A fitness model and writer, Tosca Reno, refers to women who lift weights as "Sisters in Iron". I love this name! I would be thrilled to call Tosca my sister any old day, because she's awesome! She is also, through her publications and that of her husband, Robert Kennedy, saving my life.
Hey, remember that failed relationship I mentioned in the last post?
Here's how my weight-lifting obsessions started.
I had been smoking and drinking too much for quite some time. This, for me, started in my early twenties, somewhat later than some of my peers. It started in college and sort of carried over into my grown-up existence, or what I was trying to get to pass for it.
I had always done some form of movement. Tap, ballet, aerobics, taking walks. . .. and I had always been a skinny kid. It wasn't until I started working for the aforementioned boss who hated me that some of my workmates started to get concerned.
Enter Charlene.
Charlene was a coach at my school, and a good friend. She thought I looked too thin, and I didn't eat enough. She took me under her wing by offering to show me how to lift weights with her and the softball team. That was it. . . . I was hooked.
The same year I started lifting was the same year Robert Kennedy started publishing Oxygen magazine, which is a fitness magazine for women. After the first couple of workouts, I was hooked. I had always had good posture from dance classes, but now my back was strong. I could always lift some things just with regular movement, but now I could walk to the grocery store, buy groceries for the week, and walk back with all my bags. I was eating better, eating more, and able to do more during my day without freaking out or feeling the insane urge to smoke.
When I moved to North Carolina, it was weight lifting that kept me out of harm's way.
Lifting weights, for me, is like knitting. If I don't do it, I'll die.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Knitting Geekiness
Hi. My name is Heather, and I knit too much. I currently have three "dream" projects bookmarked on a knitter's web site, and I almost blew $100 on yarn.. . . ALMOST. But I stopped myself.
I have more yarn than I have storage, so now I have to finish some of the stuff that has been languishing and lying about unfinished in my house. I HAVE TO. I have many store-bought sweaters, which are perfectly all right. Except. . . I didn't make them.
I started knitting nearly twelve years ago, to relieve the stress of loneliness, a job where my boss hated me, and a then-failing relationship. I lived a half-hour from anyone I knew, including my parents, but half the time my car wouldn't get me that far. Hell, it barely got to work, and that was maybe a seven minute drive. I was smoking too much, drinking too much, and not eating, and I have never been a winter-weather gal.
Active and hyper since birth, I have always been what my mother calls "wiggly." My dad always had me and my brother outside, fishing or hiking or playing ball or just generally goofing around. I do not "sit" well. Knitting makes me not only sit well, but sit still.
When I first started, it was suggested that I knit a scarf. I did one better and got super-ambitious. I knit a sweater. It wasn't a very well-knit sweater, and the pattern called for a plain garter-stitch, and the shoulders unraveled after the third wearing, but I knit it. I finished it. I wore it three times.
Since then, I have made innumerable sweaters. I soon graduated to socks (not as difficult as one might think, but that first cast-on is a bitch), hats, and I knit a pair of mittens five years ago. I'm currently working on three sweaters, a pair of fingerless mitts, and have ahd my eye on my stash. Knitting, for me, is like music, dance, and working out with weights (my other big obsession). It keeps me sane. So. . . . how do you get your geek on?
I have more yarn than I have storage, so now I have to finish some of the stuff that has been languishing and lying about unfinished in my house. I HAVE TO. I have many store-bought sweaters, which are perfectly all right. Except. . . I didn't make them.
I started knitting nearly twelve years ago, to relieve the stress of loneliness, a job where my boss hated me, and a then-failing relationship. I lived a half-hour from anyone I knew, including my parents, but half the time my car wouldn't get me that far. Hell, it barely got to work, and that was maybe a seven minute drive. I was smoking too much, drinking too much, and not eating, and I have never been a winter-weather gal.
