Sweat is gross, especially yours

I was recently ranting about praising the efforts of the "resolutioners" that swarm the gym each January. It's such a short-lived nuisance joy to see them join in droves and hog the equipment for a month or two.

My rant was primarily about my neckYEAST INFECTION (which I realize was more sweat-related and less gym-STD) and the way that the gym staff seems much more interested in collecting contracts and cash than actually orienting the resolutioners to gym etiquette like wiping down the machines after use.

That got me thinking. Sure, I almost always do my part and wipe down the machine after I use it. But do I really trust that the person before me did the same? How many times have I seen people hop off without taking the two minutes or less to wipe down the equipment with the provided sanitary wipes?

Plus, have you seen the movie Contagion? When I first saw it, I didn't want to touch anything or anyone. Ever. I didn't want to go out in public, I wanted rubber gloves and SARS masks and vats of liquid sanitizer to bathe in. Yikes...

I'd like to start a revolution. Rather than wiping down equipment AFTER we use it, because really, most people just don't seem to give a damn about anyone but themselves, we should wipe down equipment BEFORE we use it. And if you don't care about the sweat of the person before you, don't bother! If you do care about the sweat of the person before you, go ahead and wipe it off.

Science-y people - is there a reason that it's preferable to wipe off the sweat when it's fresh as opposed to after it's dried on? Are we really doing any good with those little wipes or are we just fooling ourselves? And, really, isn't there some better solution that could involve the gym personnel coming through regularly and spraying something on the equipment? Or maybe WE could spray something on the equipment?

Anyways, now I wipe down the equipment I use before AND after my workout. It takes a total of maybe 5 minutes extra. It's possible I look like a neurotic germaphobe to those around me, which I'm not (am I?) but whatever. I feel better about the whole deal, so it's totally worth it!

Six Word Saturday

some things can never be unsaid

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Want to play along? All that's necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. For more information, try clicking here. Feel free to explain or not explain. Add an image, a video, a song, nothing. I love seeing what everyone does with their entries.

Each week (probably on Sunday or Monday), I use random.org to select a bunch of entries to visit.  Or I visit everyone. Or even numbered entries. Or odd numbered entries. Or multiples of three. Depends on what's going on that week.  In addition, please visit the person ahead of you on the list (or visit everyone if you like!). That way everyone receives at least one visit!

If you play along in your blog, please add a link to the Mr. Linky. I appreciate a link back (shiny code below if you like!). Otherwise, you're welcome to leave your six words in this post as a comment.

Please be sure to link either to your main page or (preferably) directly to the 6WS post. Links to blogs that do not contain a 6WS entry will be removed (sorry, just the button in the sidebar doesn't count as participating).

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Doctor's rounds, Part 2

Friday, I went to see my primary care doctor about my new migraine meds.

doctor: So how does it seem to be going?
me: Ok I guess, except I might be having an allergic reaction, I'm not sure.
doctor: What are your symptoms?
me: See here? My neck is all red and itchy. I want to claw my skin off.
doctor, looking: It's just here?
me: Yes.
doctor: I think that's not allergies. I think you have a yeast infection.
me: On my neck?
doctor: Yes.
me: I'm not that kind of girl.
doctor: What?
me: I mean, I support gay rights. There's nothing wrong with that.
doctor: How in the world do you think you get yeast infections? No, I don't want to know.
me: How DID I get it?
doctor: Yeast infections on the skin are common from moisture and sweat.
me: Oh.
doctor: Now that you go to the gym more, it can be from that.
me: So I got a yeast infection from the gym.
doctor: Not exactly.
me: But kind of.
doctor: *sigh* You should stop talking. I will prescribe pills and a cream.
me: And those super secret magic weight loss pills doctors say don't exist so I can stop going to the gym since I tried and got a yeast infection there?
doctor: No.
me: Worth a shot. I mean, haven't I been punished enough?

The good news is that while I was dealing with this whole allergy-that-was-really-a-yeast-infection on my neck, it was scarf weather so I could totally hide the infestation going on. Except turns out that was just keeping things warm and moist and making it worse. Also, now all my scarves are probably covered in ick.

Note to self: wash all scarves. Twice.

Come back next week when I post some more about sweat and the gym. Isn't this blog just the greatest?!?!

Doctor's rounds, Part 1

Recently, I went to see my gynecologist.

That sound you heard was my two male readers running away... Seriously, I'm not going to share TMI. Though I did live-tweet my visit. Complete with a photo of "completely undressed" me in the exam room. See what you miss if you don't follow me on Twitter?

