Usually

when I go to pick up A on weekend nights, I'm half asleep, but I got some rest this evening, and I'm perky and awake, and it's almost 2 am now. I've taken my various night meds, brushed my teeth, flossed, and rinsed my mouth (that's one of the things I have to do with my asthma medicine, rinse my mouth), I've put some Neosporin on the cat bite after washing it again, and generally I've done all the other stuff to get ready for bed. I'm sitting here listening to some music and contemplating going to sleep for the night. I want to get up fairly early and get my laundry together tomorrow, as well as take the trash out and even make breakfast, if I can get going then. I've some eggs and milk, and some pancake mix. That sounds really tasty. Then it's over to my friends' house and my Sunday duties and my laundry to do. We may watch something, too. Next week we end our hiatus from the game and start that back up, which I'm very excited about. This month marks the 25th anniversary of the start of our campaign. Yes, really, we've been playing the same Call of Cthulhu game since July 1991; our characters have come and gone, some have children, that sort of thing. I still have my original character, mainly because she has been insane, pregnant, recovering from a physical injury, or stuck in Yog Sothoth for periods of time. Her son is a scary mad genius of sorts, and he's twelve. When he was three or four, he opened a dimensional portal in the kitchen microwave. It's been a challenge. Here's the cast of my characters:

1. Rosalind Marie McVey--former linguistics graduate student at Miskatonic University who was a founding member of our group after her first Cthulhoid experience and training. Was put into a crystal room in a lost city in the desert, where her latent telepathy woke up and she was able to communicate with Cthonians and other Mythos creatures. A former colleague who had gone to the side of evil impregnated her and put her back into the room, making their unborn son incredibly smart, telepathic, and oh, yeah, having almost emotionless intellect with little regard for others. At one point, Rosalind was captured by the government, which augmented her telepathic gifts and used her as a weapon. Her Mythos knowledge got very high; her comrades were able to save here, but it took a lot of regular knowledge out of her brain and damaged her gift, which is mainly just a connexion with her son these days. She is currently working at the Orne Library at Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts. Her brush with the government technically left her 'dead' in terms of identity, so she is living under an assumed name, Eileen Neila MacLeod.
2. Melissa Jane Andrews--physician who joined the group early on. Her father was a former American soldier; her mother was a British journalist. In her tenure in the group, her magical gift for necromancy woke up, and she had a transformation physically from someone who looked a bit like Scully from 'X-Files' to an Ancient Aegyptian with white hair and green eyes. She spent 65 million years in a Greater Race of Yith stasis pod on the moon, then travelled to the end of the time and into our present timeline. making her essentially immortal (although she can be killed). She cannot have children due to her status as a necromancer. She is currently in a magical order that is in a bubble of reality. She recently lost an eye in a mission. Her transformation was so difficult to explain, that she is living under a different name, Alexandria Mereneith Amentiri. (The last name I temporarily forgot,  then remembered it was derived from a name for the ancient Aegyptian Underworld.) 
3. Miranda Amelia Wainscott--her great uncle and she lived in a sprawling mansion outside Arkham, Massachusetts. Unknown to her, he was a cultist related to the Whateleys of Dunwich. He killed her parents and tried to sacrifice her at age 16, but it went terribly wrong because she wasn't actually a virgin. One a mission under the Atlantic, she went through a gate to another world full of water, where the people there changed her with various implants so she could survive under the sea. She returned, but had to be magically changed to be able to live in Earth's polluted oceans. She has three forms: her normal human form, a base aquatic form, and a silver battle form. She is currently in the magical order with Melissa. She has no children. Her house is now our headquarters. She is bisexual, but has had no children.
4. Sara Rashel Baum--an archaeologist who was born in Israel. She was seduced by a mystical creature, had a son, and died two months later by being stepped on by Shub Niggurath, becoming toe jam. Her tagline was 'You can get stepped on by a Dark Young of Shub Niggurath and live.' Unfortunately, the Mother with a Thousand Young herself was too much for her. Her child is being raised by other characters, and will turn into the same sort of creature as his father when he's older, becoming a life force vampire of sorts.
5. Ariana Sofia Krios--an electric engineer from California of Greek descent, she is now in the magic order studying as a Hermetic mage. She is of Witchblood, but never knew it--but has an affinity for air and water magic. She is a lesbian who has not had children.
6. Carolyn (Carol) Kathleen Reardon Grant--probably my favourite right now. She is a nurse who worked with Doctors Without Borders in Bosnia during the war there. She is a Witch in a coven with some other members of the group, apparently a late bloomer in her family. She has a daughter by an English lord who was possessed by one of the mystical creatures akin to Sara's lover. As a result, her daughter is very intelligent. She is currently pregnant by one of her comrades, who is an elemental mage. The children have their father's elemental magic, each with two of the elements, and are already demonstrating the gift in the womb.
7. Therese (Tessa) Celine Cavaillion--an artist from Quebec who is very much 'the good girl'. She was a novice in a convent but left to experience the world, and wound up having a Cthulhoid experience. She has some healing ability and a mysterious 'friend' who shows up occasionally to have her do certain things. She has a high will but seems to never be able to resist vampires, faeries, or anything like that. She married one of the other characters, and was pregnant with their daughter, but they went to the Everglades, battled alligator men, and she was injected with a mad scientist's serum, which caused the child to have augmented body-shaping ability (an extension of the biokenesis in Tessa's family) but also made her 'download' various aspects of Tessa's personality, splitting her into several discrete personalities, able to change form for each until that gift was turned off psychically. One of the personalities is male, one is an alligator creature, and one is totally sociopathic and is terribly dangerous. When she was two, she drove a screwdriver into a character's eye, partially blinding him. She is now in a mental hospital where she occasionally tries to get out and is very rough with the staff. The father was killed by a Dimensional Shambler in the future on the moon. Tessa has another child by a mobster (long story, let's say magic was involved), who's pretty much normal, and is raising her quietly in Newton, Massachusetts. She ran afoul of the mystical creatures that Sara was involved with, some of whom basically killed most of her family off, so she's had a lot of death and tragedy in her life.
8. Celeste Malfalda du Mornay--raised as the daughter of an opera singer (who was one of the Savoy family, the former rulers of Italy) and a French industrialist (who was killed in a car bomb when she was young), Celeste is actually the daughter of an English lord whose family figures prominently in our game (several of Brenda's characters are members of that family). Celeste was kicked out of several boarding schools and is an unlikely operative, but she is doing pretty well. She lives in Arkham, Massachusetts with her Bichon Frise, Abelard, and her nieces, who are blood magicians from another timeline, and a long suffering but well-paid maid. She has a small precognitive gift. She is bisexual, with no children.
9. Joshua (Josh) Ethan Adler--my only male character. He was somewhat telepathic He survived a plane crash only to save the world by manoevering himself into a position where the Elder Things would not recognise him as sentient and so they had him killed by a Shoggath and his head put on a machine that keeps a horrible Mythos creature at bay. Note that the two characters I had that were Jewish both died. Josh was a photojournalist; the one other photojournalist in the game (the father of Rosalind's son) died horribly as well, after going mad. So Josh was doubly-cursed, apparently. But his death was very good in the sense that it saved a non-player character I am very fond of, and also saved the world. I love a good martyrdom.
10. Alexandra (Alix) Evelyn Bishop Rhodes--a former socialite and soldier who is married to a necromancer. They have a newborn son who was fated to suffer his family curse upon his father's death, but she had Carol's mother, a Witch, potentially solve that problem. She is mildly telepathic and a recovering alcoholic. She has a lot of trouble around magic of all kinds, and it tends to screw her over a lot. She lost an eye, which was replaced by an NPC with future technology. She is unhappy with her husband's familiar, which is an undead cat that has magically been transformed to look alive, which hates psychics of any sort--but who tolerates her based on her husband's commands, and who would protect their child with every ounce of her undead might, but it does make getting a nanny problematic.

