomes "pick up my cat food," due today)
3. You can prioritize with perty colors.
4. You can set up batches of repeating tasks for daily reminders (I have ones to do yoga and to write).

Also, imlad pointed me to the fact that the Pro account (just $25/year) gives you access to the snazzy RTM app for Android, which I have been using for about a week now, and it's *so* much easier to deal with than Astrid (the free Android task manager that syncs with RTM) that I could just scream with squee.

Also, I think that my favorite GTD Moleskine hack just got easier with the help of Artist and Craftsman Supply in Central (a store so incredibly lust-inducing for me that I fear to enter it in case I end up wandering up to the front desk and simply sign over my entire bank account to them). They sell these German notebooks called Leuchtterm1917 that look almost exactly like Moleskines except:

1. They have page numbers;
2. They have a TABLE OF CONTENTS in front of the book;
3. They come with labels that you can use to section off parts of the book.
4. They come in Dot-Grid!!!!! This is Very Useful for me, as I hate squares and lines when I'm sketching, but love the structure of having dots, especially when wireframing websites.

This is a fabulous discovery - my only wish is that they came in more interesting colors and that the dot grid came in an 8 by 10 (the larger A4 books only come in squared)

A supremely amusing rant on polyamory and grammar snobbishness discovered by cos.

My favorite is the phrase "unmitigated damnfoolishness" and "English, motherfucker. Do you speak it?"

is on the Gospel Music Channel (of all things) right now!

First musical I ever saw, and I watched it about 20 times the year I was eight. Knew all the songs, did the routines in the living room, and wanted to be an actress (initially) because of this movie.

Interesting how dated it seems now - but hey, still awesome.

Today, hung over from last night's excellent party, Nick and I started on a two week (which may become a four week, depending on how it goes) Healthy Living experiment. It's mostly food-related right now, but exercise will be added on Monday. The deal:

• no animal proteins except sea creatures;
• no bread or other wheaty things;
• no alcohol;
• no more than one sweet thing per day;
• no more than one cup of coffee per day, and mostly herbal teas and maybe green tea after that;
• no cheese;
• lots of veggies (but of course that's assumed and not far off from how I normally eat)

We may get more rigorous than this as time goes on (and we're less hung over), but this seems like a good start. Nick brought up the butter issue when I started making onion confit this evening for a cassoulet this week, but I assured him that butter is a basic food group and can not be avoided ;-)

I think everyone should always have an improbable quest playing at the edges of their imagination -- you know, some heroic task that provokes deep thoughts and rouses noble passions even if it also incites smoldering torment. I'm talking about an extravagant dream that's perhaps a bit farfetched but not entirely insane; a goal that constantly rouses you to stretch your possibilities and open your mind further; a wild hope whose pursuit makes you smarter and stronger even if you never fully accomplish it. The coming year would be an excellent time to keep such an adventure at the forefront of your awareness.
Yep.

Aside from his obvious hotness and general awesomeness, he has now coined the term "Norganic" and "Norgasmic" to describe my gluten-free Cranberry-ginger scones.

There will maybe be a post about last night's awesome New Year's Eve party, but first I'm going to be lazy and ring in the new year watching movies with my baby :-)

So, I forgot to mention that I'm headed to the Cantab this evening (in Central) for the poetry reading - which I may make a semi-regular occurence, since it's occured to me that I miss it horribly. Anyone want to venture out with me? It starts, I believe, at 8ish (although I think that radioactiveart can confirm yay or nay).

Got up entirely too early - pretty common when mom is here.

Have received a super-fancy immersion blender, a Yogitoes mat towel, a silicone mat and one of those chainmail gloves that helps you not cut yourself on mandolins. Plus, Nick signed me up for a baking class at Sofra - YAYYYYYY!!!!

We got the Niecelet an African drum (which she's been banging on excitedly since she opened it), a new outfit, and a pair of pajamas with Paul Frank monkeys on them. The outfit she just changed into and started doing this weird, giddy model dance in the living room. I'm officially the Cool Aunt™. Mom, however, is really not a fan of the drum, and Nick has a feeling that she will find a way for it to see an untimely death. Mwehehehehe.

Good Christmas so far - and now for the many drivings.

"You see, the thing is that I think I'm just used to being disappointed. I think that I'm angry with you for taking that away from me."

from Last Chance Harvey, a movie which I love now.

By the way, happy Winter Holidays.

that it's a phenomenally bad idea to start uploading massive amounts of files on a shockingly slow network at 4:30 in an attempt to fix someone's site.

I'll be here for entirely too long tonight. /headdesk

HAPPY BIRTHDAY contessagrrl!!!!!

May sunshine and sparkles greet you always with trays of birthday cookies :-)

So, My super-sexy Art-Director glasses finally came in this morning, and thus far I love them:



Super-cute, although I really can't vouch for today's hair situation.

My main challenges are thus:

1. Boy do they get smudged fast! And I have to return to the place I got them so they can give me the lens care kit that's supposed to be included; they gave me a case, but no kit. *grump*

2. The glasses make a major difference when I'm reading or looking at the computer, but I'm finding that things like walking around in them are becoming challenging. Things are getting blurry when I walk around, and I'm starting to even get a bit lightheaded. Is this normal?

"Thinspiration." Apparently, there's this whole subculture devoted to helping anorexics become and stay anorexic. And Thinspiration is pictures of emaciated bodies for these women to aspire to.

That is some scary fucking shit. Tell me there's some way that this could help them heal.