Wearing pants should be the law. And if, for some reason you should be without pants... Wear underwear. And if for some reason you are without both? Don't ride the bus. Don't leave your house. And DO NOT BEND OVER!
This seems pretty logical, right? (Insert buzzer noise here). Well, the man on my bus tonight thought a day that called for rain and so-called snow mixture, was a good day to leave the house pant-less. And underwear-less..... At least it gave me a good laugh.
There is less than a week until Christmas, it's "snowing," in Seattle, and everyone just wants to finish the week so they can have their long holiday weekends. A lot of people, including myself, are stressed and busy, which leads to having some Grinch moments. Or Scrooge moments. I'm going to start using "Go Scrooge yourself," or "Scrooge you," thanks to a clever friend who passed that along to me.
Here's my version of a Christmas poem:
Twas the week before Christmas, in the Pacific Northwest, not a Seattleite was driving, because of the "dust."
The "dust" so they say, was snowy and wet, let's cancel school, so they say. Give them their shortest summer yet!
The commuters were running to catch the next bus, while whispers of being home by 6 laughed in their heads! And Crazy man with no pants, and I in my 2 coats, sweater, gloves and PANTS, had just settled down for the long road ahead.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but the the pant-less man bending over and showing his rear!
With a little old driver so lively and quick, he knew in a moment we might soon see his dick! (excuse me on that one, I couldn't pass it up).
And then, in an instant, we made the next stop, and the driver said no good! Your ticket is not!
As I whipped my head round to see him run off, down the street ran no pants man looking lost-er than lost!
So, next time you think you're having a hard time, remember no pants man leaving his pants behind!
Okay, so it's not as good as the original 'twas the night before Christmas... But I had to give it a shot.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Thursday, December 13, 2012
You're a mean one... Mr. Grinch!
Four weeks of long weekends and short work weeks makes for a long normal work week. It's only Thursday and it feels like it should be Monday of next week.
It started out with holiday weekends with Veteran's Day and then Thanksgiving. Then it was a sinus infection/upper respiratory infection that got me sent home from work for a few days. THEN a vacation I was looking forward to for a few months.
Getting sent home from work is one thing. Getting sent home when you commute by bus AND got sent home 10 minutes after you got there... And already being 15 minutes late due to traffic.... Well, it sucks.
Trying to prepare your work for the vacation days you'll be taking is kind of hard when you're at home sick. Trying to catch up from the 3 sick days you had, while preparing for the 3 days you'll be on vacation sucks, too.
Flying with a sinus infection? You guessed it! Sucks, too!
Going to 80 degree dry heat? BINGO! I swear the second the sun hit my face I was healed. And as you may have guessed, the second I returned to Seattle, my cough came back. Literally as I walked off the plane and took a deep breath of fresh air, I was back to sounding like a 90 year old who had smoked a pack a day for their whole life.
Our flight was delayed Sunday night and I didn't get into bed until just before midnight. Woke up just before 6AM on Monday and headed to work. Stopped by ZooLights to see my sister and nieces, went to the store, and went to bed.
Wake up on Tuesday.... Fall back asleep.... Wake up at the time I'm normally driving to the bus station. Whoops. There was no way to be on time, unless, of course.... I drove. I got to work on time and paid the $12 for parking (I pay $14 a MONTH for the bus), and managed to only honk at one idiot driver. I didn't know I had a meeting that night because I had missed the last meeting from being sick. Get home after 9PM and hop in bed.
Wednesday I am 30 minutes late to work thanks to traffic. I had plans to grab a beer with some friends after work, which was great fun as I expected. I also expected the bus ride to go smoothly since I was leaving after traffic. I didn't want to miss the bus, so I didn't use the restroom before I left. I also hadn't had any dinner. My bus is clearly running late, but I can't run in to go pee because I just know it will come while I'm inside. I'm also standing outside a pizza parlor, which smelled like HEAVEN, even from outside. Another 10 minutes go by.... I'm getting more hungry, more pissy, colder, and my bladder is ready to explode. But I sure as hell wasn't going to miss the bus after waiting all that time. THIRTY MINUTES after the bus was supposed to arrive, it shows up.
