Take This Job

Dude, d'you get that at the DMV?


It's my first day back at work, and I spent a lot of it sort of in shock. "Wait . . . this is my job? This kinda blows." I know. I'm such an ungrateful wretch. I should be glad I even HAVE a job. This is no time to be unenthusiastic. Now is the time for bright eyes, bushy tails, and ass kissing.

Also: I was so relieved when I finally found this "career." It took me a very long time to get around to it. The thought of trying to convince various hiring entities to take me seriously in some other format seems like a wearying, discouraging odyssey. Lord, preserve me. Literally. Just cook me down into a jam and seal me up with some parrafin. I could use the down time.

I think I should probably work for myself. I have trouble with authority anyway. Of course, if I was my own boss, I'd probably hate myself even more. But it seems like the sheer terror of having no safety net at all could give birth to some serious entrepreneurial brillance. Or homelessness.

If only I had the genes or temperament to snag me a sugar daddy. . . if only I could feel comfortable letting someone else take care of me. Stupid feminist work ethic.

Un-Toxic

I'm off this week due to some cost cutting at work, but it's kind of a gift, the time to myself. I've been filling up the days with some different stuff. A mix of purposefulness and lounging. Good times! Yesterday, I took a ride on the Midtown Greenway:



I've been meaning to go check it out, and it doesn't disappoint. Such a lovely trail with gardens and green space, and even a Freewheel Cycle/Sebastian Joes ice cream at the back of the Midtown Global Market/old Sears building. You don't even have to go up to street level. I can now say that I've been over the Martin Olav Sabo bridge, and keep my Twin Cities cred:



The interesting thing about the Greenway is that west of Hiawatha, where the path is below the level of the street, it's difficult to know where you are. You have to rely on the signs for the exit paths and the street names on the bridges overhead. The grade is far enough below the street that you can't really see landmarks, except for all those new condo buildings in the LynLake area. The whole thing is sort of it's own separate world. A pretty, quiet, green, separate world. Very peaceful.

My biggest task this week has been a diet that I've assigned myself -- The 20-Day Rejuvenation Diet Program by Jeffrey Bland. The theory behind it is nothing too revolutionary: mostly whole grains, fruits, vegetables, healthy fats. It cuts out common food allergans like dairy and wheat (things it's hard to do without for 20 days!). But I'm trying to get to the bottom of some ongoing gastrointestinal distress and chronic fatigue. I'm trying to see if "detoxing" a bit might help me out or give me some hints about what might be going on.

But DANG this thing is complicated. There are very specific menu plans for every meal for all 20 days and very few of the dishes are repeated. I'm buying groceries like a crazy person and cooking like half of every day. If I was working this week, I don't think I could manage it. My strategy now is to slack off a bit on the menu plans but just make sure I'm eating the "approved" foods. I am feeling a bit better, so I think it's worth the effort. But, you know, a girl's gotta leave the house sometimes.

The Final Word

My boyfriend Jay Smooth, not surprisingly, has a insightful analysis of MJ:



Isn't he dreamy?

Lovely

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I listened to the audio book on a road trip over the 4th of July weekend. It's a heartbreaker, but I was glad to have "read" it. It focuses a lot on the issues of women in the last four decades in Afghanistan, so .... harrowing. Especially the years under the Taliban. Not that this is nonfiction, but I assume it's not too far from the truth. I'd recommend it.

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Lady Detective

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a entertaining, quick read. The main character is immensely likeable and the story or series of stories are tidy but intriguing.


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Starving to Death

Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia by Marya Hornbacher

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is a rather brutal book about the author's many years of bulimia and anorexia. She doesn't spare any details about the self-destructive behavior and it's consequences. It's a difficult read partly because it's easy to see yourself and most women in her thought processes about eating, weight, and self-worth. I don't really know any women who don't think that way to some extent, which is horrifying. It's, of course, also hard to follow her excrutiatingly detailed and horribly prolonged efforts to kill herself through starvation and malnourishment.

The thing I didn't like was that that was all we got. The book ended before her final hospitalization, so we didn't follow her through her more lasting recovery (we did get some of the initial hospitalizations). We don't get to hear what ultimately helped her to pull out of the mess she was in. It's like when your girlfriend spends weeks detailing the trouble she's having with her partner and you're all enraged on her behalf, then the two of them make it up and you don't hear another word. You're left with all these feelings and worries, and they are blissfully happy, but aren't sharing their secrets with you anymore.

Hornbacher's been accused of writing book that provides all sorts of "tips" for aspiring anoretics. It seems like that impression would have been blunted if she'd just let us in a little on her recovery.

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The Cure for Irony

This guy is like the smartest person I've ever even heard of:



Also: my new boyfriend.