the price of a good night's sleep

i've got it all figured out now. according to this month's issue of health magazine and their cereal box psychology, i need a few essential items to turn my bedroom into a more "soothing" place and promote restful sleep:

1. a pair of natural-fiber pajamas (and i eat my fiber?): light pima cotton cami and boxers, $66 and $40 ("pima" and "cami" were words used in the article, so i'm assuming they exist).

2. an old-fashioned alarm clock, $69 (it seems the bright displays on modern clocks disrupts sleep, and my guess is simply covering it with a book violates some basic feng-shui law).

3. a chamomile and lavender jar candle, $18 (can i skip the bed-time chamomile tea, then?)

4. a multivitamin hand and nail treatment, $22.50 (there seems to be a trend here: i'm ingesting stuff meant to be applied topically, worn, or otherwise snorted).

5. a french organic lavender hand cream, $16 (on top of the nail treatment? this is beginning to get way too confusing and complicated).

6. a simple linen knit throw in pure white, $98 (forget the good old blanket. i need something qualified by at least 5 adjectives).

7. a thomas paul zinnia gray pillow, $40 (is the color of utmost importance or gray just the guy's last name? should i google it...?).

8. and finally, so my skin can breathe, i need percale (another word i'm assuming exists) sheets. himmeli bed linens in a soothing soft gray will do. $109 to $129. (hmm... doesn't it seem just obvious that the linen and pillow should match? gray is not the guy's name).

so let's see... that adds up to... $478.50, if i opt for the cheaper linen (smart shopper i am). and if i'm sleeping, then i'm not lowering my literary standards by reading this sort of magazine... ok, i'll go swallow a clonazepam. wait... or i should crush and snort* it?

*disclaimer: this is just a feeble attempt at humor and by no means a prescription, nor even a mere suggestion on my part for anyone to do that. you've been warned.

sweet dreams.

an insomniac's best deal

motorola razr v3: $120







calling plan with unlimited nights and weekends: $90





a friend you can call at midnight and talk for one hour: priceless

mustard, anyone?

i am the middle sister. when i turned four i was beginning to develop a personality of my own. just as i found out i was ok the way i was and didn't have to imitate my older sister, i lost the spotlight to my younger sister.

growing up, i was never told to clean my room. homework? forget it. i'd get it done as soon as i was back from school and then make up "my own homework" because however much was assigned by the teachers didn't seem enough to me.

i'd get out of bed every morning before 6am, on my own. i'd follow the smell of coffee and end up in the kitchen, where my father already had the morning gig going: just-brewed coffee, straight-out-of-the-oven french bread (from the downstairs bakery), butter and cheese. these are treasured memories, specially since i left home at 16.

could i be, to this day, still trying to measure up to my sisters? my older sister got married. then she had a daughter. a few years later my younger sister got married. then i got married! soon my younger sister had a son... i chose to remain childless.

we're very close to each other (despite being in ca, ny and fl) and we talk about everything. my parents included. the other day i had a priceless phone conversation with my dad in which we solemnly discussed additional material for "the aristocrats" joke. it involved german toilets and tape worms.

my older sister reigns alone, though. she seems to be the epitome of it all. the messiest house. the funniest excuses. the longest complaints. the weirdest cat. the clumsiest stories. plain drama, all around. the most routine task, shopping for instance, when undertaken by her, turns into one-third of the florida population (all at least twice her age) trying to help her gather ripped plastic bags, scattered groceries and her fallen, bent-out-of-shape bicycle on a street crossing, just as the light turns green. she wipes her slightly bloody knees, as she gets up and tries to make some sense of what just happened. there are cans of corn and spilled milk on the road. don't ask.

so as i posted earlier today, the mustard container exploded in my hands when preparing breakfast this morning. i took pictures and called my sister. after all, i'd just done something so *HER*, that i had to share. she picks up the phone with a sigh. one of those long, you-are-going-to-pity-me sighs. 'what's the matter?' i try to sound concerned. 'you won't believe this...' she says. 'i spent the entire morning cleaning the bathroom. my husband must have been late for work when he realized, right after his morning constitutional, that the toiled was backed up... so a couple of hours later when i got up...' [sigh]

mustard happens...

can you tell it's monday...?

yes, i'm that slow...

yesterday i dropped by my friend bill's place to check out his studio. i'd seen him perform before, and i have some of his music on cd, but what a trip to watch him play as he showed me his latest creations. how incredibly refreshing to simply observe someone manifest their talent, the natural outcome of an exercise in passion.

we had lunch at mother's market (i had a scrumptious acai bowl with gobs of honey) and then i ran back home. yes, i ran to his house and back. it was just under 12 miles (total), but i was starting to feel a bit tired on my way back, about 2 miles from home. running suddenly felt like a major effort, and when i checked my garmin (guessing it would display a 10 min/mile, based on my effort level -- that is my "speed work" pace; yes, i'm that slow) it read a 13 min pace. since i was running so slow anyway, i decided to just walk the rest of the way.

