Blah blah blah blahbitty blog

So I am taking a singing class at the UCSD extension. It is really fun. I think I am in love with the teacher. Sigh.
We had our midterm at a karaoke bar in La Mesa. For those of you who don't know San Diego that is about 1/2 an hours drive from my house. Half an hour if you take the freeways. I had one (1) cosmopolitan. I was fine sitting. I ate an artichoke as I knew I had already blown my diet with the booze. mmmmmm artichoke! No butter no mayo and it was still good.

I wanted to sing a song I knew really well so I sang Nick Cave's "Henry Lee" acapella. I also sang Ol' 55 (written by Tom Waits but covered by the Eagles). It semi sucked but I got a big round of applause from generous patrons of the bar. After we had all sang a couple times my teacher announced she had to get going as she still had to drive home to LA. So she went and then everyone left.

I was under the influence of alcohol. Heavily under. I wanted to have fun. Lots more fun. I drunk dialed my friend Lars who couldn't come out to play and my friend Toni who was probably already in bed as she works in the morning. I am sure she was in bed as she turned off her cell. The problem with being my age is most of my friends are at least semi-respectable and have to get up for a job in the morning. So I left as well. I started pulling out of my parking spot and I know I was in no shape to drive. I called my friend Matt who came and rescued me. I was feeling light headed and the world was spinning around me, and yet giddy and talkative. Matt brought H along and he drove my car back and H followed in his car. I am lucky to have such good friends.

I am probably lucky to have such good meds as well, although I am sure they are why one drink affected me like that. There was a time when I would have had to have three to act that way.  Three over a short time that is. Although I don't drink often I seem to have a tolerance for alcohol. Sigh I like my monthly drink in the company of friends. Ah well I can be silly without alcohol and I would rather have the friends than the booze.

Thanks to Matt and H. for interrupting your movie and coming to my rescue. I love you

I can do 25 at once but to do 55 is hard for me. I made it to the aforementioned 25, barely, then rested a minute or so. Taking time off to go to Oregon had curtailed my taekwondo activities for a while, including the sit ups I so dread. So I manage to squeeze out about 10  more. Then I fell back and had to rest, my face hot and sweaty as I puffed and gasped for breath. Master Kim was sitting up at the judges table telling me to take my time. I nodded at him as I didn't have the air to speak. I did five more. The man holding my legs told me I needed ten more. I nodded at him gasped and wheezed a bit as I lay on the mats, then I did four more. He counted off nine, eight, seven, six. I flopped back, gasped a bit then reminded him he forgot to count ten. I needed six more not five. I did three, then rested. Finally I did the last three. Truthfully the last one was about three quarters of a sit up, but I was too tired to care. I stood up to the thunderous applause of my fellow black belts. I bowed to the helper who held my ankles down and then to Master Kim then finally to the audience. Then I went down. One of the other black belts turned and held out her hand to give me five. I felt so good.

Damn! I knew that steroid shot would kick me in the ass (a word one should never say on CO) . I have some sort of contact dermatitis going on and I had some solumedrol given to me by a very handsome hispanic doctor. Poor young man must of thought I was nuts because he came in the room I popped my shirt off and showed him the rash all over my back and arms. Later when he came at me to listen to my chest I popped it off again. Sheesh then he came in to give me a shot and I popped it off one more time. It was going to go into my arm, but I couldn't just drag up the sleeve like a normal person. LMAO I haven't been such an exhibitionist is well...months.  Just like last time the Corticosteroids are keeping me up. Even an ambien is not helping. ah well

on to things I hate.
   People who read someone's blog and then warn people  not to have "bad language" like they own the place. To me, bad language is language that consistently has very poor grammar, horrific spelling (not just the occasional typo) and mean or smugly holier/morally better than thou attitudes.
   Hate speech is often made b those who consider themselves smugly holier or morally better than others.  This type of language  does not wound so much in the  broadly stereotypical word volleys  of the morally and educationally deprived. Hate speech does the greatest damage in the subtle verbal knife twists of those whose agenda is fogged by class, status and or education. Often this type has more power to harm with their words.
Ugh it's 5AM I have to get up in three hours.
good night
I am going to try to sleep

I see a few people recently were still on the Irish name generator. Well my irish name is Róisín or Róis ingean uí Fhlaithbheartaigh if you want my 10th century Irish name. I plugged Roisin into the Irish name generator and got some other Irish name and though screw that. I will stick to my SCA given name.