Had I known the situation, I could've gone pee, had another beer, a slice of pizza, gone pee again, and still made the bus.
I know I sound like The Grinch, or worse... Scrooge. I'm trying my hardest to stay on the nice list, but if one more naughty-tempting event occurs... I may as well start a coal mine.
It started out with holiday weekends with Veteran's Day and then Thanksgiving. Then it was a sinus infection/upper respiratory infection that got me sent home from work for a few days. THEN a vacation I was looking forward to for a few months.
Getting sent home from work is one thing. Getting sent home when you commute by bus AND got sent home 10 minutes after you got there... And already being 15 minutes late due to traffic.... Well, it sucks.
Trying to prepare your work for the vacation days you'll be taking is kind of hard when you're at home sick. Trying to catch up from the 3 sick days you had, while preparing for the 3 days you'll be on vacation sucks, too.
Flying with a sinus infection? You guessed it! Sucks, too!
Going to 80 degree dry heat? BINGO! I swear the second the sun hit my face I was healed. And as you may have guessed, the second I returned to Seattle, my cough came back. Literally as I walked off the plane and took a deep breath of fresh air, I was back to sounding like a 90 year old who had smoked a pack a day for their whole life.
Our flight was delayed Sunday night and I didn't get into bed until just before midnight. Woke up just before 6AM on Monday and headed to work. Stopped by ZooLights to see my sister and nieces, went to the store, and went to bed.
Wake up on Tuesday.... Fall back asleep.... Wake up at the time I'm normally driving to the bus station. Whoops. There was no way to be on time, unless, of course.... I drove. I got to work on time and paid the $12 for parking (I pay $14 a MONTH for the bus), and managed to only honk at one idiot driver. I didn't know I had a meeting that night because I had missed the last meeting from being sick. Get home after 9PM and hop in bed.
Wednesday I am 30 minutes late to work thanks to traffic. I had plans to grab a beer with some friends after work, which was great fun as I expected. I also expected the bus ride to go smoothly since I was leaving after traffic. I didn't want to miss the bus, so I didn't use the restroom before I left. I also hadn't had any dinner. My bus is clearly running late, but I can't run in to go pee because I just know it will come while I'm inside. I'm also standing outside a pizza parlor, which smelled like HEAVEN, even from outside. Another 10 minutes go by.... I'm getting more hungry, more pissy, colder, and my bladder is ready to explode. But I sure as hell wasn't going to miss the bus after waiting all that time. THIRTY MINUTES after the bus was supposed to arrive, it shows up.
Had I known the situation, I could've gone pee, had another beer, a slice of pizza, gone pee again, and still made the bus.
I know I sound like The Grinch, or worse... Scrooge. I'm trying my hardest to stay on the nice list, but if one more naughty-tempting event occurs... I may as well start a coal mine.
Monday, December 3, 2012
The World Needs More Love Letters
Maybe it's the holidays that makes me all lovey dovey, maybe it's just part of me, or maybe it's this new website I came across.
Remembering the CHRIST in CHRISTmas can be difficult for anyone. It's easy to get wrapped up in the shopping, sales, movies, parties, sweets and shine! We would all be lying if we said it wasn't a lot of fun or exciting. But I know a lot of families are now giving to charities instead of each other, serving food at a shelter, or doing little things throughout the season to bring back the true meaning of Christmas.
So, back to the website I am now obsessed with. It's called Moreloveletters.com and you should check it out. You can sign up to get emails from their team with a story of someone who is in need of some encouragement, love, or acknowledgment. Or you can just start leaving little notes of encouragement in random spots. Some lucky person will find it and turn their day around. Many people leave notes in coat pockets, books, coffee shops, or tape them to a table (and leave the website on the note for the reader to share their story, or read about the organization and how it got started).
