2008-12-16 - 8:07 p.m.
Ok....so I'm not dead yet. But a few of you have asked WTF was that about....in reference to my last post. Well, I'm still asking the same thing. I was severely dehydrated, but that was probably due to 3 days of nausea/no food/very little water/vomiting. But we don't know what caused all that in the first place, so I'm going to see a gastroenterologist. Yippy! And I'm taking some Prilosec which seems to actually be making me feel better. So, I'm alive for the moment.
On the neighbor front....things are still crazy. Tonight I was yelled/screamed at in the parking lot while I was getting out of my car. Lot's of calling me a bitch, thief, bitch, fucking bitch, fucking thief....etc. I wasn't going to blog anymore about this, but it's got to the point of total harassment. Even the management is asking me to document it. It happened. It needs to be said.It's stupid and sad.
But let's see if we can end this on a positive note. Hmmm. Uhhhhh. Hmmmmm. Well, I got a package in the mail today with shiny gold ball point pens in it. Does that count? Ok....back to the drawing board......
comments??? (0 so far...) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2008-12-10 - 2:48 a.m.
So I just spent 9 (NINE!) hours in the emergency room. We ALL did. It was packed. It didn't matter if you had the sniffles or were about to die of a heart attack, 9 hours was about the average wait.
And amazingly, after all that, I was pronounced all fine and good.....despite having spent the last 3 days on my death bed puking. They gave me a lot of IV fluids, a couple of basically over the counter drugs and sent me home. So far, I seem to feel Ok.....but we shall see.
The strange thing about spending 9 hours with strangers in an emergency room, is that they oddly become family and friends for that time. You overhear their stories, you watch their expressions, you commiserate.
As I was lying on a gurney, being rolled down the hall to Xray, I passed several others also waiting their turn. We had all been in the waiting room together as well. The first guy I passed, gave me a big wave hello (he had finally gotten in to be seen!) and wished me luck. On my way being rolled back to my room, another guy on a stretcher made an effort to say hello, too. We were all amazed and happy that we were finally getting to see the doctor. It was very odd. But oddly cool. We were together and sharing in each other's fears....but being comforted in the familiarity.
Now, before you think I've gone all mushy.....don't even get me started on the rest of the population that was there tonight: The crazy loud fat woman who made sure we ALL heard her non stop cell phone conversations, the people who brought food in and just tossed the wrappers on the floor, the overly large women in tight sweatsuits wearing high heels and sunglasses (who wears high heels to the ER?! But that did seem to be popular.), the gang bangers with their jeans so low they don't even cover their butt crack. Oh, I could go on and on about all those people.
But there were the nice people. And I'm still alive. And now I'm going to bed.
comments??? (3 so far...) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2008-12-06 - 9:49 p.m.
My mom used to say, "Just because everybody's doing it, doesn't mean YOU have to. If everybody was jumping off the Aurora Bridge (a bridge near our house), would you do that too?"
Well, um, all the cool kids are doing this meme....so, uh, yeah, I guess so.
You know how this goes. The things in bold are the ones I've done....with comments mixed throughout on some I've done or not done. (Sorry...it's REALLY long.) Here you go:
1. Started my own blog
Duh. I don't even know why this is in the list. You wouldn't be reading this otherwise.
2. Slept under the stars
Not directly outside, but in a tent a couple of times, and in a Porsche once.
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
My mom, my sister, and I went every year from when I was about age 10 to 15. One year it was just my mom, my grandma and me. We had been there about two days when there was a knock on the door. It was my sister! She saved her own money and secretly bought a ticket to make a surprise visit. That was pretty cool. Now my mom and sister still go every year, but I haven't been back since.
5. Watched a meteor shower
Yes, a few times. The last time, I fell off a step and got a concussion. Ooops!
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
Argh....yes. The last time, I got heat stroke and started hallucinating that there were things flying around in our hotel room.
