Finding my inner trash-foodie

Don't let the open bag of sugar snap peas in front of me on deceive you. My inner trash-foodie has awakened.

For the first time since...maybe ever, I've had a hankerin' for hot dogs. I don't eat hot dogs, but somehow nothing sounds better right now. Except for fish-n-chips. I don't think I've ever craved fish-n-chips before, but there's a batch of Gorton's baking in the oven right now. Last week it was Cool Ranch Doritos. That craving actually lasted at least a month before I broke down and bought a bag. I don't think I'd really eaten those since they were introduced in 1989.

What's wrong with me? I've always believed that what you crave is a byproduct of what you need. Want steak? Must need iron or Vitamin D. Want salad? Must need all that stuff that comes with green leafies. Ice cream? It's a harder sell, but maybe more calcium?

But hot dogs, fish-n-chips, Doritos, non-diet Coke on ice...these have no redeeming value whatsoever. I refuse to be one of those "But the baby wants it" people, but honestly, there's nothing to blame for these strange fixations besides pregnancy. I guess my job is to simply resist and keep munching on these sugar snap peas.

Right after the fish-n-chips anyway...

Brain full of brain

I have been really wanting to post to my blog, but all I can think to talk about is my research project. It's snarfing up too much of my mental energy, and it may continue to do so into the summer. I kind of finished a draft this afternoon, but it needs a lot of massaging. Lots.

The other thing taking up my head-space is baby stuff. All I can say is that it's strange to have something flip around in your belly. It feels a bit like eating a huge turkey dinner, and then the turkey starts dancing the Macarena. No joke.

Ray was offered a great new job over the weekend, and so we are celebrating his departure from a yucky bottom-line driven company to a stable dot-com with smart people. Never again will I underestimate the benefits of working with smart people.

In summary: my brains need a massage, I'm experiencing the in utero Macarena, and smart people rule. And I'll try to pay attention to more blogworthy content so I will have something to write about.

John the waiter

The West Seattle Blog posted a notice about the death of West Seattle's favorite waiter. He served us lots of breakfasts at Easy Street, and greeted us at the door the couple times we splurged on Jak's. We hadn't seen him around in a while since he left Easy Street, but when Ray came in this afternoon and said a favorite WS waiter had died of an aneurysm, I knew exactly who he was talking about.

John the waiter was such a hilarious, gregarious and welcoming guy. I wonder if he knew how widely known and appreciated he was in this corner of the city.

The silly 3-minutes*

*Based on the last post, here's my silly teaser, which was simply ridiculous to be nervous about.
___________

Okay, I can't do it...I had my whole shpiel written out here, but it feels too revealing in this context. Not to mention boring for most of the world.

Instead, I leave you with this: Who will be voted off the American Idol island this evening? Will Blake's fan base overrun the cult of Jordin? Is Melinda untouchable? It's gonna be a close call, and until the unveiling, all I have energy for is the couch and more Harry Potter rereading.

I have to say that Melinda really wowed me last night with that Ike-n-Tina number. To me, and loads of other people I'm sure, her talent has always been top-drawer though she lacks fresh appeal and doesn't exactly exude charisma. Jordin, on the other hand, has big talent, freshness and a compelling stage presence -- she's been my favorite thus far. Not so last night. Jordin was fine, but I'm ready to pre-order the Melinda album...the wow factor was that big. In fact, Melinda may do a better Tina Turner than Tina herself!

Presentation jitters

I had a brief research presentation this afternoon, and though I wasn't nervous about it ahead of time, I became nervous as soon as they handed the mike to me. It was a silly 3-minute teaser to entice people to come over to my poster, in front of departmental students and faculty, so the stakes were low as far as the nerve factor goes. But something triggered my inner jitter, and I was highly annoyed with the outcome, i.e. being outwardly nervous.

The thing is...I enjoy doing presentations, and most of the time they come off fluidly and fun. I'm not nervous and I'm able to say what I need to without using notes. Why is it, then, that every so often my voice starts quavering and I forget to breathe? It's a really brain-stumper.

Thinking back on the times when I've been nervous like this, the only common denominator is the audience. Specifically, if a good friend/loved one is in the audience, the stakes become really high. I know -- my bestest peeps should be the ones that make me less, not more, nervous. But for some reason the opposite is true. Maybe it's because I interact with these people in a non-presentation-y context, and so turning on the public-Rebecca feels really weird with them around. It's not as if I'm a different person...it's just the collision of two different facets of me that don't usually interact. Plus, I guess the stakes just are higher when someone's around whose opinion really matters to me. For instance, this time it was Ray. One of the last times it was Susie (remember Sooz, that breakfast event at the yacht club years ago?).

Anyway, I'm hoping that by realizing this about myself, I can mitigate it the next time I'm up in front of an audience...and remind myself that my favorite people are there to cheer me on, not create jitters.

A father's first words...

...to his unborn child:

"You are not getting a cell phone until you're 15!"

(In response to annoying TV ad featuring whiny pre-teen.)

Blog guilt

I hate it when I want to post to my blog, but I have nothing of interest to say. Granted, there are many posts that are interesting to no one but me and maybe 1 or 2 other people (okay, maybe just me), but today I got nada.

Well, maybe that's not entirely true. I have a bunch of topics that I can't really say much about for one reason or another. For instance...

1. I have a theory about the connection between Harry Potter and Voldemort, but I'm not sharing it in case it ruins it (right or wrong) for some other eager Potterite.

2. I think we've picked out a baby name, though it's not final. I'm pretending to keep it a surprise so I dare not share in a public forum. Incidentally, I was looking for a friend's newborn photo today (Baby Girl born at 11 am - go Shawn!) and realized that those hospital online nurseries are a great place to skim for names, especially names that seem to recur...Madison, Addison, Jordan, Grace, Jayden. I think we've found a name that hasn't or won't recur, thank goodness. As for names that don't recur on these newborn lists...Jazzmen? I really like Tremendous, though we could never pull something like that off. It reminds me of a friend whose son is named Majestic. She (and I'm sure he) can completely pull it off.

3. The little girl a few doors down seems to only make strange screeching noises. I'm not sure she talks. She's probably 7 or 8. She takes the short bus to school. I wish I could listen to her up close to see if I could figure out what's going on with her. But, this is not appropriate for the blog.

4. The condo is on the market, but I don't want to blog about that because I'm superstitious and I may jinx it.

5. I'd like to put my newly completed research poster up here, but I'm not into putting full IDing info on my blog, and god forbid someone will find some horrible error on the thing now that it's being printed. I'm thinking of putting it up in the baby room once these presentations are done. She can mull over colorful charts and brains with orange and red splotches.

That's all I got.

Take a deep breath

There is too much going on in the next 5 days. I'm trying to schedule cleaners, carpet people, painter, rent a power washer, buy flowers, mulch and paint for the townhouse...aiming to get it on the market by mid-week next week. I'm also trying to study for a test and finish my research poster for print for Monday. And finish a big assignment for tomorrow.

I know rationally this is all doable and not that big a deal. But how do I stop all those irrational signals from convincing my head and neck muscles to squish into those delightful wads that have just begun to loosen. Note to self: learn how to RELAX!