Am I forgetting anyone? I don't think so--I did almost forget Alix. That's eight children, total [Tristan, Jason, Lia, Kaia, Claire, Nathan, Aiden, and Eden], if you count the two on the way, I think. That's the character list for me, in a nutshell. Taken together,  they incorporate much of my personality and interests.  Anyway, I'm looking forward to going back to the game. I'm curious as to how Carol's twins will turn out. She just survived a warlock attack. Hopefully there won't be any more for awhile.

Well, that didn't help

There wasn't anything amazing and new on Facebook.  I think I will take a nap,  since I haven't been getting enough sleep lately.  But first,  I forgot to mention that my friends' cat got upset with me and did something totally uncharacteristic for him--he reached out and bit me while I was playing with him.  It's not very deep,  but he did draw blood.  Teach me to annoy cats.  He was all lovey with me later,  of course,  because that's how cats are.

I'm feeling pretty sad right now

We were watching the episode of 'Ugly Betty' where she (finally) got her first business cards from Mode magazine. I was reminiscing about how I felt when I first got mine, and then that inevitably led to the fact that the job that's been such a part of my life is ending in nine months. I'll still have most of a box of cards left when it ends (they gave us new ones when the logo changed, and I've only gone through about a fourth.) My tendency, of course, will be to hoard them, but instead I'll keep one or two as keepsakes and move on, hopefully to a new job with new title and cards. But despite everything, I really haven't kept the focus on losing the job so much as trying to find another one, so all the emotions I'd been suppressing came to the forefront a little while ago. While it's good I let myself feel them and express those feelings, it's best not to wallow in them or otherwise have a self-pity party. But my workplace has been my home away from home for almost twenty years. That's hard to let go of.

I think it's time to head over to Facebook. I need something to cheer me up. Maybe there will be a funny video or two.

Sorry I didn't post last night

I didn't get home till 12:30 or 1 am, having gotten A from work and before that I was over at YKWIA's helping him with various things until time to go pick up A. I was so terribly tired. I woke up late this morning (had to be over to pick up my friends for an appointment), but they're there now and I have a little time for myself. I should be working on the house, or cooking a quick meal, but instead i had a banana and popcorn for lunch and I'm on the computer just for fun this time.

On Facebook I found a post on a Twitter account that is truly hilarious. Medieval Reactions takes art from hundreds of years ago and pairs them with modern interpretations. Here's more about them in the article I read, along with some of their posts. My favourite is 'When your mate uses fabric softener', even (or maybe because) it's a little blasphemous. Be sure to check them out. I definitely went ahead and followed them.

I am terribly and utterly pooped

Why is it that the days we're not at work seem the longest and most busy? I spent 13 hours waking my friend up, getting him to his appointment, waiting for it to be over, getting him to the pharmacy and then home, and keeping him company while he slept off an on, only leaving him once he'd had some food. Then I took something over to another friend, and finally got home, ready to get away from traffic, people in general, and just relax to some music. I wound up working on job-hunting related stuff--LinkedIn profiles (I didn't get all of my publications in, but I did get quite a few--it's looking much more polished), and I moved my online documents to another URL that didn't have rabid librarian in it. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with being a Rabid Librarian, but I don't want that to be the first thing people see. So now it's under my whole name (I almost never use my second middle name (it isn't even on my driver's licence or work signature, just on my social security card, really). But it is a part of my legal name.

Today was one of those days when I couldn't seem to get anything right, but overall I did okay. I'm back to work tomorrow, which is good, because I actually didn't have enough personal time off to cover today--I can't afford to miss any more for a little while. I accrue at a high rate, but I spend it in a couple of hours here and there for appointments, and I always seem down a bit, ever since they used 80 hours of PTO instead of extended illness bank hours for my last two weeks of being off with my ankle; my PTO has never recovered. I should have made them fix it, but I let it go at the time because it was such a bother, and I regret that. Oh, well, that's water under the bridge now, no use in bemoaning it.

Alright, I think that's all I can do tonight. It's definitely time for bed. Tomorrow comes early (I'm going to try to make up some time and still be able to get my allergy shots this week.) Good night.

So I'm off today

for a friend's procedure, and I'm in the waiting room, where they have happily provided Wi-Fi. I'm not sure how long it will take, so I brought the computer. My friend is very testy--he hasn't had coffee in two days, and I parked too far away because I thought the procedure place was right next to the doctor's office, not in the next building, and of course, it's raining. So he's not happy. But they've taken him back and it's just a matter of waiting now.

I've got a lead on a job to apply for, so I'm going to work on that some. I have my résumé pretty much tweaked; now I just have to do a cover letter. The application is through CareerBuilder.com, so I'll have to check and see whether I have an account with them and whether I have any documents that need to be replaced. It's a consortium of colleges based in Richmond, KY, which is a little ways from Lexington, but at least I'm on the right side of town should I commute. Wish me luck.

'Matlock' is on the TV in here. Before that it was 'Perry Mason'. I think it's MeTV--that seems to be the staple of doctors' offices these days, that and HGTV.

Okay, time to go do something useful....

Quote of the day

Sent out via e-mail today by one of my co-workers, who isn't exactly my boss (I help her department out sometimes when someone's out, so I'm on their mailing list):

Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.

--Corrie ten Boom

So let me get this straight

The question of transgendered students' use of bathrooms aside, schools are resorting to having them wear an identifying badge of sorts (apparently without thinking of things like the use of yellow stars to identify Jews or pink triangles to identify gays, because, gosh darn it, they look like everyone else, so they have to have some sort of identifier). My mind is blown. The whole transgendered issue of bathrooms, which blew up this year so quickly and utterly, is the biggest red herring I've ever seen in my lifetime to distract people from more pressing dangers. Let people pee in peace. Any sort of 'examination' is an obvious human rights violation. People who actually identify with their birth gender are being harassed because they might be transgendered. Governors are using public funds to fight the government on its policy of allowing transgendered students to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with--in essence, to discriminate. My own state has joined that suit. :( Just let people pee in peace. I'm not saying bathrooms are completely safe--I know better. But it's not transgendered persons who are the problem. They are more likely to be targeted by the others using that bathroom than they are to be a danger, after all. And that's a problem with 'nice, normal' people, who put their prejudice into action.

Lawsuit: Trans Students Made to Wear Green Bracelets to ID Themselves

Thanks to Bill

who first introduced me to 'I Am Stretched on Your Grave', who suggested this version, which may be the original I heard (I don't remember it being a duet, though), is beautiful, AND includes the stanza about the priests and the friars that I learned that was missing in the one below, along with the exact wording I learned. I highly recommend it. Bob commented on the Kate Rusby version, which I love, as well--it's on my phone. I don't care that much for Sinéad O'Connor's--too pop-like; I prefer the folk style better, which is why I like this version better. This is by the Voice Squad:



Here's another song that Bill introduced me to all those years ago (not the same version, but close). It's a song credited to David Dodds, sung by Nigel Parry, called 'The Magpie':

I've shared this before, but you can never have too much of a good thing

I don't know if it's because I'm a vegetarian (well, pescetarian, really, I do eat fish), or if I just have a perverse sense of humour, but this song never fails to put me in a better mood (although the cow is a he with an udder in the video, which makes me wonder about their grasp on science). :) Okay, let's all sing along:

'We will fight for bovine freedom
and hold our large heads high.
We will run free with the buffalo, or die--
Cows with guns.'