Active and hyper since birth, I have always been what my mother calls "wiggly." My dad always had me and my brother outside, fishing or hiking or playing ball or just generally goofing around. I do not "sit" well. Knitting makes me not only sit well, but sit still.
When I first started, it was suggested that I knit a scarf. I did one better and got super-ambitious. I knit a sweater. It wasn't a very well-knit sweater, and the pattern called for a plain garter-stitch, and the shoulders unraveled after the third wearing, but I knit it. I finished it. I wore it three times.
Since then, I have made innumerable sweaters. I soon graduated to socks (not as difficult as one might think, but that first cast-on is a bitch), hats, and I knit a pair of mittens five years ago. I'm currently working on three sweaters, a pair of fingerless mitts, and have ahd my eye on my stash. Knitting, for me, is like music, dance, and working out with weights (my other big obsession). It keeps me sane. So. . . . how do you get your geek on?
Monday, November 16, 2009
What Do You Do All Day?
I know we're all busy. I know we all have virtual and real lives, and sometimes the two cross over and bleed into each other. The above question has been posed to me recently by students as well as faculty.
What they see: me sitting behind a desk, tapping insanely at a computer, surrounded by books and bits of paper.
What's really going on:
1. Cataloging new books via Follett Cataloging software
2. Web site maintenance for both the school and the school library
3. Retreiving and printing login information for students, teachers and parents to use LiveGrades software for our school
4. Reading various and sundry blogs and tweets
5. Listening to music (either over on LAST or on Rockabillyradio.net)
6. Reading work-related e-mails and trying to respond
7. Checking stuff for my grad school classes
8. Helping kids fix server login problems, retreive stuff that "they know, they just know" is there on the server, because they know, they just know they saved it right (Uh---so how did it wind up in My Documents on this computer, instead of your G:\ drive with your lunch number?)
9. E-mailing my mom
10. E-mailing various community members in regard to the web site
11. Cruising various web sites for computer troubleshooting information
12. Cruising Novell's web site checking for various updates, patches, and general less stinkiness to make our server work better, faster, and not eat files
13. Make coffee
14. Sometimes I'll eat, but I haven't had a "full," or "sit-down" style lunch at work in years. These people who say librarians aren't teachers and don't deserve a 30-minute duty-free lunch, I flash a pair of upraised middle fingers and bid you a hale n' hearty "get bent!" And just so you know. . . . often my "lunches" are spent in my library, surrounded by kids, teachers, and people who need help, whether it's opening a file, saving a file, getting something to work in Flash, getting something to work AT ALL, or sending something as an attachment in an e-mail.
15. Answer phones---and yes, there are times when I have had to answer two phones simultaneously, with a third one ringing. It's in my back office. Sometimes I go back there, but I'm often afraid to.
I also don't take off from work much. The last time I did, all hell broke loose and it took weeks to get stuff straight.
I'm not complaining, though! I'm really not! I love my job! I get to help people all day, and I get to talk to cool people with crazy problems too. I also am constantly learning. I know stuff about Office 2007 that I never would have found on my own! I help people with web stuff, too! I always learn something neat!
So. . . .what do YOU do all day?
What they see: me sitting behind a desk, tapping insanely at a computer, surrounded by books and bits of paper.
What's really going on:
1. Cataloging new books via Follett Cataloging software
2. Web site maintenance for both the school and the school library
3. Retreiving and printing login information for students, teachers and parents to use LiveGrades software for our school
4. Reading various and sundry blogs and tweets
5. Listening to music (either over on LAST or on Rockabillyradio.net)
6. Reading work-related e-mails and trying to respond
7. Checking stuff for my grad school classes
8. Helping kids fix server login problems, retreive stuff that "they know, they just know" is there on the server, because they know, they just know they saved it right (Uh---so how did it wind up in My Documents on this computer, instead of your G:\ drive with your lunch number?)
