Hey, timing.

[mrissa]

Today I was feeling utterly physically miserable again*, and it was bleeding over into the rest of my outlook, as it will tend to do. I characterized it in e-mail to a friend as the "YOU RUIN EVERYTHING, PUKERELLA!" mindset. And in the midst of this, a friend took the time to tell me that she appreciated a thing I had put effort into.

It was not, like, the hugest deal ever. She did not make me a giant wall-sized cardboard card with glitter to say thank you, and my effort was not Augean Stables-level either. But I did a thing that took effort when I don't have a lot to spare, and she took the time to not only appreciate it when she didn't have a lot of effort to spare either but to use her words to say so, and you know what? That ended up mattering quite a lot in the fight to keep the physical stuff from dragging down everything else.

So if you can, tell me about something in your life with good timing lately. We like the good timing. Yay good timing.

*Seriously one of the worst weeks I've had for awhile, in physical terms. There is a queue of stuff I am totally capable of doing that is taking forEVAR because of the amount of time body-wrangling. Whee. We'll get there. But it takes awhile.

Comments

[rosefox]

When X suggested that I take a week off work, I happened to have the next week's reviews on hand and ready to edit (this does not happen often), so I was able to hand those off to another editor who was willing to cover me and go on vacation with basically no notice. It was very handy.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Wishing you strength!

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

I had today off.

I slept in until nearly noon, didn't get dressed, read a bit, played a lot of Terraria, and in general did not do a thing on my list. And when I emailed my roommate Angela to ask if she could pick up a gallon of milk on her way home, she had just the right amount of time to do so between an opening she was done with and dance.

The other excellent timing in my everyday life is that one of the HyVees in town has samples. A lot of them. Even alot of them, which would be the most delicious alot since alot of chocolate cake. Sushi, miscellaneous produce, cheese, dips and spreads, pork chops, and sometimes wine. I go after school, which is coincidentally when all the cooking-sample people have just gotten things edible. The other HyVee near my schools also does this with pizza, sushi, fake cornbread, and Greek yogurt.

[reveritas.livejournal.com]

I got the music to a piece I've been wanting to play on the piano since I was 15. So it's got four key changes (including four flats, then five sharps) I can handle that. I know this song like the inside of my house in the dark, and I am going to play the hell out of it. I got the music today.

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

Not sure whether it counts as "good" timing, but this year in Colorado, the weather has been much warmer for much longer much sooner - which means everything is about to bloom and be glorious a month early! It is wonderful and lovely, and tomorrow there will be the planting of peas and lettuces and possibly even the kale.

[teadog1425.livejournal.com]

Sending good thoughts for the body wrangling - the best timing I've had lately, is that four years ago, just when I was despairing of where I'd ended up to in my life, I found a black Icelandic gelding, and since then he has become the most important thing in my life, and he is now my pony, and I am his girl, and he has changed my life for the better in so many ways, and his timing was _perfect_! :)

[teadog1425.livejournal.com]

He is the handsome pony - just to confirm! - in the icons! :)

ETA: where I'd ended up to in my life = after 5 years I had a PhD and not much else (eg sanity, social life, etc!)

He wasn't in a very good way when I came across him, but we have done a lot of rehab work, and he is now 20 this year, but looks awesome, and is a happy, cheeky boy, which is the most satisfying thing! :)

PS - would it be ok if I added you?

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Hmm, timing...

Well, we passed through Heathrow the day before passport control collapsed to three-hour queues. And while there are downsides to returning from holiday into madly socially busy, it's been good to have things - and visitors - to look forward to.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Also there's a helpful smile in every aisle.

(We have no HyVee here, but I am familiar with the jingle from earlier days. Although fake cornbread sounds ominous.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'm glad it's good for somebody. For me it meant earlier birch allergies and approximately none of real winter, which I love, but I'm trying to be cheerful because what else are you going to do.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Add away and welcome! I am not mostly adding new people back simply because I don't have a lot of energy, but I do have a file of "congenial people who have added me" whom I will go read when I do have energy, and we are generally friendly in these parts.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Oh uff da and lordy, I thought the passport queue was appalling last time I went to Montreal, and that was a one-time fluke that can't have taken more than an hour and a half. Well, maybe two. And timprov and I sang "Finlandia" in the queue but did not manage to successfully dowse for a) Finns or b) Unitarians. Three hours! Good heavens. I have no idea what we'd have been singing by the end of three hours. I'm glad you didn't have to find out either. Er. What you'd have been singing. The only person who would have found out what we'd have been singing and returned to tell the tale was poor carbonel, who really seemed to wish we'd stop singing "Finlandia" in the first place. (We only did it once. It wasn't like we did it over and over.)

