Serene of the Oakland Serenes

I have fallen into the habit of posting my updates on Twitter/Facebook even though I prefer this place to those, in theory. Not sure what that's about, especially since there are enough family members and co-workers on Facebook that it keeps me from posting anything with any depth most of the time. And on the gripping hand (h/t Aahz, may his memory be a blessing), I don't get deep all that often these days.

Anyway, lots and lots has happened since I was here last. Still miss my mom so hard that it's sometimes hard to move past it, but there are real patches of joy now, and that wasn't really the case at first.

( House )

( New Mexico )

( Work )

( Writing )

( Family )

Anyhow, there's a lot happening, and I want to share that with you, and to return to keeping an online journal if I can manage to find the follow-through to do that.

CN: death of a pet, descriptions of stressful situations, including workplace "team-building"

( dead cat )

( mom has a new heart valve )

( work )

( retreat )

( some good stuff? )

( remainder )

Today, we're taking mom and my uncle to the yard sales. Mom still can't drive. It should be stressful but fine.







( CN: morbid humor about violent crime )

A bit wiped, but just semi-quickly:

1a) The first week of winter break, I got a bad headcold. The second week of winter break, mom and my uncle (ages 78 and 88, respectively) got this killer flu, and I can't decide if I was more scared or tired from a week of bednurse duties. Mom's fever topped out at 103.7; she didn't leave her bed for 3 days, and didn't eat for 5. She lost 15 pounds. She finally felt really well day before yesterday, so I guess that means she was some value of sick for 3 weeks! (Uncle wasn't hit as hard, though it did create some TMI stuff for him.)

1b) Mom needs a new heart valve. She went into her cardiology appointment prepared to refuse treatment because she has decided since she takes years to heal from surgeries (very weak skin, progressively weakening immune system), she's never having surgery again. Then the doc told her about a minimally invasive procedure called TAVR, and she's all "Okay, then, I'll do that." So this coming Thursday is the day for labs before arranging for that surgery, which will take her out of commission for a few days.

2) I really love my boss. She supports me, gives me lots of freedom to manage my schedule and workload, and is vocally admiring of me around other employees and managers. She's not perfect, but hell, neither am I. Only almost perfect. At work, anyway.

3) James doesn't read DW, so I can tell you without embarrassing him that he's being SO adorable right now. He's brushing his teeth to get ready to be an interviewee. On a podcast. Via Skype. (Some atheist thing -- he's mildly famous in atheist circles.)

4) Dinner today is the bomb. [Image description: yakitori, rice, and veggies on a white plate with a bowl of sauce]:



Now I'm off to go check out your journals and see how you are, while I listen to something on my headphones so I don't eavesdrop on James's interview.

Happy Lunar New Year!

I spent the first half of the day just sleeping or staring into space, but I'm a lot less sick now as a result, so that's a good thing.

I was just made disability team lead on the Resistance Manual, and I would love it if some of you came and joined me in building those pages to be really great, as well as checking to make sure other areas on the RM are intersectional with regard to disability.

I have been writing every day and submitting several things a week, and I still don't know where the energy is coming from, but I'll take it. Maybe the cold weather really is my friend.

The debt-elimination project is going well. I'm blogging sporadically about it, but the best result so far is that after 2 months, we paid off 10% of our highest-interest card, and it's only going to get better.

And I got a stellar performance review at work, and applied for a better job on campus.

Let's see, is that it? Well, other than my mom possibly having a MRSA infection, yes. I think that's it for now. Now I'll go read your journals to see what you're up to.

Awoke at 4 to a random sound that my brain processed as something hitting the house. It was probably just someone closing a door in the house somewhere -- it's a big house. I also had the beginnings of a migraine, so it could've been exploding head syndrome, which I do get sometimes, and which is one of the coolest-named benign pschophysiological things ever (if you know of others, tell me -- cool names for shit are my lifeblood).

Anyway. Four in the morning.

Because of the impending migraine, I took aspirin and caffeine, and if I go back to sleep, I will doom myself to a full-blown migraine, so instead I have turned down the brightness on my monitor and settled in with DW/LJ and my "Right-hand Man" earworm to do a nice long update, which I haven't done in some time, and which will be under a series of cuts.

( 1a: Work babble )

( 1b. Residency, a.k.a. Work Babble Two )

Starting to get the migraine nausea, so I'm having trouble concentrating. I think I'll cut this short for now and pick it up later. Have a good weekend, my lovelies!

I love my new job. I love my family. I love that my new job doesn't take me away from my family TOO much. (I was even able to get in a date with stonebender before it started, and we're gonna do lunch in Berkeley once a week when we can.)

But lately, I really love ME. It was really, really hard to choose to take this job. I know I'm overextended already. I know I'm a busy, tired introvert, with a family to take care of. But the more I thought about it, the more I *really wanted it*, and I'm so glad I didn't balk. I think I'm doing what's best for me.

I walk through the UC Berkeley campus every day with this huge grin on my face. I love being there. I love the people I work with. I even love the job, which most people would find terribly tedious. It's just perfect for me, though, and I'm SO glad they offered it to me.

And now, after how many years? I am a real, career employee there, with health insurance, a pension, a cubicle, keys, and the whole shebang.

I deserve this. I totally rock.


This is me at work. Goofy, I know, but the joy is genuine.

Writing (journalism, poetry, novels, even code)
Hospitality (running a B&B, frex)
Service (if it didn't suck paywise, I'd still be in retail -- I loved it)
Helping (Customer service, see note above, or social service)
My current job, if there were any chance of better money and an employer more consistent with my ethics

(Just musing)

We all know serene loves to travel, right? We all know serene is ambivalent about her job, right? (Never mind -- I know, some of you know, that's good enough.) Anyway, I've been at this job for a year this week (longer, but a year as a permanent employee) and they just doubled my vacation from one week a year to two. More travel, more time off from the job, *without* taking more unpaid leave. Yay!

[update: yes, I know that two weeks' vacation at a low-paying job isn't exactly anything to write home about, but one takes what joy one can get]

Items of interest today:

• Lydia might be coming back to work, but not in her old position, so I likely get to keep the good temp.
  
• I've been offered a temp-to-perm job at my old place, for lots more money than I'm making now
  
• Spent some comfy, low-pressure, goodfriendly time with lcohen today, and liked it
  
• Told a friend a secret she already knew and didn't feel as embarrassed about it as I thought I might
  
• Decided that no matter what I tell the old place tomorrow, I'm going to have peace about it. I'm making a life I love, so no need to angst too much about paths not taken