And on that note, good night.

You know, I've never seen myself as a dark soul

But I do connect to music like this:











Don't worry--I'm not depressed or suicidal. But there have been times in my life when I've felt music like this really expressed my feelings better than I could, and for whatever reason, listening to them even when I feel okay makes me feel better. Odd, hmmm?

This is wonderful moment from an excellent film we watched today

one that I had picked out from Netflix on DVD for its sheer novelty (gay and lesbian British activists support striking Welsh miners, and the two groups forge amazing ties during the Thatcher years). It was well-acted, moving, and captured the 80s, the gay culture, and the prejudices of the time very well.

This made me feel better

YKWIA and I saw The Secret Life of Pets today. Thank goodness I had pre-purchased tickets (they're not exactly passes, but they count towards an entire ticket, because they're pre-bought and do not expire). I also used one for the concession to get a junior popcorn and small diet cola. (YKWIA got the larger versions on his own). So I figure we saved $16 getting into the movies (who knew matinees had gone up to $8 a pop? It's obviously been awhile since I went to the cinema.) I saved another $10 or so on the concession. So I'm happy--I went to the movies and it didn't cost me a cent, and YKWIA got in for free, too. I get the tickets from work every year (at least the movie ones, the concession ones were unusual) for our employee appreciation. I have four more tickets plus one concession one. So I'm good when Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and Sing come out, the next ones I want to see.

Anyway, the movie was delightful. They had the animal behaviour down so well. The story centres on Max, a Jack Russell terrier who is dismayed when his mistress brings home a stray Newfoundland named Duke. Max and Duke wind up getting lost in the city, come up against a vorpal bunny and his minions in a scary version of the Island of Misfit Toys, while his friends try to find him. It's fast-paced and fun, and I have to admit I cried at the end, and even YKWIA teared up (but you didn't hear that from me). The voice cast was excellent. And let me tell you, that is one tenacious Pomeranian. Some critics have compared it to Toy Story's formula, and I guess that's fair, but it's done really well. I would highly recommend it. And you'll never look at your pet the same way again.

Here are the trailers:

I have a wasp in my apartment

and have for two days at least. I don't want to get stung by trying to get it out or killing it. It's hanging out near the window, which is a pain to open since I've got so many plants around it. I prefer not to kill things if at all possible, and I don't have any spray, so hitting it with something is liable to get me hurt. At the moment, I've chosen to ignore it and we're coexisting peacefully.

I take a certain amount of pride

in gleaning news from all sorts of sources, whether barely more than headlines or in-depth exposé, and from different viewpoints, too, as that's really important. I like to know what's going on in the world, and sometimes I share it here, and sometimes I don't.

But as I read and listen lately, I feel a great sadness (and quite a bit of fear, too) washing over me. I used to believe that the world was pretty much as it used to be, only now there is a more immediate media presence these days so we know more of the horrors going on. It's not that there weren't dictators, child molesters, axe murderers, or any of that like years ago, it's that we get word about it 24/7 with things like live feeds on Facebook or Snapchat videos. And that is true to some extent. But the Nazi persecution of the Jews, for example, probably would have still happened even with social media and 24-hour news, because let's face it, there are plenty of haters and trolls online. Maybe exposure would have shocked the world into doing something, but in my experience, the world just goes on like it always does, and people die. Horrible things have happened throughout history; technology just makes it easier to chronicle (and sometimes, aids in the commission of heinous acts as well). If only we could put it to a better purpose, to prevent tragedies. And yes, some folks are trying. But it's the negative things in life, the shocking, the horrible, that gets attention, and I'm as guilty about that as anyone. Lately, though, it seems like the news each day is more horrible than the last. Oh, here and there you may find feel-good stories to satisfy a need to believe in the good of humanity, but most of it is negative. And while I do believe that the vast majority of humans are good people, I don't have faith in my fellow humans' ability to think critically or do something for the sake of right, as opposed to because there is something in it for them. People say they want truth--but they go out of their way to tell supposed 'white' lies to keep the wheels of society spinning, and sometimes they actually convince themselves that something is the opposite of how it is (or follow a leader who does, as if they were sheep). I listen to otherwise decent people who are making decisions that will affect it all as if they were voting for the most popular contestant on one of those reality shows. It makes me so sad to think that there are people who fear the authorities, either for good reasons (they might be shot) or ludicrous ones (t'he government's going to take all our guns away and make us vaccinate our children'). Even the lines between the sound and ridiculous reasons are blurring. I find myself reading the news with a desperation to find something good in the world each day. I'm not as optimistic as I once was. And talking to others only makes me feel worse. I don't have all the answers. I know that. But many people I know either regurgitate what they've seen on TV or decide they'll vote for candidate X without looking at platforms or real qualifications. It all comes down to 'I don't like Y, so I guess I have to vote for X'. I feel like our democracy is failing. It was never perfect, of course, but now?

Anyway, I could comment on half a dozen news stories tonight, ones that worried me, or outraged me, or left me incredulous, but instead I thought I'd just write about my feelings about what's going on in the world in general. Now, can I take a flashlight, get into my blanket fort, and colour like a kid? Because if being adult means being in a big scary world of hatred and vitriol, I'm not sure what the benefit of being all grown up is. Good night.

PS Brief synopsis of my day: busy at work, paid lots of bills (but not all, unfortunately), went to the allergist and discovered they have sublingual immunotherapy (yes, it's a thing), got my shots, went on the biggest grocery run I've gone on in months, had dinner with a friend, eating what we made yesterday--tabbouleh, eggplant paté, and salmon chowder. It was great. Then I helped wash up and came on home, checking the news and Facebook and just really not feeling great about the world right now. Perhaps tomorrow will be brighter, or at least I'll tell myself that. Things were simpler when I was in Lisa Land with the unicorns and dragonets.

I got home about 8:30 tonight, which isn't bad for me

And I remembered to come in the other entrance to the apartment complex, as there is angled parking across from my building and the striped the new asphalt in the opposite direction than it had been, mainly so vehicles would not block the drive as people come around the corner of the wall. I came in and immediately started looking through the cabinets, but didn't find much other than some steel-cut oats, quinoa, and hot chocolate. I did, however, find a full jar of Dickinson's blackberry preserves that I'd forgotten was in the refrigerator. I still have a bit of peanut butter, too. So the first thing I did before changing into comfy clothes or anything else was put the ingredients for bread into the pan of the breadmaker and set it. I should have bread before midnight. Oh, and I found some not-too-limp celery and managed to salvage a stalk, so that will tide me help with my rumbly stomach. I'm so glad I get paid in a little over 24 hours. It's pretty much all spoken for, but I should be able to get some food and restock the pantry some, hopefully.

So now I'm in the bedroom, listening to the OneRepublic station on Pandora. I'm surprised I still have Wi-Fi, to be honest--I need to pay the Internet and electric bills or they'll be disconnected later this week. Sigh. Things will get better. I will find either a part-time job that will help, or a full-time job that will let me avoid the unemployment line next April when my current positions end. The only job of note out there is an associate at Lexington Public Library, which is part-time and I could do that as a second job, but I don't know if they'd hire a degreed librarian. I think I'll call tomorrow; it closes Friday. It can't hurt to ask if they would at least consider it. In the meantime, I've checked out several books on using LinkedIn and other social media to brand oneself, create a network, and find a job. Maybe that can help. One thing about being a librarian, you tend to think the answer to something is to be found in a book. That's not always the case, of course, but educating oneself can never be bad.

Speaking of which, I'm going to go work on my LinkedIn profile a bit. Hope you're having a good week. Oh, and PS, I think I've finally stopped the second period of the month, which is a relief. I still need to make that appointment, though.

