Stress Dreams

When I'm stressed out (which is probably about 79.5% of the time), I often have stress dreams. I have the occasional random one (like, recently I had one where people were trying to kill me and my friends and I ran someone through with a sword), but a lot of the time I have one of a few recurring ones. I'm not sure if this happens to other people, but here are my recurring stress dreams (you know, for your amusement):

My Teeth Fall Out:
I have probably had about 50 of these dreams. They're always slightly different though. The people I'm with vary, my circumstances vary (I've had one where I was pregnant, in a hospital, AND my teeth were falling out), and the way I lose the teeth varies: Sometimes one of my teeth will be knocked out, other times they'll be loose and then slowly start to fall out, other times I can feel them rotting out of my head... and the sensation of dream-losing teeth may be the worst I've ever "experienced." I almost always wake up convinced that I'm sans teeth, ready to call a dentist; they seem that real. And well, that's pretty stressful.

I Can't Remember My Locker Combination
I'm in high school and back from some long break. I get to my locker, but slowly realize that I don't remember my combination. I turn the dial over and over, and maybe I remember two of the three numbers, but I can never get that last one. So, I'm turning and turning and turning and the bell rings, meaning I'm late. So, I go to the main office to ask the secretary for my combo, and she's really pissed at me or there's no one there who can help me, and sometimes my backpack is really really heavy. Yay for high school.

Chris is Mad at Me
Chris is really mad at me for some reason: I caught him smoking, I found out he likes another girl, or he's just tired of my bull shit. And we argue and he is just seethingly mad and says all sorts of mean things to me. These are really bad because I wake up feeling negative feelings towards him, even though he didn't do anything wrong!!!

The other awful thing I do when I'm stressed (which, again, is most of the time) is grind my teeth in my sleep. Chris says this is the most awful sound in the world. I have a mouth guard that I wear, which is incredibly dorky and makes it so I can hardly talk (and makes me look like a hockey player). So, when Chris and I are talking before we fall asleep, I wait to put it in, lest I get unmercifully made fun of. And, inevitably, there are times when I fall asleep before I can remember to put it in. And, when that happens, I wake up with a very sore jaw and/or a nasty headache the next day. When I do wear it, I slowly chew my way through it. Even though it will supposedly last forever. Obviously, modern dentistry has not taken into account my special brand of stress; I must be some kind of Super-Chewer.

But, so far, no matter what, I've woken up with all my teeth still in my head.  Knock on wood. Ow.

Walking on Egg Shells

I was making a cake with some wonderful girls a little while ago, and, when I went to put the spoon that I had used to eat cake batter into the dishwasher, I asked my friend if the spoon should go head up or head down. She looked at me like I was slightly crazy; like, why would you ask about something so silly? Do whatever the hell you want, right?

In my life, wrong.

Growing up with divorced parents meant two separate households with two separate sets of expectations and rules. For example, at one house, silverware went into the dishwasher head up. At the other, it went head down. Now, that seems like it should be easy to remember, but that's not the only difference there was between the two, so it's understandable that I had issues keeping things straight.

Honestly, now that I'm thinking through the differences between my two households, I'm thinking it's a wonder my sister and I aren't schizo.

Here are some examples:
Dad's House: Egg shells go into the trash.
Mom's House: Egg shells go into the garbage disposal.

Dad's House: Wooden spoons are not to be placed into the dishwasher.
Mom's House: Why on earth wouldn't you put wooden spoons into the dishwasher?

Dad's House: The house should be kept cold.
Mom's House: It's freezing in here, turn up the heat!

Dad's House: After using a frying pan, immediately put it in the sink and run water into it so it can soak.
Mom's House: Absolutely do not run water into the frying pan; it will ruin the non-stick material!

Dad's House: Coffee is the caffeinated beverage of choice.
Mom's House: Tea is the caffeinated beverage of choice.

Dad's House: The dogs stay outside.
Mom's House: The dog stays inside.

Dad's House: Call us at 10:00 PM no matter where you are to let us know you're ok.
Mom's House: Wake us up when you get home so we know you're ok.

Dad's House: No need to eat breakfast; there isn't time!
Mom's House: You are not leaving this house until you are stuffed full of eggs. And throw the egg shells into the disposal, please.

After thinking through that, I feel like I'll accidentally put the egg shells into the dishwasher aftering soaking the wooden spoons in the sink.

Oy!

Will Eat for Food: Part 2 of 2

Every Thursday, I try to make a new dish for dinner. You know why? Because I am sick of all the stuff I make all the time. As Chris would say, "BOOOOOOOOOORING..." Also, as I've mentioned, I'm trying to be a little healthier.

Anyways, Thursdays are the days where I have a little time to whip something interesting up before Chris gets home. I wish I'd started taking pictures of all the dishes I've tried to make, but I didn't until recently.

