Bucket my British Blue. Ready for Anything :)
so i haven’t been on here in 3 months. i have my reasons… i’ve… had my… reasons. right now i’m in VA, having nightmares nightly. i was reading about sleep paralysis the other night and the wiki on it was actually pretty cool. a lot of cultures have names for sleep paralysis referencing how the person is possessed by demons or demons come visit them at night. good to know, because it makes it all less weird.
i’m on the fence about staying in new mex much longer. maybe i will maybe i won’t, but i should be taking chem +lab but can’t commit to going to a campus for 4mo so i’m taking 2 online classes.
YEAH.
it’s kind of amazing that my car still works. toyota echo wins for road warrior… definitely tougher than it looks. (this is why we suit each other.) this evening i drove up to Ojo, bumperless. my back quarter window is still broken, too. i look really classy. on my way back i looked at my odometer- just over 197k miles. and still climbing mountains! i got my hood open yesterday (it’s a little smashed) and nothing appeared broken, so that’s pretty good. it’s just all smashed up body damage. since my car was totaled a few months ago i can just have liability insurance now, so luckily this accident was not my fault. i was going through a green light and someone decided to either run a red light or not yield on green. soo i hit a ‘91 camry in the intersection. it had just started raining. i don’t like driving in the rain around here. i don’t like driving around here at all…
my table height keeps getting lower. soon they will be laying on the ground. my legs keep getting sorer. i mean… more muscley-er. i haven’t even been doing barrefusion because my legs are sore enough from doing 15-20 hours of bodywork a week. the wrist says to the leg “glad it’s not me…”
i had a really good treatment for this yesterday, which i feel actually worked on the muscles that are being problematic, which is everything that is medial on my thigh. (not very easy access. good thing i do trades…) they’re all super tight in my left leg, then my right hip gets all weird, and my left jaw clicks. you figure it out. i’m going to go put together a real puzzle now …
1. 6 credits at CNM is only $232.75, plus they gave me a random $150 scholarship ($300 if i took full time classes) on top of my Pell Grant. whenever anyone asks me if i wished i would have finished my undergrad degree and i always chuckle. “nope, because then i wouldn’t qualify for FAFSA and now that i’m 25 and don’t have to file a a dependent (for FAFSA, not taxes) i get max grants…”
perks of being 25 without a degree but 90 credits and a 3.5gpa (more like a 3.8 if you don’t count the art studio credits that aren’t transferring anyway,) free money for school. the science major thing should help with this, too. they get more monies.
2. working as a massage therapist is awesome. it’s definitely a rewarding thing to do. recently i had a client asked me “is surgery like traumatizing to your muscles?” yes. she’s ‘felt unhealthy’ since having a c-section.
being the person paid to unnecessary cut pregnant women because it’s more convenient than a natural child birth- i’m glad i’m not them…
3. daniel went on a random road trip (which he pretty much does every summer) and went to SF, vegas, then here. and then ended up going to LA to petition. petition drives fascinate me. if i work 2012 i’ve decided i’ll do it by driving there (it’s only 10 hours) and doing it for a week here and there. i should be able to do what i am trying to do like this.
4. emi’s on the east coast
5. oh yeah, someone broke into my car last night and broke the 1/4 window on the passenger side, which is apparently more to get fixed than i’d originally assumed… i hope rooster guy didn’t do it but he is a weirdo and called the cops because my trunk was open…
i’m especially intrigued by the part about juvenile onset diabetes:
[Likewise, the famously enigmatic cycles of exacerbation and remission in autoimmune disorders have been linked to psychological factors in countless studies. They have been found to play a role in the onset of rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, ulcerative colitis, iritis, thyroiditis, and many other of these diseases in which the immune system reacts against the body’s own tissues. Curiously, textbooks on autoimmune disorders usually contain no reference to such research, even to dismiss it. Yet for years, studies have been appearing on the links between the onset of diseases like juvenile (or Type I) diabetes and traumatic situations, such as separation from the mother or the birth of a sibling. Research shows that even the mildest form of Type I diabetes- in which the body lacks insulin producing beta cells- fluctuates in severity, and the symptomatic increase in glucose, water and chloride secretion may be all precipitated by emotional factors.