Anyways, my new primary care doctor, as I mentioned before, is trying to straighten out my migraines, which involves a new medicine that decreases the effectiveness of my birth control pills so I was discussing alternate baby-preventative methods with the gynecologist. After my appointment, I had the following conversation via text with Joe, aka my husband (that tidbit of information for the benefit of anyone who might be new here and think I might have this conversation with Joe, the guy who mows my lawn or Joe, the guy who does our taxes):

me: talked to the doc about the BCP situation
Joe: what did she say?
me: she agrees they won't work as well
Joe: and?
me: she recommends I get a DUI
Joe: wtf?
me: yeah, not sure how i feel about that
Joe: she really recommended that?
me: i know. i hate the idea. my sister had one, she was miserable
long pause
Joe: i'm sure
me: she gave me a pamphlet, they recommend them after you already have a kid usually
Joe: haha, i bet they do
me: there can be a lot of complications and discomfort
Joe: uh huh
me: ???
Joe: look at what you sent me
me: huh?
Joe: look back
me: dammit!!!!
Joe: that must be some dr you're seeing!

Spellcheck can seriously bite me. My doctor did NOT recommend that I be arrested for drunk driving. She recommended an IUD as an alternate method of birth control. Which I'm not sure about. Also not sure that the migraine meds are working at this point so I'm not rushing into a 5-yr implanted birth control solution when a temporary one will do just fine until we're more sure these meds are a long-term thing.

Also, to be clear, my sister had an IUD, not a DUI. She doesn't even drink. Not that any of you know my sister or that my sister reads this blog. But, you know, I still feel the need to clarify.

P.S. Want to know how to transition into twice a week posting? Write one really long post, realize it's really long, and then just make it a two-parter. You can consider that piece of amazing advice yours for free.

Six Word Saturday

"family" sucks at communicating this year

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Want to play along? All that's necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. For more information, try clicking here. Feel free to explain or not explain. Add an image, a video, a song, nothing. I love seeing what everyone does with their entries.

Each week (probably on Sunday or Monday), I use random.org to select a bunch of entries to visit.  Or I visit everyone. Or even numbered entries. Or odd numbered entries. Or multiples of three. Depends on what's going on that week.  In addition, please visit the person ahead of you on the list (or visit everyone if you like!). That way everyone receives at least one visit!

If you play along in your blog, please add a link to the Mr. Linky. I appreciate a link back (shiny code below if you like!). Otherwise, you're welcome to leave your six words in this post as a comment.

Please be sure to link either to your main page or (preferably) directly to the 6WS post. Links to blogs that do not contain a 6WS entry will be removed (sorry, just the button in the sidebar doesn't count as participating).

<a href="http://www.showmyface.com/search/label/6WS"><img src="http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp35/showmyface/guts/6wsButton.jpg" ></a>

Today I was brave

Note: I'm still easing into this "posting twice a week thing." Let's think of it as more of a goal than a commitment. And if "balance" is the word for the year, "transition" is the word for January.

Today I did something I've never done before. I went to the movies by myself.

Because despite my dislike for crowds and being out in public, despite my general preference for spending time alone, I'm also not a huge fan of going places in public alone. At least not the first time. After the first time, it's not such a big deal. 

But there's always that pesky first time.

Hey, you have your issues, I have mine.

I always thought the perfect first time to see a movie by myself was at our little local independent theatre. It's a tiny, lovely little place. They serve wine, aka a coping mechanism. I pictured myself strolling in, settling back with a glass of wine and taking in a French film. 

Then the damn place went out of business because they decided to bulldoze it and replace it with yet another grocery store. How many grocery stores do we have in a 25 mile radius? Approximately 92172358. How many independent movie theatres showing foreign, indie, and other random films? 0 now. I'm not good at math but yeah...

It's not lost on me that the movie I saw today is Silver Linings Playbook. Among other things, it's primarily a movie about a guy with some mental issues. So yes, I finally gathered up enough courage to get beyond my mental issues to go by myself to see a movie about a guy with mental issues.

And I enjoyed it immensely. I'll do it again and think nothing of it, now that it won't the first time.

Six Word Saturday

weather needs to choose a season!

Anyone else experiencing really strange weather? Freezing earlier in the week and almost summer-like this weekend. I can't keep up with it!

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Want to play along? All that's necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. For more information, try clicking here. Feel free to explain or not explain. Add an image, a video, a song, nothing. I love seeing what everyone does with their entries.

Each week (probably on Sunday or Monday), I use random.org to select a bunch of entries to visit.  Or I visit everyone. Or even numbered entries. Or odd numbered entries. Or multiples of three. Depends on what's going on that week.  In addition, please visit the person ahead of you on the list (or visit everyone if you like!). That way everyone receives at least one visit!

If you play along in your blog, please add a link to the Mr. Linky. I appreciate a link back (shiny code below if you like!). Otherwise, you're welcome to leave your six words in this post as a comment.

Please be sure to link either to your main page or (preferably) directly to the 6WS post. Links to blogs that do not contain a 6WS entry will be removed (sorry, just the button in the sidebar doesn't count as participating).

<a href="http://www.showmyface.com/search/label/6WS"><img src="http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp35/showmyface/guts/6wsButton.jpg" ></a>

Back at it

I didn't realize how long it's been since I last blogged regularly here. Or anywhere, really, so don't think I've been cheating on you with another blog. As best I can tell, it was in July. I then gave myself permission to take August off so I could focus on my writing, and never bothered starting back up because I became busy with freelancing clients. 

