Still 84...

I can't believe I almost forgot!

Friday I went in for an arthrogram of my hip! After a long and chilly bus ride, I arrived in Boston just before 6am. Andy came and picked me up (bless his tardy soul), and we went back to my house and napped until about 930am.

Here's where the fun begins. I called the doctor's office Thursday to verify the details of my appointment. To my surprise, the receptionist told me my x-ray was scheduled for 10am. I knew my appointment was at 10am, but I'd already gotten an x-ray. What gives? I told the rather cranky lady that I already had an x-ray so she told me that I didn't need to be in until 11 for my MRI. Ok, sweet, that's how I was able to nap.

Get back into Boston for my appointment and check in at 1030 only to be told that my appointment was at 10 in x-ray. "But I've already had an x-ray." I was confused. Apparently, an arthrogram is sort of an x-ray. At least, it involves an x-ray. I had no idea. No one ever told me that. This lady, however, was very nice. She told me that was fine and they could take me anyway. What a relief! The lady next to her, however, gave me dirty looks. Whatever. How was I to know?

When we finally find radiology (with the help of a contractor working in the building), I sign in, they hand me some forms, and I wait. It was only about ten minutes until the nurse called my name. Now, at this point I'm a bit nervous, but I'm holding it together quite well.

After I change, they bring into the room; I sit on the paper covered table. Nothing strange yet. Another form, this one stating that I understand the risk. You know: infection, disease, loss of limb, death, the usual. After some chit chat with the nurse and the doctor, the needles come out. It's game time.

Starts with some Novocain. Just one shot and it worked surprisingly quickly and didn't hurt too much. The doctor told me that it should feel like pressure, not sharp pain. Sounds like fun, right? Wasn't so bad but it was so cool to watch!

So, I'm lying down on my table and up on my right is the x-ray done in real time. This means I can watch as they shove a needle into my hip joint. I mean, yeah, I can feel it, but it doesn't hurt exactly. I just feels weird. The best part was watching the ink fill the joint.

I post now at the request of my boyfriend:

Thickly slice one large tomato.

Spray frying pan with cooking spray or lightly coat with olive oil.

Fry tomatoes in pan with salt, pepper, and garlic.

Chop onion and garlic.

Fry in pan with some more salt, pepper, garlic (powder), and olive oil.

Once the onions begin to brown add in fresh spinach.

Remove from heat and set over your tomatoes when spinach has cooked down.

Scramble some eggs and put that on top. 

Dinner.

I did this the other night, and it was delicious. I had some left over sauce with italian sausages in it, so I cut one up and threw it in the frying pan with just a little bit of sauce and threw that over the spinach. Feel free to experiment with your own leftovers. Enjoy.

20 going on 84?

11:50 pm on Thursday night: I'm running to catch the train into the city. With much thanks to my lovely room mate, my suitcase full of power tools and I caught the 11:52 train by the skin of my teeth. It had been so long since I had been in the city that I was a bit anxious. Much of that anxiety was because I was traveling though.

Now, I don't know if you've ever tried to navigate your way through the big bad streets of New York by yourself with luggage, but it's not fun. Christmas break of freshman year there was a HUGE blizzard and everything was hectic, and I was lugging my suitcase, my bookbag, my violin, and my purse. Some very kind and annoyed people helped me carry my suitcase up and down the stairs in Penn.) Thankfully, Thursday night wasn't so bad. It only took me a few minutes to find the stairway out of Penn that would point me to the Megabus stop, which was much closer than I anticipated.

I sat on my luggage and admired the city while waiting for my 1:30am bus to pull up. I remember being in high school and thinking I could live in New York forever. I loved it. I loved the energy. Most of all, I've come to realize that I loved the anonymity of it. You can walk through New York for days without ever so much as making eye contact with anyone. As I contemplated the skyscrapers and the light pollution, I realized I don't want this anymore. I don't want to be anonymous. What used to excite me now overwhelms me. The city is loud. It's bright and it kind of smells funky.

I'm a little disappointed. I'm so close, finally, so close to the city. I'm so close to everything I had wanted and now I don't want it anymore. What gives? Story of my life.

Teachers and adults always told me I was a mature child. Old for my age, I guess. Looking back, I went through all the typical phases, but I seemed to have gone through them before everyone else. Maybe I just got over them faster. In sixth grade I remember wanting to wear tripp pants and dye my hair green. However, I knew this would upset my mother and I had no money of my own to buy these things. By the time I was in junior high and high school I had the means but had lost the desire. At this point I wanted to go out. I wanted to dance and party. I was too young to get in anywhere and no means of transportation. Freshman year of college I had freedom but I was over the party scene. I wasn't really interested anymore. Now, I'm a junior in college. What do I want to do now? Now, I want to pay my own bills. I want a real job. I want to not live paycheck to paycheck. I want to support myself and live a steady life with my crafts. I want to cook and decorate and do yoga. When I talk about what I do in my free time, I sound more like a soccer mom than a college kid. I'm not even old enough to drink and I'm over it. WTF? Sometimes I feel gipped out of my phases.

Regardless, I'm somehow ok with this. It's funny that I've spent the last couple of months trying to figure what my style is and what I like, but I've kind of known all along.

Hurricanes 2.0

Hurricane Irene. It's coming. Apparently, it's the first real hurricane to hit the east coast in decades. Chaos ensues.

Alrighty. They say that Long Island will lose power, and Manhattan is in the process of evacuating. Someone told me today that they might evacuate all of Long Island. I think people are overreacting just a bit. However, I definitely think certain precautions should be taken.

