personal

My New Zealand home shaken

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In 2001, I took up residence in Lincoln, New Zealand, a small agricultural town outside of Christchurch. Residency is overstating it a bit. I studied abroad at Lincoln University for the entire year studying recreation management, my chosen topic for a degree. Although I haven’t had the chance to return recently, the city of Christchurch feels like another home.

This morning at 4:35 a.m. New Zealand time (in reality tomorrow morning) an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude shook the city of Christchurch causing power outages and building damage but photos currently are limited.

Just shy of nine years ago, I was awoken around the same early hour of the morning to a phone call sharing the news of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the thought of being thousands of miles away from my friends and family. I wanted to be there with them sharing the grief and the fear. It was difficult for my New Zealand friends to have empathy since it wasn’t their home and nothing like that had ever happened before. There was a detachment that they felt which made it easy to ignore similar to when the earthquake happened in Haiti or when the tsunami hit Thailand.

In a way, I am feeling some of those same feelings. I have friends who still live there and I wish I could be there with them. The detachment of those around me is evident, as many don’t even know the earthquake even happened. CNN took over an hour before it reported anything.

The photos I have seen from MSNBC,  National Post (Canada) and The Timaru Herald show extensive damage, but I am not able to make out where they are taken. Luckily, there have only been reports of minor injuries so far. The best source of news right now seems to be the New Zealand Herald for information for residents.

My thoughts are with my friends in Canterbury, as well as the entire county, as they work towards repairing damaged property and mental anxiety caused by one of the largest earthquakes ever to hit this region. Missing you.

What I Learned Today… black and tan

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A story from my grandmother that I had never heard before.

 Every week I try to make it over to my grandmother’s house to visit and perhaps partake in a bite to eat. The usual grub requested is a Whopper Jr with cheese, while I opt for a Veggie Burger or if I have time to swing by, a Turkey sandwich at Subway.

Every visit seems to repeat itself going something like this…

  1. I arrive through the garage door since I still have the remote from living there almost 4 years ago.
  2. “Hi Grandma” I say as the door closed behind me. I hear the TV hushed as she presses mute for her program
  3. I set up tray tables while exchanging more hellos and banter on the weather.
  4. Usually I have to head back to the kitchen since I often forget to grab her a coke (Diet Pepsi) on the way in.
  5. After we get settled to dig into our grub, topics of conversation proceed as follows
    • How Thomas is doing?
    • When was the last time you talked you sister/mother?
    • What exciting things did you do this week?
    • The movie I saw this weekend was horrible, but your sister liked it. They just don’t make movies like they used to.
    • My knee hurts… My comments range from how great she is doing so soon after surgery to today’s comment of how all of the exercise the physical therapist does helps make it better, but working out sometimes hurts. Which then leads to how “I’m not as young as I used to be.” 
  6. The conversation is intermittently hushed as the TV is brought back to life seconds after “something good” happened on her program, The Young and the Restless. “You know, your mother got me into this program…”
  7. After about a half hour, I have to head back to work. I clean up, she hands me a five for the food, I give her a hug and trot off the direction I came in.

Although the conversations remain consistent, I try to throw a wrench in every now and again… and she sometimes throws back. Like today, we ended up talking about skin and how my mother had my grandfather’s skin color (this was after talking about who Thomas looked like). I totally disagreed as my grandfather was pretty pasty, never able to hold much of a tan. A few hours in the sun only made him look more like a large crustacean in a sailor suit. However, my grandmother (and my mother… and me) was just the opposite. Tans seemed to stick to her olive skin.

Agreeing with my sentiments, my grandmother progressed into an unfamiliar story about when my grandfather left to Cuba while she stayed home in Norfolk for the summer. My grandmother took to the beach, sunbathing for entertainment. When my grandfather returned, his mouth dropped exclaiming that she looked like a black person. They both returned to their hometown of Anderson, Indiana where she remembers people staring and whispering to each other as they gazed on the ginger haired boy with his dark skinned, dark locked girl. My grandfather requested that she never sunbathe to that degree again… She never did… to that degree.

Doodles for doodling sake

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I love a good doodle as much as the next person. At one point I was contemplating doing a doodle-a-day series for this site. I may decide to do a mini-series in the future. I was real excited to see GOOD magazine’s newest project entitled simply, Doodle of which the first theme was “Solitude in the City.” I started a doodle but was not quite able to finished before the deadlines, but I took a few minutes today and finished the piece.

For those of you who wish my youthful art dreams could have been realized, I say “this is good enough for me.”

What I Learned Today… Bruxism

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I have bruxism.

After some Twitter conversations about swimmers ear and TMJ (Temporomandibular joint disorder), I started looking at my own teeth jaw habits. For the last few years, I know that I have been grinding my teeth at night. Dentists over the years have gently reminded me that my teeth were looking worn and it was only after I started roller derby whan I went to the guys at Guard Ya Grill that any dentist recommended that I really should get a night guard since my molars were beginning to develop stress fractures. Night guard secured… who really wants broken teeth.

After my pregnancy, I had to get a crown for one of my molars that the fracture had gotten out of control. You know, because pregnancy ruins your teeth… lowers calcium levels and such. Damn kids.

It is only in the recent months that I have been seriously thinking about my oral habits… grinding or clenching my teeth at night (or while napping) and chewing on my fingers or gum. I really want to kick these habits. Know I at least have a name to go with the problem, bruxism. Not quite TMJ but definitely a symptom. I know that this could progress into TMJ, but my goal is to not let that happen. Lowering daytime stress levels, constant awareness of my chewing behaviors and continuous discussions with my dentist should help me head in the right direction.

Personal, I know… but the more you know.

What I Learned Today… a new mini-series

Sara 1 Comment
It’s not like I really needed to add any additional things-to-do in my life, but lately I have been watching my 17 month old pick up language and concepts at a rapid pace and begin to think about my own learning. I have always heard and known that we learn something new everyday. Articles, including this recent series by the New York Times, on learning processes only added to my desire to document my own everyday learnings.
 
So, after much thought, I will test this little self-reflection experiment in the public forum that is this blog. Since I really don’t want to start another blog, I thought I would tack it onto karmic life as a mini-series. “Mini” because I don’t want to over-commit myself. I plan to try this for a month and then see how it goes. Some entries will be longer than others depending on time and what I actually learned that day. Please comment on the blog, twitter or facebook to let me know what you think. Well, not like it really matters. I am doing this for me.
 
Here is the start: Day 1 of What I Learned Today…
 
The Polyphonic Spree created the soundtrack for the Independent film Thumbsucker. Originally Elliott Smith was supposed to develop the music for  the movie  but he passed away during its creation.
 
Thumbsucker resonated with both me and my husband as both of us used this method of consolement for many more years than the average individual. I managed to break the habit at nine years old with the aid of orthodontic tactics (placing prongs on the roof of my mouth), while Roger continue until he was fifteen. The habit not only had physical repercussions (years of braces and head-gear), but social repercussions which is the premise behind the movie. 
 
We resigned ourselves to believing that our child was doomed to carry on this unfavorable behavior, but luckily for us (well, really for him) he never took to sucking his thumb, finding solace within.
 
After hearing one of The Polyphonic Spree songs from the soundtrack on Slacker and realizing that I hadn’t heard the song before, I instantly knew that I must make this album part of my collection. If I hadn’t made myself promise to go to yoga today, my lunch break would have been a trip to M-Theory to try to secure myself a copy of the Thumbsucker soundtrack.  In due time.
 
Track of the day: “Acceptance” by The Polyphonic Spree (track 22 on the Thumbsucker soundtrack)