19 January 2003

This is very strange: I feel physically sullen. Emotionally, not sullen at all, but my body feels approximately like it's going to say, "Oh, fine, be that way" and flounce off to slam the door any minute, in the face of nobody being any particular "way." I was trying to associate it with my teen years in some way, and then I realized I wasn't a particularly sullen teenager. Maybe it's just the cramps/headache/backache/lack of appetite/dizziness. That's enough to make anybody a bit owly.

Owly enough that when my stupid MS Word program says owly isn't a word, I feel like it's a snotty twelve-year-old saying, "Only your family uses that word." And I stick my tongue out at the screen.

Which is not yet my new screen, but it will be soon, as soon as someone who has confidence in their upper body strength will switch them for me. It's not that I'm not strong enough to lift the monitors and switch them. It's that feeling this overall crappy makes me feel like it'd be touch and go, and frankly, if there are things you don't want to drop and break, new monitors for which you haven't even gotten the rebate yet are pretty high on the list.

The new monitor is the same size as this one and identical to the new monitors we got for Mark and Timprov last spring. However, it is to be hoped that the new monitor will not turn lavender when it's feeling owly, which my old monitor does. We also picked up new keyboards for Timprov and me down at Fry's (Mark bought a really nice keyboard when we first got married and had no need of another). We did not pick the cheapest ones this time, since last time I did that, and the letters were all worn off in less than six months. I don't need the letters, but the guys do, and the bumps were wearing off, and the touch was getting really mushy. And keyboards are not that expensive, so we saved the old one in case of an emergency and bought new ones. As for the monitor, there seems to be a law of nature that we have to have a monitor box in the living room at all times. Sigh. We'll take it to be recycled when we can, just not sure when that'll be.

Mark wants an attic, he says, and I have to agree with him, an attic would be a nice place to put obsolete electronics and boxes and things. Basements are also good, with storage areas and all. Even garages, for temporary stuff. If Mark teaches at Institution1, old houses with attics would abound. Institution2 or other future Institutions, I'm not so sure of yet; he'll have to tell me when he gets home on Tuesday. Or probably when he gets home from work on Wednesday, since it sounds like Institution2 will be running him absolutely ragged on his Monday/Tuesday trip.

Anyway, while we were out, we picked up other stuff, too, groceries and videos. I've been in something of a movie mood. Yesterday afternoon, Amber came over, and we hung out and caught up on holiday stories and ate Timprov's new improvised wild rice chili, which was pretty good, and my plain old by-the-recipe cornbread, which was also pretty good. And we had a dodgy avocado and some brown bread and eplepai on the table as well. All decent. And we watched "Amélie." Oh my. What a great movie. Timprov had watched it and vouched for its goodness and its Amber-specific appeal, and he was so completely right. Kev had also recommended it. Fun, funny, beautiful stuff. And not an umbrella in sight.

So. Plans for today include getting Mark ready to go tomorrow, finishing that Ted Chiang collection, working, and avoiding rabid Raiders fans. And maybe feeling less physically sullen, if I can manage it. For everyone else's sake, I hope so.