phyncke

Well now that Hanukkah is over, I thought I would do a real update. I know that is a flurry of posting but it is not really an update. I am doing pretty good here.

I have been recovering from a work related injury. I injured my hip by lifting too much at a major event I did in September. My first worker's comp claim ever in all my years of working. I have to say the University I work for handles things well. I did PT, got an ortho consult and things have gone pretty well. I think this is a sign of my age and I have to realign how I do things. I cannot do so much lifting anymore — I am in my upper 50's now and I do admit that the food trays I was lifting were pretty heavy. So my bad.

Other work things — my lectures — a bunch of them — five of them — went very well this Fall. I am starting to get pretty good about how to market them and I think it is paying off. I love doing the lectures and working with the faculty. Love this part of the job. It is actually fun and interesting. I am so glad I get to do this. Happy even. It is rare when you get to love what you do but I do. We had Ezra Klein this fall and that was a thrill — in a really big hall — major event. Very fun.

I am going to be moving offices to a space with a window. I am very excited about it. I get all new furniture too. I am doing the renovation because I do facilities but I am really happy about it. I have worked in a windowless office for a long time and prefer working at home because I have windows here. I am even going to bring some plants in.
I am going to the East Coast for Christmas to spend time with my family there — my brother, his wife, my niece and my mom. My mom has early stage dementia and they think Alzheimers. She does pretty well right now but we are preparing for what to do when it gets worse. I am going to keep her company as we just lost my Dad. I like spending time with my Mom so it will be fine. She gets repetitive but it is fine. I have done some online research and that is what happens — repeat, repeat, repeat. That is what you do. My brother is doing most of the work so I help out when I can.

I hope you are doing well there and a very happy holiday season to you. Happy New Year!

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: Home

Hi there all - my last post was in October so this is not too bad. I finished up work for the Thanksgiving holiday on Friday and am off all next week so I am happy about that. I am going to Oregon with friends for Thanksgiving - Southern Oregon and will spend the holiday there. I am not sure we are actually going to have a full on meal. We might just eat pizza and do that. Not sure. I don't really care this year about the food so much so that is ok.

So that Kyle Rittenhouse verdict. How pathetic is that. He gets away with it. He murdered two people and no consequences. I have seen internet posts saying that he might be charged with federal charges so I really hope so. He did cross state lines so that would put it under federal jurisdiction. I hope so. He needs to do some time for what he did. So my hope is that there is a federal case against him and they get him for what he did. I want this idiot to do some time. I am really tired of this white supremacist thing here in the USA. Time for that to change. So I say Kyle Rittenhouse should do some time and I saw the feds should go after him.

Things have been happening with my family - my Dad has had all sorts of health problems. I will list them in order as it has been a quick succession of things -
-appendix ruptured - had to have surgery
-fell and broke his femur (upper leg)
-stomach twisted but it resolved itself
He is in rehab and recovering from the broken leg now and he will be there for some time. He needs to do PT and rehab there. There is no way my Mom can take care of him at home right now so that is where he is. We are looking into moving my parents into assisted care at some point but that will take a little time - so for now we will get them some help in the home. The difficulty with that is that there are staffing shortages with all the agencies so people are hard to find. It is a real challenge. Lots going on with my parents.

Anyhoo - hope you are doing well and have a great Thanksgiving if you are in the US and if not - hope you are doing well.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Home as usual
Current Music: La
Crossposts: https://phyncke.livejournal.com/813936.html

Today is International Women's Day. I did not do anything for that. I did note it in my mind and saw that there were speeches in DC. I am reading on women's issues right now. I am reading a very interesting book on misogyny called - Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny by Kate Manne. It is a philosophy book so I have to keep looking up things while I read it but the author uses examples from politics and major crimes to make her points. Things I remember. So it is interesting from that stand point. Not an easy read but very worthwhile. I do recommend it with warning - it is disturbing to read about this stuff and the examples are stark. I am looking forward to the climax of the book where she dissects the 2016 election and all of that. Should be really interesting to read that.