The thing that first inpsired me to try making new things was a magazine I found in this cottage that Chris's parents stayed in when they came down to visit in April. The magazine is called Eating Well, and I thought that pretty much everything in it sounded wonderfully delicious and healthy. So, I stole the magazine, naturally.

I made this AMAZING recipe out of it that was oven-roasted leeks with chicken and a little bit of cream over whole-wheat pasta. Since I didn't get a picture of it, here's the picture from the magazine:

And holy shit, it was GOOD. I could eat it once a week!

I also recently made this yummy egg dish with smoked salmon and avocado (two of my favorite things... seriously, if I could only pick two foods to eat for the rest of my life, I'm pretty sure they would be salmon and avocado). Check it out:

The dressing on the salad in the picture came from Eating Well also. It's an avocado-cilantro dressing. It was ok... not spectacular.

Let's see, I made Mediterranean wraps (with cous-cous, parsley, lemon, feta, tomatoes, cucumbers, and chicken) a couple weeks ago, and I made my own turkey burgers last week.

Tonight, I'm making seared tuna. I made a marinade out of soy sauce, wasabi, brown sugar, rice vinegar, and garlic, and I will be throwing it on a pan of hot oil for about 30-seconds. I'm also making a veggie stir fry with rice noodles to go along with it. Yum.

I will try to keep documenting my cooking experiments, as it will also keep me accountable in making something new and healthy each week.

Suggestions are more than welcome!

Sun Sick

I've been having this weird issue of late, which is that I've been breaking out into a rash after being out in the sun for prolonged periods of time. It seems as if my body is turning on me in my old age. Now, I realize there are worse things out there, and that I should be grateful that I'm mostly healthy. I am grateful, but it's just that I LOVE being outside, and I love wearing shorts, tanktops, flipflops, etc. I love the beach, I love kayaking, I love wearing as few articles of clothing as posssible (yes, there is a parallel b/t how much I love being outside and how much I love food)... I love the sun, but it does not love me.

I went to a dermatologist today and was told that I have Polymorphous Light Erruption, which is, indeed, a sun allery. The description is below:

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/polymorphous-light-eruption/DS00911.html

So, as the summer progesses, the allergy should become less intense. I hope so. I really do.

Seriously, who the hell is allergic to the sun? You know, the sun: The giver of ALL LIFE.

Will Eat for Food: Part 1 of 2

I'm trying to be relatively healthy of late, but there's just one catch:

I. Love. Food.

I love shopping for food, buying food, cooking food, smelling food, eating food, drinking wine with food, and I love devouring any and all of the leftovers the next day. I love food other people make. I love the Food Network. I love looking at fresh, colorful food in a market. I love reading recipes. I love food blogs and columns. I love imagining what certain types of dishes will taste like. I love eating with my hands, eating with a fork and knife, and eating with chopsticks. I love sandwiches. I love melted things. I love hot food and cold food. I love sweet things and tart things. Salt is heavenly. If something tastes good, I love to eat as much of it as I can. And then maybe some more.

This past Thanksgiving, I injured myself from eating too much. I was couch-ridden and moaning for four hours. I'd do it again, too.

So, it does not come naturally to me to practice the whole "all things in moderation" credo when it comes to food. Not at all. If it's good, I want as much of it as possible.

But, lately I've been doing alright, and here's how: I've found a few new things that are good for me that I LOVE, and I've stopped being as much of a miser as usual (yay for my job!) and started letting myself spend a little more money to get things that I know I love that are wonderful and healthy. Also, putting aside portions ahead of time (while you're NOT hungry!) is incredibly helpful. So, here are my typical meals:

Breakfast: Now, I love a big, greasy breakfast. But during the week, I keep it healthy and yummy:

• Kashi GoLean Crunch Cereal- 1 cup with skim milk
• 4-5 big strawberries
• A hardboiled egg

(The Kashi is a recent purchase and good lord, it's good. It's a little expensive, but I think it's worth it. Strawberries are something to buy when they're in-season, and a carton lasts me three breakfasts. And the bun LOVES strawberry tops. The hardboiled eggs are great because I can make them all at once for the whole work week. I'm so satisfied after this breakfast, that I'm able to wait a little longer to eat lunch.)

Lunch: The place where I work is surrounded by amazing restaurants and food vendors. This can be good, and this can be bad. The best thing I have access to is a reasonably-priced salad bar next door... I make my lunch salad with:

• 1/2 romaine Lettuce, 1/2 spinach
• Shredded carrots
• Cucumbers
• Artichoke hearts
• Wasabi peas
• Artificial crab meat
• Cheddar cheese
• Balsamic vinegar
• Pineapple on the side

(I will also admit to often buying a chocolate chunk cookie along with my salad...)