The last few days

I have come home and basically crashed before dark.  This weekend I got up in the middle of the night to get someone from work,  otherwise I think I would have slept the night through.  And while I did get up and do my nightly tasks tonight, like taking medicine and flossing,  and I find I'm both tired and restless at the same time right now,  I generally have been okay during the day but feel beat at night.  I'm wondering if my iron is dipping down.  I am on iron due to a deficiency, and I made the mistake of giving blood two weeks ago,  then had my period,  bleeding for four days,  and now I've bled again for five,  and it's worse at night for some reason.  My nurse practitioner said giving blood was the equivalent to three periods,  so in two weeks I've lost the equivalent of five months' worth of blood.  No wonder I'm tired. I'm definitely calling that gynaecologist's office tomorrow,  as this shows no sign of stopping, and it's not just spotting,  but rather sustained bleeding that gets heavier at night. Due to my diabetes and weight,  I'm at a higher risk for issues like fibroids or cancer,  so they suggest seeing a doctor then, according to one thing I read.  It certainly couldn't hurt. I think I'll ask the ladies I lunch with if they've experienced this, as most are post-menopausal and at least one had had a hysterectomy. I could use a little advice.  My best friend--a gay man--insists that I need a girlfriend for just such matters,  as he is neither qualified to give advice nor really wanting to hear about this stuff. And I may call a woman  I game with,  as I seem to recall she had some issues,  too. We'll see.  Thanks for putting up with my ramblings about this,  especially you guys out there.

My precious

I did pretty well today after the first few minutes when I discovered that, while I'd carefully packed everything else I needed for the day,  including the phone charger,  I forgot my phone,  which was left sitting on my beside table. It was kind of freeing,  actually. But let's not repeat it any time soon, okay?

What perverted minion of nature decided

That as a woman's fertility wanes,  she may,  for example,  have two periods in a month,  rather than one,  to the point where it seems the bleeding will never stop and it's probably messing up the calendar application used to track cycles. Welcome to perimenopause,  I guess.  I skipped completely in January,  so I guess this makes up for it.  Still,  I think it would be best not to assume it's normal for 'the change' and make a gynaecology appointment,  as it can be a sign of fibroids or even cancer,  and I'm a little overdue for an exam anyway.

One of my Facebook friends shared this...

Pretty much sums things up,  yes? It was on a shared status by Pete Caballero.  Not sure if he's the originator or not,  but whoever did this captured how I felt today about the world. Thanks to Carl Hylin for sharing.

This

Ignorance breeds hate. Hatred breeds violence. Stop the cycle.  Educate yourself and others.

Oh, dear...

91-Year-Old Woman Fills in $89,000 Artwork She Thought Was Crossword Puzzle

An 91-year-old woman is under investigation after filling in the blank spaces on an $89,000 crossword art piece she thought was an actual crossword puzzle.

The art piece at Nuremberg’s Neues Museum, called “Reading-work-piece,” is a work of art that closely resembles a crossword. It was made by avant garde artist Arthur Koepcke and features the phrase “insert words.” The woman told police she thought those words were an invitation to start filling in answers to the clues, Suddeutsche Zeitung reported. She also said that the museum did not put up a notice telling visitors not to write on the crossword.

Wow, what a mess

How absolutely brazen--and of course, it's the libraries and their patrons that will suffer because of it. This is a good reminder of the importance of maintaining transparency and also accountability of boards:

In New Orleans, scandal tarnishes a jazz star and the libraries he was asked to help

The lavish spending during this time by NOJO [The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra] has made the Grammy-winning trumpeter the target of a three-year federal probe following media reports that showed how he [Irvin Mayfield] and business associate Ronald Markham directed more than $1 million from a private foundation tasked to aid the city’s beleaguered public library system to NOJO, where both men have drawn six-figure salaries. The situation has enraged the city’s philanthropic community and shrunk library donations. A financial audit released late last year shows that NOJO paid Mayfield’s production company hundreds of thousands of dollars. An accounting of where and how money was spent was practically nonexistent.

This got me thinking about high school tonight

From Facebook:

Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school. This was kind of fun to think about!

The year was: 1984
1. Did you know your spouse? No.
2. Did you car pool to school? No, I walked through a cemetery.
3. What kind of car did you have? None--I didn't get my first car till I was 21.
4. What kind of car do you have now? Ford Taurus
5. It is Friday night... Football or basketball game? Neither. I wasn't into sports.
6. What kind of job did you have in high school? Docent at a local historical home.
7. What kind of job do you have now? Librarian/Data Entry Clerk.
8. Were you a party animal? I didn't even know how. Still don't.
9. Were you considered a jock? Hahahahaha.
10. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? No.
11. Were you a nerd? Yes. Definitely. Thank goodness geeks finally became somewhat chic.
12. Did you get suspended or expelled? No, I was a 'good girl'.
13. Can you sing the fight song? Not anymore. College yes, high school, no.
14. Who was your favorite high school teacher? Mr Don Hoffman (Chemistry & Physics), Mr Jim Moore (Math), and Mrs Alice Shelburne (English).
15. Where did you sit for lunch? Usually in the hall reading. I didn't eat lunch.
16. What was your school's full name? Danville High School
17. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Hell, no.
18. Did you have fun at prom? I didn't go
19. Do you still talk to your prom date? I didn't go.
20. Are you planning on going to your next reunion? No. I chickened out of my 30th.
21. Are you still in contact with people from school? Just Angela L Allen from Danville (I went the first two years in Belle Plaine, Kansas, and I keep up with some of my classmates from there, like Deana Full and Cj Applegate Stonehocker).
22. What are/were your school's colors? Blue and white.

I even pulled out my senior yearbook and memory book, because I was trying to remember the full name of one of my teachers. And you know what struck me? There are three people who signed my yearbook--the three teachers mentioned in the post. Just them. That's because I was incredibly shut down during my junior and senior years of high school, and barely talked to any of my classmates. My parents were divorcing, and it was incredibly difficult for me to deal with. I was living with my mom and grandparents, having left a school where I knew everyone, even though I was geeky and not particularly popular. I don't think I even participated in anything my junior year, when I moved back to Danville. But I rebounded enough to be in Academic Bowl, Spanish Club, the National Honor Society, and Future Homemakers of America in my senior year.

I don't know if the picture conveys it, but I was a very shy girl with terrible self-esteem, who spend most of her time inside books or in her own head, mostly making up stories I hoped one day to write. I felt so fat, so awkward. One of my classmates made fun of me, calling me 'Orez'--zero spelled backwards. I look at this girl now and she seems pretty and intelligent, and pretty together, all things considered. Why do we never see ourselves like that at the time?

I didn't go to my 30th reunion--or any other reunion, for that matter. I never felt that connected to my fellow students back then, after all, and I doubted anyone would remember me or care to know how my life has gone. Even now, with the maturity of age and all I've learned, I still feel like that shy girl sometimes, and I feel like I didn't live up to her potential. I was talking to YKWIA the other day, and he said something that kind of shocked me at the time, how he thought I'd lived up to about what he expected. I was shocked, because, well, I guess I thought I'd failed to live up to where I thought I should be. He pointed out that considering the various hurdles I've had, I've done pretty well, and I should be proud of what I've accomplished. He's right, of course. But it still shocked me a bit, because, well, most people don't tell the truth like he does, and certainly not so bluntly. But it's one of the things I value in him as a friend, after all. :)

Okay, I think I'm going to go on to bed--enough of travelling down memory lane. Good night!

Found on Facebook

This is me...



