At my volleyball class the other night my soon-to-be-coach was lamenting how little six-year-old gymnastic stars can do double back handsprings and we adults could barely summon the energy to look athletic in our volleyball approach. True dat, I thought. It's so easy to get lazy and settle for mediocrity, especially when you have the skills to back up your less than vigorous jump/approach to the ball.
Anyway, I thought of this again today when I came across this YouTube video of little Japanese girls (ages 9? 10? I'm not sure) doing a dance routine (the title of the video is "CHEERLEADING From Japan Best Ever special Stunt!!" which of course made me want to watch it). There are no "special stunts" that I can see (then again, I know nothing about cheer or dance), however these kids' synchronization and flexibility is amazing.
When I watch something like this it gives me chills and motivates me to improve my game. If these springy little kids can perform like that, perhaps this old girl can get up the gumption at 27-years-old to play a better game of volleyball too.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Hot town, summer in the city
I am so happy that the weather has cooled down. It changes my whole outlook on life. We don't have airconditioning, so whenever it gets above 85 degrees our house becomes an oven. A very uncomfortable, stifling and disgusting oven. I'm a homebody, so a perfect and restful day for me would be to wake up, eat breakfast and leisurely decide what I want to do. I'd be perfectly happy reading a book for a few hours, or watching a movie on the couch. But when it's hot, I'm forced to leave my home for somewhere cooler and I don't like the weather dictating how my day will go.
I've always been a very "warm" person, so the heat affects me more than most. That's why this whole global warming thing freaks me out so much. Not because the ice caps are going to melt and there will be famine and global unrest, but because I fear being uncomfortable all the time. One of the reasons we moved to San Diego was for the weather, but the past few summers have had some nearly unbearable and humid (yucky!) days.
Anyway, I'm just so happy the weather has cooled down. Now I can get to that huge mountain of clean laundry that needs folding. Yipee.
I've always been a very "warm" person, so the heat affects me more than most. That's why this whole global warming thing freaks me out so much. Not because the ice caps are going to melt and there will be famine and global unrest, but because I fear being uncomfortable all the time. One of the reasons we moved to San Diego was for the weather, but the past few summers have had some nearly unbearable and humid (yucky!) days.
Anyway, I'm just so happy the weather has cooled down. Now I can get to that huge mountain of clean laundry that needs folding. Yipee.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Into the essence
Last night I watched the film Into the Wild directed by Sean Penn. Having read the book by Jon Krakauer, I thought it was a great adaptation of the book. Both the book and the film tell the true story of an unconventional young man named Chris McCandless.I was going to try and write a plot summary for you, but decided that the summary from IMDB had already hit the nail on the head, so to speak: "After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life."
Anyway, the film (like the book) got me thinking about how we are all completely tied down by our careers and our homes and our things and the people around us. That sounds very pessimistic, but that was the very thing that Chris was trying to shake off. By living an aesthetic life on the road he was attempting to escape all these societal conventions that hold the rest of us down and prevent us from living life to the fullest.
For example, when I first moved away from home, all of my possessions fit into a suitcase. At the end of my freshman year, they fit in the back of an Explorer (with my bike hooked to the back). Each year since then I've progressively accumulated more things until the last time Gene and I moved it took a 17' van plus our cars to move it all. You don't realize how much these 'things' tie you down until you think about life without them.
Of course, I have an amazing husband and wonderful pets (my furry children) that I wouldn't leave for anything. But for just a moment I like to imagine the freedom it would bring to be footloose and carefree (and to simultaneously have the ability not to worry about money, where I was going to sleep next, etc.). This film (doesn't film sound so much more sophisticated than 'movie'?) also made me think that there is nothing more melancholy in this world than an old man's eyes brimming with tears (83-year-old Hal Holbrook gave an Oscar-nominated performance).
Anyway, just some food for thought. And if you have Netflix or whatever, I definitely recommend you take a look at this film.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Acronyms
So I recently came across this acronym: SAHM (Stay at Home Mom). Why do people need to have a special acronym to describe their home/life activities? Anyway, I've decided the acronym for my life right now is SAHL (Stay at Home Loser).
Yesterday, while feeling bummed out about the whole job thing, I went downstairs to make dinner. First of all, I've never been good at cooking (nor do I even like cooking), but as a SAHL I feel it's the least I can do to contribute. We decided on stir fry for dinner - easy enough. But when I went to pour some rice into our automatic rice cooker - it looked a little strange to me. However, I thought, 'I'm just feeling funky and there's nothing wrong with it' and so I continued to pour the water in.
A few seconds later after the water came oozing out the bottom through all the electrical circuits, I realized what I'd done. Sitting over on the dish rack was the insert that goes inside the rice cooker to cook the rice and prevent such a catastrophe. Arghhhh! Thinking I could fix it, I tried to get all the rice and water out and go through with using the cooker (my husband Gene was upstairs and I figured if I could get it all out he would never know what a stupid thing I did).
