You see, I had something else I was going to share, but I cannot seem to remember what on Earth it was. Ironically, I’ve had the Italian word, “dimenticare,” on repeat in my head for the past couple hours… “to forget.” Quite apt, right? 😛
Post-a-day 2023
That moment of ironic joy when the guy who was attempting to grab a girl’s attention by flexing 1) makes the girl laugh, and then 2) is shown up 1000 times over by the guy sitting next to him who just happened to play along with the silliness… And we’re talking the skinny-boy comedic rendition of flexing from the former, and then the genuine, ‘Oh, wow…’, ‘Those are real man muscles,’ kind of flexing from the latter.
What a great thing to be able to witness. 😛
Post-a-day 2021
Do you ever have those days where, after having had a wonderful time doing something, instead of basking in the joyful bliss that typically follows such an event, you find yourself somewhat depressed, as though it ended up being more a reminder of somewhere you are failing at something, instead of a victory in and of itself?
Those really are the odd days, are they not?
Perhaps it would be best to drink more water (than I did today, that is), get more sleep (same as previous), and keep intending and getting the work done. Life often feels like it is falling to pieces, just before the pieces fall into place. 🙂
P.S. It is truly winter in Houston today and tonight. We had a high of 2º Celsius – for real – and it is currently -2º Celsius, with sleet and snow and intense wind gusts off and on. We have a 70-100% chance of snow in the morning before sunrise, with a high of -3º and a low of -8º (also the low tonight), and the entire town closed down earlier this evening, and will remain so at least until Tuesday, when the forecasted high is back up to 3º. I’m not sure I have ever experienced temperatures in Houston so far below freezing in my whole life. Elsewhere, sure, of course, but not in Houston. I do hope it snows a lot tomorrow, and that I get to enjoy it a lot. 🙂
P.P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day, folks! I made themed paleo onigiri today, and had a paleo matcha latte. Both were delicious and satisfying. Photo of the first shown here:
Post-a-day 2021
^Bam!
I’m not sure what to share tonight. I’m sitting in bed, propped up poorly by a couple – actually, it’s three – pillows, my lower back aching something wicked for the third or fifth day in a row. I mean, it’s loads better than it was a couple days ago, but it is still very uncomfortable, and I’m concerned I’ll have trouble sleeping again. It’s kind of funny, the irony of physical aches and pains. Oftentimes, what we need most in such situations, is rest. Yet, the pain is such that we have a hard time resting or sleeping. So, we don’t really end up recuperating very well or very quickly.
I started working on a song just a bit ago, because a friend asked – well, not technically, but I know he intended to make the request – me to create something I found beautiful. He said that there doesn’t seem to be enough of that in the world right now. So, I’m working on a song of things I find beautiful in life. I kind of hated it for a while, but I evaluated why I kind of hated it, saw that it was because I was trying to make it something that wasn’t true to who I really am and how I really feel about the matter, and switched into the proper gear for myself. I think it is going to turn out spectacular now. I’m even excited about it for myself, and not just for the friend to enjoy it. 😀
Anyway, I’m wiped, so I’m going to aim for intense, helpful, healing, deep, long sleep tonight, with a wake-up that is completely ready to take on the stormy day tomorrow. 😀
Post-a-day 2020
Let’s talk briefly about a mental health oddity slash ironic circle of annoyance.
When I am struggling mentally, and I really just need some regular love from people, I start to reach out to people.
Say that I tell them that I am struggling, and could really use some love right now.
So, they start checking in, asking how I’m doing, and telling me they care about me…
Which is completely annoying and stressful, because 1) I only wanted some regular interaction and friendship love – nothing special or over-the-top emotional – and 2) it only reminds me of the fact that they weren’t interacting with me on the first place, showing me the regular love I so needed.
You see, when I feel the need to reach out for love, it usually doesn’t work to reach out… it, instead, only emphasizes the stress I was already feeling in my experience of being alone and unloved…, the experience that had me want to reach out for help.
And so, instead of asking for help when I am in need, I have, in a way, to trick people into interacting with me.
I’m not looking for any words of, ‘Hannah, you’re amazing,’ or anything of the sort… I’m just looking for those everyday expressions of love that we share with the people in our lives… the people with whom we interact on a regular basis… the kinds of relationships I tend not to find for myself very easily in adult life…
People just don’t with me… they don’t call me just to say hi, they don’t call me first for things, and they typically don’t reach out period… I am the one who reaches out, almost always in my life.
The only person who always checks in regularly with me is my mother.
I had one friend in town who did it, but she’s moved away now, so our lives don’t have our everyday hangout part anymore…, but I don’t blame anyone for that – we just don’t live in the same state anymore.
That one friend and my mom aside, though, I am the one who reaches out almost every single time in any relationship I have, friend or family.