9. E-mailing my mom
10. E-mailing various community members in regard to the web site
11. Cruising various web sites for computer troubleshooting information
12. Cruising Novell's web site checking for various updates, patches, and general less stinkiness to make our server work better, faster, and not eat files
13. Make coffee
14. Sometimes I'll eat, but I haven't had a "full," or "sit-down" style lunch at work in years. These people who say librarians aren't teachers and don't deserve a 30-minute duty-free lunch, I flash a pair of upraised middle fingers and bid you a hale n' hearty "get bent!" And just so you know. . . . often my "lunches" are spent in my library, surrounded by kids, teachers, and people who need help, whether it's opening a file, saving a file, getting something to work in Flash, getting something to work AT ALL, or sending something as an attachment in an e-mail.
15. Answer phones---and yes, there are times when I have had to answer two phones simultaneously, with a third one ringing. It's in my back office. Sometimes I go back there, but I'm often afraid to.
I also don't take off from work much. The last time I did, all hell broke loose and it took weeks to get stuff straight.
I'm not complaining, though! I'm really not! I love my job! I get to help people all day, and I get to talk to cool people with crazy problems too. I also am constantly learning. I know stuff about Office 2007 that I never would have found on my own! I help people with web stuff, too! I always learn something neat!
So. . . .what do YOU do all day?
Sunday, November 15, 2009
I Don't Come from Nowhere, or How I Got Here from There
Yeah, this is a little more about me. What can I say, I'm a narcissistic hillbilly! For those of you who have befiended me over on LAST, you already know this. For those of you reading this for shits n' giggles, this is a rehash of what I wrote on LAST, with some updates and less insane spelling.
I am from someplace so small and inconsequential that until the 70s you couldn't even find it on a map. I am from someplace that just turned 100, but no one much cared either way. I was born and raised in a town so small we had to drive half an hour just to get groceries. I could walk to my high school. I could walk to my grandparents' house. I could walk to my friends' houses. My mom always knew where my brother and I were. If it weren't for my dad being from a major urban area, I would have grown up on country and bluegrass and nothing but.
But I didn't.
My parents listened to everything. Jazz, rock, folk, classical, and everything in between. My dad befriended a lot of his former high school students, so a lot of my musical tastes come from them. I was the little kid, they were the bigger kids, and I always wanted to be like the bigger kids, what with me being the little kid and all. It was how I discovered AC/DC's Back in Black album, as well as Elvis, and Buddy Holly. See, here's the thing. . .
My dad is this beatnik jazz cat who grew up near and ran around New York's Lower East Side and Greenwich Village, back in the late 50s, when Ginsberg and Kerouac and Bob Dylan were hanging out, before people became hippies. My dad was not an Elvis fan. Everyone else we knew was. Imagine being the only kid in your hometown whose parents don't have any Elvis albums. Yeah. . . . . I could play Harlem Notcourne from memory by the time I started high school on sax, and I knew more about classical soprano and alto recorder music than how to get a boy to like me.
Then something crazy happened at our house. Punk rock happened to me and my brother via the Bargain Bin at our local discount chain (the long-gone Fisher's Big Wheel in New Martinsville, I believe). The Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bullocks, The Cure, the first, flawless Violent Femmes album, The Buzzcocks, X's Wild Gift (which I bought on tape, the tape player ate, and then I wore out my dad's vinyl album copy), and EVERYTHING from The Stray Cats. If you don't think the Stray Cats have their place in punk, you're sadly mistaken. My brother and I played the first two Stray Cats tapes so much we had to buy, like, three different copies, and it seemed no matter how much we cleaned the damned tape player they always got destroyed. So we got over it, got a sense of humor about it, and one year at Halloween found a sticker of a huge, gaping, blood-stained vampire mouth with teeth and put THAT on the cassette door!
Then grunge happened. Now here's where things get a little nuts. I went to a college that was in a place just as small as where I grew up. I knew who Nirvana and REM were before half my friends had any idea what was up. Though I had a thing for PrettyBoys from England (Nick Rhodes and Adam Ant being my two all-time faves), I was more familiar with the likes of guys like Neil Young, Kurt Cobain, and Sid Vicious---violent, fucked up, tortured, talented, and volatile. It's ok to listen to music from people like that. I tried dating one once. . . . not good.