Monday was a Monday. I got work done - got derailed a little bit by the Harry and Meghan interview from last night - and reading about the reactions to that. I have a little bit of a fascination with the royalty thing and what goes on there. I remember how I felt when I heard that they had left the royal family. Honestly I thought - good for them. I know we are getting this all second hand and who knows what is true. But they don't have to stay there and deal with that. Harry is the spare - not really in line for the throne so why not? If his wife is unhappy - why stay? And don't get me started with how brutal the UK press was on her. Brutal. My opinion - they did not have to stay so they didn't. Not going to do a blow by blow on the interview. Just my two cents on that.

I am doing some family work - my parents need some help so I am researching home health care providers in their area - NH. Looking at help that they can get in their home. They are pretty independent but could use some visits during the week to get some support. So seeing what there is. They are in a good area for it - so lots of options. I have created a spreadsheet that I am sharing with the siblings. I love spreadsheets. I am not the decision maker so it is not up to me. I think it is a group decision. So we all have access to the info. Love google sheets.

This week - Saturday - I get my second dose of the vaccine. Very excited about that. A little worried I won't feel well from it but will see what happens with that. Some people have no effects from it. Hope I am in that category. I am going to prepare some meals so I am ready for that. And see how I do. That is about all I have - hope you are well and take good care.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Home all day
Current Music: La
Crossposts: https://phyncke.livejournal.com/807837.html

Wednesday - I have a lot of Zoom meetings this afternoon so I did my hair this morning. I finally figured out how to put a background image on my Zoom so I am not showing my apartment anymore. So that is better. I have two meetings this afternoon and one is a long one. Anyhoo. That is work.

The emergency vet texted me to let me know that Teddy's ashes are ready to be picked up. I better go do that. With my previous dead cat - I let them sit there for a year or so. Not going to do that this time. I will be prompt and get them right away. I never know what to do with the ashes. I have a few boxes of ashes around here. I have Boo and Radley and I think my dog, Jake here. Lots of dead animals. What to do with those? Maybe take them somewhere and spread their ashes. That seems like a project. I will get to that some day. Meanwhile the ashes accumulate.

I have the impeachment on here with the sound off. I think I will watch the recap tonight. I listen to it occasionally. They have boat loads of evidence against Trump - social media, speeches and all that. I mean literally - he did it. I am curious to see what their defense is for that. That will be something to watch - the defense - I wonder how creative they will get on that. I am sure it will be a nice song and dance. A two-step or a rhumba?

Today is my Mom's birthday so I had a call with her. I forget how old she is - she is in her 80's now and doing pretty good. Happy Birthday, Mom! I sent her a nice plant - she is really good with plants so hope she will like that.

Anyhoo - that is all I have. Stay well there.

Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: Home
Current Music: La
Crossposts: https://phyncke.livejournal.com/805618.html

Here I am with another update - I am off work right now so I have time to update here. I also started a bullet or dot journal as we are calling it in my circle so I am in the mood for writing entries. I do an entry every day in that. A co-worker gave me the journal so I thought I would make use of it. I got some stickers to put in it to make it cute and fun. It feels really good to get back into journaling in all these different ways. Who knew I had so much to say.

I worked on the story (MSV - Slashy Valentine) and I now have 2005 words on that. It feels like it is in good shape. I got it to a good stopping point today and I need to think about where it goes next. So a natural pause and think. I don't write with an outline really - I just write the story and see where it takes me. That always works for me. So it is going good so far and I hope to keep writing each day.

Today, I took a nice walk with my friend J***. Both of us were feeling lazy but we did a good 45 minute stroll down College Ave in Oakland. We did not go in any of the stores - we stayed outside with our masks on. I feel like outside activities are safer and it is risky going into places. We kept outside and avoided people on the sidewalk and did a good long walk. I felt better after so it was good. I had coffee at home after - trying to minimize my spending and not get coffee out so much. It is $5.00 a pop on that and it adds up to a lot if you get a coffee every time. My coffee is good enough. It hit the spot today so it worked for me.

I probably have not told you all this but my Mom, who is in her 80's, has Alzheimer's spots on her brain. Her neurologist is not overly concerned and basically says she has the brain of a person in their 80's. The one thing I notice is that she has trouble finding words. She wants to say something and cannot find the word. Her memory is very sharp and all that. It is just affecting her language recall a bit. So that has happened. They want her to work on her balance and do some PT so she is doing that.