And sometimes, it gets to me… when a whole bunch of other stuff kind of piles on top of one another all at once, the loneliness can hit me really hard… and I know that I need help…, yet asking for help in that case kind of defeats the whole purpose of asking for the help in the first place… thus the annoying circle of downward-spiraling irony…
Whenever someone calls attention to my need for love, be it be staying it directly or by saying how they wondered if I’m okay or if I needed anything, it just makes the whole things worse for me… it’s one area where talking about it doesn’t help, and actually makes things worse for me… it draws out my experience of being pathetic and unloved… it is embarrassing that I have to ask for signs of being loved…
So, I sometimes wonder if there’s a way to ask for help that says, ‘Hey, I need some love, but pretend I didn’t tell you this – pretend you just felt like talking with me, and so reached out to chat about nothing in particular…’
Does that all make sense?
Anyway, so that’s where I am tonight.
I could really use some love… love unsought, but nonetheless much needed.
Post-a-day 2020
I went to an outlet mall today (filled with almost no one, actually), to go specifically to Lululemon for some sports gear.
You see, the bras I have from there are spectacular.
But my workout have been so good this past year that, well, they don’t fit anymore… they are too big on me.
So, I needed to get some new sports bras, and I wanted to get good quality for something like that, that I would use so often.
So, we go to Lululemon, and sign up on the digital waitlist… the wait is estimated at two hours, because so few people are allowed in the store at once, right?
Right.
Like at certain busy restaurants and eateries, we were to receive a text message when an estimated ten to 15 minutes remained in our wait time, and it would say this and that we should return to the store now.
Unlike these restaurants and eateries, we also received a link that we could refresh at will in order to see where our party was “in line”.
We started at spot number thirty.
We walked around outside a long while – around 8,000 steps worth – before heading back toward the store (where we were parked), and verifying that we still were only around 9th in line.
The doorman told us that, since it was “parties” and not just individuals “in line”, we had plenty of time to go get the ice cream we were considering.
So, we drove to HEB, I did some quick research as to why I couldn’t find a childhood favorite anymore, and I got a very close alternative to it.
We then enjoyed our treats back in the car, and received our text message notification about 45 seconds after pulling into a parking space back at Lululemon.
I then had a blast in the store, and my friend, though not finding anything she was wanting inside the store, found a delightful time outside the store, practicing her handstands, and eventually being joined by one of the store’s staff – perhaps he was on his break? – to share in the doing of handstands, and to display free handstand push-ups (they are bomb, and it is a pleasure to witness anyone doing these successfully)(!).
We headed home after a good while, both of us quite satisfied, both in mind and in belly.
The irony?
If you missed it, the irony was that I was getting new sportswear, because I’d released so much weight/fat from my body through my workouts and healthy eating…, yet I went and had what was likely an extremely high-calorie tub of ice cream while waiting to purchase said new sportswear… 😛
But I didn’t finish it, so, that is good, and it is now in the freezer here, finding a new version of itself after having melted. 😀
Post-a-day 2020
Remember how I shared about that guy from Alanis Morissette’s “Ironic”?
Well, I did as planned with the whole ‘one last purging cry’ to finish off all of the stress of the situation… for the next while, it was still a bit unsettling for me, but increasingly better every day that passed.
By the time I saw him again this week, I had truly let it all go out of the way – we had (at least, I had) and awesome time talking about this and that and being wonderful, somewhat silly people together… I got to have the friendship experience I truly want to have with wonderful people, especially wonderful men.
Eventually, I want to have a certain kind of awesome relationship with a my man in particular, but I want always to have these wonderful friendships with men otherwise – I think they are good for me and for the world.
And then, as I was considering today how it had gone so well with him this week, and I thought about the song again, I turned on the radio in the car for once… and would you guess what was playing on the station that came on?(!!!)
Yup.
“Ironic” by Alanis Morissette… and it was about five seconds before the exact line I’d been considering… talk about perfect timing.
I took it as a total sign of success on my part, that I’d done good. 😛
It was great. 😀
Post-a-day 2019
Jump– jump– jump– jump
—-jump-jump
Aaaaaaahh!
Fleas are just darn terrible, especially without a pet… at least, with a pet, they stay on the pet… without the pet, they spread everywhere, and attack every warm body that passes through (which happens to be my warm body, my being the only one who actually lives here and isn’t a big of some sort)…
Ugh…
Help me, Lord… I have a struggle beyond this, and the fleas are just making everything worse and somewhat terrible.
……..
You see, have you ever heard the song “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette?
This section has lived in my head off and on ever since I first learned the song, way back when:
A traffic jam when you’re already late
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
It’s like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
It’s meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife…
And isn’t it ironic, don’t you think
A little too ironic, and yeah I really do think
It is all too ironic, I dare say, that this line about the man and his wife always stuck with me as a child, and now it has resurfaced in the face of reality hitting the mark of a reasonable validity in the statement.