Hannah Brencher was trying to find her place in the world, and was doing so in NYC. She began writing letters and leaving them all around the city and kept a blog about writing love letters. She began receiving messages from people all over the world. They were asking her to send them a love letter, and in 9 months she wrote and mailed over 400 letters! These letters went to people she didn't know and would probably never meet, but the connections she made has touched thousands!
More Love Letters has "The 12 Days of Love Letter Writing," which starts today. When you sign up, you will receive an email each of those 12 days, with a request from someone for encouragement during the holiday season. You have one week to mail your letter from the day you receive the request. They will bundle all of the letters and mail them to the unsuspecting recipient just in time for the new year!
This holiday season I hope everyone finds their own way of giving back to the community and helping redefine Christmas! It's the season of giving, not receiving.
I am planning to keep up with the letters beyond Christmas. It's a great activity to do as an individual, in a group, with your students, with your family, or at random. You can make it a new family tradition and start writing letters on Thanksgiving, which you can leave throughout the city for people to find during the holiday season!
"Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn't come from a store."
Remembering the CHRIST in CHRISTmas can be difficult for anyone. It's easy to get wrapped up in the shopping, sales, movies, parties, sweets and shine! We would all be lying if we said it wasn't a lot of fun or exciting. But I know a lot of families are now giving to charities instead of each other, serving food at a shelter, or doing little things throughout the season to bring back the true meaning of Christmas.
So, back to the website I am now obsessed with. It's called Moreloveletters.com and you should check it out. You can sign up to get emails from their team with a story of someone who is in need of some encouragement, love, or acknowledgment. Or you can just start leaving little notes of encouragement in random spots. Some lucky person will find it and turn their day around. Many people leave notes in coat pockets, books, coffee shops, or tape them to a table (and leave the website on the note for the reader to share their story, or read about the organization and how it got started).
Hannah Brencher was trying to find her place in the world, and was doing so in NYC. She began writing letters and leaving them all around the city and kept a blog about writing love letters. She began receiving messages from people all over the world. They were asking her to send them a love letter, and in 9 months she wrote and mailed over 400 letters! These letters went to people she didn't know and would probably never meet, but the connections she made has touched thousands!
More Love Letters has "The 12 Days of Love Letter Writing," which starts today. When you sign up, you will receive an email each of those 12 days, with a request from someone for encouragement during the holiday season. You have one week to mail your letter from the day you receive the request. They will bundle all of the letters and mail them to the unsuspecting recipient just in time for the new year!
This holiday season I hope everyone finds their own way of giving back to the community and helping redefine Christmas! It's the season of giving, not receiving.
I am planning to keep up with the letters beyond Christmas. It's a great activity to do as an individual, in a group, with your students, with your family, or at random. You can make it a new family tradition and start writing letters on Thanksgiving, which you can leave throughout the city for people to find during the holiday season!
"Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn't come from a store."
Monday, November 19, 2012
Turkey. Thanks. Tradition. My triple threat.
What is Thanksgiving to you? Turkey or ham? Gravy or stuffing? Christmas music or lame music?
Thanksgiving in my family is about as big of a production as a wedding in most others. Well, that's how it used to be. My mom is one of three kids. Add grandparents, spouses, a few cousins, and a couple family friends. It is about 15. Easy enough, right?
Here is where it gets crazy. My dad is one of twelve. Yes, twelve.
Now, I have never been good at math, but if you add the grandparents and spouses, that's 26 people. Each of them have at least 2 kids. Some have 3. That's a minimum of 24 cousins. That's almost 50 people if only family comes, and everyone comes.
Here's where it gets crazy. Again. Having twelve kids means there is a big length of time between the first and last kid (In this case, twins). So we have one of those situations where your nephew is a year younger than you. So you also have to add in the significant others of the 3G (third generation) cousins.
Some of my fondest memories from childhood are of Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's a time where the aunts and uncles catch up, the young cousins get to play, the older cousins get to be too cool for their siblings, and where the grandparents bask in the glory of a legacy. Their legacy and our tradition.