Anyhoo - this is pretty much today's update. I did do something funny - I got annoyed because the local radio station stopped playing Christmas music right on Dec 26. So I wrote them on their website and old them I thought they could give us a few extra days of the holiday music. Technically, Christmas goes all the way into January so a few more days would be nice. I am sure they won't reply but it felt good to write it.

The other thing I did today was write all my representatives in Washington about the pathetic legislation they just passed. It does a lot of things but it sure does not help the American people very much with direct help. So I told all of my people - Senate and House - my feelings on that. If you live in the US and are so inclined - I suggest doing the same - it is very easy to go on the Congressional website and find your people and send them a message. You will feel better. I know I do.

So I did a lot of writing today - feeling super productive. Hope you are doing well there and staying safe.

Current Mood: creative
Current Location: Home as usual
Current Music: La
Crossposts: https://phyncke.livejournal.com/794171.html

I don't know how it happened but somehow I got on Donald Trump's campaign email list and he is sending out daily and somewhat desperate emails to his fanbase. It is weird. Seems a little early to be campaigning to his base for 2020. Weird. But the guy is weird. Totally. I am going to stay on this list and see what happens here. I am just curious about the tone of his campaign. I also monitor the White House communications - I have followed that since Obama and now I watch with dread as the Trump White House sends out their crappy stuff. Crazy. Best to know the enemy, eh? I still really miss Obama.

So I am doing well. I am almost through all my events at work and into planning summer vacations. <lj user=khylea> is coming for a visit the end of May and we are going to do local things here. A fun Bay Area vacation. There is a lot to do so that will be no problem in thinking of things to do. Yay! I also am going to Vegas this summer so have that to look forward to.

I need to also see my parents sometime this year so hope to get that trip going. Anyways. That is what is going on with me.

I am adjusting to maintaining here on the weight loss. I still track on the WW app and watch what I am eating. I think I always will do that to keep within an acceptable range of eating. Most people who maintain well do that from what I have seen and I am used to tracking. I really don't want to gain the weight back so I will do what I need to and keep it off. I am allowed to eat more now so that is good. It is a bit easier now. One thing that is easier now is clothes shopping - I am looking for used clothes at the Goodwill and finding things and going to discount places like Nordstrom Rack and consignment stores. Hoping not to pay a lot for clothes that fit. I got a pair of nice jeans at Goodwill yesterday for 4.00! Woot. Gotta love that.

So that is all I have. I am trying to keep active too. I do a few work outs a week and walk on the weekends. And go to yoga when I can. So that is fun.

Anyhoo. Hope all is well with you. Spring is happening here. The weather is getting warmer for now and then it will settle into the cold SF summer.

Cheers!

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: Home
Current Music: AM Joy
Crossposts: https://phyncke.livejournal.com/779169.html

So hey - I am here with a post. I had a great vacation in New Hampshire/Massachusetts. I spent time with my family and met my half-sister and there was nothing bad or scary about that. She is very nice and we all got along. We spent a Friday-Monday weekend thing together on the Cape in Mass and it was very good. It was amazing how relaxed it all was. I was very happy that there was no weird awkwardness and that my Dad had a good time. This was the first time he was meeting his eldest daughter so that was pretty cool.

Had some great gastro experiences - ate fried clams, had a lobster roll. So that was very fun. We did some girlie things - I got my face done with a make up person. So now I know how to do make up. It is funny - I have spent most of my life not doing make up but now I am kind of getting into it. I got some stuff and it looks pretty good. It is not that hard to do. I do quick make up on work mornings - just mascara and lips and then more involved when I am going out on the weekends. So there is that.

The only other thing that is new is that I have gotten back into plants. I went through a phase for a while where I was killing my plants. I guess I was not paying attention to them. But now with the help of a friend - I am getting some nice plants and herbs and enjoying caring for them. I made some salmon with fresh dill that I grew myself. That was fun and delicious. Fresh dill is way better than the dry stuff. More flavorful.