But I ain't no snob. Anyone who accuses me of such will be greeted with an upraised middle finger and a quick telling-off.
If it weren't for punk, I never would have gotten into rockabilly. If it weren't for rockabilly, I wouldn't be writing this blog.
About 4 years ago, I discovered a groovy, 4-cd set from Rhino Records entitled Rockin' Bones: Punk and Rockabilly from the 50s and 60s. A lot has happened and changed since then, which eventually I reckon I'll get into. But for now, just know this. . . . I don't come from nowhere, just like most of y'all.
I am from someplace so small and inconsequential that until the 70s you couldn't even find it on a map. I am from someplace that just turned 100, but no one much cared either way. I was born and raised in a town so small we had to drive half an hour just to get groceries. I could walk to my high school. I could walk to my grandparents' house. I could walk to my friends' houses. My mom always knew where my brother and I were. If it weren't for my dad being from a major urban area, I would have grown up on country and bluegrass and nothing but.
But I didn't.
My parents listened to everything. Jazz, rock, folk, classical, and everything in between. My dad befriended a lot of his former high school students, so a lot of my musical tastes come from them. I was the little kid, they were the bigger kids, and I always wanted to be like the bigger kids, what with me being the little kid and all. It was how I discovered AC/DC's Back in Black album, as well as Elvis, and Buddy Holly. See, here's the thing. . .
My dad is this beatnik jazz cat who grew up near and ran around New York's Lower East Side and Greenwich Village, back in the late 50s, when Ginsberg and Kerouac and Bob Dylan were hanging out, before people became hippies. My dad was not an Elvis fan. Everyone else we knew was. Imagine being the only kid in your hometown whose parents don't have any Elvis albums. Yeah. . . . . I could play Harlem Notcourne from memory by the time I started high school on sax, and I knew more about classical soprano and alto recorder music than how to get a boy to like me.
Then something crazy happened at our house. Punk rock happened to me and my brother via the Bargain Bin at our local discount chain (the long-gone Fisher's Big Wheel in New Martinsville, I believe). The Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bullocks, The Cure, the first, flawless Violent Femmes album, The Buzzcocks, X's Wild Gift (which I bought on tape, the tape player ate, and then I wore out my dad's vinyl album copy), and EVERYTHING from The Stray Cats. If you don't think the Stray Cats have their place in punk, you're sadly mistaken. My brother and I played the first two Stray Cats tapes so much we had to buy, like, three different copies, and it seemed no matter how much we cleaned the damned tape player they always got destroyed. So we got over it, got a sense of humor about it, and one year at Halloween found a sticker of a huge, gaping, blood-stained vampire mouth with teeth and put THAT on the cassette door!
Then grunge happened. Now here's where things get a little nuts. I went to a college that was in a place just as small as where I grew up. I knew who Nirvana and REM were before half my friends had any idea what was up. Though I had a thing for PrettyBoys from England (Nick Rhodes and Adam Ant being my two all-time faves), I was more familiar with the likes of guys like Neil Young, Kurt Cobain, and Sid Vicious---violent, fucked up, tortured, talented, and volatile. It's ok to listen to music from people like that. I tried dating one once. . . . not good.
But I ain't no snob. Anyone who accuses me of such will be greeted with an upraised middle finger and a quick telling-off.
If it weren't for punk, I never would have gotten into rockabilly. If it weren't for rockabilly, I wouldn't be writing this blog.
About 4 years ago, I discovered a groovy, 4-cd set from Rhino Records entitled Rockin' Bones: Punk and Rockabilly from the 50s and 60s. A lot has happened and changed since then, which eventually I reckon I'll get into. But for now, just know this. . . . I don't come from nowhere, just like most of y'all.