But, like any normal American family, families split and not everyone goes to Thanksgiving or Christmas. Some families are forming new traditions, while others are keeping up with the old. The years go by and the numbers start to grow, but also start to slip away. And now all of the cousins are pairing off and starting their own families. Starting their own legacies.
Whether you have Thanksgiving with friends or family, eat turkey or ham, stay home or travel, stuff your face with pumpkin pie or apple pie, it's a time to be with those you care about.
We overlook the small things because we are so focused on the big things. The small things are what makes us, and we are what makes the big things.
I do have to admit.... this post was originally going to be a recap of the dreadful day I had (A man pushing a woman down, while getting off the bus and the hour and 45 minute commute to work, which made me 30 minutes late). Commuting sucks. It really does. But I can change that by moving to Seattle, or getting a job close to home. But I don't. I love where I work and I love where I live.
I had a time where I felt like a sitting duck. I couldn't get a job I wanted. It sucked and I had a massive pity party for myself. The economy sucks. It's hard to get jobs. Blah blah blah. You don't get anywhere if you think like that. But like I said earlier, the small stuff... It's what makes us. It's that fire under your butt that gets you to the big stuff.
Everyone has different "big stuff," and as long as you're working toward it and heading down the right lane, it doesn't matter who is passing you. They're headed somewhere else anyway.
This Thanksgiving I have more to be thankful for than any year before. I may not be right where I want to be, but I'm on my way. I've chosen my lane and I'm choosing my big stuff.
Happy Thanksgiving to you!
Thanksgiving in my family is about as big of a production as a wedding in most others. Well, that's how it used to be. My mom is one of three kids. Add grandparents, spouses, a few cousins, and a couple family friends. It is about 15. Easy enough, right?
Here is where it gets crazy. My dad is one of twelve. Yes, twelve.
Now, I have never been good at math, but if you add the grandparents and spouses, that's 26 people. Each of them have at least 2 kids. Some have 3. That's a minimum of 24 cousins. That's almost 50 people if only family comes, and everyone comes.
Here's where it gets crazy. Again. Having twelve kids means there is a big length of time between the first and last kid (In this case, twins). So we have one of those situations where your nephew is a year younger than you. So you also have to add in the significant others of the 3G (third generation) cousins.
Some of my fondest memories from childhood are of Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's a time where the aunts and uncles catch up, the young cousins get to play, the older cousins get to be too cool for their siblings, and where the grandparents bask in the glory of a legacy. Their legacy and our tradition.
But, like any normal American family, families split and not everyone goes to Thanksgiving or Christmas. Some families are forming new traditions, while others are keeping up with the old. The years go by and the numbers start to grow, but also start to slip away. And now all of the cousins are pairing off and starting their own families. Starting their own legacies.
Whether you have Thanksgiving with friends or family, eat turkey or ham, stay home or travel, stuff your face with pumpkin pie or apple pie, it's a time to be with those you care about.
We overlook the small things because we are so focused on the big things. The small things are what makes us, and we are what makes the big things.
I do have to admit.... this post was originally going to be a recap of the dreadful day I had (A man pushing a woman down, while getting off the bus and the hour and 45 minute commute to work, which made me 30 minutes late). Commuting sucks. It really does. But I can change that by moving to Seattle, or getting a job close to home. But I don't. I love where I work and I love where I live.
I had a time where I felt like a sitting duck. I couldn't get a job I wanted. It sucked and I had a massive pity party for myself. The economy sucks. It's hard to get jobs. Blah blah blah. You don't get anywhere if you think like that. But like I said earlier, the small stuff... It's what makes us. It's that fire under your butt that gets you to the big stuff.
Everyone has different "big stuff," and as long as you're working toward it and heading down the right lane, it doesn't matter who is passing you. They're headed somewhere else anyway.
This Thanksgiving I have more to be thankful for than any year before. I may not be right where I want to be, but I'm on my way. I've chosen my lane and I'm choosing my big stuff.