Anyhoo - that is about all I have. Tomorrow, I am going to Santa Cruz for the day and to see David Sedaris speak at a local bookstore there. I am very excited about that. We get a copy of his new book and hopefully he will sign it.

So that is the state of me. Hope all is well with you. Comments are awesome.

by www.laurahonest.com
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Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Home
Current Music: La
Crossposts: http://phyncke.livejournal.com/771768.html

Hey hey - I am here. I have finished my events for the year and am getting ready for a much needed vacation! I am going to New Hampshire for early June and will spend time with my family old and new. The cool thing about this vacation is that I will meet my long lost half sister who I have not met before and that is making me nervous as well as excited. We have been talking on social media and on the phone so I think it will go well. She seems very nice and like a cool person. So this will be interesting to say the least. I am hoping that my Dad will go along for the meet up and that he will finally meet the daughter he has never met before. So that would be cool. I spent most of my life thinking I did not have a sister so this is very fun. I have a sister! An older sister! Wowie!

Work went very well this Spring. I planned two national conferences and they were really good. I got great feedback on my event planning skills and everyone was pleased with how it went. It was stressful while it was going on but now that it is done - I feel really good about all of it. Feather in the cap so to speak. Now I can work on summer projects and documenting everything. So that is all good.

My other vacation this summer will be my annual trip to Vegas with the girls. Looking forward to that.

So that is all I have - just work and vacation and oh! I have lost 61 pounds on Weight Watchers! I am totally rocking that. I feel great and I really love the program - it totally works for me. It gives me a method to the weight loss madness. I have 23 pounds left to go so I am going to do this. I am totally jazzed about it. Here is a pic of what I look like now.

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Hope all is well with you there and you are ready for summer! I totally am! :)

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by girlboheme on LJ

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: home
Crossposts: http://phyncke.livejournal.com/771277.html

Here I am - with a post. I am here.

I guess the biggest thing that is happening is that I have started doing Weight Watchers and it is going great! I have lost 13.4 pounds so far and am really into the program. I am tracking every little thing that I eat and feel like everyday is a little victory. I find that the program encourages healthy eating so it is really working for me. I have a good amount of weight I want to get off this time around and I really like the meetings each week. I lost my first 45 pounds on my own and I don't really want to do it alone this time. This is more fun to have people to talk to and an instructor in your corner cheering you own. I really like that. I did not think I would be this into it but I kind of am. So it is very good. I have never done and organized weight loss program before but I am really into it. Keeping track of what you eat really helps and they have online tools that really are helpful. I can track on the web and on my phone. So I am digging it. I have good support on this at work, from friends and all that so very exciting. I have reached 5 percent of goal and I got a little charm for a keychain. It is kind of cute. :)

What else? So the big news with my family is this - we found my long lost half sister! My dad had an affair before he met my mom and there was a pregnancy from that. So I have an older half sister. Stuff was done and the girl was raised out in Ohio by her mother and her brothers. So years later my mom tells me about this (when I am in college) - that my dad has this other child. So at that time - I store it in my brain. I later told my brothers and we have decided that we should look her up and make contact. So we found her on ancestry.com. It took all of five minutes to find her really - it was amazingly easy and we wrote her an email. She wrote back and now we are all friends on Facebook. We are talking about doing a meet up next summer on the East Coast. It is all kind of wild. My mom had some reservations about it but now is on board with it.

Work is work. Not much going on there. I am kind of bored there actually.

I am nervous about the season premiere of The Walking Dead. Looking forward to it but kind of not if you know what I mean.

So that is about all I have. Hope all is well with you there. This is my post. I will try and post more - even if I post about inane things.

Comments are most welcome. I will reply!

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by laurahonest on livejournal

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: Home
Current Music: La
Crossposts: http://phyncke.livejournal.com/764693.html

I have been meaning to do a post about last weekend's trip to Los Angeles. I went from last Friday to Sunday to visit my brother and his wife and I got to see

aglarien1! It was a total blast and whirwind theatre happening. I saw lots of shows there. Lots - like 4 shows in 24 hours. That is an all time record for me. We had a great time and I feel all cultured up. It was great.

