lesbo games night...

played games at Out Word Bound & Vic's last night - mostly Vic's, since OWB is now on their "winter hours" schedule and closed up at 8pm. there were 10 of us there - lots of fun. played Taboo and Crack The Case...i just might hafta get Crack The Case on ebay (it's from '93 and is out of print now) - the mystery solving reminds me of the Encyclopedia Brown books i read as a kid.

back to "normal"...

crisis mode over, mom was released from the hospital yesterday and went back to work today. they think it was some sort of obstruction in her small bowel - fun fun fun. i've done hospital duty with mom many a time, but i think it was strange for the both of us this time because in the past couple of years, the bulk of trips to the hospital have been because of me - it's usually ME in the bed with mom hovering over me.

argh...

crappy weekend. no mah jongg because dale was sick and greg was working late. so mom and i got caught up on watching stuff we'd videotaped (amazingly enough, the VCR does occasionally get used) - watched the Dean Cain movie, "The Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story" - yer typical TV movie, i guess...kinda weird because the story's not over and done, the dude's not even gone to trial yet.

watched a few other things, then mom started having some pain in her belly - reminded her of her previous bouts with pancreatitis, primarily because the pain was so horrible, and it came in waves. so it was off to the emergency room at 2am. wouldn't ya know it, we have to go to the ER on the night the computer system's down, so it took FOREVER to get lab results and such - luckily the morphine knocked her out and kept her relatively pain-free. blood work was normal, so then it was time for a CT scan, after mom got to drink a wonderfully disgusting liquid to help the contrast. while mom was getting scanned, i took a break and headed to the cafeteria. on the way back, i ran into dr. priscu, our endocrinologist, and let her know i was there with mom. it was a bit comforting to see her there, even though it was just pure coincidence. she knew what the docs had already said - the pain was lower in her belly than it would be for pancreatitis.

so after the docs said they'd probably let her go after watching her for another hour or so, i KNEW they'd probably end up admitting her - at 11am, i was WHIPPED. no sleep all night, instead i sat around, freaking out and watching mom sleep. so i came home, made a few phone calls, and promptly went to sleep.

so they admitted her into a regular room, thinking there's some sort of bowel obstruction type thing going on. excitement galore.

adam's returning from his european tour this evening, he'll be so thrilled to hear mom's in the hospital.

the good thing about group therapy...

...is that it makes you realize you're not as crazy as everyone else out there.

Fridays, 3pm - Stress Management Group. an interesting group of people, that's for sure.

VNS Update...

no change to the VNS - instead, doc's given me a new seizure pill to add to the list - Trileptal. 3MG of Keppra daily isn't doing it as far as seizure control goes, so we'll try 2 drugs at once. i dunno if the trileptal will be a long-term addition to the list or not, and there's a slight possibility of some problems with side effects - reading the info on the website, it says to tell the doc if you've had problems with tegretol, which i have (in the plain form - XR worked okay with me). i'll cross my fingers and hope i don't feel the anxiety and crankiness and other things i had when i was on generic tegretol. it may also fuck up things with the birth control pills - thank goodness i'm not actually using them for BIRTH CONTROL!

March 17 will be my one year anniversary with the VNS in - it's definitely not a certifiable success, but i'm still willing to give it a chance.

Music meme

Music meme:
Step 1: Open your MP3 player.
Step 2: Put all of your music on random.
Step 3: Write down the first 20 songs it plays, no matter how embarrassing.
Step 4: Profit!

alrighty...well, i did this, but only with mp3's i've got on the new computer - i haven't transferred everything over from the old machine yet, so it's probably from about 5-10% of my mp3 collection...

