I Don’t Want To Do This (Part Two)

Yeah, I still don’t want to be doing this. Well… at best, I’m divided.

I know that this is good for me; I know that it will help with my immunity and my self-image, my exhaustion, my skin and my weight. This is good, this is good, this is good.

But that doesn’t make me not absolutely crave pop (specifically coca-cola), or fast food. I can taste it and I physically ache for it.

However, I’ve done it. 7 days.  Not amazing, but a start. 7 days without pop or fast food… well, actually, maybe it is amazing…

Day 1 (Saturday) – pretty strong cravings, but I kept busy with a breakfast date and a winter festival. Chose to not drink anything at Starbucks when all I really wanted was a Jones Soda; no point in having something else just for the sake of drinking something. I didn’t feel well in the evening which was probably good, because staying home = staying away from temptation (for the most part… Boston Pizza is across the street).

Day 2 (Sunday) – I felt like absolute crap and slept all day (quite literally); no temptation when all you can keep down is soup.

Day 3 (Monday) – work makes it tough sometimes because I’m incredibly busy and don’t necessarily have/make the time to sit down and eat. I packed a lunch, but picking something up is easier than finding a microwave… but I didn’t.  I found 15 minutes to sit and eat my lunch. Work also stresses me out right now (super hectic), which usually drives me to my addictions, but I made a sandwich and soup for dinner. Hurrah!

Day 4 (Tuesday) – made it through the day (including going to the movies) without fast food or pop. Sarah’s been great about checking everyday how I’m doing with this, and suggested we get our own (healthier) snacks. They were cheaper than pop and popcorn, and tasted better, too.

Day 5 (Wednesday) – been having headaches all week, but Day 5 brought the sort that makes you want to gouge out your eyes. Made it through another movie without pop and popcorn and stopped myself from drinking coca-cola even though I knew the caffeine would stop my withdrawal headache (I don’t drink coffee or tea). Also had dinner out with Bridget without drinking pop or eating anything too horrible for me (though the samosas started some heartburn issues, which I’ve never had before… heartburn that is, not samosas).

Day 6 (Thursday) – slight headache, but not as bad as Day 5 (I’m hoping these end soon). Another crazy work day, but again made time to sit and have lunch. Dealt with the scent of pizza for about 30 minutes, and turned down a bite. I had dinner at my parents, and my Dad bought me some ginger ale (sweet man), but I said “thanks” and had water instead, citing heartburn (which is real). No need to make him feel bad, but no need for me to give up to make him feel good.

Day 7 (Friday) – a bad headache again, maybe they have nothing to do with caffeine; perhaps I have a brain parasite? Anyhow, zero time for lunch, so I ate the orange slices and granola bar that I packed and tried not to even look at the places with drive-thrus as I drove around town. I obviously need to pack more utensil- and microwave-free things in my lunches. No plans tonight, which can reduce temptation in some ways, but increase it in others. I would usually use such a night to grab something delicious that was fried and covered in cheese, drink pop and then sit on the couch and watch a movie. Tonight, however, the plan is to pick up something at M&M Meats (easy to make, but better than take-out), clean my place (to make it easier to cook and pack lunches next week) and read graphic novels until I fall asleep. Maybe I’ll have a bath, too…

So, the headaches and general crap-feeling from my body readjusting to normalcy really suck, but I’m confident that they’ll go away (eventually). I’m falling asleep faster, without the caffeine, so that’s a positive. Also, I’m proud of myself at the end of the day, which feels… well, different. I’m going to keep going with this fast.

Having announced the commitment to do this earlier on The List II has really helped me stay accountable; I think I might make it a part of my personal blog… which will be my only blog now, since this is the last challenge I had to complete.

Proud of myself for doing this fast but incredibly scared of reverting,

Jennifer

Fairly Particular Cookery

I asked my Dad to teach me how to use a gun.

Not that I plan on using one in the near future; I just think that it would be a good skill to have. You know, just in case (of the end of civilization, of the need to life off the grid, of the need to make myself seem more useful in application to a commune, etc).