Dinner: This is the hardest meal to keep healthy for me. Especially because I either eat what Chris makes or try to make something we'll both like. Here's a typical I-Don't-Want-to-Spend-Too-Much-Time-On-Dinner healthy-ish meal that I make:

• Salmon fillet with a little brown sugar and brown mustard
• Cous-cous
• Salad or asparagus or steamed broccoli 

(I wish I could eat salmon every single day. Wait, no! Moderation!)

You'll notice in the title that this is Part 1 of 2. That's because I also want to do a post on something I've been trying to do lately, which is to try making a new recipe once a week. It's been fun, mostly healthy, and yummy.

Mmmm, food.

Glaring Mistakes

I've done a lot of traveling by car lately, and I've come to realize that I'm the only person on the road who's not a dumbass. I'm sure you're all very nice outside of your cars, but I'm pretty convinced you all (that is, everyone but me) magically turn into dumbasses as soon as you turn the key in your ignitions. It's like you have a Clockwise-Turning Magic Wand of Stupidity on your key rings.

I don't know how many times I've witnessed someone trying to zip across the highway, only to just miss getting T-boned by a semi. Because they'd rather die than have to wait ten seconds for traffic to clear the area. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a dumbass thing to do. I don't care if your wife is having a baby in the passenger seat; that is no excuse to do stupid shit on the road. Do you want her and your semi-born kid to die? No. Oh, and I was driving home in a really bad thunderstorm yesterday, and people were tailgating and speeding and being DUMBASSES. And, of course, I passed a nasty accident where someone's shiny, red car became a shiny, red mess. I'm sure they're very sorry for tailgating that giant truck that ended up not even having a dent in it. But, you know what? I'm sure they'll do it again when they get their car back from the auto-body shop. Cuz they're a dumbass.

Whenever someone does something freakin' stupid on the road, I make sure to glare at them. I'm not talking just looking at them. I'm talking a death-stare, an evil-eye, stink-eye, bore-a-hole-into-their-BWM stare. An I-hope-to-god-you-never-procreate stare. Sometimes, Chris and I try to do this as a team, so as to make our point stronger (but only if it is safe to). If I'm driving, I don't want to be a dumbass and take my eyes off the road while passing the dumbass in question. So, when it is necessary, Chris will perform the glare from the passenger seat. See? There's a right way and a wrong way to punish someone for their dumbassitude.

So, let's start taking the high road, people. Drive safely, and don't endanger yourself and others because your dumbass is running late. You should have left earlier. Oh, and if you see someone else do something stupid, it is your civic duty to glare at them. But only if it's safe. Don't be a dumbass.

100

A very merry un-birthday to me! This is my 100th blog post at Ryan the Girl. You hear that, Internet? I should be getting a letter from the president any day now.

I decided that the best way to commemorate this noteworthy occasion was to read through my old posts and revisit the past year (almost... I started this blog on July 9, 2010) of my life. When I started doing this, I realized that I left a few loose ends untied. There are promises that I never kept, pictures I never posted, themes I never continued, and books I never finished. So, here it all is:

I started this blog with a small commentary on gender and labels (through my own life and experience), and I feel I haven't come back around to that theme as often as I'd like. I mentioned the complex I have regarding competition with males and Ryan the Girl Moments and how my name has been such a big part of my life, but I have not visited that topic in some time. Lately, at my job (which requires a lot of doings via email since there are several locations on the East Coast), people in other locations have just started realizing that I'm a girl. And I think that may have changed the way they think of me and treat me. Not necessariliy for the worse, but I think I'm regarded differently than I was. Also, I had one guy speechless on the phone the other day after I said "This is she." That's always fun!

Another thing. When I got my Netbook, I promised pictures of it. Alas, I never got around to it. Also, I had done a post where I drew pictures with Microsoft Paint, and, I meant to start posting silly Paint pictures regularly. But, that never happened. So, I decided to combine the two:

That's me very happy to have a new computer!

I also participated in NaNoWriMo this year, and I blogged about it a bit and posted some excerpts. However, I never finished my book. I said I was hoping to finish it this year, but I am going to recind that statement. I'm simply not feeling connected to it anymore. So, I'm putting my half-book (I wrote about 26,000 words) to bed. However, it was great experience and I'm excited to try to write another book sometime soon.

So, those are the big ones. Going through all the posts, I also noticed that my tone shifted a bit. I started out less-than-serious and a bit hyperactive, and I've since mellowed out and gotten a bit more serious. I'd say that's because I'm happier than I was when I started.

Also, an interesting thing: The most popular post I wrote was about Kubb, a Viking lawn game. I believe this is because there aren't very many articles available on it, and my blog must come up when people google "Kubb." The second-most popular post is Today, I Peed in the Woods, which, well, is slightly disturbing...

And, well, thanks to everyone who has been reading, whether it's regularly or once-in-awhile or just once. It means a lot to me.