Happy Thanksgiving to you!
Friday, November 9, 2012
Rude Awakenings... Déjà Vu
Well it's half past midnight and I'm currently sitting on my floor in my bedroom. I have one blind propped up at eye level, so I can watch my street.
How do you suppose one falls asleep after calling 911 in the middle of the night? (I will report back later on that)
I have been taking part in the daily post on Facebook saying what I'm thankful for. Since it is officially a new day, I am thankful for Pet Detective Tigerlily.
Who needs a watchdog when you have a horrible narcoleptic sleeper and a fidgety 3 year old cat to fight the neighborhood crime?
I'm not sure if I woke her up, or vice versa. Whatever, it's a moot point. Anyway, I went to let her out for the night and she crouched down and was peering around the corner. We had an incident a few weeks ago with the Fugliest... Nastiest.... Shithead raccoon, so I thought the damn thing must be back. I step out on the porch, reindeer pajama pants and all, and expect to find a hissing raccoon.
Let's just say, I wish the raccoon came back.
I watched a man, who was scoping out a neighboring condo for sale. He didn't see me of course, but I ran inside to watch from my house. I turned on all the lights downstairs except for my room. I stood and watched for him through the blinds. He set his gym bag and another bag down on the sidewalk while he scoped out the for sale condo. Meanwhile I grab my phone to call 911, I watch him walk back down the steps and look down at each of ours. He picked up his bags, unsure of which way to go, then heads down the street closer to our house. He was giving each place a once over and was checking where each window was. Then he started to head down a side street. He for some reason changed his mind and kept going down the main street.
My heart was POUNDING so fast as I described what I could to 911. I've called 911 three times in my life.... Twice being in the last 2 months. Once was like I said before, to see what happens. I was ohh 6 or 7 years old?
So I plop myself on my bedroom floor and watch the man walk out of my sight and wait for the cops to drive in that direction. I watched one cop car drive by and a minute later watched another cop car drive by. I felt a little better, but who knows where the man had walked when he went out of my sight? What if he comes back this way?
A few minutes later I see one of the cop cars very slowly cruise back by and check out each of our places. Not a minute later I hear a car gassing it and see the cop car head the direction it just came from. About 10 or 15 minutes later I heard some sirens in the distance. I haven't seen either cop car come back this way. I'm going to assume that is a good sign and maybe they caught the guy.
It's been about an hour since this all started and I'm still sitting on my floor.
Well crap, just saw a firetruck go by. Now I'm way too curious to try to fall asleep.
Here I am, 26 years old and sitting on my bedroom floor in my Christmas pajamas watching out the window as if it's Christmas Eve and Santa should be arriving any minute. I wish it was Christmas Eve because I would totally have Santa's cookies and milk. All of this neighborhood watch has me starving and in need for a 1AM snack.
I decided not to wake up my roommates because the three of us would feed off each other, create the worst scenarios and none of us would have the slightest chance of getting a restful night of sleep.
Today I am not only thankful for my poor sleep habits, my obnoxious cat's poor sleep habits, but for the people who protect us everyday. You may not feel thankful for police officers if you're speeding down the highway and get a ticket. But when you're in a situation like this, you realize the significance of each of those people. It's a scary, but also humbling a experience to need help from a police officer. They are doing things like this everyday and every night.
For me? It's going to be a rough night sleep (what's new), but I can sleep better knowing they are taking care of this.
It's Veterans Day this weekend and there are TONS of people we owe our thanks to. Men and women are fighting and protecting us everyday.
Thank them.
I have 4 hours until I need to wake up. Lets give this sleep thing another shot.
Say thank you. Lock your doors. Say your prayers.
How do you suppose one falls asleep after calling 911 in the middle of the night? (I will report back later on that)
I have been taking part in the daily post on Facebook saying what I'm thankful for. Since it is officially a new day, I am thankful for Pet Detective Tigerlily.
Who needs a watchdog when you have a horrible narcoleptic sleeper and a fidgety 3 year old cat to fight the neighborhood crime?