I got in on Friday night and my SIL and I went right from the airport to In and Out Burgers - kind of a family tradition. We like the burgers there and we got milkshakes too. Delish. We just hung out that night and watched some TV about tiny houses. That was pretty cool.

Saturday - my SIL and I went out and got manicures and pedicures after having a nice brunch at Pann's in LA. It was nice and relaxing and I pretty much took a nap in the pedicure chair. Total fun. I got a French gel manicure and got purple on my toes. Then we met up with my brother and the theatre extravaganza began.

We saw the following shows - at the Fringe - in this order.

The Toxic Avenger Musical
Uterine Affairs or Inconceivable Conception
Amy Snowden - Casting Confessions from La to LA

all were humorous and really good. It was a very good line up. In between the first and second one we had a break and went to a really good mexican restaurant. We got done at about 12:30 am and then went right to bed. All those shows are a little exhausting.

I saw

aglarien1 for breakfast on Sunday and we went to our favorite place, Dinah's, in Los Angeles. They serve a great breakfast and we had a great time talking and laughing and eating really good food. It was great to see her and the time flew by too fast, of course.

Then we had our last show which was the opera. It was a multi-media thing called The News - JacobTV. They had a large screen with snippets of media and news reports playing interspersed with operatic commentary. It was really cool and really interesting. Kind of a commentary on the media and how ridiculous it all is. That was at the Long Beach Opera.

So that was my whirlwind cultural weekend. Really good time! Tada!

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by laurahonest on livejournal.com

Current Mood: cheerful
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Crossposts: http://phyncke.livejournal.com/761696.html

Hey there - my brother was an expert on CBS This Morning - check it out!

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/centuries-old-chord-progression-in-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven/

It was an awesome thing for him. He is a professor at UCLA and they consulted him on a court case about Led Zeppelin's song Stairway to Heaven. Pretty cool!

Thought I would share.

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Location: work
Current Music: Led Zeppelin
Crossposts: http://phyncke.livejournal.com/760833.html

Time for a ramble. It has been a while since I posted and I apologize for that. I cannot say that I have been that busy - work has calmed down and I have been around here just - well being here. I opened this one time and did not know what to write so I am trying this kind of rambling thing and will see what I end up posting.

So what is going on. Work is manageable. All my events are done for the year. I have projects to manage this summer but that is not too bad. I have a couple of trips this summer. I am going to Vegas in July and then I am going to Manchester, NH in August. Vegas is a girls trip and fun in the sun and sitting by the pool. I don't really gamble so I won't lose any money. Manchester will be a visit with family and that is long overdue. So that is good. I want to have a lobster when I go there so I am excited about that. It will be good to see my mom and dad and my brother, niece and sister-in-law. I will also see some childhood friends and hang out. Yay!

I saw The Jungle Book this week and it was totally amazing. I have to admit that I was not a huge fan of the Disney animated thing but I love this movie version. The voice work was phenomenal and the CGI seamless. The child who played Mowgli was really perfect as the boy. This film made me want to go back to the source material - the original Kipling stories that it was based on. I never really felt that way about the animated version.

I am going to see Captain America - Civil War this weekend and I am Team Cap all the way! I am super excited about this movie. I don't really care about reviews for the film. I will see it no matter what and I love Marvel movies. So that is my plan for this weekend.

I got my mom some flowers for Mother's Day - had them sent to her in NH. I am glad I remembered to do something. I usually don't have it together. So I am glad about that. I hope she likes them. My niece is starting to think about college - COLLEGE. I can't believe that. It seems like she went from 3 years old to 16 in like 2 seconds. Seriously.

So that is all I have. This was a pretty good ramble. Thanks for reading along!