After much shaking, I felt I'd gotten most of the rice out. I also opened up the bottom and dried out the electrical items as much as I could. Then I started it cooking. Even with my efforts, with the amount of rice I'd poured into the machine (two cups), it was inevitable that there was still some rice inside So, as the cooker heated up, the hot plates, etc. began cooking the rice from the inside out, causing a steady stream of smoke to pour out of the top.
I turned on the stove fan and the kitchen fan and opened all the windows hoping, at this point, to at least salvage dinner out of the disaster. While fanning the smoke, I watched and waited for the rice to finish cooking and for the switch to flip up from "Cook Rice" to "Keep Warm," but it never did. Finally, I realized there was a tiny piece of rice stuck in the flipper mechanism preventing it from popping up. Meanwhile, the rice had continued to cook past well-done, creating even more smoke.
In the end I was able to salvage a small amount of rice for our dinner. Clearing out the smoke from the kitchen as best I could, I called Gene down to eat. The first thing he did when he entered the room was squint his eyes, cough and look over at my stir fry veggies (which were also a bit overcooked by this point).
"Well, I f*&$-ed up," I said.
He continued to stare at my brownish vegetables. "I messed up the rice," I said.
"What'd you do, pour it straight into the machine?"
"Yeah - how'd you know?"
"You did? I was kidding! That's about the only way I could think of to screw up cooking rice with a rice cooker..."
Luckily he was very nice about the whole thing and only beat me once. j/k Anyway, just had to throw that bit of idiocy out there and see if anyone wanted a bite of it to help take away the sting (and have a little laugh at my silly SAHL self).
Did I mention I also broke the Crock Pot awhile back?
Yesterday, while feeling bummed out about the whole job thing, I went downstairs to make dinner. First of all, I've never been good at cooking (nor do I even like cooking), but as a SAHL I feel it's the least I can do to contribute. We decided on stir fry for dinner - easy enough. But when I went to pour some rice into our automatic rice cooker - it looked a little strange to me. However, I thought, 'I'm just feeling funky and there's nothing wrong with it' and so I continued to pour the water in.
A few seconds later after the water came oozing out the bottom through all the electrical circuits, I realized what I'd done. Sitting over on the dish rack was the insert that goes inside the rice cooker to cook the rice and prevent such a catastrophe. Arghhhh! Thinking I could fix it, I tried to get all the rice and water out and go through with using the cooker (my husband Gene was upstairs and I figured if I could get it all out he would never know what a stupid thing I did).
After much shaking, I felt I'd gotten most of the rice out. I also opened up the bottom and dried out the electrical items as much as I could. Then I started it cooking. Even with my efforts, with the amount of rice I'd poured into the machine (two cups), it was inevitable that there was still some rice inside So, as the cooker heated up, the hot plates, etc. began cooking the rice from the inside out, causing a steady stream of smoke to pour out of the top.
I turned on the stove fan and the kitchen fan and opened all the windows hoping, at this point, to at least salvage dinner out of the disaster. While fanning the smoke, I watched and waited for the rice to finish cooking and for the switch to flip up from "Cook Rice" to "Keep Warm," but it never did. Finally, I realized there was a tiny piece of rice stuck in the flipper mechanism preventing it from popping up. Meanwhile, the rice had continued to cook past well-done, creating even more smoke.
In the end I was able to salvage a small amount of rice for our dinner. Clearing out the smoke from the kitchen as best I could, I called Gene down to eat. The first thing he did when he entered the room was squint his eyes, cough and look over at my stir fry veggies (which were also a bit overcooked by this point).
"Well, I f*&$-ed up," I said.
He continued to stare at my brownish vegetables. "I messed up the rice," I said.
"What'd you do, pour it straight into the machine?"
"Yeah - how'd you know?"
"You did? I was kidding! That's about the only way I could think of to screw up cooking rice with a rice cooker..."
Luckily he was very nice about the whole thing and only beat me once. j/k Anyway, just had to throw that bit of idiocy out there and see if anyone wanted a bite of it to help take away the sting (and have a little laugh at my silly SAHL self).
Did I mention I also broke the Crock Pot awhile back?
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Bueller? Bueller?
OK so I am becoming so incredibly bored with job searching. Will someone just hire me already? I feel as if it's harder to find a non-professional part-time job than it is to find a career job. OK, so I do have standards. I won't do telemarketing or sales and I won't go below $11 an hour, but come on, with five years marketing and public relations experience isn't there anyone that wants to hire me to do something, anything, for them? With every resume I put out there I feel like I'm shouting into the wind, "HEY, DOES ANYONE HAVE A PART-TIME GIG FOR A COMPUTER LITERATE PROFESSIONAL?"
