I went to the doc yesterday for my travel visit. I am now officially poked full of yellow fever vaccine (which hurts like a bitch, y'all), boosted with adult polio, and the proud owner of four hose pillse to guard me against typhoid for the next five years. And the best part is I also get a month's worth of malaria pills to bring with me, just in case. I don't know why it amuses me that they are contingency malaria pills, but there it is.
(I have them in case I decide to go on an overnight to Iguacu Falls in Argentina, stay past dusk at Angkor Wat or take an overnight border crossing into Cambodia, or go to Laos).
This combines with the vaccines I got over the summer from the regular injection clinic. I am not completely guarded against absolutely everything - while I am just fine with inviting over a pile of yellow feverites for an evening of Twister and sneezing at each other, I am only 90% safe on Hep A. I got one shot, but won't get the other until I am back. So no nice Hep A and snow pea saute for me on the road this trip. Sad times.
But I want to say, mad love for Kaiser right now. Reading the travel forums and the like, apparently it's pretty common for folks to set aside a couple hundred for their vaccinations. Mine cost me my copay for the office visit and the two prescriptions; that's it. Yay, Kaiser. I WILL thrive, thank you!
November 30, 2007
I am a terrible blogger.
This is why you never send me chain letters, people. That chain will invariably make its quiet and unnoticed demise with me. I am way too lazy to make them work - even those ones that involve two people and a recipe exchange? I have yet to pass one of those on. And I love to cook and collect new recipes. Hopeless, I am.
Anyhow, all of this is to say: arduous tagged me (even though she KNOWS I am utterly useless) so I will give my seven things. But since I don't know a single blogger who has not been tagged, it all ends with me.
And despite the entire purpose of my blog, not one of mine will be travel related:
1. My favorite flavors for fake-flavored things are root beer and green apple; I do not particularly like root beer or green apples.
2. I have a random tendon thing on my right hand that I can wiggle at will. It's sort of hard to explain, but those rope things that run the length of the knuckle, that move when your finger moves? On the pinky of my right hand (and only that hand) I can make it wag back and forth, without moving the finger. No idea why.
3. I have only ever owned Honda cars.
4. I have a complicated relationship with tomatoes. I hate them in general and won't eat them, but I will eat and do like tomato products. I love ketchup, I eat marinara, I eat salsa - but mostly because I love vinegar, basil, garlic, oregano, chiles, etc. If it is a chunky salsa, pizza sauce, whatever, I tend to eat around the tomato chunks. Plain tomatoes, tomato soup, tomato juice, are all the root of evil. Mushrooms are simpler, and I won't eat them in any form.
5. I watch on average 30 hours of television a week.
6. I crack my neck, back, all finger joints, and toes. I no longer do it as a habit, but only when they are stiff or sore, but that means cracking on pretty much a daily basis. I also pop ankles, knees, elbows and, weirdly, my breastbone (which I didn't think had a joint...?), but only when they go wonky, I cannot do it at will.
7. I regularly sleep face down, with no fewer than 5 pillows and one full body pillow on the bed.
I think I am supposed to post rules or some such, but whatever. You can't tell me what to do.
Anyhow, all of this is to say: arduous tagged me (even though she KNOWS I am utterly useless) so I will give my seven things. But since I don't know a single blogger who has not been tagged, it all ends with me.
And despite the entire purpose of my blog, not one of mine will be travel related:
1. My favorite flavors for fake-flavored things are root beer and green apple; I do not particularly like root beer or green apples.
2. I have a random tendon thing on my right hand that I can wiggle at will. It's sort of hard to explain, but those rope things that run the length of the knuckle, that move when your finger moves? On the pinky of my right hand (and only that hand) I can make it wag back and forth, without moving the finger. No idea why.
3. I have only ever owned Honda cars.
4. I have a complicated relationship with tomatoes. I hate them in general and won't eat them, but I will eat and do like tomato products. I love ketchup, I eat marinara, I eat salsa - but mostly because I love vinegar, basil, garlic, oregano, chiles, etc. If it is a chunky salsa, pizza sauce, whatever, I tend to eat around the tomato chunks. Plain tomatoes, tomato soup, tomato juice, are all the root of evil. Mushrooms are simpler, and I won't eat them in any form.
5. I watch on average 30 hours of television a week.
6. I crack my neck, back, all finger joints, and toes. I no longer do it as a habit, but only when they are stiff or sore, but that means cracking on pretty much a daily basis. I also pop ankles, knees, elbows and, weirdly, my breastbone (which I didn't think had a joint...?), but only when they go wonky, I cannot do it at will.
7. I regularly sleep face down, with no fewer than 5 pillows and one full body pillow on the bed.
I think I am supposed to post rules or some such, but whatever. You can't tell me what to do.