I'm not sure if I woke her up, or vice versa. Whatever, it's a moot point. Anyway, I went to let her out for the night and she crouched down and was peering around the corner. We had an incident a few weeks ago with the Fugliest... Nastiest.... Shithead raccoon, so I thought the damn thing must be back. I step out on the porch, reindeer pajama pants and all, and expect to find a hissing raccoon.
Let's just say, I wish the raccoon came back.
I watched a man, who was scoping out a neighboring condo for sale. He didn't see me of course, but I ran inside to watch from my house. I turned on all the lights downstairs except for my room. I stood and watched for him through the blinds. He set his gym bag and another bag down on the sidewalk while he scoped out the for sale condo. Meanwhile I grab my phone to call 911, I watch him walk back down the steps and look down at each of ours. He picked up his bags, unsure of which way to go, then heads down the street closer to our house. He was giving each place a once over and was checking where each window was. Then he started to head down a side street. He for some reason changed his mind and kept going down the main street.
My heart was POUNDING so fast as I described what I could to 911. I've called 911 three times in my life.... Twice being in the last 2 months. Once was like I said before, to see what happens. I was ohh 6 or 7 years old?
So I plop myself on my bedroom floor and watch the man walk out of my sight and wait for the cops to drive in that direction. I watched one cop car drive by and a minute later watched another cop car drive by. I felt a little better, but who knows where the man had walked when he went out of my sight? What if he comes back this way?
A few minutes later I see one of the cop cars very slowly cruise back by and check out each of our places. Not a minute later I hear a car gassing it and see the cop car head the direction it just came from. About 10 or 15 minutes later I heard some sirens in the distance. I haven't seen either cop car come back this way. I'm going to assume that is a good sign and maybe they caught the guy.
It's been about an hour since this all started and I'm still sitting on my floor.
Well crap, just saw a firetruck go by. Now I'm way too curious to try to fall asleep.
Here I am, 26 years old and sitting on my bedroom floor in my Christmas pajamas watching out the window as if it's Christmas Eve and Santa should be arriving any minute. I wish it was Christmas Eve because I would totally have Santa's cookies and milk. All of this neighborhood watch has me starving and in need for a 1AM snack.
I decided not to wake up my roommates because the three of us would feed off each other, create the worst scenarios and none of us would have the slightest chance of getting a restful night of sleep.
Today I am not only thankful for my poor sleep habits, my obnoxious cat's poor sleep habits, but for the people who protect us everyday. You may not feel thankful for police officers if you're speeding down the highway and get a ticket. But when you're in a situation like this, you realize the significance of each of those people. It's a scary, but also humbling a experience to need help from a police officer. They are doing things like this everyday and every night.
For me? It's going to be a rough night sleep (what's new), but I can sleep better knowing they are taking care of this.
It's Veterans Day this weekend and there are TONS of people we owe our thanks to. Men and women are fighting and protecting us everyday.
Thank them.
I have 4 hours until I need to wake up. Lets give this sleep thing another shot.
Say thank you. Lock your doors. Say your prayers.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Something for you dirty folks....
This is my dirtiest post thus far...
Get ready for it....
Okay, so I just had to do my annual training at work... and let me tell you.... I feel DIRTY!
The number of bacteria on YOUR body RIGHT NOW is greater than the number of PEOPLE in the UNITED STATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OUR hands can contain up to 5 MILLION germs at a time...
98% of infections are SPREAD by contaminated HANDS
It's that time of year, so get your flu shots and wash your hands you dirt balls!
Sincerely,
An obsessive hand-washer
Get ready for it....
Okay, so I just had to do my annual training at work... and let me tell you.... I feel DIRTY!
The number of bacteria on YOUR body RIGHT NOW is greater than the number of PEOPLE in the UNITED STATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OUR hands can contain up to 5 MILLION germs at a time...
98% of infections are SPREAD by contaminated HANDS
It's that time of year, so get your flu shots and wash your hands you dirt balls!