So Here I Am, Yes It's Me
No, this isn't my first blog. Far from it. But I've let my other blogs fall by the wayside (one on school librarianship and another on perfume) simply because I've been bored by them, or I've lost the passwords and can't be bothered to dig them out, or there wasn't much readership to begin with. So, as with any person you meet for the first time, a brief introduction:
Hi. I'm Heather. I'm in the US. I used to drink lots of alcohol, but had to stop because it was messing with my brain, my body, and nearly cost me a job once. I still like to drink, with beer and wine being my favorites, but now I only do it on the weekend, and I try to see how long I can go without any alcohol in my system at all (longest stretch, 2.5 months). I think I might have a highly addictive personality. I read books. I shop for books. I have tried my hand at writing books as well as blogs. I also like to shop.
About shopping---I like to shop for clothes, music, books, yarn, jewelry, jewelry-making supplies, beads, food, shoes, and just plain old stuff. Stuff refers to workout equipment (I have a 15-pound kettlebell as well as several sets of dumbbells), athletic wear, make-up, perfume, nail polish, and just various and sundry things.
I love music. I love to dance. I am a hard-core rockabilly chick who also likes to go to dancehalls and dance clubs. I took ballet, tap, and jazz as a child. I still like to go out and break it on down, as well as get jiggy wit' it, bus' a moo', cut a rug, and jam. I have a user account on LAST fm, and lots of my friends over there will soon be reading this post and laughing their almighty butts off. The spelling alone will probably make people giggle til they pee. I also like to listen to Rockabillyradio.net and I used to listen to Live365, but now those sonsabitches want me to register and join. Fuck 'em.
I love to read other people's blogs. My faves as of late are :
http://www.librarian.net
http://worldsstrongestlibrarian.com
http://www.StefySpeaksOut.com
http://www.theskooloflife.com/wordpress
In fact, is was because of Srinivas Rao's guest post on Josh's blog that I decided to start this one. Wanna read that cat's way cool post? Clicken zie here.
Well, Feces! My batt'ry's about to die! Don't worry kids, I'll write more later.
Peace out, bean sprouts!
Heather
Hi. I'm Heather. I'm in the US. I used to drink lots of alcohol, but had to stop because it was messing with my brain, my body, and nearly cost me a job once. I still like to drink, with beer and wine being my favorites, but now I only do it on the weekend, and I try to see how long I can go without any alcohol in my system at all (longest stretch, 2.5 months). I think I might have a highly addictive personality. I read books. I shop for books. I have tried my hand at writing books as well as blogs. I also like to shop.
About shopping---I like to shop for clothes, music, books, yarn, jewelry, jewelry-making supplies, beads, food, shoes, and just plain old stuff. Stuff refers to workout equipment (I have a 15-pound kettlebell as well as several sets of dumbbells), athletic wear, make-up, perfume, nail polish, and just various and sundry things.
I love music. I love to dance. I am a hard-core rockabilly chick who also likes to go to dancehalls and dance clubs. I took ballet, tap, and jazz as a child. I still like to go out and break it on down, as well as get jiggy wit' it, bus' a moo', cut a rug, and jam. I have a user account on LAST fm, and lots of my friends over there will soon be reading this post and laughing their almighty butts off. The spelling alone will probably make people giggle til they pee. I also like to listen to Rockabillyradio.net and I used to listen to Live365, but now those sonsabitches want me to register and join. Fuck 'em.
I love to read other people's blogs. My faves as of late are :
http://www.librarian.net
http://worldsstrongestlibrarian.com
http://www.StefySpeaksOut.com
http://www.theskooloflife.com/wordpress
In fact, is was because of Srinivas Rao's guest post on Josh's blog that I decided to start this one. Wanna read that cat's way cool post? Clicken zie here.
Well, Feces! My batt'ry's about to die! Don't worry kids, I'll write more later.
Peace out, bean sprouts!
Heather
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