  So I left San Diego and got in the Prius with too much stuff and my dog and drove. Sarah is not the best of travelers on her good days.  We stopped frequently. The first stop was at the Dog Park in Griffith Park in LA. I'll give it an eh it was ok, small with not much grass and a very high fence all around. I felt like I was in a Prison. After about an hour, we loaded back into the car, hooking Sarah into her seat belt and drove on, down I-5.
  We stopped again after the Grapevine and I walked Sarah around on the side of the street for a while. Driving through the San Joaquin Valley lengthwise is tedious at best and Sara and I took frequent rest stop breaks. From just after the steep descent of the Grapevine north of LA to Redding it's flat and dull with mostly two lane driving. It doesn't help that the worst accident Phil and I saw was around Coalinga (named because it was Coaling Station A during the railroad times). I was so glad to get to the Residence Inn in Sacramento that evening. I was tired and ready to relax. Sarah was ready to never see my car again. We made ourselves at home for the evening and after relaxing a bit had a good night's sleep.
  We left not so early in the morning and went to a dog park a few miles away. While trying to find this place, I came across a sign that cracked me up. I really wish I had taken a picture of it. The sign read "undulations ahead". I looked for undulations and all I saw were bumps. Sheesh what jumped-up lingo. I suppose the sign was made by some poor soul who firmly believes that the more syllables a word has the more classy it is. Language to these boobs is a no a way to communicate but rather a way to show off. Unfortunately for those who do not understand that language is best when it is clear and precise, polysyllabic words can instead of making one look erudite and sophisticated make them look like an utter ass.
  But I digressed, and my story was derailed, probably by some penny left on the tracks. Although there was a dog park within a few blocks of my hotel, I went to one a bit farther off. Lured but promises of 2 acres by the website, I arrived to find that although indeed this was a relatively easy park to find the Dog park was about the size of my backyard.
  I really should have gone to the one around the corner from my hotel. I must have zigged when I should have zagged  on the way home. I was a bit lost. I had a map on my computer of the area so I was not horribly lost and I did find my way back to the hotel only to find the exits only came from the northbound and exited to the southbound lanes. So I wandered around a bit longer until I found an exit going north.  It took about 1/2 an hour all told.
  But then we were flying down the freeway. Of course Sarah was still not too happy about the idea. We made it all the way to Redding though before we stopped. My sister's house was only 2 1/2 hours away. So we stopped to gas up and then we went to the local Dog Park. Redding Dog Park is pretty nice. The people who go there are very friendly as well. We stayed there an hour.
  The next leg of the journey was up the Shasta-Cascades. Mount Shasta was covered in snow. It was beautiful. In the higher elevations the ground was covered in snow along the freeway but the road was dry. It really is a beautiful drive. I wished I could take pictures of the drive every 20 feet. I would really like to visit Castle Crags in the summer at some point.  Finally we were driving down the steep descent into Medford aka Deadford aka Methford. We were happy to be there. We have been here over a week but I will write about that tomorrow.

Here are the rules

1. Grab your nearest book.

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.

5. Tag 5 different people.

Ok the nearest book is my son's baby book and doesn't go up to that page. The next nearest books are scores for various symphonies and concertos. Ok finally a book that has words and a page 123, Phil's copy of "The Completely Useless Unauthorized Star Trek Encyclopedia" by Steve Lyons and Chris Howarth.

123

Five sentences down, which luckily started at the beginning of an entry.

"Morn: The name that was given, belatedly, to Mark Allen Shepherd's semi-regular 'alien barfly' character in Deep Space Nine. His demeanour as he sat at Quark's bar reminded the production team so much of the popular character Norm Peterson from Cheers  that they christened him accordingly.
  Although they haven't admitted it yet, the same logic must have applied when Jonathan Frakes's Next Generation commander was named with a partial anagram of 'Kirk'."

I tag the new Mrs. Hewes, Matt, Lars and anyone else who cares to try this and has not yet been tagged.  

   After the highs and lows of December when my nephew married his sweetheart and the depths of Christmas passed by in another malaise of cheery music and horrific crowds at the stores and on the freeways. Although, it was nice to see my Dad at the wedding and to have family visiting, I am so glad it's all over.
   My father went back home and soon after his Alzheimer's worsened. I am planning on going to Oregon and staying to help my sister as much as I can. There are tests that suggest Tumor Necrosing Factor might help with Alzheimer's and in fact reverse it. I don't hope for too much but it would be nice to have my Dad back.
   As for me, my constant low grade muscle soreness has gotten worse lately. There are times when the pain makes even walking normally difficult. My fingers have been numb and tingly at times then they have been swollen and painful. My right middle finger has trouble bending. According to my Doc my Sed rate has been elevated for over a year indicating constant inflammation. I thought I was exercising too much but when I actually get up and move around I feel better. Today after blood tests my doctor put me on elavil, a strong anti-inflammatory and something for pain. Unfortunately since I already take prozac, I cannot take the elavil. Tomorrow instead of going to an SCA event I will go back to the doctor and try to talk him into giving me lyrica which is the only FDA approved drug for Fibromyalgia anyway. Yeah that is the diagnosis, Fibro. God I hurt, I always hurt I just hurt less after I exercise. Also I have Carpal Tunnel and possibly Arthritis. Yayyyyyyyy.
Abby if you read this before you go to El Centro tell everyone hey for me and let them know I am sorry I cannot come. I really am going to miss that delicious feast they make there. yum. Have a good time though.

Oh BTW I did make some resolutions for New Years. So far they have gone by the wayside.
I hurt too much to do taekwondo, and am taking a bit of a vacay from it.
I haven't written in my blog once a week, well not last week.
I haven't walked twenty minutes with Sara once a day, although I do walk with her (and run some) around the dog park.
I haven't cut down on the sweets.
I did get some cute new clothes yayyyy
I did scan some of my old pics.
here is one of me and my little brother's dog when the world was young

Kimberly and Li'l Anne 1978

1 comment

Well the tip is. I think it's a carpal tunnel. Which means I shouldn't be on too long. I took Leila again today. That's Leila not Layla. oops. Josh moved in with our friend Susie for a couple weeks. Unfortunately not only is his dog not getting along with hers, he is not taking care of his dog. He just leaves her with Susie and takes off. I think he is in the first throes of love with a girl but sheesh,don't dump yer dog off. He is a nice kid but I think I know now why he had to leave his last place. Well the couple he lived with were having a baby but leaving your dog and expecting your roommate to take care of it all the time is not good. I think I am going to have to yell at him. I always thought he was a responsible dog owner. He took his dog to the park everyday. Now he just leaves his dog at home and goes off with his new girl. hmmmm. Sigh.