Truthfully, I'm glad there wasn't much to blog about during the last few months. While life was busy, it was preferable to the last few months of 2011 which involved far too many trips to emergency rooms. Instead, Joe traveled a lot for work until early December and I've had almost non-stop editing contracts. But other than a nagging cough (he keeps coming home with what we're calling "airplane crud"), some migraines, and a weird allergic reaction that I've been dealing with now for almost two months, we've both been mostly healthy.

The holidays flew by. I made several gifts, mostly for my niece and nephew, but didn't take on as much as I tried to do last year. Everything else came courtesy of the modern day Santa team of Amazon and UPS. We bought a beautiful new artificial tree, which caused a panic attack because it was so much bigger than the old tree. We went to a holiday party hosted by one of the ladies in Joe's running group the night after the Newtown shootings and one of the guys there had a lot of ideas to share about "crazy" people that really made me feel festive. But overall, Christmas was nice.

Tonya and Rusty continue to be Tonya and Rusty. I may see if they want to give their own update Thursday. It's not First Fursday but neither of them has developed any calendar skills so I doubt they'll notice. 

Not every post is going to be a winner, folks. I'm easing my way back into things. Like I said for 6WS this past weekend, a slow start is better than no start. Bit by bit, I hope to get things back on track and make 2013 a year full of the things I love to do.

Six Word Saturday

slow start - better than NO start!

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Want to play along? All that's necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. For more information, try clicking here. Feel free to explain or not explain. Add an image, a video, a song, nothing. I love seeing what everyone does with their entries.

Each week (probably on Sunday or Monday), I use random.org to select a bunch of entries to visit.  Or I visit everyone. Or even numbered entries. Or odd numbered entries. Or multiples of three. Depends on what's going on that week.  In addition, please visit the person ahead of you on the list (or visit everyone if you like!). That way everyone receives at least one visit!

If you play along in your blog, please add a link to the Mr. Linky. I appreciate a link back (shiny code below if you like!). Otherwise, you're welcome to leave your six words in this post as a comment.

Please be sure to link either to your main page or (preferably) directly to the 6WS post. Links to blogs that do not contain a 6WS entry will be removed (sorry, just the button in the sidebar doesn't count as participating).

<a href="http://www.showmyface.com/search/label/6WS"><img src="http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp35/showmyface/guts/6wsButton.jpg" ></a>

Word of the Year 2013

Happy New Year! I’m a little later than anticipated with this post because blah blah blah resulted in a reconsidering of my 2013 plans. But I've cooked the books consulted my accountant/husband and now I’m back on track.

So!

I like to start off each year with a guiding word rather than a list of specific resolutions. Sometimes I choose the word by looking back and/or looking ahead. Sometimes it just comes to me. Last year’s word, “mindful,” wasn’t all that successful I suppose. It depends on how you define success. If you define it as having any memory of what I had chosen as my word, then notsomuch.

For 2013, I’m choosing balance.

Main Entry: bal·ance
Pronunciation: \ˈba-lən(t)s\
Function: noun

1: a means of judging or deciding
2: a counterbalancing weight, force, or influence
3: an aesthetically pleasing integration of elements
4: mental and emotional steadiness
5: habit of calm behavior, judgment

I've borrowed the above definitions from several online dictionaries

For me, this is primarily about work. If you don't know, I'm a freelancer. I work from home, mostly as an editor. Last year is the first year I took that seriously and I had an amazing year with a lot of opportunities. I exceeded the financial goals I had set.

And yet, life was out of balance. Because of blah blah blah (yes, the same blah blah blah I started the post with) , most of my freelancing income ends up going to Uncle Sam. Taxes and gainfully employed husbands and blah blah blah.  I've been directed by the husband/accountant to quit focusing on working ALL THE CONTRACTS to make ALL THE MONEY and instead to focus on doing the things I want to do.

Not a bad problem to have!

Except, what I want to do? Continue freelancing. I want to expand my freelancing. Telling people this past year that I'm a freelance editor is the first time in my life I've taken pride in what I do. And I want to do more of it, not less of it. But I do have one contract that is very out of balance, and that one is going to have to go. With it, a good chunk of reliable monthly income. Which apparently is OK, according both to the accountant/husband and to balance. Because with it, a good chunk of reliable almost daily stress.

Also part of balance this year? The things I love that I should have plenty of time to do and yet I've spent a disproportionate amount of time stressing over one stupid contract and some other items that I haven't taken time to do them - those things will be coming back. Sitting at the piano. Crafting and painting. Blogging and more importantly, writing. They aren't necessarily the same. But I've missed both. It's been forever since I blogged regularly and I haven't worked on the book I'm writing at all since November (even that was a sad effort).

So in 2012, I proved that I could do ALL THE THINGS!!! In 2013, I will show that I can be discerning about choosing which of the things merit my time and effort. I will do the ALL THE THINGS with balance!

P.S. What can you expect from the blog? No promises but I'm planning to average posting about twice a week plus 6WS. Always 6WS, people. Otherwise, I have a feeling things may get ugly.

P.P.S. Oh yeah, also, happy 1000th post to me and this here blog.