He said I’d have to wait until the summer, which did not work with the timeline of The List II.

Are people seeing a theme here? Building a shed in the wilderness, wanting to learn how to knit, learning how to make my own compass, desiring gun skills… what kind of future am I envisioning for myself?

Anyhow, along that self-sufficient-die-alone-in-the-middle-of-nowhere theme, I asked my mother to teach me how to preserve food through canning.

We picked a sweet recipe, got all the ingredients ready… and then an unexpected work thing came up for my mom, and I was basically on my own. Good thing I thoroughly read my book on preserving food.  Here’s hoping it actually worked; canning is ridiculous science. Proper ratios of ingredients, temperatures, times… fairly particular cookery.

The Recipe

Beginning to Cook

Two Pots Boiling

Concoction of Delicious

Processing

The (Almost) Finished Jars

I’ll have to wait a day to see if they sealed properly, and only a bit of time will tell whether everything went perfectly (or close enough).

“Yes, I spend my Thursdays canning chutney… why, what do you do?”

Jennifer

Because You Never Know

I was going to learn how to knit. I bought a book and everything. But then I read the book, and realized that knitting is ridiculously hard, and waited for inspiration to hit. The next thing I wanted to learn, well, here, you can learn it too:

Part One

1. On a sunny or semi-sunny day (shadows must be visible), shove a stick in the ground, straight up-and-down.
2. Every once in awhile, throughout the day, mark on the ground where the end of the shadow is. By the end of the day, you’ll have a semi-circle.
3. Find the point on that line that is closest to the stick (use some thread or a shoelace or something to do this).
4. Draw a line between the stick and that point, with a big arrow at the end.
5. You’ve found north. Congratulations!

Part Two

1. Take a needle, or another straight wire-type thing, and rub a silk thread or another piece of wire along it, in the same direction, about 100 times.
2. Put your needle on a leaf or piece of paper (or something else that is light and floats), and place it in some water.
3. Your needle should now orientate itself north/south. Remember which end is north (which you already figured out in Part One).
4. Use your needle and floating apparatus to continue to check for north (since humans typically end up walking in circles).

Disclaimer

This obviously only works if you’re somewhere that has water to float your compass, and wouldn’t work if you were say, in the desert. But why the deuce are you lost in the desert without a compass or transportation?  That’s just foolish of you, wouldn’t you say?

Jennifer

Not Too Much Of A Good Thing

Technology is a beautiful thing; it really is.

It would be almost impossible to live without it.  Fire is technology.  Clothing is technology. My toothbrush is technology. Without technology I wouldn’t have a pillow to sleep on, would smell absolutely horrible, couldn’t paint or play guitar, and I wouldn’t have a job, let alone be able to get there.

I don’t have a huge issue with technology, and yet I suggested this challenge.  I enjoy technology (medicine, sewing, cookery, and on and on and on), but I have a problem when technology stands between people, or harms them, rather than helping us or bringing us together.

For this challenge, I decided to embark on a series of technology-reduced dates.  Technology was necessary for each of them (the most basic technologies including paper-making, the printing press, fire, the wheel, etc), but was not the focus of any of them. I’ve gotten tired of movies, television and even music being the focus of my social interactions, as such consumption does nothing to bring me closer to the people I’m there with. Passive entertainment be damned:

Date #1: Food and Books and Heart-To-Hearts

To celebrate the birthday of the best friend, we enjoyed in a quiet evening of food and literature (we didn’t even listen to music, people). The best friend and I are probably the absolute worst for engaging in passive entertainment . The first months of our friendship were based around movie nights, which were thankfully followed by late hours of talking so that we actually got to know each other.

Sharing the couch and reading naturally led to wonderful conversation, with topics including friendship, relationships, marriage and sex.  I haven’t felt that close to the best friend in a long time; time well spent.