And even though I may be the only one in the country not playing Pokemon Go, this was amusing:



Ah, and here's round three. I should go on to bed. Let's go see how the bread is doing and decide from there.

Okay, so I guess they were warning about this one

Here we go again....

So now you tell me?

My phone just indicated a severe thunderstorm watch--not warning--right as the storm passed and the windows stopped rattling. :) It's not the phone's fault--apparently it was just issued. There wasn't anything for Lexington before that. The rain is showing up on the radar at Lex 18's weather application now, and we're on the southern tip of severe weather. But I was like, oh, really? :)

Important tip when using bread machines

Make sure the paddle is in the pan before putting in all the ingredients. Really. I just had to reach in and place it after the fact, and it was pretty gooey. At least I realised before I turned the machine on. I hope it still works okay. :)

I came home terribly tired. I'm not sure why, really. I didn't do anything particularly tiring. I went to my ophthalmology appointment this morning, nearly got run old while standing for a moment perfectly stationary in an empty parking place fiddling with my purse by someone who obviously wasn't paying attention to the 300-lb woman in bright turquoise, did my normal stuff at work--where I struggled to stay awake and alert--then picked a friend up from work, took him to the bank, and then met up with another friend so they could both go grocery shopping (I stayed in the car), and then took them to their respective homes. I got home after seven, parked out on the street because they'll be resurfacing our section of the lot tomorrow, spoke with YKWIA briefly on the phone, and then fell asleep for about three hours, finally giving in to the sleepiness. I slept well last night, my blood sugar has ranged from 80 (fasting)-149 (two hours' after lunch) today (which is good, even a little low on that first number). I don't know what the issue was. I just got up and got some pasta leftovers and I'm apparently quite hungry now. While that was heating up I put the bread ingredients together, then realised the thing about the paddle. Now it's happily mixing the ingredients. There's a storm brewing, so I hope it doesn't interrupt the power, as I don't think that would work well for the bread.

I went to the bathroom when I got up and I am unexpectedly bleeding. Now a guy would panic. A woman who's already had a period two weeks ago would surmise break-through bleeding, although this is heavier than the normal spotting. If it continues, I'll check with a doctor. Maybe my iron is low--I gave blood, had my period, and now I'm bleeding again, and they have me on iron (and were quite annoyed that I gave it away in my donation, which I honestly didn't think about). I won't worry for now.

My house smells like roasted pine nuts--not unpleasant, just a little odd, and the smell was something I got strongly through the CPAP machine and couldn't figure out at first.

Ah, here comes the rain. I wonder if they'll be able to work on our lot tomorrow, after all. It's a 40% chance of rain tomorrow, and the rain right now is strong enough to be hitting the windows. On the plus side, it's watering the geraniums on my windowsill outside. We just got a strong lightning burst nearby that made me jump so hard my hand is now cramped, and the car alarms for several cars just went off. There's nothing on the radar to indicate this storm; it must be terribly localised, as in where the pin dot is for Lexington.

Okay, I'm finished eating. I should go on back to bed until the bread is done, because I need to go into work early tomorrow, as I will be leaving to take a friend for a minor procedure and want to make the most of my time. I need to put a book order in tomorrow morning and catch up a little on my data entry. Good night.

Hmmm...

I'd also love to see a Ghost movie (or even better, series). Witchblade has been done as a series, but so far no film. Back when I was working at the comic store, I read a lot of those. And besides the question of superheroines, why has there been no Legion of Super-Heroes movie, at least that I know of?

PS My favourite comic of all time has got to be Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. I have all of the stories, most in comic book form, with I think the first three stories in graphic novels. I would love the giant omnibus volumes they have now. I would like to see it in film format, and there is one in the works, but it's been a protracted thing. I do like the series 'Lucifer', which is based on one of the characters.

This is really, really good

It's eggplant pasta salad to die for.  I used farfalle rather than the penne it called for,  because I had some already.  It's sweet and tangy together. I'm also baking bread,  but that'll take awhile.  But this is very filling and I have plenty for leftovers.

Here's the recipe:
Eggplant Pasta Salad, from Real Simple.

PS If they weren't $19 per pound, I could eat pine nuts every day, especially toasted like in this recipe. :) To toast them, you just put them in a pie pan or on a baking sheet, put them in the oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.

I looked up a video for a song from the year I was born that I've always liked

because Danny Smythe, the founding drummer of the Box Tops, died the other day. I found this. I love the song (much better than the cover by Joe Cocker, which my friend A thought was his originally), but, wow, these poor people on American Bandstand cannot dance, and have about as much rhythm as I do. :) Poor things, they still got on national TV and tried, though, I'll give them that.

This was an interesting business idea

The Reading Remedy: Local Service Uses Books to Help and Heal

That question is one of the driving forces behind BiblioRemedy, a business venture launched last year by Chevy Chase resident and lifelong reader Alison Kerr Courtney, a former teacher and bookseller. BiblioRemedy encourages clients to not only pick up a book, but to pick up one specifically tailored to help with any personal issues they might going through, be they big or small. BiblioTherapy’s primary service is matching specialized titles to an individual’s particular needs or situation, with additional packages including less formal “book chats” and personal book shopping services.

The web site for the service is BiblioRemedy.com.

According to

a random fact application on my phone,  the average U.S. worker stays at each of its jobs for 4.4 years. I've been at mine 19. Does that make me loyal or a fuddy-duddy?

Something a little more light-hearted

I'm floored

by the posts on Facebook of someone I used to know, whom I was going to try to reconnect with by sending a friend request, and I found that she is in a very dark place, writing incoherent paranoid ramblings of everyone all around her. I struggle with fairly mild mental illness; I'm high functioning with bipolar disorder II and anxiety issues, but this sounds like a full-blown psychotic break. I feel so bad for her, and I'm tempted to reach out to try to help, but I don't think that would be a good idea. I don't know enough about her situation to know if she is in a place where she wants help, and I'm not equipped to deal with this sort of thing, and I know it. But, wow, it's so sad. I don't know what to do.

Finally found it!

I tried one more time to find the channel, using the webcast to match the song, like I did with the boom box last weekend, and finally found Pink's 'Blow Me One Last Kiss' on the radio, and it was 106.3. :) Yay! Apparently the secret is not to use the FM Scan but rather go through the fast forward button, and all the static, one press at a time. I wish it would show the station on some sort of dial, but alas, it doesn't. The funny thing is it's a very clear, it just wouldn't come through on the FM Scan. Oh, well, it should stay on this station even when I turn it off, as long as there's no actual power loss.

Taking a break

I'm making progress throughout the house, but my back is hurting from lots of bending, so I'm taking a break. I know it's best to focus on one area at a time, but I've found that collecting various things from around the house and putting them together is working well, like those reusable bags so many stores have--that sort of thing. I am mostly concentrating on the living and dining areas; the kitchen is okay, except for some dishes that need to be done, the bathroom just really needs a once over, and the bedroom--well at the moment all the clean laundry that had been sitting on the table in the dining area and some of which had escaped throughout the room, is now on my bed, to be folded and put away before I can go to bed. I've also gone through a plastic tote of mostly junk and thrown or recycled a lot of it. I even found the Tamiflu that the gas station company I worked for sent all its employees back during the swine flu epidemic a few years ago and threw it away, as it's now quite expired. I never understood why they did it, and during a Tamiflu shortage, too. I have three more of them to go through, but they're mostly important papers. I did find some important things in amongst the junk, so I can't just summarily get rid of stuff. But I think at least one of the totes is mostly papers left over from my accident over three years ago, so that can go away.

