Helenka, Queen of Outer Space

::glares at body:: Seriously, body. 4:57 a.m. is NOT an acceptable time to wake up. But, because of the usual being too hot and not breathing, I got out of bed and headed to the computer. I worked on finishing the last review I had of a church service. When I finished it, I was exhausted, but very proud. I also sent an e-mail to my sis RS about our movie plans for next Saturday.

By the time I was finished, I was zonked. Cue nap with an alarm set for 4:45. I fell asleep within a couple of second after pulling on my gloves. Now that's zonked. I thoroughly enjoyed the second part of Jeopardy! tonight. The champ of the College Tournament (from MIT) had a mind like a steel trap. Yet she had a dazzling smile. What a shock to see how tiny she was with all these tall guys. After that, I laughed through tonight's MacGyver, and cringed through Shark Tank.

Finally, I'm also so proud that I allowed my as-of-yet unwritten fic (due before the end of the month - eeeek) to marinate (no, NOT fester). I find dialogue popping into my head as well as more organic character development. I think I'd better write everything down tonight before going back to bed. In any case, I'm devoting all of tomorrow (well, with the exception of doing some laundry) to the fic. And crossing my fingers. I have no idea how long it'll end up being. Yes, yes, I amuse myself ... occasionally. Snorfle!

Well, metaphorically. So, I went to sleep exactly at midnight. The numbers looked so orderly. So promising. BZZRT. Wrong answer. Instead, I opened my eyes at 2:57 and shrieked silently. I got out of bed and went on the computer. I added more items to my grocery order, sent an e-mail to Brian, and worked on my fic. For several hours. Without even considering brekkie. I did put the porkchops in French onion soup at 8:10, setting the timer for 8 hours.

Around 10, I really, really needed to go back to bed. So I did, relying on my instincts to wake me up at a reasonable time. That time was 1 p.m. But, even though my head seemed better, my back was shrieking at me. So. Not. Fair.

Consequently, there was no more writing to be done. I stayed in bed and watched last night's Dragons' Den that was uninspiring. I finally had some of the pork later. Chops too thin and the meat really did fall off the bone. It's too bad I couldn't add the Polish pickled red peppers - because I couldn't get it open. The slight acidity would have helped with the blandness of the meat. Perhaps next time.

I thought I was going to scream in political outrage when I saw bits of that man's press conference on the evening news. Monkeys could have strung sentences together better. In more positive news, I was bolstered by studies showing that people (I think it was older adults) taking lots of Vitamin D fare better at avoiding contracting pneumonia or even the flu. Hey, I take 4,000 IU (to prevent bone loss), so I'm a happy camper. Then I enjoyed tonight's hilarious Big Bang Theory. Oh, Sheldon. Also watched the second round of eliminations on MasterChef Jr. Now I'm just trying to make myself feel better with the fake ginger beer and chocolate. Hope they work.

So fed up I didn't even remember when I woke up in the middle of the night. Or when I actually got up. It's all just ridiculous. As might be expected, I then had to remedy the sleepless situation with a nap, from 2:00 until 4:40 (my finger liked pressing those keys).

My only joy tonight was getting Final Jeopardy correct: Troilus and Cressida as the oldest of Shakespeare's couples. Yay! In fact, most of the epi seemed to be really easy. Some days I'm lucky with categories. After that, I just let the TV record stuff while I scrounged for interesting stuff on my computer. Blech. What was even more blech (literally) was having to toss the rest of my Polish rye bread and jellied meat. Wah.

Okay, time for supplements and painkillers. Please kick in and knock me out. Kthxbye.

Yes, it happened again. Wow! Talk about sleeping in. So, I got out of bed and at least had the computer to distract me, including finishing and placing my grocery order to be delivered tomorrow. When it was time to feed the cats their brekkie, I closed my door and began to decorate the first tree. Well ... uh ... it's done. It's not pretty, but it'll do. I added the strands of teal and pink lights, draped the special flexible ribbon in soft curls from the peak down both sides, and added all my gold decorations. I was planning to use the remaining ribbon and draping it over the mirror about the fireplace. But, when I just tossed it onto the dining table where it just happened to fall over the heavy vases filled with led lights, I found I'd created a brand new look. So, I'll just refine it. Pleased to see how the ribbon diffuses the intensity of the lights. Also pleased to see that the gingerbread ornament's scent is still very strong. The cats don't seem to mind it at all.

After that I was just completely dead. My knees are considering applying for refugee status on someone else's body. I don't blame them. So I went to bed and tried to watch some Peppa Pig. Um ... kept dozing off. In the evening, I managed to doze off three separate times in the course of 90 minutes, making me miss the headlines in the news and much of my game shows.

So far, all the cats are dozing, Diva on the bed, Grumpy on the couch, and Ce-Ce on a dining chair. However, I have to continue to monitor her, because she tried to grab an ornament off the tree. Ack! At least nothing is breakable, but I wouldn't like to see her pull the entire tree down off its perch. ::casts an anxious eye:: I'll just be keeping my fingers crossed overnight. And hoping to catch up on my sleep.

