5 things: taxes; dog (and family); thoughts on depression; church; Red Cross
1. I had my tax class final exam yesterday and I got a 94% score. (One question I just flat misread something, two questions I answered what I thought the person in question would do instead of what they technically could do (if they were assholes), and the fourth was a thing where I had a minor logic glitch: basically, if a multiple-choice question gives you options A, B, C, or all the above, and you know A and B are both correct, you MUST choose 'all the above' even if you're not actually sure about C. *headdesk*) But still, 94% is not a bad score at all. I will take it. :D
Now I need to email the district manager and remind him that I submitted my application back in September and he really needs to interview me since I've passed the course. *sigh* I hate being proactive...
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2. I can has dog!!
In other words, Mom drove up on Tuesday afternoon and departed Wednesday morning, leaving me with Dottie until November 12 or 13, depending on how tired she and Dad will be (and how much stuff they need to do in NJ) upon their return from Romania. They are visiting their congregation's partner church in Transylvania, you see. (I went on a similar trip back in 1997, along with some fellow congregants. It will be interesting to hear how the town has changed in the past two decades.)
While Mom was here, we ate dinner at The Antlers, a local restaurant out in Varna. (Well, I say 'in Varna,' but I'm not actually sure where Varna's borders are. Let us just say 'in Ithaca's eastern outskirts' and leave it at that, shall we?) We decided to adventure out Dryden Rd. in the dark because Mom is trying to choose appropriate restaurants for Thanksgiving, at which time she, Dad, Vicky, and Aunt Cara will descend upon Ithaca for a few days. I think the food at the Antlers is fine and the actual fire in an actual fireplace adds a nice ambiance, but Mom thinks Aunt Cara might be put off by, you know, the taxidermied deer heads on the walls. She may well be right. *sigh*
Anyway, the Antlers does a beef discount on Tuesdays, so we took advantage. Mom got a London broil, I got a fancy hamburger, and we enjoyed the meal very much. :D
Dottie was not thrilled when Mom left and then I went to my tax exam on Wednesday morning, but she'd settled down by Wednesday evening. I think the fact that I've dogsat her before helps; she knows roughly what to expect. This time is a little different, in that I do have a part-time job so I'm gone every weekday afternoon/evening, but my apartment and neighborhood are known places.
I've been feeding her on a three-meal plan instead of a two-meal plan, because her normal dinnertime is about 5:30-6:00pm and I don't get home until 6:30-8:15pm, depending on the day. She has been very happy to see me both nights so far, but has behaved herself while I'm away. She's also much more enthusiastic about walks than she was in hotter months of the year, which is not really surprising.
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3. I've been feeling a little depressed the past week or two. It's not a full-blown blue funk, where my brain dumps me down a well for a couple weeks and anything beyond work and basic life maintenance (eat, sleep, shower) seems impossible. It's just sort of a mild gray tinge to everything, and a lack of interest/enthusiasm for things I know I normally enjoy.
I don't usually track moods that are more subtle than brain-down-a-well, but I'm beginning to suspect that I get these milder episodes at least a couple times a year as well. And that makes me wonder if it might be worth trying to get back on anti-depressants of some sort, because while I can power through my general disinclination to do much of anything during a blah period, I don't always have the motivation to put in that effort. Also basic tasks take a lot more spoons than they ought to and I just get very tired.
My memory of my time on Celexa is that the medicine sort of flattened me out. By which I mean that I lost the sharp, bright joy that gilds my really good days, but that ceiling was mirrored by a floor under my bad days, and since I had significantly more bad days than good days... you do the math. *wry* Celexa also nudged my average base mood toward true neutral, whereas on my own my base mood leans toward mildly negative. I can and do work to counter that in various ways -- walk past running water at least once every day, make myself smile while telling myself today is a good day (yay biofeedback), etc. -- but it was nice not to need that effort.
The thing is, anti-depressants are expensive, not to mention the work of getting a new diagnosis and prescription, and I'm poor and in an unstable employment situation (which is almost certainly exacerbating my depression) and I really do not want to put in that time and money right now.
But you know, it's something to keep in mind.
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4. I have signed up to do coffee hour cleanup on two Sundays in November, and also to do after-dinner cleanup and after-event cleanup for the Service Auction on Nov. 14th. Not to mention serving as 'nominally responsible adult in the room' for the high school youth group every Sunday (barring two intergenerational services) through the end of the year.