i was thrown in for an existential crisis by the fact that it took me just over 27 minutes to get home. "what am i? a (uber)slow runner? a "fast" walker? why would i care? does it matter? should i have just driven there after all then...? yada yada yada...", i just witnessed as the negative self-talk developed... and vanished. then i felt. grateful.

causa mortis: sweat. death -- and rebirth -- of an mp3 player

only six months after i got my sansa m250 it died on me. #%&*$@!? i was in love with it already! it was tiny (this is pre-shuffle), easy to operate and the 2gb were plenty for me.

sad loss, but no surprise. i sweat like a pig. when i wrote runner's voodoo i was happy to have resuscitated my sweat busted hydration pack. could i save my mp3 player? i don't know. i didn't try. i called sandisk and explained that my sweat might have corroded the power contacts (or whatever). it wouldn't power up on the external battery, but worked fine when connected to the computer. the technician wasn't eager to offer an exchange right away. he first asked me if i had tried a new battery (DUH!!!) then had me update the firmware and format the device. no success (as expected), so i was offered to send it back for a replacement. yay!

even though i took better care of the new one, (i wore it upside down so the usb port and headset jack were somewhat covered, and i wiped it after every run), it still didn't last a year before it died the same death. #%&*$@!? i called sandisk again, but no luck this time. before hanging up i kindly suggested they improved their product, as it is common for people to wear it while exercising... anyway, since it would still work when connected to the computer, i used it as a pen-drive for a while.

then last weekend i decided to open it up and "take a look", what the heck. (i've been taking things apart -- and most of the time putting them successfully back together -- since i was a kid). you know, to satisfy that itching curiosity to see what's inside (c'mon, i'm not the only one). what i did to my sansa was simple, and since it worked, i'm posting a picture here and encouraging anyone to "play" with something they've already resigned to throwing out, before actually doing so. (i repeat and emphasize "already resigned to throwing out").


the red circles show the battery contacts. they were pretty gunky, and i cleaned both with a q-tip dabbed in alcohol. the negative pole, by the usb port, left, was so salty i had to scrape it with a toothpick. i also cleaned some salt/rust from around the circuit battery (red arrow).

i then tested it by carefully holding the aaa battery in place while pressing down on the switch (bottom left, by the negative pole) and it powered on beautifully! now this is very important: in my excitement i broke the lcd when putting the circuit back in its casing, so make sure you keep your cool until the very end, after everything is properly put back together AND tightly closed. well, it works. i just can't see half of the display anymore...

ps: the player now goes in a ziplock bag in my waist pack, as opposed to strapped to my arm.

pier to pier

yesterday i ran from the newport pier to the huntington pier (pictured below). it was quite a foggy morning. i was experimenting with different electrolyte drinks, and was stationed at a sink refilling my bottle with water and cliff electrolyte powder when i took the pic to the right.

water... please...

i am all over the place right now my bedroom is a mess the check engine light just came on and i need to tell glenn about it and i did not make that phone call but i made sure to wrap the handset and my note around it with mailing tape. my main coping skill is running but writing helps me as well. i sometimes wonder whether i'll ever feel normal again but of course, what is normal? i tried to make a mobius strip last night but the paper i used was not wide enough and then the ends came unglued anyway. i'm reading that book for the second time. i always am impressed at how the works of godel escher and bach are so intertwined and woven together like the web of a lonely thirsty spider. it just lies there oblivious of the human hand that ruthlessly executes its fate. she was a happy spider, after all.

the riddle

at first it was curiosity: "what is this?", as i watched a little red square piece of paper make its way to the carpet from steve vai's sound theories cd's liner notes. then surprise, as i read: "valid for one (1) admission for any one (1) meet & greet on the upcoming 2007 steve vai sound theories tour"! (in print so small and blurry i'd make my optometrist proud). having just attended the orange county concert of the tour, it was easier to feel bummed, rather than lucky. my thoughts race. "maybe the tour isn't over yet". "... i could perhaps travel somewhere, and still use the pass". "is the computer on?", "why didn't i find this 4 months ago when i bought the cd?", "wow... i've never won anything!", "how come i didn't know about this?" i spend the next 30 minutes hunched over my laptop, my cell phone glued to my right ear.

results:

fri, oct 5, 8:00 am: united airlines, orange county/nyc
sat, oct 6, 08:00 pm: steve vai, north fork theatre, westbury, ny, section G, row S, seats 1-3

i sit here with antagonizing thoughts and intense feelings that are hard to process. there are implications to my going on this last-minute trip. i'll have to deal with them later. there are also plusses, such as the fact that i'll get to see my parents, my sister and my nephew.

sometimes i feel like all i want is to do is "sail in the wind's eye", as fiery lord byron wrote.

ah, life. in all its grandeur.