In general, the cats aren't allowed in the bedroom. On special occasions (usually me being sick), Chris will let them in.

On Monday I stayed home sick from work and slept until the afternoon. Alia decided that because I was sick I needed to be looked after, and she spent the entire time I was in bed curled up with me. Chris gave her his blessing and even tucked her in with me, and she was quite happy about the situation.

I still wasn't feeling well last night, and Alia decided that I still needing looking after. By the time Chris came to bed she was curled up with me, and she was highly resistant to his efforts to move her. Finally he relented and let her stay.

I'm a fairly restless sleeper at the best of times and especially so when I'm sick. Apparently I give Alia some sort of warning signal that I'm about to move, though. I woke up a little every time I rolled over, and I noticed that she would get up right before I moved and then come back to curl up with me after I got settled again. If she didn't have that sense of self-preservation, though, I'm sure I would have rolled over her half a dozen times over the course of the night.

For a time I stopped going to movie theaters. The seats were uncomfortable, the snack selection was terrible, and the tickets were expensive. The experience just didn't seem worth it.

Almost two years ago I made my first visit to the Parkway Speakeasy Theater to see a showing of Stardust. The tickets were cheap (it was 2-for-1 night so Chris and I got in for $7 total), but I knew it was a second run theater so I wasn't too surprised. I was happily surprised when we got in line to order food - there was a full menu! A friend and I shared an order of vegan nachos (yes, _vegan_ nachos) and crudite with hummus while the guys split a pizza and a pitcher of beer. The biggest surprise came when we actually entered the theater and saw a room filled with couches. Hooray for comfortable seating!

The Parkway Speakeasy got me to start going to the movies again. They showed a variety of independent and foreign films as well as second runs of more mainstream selections. I loved being able to see a movie on a comfortable couch while eating a decent meal for the cost of tickets at a normal theater. Sometimes I would suggest going to see a movie I didn't especially want to see just for the experience of getting to go to the Parkway.

Late last night the Parkway owners sent out an email to the schedule update mailing list...my last chance to have the Parkway experience is this Sunday. After that the theater is permanently closing. This was completely unexpected, and I'm very unhappy about this. Chris and I are planning on catching a couple shows this weekend as a last hurrah, but it will be very bittersweet.

It's 6pm. Between meetings and a sudden side project I got pulled into, I'm just now getting started on the work I needed to do today.

The bad news is that there are less than 250 registered voters in my precinct (I live in the middle of a large metropolitan area - there's no excuse for not having enough people registered!). The good news is this means that I don't have a polling place and get to vote by mail.

Last night Chris and I sat down with our ballots, our booklets of voter information, and our computers to research and discuss our voting options. One of my previous complaints when voting was that I didn't feel sufficiently informed about the candidates or issues, and I was glad to avoid that feeling this time around. It was also fun to discuss options with Chris - we automatically agreed on most options, convinced the other of our position on a couple options, and agreed to disagree on one option.

Tomorrow morning we'll be dropping off our ballots at the voter affairs office downtown. If you haven't already voted, please take the time to vote tomorrow. I won't try to convince you to vote the way I voted, but please do vote.

(If you're a Californian voting for Prop 8, though, and you have a reason for voting that way that doesn't include a violation of the separation of church and state and actually holds up to a logical examination, please share it with me? I've been reading every pro-8 argument I come across, and I haven't yet found a single one that makes sense to me....)

I know this is probably Life Basics 101 for everyone else, but it's a real issue for me: for those of you who have a day job, how do you manage to wake up for work in the morning?

I can't seem to wake up in the morning if I've had less than 8 hours of sleep, and I have an even harder time if the sun isn't out. Going to bed earlier isn't a guarantee that I'll wake up on time - last night I went to bed around 10 but was awake until probably about midnight. This morning I had two alarms going off starting at 7, and Chris started turning on the bedroom light when the first alarm went off (our bedroom light is on a dimmer), and I still couldn't wake up until 8.

I know that keeping the same schedule throughout both the week and weekend helps establish good sleep habits, but I feel lame going to bed before midnight on a weekend, and I never really manage to do so. My body tends to naturally like to stay up later and sleep in later, and any time I'm not super militant about my sleeping schedule, I revert to my natural sleep cycle quickly and easily. Getting back to my work sleeping schedule can take weeks or even months. (The only way I've found to reset my sleep schedule quickly is to spend a few days on the East Coast, and I obviously can't do that very often.)

I do have a flexible work schedule, and I theoretically could work 10-6 or 11-7 (this latter schedule was what I ended up working most of my last six months at ZD), but I find that the day seems to go the fastest and that I get the most done when I work 9-5. (Trying an 8-4 would be interesting just for comparison purposes, but I'm having trouble waking up on time to get to work at 9!)

So, those of you who regularly wake up at 7am, 6am, or even earlier, how do you do it? Do you just not need that much sleep? Are you naturally a morning person? Do you go to bed really early? Have you just gotten used to waking up at that time? Do you wake up utterly exhausted every morning and drag yourself out of bed just because it has to be done?

It is currently 96 degrees in Oakland where I am trying to work in an office without air conditioning. No, the air conditioning isn't broken - there just isn't any. I'm used to not having air conditioning at home; it's pretty par for the course in this part of the Bay Area. During the rare heat waves (like this one), I tend to sit around at home in a sports bra and shorts, chug ice water, and generally be a slug. I got spoiled by my previous office having air conditioning, though, and having to try to work and be productive in this heat while wearing a shirt and jeans is just ugh.

Yes, I should make a real post soon about what I've been up to the past few months (including my new job in the above mentioned non-air conditioned office), but that will have to wait until a later time.

EDIT: It's up to 98 degrees. I have found a fan, though, so I may yet live.

Tomorrow I will have been married for three weeks. I haven't really had the chance to sit down and write about the wedding before now, and rather than doing a huge recap, I think I'll just share some of the highlights and my impressions.
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First off, thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes whether via LJ, email, or phone. It always makes me smile when someone takes the time to remember my birthday on what I know is a busy day for most people.

Chris and I enjoyed a quiet Christmas at home. There was no tree, minimal but thoughtful gifts, a fire in the fireplace, mimosas, and absolutely no stress. My mom mentioned that she wished Chris and I were visiting her for Christmas, but I would be hard pressed to give up a relaxing day like the one we had.

I hope that everyone else enjoyed their holidays, or at the very least, enjoyed the time off from work. ;)

I think that fresh mango sticky rice is truly the food of the gods. Warm, creamy, sweet rice topped with cool, light, slightly tart mango slices and a slight sprinkling of sesame seeds...it's heaven in a takeout box.

Today is Chris's first fitting of his wedding attire. In honor of this (and for my own planning purposes), progress on wedding planning is behind a lovely LJ cut.

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