i’m so sorry i didn’t see this before–Brian was the one who told me. my current tenant, Divine Calm, is a BUCKEYE!!! just like Brian and me. you must, must, MUST visit her. 
Go Bucks!
i received neither roses nor a Star Wars LEGO set from Brian yesterday for Valentine’s Day. instead, he bought red and green bricks from the LEGO store and created roses out of LEGOs to give me. i absolutely love them!!! he always knows just the right thing to say or do. 
if you guys thought i was freaky because i pop my cats’ blackheads, well my current tenant, Divine Calm does the same thing–to her dogs, however. i didn’t even know dogs could get blocked pores. Divine works in politics, and was also an RA in college. maybe that led to her work in politics? she takes beautiful photographs and has 2 good-looking dogs, Winston and Murphy, and a good-looking boyfriend, as well. 
how can you not like a guy who buys clothes for your furbabies? please give a warm welcome to Divine Calm!
Brian called me from work yesterday morning. this is pretty much how the conversation went:
Brian: So, what do you want to do tomorrow?
Me: Tomorrow?
Brian: Yeah.
Me: Oh! It’s Valentine’s Day.
Brian: Yeah.
Me: Do you really care about Valentine’s Day?
Brian: Not really.
Me: Good. Neither do I.
Valentines schmalentines. this day was a lot more important to me when Brian and i first started dating. now that we’ve been together for over 6 years, it just isn’t a priority. do other married couples or people in long-term relationships feel this way? i mean, we’re secure about where each of us stands in the other’s life, so there doesn’t seem to be any reason to exchange gifts to prove it.
i don’t dislike flowers–in fact i love fresh flowers. the problem is, so do the cats. a couple of weeks ago i told Brian that if he plans on buying me flowers, he would do better buying me a Star Wars LEGO set, instead.
at any rate, we’re going to watch tonight’s episode of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, and have pot roast slow-cooked (read: crock pot) with giardiniera peppers and a merlot for dinner. the merlot will be served in coffee mugs. i’m not even sure that we own wine glasses, and the regular glasses are all boxed up because we drink out of pop cans and bottles of water. the cats drink from our glasses when we aren’t looking. maybe it sounds ridiculous to other people, but this scenario clearly states: Brian and Barb.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
since this is a meme, i’m first going to discuss The Three Meme i did a couple of weeks ago. two truths and a lie. the lie: i don’t wear dentures. Frodo had an excellent point when he said that because i played hockey, it’s very possible that i may be missing some of my real teeth. nope. they’re all there. i do, however, type 100wpm with few (2%) errors according to a test i took at a temp agency. the number may have gone down, but probably not by much. i can’t take dictation, but i can type it. finally, i always, always put my left sock and shoe on first. don’t know why, other than an irrational belief that if i put my right sock/shoe on first, something bad will happen that day.
the Mania Meme is one that Joel created and here are the rules:
Rules for the meme: First, you must be bipolar or schizoaffective. Second, simply make a list of your signs that you are in mania. Third, tag up to five people to keep the meme going.
it’s been over a year since i’ve had even a short hypomanic episode, so it’s almost hard to remember, but here they are:
i’m tagging bp_hockey_chick, Marie, Moody, and bLitch.
the sleep study was easy. basically, all i had to do was sit there, and try really hard not to laugh while the technician prepped me. i don’t know–the procedure just seemed so silly.
the tech connected me to all of these wires, and used that sticky but not really sticky stuff that keeps gift cards in place in their envelopes. and regular transparent tape. lots of that, which sucked because it made my neck itch after a while–the front of my neck, too, not the back. wires were placed all over my face, on my chest, and on my legs.
what i didn’t expect was having 2 straps wrapped around my torso. i don’t know what they were for, but it certainly wasn’t to hold everything in place. in the picture above, i was sitting on a chair on the left side of the bed. however, the equipment was on the right side, so i had to walk all the way around with all of these wires dangling from me. i noticed that the straps didn’t have any obvious purpose.
i know, i know. the pictures suck. for some reason the auto-flash thing isn’t working, and maybe we just need a camera with a faster shutter speed. speaking of cameras, there was one mounted near the ceiling across the room. curiously, it was pointed towards Brian’s side of the bed, which was the side that didn’t have all of the equipment on the night stand. while mine had some sort of electronic box to which the wires were connected, Brian’s had a reading lamp and intercom on top (to be used to contact the technician if you have to go to the bathroom and be unhooked). it didn’t matter, though, because the wires were connected to computer monitors located wherever the techs do whatever it is they do. i guess they didn’t really need to see me in order to see me. know what i mean?
as you can imagine, those wires taped to my face were uncomfortable. i was so glad i had my trusty trazodone, because i have no idea how anyone could sleep with all that shit. the only bad part was that it was a 6-hour study. we were unceremoniously awoken at 5:00am, so i didn’t get to sleep off the trazodone. it was a good thing Brian was with me because there was no way i would have been able to drive home. they gave each of us packages of peanut butter and crackers and a juice box, then sent us on our way.