Date #2: Saturday Morning Breakfast

As mentioned in I Always Wanted To Be Claudia, I enjoyed a wonderful breakfast with a lovely woman from my church. I’ve been platono-crushing on her from afar, and it was great to be able to sit across the table from her and get to know her a bit more.  Plus, we met at a breakfast place 1/2 a block away, which meant I got to walk and reduce my transportation technology!

Date #3: Byzantine Winter Festival

Miss Sarah and I checked out the 2010 Deep Freeze Festival, put on by Arts on The Ave.

It was so great! A little arts market, some Ukrainian dancing, skating (we forgot ours), ice sculptures, snow sculptures, tipis, and horse and wagon rides!  I bought a couple of super awesome wine-cork-cork-boards, loved looking at houses on the wagon ride, and really just enjoyed seeing a beautiful community at its best.

(Plus we did a little thrift-store shopping and I got some wine glasses for fancy-juice drinking)

Date #4: Bistro, Bridget, & Brains

And lastly, tonight, Bridget and I met up for coffee at Bistro 112 (and by coffee I mean that she had coffee and I had samosas and a brownie and juice), chatted and just enjoyed each other’s company.  I love meeting up with Bridget; it seems like we never run out of things to talk about. Work, church, school, sociology, psychology and a dash of generalized complaining about things, our options are really endless. She’s ridiculously smart, and has a giant heart, and complains about a lot of the same things as me. It’s always a wonderful time, really.

Jennifer

World, meet my mind

I was the one who thought of this challenge. I am very passive aggressive. And I find it very difficult to say what I’m thinking a lot of the time – often because in the moment I am not sure what I’m thinking. And then when I realize my thoughts or feelings about something the moment is often passed and don’t share, or the moment is still around but still don’t share because… well it’s uncomfortable for me. But I have been learning through an unfortunately difficult year that it helps other people to know what I am thinking – even if it is disagreeable or embarrassing (mostly for me).

So with this challenge in mind, I thought that I would help me confront some conflict issue or state of passive aggressiveness. Give me that extra boost of encouragement.

It turned out differently than I expected.

Those close to me know that it hasn’t been the easiest year of my life. The good part is that it has lead to my asking questions that have needed to be asked. It’s also lead to expressing frustrations and hurts that I’ve been carrying. I had a conversation with a friend back in December, catching up on how things were going for me. I was in a particularly low place. And in the conversation shared some things that I’ve been thinking that I haven’t told anyone. I want to celebrate that moment. It probably was more me telling myself what I was really thinking, and making it real through disclosing to someone else. But it was also helpful for me to tell them what I was thinking. Now they are better suited to know how to care for me.

Heather

Never thought myself the type

Knitting, crocheting, needle work… all that genre of craft… very little of me feels inspired to do it. When I knit, I last about as long as it takes to make a dish cloth. A small dish cloth. I lack the patience for such things (or so I tell myself). Still, this Christmas I found myself developing an itching desire to learn how to use the old needle and thread to make pretty things on fabric.

The start to my learning began in two phases.

1. Auntie Grace teaching me from one of her books

2. Grambo teaching me by using one of her table clothes that her Godmother made for her (one of which I have now inherited. Beautiful. And also to ambitious for myself).

I am planning on incorporating it into my journals. And maybe with a quilt someday (if I can make it that far… I might just wind up with a lot of rags…)

Heather

You need to look this badass when you are stitching into leather...

Get on that bike…

So I haven’t actually done this challenge yet, because Vancouver, being the city it is, has bucketed rain for a good portion of this week. But here’s the deal. My team gathers at a house a short drive away from my place every Monday for team training. I resolved to bike there on Mondays, instead of drive for my health and the health of the environment (which winds up helping my health.. it just keeps on going).

So. It’s a bit of a cheat, I haven’t done it yet. But I have my housemate extra bike light and my headlamp (because I don’t own my own yet and it’s so darn dark here still…)

Next Monday. Bike, you will be mine.

