Birthday

Yesterday turned out very well. I worked breakfast, after waking up just 10 minutes before I was supposed to be in the kitchen to set up because I'd failed to turn my alarm on. Breakfast went pretty smoothly except that someone smelt gas, I thought one of the pilot lights was out in the stove, but it turned out that it wasn't. And Steve, the guy with Aspergers who works in the kitchen, decided to come in and help me with both breakfast and dinner, which was much more pleasant than I would have thought. I find that I have a lot better attention and patience for his sort of conversation when there's less going on, and not so many other people to focus on with more conventional conversation styles. I can slow down and do that sort of very detail-oriented listening much better in the relative quiet.

Mom and Dad came to see me for much of the day, and after walking around camp we went into Nyack proper, and had a very good time there. We walked around, ate, and went to both a yarn shop and second-hand bookstore with a very nice sf/f section. And we did a quick grocery run at the end, after walking past some really lovely roses. And in the middle, in our wanderings, we found what we expected to be a bookstore, and sort of was, but it was full of books about spirituality, meditation, "spiritual fiction" and books in a section called "consciousness". It was rather amusing, in a slightly uncomfortable way. The day turned out very well- and now I have an idea of some fun places to walk around in Nyack, and I think it may even be walkable to get there, if I ever had the time.

After they left, I came back and worked dinner, which also went pretty seemlessly. And then I did laundry, did a little bit of crochet, and eventually dropped by some friends' room, and they gave me a teddy bear for my birthday. I haven't named him yet, but at least he has a gender. Some name suggestions thus far have been pretty conventional (Cocoa, Shoko, Shuki) or a little too related to my current work (Celiac, Peanut, Soynut). So- no luck yet finding the right name for my little friend. I'm not usually a stuffed animal sort of person, but I'm finding myself quite fond of my nameless little bear.

Today was good, but Long. I'm very much looking forward to a real day off on Wednesday, and not looking forward to working in the kitchen while fasting tomorrow. We'll see how things go. ANd if you are in NYC and have time to hang out Wednesday, give me a call or email or something.

Birthday

Yesterday turned out very well. I worked breakfast, after waking up just 10 minutes before I was supposed to be in the kitchen to set up because I'd failed to turn my alarm on. Breakfast went pretty smoothly except that someone smelt gas, I thought one of the pilot lights was out in the stove, but it turned out that it wasn't. And Steve, the guy with Aspergers who works in the kitchen, decided to come in and help me with both breakfast and dinner, which was much more pleasant than I would have thought. I find that I have a lot better attention and patience for his sort of conversation when there's less going on, and not so many other people to focus on with more conventional conversation styles. I can slow down and do that sort of very detail-oriented listening much better in the relative quiet.

Mom and Dad came to see me for much of the day, and after walking around camp we went into Nyack proper, and had a very good time there. We walked around, ate, and went to both a yarn shop and second-hand bookstore with a very nice sf/f section. And we did a quick grocery run at the end, after walking past some really lovely roses. And in the middle, in our wanderings, we found what we expected to be a bookstore, and sort of was, but it was full of books about spirituality, meditation, "spiritual fiction" and books in a section called "consciousness". It was rather amusing, in a slightly uncomfortable way. The day turned out very well- and now I have an idea of some fun places to walk around in Nyack, and I think it may even be walkable to get there, if I ever had the time.

After they left, I came back and worked dinner, which also went pretty seemlessly. And then I did laundry, did a little bit of crochet, and eventually dropped by some friends' room, and they gave me a teddy bear for my birthday. I haven't named him yet, but at least he has a gender. Some name suggestions thus far have been pretty conventional (Cocoa, Shoko, Shuki) or a little too related to my current work (Celiac, Peanut, Soynut). So- no luck yet finding the right name for my little friend. I'm not usually a stuffed animal sort of person, but I'm finding myself quite fond of my nameless little bear.

Today was good, but Long. I'm very much looking forward to a real day off on Wednesday, and not looking forward to working in the kitchen while fasting tomorrow. We'll see how things go. ANd if you are in NYC and have time to hang out Wednesday, give me a call or email or something.