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Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Home
Current Music: La
Crossposts: http://phyncke.livejournal.com/760046.html

So I went to Los Angeles for last weekend - it was a two-fer. My brother had gotten a teaching award at UCLA and I wanted to go to the awards ceremony - and we got to celebrate my birthday. So that is the two for one special - actually three in one as my parents came in and I got to visit with them too. We did lots of fun things and had a grand time. Here is the run down -

-awards ceremony at UCLA Chancellor's House - Friday
-mani-pedi's for the three girls - Saturday
-dinner at The Strand House, Manhattan Beach - Saturday
-visit the science museum, Imax of Hubble Telescope and visit the space shuttle Endeavor - Sunday
-concert by Bruce Brubaker, pianist at the LA County Museum - playing Phillip Glass selections - Sunday

It also was important to touch base with my parents. My mom is 77 and my dad is 84. They are getting up there and doing well but seems like age is settling in. My dad went to see a great audiologist in LA and got new hearing aids. This is a huge thing as his old hearing aids were not working very well at all and were pretty run down. I notice my mom is stumbling around a lot and she wears these platform shoes 2-3 inches there. I have to figure out how to tell her and get her to wear flats. She is really unsteady on her feet and she took a fall in her house earlier in the year. I am worried about her falling again. So what do I do? I am trying to figure out how to broach the subject and handle this without hurting her feelings. If anyone has any ideas - feel free to comment.

Anyhoo. This is the stuff I am dealing with. Work is very very busy. I don't hardly get to breathe when I am there. Just too busy and getting busier.

So that is all I have. Thanks to everyone who left me birthday messages. It was amazing! *hugs to all*

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by laurahonest

Hope all is well with you and yours there.

Current Location: Home
Crossposts: http://phyncke.livejournal.com/749922.html

Oy vey. I am turning 50 this week and I don't feel old but forces conspire to make me feel old. The AARP is sending me membership letters and such. I am feeling great but if I keep getting these mailings - I will be old before my time. It is ridiculous. Offers for term life insurance and other ridiculousness. How do I get off these mailing lists?!

I am doing well. I am going to Los Angeles this week to see my family. My parents will be in town and I will get my annual visit with them done so that I don't have to travel during the holidays and my brother has won and award at UCLA so we are celebrating that. Along with my 50th birthday. Wootles. It is such a milestone. I am doing fine with it really. Half a century. Wowie Maui.

Happy birthday to me!

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by brutal

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Crossposts: http://phyncke.livejournal.com/749772.html

I started writing today. Snuck in a little bit at work - bad me. I wrote about half a page of total crap. Anyhoo. And so it begins.

I have been meaning to write an update post for a while but my life is so boring. What is going on with me. I am listening to this incredible Audible book entitled The Martian by Andy Weir about an astronaut stranded on Mars. It is really interesting how this book got published - he posted it - kind of like we do - chapter by chapter on his website - his fanbase commented and essentially beta read the fic for him. People asked him to turn the finished story into an e-book and then the technically challenged folks asked him to put the book on amazon as a kindle book - which he nicely did and it just sort of took off from there. So it started off as a self published work. It then got very popular on amazon as a 99 cent download and he got a publishing offer and then a movie offer.

It is a really interesting very techno-geek kind of thing but I am loving the audible. I am really looking forward to the movie with Matt Damon playing the astronaut Mark Watley. So that is what is absorbing my time right now when I should be writing. *head desk*

I have not even loaded my fireworks icons as I am not really feeling the 4th of July thing. Maybe tomorrow. I don't know. I can use my USA icon.

I am dealing with my elderly parents - remote control on them as I have weekly conversations with my mom that are very repetitive. My brother deals with them locally as he lives in NH but I get a lot of info because I check in with my parents every other day by phone - for example - my mom took a fall and had not told my brother etc. and she was pretty badly bruised up and needed medical attention. Anyhoo. Challenges on that score.

Work is well work and kind of boring right now. I am not sure I should stay where I am at or move along to something more interesting. I think I should look at the job listings and see what is going on elsewhere. Casually. Best to see what is what.

I am having dental surgery next week - I had it all worked up in my mind that it is major when it is no big deal. Well the big deal is that it is expensive. But hey - it is only money. But the surgery itself is no biggie.

I am going to Vegas this month - with J*** and then meeting R*** who lives there. Girls week and fun in the heat. We will just relax by the pool and sip frozen drinks. Woot.

So that is all I have. At least I started my story, Right?

Current Location: Home
Current Music: Anoushka!
Crossposts: http://phyncke.livejournal.com/745551.html

I am pretty good. Work is going...life is going. I am going to Santa Cruz tomorrow etc. I don't know what to post about but it has been a while since I have posted so I thought I should write a post. I am boring.