That is, in more sensical wording, that line has come true for me.
I met this “man of my dreams” several months ago – and he even became the actual man of my daydreams over time.
Every time we are together, I am filled with light and love, and I am inspired to be the best version I can be of myself… and I want him to enjoy himself and have a wonderful time, and I take care to help along his enjoyment in the interaction.
We inevitably have a wonderful time.
And I drink up his smile.
And his eyes… those eyes that keep contact… they are that kind of eyes.
Every new thing I learn about him and every new experience I have with him increases his perfection as this “man of my dreams”.
Everything except the seemingly inevitable, that is…
I finally paid attention enough to his hands this last time I saw him – something I never seem to check on people, and so it had to be a conscious effort this time – and discovered a wedding band.
…::face palm::…
He had on another ring, too, so there was a chance it was just a ring and not a wedding band…, but then I learned of his beautiful and wonderful wife, and their beautiful darlings of children.
It was confirmed…
When I considered it all, I discovered that I truly was unsurprised by the information… just bummed.
All the good ones really are taken…(!!!)
A somewhat jokingly thought thought, but it seems to strike rather truly these days. 
I never really expected him to be single, available… he’s too great, too comfortable in himself and with me and others… he has confidence in his place with his partner and family.
But there’s always a chance that a great guy won’t be unavailable, I tell myself, because I’m not with anyone, you know, and I’m great…
Anyway…, moving onward…
It stresses me sad to know that this guy, for sure, is not a potential partner in my life.
And… surprisingly,… yet not surprisingly,… I find hope in it all.
Firstly, that this guy exists suggests that it is possible someone else like he is could exist, someone so wonderful.
Secondly, that this guy is such a good guy that he can have a wonderful, non romantic time with me, even though he is married, makes him an even better guy than thought….
Which, then, makes the first point an even bigger and better deal…
Thirdly, there were two tiny, unchangeable aspects to him that I don’t particularly love (but that I found myself to be okay with reasonably quickly as I spent more time with the guy), and perhaps this is a piece of why he is not the one for me nor I the one for him… and perhaps the one for me will share many qualities with this guy, and yet those tiny disliked aspects will be gone in the one for me…
So, ultimately, it’s a good thing… all of it.
And… I’m even relieved a bit… no offense, but I didn’t and don’t want to have those tiny drawback aspects if I don’t have to have them, you know?
I mean, I definitely am still not quite over it all… it is still a blow to know for sure something like this, even when you had somewhat suspected it all along…, but I also can see that I will be over it, and likely rather soon.
I don’t recall at present which character where said it, but pain demands to be felt… I agree with that… when we ignore pain, it changes, but ultimately worsens.
So, I talked with my cousin, just to communicate my frustration and sadness today, because I realized it was time to let this all go… we discovered that I think I need to have a final cry to get the last dregs out and gone in the matter, so that then I can resume a wonderful friendship with a wonderful, inspiring guy.
Post-a-day 2019
We’ve been reading the book Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner in one of my classes.
As part of the research I have to do for it, I’ve been reading all about the intentional, semi-genius absurdity that is Mr. Faulkner’s sentence structure and story-telling in this book, and especially how details of the one big story come out from four different storytellers in all sorts of crazy order… always leaving the key details for the end, though they all knew these details from the very beginning.
Now, I read from a happy book every night before bed – a book that has me excited to snuggle up in bed to read it each night, anyway,if not always “happy”.
That book right now is The Voice on the Radio by Caroline B. Cooney, a book from a series I admired and loved as an elementary schooler.
The sort of irony of it is that, while I wasn’t really a fan of the Absalom reading and research originally, I finally got interested in it today with my findings on the style, as I was mentioning already…. and then tonight, reading my book, a conversation comes up in which a professor says how his wife keeps a chart by their radio – you see, the student is a radio talk guy for the campus station, and has been telling pieces of the story of a kidnapping (don’t worry, though, because the kidnapping got all sorted out, and everyone is safe from it all in the story now) all out of order and only in tidbits here and there – so that she can note whatever tidbit the student shares that night, and hopefully eventually piece together everything to understand the full story.
The student’s mental response to this comment from the professor is, “So his master plan was working,” and that “[t]he delivery of overlapping stories, out of order, had hooked the audience[…]” (quote from page 81 of the September 1998 printing)
… just like Mr. Faulkner’s Absalom style, I found myself thinking…
And so, I start to like this bit about Absalom, and, that same day, I find a strong connection to it in another book that I already like lots and lots… 😛
Kind of crazy, huh?
And I said ‘sort of irony’, because it’s kind of coincidence combined with irony – finding a connection to something I hated in something I love, except that I now actually like some of the former, so the irony is semi-replaced by coincidence…
Post-a-day 2018
hannah ananas 