I didn't think that my self-worth was tied up in working, but I think it might be. For awhile I satisfied myself with thinking that my job was to save money on our food bills, keep the house clean, cook and work out for volleyball. However, I've been sick the last few days and unable to do those tasks very well and suddenly I'm feeling quite chaffy. Desperately bored (and secretly hoping I'd win the prize) I went online and filled out a survey for Walmart that came on my receipt. When it asked what my employment status was, I was too embarrassed to click "unemployed".
Oh brother.
I didn't think that my self-worth was tied up in working, but I think it might be. For awhile I satisfied myself with thinking that my job was to save money on our food bills, keep the house clean, cook and work out for volleyball. However, I've been sick the last few days and unable to do those tasks very well and suddenly I'm feeling quite chaffy. Desperately bored (and secretly hoping I'd win the prize) I went online and filled out a survey for Walmart that came on my receipt. When it asked what my employment status was, I was too embarrassed to click "unemployed".
Oh brother.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
How the bunritos were won
Since leaving my job I've taken over the meal planning, shopping and cooking for our house. We used to share this duty, but since I've got time I'm taking care of it now. In addition, since we're without my income (we're gone from DINKs to SINKs) and with gas prices rising to ever more ridiculous levels, I've made it my personal crusade to save as much money on food shopping as possible.
So far I've managed to keep us fed for an average of $45 a week (we used to spend about $150 every two weeks before food/gas prices started rising). To do this I've been clipping coupons, comparing prices and going to an average of four stores per shopping trip to find the best deals (they're all in a row on Clairemont Mesa Blvd., so I'm not using too much extra gas).
My new favorite stores are the 99 Cent Only Store and the bakery outlet. Believe it or not, they have awesome produce at the 99 Cent Only Store! I've gotten heads of Cauliflower and Broccoliflower, three cucumbers, a package of green onions, five tomatoes and even a pound of ginger at the 99 Cent Only store all for only a buck each. The Orowheat-Entenmann's Bakery Outlet on Clairemont Mesa Blvd. by the 163 freeway is also amazing. For a little over $6 I took home three loaves of good bread and a package of dinner rolls (the rolls were free for spending $6+ dollars). Later when I was at the grocery store (Food 4 Less) I saw the same loaves of bread selling for $4 a piece (which is f-ing crazy by the way)! Of course, you have to freeze some of the bread for later, but no worries, it defrosts just fine.
Anyway, most people I know won't care too much about this. Why? Well, because they're working and have money, but not a lot of time, so they don't mind spending a little extra for the convenience of getting their shopping done ASAP. Also, most young professionals don't have mortgages for homes bought when the market had peaked, so 70% of their income isn't tied up in a house that's steadily decreasing in value, so they aren't feeling the pinch as much as we. OK, that's enough of my pity party. I'm just hoping that through a little frugality here and there we can still have a decent lifestyle and save enough to make it through until after the volleyball season when I'll have (cross my fingers) a well-paying, full-time job. Thanks for reading!
PS The word "bunritos" in the title isn't a typo. When I took over the shopping/meal planning my husband already had some meals written on our fridge wipe-off board, including what appeared to be bun-ritos...he he.
So far I've managed to keep us fed for an average of $45 a week (we used to spend about $150 every two weeks before food/gas prices started rising). To do this I've been clipping coupons, comparing prices and going to an average of four stores per shopping trip to find the best deals (they're all in a row on Clairemont Mesa Blvd., so I'm not using too much extra gas).
My new favorite stores are the 99 Cent Only Store and the bakery outlet. Believe it or not, they have awesome produce at the 99 Cent Only Store! I've gotten heads of Cauliflower and Broccoliflower, three cucumbers, a package of green onions, five tomatoes and even a pound of ginger at the 99 Cent Only store all for only a buck each. The Orowheat-Entenmann's Bakery Outlet on Clairemont Mesa Blvd. by the 163 freeway is also amazing. For a little over $6 I took home three loaves of good bread and a package of dinner rolls (the rolls were free for spending $6+ dollars). Later when I was at the grocery store (Food 4 Less) I saw the same loaves of bread selling for $4 a piece (which is f-ing crazy by the way)! Of course, you have to freeze some of the bread for later, but no worries, it defrosts just fine.
Anyway, most people I know won't care too much about this. Why? Well, because they're working and have money, but not a lot of time, so they don't mind spending a little extra for the convenience of getting their shopping done ASAP. Also, most young professionals don't have mortgages for homes bought when the market had peaked, so 70% of their income isn't tied up in a house that's steadily decreasing in value, so they aren't feeling the pinch as much as we. OK, that's enough of my pity party. I'm just hoping that through a little frugality here and there we can still have a decent lifestyle and save enough to make it through until after the volleyball season when I'll have (cross my fingers) a well-paying, full-time job. Thanks for reading!
PS The word "bunritos" in the title isn't a typo. When I took over the shopping/meal planning my husband already had some meals written on our fridge wipe-off board, including what appeared to be bun-ritos...he he.
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