I am reading a few things - well listening to books on audible - I just finished the All Soul's Trilogy by Deborah Harkness - brilliant stuff - about witchcraft and vampires and just really well written. Very detailed with historical information as Harkness is a university professor (USC). It is lovely as an audible and the narrator is amazing - really realizes all the characters. So I finished that and am now reading Iced by Karen Marie Moning - continuing in the Fever series. I really love this series - it supposes that there was a wall between the human realm and the fae realm and that suddenly that wall came crashing down - and there is a sort of war between the fae and humans - very good stuff - this is all really a continuation of her Highlander series. I am a big big fan of Karen Marie Moning. Her men are MEN and her heroines are smart and snarky. She also writes with a lot of humor.

So also am reading a book on my kindle at the same time - I have started in on Game of Thrones. I watch the TV show so essentially I know what has happened in this first book but I wanted to see what the book is like. I have to say - it is a really well written and wonderful book. It is full of characters - as I had heard but I guess seeing the show gives me an advantage on following it all. His writing is not overdone at all - it is lean and well described. I totally love his writing style. I also really like the length of the chapters - just the right length and each chapter is a main character POV. Just totally well done. I am not sure I will read all the books - I am just dipping my toe into the water so to speak. I have so many books I want to read but I did want to get a sense of GRRM's writing.

So what else is happening - my dad was the victim of a computer scam - he got a pop up on his computer that was masking as a trojan virus - it had a phone number on it - which he called - and the people on the other end talked him into letting them remote access his computer to "clean it" and he paid 400.00 for this service. Obviously this pop up virus was a scam by this company and they scare vulnerable people into paying them for this. I talked to him on the day it happened and got him to call his bank and get the charges reversed. Luckily they would because it was a fraudulent company - I had looked them up on the internet and they were on the fraud list. Then my dad did a system restore to a point before this all happened to get their remote access file off of his computer. My brother went over to their house (they live in NH) and checked everything out so things are fine now. My dad is very embarrassed that this happened but none the worse for it. So no mention of this on FB please.

Anyhoo. That's all I have. Road trip tomorrow. Sleep tonight. Anyone watching Orphan Black? I am loving that show. Totally addicted.

See you soon!

nienna_weeper GC photo Jane-CandyGoth-nienna_weeper-GC_zps1czi7fqj.gif

nienna_weeper GC photo Jane-CandyGoth-nienna_weeper-GC_zps1czi7fqj.gif

by nienna_weeper on livejournal

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: Home
Crossposts: http://phyncke.livejournal.com/743682.html

Here is an update of sorts on my story.

555 / 2500 words. 22% done!

I am doing pretty well there and the writing is going pretty well. I am still on the preface so that is not too bad. Leading into the story with a bit of a thing.

Got some bad news last night. My dad took a fall in a parking lot by a bookstore and hurt his leg. We were all worried that he hurt the hip he'd had replaced. At first it seemed like things were ok and he just had a bruise but then he could not walk so he had to go to the hospital in an ambulance early this morning. I don't have an update right now but he is 83 so keep him in your thoughts. I am a bit worried about him. There were icy conditions last night there so that was what caused it.

Yesterday - I went down to Santa Cruz to take the kiddo back to college - UC Santa Cruz. We drove down and back and went for the yummy pizza there. Easy trip and did not really stop anywhere much but on campus and to the pizza and coffee place. Quick there and back again. It was an easy drive and not much traffic.

That is about all I have. Last day of vacation today and back to work tomorrow. Sigh.

Cheers to you and hope the new year is going well!

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: Home for now
Current Music: La
Crossposts: http://phyncke.livejournal.com/734429.html

Hey hey there. I am posting in. Not much doing today. I spent the day watching DVR shows (Extant and Dallas) and going food shopping. I am going out to the movies tonight (November Man - I have no idea). So that is all I got. I got my copy of Captain America - Winter Soldier this week - yays! Watched that already.

Work is going well but no one likes my new supervisor there. I am staying away from the negativity and waiting until she settles in more. She has only been there since Aug 1. People need more time to get acclimated. So I am in wait and see mode.