Basil, the mighty tiger, blends in with the surroundings. want to see more pet pics? pay a visit to the Friday Ark, and submit a link to your own pets’ photos.
i’m being tested tonight for sleep apnea, though i understand it takes a week to get the results.? i have no idea what this will entail, but i’m certain they’re going to stick wires and stuff on me because i was instructed not to use anything but shampoo and deoderant today.? no conditioner, no hair products, no lotion, all of which i use.
some of you have offered to talk to me about your own sleep study experience, and i’m sorry i haven’t taken you up on your offers.? i’ve been really behind answering my e-mails, though i’ve just now caught up on my blog reading.
needless to say, i won’t be able to visit anyone’s blogs tonight, or reply to comments, or-ack!–play Neopets.? i doubt they have a PC set up there for me to use.? luckily, Brian gets to tag along, and is even allowed to sleep in the bed with me!? we have to wear our pajamas, though.? 
i’m a little nervous, but mainly it’s because we have to leave the cats alone overnight.? i’m afraid Hopper will shit on something while we’re away and unable to protect her from those bad, bad boys.? i’m sort of excited because i’ve never done anything like this, so it’s kind of like an adventure.
Brian had the day off yesterday so we went ice skating in Millennium Park. I have now crossed this off of my 43 Things list. The outdoor rink is only open November through March, and I was afraid I’d have to wait ’til later this year to accomplish this goal.
It’s free to skate, but skate rental is a whopping $7. Fortunately, we have our own skates. My regular skates desperately need sharpening, but I’ve been too lazy to find out what the nearby pro shop’s hours are, and the skate rental place charges $8! Well, that may be the going price; I have no idea. It’s been a really long time since I’ve had to pay for sharpening. I wore my goalie skates instead.
I was disheartened at how awful I was. It’s been at least a year since I’ve been on the ice and the last time it was only for a few minutes. And the last, last time was in 2001. I shouldn’t have been falling every few feet while skating backwards. I was a frickin’ goalie once upon a time! “Was,” being the key word. And skating forward? Pfft. No balance.
Part of the problem, as the skate guard kindly pointed out, was that my skates weren’t tied tightly enough. You shouldn’t be able to insert your fingertip under the laces. My regular skates have waxed laces that make them a lot easier to tighten. Anyway, once I — OK, Brian–fixed this, I was flying like I flew before. Not as confidently as I would have liked, and I think part of this was because I was wearing goalie skates, the blades of which are shaped differently from regular skates. I’m really, really rusty. Embarrasingly so.
Heh. This was me in another life. I’m the short one on the left, folks, not the tall redhead. Heehee. That’s my friend Julie, another grad student at the time. This was taken in the locker room before our game against Michigan. I wasn’t really a goalie; I was a forward. However, we didn’t have anyone else to play, so (what the hell possessed me?) I volunteered. At this point, the only goalie equipment I had were my glove and blocker. Notice that the brand is Brian’s. I didn’t own my own pads. I was using the club’s pads that were a million years old and way too big on me. For one thing, they were for men, and all of my hockey gear is in boys’ sizes. I did get my own pads eventually. I also have a goalie helmet, but I didn’t like it as much as my regular helmet because I couldn’t see anything below my chin.
The first of two seasons I played for Ohio State was the first year we had a women’s Division I team instead of just a club team. There was no organization at all. According to the team’s snazzy new web site:
Following the formation of the varsity team were slim years for the Ohio State women?s club hockey team. The 2000 season was the last year the team participated in the CCWHA. The team remained independent playing a sporadic schedule with little funding. Kate Nushart says of it, “we were just a group of girls who enjoyed playing hockey together–we had no direction and no focus.”
Apparently, the team’s budget is now $30,000. Know how much ours was? $1500. In my second season I was the club’s vice president and in charge of raising funds from local businesses. We had a few donations for raffles and stuff, but nothing great. Now, they have a frickin’ booster assocation! I wouldn’t be able to play now anyway, because the team is only open to undergrads. During my time, it was open to all students, faculty, and staff.
Our coach was a grad student himself — a PhD student at that, so he was unable to travel with us to games. Yep, we sucked. We didn’t win one game, and it wasn’t just because I was a new goalie — the rest of the team wasn’t great either, and entire games were played in our zone, meaning that I saw action for the entire frickin’ game. But boy, was I in shape. And you know what? We had the time of our lives!
The one game we did win was in spring quarter of 2000. Our season was over, but we formed an intramural team. We beat a team of guys, and they were not happy! Bwahahaa! We also played as a team in intramural softball. We won a lot because the other teams never showed up.
I had the hockey dream again last week. I don’t know what it means, but I’ve decided to sell my goalie equipment at the start of this year’s season. I’m thinking that I might start playing again in one of the many local women’s teams. If that’s the case, then I have a lot of training ahead of me — as a winger.
While we were skating yesterday, Brian told me that I shouldn’t dwell on my performance, that I should be proud that I finally put my skates back on and accomplished one of my goals. As someone currently going through a depression, it’s so easy for me to see the negative side of things, to be so critical of myself, and, as regular readers know by now, so hard for me to see the big picture.
Last week, I could barely make it out of the house. Yesterday I was back on the ice. There’s got to be something to that.
me, i’d just be stumbling. not 3T (short for her blog name, 3rd Times a Charm). this very graceful, former bad girl celebrated a year of blogging last month. though her blog is new to me, i can tell you that she’s a kind person in real life. 3T left a comment for me not too long ago, which you can read here. she just happened to click on my thumbnail on another blog, read the post, and left that really nice message. her sincerity really struck a chord with me, so please help me welcome Stumbling Through Life With Grace! click the thumbnail.