…As for type 2 diabetes, in which the insulin producing cells are present but the body has become more or less resistant to insulin, a recent British research project found that Whitehall civil servants who spend their working lives being told what to do are nearly three times more likely to develop this disease as those who tell them. Ten thousand civil servants were monitored from 1985, and after having controlled for factors like diet and exercise, it was claimed that a low ‘effort-reward’ ratio was the critical variable. The frustration generated by the feeling that one was receiving far less back from work than one was putting in was creating a level of tension that seemed to favor the health problem. ]
this book is filled with good stuff.
news?
a. signed up for Fall classes this morning… math (online!) and Brain & Behavior. i wanted to take Psych of Illness but it wasn’t offered this semester. i didn’t have any pre reqs for any of the science classes because i have to take all of the ones for science majors (most people take the non major versions that anyone can take. boo.) next semester i can take both classes 100% online…….
b. my mom sent me a package and it included a framed photo of my 3 brothers and i, all dressed in white. she used to (still does?) comment that had she known our personalities better she would have dressed us all in black. mommy’s little angels.
c. i did 18.5 hours of bodywork last week which is kind of a lot. i’m rebooking people at my space, too, which is nice. i also got acupuncture 5 times and managed to eat at all 4 good restaurants in ABQ (annapurna, el patio, crazy fish, thai vegan.) busy! haha.
d. went to Ojo on sunday… i love hot springs.
e. i’ve been thinking a lot about my life now vs 1 year ago, 2 years ago, and 3 years ago. good things have happened…
yay new bag! i can’t believe i just bought this for $56. i’d been poking around for a while to find a replacement for my red&grey Timbuk2 bag. i paid $4 for it from a sidewalk sale in SF in 2008. i was carrying around a less comfy bag and it was hurting my shoulder, and noted while getting on the train that morning that everyone had bags that looked way better… but that i didn’t really want to spend 80 bucks on a new bag that day. later, walking up some random street, i paid $4 for one. the only down side is that i thought the red and grey was ugly. i’d tried to replace it but never found a bag i liked as much. i am really partial to the side pockets that newer ones didn’t seem to have- that’s where my keys and cell phone live! in portland i decided i was not going to carry a messenger bag anymore because it hurt my hip too much, and started poking around for laptop backpacks. being extremely picky, i was surprised to see exactly what i wanted on the Timbuk2 site… a laptop backpack in black lightweight fabric, with side pockets, on sale for 99 from 140. i was pretty much sold on it at that point, but then noticed a link for “bag recycling.” if i send them my old bag, they’ll give me 20% off my next order. not bag for a bag i spent 4 bucks on and used for 3 years. luckily for me i slacked on ordering it since i got my discount code a few days ago, went on the site today to buy it, and they’d dropped the price from 99 to 70. plus 20% off makes 56. winner. in the right mood i woulda just spent 140 on it, anyway.
sweet new mexico red chile dipping sauce recipe:
(i made spring rolls and this sauce the other night)
3tbsp new mexico crushed red chile (i used a red chile sauce mix, so it was part powder)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup rice vinegar
2/3 cup h2o
1/4 cup sugar (i used Succanat… you can add a lot more to make it sweeter, i always go for spicy)
1 tsp salt
4 tsp cornstarch
simmer and stir.
the rolls were just made with rice paper rolls. you just wet them and roll things in them. you can eat them like that, or steam them, or fry them. the ones i made had avocado and mango smashed together with some other things, then just kale and carrot because that was all of the suitable ingredients i had. yum.