I am going to start writing again. I have a WIP that I want to get going on and it is pretty good. I just opened it and read it. The pairing is Fingolfin-Thranduil. Yeah. Fingolfin is reborn to Mirkwood. It has humor and Legolas greatly admires Fingolfin and there is a mentorship thing that happens there. So lots of good elements. I really miss writing and think I need to get back into it. I have six - seven chapters of this thing going so quite a lot to it.

I also have dreams of writing an original fic.

So right now I am reading/listening to a few fics. I am reading Iron Druid Chronicles, listening to Mary Poppins and reading a dragon story of Temeraire (forget the title - the second one). Lots doing in literature - if a bit unfocused. I am enjoying reading a bunch of stuff at once. Kind of fun doing whatever I want there. I do listen and read things. Oh wait - I just started Outlander too! Ha!

My parents are doing so well right now. They love their new house though they are still unpacking. And this just confirms that the move was the right move. They have some improvements to make to the house but will do those in good time. I am so relieved. Yes!

So that is all for me right now. Doing well. I hope all is well with you on your end. My birthday comes up in October so I have to figure out what I am doing there. Low key fun with friends. Etc.

Have a great weekend!

PS - I put up my traditional fall layout. Click in to see.

www.laurahonest.com photo lpd-alp-rpp-lhg-autumnfairy-phyncke_zps9ab05698.gif

www.laurahonest.com photo lpd-alp-rpp-lhg-autumnfairy-phyncke_zps9ab05698.gif

by www.laurahonest.com

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: home
Crossposts: http://phyncke.livejournal.com/725607.html

It was a week of back breaking labor and wrangling my mom but we got it done. I am back in Berkeley, CA and my parents are actually moving today. My sister-in-law is supervising this part of the move as I could not take that much time off from work. I think it is going well based on the pictorial updates that I am getting on my iphone. Going well. My parents still have too much stuff but it will all be in their new place and that is that. They are putting a lot of it in the basement and I am hoping over the next few years to go through that with them and get rid of more of that stuff. If they don't use it - it should go. I am inspired to go through my stuff now. I am in a purging mood for sure now. I am going to clean out my apartment though now that I look at my place - I don't have that much stuff.

We worked from 8:00 am to 9:00 pm all week last week. I got my lobster roll and then had lobster tail. And then the most glorious strawberry shortcake at The Chophouse. It was amazing. Never had that good a shortcake. I ate the whole thing. It was amazing. Went to Dunkin Donuts everyday for my large coffee. We ate badly and I have to get back on the nutrition plan. Food was out of control.

Anyhoo. That is the report. It all worked out and my parents are doing well. They are excited about their new place and will be unpacking for a while.

Cheers to you and I cannot believe that summer is ending. I am not ready for September!

Monkeys photo monkeys-sample-phyncke-1.gif

Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: Worky work!
Current Music: la
Crossposts: http://phyncke.livejournal.com/724933.html

I am off to NH tomorrow. I took vacation to go help my parents move from their apartment to a much better house. This is a house that will be better suited to their elder years and afford them safety. I am really happy that they are moving and the point of my going is to help them go through their stuff before they pack etc. Fun fun fun. I told my mom that my only recompense is that I want a lobster dinner, lol. That will suit me just fine. Heh.

I have just caught up on LJ and read back. My thoughts on Robin Williams death are complex. I have followed him since his early stand up days - before Mork and Mindy - I had his comedy vinyl and had it totally memorized. - Reality, what a concept. He was a brilliant man and the details of his death are very sad. I prefer to remember him for the joy and talent that he brought to all of us.

Work is going well. I have a new boss - the verdict is out on her but I am helping her get acclimated. My co-workers are not very happy about her but I am being open minded and giving her the info she needs to get up to speed. I would want people to help me if I was in a new position.

Anyhoo. I am flying into Boston tomorrow and then driving up to NH with my sister in law. I will be scarce for a while.

Be well.

6781 travel girl photo 6781-travel-girl-sample-phy.gif

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: Home for now
Crossposts: http://phyncke.livejournal.com/724686.html

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