November 10, 2007
rollin' in it
i sat down tonight to do all my dull financial stuff (because that's how i roll on a saturday evening, y'all), and i calculated my savings account. i make direct withdrawls to my ING account with every paycheck, and have for the past year. i also try to put as much of my paycheck from second job into ING as well, plus any extra i have from being a good girl and not going to lush (or mervyn's, apparently).
assuming i stay on schedule and make the deposits as planned for the rest of the year (and there's only three; really no reason why i won't), i will have totally hit my savings goal for my trip. it's a big number, and i am actually really proud of myself. i have no intention of spending the whole wad in the course of the trip, because i get jittery without savings and i would like a solid nest egg to use as re-entry money, but it's a good enough bundle that i don't think i need to panic on the road. i should do just fine, and still have plenty to go see priscilla in sydney like my mom wants me to.
assuming i stay on schedule and make the deposits as planned for the rest of the year (and there's only three; really no reason why i won't), i will have totally hit my savings goal for my trip. it's a big number, and i am actually really proud of myself. i have no intention of spending the whole wad in the course of the trip, because i get jittery without savings and i would like a solid nest egg to use as re-entry money, but it's a good enough bundle that i don't think i need to panic on the road. i should do just fine, and still have plenty to go see priscilla in sydney like my mom wants me to.
November 03, 2007
binging & purging
I went shopping today, which as I have mentioned I...don't do. It felt a little weird, to go out without no intention of buying anything (when not going to REI. It seems I always buy something at REI. For the trip!)
It started slow: first stop, farmer's market with mom. I bought nothing myself, though my have heavily influenced the purchase of some persimmons and some of the last raspberries of the season. I am unrepentant on either count.
Next, we hit up the flea market, with the sister in tow. Despite the name, there is little used crap at this flea market; it's much more a craft/staple market, but that does not sound as cool, and it does not at all detract from the awesomeness of the place. I didn't buy much, and nothing pricey, and it was all gifts for friends, but it felt so foreign to buy things that have not been on several lists for months.
But apparently, I opened some flood gates, because our next stop – at MERVYN'S of all places – I went a bit nuts. All staples, all things I need and will wear constantly, all on sale, but man did it feel like gorging myself on three guilty pleasures at once.
So to balance it out, I came home tonight and listed things for sale on eBay. I've been meaning to for a while, and it seems like a good time to offset my new possessions & the money I spent on them. I'm not selling a lot, and nothing particularly exotic (and, note to self, much of it was stuff I originally BOUGHT on eBay; the auction system does not fare will with my impulsive nature), just stuff that I do not need and will probably not move with me when I relocate (again) once I am back from traveling. So if I don't need them now, might as well get the money.
Now I just have to hope someone is as impulsive as I am and bids on these things!
I also went through my closet and pulled out a bunch of clothes and shoes and bags and books for the next charity pick up. I have started doing it for every pick up time, so I sometimes don't have a lot to give away, but the purging has gotten pretty addictive. It feels refreshing to get rid of things that I don't need and don't want and don't fit and have worn out, and pare it down to only the stuff I love and use. Don't get me wrong, I still have outrageous amounts of "stuff," but it gets more managable each month.
It's no Vow of Non-Consumerism, but moving from a one-bedroom apartment and back in with the 'rents, curbing all purchases in order to save money, planning to spend the better part of next year traveling with very few material possessions, and the idea that I will move again when I come back has been very, very good about ridding me of some unnecessary clutter.
It started slow: first stop, farmer's market with mom. I bought nothing myself, though my have heavily influenced the purchase of some persimmons and some of the last raspberries of the season. I am unrepentant on either count.
Next, we hit up the flea market, with the sister in tow. Despite the name, there is little used crap at this flea market; it's much more a craft/staple market, but that does not sound as cool, and it does not at all detract from the awesomeness of the place. I didn't buy much, and nothing pricey, and it was all gifts for friends, but it felt so foreign to buy things that have not been on several lists for months.
But apparently, I opened some flood gates, because our next stop – at MERVYN'S of all places – I went a bit nuts. All staples, all things I need and will wear constantly, all on sale, but man did it feel like gorging myself on three guilty pleasures at once.
So to balance it out, I came home tonight and listed things for sale on eBay. I've been meaning to for a while, and it seems like a good time to offset my new possessions & the money I spent on them. I'm not selling a lot, and nothing particularly exotic (and, note to self, much of it was stuff I originally BOUGHT on eBay; the auction system does not fare will with my impulsive nature), just stuff that I do not need and will probably not move with me when I relocate (again) once I am back from traveling. So if I don't need them now, might as well get the money.
Now I just have to hope someone is as impulsive as I am and bids on these things!
I also went through my closet and pulled out a bunch of clothes and shoes and bags and books for the next charity pick up. I have started doing it for every pick up time, so I sometimes don't have a lot to give away, but the purging has gotten pretty addictive. It feels refreshing to get rid of things that I don't need and don't want and don't fit and have worn out, and pare it down to only the stuff I love and use. Don't get me wrong, I still have outrageous amounts of "stuff," but it gets more managable each month.
It's no Vow of Non-Consumerism, but moving from a one-bedroom apartment and back in with the 'rents, curbing all purchases in order to save money, planning to spend the better part of next year traveling with very few material possessions, and the idea that I will move again when I come back has been very, very good about ridding me of some unnecessary clutter.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)