[moiread]

Up here we had Early Spring for all of February and March, with summer temperatures and everything. And then April turned sour and gave us snow and freezing rain and wreaked havoc on my garden. I'd even just put down grass seed (and been watering the hell out of it) the day before the worst of the snow and freezing hit, which means most of it's probably ruined now. STUPID WEATHER.

On the bright side, it also probably killed off 90% of the mosquito populations that were just starting to come out, which means it'll take them a little longer to get going again once the weather swings back up into proper summer. Won't hurt the ecosystem that depends on them for food, but it WILL give me a few precious extra weeks of mosquito-free summer. :D

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

See, we've had a chilly nasty April but no snow or hard freeze. Worst of both worlds.

Um. But I like books! said the determinedly cheerful Mris.

[moiread]

♥ to you.

It's been pretty shit over here, between the body stuff and the job-being-cut-back stuff and some interpersonal drama stuff. I've tried to be really good this week and still do all the things that needed doing and be there for all the people who needed me to be there for them, which meant I didn't really get a break day like I usually get (and need, which is the important bit). So yesterday I was both in pain and super worn out, and mostly I just wanted to crawl into bed and cry.

Then my new leggings arrived. They fit perfectly and look fantastic, which is often hard for me to achieve in clothing. After that my brother came over, because he was also depressed and having a bad day, and I dusted off my old N64 and we played Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time like back when we were kids hiding in my parents' basement and we joked and kibitzed and had a great time. (My brother is one of the few people with whom I can hang out even when I'm at my most introverted and hermity and out-of-spoons.) After that, Kevin, who it turns out had gone to dinner with coworkers, showed up at my door with delicious take-out of a sort he knew I'd like. My bad day turned into a really good day, and I needed a good day kind of a lot.

[moiread]

I like books too! I've been reading like crazy this month because I've been too poor and too run down to do much else. Which is not to say that books are my last resort -- hahahahaha, no -- but normally there is also stuff besides the books, and that didn't really happen much this month. So: more books! Can't complain about more books. :D

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

It wasn't actually bad, it just wasn't cornbread. I ate a piece then picked up the sample package to read the ingredients-- wheat flour, right at the top.

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

Early allergies for me, too. Well, actually... since my allergies didn't go away during winter this year at all, I can't technically say they came "early" - they were already here, they just kicked into high gear. I have a tree allergy, too (cedar) and trees have been horrendous this season. All signs are pointing to a red letter allergy season, full stop. As you say, we must try to be cheerful because there's little else to do. I've been on the allergy shot therapy for almost a full year now - I don't think it's doing squat, but then they did say it was a 4-6 year therapy (which makes me wish they'd stop asking me if I'm feeling better because... yeah, not so much and every time they do, it makes me wonder if I'm wasting my time).

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

Also, I used your happy-my-birthday to one of my roommates, and it made her giggle as she stumbled to the bathroom.

[aamcnamara.livejournal.com]

Two years ago I figured out how to make delicious cake-inna-mug in the microwave. I hadn't done it since then, but for some reason I thought about it on Tuesday--so then I had quick tasty warm cake. Which was good, because I had to do Everything Ever (except finals) for Wednesday, and cake made me happy and less-stressed.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Most cornbread recipes have wheat flour right at the top. Skillet-style cornbread, not so much, but most of the things called cornbread are wheat-endowed by default.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yep, that was pretty much how yesterday went. "Hey, maybe I'm feeling good enough to--nope, more books."

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yeah, sometimes those break days turn out not to be optional even when they turn out not to be possible. I hope you get more good days soon.

And yay leggings and brother and Kevish takeout.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Hurrah go cake.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It's amazing how often the gap between "I know how to do this relaxing cool thing" and "I have done this relaxing cool thing" turns out to be important in my life.