Anniversary Raincheck

I had many semi-elaborate plans for our second anniversary yesterday.  One of them included a blog post with wedding pictures because, let’s face it, I’m still in love with my wedding (especially my dress!!) two years later.  Sadly, it was not to be…at least not yesterday.

At 3:45pm, just minutes before I teach my class, I leaned over to unplug my laptop battery and sudden, terrible pain struck.  I got through my class, probably on adrenaline, because by the time I got home Neal could visibly see that I was not okay.  So it turns out I actually pulled a muscle in my neck, my already very broken neck.  Not good news since I’m set to spend 11 hours in a van to California tomorrow.  Yikes!

So instead of a fabulous evening on the town, we spent the night alternating ice packs and pain patches.  One of the highlights was a brief chat with my straight-talking friend Elizabeth.  After describing what happened, she said, “I mean it’s not really surprising.  Neal knew when he married you he was going to have to take a lot of rainchecks.”  True, true.

I still intend to have a proper anniversary celebration (both virtually and in real life), but until then, oooh and aah at this lovely picture. There’s nothing like cherry blossom time in D.C.!!!!

You did WHAT?! Shut your mouth!

I’m feeling sassy.

I just emailed my paper to the discussant.  It’s not great, it’s not nearly up to my anal-retentive standards, but it’s good enough for now.

Hallelujah!  I have my life back!

Good vibes

I must take a moment before sleeping (don’t tell Neal–it’s already past my 10:00 bedtime) to thank everyone for the good vibes sent my way today.  It really worked!!!  I can’t say that I’m done yet, BUT the part that I was having the most difficulty with finally came together today.  Hallelujah!  Tomorrow I finish the results/analyses and then tackle the dreaded discussion section.  But I’m feeling more hopeful and upbeat about this paper than I have in many weeks.

I have no doubt that this progress was truly a tender mercy of the Lord because in other areas of life, this was an extremely difficult day.  I probably spent about 2-3 hours weeping and mourning for life’s tragedies and losses, some mine, some others’.  But making progress on this once hopeless paper really makes me feel like I can keep going.  This youtube video (must watch until at least 1:22) and these pictures also helped:

Asian otter babies

Orangutan baby in a diaper

Cuddling leopard cubs

Maybe someday…

This freaking paper is still not done.  And it’s not because I’ve neglected it…if that gives you any idea of my state of mind!  If I never write the word “Post-detention expectations” again, it will be too soon.  Sadly, I will be closing this window shortly and…wait for it…writing “Post-detention expectations” again and again and again.  I hate my life.

I have had other ideas for blog posts, but I’ve decided that it’s perfectly appropriate to keep posting these paper-writing updates.  This of all things gives you a sense of how not exciting the “research process” is sometimes.  It was great when I was meeting people from the projects in Chicago everyday; now…not so much.

One final note of a blog-related nature: I am getting a lot of google hits on my blog some days.  Apparently, one of the popular search terms that leads to llcall is: “kids in washing machines.”  This blog post I wrote is what prompted it, but I am beginning to be creeped out by how often it comes up in google searches.  Hopefully, people are looking for some cute image like this (and not something more nefarious):