Glurgh. What a night. Went to bed at 12:20. Woke up some time later. I thought it was a lot later, but it was only 2:55. I tossed and turned and simply could not sink back to sleep, so I reluctantly got out of bed at 3:30. I am going to be a zombie later today. Stayed on the computer for half an hour when I inadvertently triggered the login for the Remote Viewer (what Brian uses to GRAB control of Liblikas). Naturally, I thought he couldn't sleep either, so I texted him. Then, as I though my 'puter was off-limits to me, I crawled back into bed and - oh, so luckily - fell asleep quickly, not waking up until that rude alarm at 8:00.

Had a leisurely morning and a substantial brekkie. Good. Because of the vibrant colours of the glass exhibit, I wore my so-called "stained glass" top. Waited for church-John to arrive which he did around noon. Then we were off back to the centre of the city. He took the scenic route of the highway along the lake, then we drove up University Avenue. I got my first really close-up look at the "Cristal" addition to the Museum. Miraculously, we found a parking spot exactly across the street from the entrance. Free parking = Yay! I was also able to offer c-J free admission as he was acting as my support person and seeing eye-dog (hey, those were his words). In return, I suggested he could take me out for chicken dinner at Swish. We walked in at 12:45. There were very few people there and we really enjoyed the room and space to proceed at my preferred pace. I was just - excuse the play on words - blown away by the incredible artistry and giant imagination. John had to describe all the things I could see, but I still managed to absorb and appreciate a lot, especially the shapes and brilliant colours. Imagine my surprise to find we'd been there for TWO hours at which point my left knee just gave out. So we proceeded to the gift shop where I purchased a fridge magnet, a Blu-ray of a TV special on his work, wrapping paper based on his designs (which I'm going to frame to create art). Total, less than $75. Not bad, considering there were glass pieces with $6K price tags! Then we walked in reverse order back to the start of the exhibit to see one of our fave installations. After that, it was time to limp out and go to dinner. We ended up at the Swish near my neighbourhood. I chose coleslaw as my side dish and was served a mountain of it. I'm definitely going to be getting lots of certain vitamins. Then c-J got me home, mostly in one piece, and assisted me inside as it was raining and dark.

SuM gave me some bad news as soon as he left. Her mom died today, so she'll be leaving tomorrow morning, leaving the cats in my care. I think she's really relieved to have me here ... and I told her that - hey - I felt I had another new family, considering that I'm the cats' Auntie Helenka. I left her then because she got another of her endless phone calls.

Only really watched the news and then Jeopardy as I was really out of it. But, first, I had to send an apologetic e-mail to my sis RS who was not pleased that I'd gone to the Museum with c-J instead of with her. So I had to send her a list of logistical reasons why our getting together to do cultural events is not practical for me. But - hey - we can still do lunches and movies.

Anyway, I really, really, really, really, really need sleep NOW. Shutting down in 5,4,3,2.............

Woke up at 5:00. Arrgghh. What do you think?
Sent a couple more encouraging e-mails to SuM's ex who hopes to be at church this Sunday evening. I'm pouting because Sam's partner Carol will be preaching on Cooking. ::pouts::
Managed to slide back to sleep at 8:30, setting the alarm for 11:00. Much better.
All the while I had my fireplace running to heat the place up to the max.
Began colouring my hair at noon. Finished at 1:45. It's ... acceptable.
Spent the afternoon relaxing.
Watched my game shows and then MacGyver. I really like the actor playing Mac (must look up his name).
Just finished moving the tea service onto the stable coffee table. Am very pleased.

And that's a wrap!

First, stay up reading waaaaaaaay too late (um, was it like 2:30?), then try to fall asleep. Toss and turn for an hour because you're too hot, then too cold, then back to hot, all the while wondering why the pillows have conspired to swallow your face! After an hour of that, I gave up and got out of bed. And promptly returned to reading. And then rewatched three old epis of Castle. I guess it's no wonder my vision was extra wobbly today.

It was only after a solid brekkie that I dared to attempt a nap after 10:00. Thankfully, at that point my body was so worn out, I did fall asleep and did so until the alarm after 1:00. It was too little but at least it was something.

Managed to find my allergy pills tonight, so I hope they'll assist in giving me fewer yucky symptoms, even if they're the unwanted non-drowsy type. I long for teh drowsy; really, I do! ::pauses to yawn:: That's a promising sign, so I'm skedaddling off to bed because I have an adventure tomorrow. Yay!!!

Why, yes, it IS a trick question. Sigh. I guess my body simply couldn't adapt to going to sleep only 11 hours, 45 minutes after waking up. Seems unnatural, though it might make sense if I lived at the equator and got up with the sun and went to bed at sunset. I tried at 1:15. Tried for an hour. Nada. Got out of bed and read for a while. Back again after 3. Still no luck and, despite my lovely bouncy fresh new pillows, I kept having my pulse beating in odd parts of my body/head and hearing rustling sounds. So I got out of bed again, figuring SuM would be up soon enough. As soon as she left for work around 6, I made brekkie and enjoyed it. I finally slid back into bed at 7:24, setting the alarm for 8:30 as I had plenty to do in the morning (moving stuff prior to having groceries delivered and getting ready to go out with church-John). Finally-finally-finally, I slept.

