HissyStitch's Blog – April 2011 Archive (29)

The front section of our newspaper is filled with every last detail of the royal wedding in England, overshadowing another momentous event across the Atlantic. One has to dig through the paper to discover that the people of the Southeastern U.S. are picking themselves up a cluster of tornadoes that tore through several states, killing at least 300. On the New York Times website, I spotted an article describing how a…

I had three addresses left on my list of postcard collectors from the Ravelry RAK board, and three postcards that needed sent. Finally achieving the task of getting postcards, addresses, and stamps together in one place (made all the more dicey by realizing one of the cards was going to Iceland, and wondering just how much it cost to send a postcard to Iceland - 98 cents it turns out), I finished my postcard-sending for the month as a gift for today.

For myself, it was making a break…

I wrote before about Intoku, the concept of doing good in secret. All through the 29 Days experience so far, I've kept one gift in reserve for a day when I might be worn out, or out of ideas, or both. Today was that day.

While my flu/cold/whatever may be getting better -- the fever was gone yesterday, anyhow -- I had a lousy night last night. My irritated sinuses made me snore vigorously enough to wake…

Wednesdays are my work-at-home day, good timing since it allowed me a day of rest to work at getting over my virus. I could even put on an eyeshade and put in earplugs and take a nap -- at least, as much as the cats would let me. Plenty of self-care was my gift to myself today.

As for others, I downloaded pictures that I took of all my lab students, matched them with the seating charts they made, and made myself some visual aids so that maybe this term I can learn everyone's names…

You'd think that eyelids wouldn't be on anyone's wishlist, but apparently Lucky the Cat was born with non-standard-issue eyes and needs reconstructive surgery. Someone on one of the cat-themed groups on Ravelry posted about this kitty, and from what people wrote, it looks like the donations went from just over $900 to $1500 in a week. Today's gift was a donation to Lucky's surgery fund. At $1500, he's…

No, really. Not a takeoff on a 70s phenomenon. It's Monday night and I've got a low-grade fever with mild achiness all over. Peachy. No wonder I had a devil of a time getting out of bed this morning and ran out of steam midday. Having a cola at lunch kept me going maybe a little too much, leaving me drained later in the afternoon, but when the Division chair rolls a cart around the halls at lunchtime, delivering free hot pizza slices and soda, it's hard to say no. My Division chair…

It's Saturday, and all week long the sky has been a strange blue color and there has been this bright, warm, glowing thing in the sky -- I have vague recollections, after a long and wet winter, of having seen such conditions before. I think it's called... Spring. A refreshing change, but all too short-lived. Apparently the skies will return to their normal gray with rain by tonight, so I got out to the Saturday Market to enjoy the phenomenon while I could and to revel in the ability…

Intoku means "doing good in secret." It's a concept that I learned in Ki Aikido training, a concept taught by Koichi Tohei Sensei to the Ki Society, as a means of improving one's self as well as the world. When practicing intoku, one gives something or performs an act of kindness quietly, secretly, without seeking notice or praise.

Actually, being a shy person, I'm kind of good at this. It's easier for me to slip a tip…

That bit of bureaucracy that had me in a very bad sticking place a couple of days ago? My Division chair rocks. He talked to someone who talked to someone and whatever was said in the process seems to have gotten the stuck bit unstuck. My project won't implode after all. That was a very good gift to receive just now.

Also on the receiving end: A student from last term came to my office to talk about some difficulties in a course she's taking this term. As we neared the end of our…

I work from home on Wednesdays, and though I spent much of the day going cross-eyed trying to finish a stack of grading (which I did), I also went out and picked a few stalks of rhubarb from the plant in the front garden. Hubby likes rhubarb pie, and though the plant is young and the stalks are still small, I was able to pick enough for about half of what I needed for the pie and eked out the rest with apples. So there's an apple-and-rhubarb pie for dessert tonight, a gift to…

Hello, Tuesday, why are you trying to be a Monday? It's a good thing I got my giving done early because I'm out of creative energy now. I had a minute this morning to address and post two more postcards to people on my RAK list and send an e-card to someone on my birthday list. 

Then I jumped in the car. Seeing the oil light come on in my car, necessitating a quick detour to Oil Can Henry's, where a "quick" oil change lengthened as it became evident that I'd need an engine flush was…

Hello, Monday, my long work day. With no classes on Mondays and only a meeting, I have a long stretch of time to get some work done, and I'm in need of a stretch by the time the day is over. In the middle of the day I took a walk in the rare bit of sunshine that the weather stations are predicting for this week, and bought a few more postcards for people on the RAK list. No time to address and send them today, but that's on my list of things to do this week. There was, however, a jar at the…

Somewhere between Day 14 and Day 15 is the halfway point to the 29 days of giving. If I can get halfway, then by golly, I can get all the way and beyond.

Today started with a trip to the pet food store to stock up on kitty rations for a couple of weeks -- the store is across town so to save gas a little I try to go there every two weeks instead of every week. As sometimes happens at checkout, they ask if I can donate to animal shelters or spay/neuter efforts. This week it was a…

... to the fiber festival we go! Today was the first Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival, so hubby and I drove up to Hood River where I could breathe in a facefull of wool fumes and get myself a gift or two while he exercised his photography hobby.

We started the day with another birthday gift: my knitting friends took us out to breakfast at the adorable little bistro that everyone in town tries to cram into because the food is really that good. I had the Caprese omlet, while hubby had…

Yes, my birthday falls on U.S. income tax day, the day no one can forget. Couldn't be helped -- my father was an accountant. At least the year of my birth, it fell on a Sunday at least, so everyone had a one-day reprieve.

Now, it seems to me that if it's your birthday you should get the day off, right? Isn't that a Constitutional right or something?

No?

Awww... eh, I had only one lab to teach, finished grading the last exam, the noon meeting was cancelled, and finished…

They dance, they sing, they even tell jokes. Animated e-cards are fun to look at, and two of them went out as today's gift. One person in our RAK group has a birthday today, another shares my birthday tomorrow. I didn't have emails for either, but I sent the cards to myself and then pasted the link into private messages to each of them. I particularly like this one: Birthday Box. Crafts and steampunk and cuteness all rolled…

I finally got a list of addresses of people who want postcards from the Random Acts of Kindness group leader. There were eleven addresses, and I had six postcards. I did up the six that I had and put them in the mailbox as today's gift. They're all surprises, too, which makes it more fun. I'll get five more cards from the campus bookstore (I sent ones with pictures of the university, something different from the "Greetings from my State" cards with the electric blue cloudless skies and…

On the quest of the non-material, non-monetary gift, I spent some time this morning working on an in-class activity. My students had an exam scheduled for the first 30 minutes of class and I wanted something for the early finishers to do while waiting for the rest. I dug up a very old population mapping activity online and found that there were web resources for current updates on the subject, so I wrote up a worksheet that had students working with a map and a data set to start making some…

What kind of gifts don't require money or material goods? After week 1, I can see that learning about non-material gifts is a good place to explore. Today, then, I thought about what I could give that didn't require money or an actual object. And you know, this wasn't easy. For me, having moved every year as a child, I was a lonely kid, and the whole social thing was something of a mystery. It still is in many aspects. Gifts that come naturally to others -- compliments, smiles, hugs, a…