Sincerely,
An obsessive hand-washer
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Give and Take
Commuting has a lot of advantages and disadvantages. Let's start with the disadvantages... Because that's all I can think about right now. Traffic has been SO awful in the mornings that even when I get on a bus 5 or 10 minutes earlier, I'm still late. This morning for an example, I got to the bus station a few minutes early to try to get on an earlier bus. I noticed that a car parked on the hill had its door open, but no one was in the car or around the car. Being the day after Halloween, I wasn't going to put myself in some weird Halloween aftermath and try to see where the driver disappeared to. I was planning to tell the security at the bus station to have them to check. And maybe I'm overreacting and someone just left their door open in the pouring rain?
I run down, can't find a security officer, so I hop on the bus. The driver said their were a few seats left, I walk to the back of the bus and there were 3 potential seats. Seats where 2 can fit very comfortably, but if you add a 3rd person, it's a little tight. Well, these lovely commuters didn't budge. No one moved their bag or scooted over. So, as I walk off the bus I say loud enough for the whole bus to hear "I'll just catch the next one, no one wanted to make any room back there." The bus driver said he would make them make room, but I said thanks but no thanks. I wasn't about to piss off the already pissy people on the bus.
Well, it's 7:45 and I am normally just about to get on my connecting bus right about now. Guess where I am? Boeing. Stopped. I imagine I will be about 30 minutes late? Probably more, 30 minutes is a pretty generous guess.
Summer traffic is awful in the afternoon and okay in the morning. The summer afternoons are full of Sounders traffic, Mariners traffic, people being idiots traffic.
Fall and winter traffic is awful in the morning and awful in the afternoon. It's dark, cold, gloomy, and wet. I swear it rains 90% of the year and we have a month or two of total dryness and everyone forgets how to drive in the rain.
It's honestly like people are surprised by the rain. "Gosh, I can't believe this weather!" Oh really? That's odd since you've lived here your whole life... And it rains like this 9 months out of the year... EVERY year!
It's been 10 minutes... And all I can see is Boeing.
Okay, there are some great things about commuting.
#1 - I'm not driving.
And thank God for that. If you've followed my posts, you know I can be an idiot driver.
#2 - It's cheap.
I pay $7 a month and my work pays for the rest. I don't pay for parking, I don't pay for gas, I don't get road rage.
#3 - I get to read.
In the last 6 weeks, I've finished 4 books... JUST reading on the bus to and from work.
#4 - The bus drivers
I have grown to love my bus drivers. It pays to be nice to them. If they see you sprinting down the road, they'll wait for you. But only if you are nice to them and make a point to say hi and thank you. They play jokes on you and wave at you, then pretend they aren't going to pick you up, just to tease you. They ask where you were the other day if you didn't catch their bus.
They may not always run on time, but they always get me home safely.
I run down, can't find a security officer, so I hop on the bus. The driver said their were a few seats left, I walk to the back of the bus and there were 3 potential seats. Seats where 2 can fit very comfortably, but if you add a 3rd person, it's a little tight. Well, these lovely commuters didn't budge. No one moved their bag or scooted over. So, as I walk off the bus I say loud enough for the whole bus to hear "I'll just catch the next one, no one wanted to make any room back there." The bus driver said he would make them make room, but I said thanks but no thanks. I wasn't about to piss off the already pissy people on the bus.
Well, it's 7:45 and I am normally just about to get on my connecting bus right about now. Guess where I am? Boeing. Stopped. I imagine I will be about 30 minutes late? Probably more, 30 minutes is a pretty generous guess.
Summer traffic is awful in the afternoon and okay in the morning. The summer afternoons are full of Sounders traffic, Mariners traffic, people being idiots traffic.
Fall and winter traffic is awful in the morning and awful in the afternoon. It's dark, cold, gloomy, and wet. I swear it rains 90% of the year and we have a month or two of total dryness and everyone forgets how to drive in the rain.