Heather

Fine Wine and Art Party

I enjoy being host of various gatherings at my home, the “1984 House”. What I really enjoy is helping people gather in a way that has the group doing something active, that build relationship or helps people try new things. At least I think I like that sort of thing. I don’t do it as much as I think about it. But here and there I pull things out.

The “Fine Wine and Art Party” had been a gathering brewing in my mind for quite some time. There are so many talented and gifted individuals among my friends. I was stoked about being able to come together, have someone share a gift/talent with us and teach us something in the process. So this past Saturday, two artist friend, Sara and James taught 20 some people in my house how to draw. It was so great. James taught us how to draw faces and Sara taught us to draw figures.

What was most exciting for me was to hear people’s delight in seeing what they had created at the end of the night. We all drew faces… that looked like faces. And learned how to celebrate movement and figures through a piece of charcoal.

I’ve been waiting to post this so I could get some pics, because I feel like this one definitely deserves pictures. There’s more that I will get my hands on later as well (thanks, friends!). You might have to look them up on Facebook, though. Big thanks to Dylon for taking these photos.

Heather

Me, recovering, after being shocked by Klod the manican at the door

Sara, on the left, giving a figure drawing lesson

Preparing to draw a face

A work in progress

James, red shirt at the head of the table, teaching us to draw faces

Posing for figure drawing

You can see some of the figure drawings on the floor

Time well spent

So, my husband’s brother Enoch was here for a wee Christmas visit, and what visit to Germany is complete without seeing the city of Munich? Having been to Munich many times, and being my pregnant, easily tired self, I wondered if I would go with these two fine Rottier gentlemen and see the sights I’ve seen so many times before.

It was then that I remembered when we went to Munich only weeks earlier with Jeremy’s cousin and husband (Jess and Luke Seatter) and saw a display in one of the smaller museums (I wouldn’t even have known it was a museum if Jess hadn’t pointed it out) by an artist named Alphonse Mucha. If you haven’t heard of him, I’m 100% sure that you have seen his stuff. Google it. It’s amazing. Knowing that Jeremy would come with me to the museum, but wouldn’t necessarily LOVE to go, I offered to go alone, allowing time to really take in everything and linger at certain paintings or what have you. Having the husband that I do, he also informed me that not only was the trip to the museum part of my Christmas present, but that he also wanted to buy me a Mucha poster of my choosing. What a guy! How thoughtful is that!?

http://paddyk.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/mucha-les-saisons.jpg Here’s a link to a sweet picture by Mucha.

I discovered a few things while I was alone in this public place. 1. Standing for an hour and a half is hard work when you’re pregnant. 2. An hour and a half was not enough time 3. I enjoyed not feeling like I had to hurry through the rooms because other people might want to go sooner 4. I love Mucha.

So, instead of one big poster (they didn’t have a great selection) I got three little ones and some post cards to put up in my new apartment. I decided that our bedroom and hallway will have many a Mucha. :) Oh, and I would also like to get a Mucha tattoo. This is a goal that will take a LOT to realize, but there it is, none the less.

Emma & Sabino

I haven’t seen Emma Jackson de Diaz in over 10 years.  And I only met her briefly; she was just the tiny little sister of my friends Justin and Sarah.

Emma grew up (apparently), got married and is now expecting her first child in less than a month. This should be a time for celebration and anticipation, but instead it’s one of stress and worry for Emma and her husband Sabino (and their families).

Sabino is Mexican and has not only been denied entry into Canada for the birth of his child, he has been treated horribly by Canadian Immigration and their officials.

I’m standing in solidarity with Emma and Sabino, their unborn child and their families, and I’m petitioning for Sabino to be granted a temporary visa on Compassionate and Humanitarian grounds. Sabino is no risk to this country, and should be given the opportunity to be with his wife when their child is born (and also compensated for all of the absolute crap the government has put them through).

To learn more about Emma and Sabino, and to stand in solidarity with them, visit: Emma and Sabino (make sure you read “Emma’s Letter” to get the full story). Send letters, or at least sign the petition.

Jennifer