I can't seem to find my normal radio station on the speaker tower in the living room, so I've been playing some pop music on 96.9 FM such as Taylor Swift, Kelly Clarkson, Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga, that sort of thing. Right now Tom Petty's 'Free Falling' is on. I usually listen to 106.3 FM, which has more modern rock, I guess, but is owned by the same company. But this is fine to clean to. Okay, back to it!

Speaking of prosthetics

One of my former co-workers died this week, and I just wanted to take a moment to say what a pleasure and honour it was to work with him. His name was Wayne Cottle, and he was a prosthetist who made artificial limbs for children, both in our practice at the hospital, and on mission trips to Guatemala. I was so sorry to hear that he'd died. I'm no fan of funerals, but I would have attended his, but they're having a private service for family and close friends. Requiescat in pace, Wayne.

Bringing Help and Hope to Guatemala

Working to change a life

Here's something kind of uplifting

3 1/2 years ago I was hit by a car and was stuck at home for three months with a broken ankle. I was hopping on one leg with a walker (I couldn't manage crutches at all, given that I have no upper body strength), and rented a fold-up manual wheelchair for going to doctors' visits and to get around a little better. It's amazing how much it helped my mobility. Inside my apartment, it only worked in the living, dining room, and kitchen (although I knocked a little paint off the doorway getting from the the second to last one). I couldn't get down the hallway and into the bedroom, and certainly couldn't get into the bathroom, where the door was actually too narrow for the walker without moving it back and forth, BUT it taught me a valuable lesson about mobility and access, a lesson I appreciate even more because I work in a pediatric orthopaedic hospital where many kids use walkers and wheelchairs.

Amputee Tortoise Gets Moving With Wheels

A plucky female tortoise is winning the hearts of the Indian public as it races around its zoo enclosure on an improvised set of wheels. The animal lost its front right leg in a mongoose attack, and zookeepers added the wheels in a short operation after they noticed the animal couldn't move around and reach its food

Back from my friend's house

This was originally going to be a day when I was just going to do stuff at home, but YKWIA e-mailed me about 11 to ask about going to see the newest X-Men movie at the discount theatre. But the reviews were awful, so we decided no. I had suggested The Secret Lives of Pets, as I have free passes to the regular theatres at Fayette Mall and Woodhill, but we decided to wait on that because it's opening weekend and the crowds will be large, and in this case, involve a lot of kids, which would probably annoy him today. We were e-mailing back and forth and then I went on over before the last e-mail about waiting till next week, so I stayed over for three hours and visited, worked on his back, which was hurting, and watched a couple of episodes of 'Cybill' while he ate (I wasn't hungry at the time, so declined the offer of food. Now that I'm home I'm very hungry and have had a lunch of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and some string cheese.) Although I was enjoying being over there, I really need to work on my house, as I never got much accomplished last weekend with the power outage. So I have my list of things to do broken up into manageable tasks, and we'll see how much I can get done the rest of the day.

Next week should be interesting around here. Our parking lot is being repaved and striped, and they've divided the complex into three sections, each taking a couple of days to work on (depending on weather), in which we'll have to find alternative parking, most likely on the two streets that intersect on our corner. Since I'm in the area of the property furthest from the street, it'll be a bit of a walk. Also, there are days when the apartment numbers overlap, and so it will take four days of not parking there. Guess which set I'm in? So basically, I can't park in front of my apartment from 8 pm on the 12th to sometime on the 16th (depending on whether they work on Saturday) or 18th (if they only work on weekdays)--and that's if the weather cooperates. Fun, fun, fun. Fortunately they gave us plenty of notice.

My plants, both inside and outside, look a little dry. I should water them today. If I have time, I should clean the fish tank this weekend; goldfish are very dirty fish, and even though it's a 29-gallon long aquarium, and there are only four goldfish, they produce a lot of mulm. The one in the bedroom, the 3-gallon one, should be have a water change, too, although I don't have a betta in there at the moment, as the other one did eventually die. I'd like to get another one later in the month.

Okay, I'm going to sign off here for now. Hope your weekend is going well.

I really am not a dingbat

although I'm feeling like one lately. On Thursday I stopped by Kroger to get a elbow strap for my tendonitis using my flexible spending card and a couple of drinks and a little bit of cash using my debit card. Nothing unusual about that, right?

I got the strap, and then was in process of getting the other when the lady in front of me grabbed me by the arm and thanked me for being so patient (they'd had some issues), and I guess it was at that point when the chip card reader beeped and said 'remove card', and I walked off. My mistake, of course, but I was distracted. I went to work, unknowingly, and did not discover the missing debit card until I'd dropped YKWIA off at his credit union and had gone to the pharmacy to get some medicine for him to conserve time. I was on my way back, on on my gas light, so I stopped by Kroger on Alexandria to get gas. That's when I discovered the missing card, its neat little place in my wallet terribly blank. I still had about $10 on me in cash, so I paid for some gas, called Kroger on Richmond Road, and happily, they had my card. After I picked up YKWIA, I went and got it, and all was good. Or was it?

I helped a friend move some of his stuff into his new place, and then later was putting everything back to rights in my wallet and I discovered that my flexible spending card was gone. Now, I had used it at the Richmond Road Kroger that morning, but it had been in my wallet when I discovered the debit card missing. Kroger's customer service desks were closed already by the time I realised it, and so the next morning I went to work, checked my entire purse and the bags I'd gotten the stuff in (I'd saved them for unexpected stuff that sometimes gets carried home in the rain), and they weren't there. I figured I'd dropped it while rifling through my cards looking for my debit card, so I called the Gardenside Kroger on Alexandria Drive and asked if someone had turned on in at the fuel station, but they hadn't. Now, I wasn't panicking yet, because unlike the debit card, the flexible spending card can only be used on certain medical, dental, and vision expenses, not even most over-the-counter stuff, and it has less than $200 left on it. If someone found it and took it to a gas station or liquor store, it would be declined. But I figured I'd just have to cancel the card and have it reissued, which was a bummer. Then I decided that I'd call Richmond Road just on the off-hand chance I'd dropped it when I put my debit card back in my wallet, and it was there. So after work on Friday, I took YKWIA to an appointment and then went by the Kroger and picked up that. They must think I'm a total idiot. I certainly was mocked thoroughly by my friend.

I think it bears mentioning that in the entire time I have had IDs, debit cards, credit cards, etc., while I may have misplaced something temporarily at home, I have never actually lost a card or had it out of my possession--and then I lose two in one day. Now there was the time (again, at Richmond Road Kroger) that I got all the way through the line and discovered my wallet was not in my purse. It had fallen out at home, and had somehow gotten wedged under the loveseat. That was fun, as I'd had no car, so I had to walk home, find the wallet, leaving my granny cart at Kroger, and then walk back to pay for the suspended order, then had to drag my granny cart of food back to the apartment. I certainly got my exercise that time. But I never really 'lost' anything like that before, or at least not since I lost a key to the house when I was eight. So it all worked out for the best, and I didn't quite lose my mind, but I'm glad I was able to pay my rent this morning without some terrible thing happening with my account, that sort of thing.

Is it weird

To be off your 10,000-step goal by 780 steps,  so you walk up and down your halfway until you make goal?  I just did that.  And I was astounded by the total steps taken since I started using Samsung Health back in April 2013 on my old Galaxy S3. 2,454,613 steps. Wow!

Yay!

My second doctor's appointment got out in record time--an hour. I did get a not-quite-stern talking to about donating blood when one is on iron supplements, since the whole purpose is to conserve the iron in the blood, not give it all away. I didn't even think of that, to be honest. Afterwards, I went and got my allergy shots, and then I came on home. I just submitted my book review for a book on collaboration. I think I will take a break for a few minutes and then work on the house some. And I found a $1 bill, and I'm sorely tempted to go get a Mega Millions ticket, with an insane jackpot, even though I am very unlikely to get even one number to match.

