The craziness of coincidences on my second first date:
We share a birthday, right down to the year.
We are both middle children.
He was telling me how he processes a friend's problems - asking for all sides even though he supports the friend, and how it can frustrate people. I totally do this.
He often says no to plans, but really just needs time to think about it and will end up saying yes. Sounds familiar to me too...
I asked him what time he was born so that we could figure out who is older, and thus wiser.
Me: Hey, Mom, random question from my birthday twin...
Him: Pretty much how it went...I met someone as great as me trying to decide who's greater...
27 February 2016
Thanks
Thank you, attractive vendor at the craft show, for watching me pass by.
Thank you friend with whom I recently caught up after too long for your encouraging words re: lots of stuff.
Thank you, colleague, for mentioning how much it bugged you that the student who was house sitting put the mugs back differently and that bothered you. It made me really realize I cannot live alone for the rest of my life.
Thank you, Director of Res Life, for letting me know you hear good things about me from the students!
Thank you, College Chaplain, for introducing me to students as being wonderful.
Thank you, online dating site users, for filling up my social calendar. You have good tastes (in me!).
Thank you, local friends, for getting excited about my stories.
Thank you friend with whom I recently caught up after too long for your encouraging words re: lots of stuff.
Thank you, colleague, for mentioning how much it bugged you that the student who was house sitting put the mugs back differently and that bothered you. It made me really realize I cannot live alone for the rest of my life.
Thank you, Director of Res Life, for letting me know you hear good things about me from the students!
Thank you, College Chaplain, for introducing me to students as being wonderful.
Thank you, online dating site users, for filling up my social calendar. You have good tastes (in me!).
Thank you, local friends, for getting excited about my stories.
18 February 2016
Full circle
Many years ago, when I first thought it was a good idea to start a blog, I was venturing into online dating as a way to just start doing things and getting out there. So, it was my sixth post, but still. It meant I didn't have to repeat stories for those friends to whom I gave the link. Well. I may have recently embarked on my third round of this approach to reentering the dating scene/getting out there and doing things. But first, I bring you letters to people (a la Stephanie whose letters I greatly enjoy reading)!
Dear Bill,
I ate the box of your favorite Girl Scout cookies and drank the case of your favorite beer and sold the ticket to the beer fest I had for your birthday (now past). Your loss. Enjoy NYC.
Ex-Jenski
Dear fellow faculty,
Grow up.
Best,
Your fave junior colleague
Dear Ex,
I know I started this. I will likely regret it, but since I love this song and think this exact point most times I hear it, the wine I had with friends tonight "made" me send the first text. (Me on the right; he on the left.)
Jenski
P.S. Isn't it amazing that Amazon Prime knew to play 'Someone like you' soon after? Sometimes I just think FML to myself.
Dear friends/family (internet and otherwise),
Feel free to judge re: previous letter (spelling/purpose/whatev.). Seriously. I'm judging myself right now.
XOXO,
Jenski
Dear friend,
You were spot on when you said you hoped CF wouldn't break my heart but you were afraid or knew he already had. I think I'm still recovering quite honestly.
XOXO,
Ex-roomy
Sometimes you have to just get wine drunk on a Thursday night before you teach the next day...
Dear Bill,
I ate the box of your favorite Girl Scout cookies and drank the case of your favorite beer and sold the ticket to the beer fest I had for your birthday (now past). Your loss. Enjoy NYC.
Ex-Jenski
Dear fellow faculty,
Grow up.
Best,
Your fave junior colleague
Dear Ex,
I know I started this. I will likely regret it, but since I love this song and think this exact point most times I hear it, the wine I had with friends tonight "made" me send the first text. (Me on the right; he on the left.)
Jenski
P.S. Isn't it amazing that Amazon Prime knew to play 'Someone like you' soon after? Sometimes I just think FML to myself.
Dear friends/family (internet and otherwise),
Feel free to judge re: previous letter (spelling/purpose/whatev.). Seriously. I'm judging myself right now.
XOXO,
Jenski
Dear friend,
You were spot on when you said you hoped CF wouldn't break my heart but you were afraid or knew he already had. I think I'm still recovering quite honestly.
XOXO,
Ex-roomy
Sometimes you have to just get wine drunk on a Thursday night before you teach the next day...
30 June 2015
Whoa
So. It's been nearly 7 months since I last posted. I (think I) will not try to do some major recap or anything, because that would probably be mostly for me? Many of you know bits and pieces of the last 7 months of my life through the FB, Instagram, seeing me, etc. You readers who may still have this pop up on your bloglist have had your own wonderful, awful, and/or average life things happen over these past months.
....
I started this post a couple of days ago, but didn't know where else to go with it. The title was actually in reference to the 7 months since the last post. I am inspired to post it and a random hodge podge of things though, because I found out on the ever trusty face book that my most faithful commentor, Ron, passed away at work yesterday. I never asked how Ron found my blog, but it was likely from my early days of blogging when I would wander around blogland reading and commenting. Once, I posted about being googleable, and Ron was up to the challenge and ended up tracking me down on the face book. My ex thought it was weird Ron and I were friends on FB (but NOT that my other ex kept trying to stay in touch with me). I never met him in real life despite driving back and forth near his homebase several times. He was always ready with an obviously ridiculous comment on posts on the FB, and kind in blogland. He struggled with his life, but was a good person.