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
I haven't actually held one, but a couple of years ago, there was one just outside our door. I totally freaked out. I didn't know if it would fly at me or jump on me or who knows what....so I was afraid to get near it. Eventually, I just took a giant step over it and walked away quickly. It just sat there motionless. I'm sure it was probably harmless, but it looked freaky. Oddly, I don't mind handling snakes and lizards. But bugs totally creep me out.
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightening at sea
I have several times, but I was not at sea. I was comfortably ensconced in either a cozy hotel room or my apartment when it occured.
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
I'm not quite sure what kind of art this is referring to, but I do paint and draw. I started this on my own, but later went to college to study and refine what I did.
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
It's not a hang over....it's food poisoning. Really!
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
Well, I have attempted to. Although, it was nearly a fatal experience for possible innocent bystanders. A friend and I had built a roof top garden on my...roof. Amazingly, during a HUGE wind storm, the whole thing blew off. Now, this was not a small thing. This whole garden set up probably weighed as much as a small car. And it Blew. Off. The. Roof!!!!! It was really scary. We found pieces of it a block away. Luckily, it happened at night, so nobody was around. But it was a high traffic area, so if it had happened in the daytime, somebody could have been killed. I have not attempted growing vegetables since.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
Well, I haven't actually sat by the side of the road and held my thumb out, but twice I've had my car break down in the middle of nowhere and had to rely on helpful strangers to get to the next town or to get help to get my car towed.
23. Taken a sick day when you�re not ill
It's food poisoning....not a hangover. Really!
24. Built a snow fort
Where it snow....I don't go!
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
I must have. I just must have. But I don't recall.
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
I get seriously depressed if I can't make it in time to get to the beach at sunset at least a couple of times a week. I loooooove the sunset. Tonight I couldn't go to the beach, but I was driving along the coast, and it was one of the most amazing sunsets I've seen in a while.
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
Yes. Unfortunately, the day of the cruise, I got the news that my cat would probably die during the time that I was away. The vet recommended putting her down. I thought I was going to die, it was so heart breaking. But $5000 and several ship to shore phone calls later, my cat survived. She lived for several more years after that to everybody's amazement.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
No, but I've had Amish people visit my store.
36. Taught myself a new language
I never get very far, but I can say a few words in Spanish, French, and Arabic. I can read pretty well in both French and Spanish.....more so than I can speak. But reading Arabic is quite challenging because of the different alphabet. There is no alphabet! I would really like to be fluent in Spanish and Arabic since soooooo many people here speak one or the other, but I am unfortunately reallyyyyy lazy.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
Always!! Until I open the bills.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo�s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
Well, I bought pizza for a homeless couple and ate it with them behind a vacant building in Seattle. It was oddly disappointing. I had seen them around the area for years. I wanted to help them out. But they were so beyond even the term "disfunctional" that it was oddly hard to even carry on a conversation. I had clearly interrupted their normal routine, the flow of life that they clung to. It was really uncomfortable.
44. Visited Africa
No, but that is my dream. I want to go to Africa more than any other place. And I don't really have a preference as to where in Africa. Almost all the books I read have something to do with Africa. It fascinates me. Someday.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
Oh yeah. I live for the beach....especially the beach at night. One night I had sex on the beach....on a lifeguard shack....under the moon...while planes were flying in and landing behind us.
46. Been transported in an ambulance
Argh....several times.
47. Had my portrait painted
Well, I've had my caricature drawn. Does that count?
48. Gone deep sea fishing
No, but I've been whale watching on a small boat when the crew recommended that we not go out due to rough seas. I loved every minute of it! While all the other "tourists" huddled in the tiny cabin, I clung to the rails and stood outside for the entire trip. It was fabulous!
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
Oh yeah. I've also danced naked in the rain.
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
Only when I was a little kid. My parents would have me put on my pajamas before we left the house because they knew I'd be asleep before we got home.
55. Been in a movie
Several. But nothing you've ever heard of.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
Property Management. Antiques. Personal Assistant Services.
I have only rarely not been self employed.
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
No, but I had the longest and best conversation with my Grandmother....EVER....when she returned from her trip to Russia years ago. Even so, I still have no desire to go there.