there are 2 complaints i hear about massage therapists over and over and over. when i tell people i just finished school or whatever, they like to chime in with one or both of these complaints about massage therapists in general:
1. the massage therapist won’t stop talking. i’m trying to relax and they won’t shut the fuck up. this is the biggest one. in fact a client today thanked me for my silence. i hear this from people SO OFTEN i am considering somehow advertising silent massages… if you want a therapist who has absolutely no interest in speaking to you… schedule a tx with me… if you want someone to chat with PLEASE DO NOT BOOK WITH ME because i will find you extremely annoying and basically just do things geared at making you quit talking (which work. i’ll just put them to sleep… especially if they want to chat…)
2. this is the main point of this ranty blog. #2… the therapist DOESN’T LISTEN! “i came in with such and such complaint and the therapist didn’t work on that at all… i told them i wanted more/less pressure and they didn’t adjust it at all… etc…” in the eval’s about the school this is one thing i ranted about for a while. i said that the school doesn’t always have the best instructor for each class (but each instructor is good at teaching some subject) and that i felt my swedish instructor went over board in telling the class, from day 1, that basically whatever they do as a therapist is somehow inherently correct. as if putting on a belt with some oil in it gives you super intuitive powers and suddenly you don’t have to listen to what your client wants, you just do whatever pops into your head. that somehow whatever pops into your rookie therapist head is the correct thing, and you should just go with that. using intuitive process in wonderful, it’s how i’ve been able to float through my entire life thus far. but, how to actually use intuitive process was never even touched on. just this “do whatever comes to you” mentality that is erroneous for someone who just started practicing. other instructors would say things like “start working on what your client complains about. if the very first thing you do is start on what they told you to work on, they’ll be happy with their treatment.” YES, actually work on what the paying customer asked you to work on- a marvelous idea. i guess that isn’t as alluring to new therapists as “whatever you do is inherently correct, as you are the all knowing massage therapist who knows the clients body better than they do!!!” sure, you CAN definitely relieve tension somewhere without touching it at all. this has never been the case though. i schedule a treatment for some specific complaint. i point it out to them, very clearly. and i don’t list 10 areas of complaint and then gripe about them not working all of them. ONE THING! i came in because this ONE THING hurts. plus, even if you can make an area of complaint feel better without working on it… so what? if you’re working on me for 90, 120, or even just 60 min… you can humor me and spend 5 fucking minutes working on what i’m complaining about. but instead what happens repeatedly is that the therapist will not work on what i complained about AT ALL. 0 minutes. 0 seconds. whomp whomp whomp. in portland i finally decided to quit messenger bags. i started carrying them 10 years ago sheerly because they’re more stylish than back packs, duh. but they pull on my left shoulder and then rest on my right hip, and walking around just bangs all of the weight in the bag on my hip every step i take. plus i do barrefusion every day and we do lots of hip flexor stuff, so my hips just hurt. when i got back i scheduled a treatment and explained this to the therapist. my treatment was this afternoon. my one complaint was that my hips hurt. i pointed out the particular part of my hips that hurt. so my therapist gave me a great treatment with really good pressure that was deep but never hurt, and worked up my legs to my hips, then spent 30 minutes on my back working down to my hips. but never actually worked my hips at all. by mistake she did one stroke over the area of complaint on one side. then tells me my treatment is over. and i get up, and my hips still hurt. because they weren’t worked on at all, or anything else that might make them better without working on them directly. getting a massage shouldn’t piss me off. it shouldn’t make me want to bang my head into the wall repeatedly because no one listens. it shouldn’t make me need to schedule another appointment with someone else ASAP because the thing i came in for is still bugging me. yet, this seems to be what always happens. why is this? after the treatment the therapist even commented that the handbag i was carrying had a cross body strap, and said she thought i was going to quit carrying bags like this. she remembered our conversation about them making my hips hurt, i guess. yet somehow that eluded her during the treatment because maybe working on my hips didn’t somehow pop into her head therefore it wasn’t what she should do, because her random stream of consciousness probably knows better than what i said during my intake. (GIANT EYE ROLL.)