Well that didn't take long at all

I specifically got two appointment two and a half hours apart from one another in case the first ran long. I got there early, filled out some additional preliminary paperwork. met the doctor and his assistant, answered a few questions, was examined, and left about a half an hour after my appointment time, with a new prescription that should help my asthma. I went over to the allergist, across the street, for my allergy shots, but I'd forgotten they closed for lunch from 12:30 to 1:30 pm. So, I'm back home (I live nearby) and am drinking a soda and eating some homemade bread with peanut butter and blueberry preserves. I'll head back over to the allergist about 2 pm, and that will give me time to get to my 2:30 appointment with my GP. It's just as well I came home for lunch, as I think if I'd gone on till whenever that appointment lets out, I'd have low blood sugar. So now I have about 40 minutes to kill. There will be a lot of waiting at my appointment, so I'm bringing the book I'm reviewing and looking over it some more.

It turned out to be a beautiful day, warm and sunny, but with a breeze. I am a little warm though, even with the air conditioning. Since I thought I'd be in the appointment longer, I parked over by my GP's office and walked over two buildings/lots, and while it was pleasant outside, and I got some exercise in, I got hot. But at least my breathing was fine; lately I've had issues going up the hill at the medical plaza. I think I'll park myself in front of the fan while I wait to go get those shots.

So I'm off work today

mainly because I have a noon doctor's appointment and another at 2:30 pm, so that was going to take most of the day. I also have a book review due today, so I need to work on that. I don't have much PTO, but I had enough to cover yesterday and today. I'm feeling all achy and not quite with it this morning. My blood sugar's fine; I think all this rain and my allergies are causing some issues. But the sun is starting to peek out, at least.

Last night's fireworks were fun. We got a slight amount of rain while waiting for them to start, but things cleared up pretty well before dark. My legs really went to sleep in the chair I brought, one of those foldable ones that were given as an employee gift years ago. I will say, though, it held my weight, which was very good, and rather than being nylon, this is actually canvas. I don't think they make them quite like that anymore.

Every year (or practically every year, with a couple of exceptions) since I have worked at the hospital, I have enjoyed the Idle Hour Country Club's fireworks display. My workplace has a huge front lawn that slopes down to the street (it's on 29 acres of land), and people come and put out blankets and chairs to watch them. Most people park along the lane or along Richmond Road, but those of us who are employees are allowed to park in our lot with our badges. So it's an annual ritual for me, practically.

This is the last Fourth of July that I will be a Shriners employee. The hospital is moving over by the University of Kentucky as an ambulatory care centre, and neither of my jobs are going to the new facility. The current building will be sold, and there's uncertainty over whether the tradition of fireworks watching from the lawn will continue. And of course, I won't be parking in the lot anymore. So it was a little bittersweet. I took a video of the fireworks (but watched them away from the screen). It was fun, despite the damp and the legs falling to sleep.

My trouble began when I got back to the car; my seat belt had become twisted and locked in its channel--it wouldn't budge. I pulled at it and tried to free it for a good 30 minutes, there in the dark, enough time that most everyone had gone. I couldn't get it free, and I really needed to get home and go the bathroom, for one. So I did something for the first time in my life: I drove home without a seat belt on. Apparently my car will remind you by dinging every 30 seconds insistently. I felt very exposed. I didn't realise how much safer my seat belt makes me feel, and I didn't even consider the air bags--it was as if there was nothing between me and the window. I will occasionally not buckle up in the back seat, mainly in taxis, or in the front passenger seat if I was having trouble in someone else's car, but I buckled up even as a child religiously, and have always worn the belts while driving. It was nerve-wracking. Keep in mind I'm an anxious driver anyway. So I got home, and I decided to give it one more go before going in, and I was finally able to free it. I pulled so hard I actually got the loop it goes through shifted over a plastic part it shouldn't have gone over, and had to put it back, but it's working now. I was getting out of the car when YKWIA called, and we talked for awhile before I went to bed. It all worked out in the end. But I got very frustrated for awhile.

I've felt off a bit all weekend. It was my time of the month, for one. I got no sleep or maybe just a bit, which was interrupted by the power outage, Saturday night. It put a real kink into yesterday. I'm going to try ot make up a little today for my lack of activity then, but I simply won't have the same amount of time, with the two appointments, and the one with my GP will no doubt take awhile. I'm just getting lab results, but afternoon appointments tend to drag, and this is the first day after a holiday, so they'll be busy.

Okay, I should go take a shower and get some things done before I go. I did fill out all my paperwork, which took awhile, and I've called to make sure this new office doesn't require me to register down on the first floor like the sleep centre does. Have a good day!

This is well done

Hope you had a happy Fourth, and this is something we need to keep in mind the other 364 days of the year. :)

There's a torrential downpour outside

and it's very dark and gloomy; without the lights on inside I could barely see where I was going. It might as well be dusk. I'm glad I got the stuff to go outside taken out and taken care of. The geraniums are being watered, at least. I just hope the power stays on. I've got the windows closed and the air conditioning back on, as it was very muggy.

At some point this morning, I rethought my plan of attack for the house. I was so zombie-like this morning from lack of sleep, and it's not like I plan on going anywhere else today except the fireworks tonight (unless it's doing this outside), and I'm also off for two doctor's appointments a very short distance away tomorrow, and the first one isn't till noon. So I went back to sleep from about 10 am to noon, and feel much better. I need more caffeine, though, and I'm not going out right now. :) The rain and gloominess are making me sleepy.

Apparently having my power off reset both the boom box radio (which isn't a big deal, as it has a numerical indicator of what station it's on) and the tower speaker (which is, as there is no indication whatsoever as to where you are on the dial). I tried syncing them up by sound, but couldn't get the station I wanted to come in on the speaker. I'll try later.

:)

One bit of fun during last night's power outage: I reached into my bedside drawer,  pulled out what I thought was a pen light, and got up to go to the bathroom, but instead it was an insulin pen.  Not very illuminating.  At least it wasn't the pepper spray.

Well, I'm up

two hours after I planned to be and feeling terribly hung over, as I've only really had about four-and-a-half hours' sleep total. I'd gone and gotten A from his job at midnight, so I was asleep about an hour and a half before the power went out. It took me a little while to go back to sleep after the power came on, so I slept maybe from 6-9 am. Now I've opened the windows in the living room, since I still had the one in the bedroom open (it had gotten stuffy last night, and with the rain, it's cooler). I've had of all things bean and cheese burritos for breakfast, and I'm working on a cup of caffeine. (No, it isn't coffee, I'm not a big coffee fan. But I still had a little soda from this weekend.) I need to take my medicine and start working on the house. It isn't currently raining, so I'm thinking taking out the trash and recyclables should be my first task. Then I'm going to unload and load the dishwasher. I have a list of tasks from there. I think if I put the radio on, it'll help motivate me. I feel so groggy. I suspect there will be nap breaks today. :)

Yay!

I see KU subscribes to the Montgomery Scott repair algorithm: tell the captain you cannae do it in a somewhat longish time,  then finish early and look like a miracle worker. Anyway,  the power is back on and it came on about 5:35. I've gotten the fishtank pump running again,  my fan is on, and I'm going to put my CPAP masque on and go to sleep,  hopefully.  Cheers,  and thanks to KU for getting things back on.

Grrrrr...

Great.  Now KU's app is saying the power won't be on until 7:30 am.  I can't sleep without my CPAP.  The only good thing about this is that I don't have to go to work in the morning. But I was actually planning on doing stuff tomorrow and I don't want to sleep the day away.

