Dancing on Broken Glass

Asserters are direct, self-reliant, self-confident, and protective.

How to Get Along with Me

• Stand up for yourself… and me.

• Be confident, strong, and direct.

• Don’t gossip about me or betray my trust.

• Be vulnerable and share your feelings. See and acknowledge my tender, vulnerable side.

• Give me space to be alone.

• Acknowledge the contributions I make, but don’t flatter me.

• I often speak in an assertive way. Don’t automatically assume it’s a personal attack.

• When I scream, curse, and stomp around, try to remember that’s just the way I am.

What I Like About Being a EIGHT

• being independent and self-reliant

• being able to take charge and meet challenges head on

• being courageous, straightforward, and honest

• getting all the enjoyment I can out of life

• supporting, empowering, and protecting those close to me

• upholding just causes

What’s Hard About Being a EIGHT

• overwhelming people with my bluntness; scaring them away when I don’t intend to

• being restless and impatient with others’ incompetence

• sticking my neck out for people and receiving no appreciation for it

• never forgetting injuries or injustices

• putting too much pressure on myself

• getting high blood pressure when people don’t obey the rules or when things don’t go right

EIGHTs as Children Often

• are independent; have an inner strength and a fighting spirit

• are sometimes loners

• seize control so they won’t be controlled

• figure out others’ weaknesses

• attack verbally or physically when provoked

• take charge in the family because they perceive themselves as the strongest, or grow up in difficult or abusive surroundings

EIGHTs as Parents

• are often loyal, caring, involved, and devoted

• are sometimes overprotective

• can be demanding, controlling, and rigid

Renee Baron & Elizabeth Wagele, The Enneagram Made Easy. Discover the 9 Types of People.

Harper: San Francisco, 1994, 161 pages

Wow, I can’t believe August is almost here already!

I have a sushi lunch date with Sonya tomorrow, which will be full of awesome. Then, Saturday brings me down to San Jose to hang out with RB, Dia, and Jurann for the day, which will be super nice. Movie, lunch, then chewy tea! Yeah, I know… me and my bubble tea. But it’s so good!

Sunday is going to be clean the apartment day. The bathroom needs it, and the bedroom needs to look like a bomb didn’t explode in it. Bedding will get washed, and all that. Full apartment vacuuming and dusting, sweep and mop the bathroom, kitchen, and entryway, clean the bathroom, minor cleaning in the kitchen, and I think I might go ahead and clean the patio blinds.

Monday will be laundry day, and I think a trip to Target for some clothes. I don’t have a lot of clothes, and I’m tired of it, plus Target has some really cute stuff for fat girls like me. After that, head over to Safeway and get more cat food and kitty litter. After I get home, change out the litter box and put fresh litter in. After the laundry’s done, PACK! Everything will be packed, except basic essentials I’ll need for the morning before I head out.

Guh, I’ve needed a change in scenery for a long time. Finally, I get to go someplace! School starts on the 21st, so I’m looking forward to that as well. Hmm… I need to get up to ARC and get my books. Thankfully it’s only for two classes. I need to get the housekey to Brett at some point as well, so he can do his daily kitteh detail while I’m gone.

So, I finally got my hair all braided up. It would be awesome if I was going to Burning Man… but alas, not this year. Five hours of braiding yesterday, and I have my waist length braids. They’re heavy, yes… but they’re also full of win and awesome. I don’t have to mess with my hair, it’s get up, pull it back, and away we go! Now that the braids are settling down, it’s  not terribly uncomfortable to pull it back or to leave it free and hanging.  I was up in the office a bit ago, shooting the breeze with Angela (the leasing agent).  After talking with her a bit, I think I will forgo the dreads. She says her hubby has them, and they are quite heavy. I figure I’ll go see Auset in September, then again at the beginning of December, so they’ll be fresh when Rob comes home.

I’m still determined to learn how to spin poi… and eventually fire poi. I don’t think I’ll be having braids when I get around to learning fire spinning, though. Last thing I want to do is set my hair on fire, and that would be so not awesome.

In the meantime, I’m gearing up for my vacation to Florida. I just need to poke Brett and remind him to come in daily to check on the kitties.  Next week, I think it will be another sushi lunch date with Sonya. Then, that weekend, I’ll be down in San Jose again to chill with RB, Dia, and Jurann again. Good times, and more bubble tea! Not sure what movie we’ll be catching, but I’m sure we’ll find something. After that, pack and get ready for my awesome Florida trip. So can’t wait!

Mimi seems to be doing better, not limping as much. She still jumps around and does “goat”, so she must be feeling better.

So, Rob and I decided to pay off the gov’t travel card, with half this month, half next month on the 15th. At least we’ll get the money back when he gets home, plus the super nice family separation and combat pay should be kicking in then too. Woo!

Mimi’s been limping around. The common consensus is that she pulled a muscle jumping/running and landed wrong. I’m going to continue keeping an eye on it. Nothing seems to be broken, so she probably tweaked something. Poor babygirl.

Now, onto the failboat. The sleep study sucked ass. I can’t even begin to describe how obnoxious it was. I had electrodes pasted to my face, scalp, chin, and throat, and on my calves. Then I had two sensor belts put around my waist to monitor breathing… and then a nasal cannula with a sensor to make sure I was breathing.

I couldn’t get comfortable. The wires would pull every time I’d move, and the tech was in my room every couple of minutes, because the sensor on the nasal cannula wasn’t working. So after the third or fourth time of coming in, he swapped it out, and it seemed to work. But still… I had to sleep on my back, and that’s not a position I’m comfortable in, so I dozed off and on, and finally woke up on my own around 6:05am. After I came home, I took a hot shower to get all that nasty paste off my face and hair… I looked like the guest of honor at a bukkake. Nasty, nasty stuff.

The tech also asked me if I had a followup. I told him no, that I was just there to make sure I didn’t have obstructive sleep apnea. I seriously doubt I do, as I sleep throughout the night, and I wake up feeling refreshed. So, we’ll see when the doc that referred me for the sleep study gets the results.

I have to go in for my sleep study tonight. Not really looking forward to that, as I don’t sleep well in unfamiliar places. Thankfully I’ll have my evening meds with me, so that should knock me out. I really have no idea why they’re insisting I do this, because I never had to do this for any of my other surgeries. Oh well… it’s the last hoop I have to jump through before I  have the Lap Band(tm) surgery. Part of me says wait until Rob comes home, part of me says to hell with it and get it done ASAP. I’m thinking Xmas break would be optimal, that way I won’t have to miss much school.

Also! I go get my hair braided up this coming Friday. I’m looking forward to that, so I won’t be tempted to shave it all off. That way my natural hair can just grow out and its all good. I’m thinking of going with burgundy, and throwing some hot pink and black into a few braids for some color. Or, I may just do burgundy and black. Either way, I have to be up early Friday morning to get over to San Pablo so we can go to the beauty supply shop to get the hair, then get back and start braiding away.

Then, I get to gear up for my vaycay to Florida. I’ll have to remind Brett when I’m leaving and when I’ll be back so he can come check in on the furkids to do litterbox detail, give them fresh water, and make sure they have food.

I may or may not do Dore Alley… I’ll have to see how I feel, as I hate going alone. Same with FSF. But, I do have an event at the end of August to go to for the Breast Cancer Emergency Fund, so I need to find a date for that.

I just can’t wait for school to start.

Even though it was a lot of fun at the pool party at Bill’s house last night, it was rather bittersweet, as the guest of honor left at 9am this morning for Louisiana. It sucks that all the fun, cool people are leaving. Oh well, I reckon I can always pass through on a road trip or something and visit.

Something else bugged me, and I couldn’t put my finger on it til after I got home. It’s funny how people will ignore you at a party, but when they’re leaving, “Oh! Hey, tell Tally that we hope he’s doing ok!”, and nothing else. Not “Are you doing ok?” or anything. Whatever. One couple didn’t talk to me near the end either. Wow… am I really that much of an afterthought that you can’t be bothered to say anything until you leave for the night? Ehhh… people suck. At least Micah, Sonya, her hubby James, Bill, and his wife were plenty sociable with me. Then there was Molly, the little 11 week old GSD/Golden Retriever mix puppy. OMG, insulin inducing cuteness! I hope her ears stand up.

As for today, I’m about to head out, gas up the car, and go to San Jose to chill with some friends. Beats sitting around in the house. There will be a definite bubble tea outing, but the rest is up in the air.

Why yes… yes I can!

I’m off to sunny Florida for a week of sun, sand, seafood, beaches, Busch Gardens, and Mom’s birthday. Good times all around.

Thankfully I won’t have to board the cats, as a friend is going to check in on them daily for litterbox detail and to give them fresh water and make sure their food bowl is full.

Not looking forward to flying on a packed plane with screaming children… but eh, what can you do. I’ll just bring my iPod and zone out.

Yes… yes it is.

First of all, during the past week, I was treated to the sounds of the upstairs neighbors moving out. Not sure if it was Frank or the other guy, but eh… either way, they were moving their crap out at the buttcrack of dawn, thus waking me out of my glorious slumber. And for those that know me, sleep is a very precious commodity.

So, they move out, all is good and quiet, right? WRONG!

This morning, I was awakened by Storm walking across my sternum, and the remodeling guys are upstairs hammering, drilling, and doing whatever remodeling guys do. Now, for the most part, I do not mind this. However, when they’re rockin’ their shit at 6am… yeah, it makes me a rather unhappy camper.

I’m starting to think I really need a vacation. I need to go SOMEWHERE. You know, drop the fur kids off with a caregiver and just… go.  I need a change of scenery desperately. At least something to keep me going until school starts in the third week of August.

I miss Rob. I know he’s having a hard time over there right now, but all I can do is keep the home fires burning.

Oh yes, according to my stats, people from Florida are perusing my blog. The only people in Florida that I know that come from my Facebook page would be Rob’s parents or brother. So… hi!!

So, I’ve been pretty much sans all piercings since my hysterectomy last year. I really missed my nostril piercing, so for my birthday, I decided I’d go down to Pierce Ink and have it redone. Luckily for me, Sharrin has mad skills and didn’t  need to repierce it. She just opened it back up with a very small taper. Tada! I can haz nose ring again!

She and I talked a bit that if one has had piercings long enough, they may LOOK like they’re closed, but can often be opened up again. Since I have some tapers here at the house, I figured what the hell… and decided to see if any of my other piercings could be opened up as well. As it stands, all of my ear piercings now have shiny steel rings in them. I was also able to open my septum and tongue back up as well. Glee!

It was cool, the guy I get jewelry from threw in a freebie septum retainer for me today. Life is good. However, I’m going to wait a bit before attempting to stretch the septum back up to the 14ga it was at. At least now I’ll be able to have some variety!

Next month will be the vertical labret with a ring, and getting the braid extensions done. Boyish Kat is turning into Tribal Yautja Kat.

I was going to go back down to San Jose today for a second attempt at getting my nose repierced, but decided against it.  People are going to be returning home from their four-day weekend, and I am so not in the mood for dealing with that kind of traffic.

So, today is chill out at home and enjoy my birthday by myself day.  Being 39 hasn’t sunk in yet, so I’m kinda… meh. Oh well, next year’s birthday will be epic with hitting the big Four-Oh. Right now, it’s time for leftover pizza for breakfast. Woohoo! I may take myself out for a nice dinner later at the Indian restaurant.