![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Random NYE Stuff
Dec. 31st, 2019 05:56 pmI'm baking bananas. I prefer to get almost ripe or over-ripe bananas because I freeze them for smoothies and smoothie bowls. I think Fox occasionally eats them but I can't stand the texture. I bought some orgasmic organic ones that were green, stuck them in a paper bag and ... they're still green. Mmmkay. I put the bag in the oven with the light on, which gets things warm enough to make bread dough very happy, but still nothin'. So I cranked the heat up and finally started getting some browning peels and a little leakage, which means they ought to have started softening and sweetening up enough to be good in smoothies. After they cool down, I'll peel and freeze them. I feel like I should be buying bunches of bananas weeks in advance - maybe buy some before we even leave for Disney so they'll be "right" when we get home. Why not. Worst that happens is I have some gross banana mess when I get home.
We're not going out to a party or anything. Not even setting off fireworks. Neither of us are big party animals, and we might not even be awake at all come midnight. I kind of don't care, as it's an arbitrary thing - woohoo the earth went around the sun one time yaaaaay - but I understand why people like celebrating. I've been able to articulate my goals for the upcoming year but that'll go in a separate post you can skip if you like.
I recently came across some blogs and websites dedicated to Highly Sensitive Persons - something I would never have thought I was until I started reading about it. In fact, I'd have said the opposite, that I'm insensitive and block-headed, having been told that almost my whole life. As a kid I was chastised for going off by myself when I started feeling overwhelmed, "You can't just go off by yourself, it's rude, people want to see you." I was also incredibly rude if another kid's party was so overstimulating I had a meltdown - "You just can't let anyone else be the center of attention for once?" And all the times as an adult that I've been told I'm no fun, or worse, that I ruin everyone else's good times because hanging out with ten thousand people in a crowd and watching fireworks makes me so overloaded I can barely function. So many people talk about it so often you'd think it wouldn't be unusual for someone to seriously say, "I can't handle a big crowd of people and a lot of noise, I'd rather do something else or go somewhere quieter."
But it's kind of nice to know that there is a word for it - not every single thing fits me, of course, but enough does that things are making sense now that never did before. I thought I got overwhelmed because I'm just ... too anxious? Like I could deal with it if I really put my mind to it. That's usually a recipe for even worse feelings of being overwhelmed, but hey. And I do pick up other people's emotions and "vibe," even if I can't articulate it. I can't help it, I notice everything.
Highly sensitive types are actually wired differently, and about 20% of the population is like this. We have more mirror neurons, and are in general functioning in a "higher gear" than others, which obviously has its good and bad sides. But as I said, it's nice to have a word to put to it, and a frame of reference.
The deck ramp is mostly done now. There's a gap at the top and bottom that needs a small filler board, and the bottom is going to be extended to where the concrete pad will be poured. As a temporary thing, we'll just build the ramp down to the existing deck so people aren't in danger of stepping in the gap. Now we can actually start putting railings up, how about that? LOL. I'll probably be in charge of cutting the balusters off at a 45° angle and pre-drilling screw holes, then taking a bunch to Fox who'll mount them. So I'll do that while he's getting the support posts up. It's nice to have the ramp back - shimmying off the edge of the deck was kind of fun but got old very quickly.
I did a four-mile run at a faster, but still easy pace today and felt great. I'm about as ready as ever for RunDisney. And since I've done this for two years now, I'm actually looking forward to it instead of being scared and nervous. Kind of wish we were staying at our same resort, but Fox found a bargain on a room at Art of Animation, so that's where we are. Hopefully I won't spend any time stuck on the stupid Skyliner. Do these gondola systems always have this many problems when starting out, or is this one just special?
And finally, tomorrow I start doing this - dealing with lemons. I didn't know you could freeze the zest, but I need to do something with the rest of my harvest or I'm going to lose them all. As it is, I'm going to try a lemon-pepper glazed tofu with roasted broccoli this week and I can let you know how it goes if you're interested in the recipe. And lemon muffins. Maybe I'll make my energy bars for the races lemon flavored.
We're not going out to a party or anything. Not even setting off fireworks. Neither of us are big party animals, and we might not even be awake at all come midnight. I kind of don't care, as it's an arbitrary thing - woohoo the earth went around the sun one time yaaaaay - but I understand why people like celebrating. I've been able to articulate my goals for the upcoming year but that'll go in a separate post you can skip if you like.
I recently came across some blogs and websites dedicated to Highly Sensitive Persons - something I would never have thought I was until I started reading about it. In fact, I'd have said the opposite, that I'm insensitive and block-headed, having been told that almost my whole life. As a kid I was chastised for going off by myself when I started feeling overwhelmed, "You can't just go off by yourself, it's rude, people want to see you." I was also incredibly rude if another kid's party was so overstimulating I had a meltdown - "You just can't let anyone else be the center of attention for once?" And all the times as an adult that I've been told I'm no fun, or worse, that I ruin everyone else's good times because hanging out with ten thousand people in a crowd and watching fireworks makes me so overloaded I can barely function. So many people talk about it so often you'd think it wouldn't be unusual for someone to seriously say, "I can't handle a big crowd of people and a lot of noise, I'd rather do something else or go somewhere quieter."
But it's kind of nice to know that there is a word for it - not every single thing fits me, of course, but enough does that things are making sense now that never did before. I thought I got overwhelmed because I'm just ... too anxious? Like I could deal with it if I really put my mind to it. That's usually a recipe for even worse feelings of being overwhelmed, but hey. And I do pick up other people's emotions and "vibe," even if I can't articulate it. I can't help it, I notice everything.
Highly sensitive types are actually wired differently, and about 20% of the population is like this. We have more mirror neurons, and are in general functioning in a "higher gear" than others, which obviously has its good and bad sides. But as I said, it's nice to have a word to put to it, and a frame of reference.
The deck ramp is mostly done now. There's a gap at the top and bottom that needs a small filler board, and the bottom is going to be extended to where the concrete pad will be poured. As a temporary thing, we'll just build the ramp down to the existing deck so people aren't in danger of stepping in the gap. Now we can actually start putting railings up, how about that? LOL. I'll probably be in charge of cutting the balusters off at a 45° angle and pre-drilling screw holes, then taking a bunch to Fox who'll mount them. So I'll do that while he's getting the support posts up. It's nice to have the ramp back - shimmying off the edge of the deck was kind of fun but got old very quickly.
I did a four-mile run at a faster, but still easy pace today and felt great. I'm about as ready as ever for RunDisney. And since I've done this for two years now, I'm actually looking forward to it instead of being scared and nervous. Kind of wish we were staying at our same resort, but Fox found a bargain on a room at Art of Animation, so that's where we are. Hopefully I won't spend any time stuck on the stupid Skyliner. Do these gondola systems always have this many problems when starting out, or is this one just special?
And finally, tomorrow I start doing this - dealing with lemons. I didn't know you could freeze the zest, but I need to do something with the rest of my harvest or I'm going to lose them all. As it is, I'm going to try a lemon-pepper glazed tofu with roasted broccoli this week and I can let you know how it goes if you're interested in the recipe. And lemon muffins. Maybe I'll make my energy bars for the races lemon flavored.