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
OMG, yes. No story there. Ack. Thin mint cookies are the work of the devil!
62. Gone whale watching
Oh....Oops! I talked about that way up at number 48
63. Got flowers for no reason
Yes and no. The week before my S/O broke up with me (we had been together for 17 years and never given me flowers) he bought me a flower while we were out grocery shopping. I melted. I thought that was the sweetest thing. Then he called and told me he was sleeping with somebody new and our relationship was over. Oh my!
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
Oh hell yeah. Argh!
68. Flown in a helicopter
No, but I knew a helicopter pilot who crashed and lived to tell about it. I am soooo not going to be flying in a helicopter if I can help it.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
I had a really great stuffed animal that I saved forever, but it got put in storage, and then it got moldy. Ack. No amount of washing would save it. "Flower" has now gone to the great stuffed animal heaven in the sky.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
Oh yes. I've even had the privilege of eating at Petrossian in New York....the home of caviar. But I also have commited the most grievous of caviar sins. Wayyyy back when I really didn't know much about Caviar, my Grandmother bought me a tin of it from Petrossian. I ate a couple of spoonfuls, a little taste really, but then I forgot about it. I left it in the fridge. It went bad and I threw it out. I saved the tin, but offed the fish eggs. Well. It turns out that my Grandma had spent $600 on that. The tin is actually lined with a thin layer of gold. OMG!!!!!!! Who knew? Don't tell anyone I did that!
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
Twice. It wasn't all that exciting.
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
Yes. The first time was a phone solicitor job. I didn't make any sales. The business was a photographer who specialized in family photos, school photos and the like. Unfortunately, the name of the business was: Ken Flesh Photography. Yes, I had to cold call people at 9am, saying "Hi! This is Ken FLESH photography! We'd like to photograph your children!"
ACK ACK ACK!!!
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
I've had 7 surgeries, but never broken a bone until this year.....my baby toe!
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
Yes. And it was so magnificant (my own word) that I refused to post pictures of it when I blogged about it. You have to go there. There is NOTHING that will give you the experience you need to have other than seeing it for yourself.
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
A few times. My dad is the consummate car buying negotiator dude. Neighbors, friends and relatives will not buy a car unless he is there to do the negotiating. He had had a heart attack shortly before I bought one of my last cars. I didn't think he was up to it, but he came along. I found myself doing the negotiating like he would do. He kept silent. We got the deal we wanted. He looked at me. He knew that he had passed on his skill. All those times I has sat with him at car dealerships, watching him negotiate.....that was not lost on me. For him to look at me and realize that, was.....priceslessly amazing.
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
Yep. Heck....I've even been on TV....NUDE!
85. Read the entire Bible
I'm actually very religious. But you wouldn't know it. I feel that it's a personal matter, and I keep it very private. But I do believe that God is very forgiving and wouldn't condemn things like alcohol and strip clubs. Just sayin'......
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
Ack!!!!!
88. Had chickenpox
I still have a scar from one near my eye that looks like a tear drop.
89. Saved someone�s life
Yes, if you count Alan. I recognized that he was having the signs of a heart attack. Of course, it took me almost 12 hours to convince him, but I was right. He had to have double bypass surgery.
Unfortunately, I will forever feel guilty for not realizing the signs that someone was having a stroke. There was a clerk that worked at the liquor store down the street from me. The store had a history of hiring people who drank on the job. I thought the guy was drunk. An hour later he was dead. I should have acted. I should have called 911. But I just thought he was drunk. As I walked home, I had this horrible feeling that something was wrong, but I didn't do anything. I will forever feel guilty for that.
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
Yes. Many. I was going to drop names, but.....nah......
I've had fun times with the famous...and some awkward, not fun times too
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
Argh....yes.
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
Yes, and it was awkward beyond belief because I was on one the first outings with Alan and his kids. We really didn't know each other all that well at the time. And here we were, at the zoo with his 5 and 7 year old. And I got stung! Oy.
100. Ridden an elephant
No, but that would be really cool.
Of course, you know, all of this is copy right protected. None of this information may be reproduced without my permission.