Polgara.net: The Official Website

British Air is having a mondo sweet sale today, with fares to London as low as $89 each way from the East Coast, and a roundtrip fare from the West Coast lower than $500, even after the insane taxes. Unfortunately all my spare cash is being reserved for a new (used) car that everyone keeps hounding me to get. (Seems my current vehicle makes more than a few people a bit nervous.)

In other news, my first belt test for Krav Maga is this Saturday. I’m trying not to think about it, ’cause I’m actually scared to death, and yet I have to think about it, ’cause I need to work on my weak points such as choke releases and, oddly enough, jumping jacks. My ankles really hate the jumping jacks. Mostly I just want it to be over already.

Check out this list of quizzes. If you’re like me and competitive to a fault, at least watch the clock, time will pass a lot faster than you think once you jump in.

This cold is never ever ever going to go away. Coughing woke me up at 8am and congestion forced me out of bed at 9am. But at least 80% of my dishes are washed, I’m fed, and I even had time to consider buying a car. I decided to wait, though, maybe for labor day.

Yesterday was way too busy, and could explain my overall tiredness today. There was kickboxing – my first workout in two whole weeks. It kicked my ass and almost made me throw up, but it was still good, and I like to believe that at least some of the evil nasty germs that have been making me miserable were ejected in all that sweat. (Pretty image, that.) Then there was yummy lunch at Downtown Disney with people I don’t get to see very often. We had some time to kill, so we wandered in the sun, since we missed all the convenient movie times. But then we got to go to the RED SOX game at Angel stadium, so, sweet! The game was… Well, it would’ve been better if my boys had won, but except for that it wasn’t too bad. At least there were three home runs (thank you Johnny and David!). We had Red Sox fans to the left and right of us, and Angel fans above and below. Unfortunately there were two Angel fans of the more obnoxious variety, one in front of us and one behind, that made it necessary for me to chug some Alleve in the 7th, but they were just loud more than anything, so it could’ve been worse. (I’ve sat in the bleachers at Fenway – I know worse.)

The next seven days are going to be hell, with a brief party intermission towards the end. Given that I still have my cold, I have serious doubts that I’ll make it through in one piece, or with all accomplished that I have planned.

Also, it’s damned hot here. I might have to seek refuge in a movie theater.

The current state of me:
+I’ve been sick for awhile with a very annoying cold, so I haven’t been to krav in two weeks (soon three). This is not good, as my first belt test is a week from Saturday.
+I’m currently reading Bitten, by Kelley Armstrong. It started out ho-hum, but has since gotten better. The protaganist is strong and quirky, like early Anita Blake, but is missing the snappy constantly moving plot. But it’s also not the all-sex/no-plot drivel that the Anita Blake books have since become, so that’s a huge plus.
+I’m about halfway through the Dead Like Me season one dvds from Netflix. It’s quirky and darkly funny, and the main character is slowly growing on me, but I hear it all falls apart soon, as the series creator left after about five episodes. Fingers are crossed for continued good episodes.
+The blanket I’ve been working on for months for my nephew is nearly complete – I just need to finish weaving the ends, and crochet a border on the whole thing. I always drag my feet when finishing large projects, but hopefully I can get it done this weekend. I’ve also finished a hat in rainbow colors, and I’m working on another, since they’re quick and easy, so there’s an instant gratification factor that makes them very appealing.
+A and I are going to the Red Sox/Angels game this weekend. Please oh please let them do better than the last time they were in Anaheim!

Mom probably thought I was nuts yesterday when I called her to ask how old I was when I learned how to read. I have no recollection of actually learning, it seems like I’ve always just known, but apparently Mom doesn’t remember either. She only recalls that I knew before I hit elementary school, since she was always reading to us constantly. I took this as good news, although there were some people on one of my posting boards who have stories about reading newspapers to their parents when they were three. (Three?!) I *think* my first non-picture books were probably Bobbsey Twins books, which Mom says I was reading by the time I was seven (which means six for the sis, since we read them at the same time). When I think Bobbsey Twins, I remember Grandma taking the sis and I to Jordan Marsh in Malden Square, which was the only store (that I know of) that sold them, and letting us pick out a book each. I think we gave the not quite complete set to our cousins, but I’m not sure.

I remember reading the Chronicles of Narnia when I was around ten or eleven. I can still see myself sitting in sixth grade – dammit, what was my teacher’s name? Miss Canniff maybe? Anyway, I’d be sitting there in the first row with a book in my lap under the desk, completely not paying attention to the lesson. I was at the head of the class that year (which was weird, since I was near the bottom of the class the year before – maybe Ms. Train just really didn’t like me), so she usually just ignored me, although I think she did call me on it once.

My two favorite books back then were Swiss Family Robinson and The Black Stallion, both of which I would reread every summer until sometime in high school. I tried rereading SFR a few months ago and was turned off by the religion and the family’s willingness to hit the dogs. Weird. I’m reluctant to try again, and risk tainting my fond memories of the story.

This post doesn’t really have any purpose, I’m just putting it in writing for the next time I try to remember this stuff. 🙂