One of my roommates and I are both going home for the weekend. I had been planning on it all month, not because of the hurricane. Regardless, I think it's a good idea. We're college kids. We're still kids. I don't know how much I want to deal with being stranded in the apartment alone without anyone with a stable income. Sounds weird right? We just went food shopping yesterday morning. One of my roommates is planning on staying here with a friend of hers. They're both very go-with-the-flow kind of people. That's great! However, we expressed some concern about them staying here. If we lose power they have no water, no way of cooking food, no toilet, and no place to store food (no power=no fridge). This last part can even translate to no food. We're running low on non-perishables. They insist they'll be fine. They can go days without eating. ...Alright.... Oh well!

I'm hoping to beat the storm and to not have to drive back in it. Wish me luck!

Just another Saturday night

Freshman year I took an education class with a fantastic professor. He had a way of getting all (ok, most) of his student to actually read the material and care about the class. However, during the last class of the week, every week, he always made the same joke: some crack about getting drunk and drinking beer. I get it. We're college kids. Stereotypically, it's assumed that we drink a lot of beer and party as often as possible.

I would consider today pretty damn near perfect. Want to know what I did on this glorious Saturday evening? No, I did not go bar hopping or go to a club or even go on a date. After work this morning, I came home, ate some cucumber salad, and watched Tangled. I may have even shed a tear (I'm not your typical movie crier. I have never before cried because of a movie). Sounds pathetic, right? Well, if that's your attitude you can shove off. It was blissful.

I was so stressed out after work this morning. I just can't shake how long and stressful and, frankly, terrible last semester was. When I think of going back to school I can feel a knot form in my chest fighting to strangle my heart. I hate that school has come to symbolize drama and unhappiness. I didn't want to want to graduate college. After all, everyone says college is the best time of your life. They say that you have no worries or responsibilities during your college years.

Who the hell are these people? Maybe they can tell me what I'm doing wrong. College is stressful. It entails a rather unpleasant conversation, dare I say argument, every single semester about where tuition money will come from. It means worrying about whether I have enough time to pick up another job with my loaded class schedule. Now, it means I need to pay rent. Most importantly, college means learning to remain professional despite whatever happens.

Yes, I realize that no one is perfect and that it's absurd to expect perfection. However, I'm in college to prepare for the big and scary "real world." Call me naive, but I believe that by the time one enters this mythological land he should be capable of acting maturely. That means discussing problems in a reasonable and logical fashion, taking responsibility for one's own faults and mistakes, and understanding that one never actually "grows up." Now, I'm not saying I'm perfect or even good at doing any of this, but I'm trying.

Groceries?

In case you haven't noticed, I love food. I'm a foodie. I completely believe that eating well and getting enough sleep can help you avoid and/or cure almost any ailment. That being said, yes, I do believe in a good doctor.

Here's a list of the current contents of my fridge and pantry:

3 jars of peanut butter

1.5 boxes uncooked brown rice

1 box of Special K cereal (approximate total of various boxes and kinds)

tortilla chips

"popped" chips

loaf of multi-grain bread

2 cans of soup

1 can red kidney beans

brown sugar

pretzels

tomato paste & crushed tomatoes (for sauce when we finally get a pot)

maple syrup

4 boxes pasta

assorted teas

hot chocolate

Pillsbury cinnamon swirl bread mix

apple crisp mix (how old is that?)

tuna

honey

100 calorie almond packs

olive oil and balsamic vinegar

sugar

2 large broccoli

spinach

milk

almond milk

orange juice

cottage cheese

eggs

pickles

various yogurts

cooked brown rice

leftover broccoli and potatoes

3 cucumbers

2 tomatoes

fake sauce

bbq sauce, italian dressing

butter

mayo

waffles

ice cream sandwiches

2 bananas

Ok this isn't as bad as I thought. I can cook up some spinach and beans. (Great with some good bread!) Then, I can attempt a cucumber salad. I have no idea what that would entail, but those are going to go bad soon. I should also do something with the bananas; they're in sad shape.

The wonders of eggplant

Let me start by trying to express how much I love eggplant. It really is a mighty veggie. It's good for you. It's the perfect way to beef up any vegetarian meal. It's a lovely shade of purple. Anyways, I like eggplant. About two weeks ago we bought and eggplant and tonight we finished it off.

Things made with the eggplant thus far:

Stir Fry Thing:

Chopped eggplant, halved cherry tomatoes, salt, pepper, and garlic (to taste) all combined in a frying pan with a bit of olive oil and some balsamic vinegar. Fry/cook. Serve with grated cheese of your choice (I used that fake parmesan because we had it) and bread. Enjoy. I recommend adding in some fresh garlic and frying it up with that, but, alas, we had none.

Eggplant & Tomato Layers:

Thinly slice eggplant and tomatoes (enough to layer your casserole dish). Alternate layers of eggplant and tomato and drizzle each layer with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and parmesan cheese. (Are you starting to realize that I have limited ingredients, yet?) Bake at 350 until cheese forms a crust and eggplant is soft. Enjoy.

Eggplant Alive (Inspired by Life Alive in downtown Lowell - look it up!):

Fry chopped eggplant and chopped red onion in a pan with salt, pepper, garlic, some olive oil, and some balsamic vinegar until eggplant is soft and onion is browned.

Chop one red apple, one red and one green pepper, diced tomato, combine with eggplant in baking dish and bake at 350 until all is cooked (apple is soft).

Microwave a handful of kale (remove the stems first!)

Combine all and serve over rice with cheese of your choice and some salsa. (I love salsa)

Let me edit my former statement: I really like eggplant and tomatoes and have very few options in my fridge. Regardless, it's delicious.