It is strange, because I lost my last living grandparent in the spring right before my birthday, but was not inspired to post about that loss. To be fair, I have thought of posting many, MANY times in these seven months, so maybe I will just start working through thoughts of race, relationships, academia, etc.?
In the meantime, I have recommitted to running, or at least am trying. Also eating more fruits and vegetables and less carbs. I am trying to be at least active in an intentional way every day starting last week (although on Saturday I got a mani-pedi instead...) and be aware of what I am eating (logging everything for 7 days to truly see if I eat the way I think I do).
I will leave you with some recipes I have tried recently that are TOTAL wins:
Earl-grey tea cake with rhubarb cream cheese icing I made to watch the last couple of episodes of Outlander with friends...who ended up canceling because they needed to finish packing for their impending trips to Europe. For the record, I brought it to work and did not eat it all myself!
Coconut raspberry dark chocolate muffins that happen to be vegan, paleo, low-carb, and grain free. A coworker picked me two pints of raspberries (and blueberries!), so I was using a handful of them up.
A delicious banana bread recipe I made vegan (by substituting "flax egg" for real egg) and roasted the bananas for because they were not very ripe. This one I made vegan because one of my summer research students is vegan and had her wisdom teeth out last week, so I promised to bake something she could eat before that happened. The cranberries were a surprisingly good touch!
Last, but not least, a zucchini crust for a "pizza". There is a comment that it is "quiche-like", which I would buy. It comes out a little floppy, but relatively sturdy to hold stuff up. Obviously if you were to dare to attempt feed this to children you should NOT use the word "pizza", because pizza it is not. I actually made it with summer squash that the same coworker who donated the raspberries brought in for me. I also used two eggs instead of egg substitute and then added a tablespoon of flax meal and did not use the suggested toppings. If you have seen any of my recipe posts, you will know that I frequently mess around with recipes though....
....
So thanks, Ron, for inspiring me in your absence to post again. Sorry there was not any bacon in the recipes...although that would be tasty on the "pizza"! I'll be interested to see if you entrusted someone to take down your blog when you were gone...
Maybe I'll keep up the blogging....
(...or maybe just reposting links to old posts I never want to forget.)
....
I started this post a couple of days ago, but didn't know where else to go with it. The title was actually in reference to the 7 months since the last post. I am inspired to post it and a random hodge podge of things though, because I found out on the ever trusty face book that my most faithful commentor, Ron, passed away at work yesterday. I never asked how Ron found my blog, but it was likely from my early days of blogging when I would wander around blogland reading and commenting. Once, I posted about being googleable, and Ron was up to the challenge and ended up tracking me down on the face book. My ex thought it was weird Ron and I were friends on FB (but NOT that my other ex kept trying to stay in touch with me). I never met him in real life despite driving back and forth near his homebase several times. He was always ready with an obviously ridiculous comment on posts on the FB, and kind in blogland. He struggled with his life, but was a good person.
It is strange, because I lost my last living grandparent in the spring right before my birthday, but was not inspired to post about that loss. To be fair, I have thought of posting many, MANY times in these seven months, so maybe I will just start working through thoughts of race, relationships, academia, etc.?
In the meantime, I have recommitted to running, or at least am trying. Also eating more fruits and vegetables and less carbs. I am trying to be at least active in an intentional way every day starting last week (although on Saturday I got a mani-pedi instead...) and be aware of what I am eating (logging everything for 7 days to truly see if I eat the way I think I do).
I will leave you with some recipes I have tried recently that are TOTAL wins:
Earl-grey tea cake with rhubarb cream cheese icing I made to watch the last couple of episodes of Outlander with friends...who ended up canceling because they needed to finish packing for their impending trips to Europe. For the record, I brought it to work and did not eat it all myself!
Coconut raspberry dark chocolate muffins that happen to be vegan, paleo, low-carb, and grain free. A coworker picked me two pints of raspberries (and blueberries!), so I was using a handful of them up.
A delicious banana bread recipe I made vegan (by substituting "flax egg" for real egg) and roasted the bananas for because they were not very ripe. This one I made vegan because one of my summer research students is vegan and had her wisdom teeth out last week, so I promised to bake something she could eat before that happened. The cranberries were a surprisingly good touch!
Last, but not least, a zucchini crust for a "pizza". There is a comment that it is "quiche-like", which I would buy. It comes out a little floppy, but relatively sturdy to hold stuff up. Obviously if you were to dare to attempt feed this to children you should NOT use the word "pizza", because pizza it is not. I actually made it with summer squash that the same coworker who donated the raspberries brought in for me. I also used two eggs instead of egg substitute and then added a tablespoon of flax meal and did not use the suggested toppings. If you have seen any of my recipe posts, you will know that I frequently mess around with recipes though....
....