Just lost power

so no CPAP.  :( The Kentucky Utilities mobile application estimates restoration by 5 am.  There are almost 2500 homes without power.

I should elaborate

On something I wrote the other day.  The Wal-Mart next to me does have groceries,  including 25-cent bananas. But if you go to the one in Hamburg,  where the gas station is,  there is a full-blown grocery inside.  The bananas there are 52 cents per pound,  and 2 litres are $1 rather than $1.58. It seems to me that if you are a smaller store,  but the same store,  and you carry the same product,  then it should be the same price,  at least within the same city or market. There is a Wal-Mart grocery only at Tates Creek,  and a big store near Nicholasville Road that also has a grocery.  Those are both on the south side of town. I'm not sure about the one on the north side of town, but I think it's like mine.  Note that Hamburg and the south side of town are more affluent than the east and north. And the west side of town,  which is probably the least affluent,  doesn't even have a Wal-Mart. Who would have thought you could judge the socioeconomic highs and lows by the quality of their Wal-Mart stores?  And guess who pays less?  Granted,  the east and north stores are also older,  but they have been renovated, and groceries added,  just not an actual food market.

We have lost

a great champion of truth and advocate for the victims of genocide and hate. Elie Wiesel has died at the age of 87.

Elie Wiesel was a witness to evil and a symbol of endurance: Elie Wiesel was an ongoing reminder of one man's endurance of the Nazi Holocaust

"Whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation, take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented," he said in 1986, upon accepting the Nobel.

That's not good

I decided not to wait for my friend to help me fix my bed on Monday.  The mattress was listing to the right and the rails were bending.  Putting my weight,  primarily in the right side every night,  was not helping.  I was afraid the rails would break.

So... I took off the mattress,  dust ruffle,  and box springs. It was worse than I thought - instead of just the clamp in the middle simply being off,  the struts -  both of them,  had sheered away from the rail,  not simply losing the rivet,  but actually breaking off.  Now,  before you say something about the nearly 300-lb woman breaking her bed,  I will point out that I bought this bedroom set in 1987 at Sears,  and it is made of pressboard, not solid wood,  so the fact that it has lasted - especially with my weight - for nearly 30 years  without mishap is amazing.

There was an empty plastic underbed storage box there,  and it's pretty sturdy.  I put it under the broken struts,  put the one clamp back on the one,  and then put everything back,  turning the mattress as I went.  I think it will hold. So it's not listing anymore.  I went and got a cold glass of milk,  then laid down to 1) test it out and 2) let my back rest after all that. In a little while I'll get up and get my laundry together for tomorrow and my trash and recyclables together and out,  and then I'll work on the kitchen and bath.  But for now I'll stretch out and enjoy a completely horizontal mattress. I go get A from work at 1 am.

I've been a little nauseous and dizzy for the last two hours

Which has made driving/riding in a car somewhat disconcerting, although I didn't get full-out motion sick. It was actually worse when I was still or if I were going 45 or over. Every now and again I have issues during my time of the month, which it is, and trust me, I'm ready for menopause, even with all its joys. I was beginning to think I'd skip this month, like I did in January, because I was four days late (that doesn't have the same terror to it that it did in my early 20s). But it worked out, since my iron was good for giving blood Thursday. :) But I'm feeling a little better now that I'm eating some burritos.

My friends are at their appointment and one will call me when they're finished. I've gone by the pharmacy and gotten the medicine for one of them, and lo, my medicine was also ready (I thought it would be next week), so I picked up those, too. Fortunately I hit my out-of-pocket maximum sometime in February, so all I have to pay for is my iron tablets, and I still have some money on my flexible spending card. Then I came back home, printed out something from my phone (I love being able to do that over the Wi-Fi network) that I'd edited on my phone from an e-mail YKWIA sent (again, love being able to do that), and am basically ready to go back out in about an hour. I'll need to take one or both of them to the grocery, and then take them to their respective places, and that's all I have planned for today with them. I still have the DVD from last week to watch with YKWIA; we'll probably do that sometime this weekend.

Hope yours is going well so far. I think I'm going to check out the news and Facebook and see what's going on in the world.

So yesterday was a busy day

although I did put off a doctor's appointment, which would have made it busier, to assure that I would be at my library committee meeting on time and be prepared. Then at 1 pm I went out to donate blood, but the bloodmobile was not there. Apparently, they had a radiator leak and were delayed. I went back and worked on my data entry, finishing those for the day, and the OR reconciliation, and the referrals. At 2:45 or so, they announced that the bloodmobile had arrived, so I went out there, along with several other people. But unfortunately the stickers that they put on all the paperwork and the blood didn't make it onto the new bloodmobile, so someone was having to run it out from headquarters. So we waited, and waited. A few people went back inside, figuring they could go to the blood centre and make their donation instead. Those of us who waited were rewarded with T-shirts for our patience. Eventually someone arrived with the stickers, and they were up and running. Although I'd had the first appointment (I'd been the first to sign up), I let several people go ahead of me because they were getting off work earlier than I. But eventually I made it in there, filled out the paperwork. (They ask women if they've ever been pregnant now. I'm not sure why.) And yes, they've included questions referring to Zika. Fortunately my iron was up high enough and everything else looked good, and I was able to donate. About 3 out of the 11 who came out had low iron and couldn't. My iron was low at the doctor's office six months ago, so they put me on iron supplements, yay. It was my 43rd pint, and five more will make 6 gallons, which seems like a lot, but I've been donating since I was 17, and usually donate twice a year, and I could do it more often, and probably should. While I don't donate for the incentives, in addition to the T-shirt, they gave everyone who donated a $10 gift card to Wal-Mart. Yes, I know, it is the Evil Empire, but I also have $0.33 in my bank account, and the one in Hamburg has a gas station, so I earmarked it for that. We also got a voucher for a free meal in the cafeteria. The woman running it from our end had a list of our names with numbers in front of them, and asked an employee to choose a number, and mine was chosen, so I won an additional $25 gift card to Wal-Mart. It's not the first time I've won; we don't usually have a huge turnout, so the odds are high. But it was very timely, and even though I do not normally shop at Wal-Mart, that $25 meant some food and more gas.

Today after work (yay, I'm off for four days!) I went and got my allergy shots and then dropped something off at YKWIA's and wound up keeping him company while he cooked, helped him clean up, fed the animals (one of whom bounced on my foot as I arrived, cutting my toe with her nail), cut his hair, and then helped get the kinks out of his back. We also watched an episode each of 'Grace Under Fire' and 'Hot in Cleveland'. He rewarded me with food. Then I stopped by Wal-Mart and got $17.10 worth of food. Considering how much they go on about low prices, I think Kroger has much better ones. I mean, really, 25 cents per banana?

This weekend's agenda:

1. Saturday: Take a friend to the pharmacy, to an appointment, pick him and another friend up, take them to the store. Do some cooking and housecleaning at my house.
2. Sunday: No plans as of right now, beyond normal housecleaning at my friend's house.
3. Monday: Clean house, see if a friend will help me with the mattress and box springs so I can re-attach that strut, and then watch the fireworks that night.
4. Tuesday: Not exactly the weekend, but I'm off for two doctors' appointments, and I'll go get my allergy shots, too.

Okay, I got some Breyer's Girl Scouts Samoas ice cream, and ate far too much of it. I've made myself a little ill. I'm going to go work some of it off. Good night! Oh, and PS, Happy Canada day to those of you north of the our border! YKWIA and I listened to a lovely version of 'O, Canada' in French earlier. It was quite lovely:



and en Anglais: