Thrihyrne

evannichols had an overarching Word for the Year last year which was 'celebrate.' He hasn't been doing that kind of representational statement for many years, but we were discussing it this morning, it being a new calendar year and all. He's focusing on finishing things, so I suggested 'closure.' And since, of course, I wanted to think about me equally, I thought about my own goals and what word would be my go-to for the year. It came pretty quickly: tenacity. I'm very, very skilled at starting over. But it's been since the first half-decade of the 00s since I've worked on my staying power. This is the year that I want to hold on to what I have: the integral presence of Evan in my life; engaging employment; staying in this residence for a year; and, most importantly, keeping thoughts of 'this is all too good to be true, the universe loves bleak irony and some horrible tragedy is right around the corner to show me how too good to be true this is' at bay, whatever that takes in as healthy an approach as I can muster.

So. TENACITY

Jury duty was nearly as uneventful yesterday as Monday, though at 3:15 or so I was finally called to go to a courtroom! We were interviewed for a while to decide which of us would be unbiased and the appropriate jurors for the case, which was going to go on for the next day, perhaps two. Now, if this had happened on Monday I would have been stoked, but Wednesday is my day off and if I had been selected, it would have meant (I think) that I'd just be in jury duty and not paid or if I was paid, that would all be fine and good, but that day off would not necessarily be rescheduled. To my immense relief I was not chosen, and was able to go and leave the courtroom. The judge thanked us and I spontaneously replied, "Thank you for inviting us to be a part of the process," which she really seemed to appreciate. Fun fact I learned from this process and the juror movie we watched yesterday morning: there are more women judges than men in the state of Oregon. ♥

My left pinkie toe still hurts a lot. I've been icing and elevating it each day when I come home. I realize this may resemble a rib injury in that it just hurts for a long while as it heals. Ah, well. I did buy an exercise ball yesterday, something I'd been intending to do for months, so I can add in that element to my toning, but I think jogging again is still a little ways off. My sister sent me some birthday money so I can try out hot yoga, which I'm very excited about. :)

Today after doing laundry I'll head out to the jeweler who has resized my rings and pay for them and wear them, then go to visit sanguinity until lunchtime or so and then have quiet time at home. Yay!!

Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn't note the splendid evening we had with oh_that_jocelyn on Monday. There was yummy food and delightful conversation and gifts! I am grateful that Evan and his wife emerita are still close and that I, too, enjoy her company, very much. As Evan noted, she and I do have a lot in common: we both love cats, we love decorative stationery arts… ;)

I mentioned that evannichols and I share our dreams in the mornings that I spend the night, which is almost as effective as writing them down. For the most part I don't write them down as having memories of that many realities becomes overwhelming. But I felt I should share part of my dream from early this morning as it was a new scenario to me, and doubtless various therapists would have something to say: toward the end of this dream, I'd been working out and had on a black unitard (the kind with a tank-top-top, rather than with sleeves) and gone into the locker room to get a shower. Once naked, I turned around to look at myself in a full-length mirror and saw that I had a penis. That faced backward. As one does. o_O But nobody else seemed to think that was odd. There was more that I won't share, but it was certainly an exotic dream to tell evannichols this morning!

He and I will get ready to go to the Oregon coast for our overnight, and we may go out of our way to Tillamook to do the self-guided tour of their cheese factory. I was more excited about the prospect (that was my idea since he doesn't eat dairy) before I looked at their website and saw that they no longer offer guided tours through the facility due to health and safety regulations. So we'll see. Must say that the best tours in that genre that I've experienced have been the Jack Daniels distillery in Tennessee and the Maker's Mark distillery in Kentucky. But alcohol gets distilled, so even if you let people wander past the huge vats while the stuff is fermenting, germs and such will be taken care of. Not the same with cheese. ;)

Lastly for today, I've been meaning to post this gem of evannichols's for a few weeks now. You know how there are particular names for groups of animals, some of the more exotic being a pride of lions or (my favorite) a murder of crows. After trying to pass a cluster of bicyclists at a crosswalk a few weeks ago, I decided we needed a name for a group of bicyclists. About five minutes later, evannichols came up with a 'wheeling of bicyclists.' It's pretty perfect! And so useful here in Portland, which is, according to a super-fast Google search, number 2 ranking in bicycle-friendly cities both in the U.S. and the World (at least according to Virgin Vacations). It's easy to come up with Portland-relevant sentences in which this new term is apropos: "I was walking down the Springwater Corridor and was nearly run over by a wheeling of cyclists going at speed." "I tripped over part of the sidewalk because I was staring at the legs on that wheeling of cyclists waiting to cross the river."