Things I Haven't Done in About a Year

[multipurposegoddess]

Mostly not purposefully avoiding, just stuff I've noticed.

• • Cut my hair - I had an appointment last June, but my stylist kept me waiting for long enough for me to decide that I was really not ready for the whole chit-chatty social aspect of getting my hair cut and I bailed. I might go back to her and explain the circumstances, or I might just start going to one of the 70-bazillion other salons that are around. But not for a little while yet.
  • Listen to recorded music. I have gotten to where I can enjoy incidental music, background music at the grocery store, that sort of thing, which I couldn't deal with for a while, so I expect at some point I will want some tunes on the iPod. Which is a relief, that would have been kind of a big thing to lose my taste for forever.
  • Ride my bike. It is fortunate that I need to do some maintenance before I go for a ride. If I can get through cleaning the chain and all that without bursting into tears, maybe I can get to City Hall and back.
  • Cook out on the patio. Poor neglected grill.
  • Crochet - yeah, I don't know why, but there it is. All the crafty stuff is on pause, apparently.
  • Go to the movies - it's gonna be kind of a big deal the first time I go to the theater by myself, I think. I've been trying to take myself out to eat for a couple of months, now, and keep finding reasons not to (though I have been out with other people). It's a similar feeling.
  • Road trip. That'll be weird when it happens. And it will, it's really the only way to travel with Walter, but the sheer number of adjustments to be made is daunting.
  • Kind of a lot of routine health care stuff. I just don't care enough to make appointments. I'll get around to it eventually.
  • Similarly oil changes and whatnot for the cars. They are both overdue for routine maintenance. OTOH, I don't put a lot of miles on them, so maybe a little neglect is not so bad as it would be if they were getting hard use.
  Things I do a lot of

• • Cooking, baking, making dumplings, tending the sourdough
  • Gardening
  • Sitting with a cat on my lap (being catted in the parlance of me and DH)
  • Watching TV (I don't think I can stop watching shows that H liked even if they become terrible. I have to hope some of them get cancelled, really)
  • Ritual tea (not like classic Japanese Tea Ritual, just drinking tea is loaded with reminders of H)

Comments

[fatoudust]

You know, I have to say, this is pretty stinking good. There are things I hope you do get to, like the medical and car stuff, and I think all the creativity stuff goes in one big ball, but I think overall, this is not at all a bad list.

Today I observed to the SO that I hadn't played an instrument since the tsunami. He said I should try to work on songwriting, even if I don't play, and I think that's good advice. I want to play, eventually, but right now I just don't have it. My main goal before summer is to get my sleep closer to normal.

I know it's not comparable to what you're going through. I just wanted to say that I understand about the creativity. I did start back knitting, though, and I enjoyed it. It was tactile, and helpful to be able to focus. I love knitting because it can be either hyperfocus, driving everything else out, or idle, allowing me to think, based on what I need.

Anyway, now I'm going to cook noodles and watch hockey, and that seems pretty good to me.

[multipurposegoddess]

Yeah, it's pretty reasonable, right? And I totally left off the bees, which do take up their fair share of time. Going to get a second hive body tomorrow!

The cars have had some attention - I know I took the Toyota in for some kind of service in the Fall but I was in a fog at the time and would have to find the receipt to know what I got done. And since I put the new battery into the Volvo it seems to be happy. I'll get back on track with that stuff, I'm sure. And the medical stuff - I'll get on that in June. I changed insurance, and therefore doctors, this year so it'll be kind of cumbersome and I decided it can all wait that long. June is when I start trying in earnest to really be a responsible adult in general.

You are probably right about lumping the creative stuff together. That makes sense. I've done hardly any writing, either, jut a tiny bit, here and there, but every time I do a tiny bit it's a triumph that that's not over, and that's enough, for now. I find the line between how much more I could do if I pushed myself and how much is too much that will set me back, hard to find. In everything, but it's most apparent with creative things where enjoying doing them is most of the point. I've got my yarn still sitting out here in the living room from doing the Yarn Exchange, one of these days I will decide to do something with some of it.

It's funny the things that get all emotional and how sometimes that is a total block to doing that thing, and sometimes it's just, I don't know, something to get used to, and some things have to be done with regularity because they are all emotional.

Noodles and hockey sounds very good to me. Good luck with getting your normal sleep back - I feel really lucky that I had plenty of time to sleep as much as I needed to readjust. Everything is harder when sleep patterns aren't right. I'm glad you've been able to recognize how much the tsunami and its aftermath is affecting you, and are taking care of yourself.