When I woke up, I received an e-mail from c-J, confirming our date. I replied to him in quite an excited state. Yippee. I also collected my useless instruction manual for the TV cart, so I could get it enlarged. C-J showed up after 1 and we were on our way. The place is an "institution" in the East End and serves very few things: obviously fish'n'chips; seafood platters (with combos of fish, shrimp and scallops with coleslaw and cocktail sauce). I ordered a shrimp/scallop combo along with a plate of real chips. But there were too many of them; despite sprinkling them with malt vinegar, I let them get cold and finally abandoned them. But the fried shrimp were marvellous, esp. with the sauce. Next time, no scallops. When we were leaving, I enquired and found out they do takeout; even better, they do DELIVERY. Yippee! So c-J and I could have some delivered to my place so we wouldn't have to squish ourselves into unaccommodating booths.

I managed to get my pages enlarged while we sat and gabbed in his car for 40 minutes. I'm always pleasantly surprised that we don't seem to run out of topics of genial conversation. That pleases me muchly. BTW, I now have to find an epi of Downton Abby which I've never watched, because of an appearance by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. Wow.

Then it was time to get back home, rescue Ce-Ce who was OUTSIDE before mum got back home. I was mostly pleased with my grocery delivery, having stashed away chocolate-caramel mousse cups with sea salt sprinkles in the freezer for the next at-home movie night with SuM. But I was upset that my luxurious cheese (English cheddar with caramelized onion! nom!) I was going to share with Brian on the island was omitted. Also, my driver was grumpy and didn't place the boxes where I'd indicated. Sigh. At least I have my frozen lamb shoulder chops and a bottle of vermouth so I'll be able to cook my divine dish soon.

Anyway, after I'd caught my breath and relaxed for a bit, I watched the utterly hilarious AND touching first-time epi repeat of Big Bang Theory. Recorded The Blacklist. Now I'm just hoping my body will permit me to get some sleep before my awesome (practical) shoe shopping trip tomorrow. Yee-haw! [Why, yes, I am weird. Thank you for enquiring.]

First of all, 401 is the name (number) of a Canadian highway. It shouldn't have been my wakeup time this night. But I guess my brain was simply too active and woke me up.

So I'm going through some of my unread e-mails and found one linking to an article on how to overcome dreaded Procrastination. Considering how often I've mentioned needing to reorganize my closet (well, I have moved furniture giving me more space to actually get into it; but I need a blind person compatible system) or wanting to sort and dispose of papers (here, I've been a bit more pro-active, having just purchased an accordion file AND a shredder).

So, what's the handy-dandy acronym to overcome the P-word? It's STING.

S = Select.
Select ONE job ONLY and focus on it. It could even be the worst one. After all, when it's done, you've really accomplished a lot and all the other jobs will be less onerous.

T = Time.
Set a timer for 60 minutes. That way, you're not dreading needing to devote endless hours. The only problem with this bit of advice is dealing with something that will require much longer than 60 minutes. So I guess making space for storing incomplete tasks would be a necessity. Can you tell the last thing I want is to have cats jumping all over my clean clothes when they're laid out on the couch? Nope.

I = Ignore distractions.
Unless it's a fire or any other actual emergency, don't let it take your mind off just those 60 minutes. No reminding yourself of the ten (hundred?) other things still waiting for you to do. Actually, the evolved wisdom of the day is that multi-tasking makes us less efficient. Ha - I always thought that!

N = No breaks.
Obviously, if you have to go to the bathroom, that's a no-brainer. But, as you've only committed yourself to sixty minutes, you don't need a drink or a snack. No scheduling your task just before your fave TV show is about to start either.

G = Give yourself a reward.
Now's the time for that drink or snack. Though the article suggested buying something for yourself, that's not very practical (also expensive), so it might make more sense to make a wallpaper for your desktop that indicates you've just vanquished a dreaded chore (moving you a level up in a virtual game, perhaps?).

The preceding has been a PSA for time-stressed and overworked peeps everywhere. Hope it helps. And, now, if you'll excuse me, I have to trim a bunch of asparagus. I'm planning to include it in my brekkie.

And, on top of that, hissing cats. Sigh.

So, I got up and went on FB. Looked at one page linked to X Company that led to UofT Magazine, a publication I stopped receiving because I never sent them a change of address back in 2006. And there was the whole going blind thing as well. Have subscribed to receive their issues online. Which I can read in my blind-friendly personal screen colours. Yay.

Then saw my Ripley's Aquarium page ... and, in an effort to try to cool off, took the virtual tour and am sharing it with everyone. Hope it works. Yesterday, I read that the Shark Tunnel is 319 feet long, the longest in the world. Oooooooh.



BONUS: Swimming with sharks: