Just reading a great book!

So not much going on here. I've been laying low, not doing a whole lot. I'm reading a fantastic book. I put off reading it because this is her first in almost a decade. I like to savor, but I usually just go nuts! The book is The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. It kind of reads like a Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It's historical fiction. The main character bumps into the likes of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Mexico as well as McCarthism in post WWII US.

It's not likely I'll hear about the results of my hearing for awhile. It could take one to four months based on the judge's backlog of cases. Since my hearing was only on the 10th, I'm not really looking for anything before that.

Zachary Quinto and some other things to be pretty excited about if you are me

My mom said I should post every other day because she would like to read it every day. Well, my life is not really that exciting these days. But here are a few things I think are pretty exciting right now.

First, I have to write about all the great gifts I’ve received so far. My parents bought me a pair of Reebok Easy Tone shoes. I was in desperate need of a new pair of trainers as my pair were years old and had no support left in them. So I got a pair of “butt shoes” (you’ll understand that if you’ve seen the commercials for these things)!

Some more great gifts… My sister drew my name for Christmas this year and bought me the new Barbara Kingsolver novel. Hurrah! And here is a picture of one of the greatest presents.



In case you don’t recognize the eye candy, this is “my boyfriend” Zachary Quinto (you know, from Heroes and Star Trek). My wonderful friend, who is already a bestie but would have become one because of this present, made me these magnets. My brother and roommate tolerates this. He’s a good guy.

Second, I decided last night when I couldn’t sleep that I was no longer going to sleep on just a mattress pad under a pile of clothes. Enough is enough. So I’ve washed my sheets and I’m really going to put them on my bed… really. This is a grand step toward a more organized house and a more organized life.

Maybe this is not that exciting to you, but I am pretty excited anyway.

My hearing

It’s been a few days since my hearing. That was on Thursday, the 10th. I haven’t posted because I guess I don’t want to jinx anything. But you may be wondering how it all went. Here’s how it went down:

I was the first person to have a hearing that day. My attorney from the company hired to do this for me flew in from Minnesota just to help me – I was her only client here. She’d interviewed me a few days before the hearing and then we met for about an hour before the hearing.

Once in the hearing (here in Eugene at the federal building) there was the judge, the court reporter, and a vocational expert. I was sworn in and the judge immediately started asking about a million questions on about every aspect of my life. It was so rigorous and intrusive. So no, I wouldn’t recommend this to the faint of heart.

By the end of the hearing, based on my testimony, the vocational expert testified that I would not be able to work. After the hearing my attorney told me she was 99.9% certain I would get the benefits. And the vocational expert came up to me and told me that when I was ready to go back to work, that I should connect with vocational rehabilitation because they would love to have someone like me. Kind of cool, eh?

So that’s how that went. I had finished my finals on the day before. So that one really stressful patch was over (until the inevitable next stressful patch, that’s life). I celebrated with some Burrito Boy and then went with my brother and adopted brother to take the dogs out to doggie heaven. It was a lot for one day and my body was in misery. But it was a good day.

Now three weeks of winter break!

Merry Christmas!

Moving and finals! No time to post… But here is a picture of our Christmas tree in our new place!