1. Missy Elliott - Work It (Dirty).mp3
2. The The - Kingdom of Rain.mp3
3. Dido - Here With Me.mp3
4. Sheryl Crow - If It Makes You Happy.mp3
5. Erasure - Ship Of Fools.mp3
6. Pet Shop Boys - Send Me An Angel.mp3
7. Counting Crows - Round Here.mp3
8. New Order - True Faith.mp3
9. Dixie Chicks - Strawberry Wine.mp3
10. Thompson Twins - King For A Day.mp3
11. Dixie Chicks with Sheryl Crow - Strong Enough (Live).mp3
12. Thompson Twins - Lies (Extended).mp3
13. Pet Shop Boys - Absolutely Fabulous.mp3
14. Depeche Mode - Megamix (with Erasure, OMD, the Cure, Falco).mp3
15. New Order - Regret.mp3
16. Jellyhead - Crush.mp3
17. Electronic - Get The Message.MP3
18. Monifah -Touch It (Dirty Version).mp3
19. Erasure - Blue Savannah.mp3
20. Kylie Minogue - Can't Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head.mp3


alrighty, now i'm ready for Step 4...

VNS Update...

well, not quite - i'll probably be updating my VNS status Thursday, when i have my appointment with dr. mohan. had to schedule an appointment because i had a seizure in the wee hours of this morning. don't think it was as bad as usual, tho i still have a headache after several tylenol doses. dunno if he'll wanna up the dosage of keppra this time, or just give me a bigger jolt. last week i noticed some problems with my sleeping - i'd wake up after being asleep only a couple of hours, and i'd stay awake for quite a while. dunno if sleep disruptions could've brought this on or not. still having the appetite problems as well. *shrug* i'm so very thankful that i hadn't yet started the new diabetes meds dr. priscu prescribed - i'm sure my first thought would've been that they caused some interaction. finishing off the old stuff before i start the new ones.

Vote Bush Out!

in case you don't have them already, here are 99+ Reasons To VOTE BUSH OUT!

a lousy 4 points...

Pholph's Scrabble Generator My Scrabble© Score is: 4. What is your score? Get it here.

leave it to mom to give me a name consisting of only one point scrabble letters - and only four of em, to boot. alas, it's all moot anyways - proper names aren't allowed in scrabble. scrambling letters will give you ROIL, a valid scrabble word, still only 4 points, unless ya land on some triples or something...

Paraskevidekatriaphobics, please ignore this post.

learned a new word today - paraskevidekatriaphobia. it's is a fear of Friday the 13th. i'm not particularly superstitious myself - every day of the week's crappy. *8-)

perhaps today's the day to buy some lottery tickets.

tonight's episode of ER...

i must say, i cracked up when i saw the commercial for Lockhart Hummer that aired during tonight's episode of ER, titled "Impulse Control" - they made a very good point of slamming Hummer because of the damage that they can do to other cars. A guy had a heart attack and crashed into a family, killing most of 'em, and the guy was worried about his new car more than his own health situation, let alone that of the people he injured/killed.

i'm thinking Lockhart Hummer (if anyone from their organization saw this episode) will be asking for at least a partial refund on the money they spent on advertising...

good little pancreas...

today's trip to the endocrinologist was a good one - my hemoglobin a1c was 6.6 (surprising, since i haven't been very good about checking my sugars lately), my cholesterol's doing very well, everything seems fine and dandy. well, except for the weight thing - i need to lose some weight.

dr. priscu is quite a woman - i was telling her about my unemployment and how hard it is to find a job and she was telling me about coming from romania years ago and not being able to practice medicine when she got here because she didn't know english, but that there were plenty of jobs for people - if you wanted to work, finding a job was not a problem. but it's just not that way nowadays - she never imagined the US would be in the shape that it is now. she also came out very anti-war as well - it's interesting to learn some of the more personal aspects of doctors, especially when they align with my own political beliefs. *8-)

omigod, they're HUGE!!!

errr, the title refers to my PUPILS, ya pervert! *8-) the opthamologist dilated my eyes during my appointment today - wouldn't ya know it'd be the first sunny day we've had in weeks. i was sans sunglasses, and the drive home was literally painful - i squinted all the way...