So thanks, Ron, for inspiring me in your absence to post again. Sorry there was not any bacon in the recipes...although that would be tasty on the "pizza"! I'll be interested to see if you entrusted someone to take down your blog when you were gone...
Maybe I'll keep up the blogging....
(...or maybe just reposting links to old posts I never want to forget.)
04 December 2014
There is this
It has been a long fall. I have emails (personal, not work) in the queue I haven't responded to (sorry, sis), I've run some, I've has some student who I wish were not dealing with what they are dealing with, I'm still dating (maybe more on this word choice later), I have made great friends and close close aquaintences here, I am going to see Dar Williams this weekend (Woohoo!), and I have six weeks with no classes starting very soon (to be clear, this does NOT mean six weeks off). There is still this though:
Bill: When do you want to go see the movie 'the interview'?
Jenski: Don't you mean 'the theory of everything'?
Bill: Double feature!
Jenski: That would be quite the funny date night.
Bill:It'll be an upper and a downer.
Jenski: But if we go to that theater where we go, we can sneak in a bottle of wine!
Bill: I'll wear baggy pants.
Jenski: That's what winter coats are for.
Bill: True. Cold weather is smuggling weather.
Jenski: I wonder why we don't hear more about those Canadians {Sorry, Spark} smuggling drugs, alcohol, people, and exotic pets into the country?
Bill: Because they sail down Lake Michigan which is full of scoundrels.
Jenski: Corrupt Wisconsinites!
Bill: Exactly! They love cheese and crime.
Jenski: We're funny.
Bill: Haha. Yup.
Bill: When do you want to go see the movie 'the interview'?
Jenski: Don't you mean 'the theory of everything'?
Bill: Double feature!
Jenski: That would be quite the funny date night.
Bill:It'll be an upper and a downer.
Jenski: But if we go to that theater where we go, we can sneak in a bottle of wine!
Bill: I'll wear baggy pants.
Jenski: That's what winter coats are for.
Bill: True. Cold weather is smuggling weather.
Jenski: I wonder why we don't hear more about those Canadians {Sorry, Spark} smuggling drugs, alcohol, people, and exotic pets into the country?
Bill: Because they sail down Lake Michigan which is full of scoundrels.
Jenski: Corrupt Wisconsinites!
Bill: Exactly! They love cheese and crime.
Jenski: We're funny.
Bill: Haha. Yup.
30 October 2014
Tapped
I was going to title this 'Tapped Out', but I am not quite there yet. In true form I have some work I truly need to finish tonight. I also just had a text conversation with a dear friend about how we need to catch up and said that I was sad over the weekend thinking about how I haven't been able to make time to keep up with friends [waves hi to all those friends out there], but here I am posting something so I can clear my mind and get the work done. You're welcome.
The truth is I do have down time, and it is typically spent hanging out with Bill. I did see a friend and her fiancee over the weekend because she happened to text and Bill and I were going to be walking right by their apartment. I am going on a whirlwind trip to Disney World next weekend and running 13.1 miles in the middle of the trip. Life is not entirely all work and no play.
Work is happening and good and very busy. I find myself talking with a lot of students outside of class, which is great because I think they generally think I am approachable and helpful. My summer research student frequently exclaims how much she loves me and how I always have great advice. I am particularly touched after the college chaplain emailed me with a message from a student I have a good relationship with because that student specifically asked the chaplain to tell me something.
It is a tricky balance when students like interacting with you and you want to know what all of them think and how you can help them but you have classes to prep and research to do. I said to friends at work today that I think I am spending too much time doing that because at the end of the day I have talked with a lot of students and not done much work. I end up at home at 9:00 with a bunch of work to do. I do love the student part of my job, though, and sometimes I think I would be fulfilled by a career in counseling.
Then I get an email from the college chaplain that makes me tear up (the student is/will be fine, but I am just worried), and then I realize counseling and caring about everyone all the time would be too exhausting.
The truth is I do have down time, and it is typically spent hanging out with Bill. I did see a friend and her fiancee over the weekend because she happened to text and Bill and I were going to be walking right by their apartment. I am going on a whirlwind trip to Disney World next weekend and running 13.1 miles in the middle of the trip. Life is not entirely all work and no play.
Work is happening and good and very busy. I find myself talking with a lot of students outside of class, which is great because I think they generally think I am approachable and helpful. My summer research student frequently exclaims how much she loves me and how I always have great advice. I am particularly touched after the college chaplain emailed me with a message from a student I have a good relationship with because that student specifically asked the chaplain to tell me something.
It is a tricky balance when students like interacting with you and you want to know what all of them think and how you can help them but you have classes to prep and research to do. I said to friends at work today that I think I am spending too much time doing that because at the end of the day I have talked with a lot of students and not done much work. I end up at home at 9:00 with a bunch of work to do. I do love the student part of my job, though, and sometimes I think I would be fulfilled by a career in counseling.
Then I get an email from the college chaplain that makes me tear up (the student is/will be fine, but I am just worried), and then I realize counseling and caring about everyone all the time would be too exhausting.
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