I may not have any money to pledge this year, but by gum I can and do donate time. *resolve face*
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5. My local Red Cross is in the middle of a massive effort to drum up donations (IIRC, in response to flooding in the southeast). The problem is that their email list and their donation/appointment records are not correlated at all. So for the past week and a half I have been getting multiple emails each day asking me to PLEASE DONATE NOW WE NEED YOU!!! even though I was already signed up for an appointment this Tuesday and now can't donate again for eight weeks. *headdesk*
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Now I need to email the district manager and remind him that I submitted my application back in September and he really needs to interview me since I've passed the course. *sigh* I hate being proactive...
-----
2. I can has dog!!
In other words, Mom drove up on Tuesday afternoon and departed Wednesday morning, leaving me with Dottie until November 12 or 13, depending on how tired she and Dad will be (and how much stuff they need to do in NJ) upon their return from Romania. They are visiting their congregation's partner church in Transylvania, you see. (I went on a similar trip back in 1997, along with some fellow congregants. It will be interesting to hear how the town has changed in the past two decades.)
While Mom was here, we ate dinner at The Antlers, a local restaurant out in Varna. (Well, I say 'in Varna,' but I'm not actually sure where Varna's borders are. Let us just say 'in Ithaca's eastern outskirts' and leave it at that, shall we?) We decided to adventure out Dryden Rd. in the dark because Mom is trying to choose appropriate restaurants for Thanksgiving, at which time she, Dad, Vicky, and Aunt Cara will descend upon Ithaca for a few days. I think the food at the Antlers is fine and the actual fire in an actual fireplace adds a nice ambiance, but Mom thinks Aunt Cara might be put off by, you know, the taxidermied deer heads on the walls. She may well be right. *sigh*
Anyway, the Antlers does a beef discount on Tuesdays, so we took advantage. Mom got a London broil, I got a fancy hamburger, and we enjoyed the meal very much. :D
Dottie was not thrilled when Mom left and then I went to my tax exam on Wednesday morning, but she'd settled down by Wednesday evening. I think the fact that I've dogsat her before helps; she knows roughly what to expect. This time is a little different, in that I do have a part-time job so I'm gone every weekday afternoon/evening, but my apartment and neighborhood are known places.
I've been feeding her on a three-meal plan instead of a two-meal plan, because her normal dinnertime is about 5:30-6:00pm and I don't get home until 6:30-8:15pm, depending on the day. She has been very happy to see me both nights so far, but has behaved herself while I'm away. She's also much more enthusiastic about walks than she was in hotter months of the year, which is not really surprising.
-----
3. I've been feeling a little depressed the past week or two. It's not a full-blown blue funk, where my brain dumps me down a well for a couple weeks and anything beyond work and basic life maintenance (eat, sleep, shower) seems impossible. It's just sort of a mild gray tinge to everything, and a lack of interest/enthusiasm for things I know I normally enjoy.
I don't usually track moods that are more subtle than brain-down-a-well, but I'm beginning to suspect that I get these milder episodes at least a couple times a year as well. And that makes me wonder if it might be worth trying to get back on anti-depressants of some sort, because while I can power through my general disinclination to do much of anything during a blah period, I don't always have the motivation to put in that effort. Also basic tasks take a lot more spoons than they ought to and I just get very tired.
My memory of my time on Celexa is that the medicine sort of flattened me out. By which I mean that I lost the sharp, bright joy that gilds my really good days, but that ceiling was mirrored by a floor under my bad days, and since I had significantly more bad days than good days... you do the math. *wry* Celexa also nudged my average base mood toward true neutral, whereas on my own my base mood leans toward mildly negative. I can and do work to counter that in various ways -- walk past running water at least once every day, make myself smile while telling myself today is a good day (yay biofeedback), etc. -- but it was nice not to need that effort.
The thing is, anti-depressants are expensive, not to mention the work of getting a new diagnosis and prescription, and I'm poor and in an unstable employment situation (which is almost certainly exacerbating my depression) and I really do not want to put in that time and money right now.
But you know, it's something to keep in mind.
-----
4. I have signed up to do coffee hour cleanup on two Sundays in November, and also to do after-dinner cleanup and after-event cleanup for the Service Auction on Nov. 14th. Not to mention serving as 'nominally responsible adult in the room' for the high school youth group every Sunday (barring two intergenerational services) through the end of the year.
I may not have any money to pledge this year, but by gum I can and do donate time. *resolve face*
-----
5. My local Red Cross is in the middle of a massive effort to drum up donations (IIRC, in response to flooding in the southeast). The problem is that their email list and their donation/appointment records are not correlated at all. So for the past week and a half I have been getting multiple emails each day asking me to PLEASE DONATE NOW WE NEED YOU!!! even though I was already signed up for an appointment this Tuesday and now can't donate again for eight weeks. *headdesk*
You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth, where there are currently (
comments)