doc wants me to up the vitamins and lutein since he's seeing more changes to my macula, as well as my having an increased risk of a torn or damaged retina - ugh. as many problems as mom's had with her vision, i know to take good care of my eyes.

i asked the doc about contacts - since i'm nearsighted, i don't have to have the glasses on 24/7, and i have a tendency to leave them off when i really should probably be wearing them. maybe contacts would remedy the situation, tho dr. alig says that i shouldn't wear them when i sleep. the chicks in the office said he doesn't recommend that for anyone, but he said particularly in my case, wearing em overnight would be a bad idea. regardless, my insurance mandates i go somewhere else (probably target) for contacts, so i wanna look into the costs before i make a decision there...

miscellaneous stuff and thangs...

i've noticed i haven't put much personal stuff in the ol' blog lately, so i'm gonna try to remedy that. i suppose the main reason being i'm in a funk and i just haven't been DOING anything, so there's not much to report...

the job search isn't going all that well - there just doesn't seem to be anything out there for me. believe me, i'm looking anywhere and everywhere...

yesterday i went to the license branch, to get a new plate for my car - can't afford the extra $40 for the Indiana Arts Commission plate this year, so it's back to a plain ol' Indiana plate. i was flabbergasted when i got to the license branch - no wait! i was next in line! woo hoo! so i sit down at the desk and wouldn't ya know it - THE WHOLE COMPUTER NETWORK CRASHED, statewide. i hung out for a while and eventually it came back up and i got my plate - i knew it was impossible to go to the BMV without waiting at least half an hour!!

last week was the end of my physical therapy for the tendonitis in my right hand - it's weird not having that regular appointment two or three times a week now. of course, i've managed to fill this week up with other appointments - today it's the annual eye exam, tomorrow's the therapist, thursday's the endocrinologist.

gonna talk to the eye doc about contacts - don't know much about 'em, but i know that i have a tendency not to wear my glasses but that my nearsightedness seems to be getting worse to the point that i should wear them all the time - perhaps doing the extended-wear contacts will remedy the situation. *shrug*

mom signed us up for membership at the YMCA - now we need to get into the schedule of actually GOING and getting some exercise. i was all psyched to go last night, then she cancelled because she had a headache. shoulda gone without her, but i wimped out. they just recently moved everything in to the Y when all the renovations were done after the tornado, so it's pretty spiffy now.

more later, i hafta get ready for the doc!

great photoshopping...

love this pic:

Fab Five to the Oval Office, ASAP...

you know...you'd think that, with as many people as he's got pulling his strings, at least ONE of them woulda stepped forward and suggested that Dubya actually wear a pair of pants that FIT when appearing on Meet The Press.



well, at least he had tall socks on, eh?

FUH2.com

FUH2.com's an interesting site - i must say, when i see a Hummer parked in the Target parking lot, i have to wonder...

weird fact o de day...

According to the National Institutes of Health, the average person passes intestinal gas from 14 to 23 times a day and produces about 1 to 3 pints of the stuff.

of course, farkers had lots of comments to make about that statistic...

(that's farkers with a K - not a T) *8-)

not my type, per se, but okay...

Ted: Food & Wine Connoisseur


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big sister to the rescue

spent yesterday being big sister to adam, shuttling him around town since his car died on the interstate. the doofus left his blinkers on overnight, so in addition to the gas line probably being frozen (he left the car almost empty during the big freeze here while he went off to mexico) the battery was toast as well. my jumper cables couldn't resurrect the car, so off to AAA to get him signed up - i explained that it'd cost as much as the tow and he'd have the membership for a whole year. well, they charged him an extra $25 since he needed the car towed right away. i'm not automotively inclined in the least, but i do know that when it's this freaking cold out you don't leave the gas tank almost empty and you don't leave your blinkers running for 12+ hours. so now his car's in our driveway, he's gonna get it figured out when he gets back from europe - he leaves this weekend and will be gone 3 weeks or so...