It's honestly like people are surprised by the rain. "Gosh, I can't believe this weather!" Oh really? That's odd since you've lived here your whole life... And it rains like this 9 months out of the year... EVERY year!
It's been 10 minutes... And all I can see is Boeing.
Okay, there are some great things about commuting.
#1 - I'm not driving.
And thank God for that. If you've followed my posts, you know I can be an idiot driver.
#2 - It's cheap.
I pay $7 a month and my work pays for the rest. I don't pay for parking, I don't pay for gas, I don't get road rage.
#3 - I get to read.
In the last 6 weeks, I've finished 4 books... JUST reading on the bus to and from work.
#4 - The bus drivers
I have grown to love my bus drivers. It pays to be nice to them. If they see you sprinting down the road, they'll wait for you. But only if you are nice to them and make a point to say hi and thank you. They play jokes on you and wave at you, then pretend they aren't going to pick you up, just to tease you. They ask where you were the other day if you didn't catch their bus.
They may not always run on time, but they always get me home safely.
Monday, October 15, 2012
The Best Things in Life...
I have been wanting to write this post for a few weeks now, but couldn't find the right energy to do so.
Last night I decided to look through some old pictures just for fun. I do this every few months and I find something new each time. Although technology has changed and taken over, I still like to get my pictures PRINTED. Not just sitting on some invisible "drive," on my computer... Or floating around in space. And the same goes for books. I like to physically hold the book and turn the pages. Not just swipe my finger.
Anyway, I decided to look through more pictures tonight. I found my autobiography, which was written my senior year in high school. It is full of (now) hysterical and embarrassing pictures. And it wouldn't be complete without a timeline, life story, and prediction of the future.
Well, lets just say I'm not where I thought I'd be, but I'm exactly where I should be.
I was shocked when I read my prediction, not just because I'm not married, don't have kids, or make all the money in the world, but because I read word for word what I wanted to write my post about.
It reads "The best things in life depend on timing and personality." So, part of this post I've been waiting to write is about how I don't believe in "everything happens for a reason." BUT I believe that the timing of everything happens for a reason. To some of you, you probably think that sounds the same. When people tell you everything happens for a reason it's a way of comforting you and trying to make sense of what has happened.
Working and being surrounded by cancer patients is a huge wake up call. I mean, can you imagine telling them that everything happens for a reason? "It's making you so much stronger," people say. Yes, it does make you stronger, but it also makes you weaker. For those who are lucky enough to survive, they might think you're right. But the ones who don't make it? For their families? I wouldn't dare tell someone their family member lost the battle for a "reason." Yes, I believe in God and I believe He has a plan for everyone. But what He can't control is our health. He is there to guide us and give us faith, but He cannot change physical things about ourselves and the world we live in. That would be pretty awesome if He could, but what lessons would we learn if we were given everything we wanted?
I believe in the timing of everything. Let's take a sequence of bad events. For example.... About 4 years ago my grandma passed away. A month or two later, my uncle was diagnosed with cancer and the diagnosis didn't look good. A few months after that, my grandpa passed away. A few months after that, my uncle with cancer passed away. The week of his service, another uncle wasn't feeling well. He had cancer 10 years before that. He fought like hell that round and made it out on top. But he knew something wasn't right. Cancer was back. How could that be? A year later he passed away. The month he passed away, his daughter was diagnosed with cancer.
So, writing this down in words seems a little insane. And yes, it was insane. BUT the sequence of events makes sense. Not the events itself. Grandma and grandpa passed away first, which saved them the pain of losing their children. The first uncle decided to fight the "C" word so he could buy some time with his loved ones. He chose quantity. The next uncle decided against the treatment because he had already gone through it before, then watched his brother suffer through it. He chose quality over quantity. And lastly, my cousin who was diagnosed when her dad passed away. My gosh. I can't even imagine that happening. I still can't. BUT... She fought it and kicked its ass. She made it out on top.
10 years ago I wrote "The best things in life depend on timing and personality." Today? I would say it again, but add the best AND worst things.
The second part of what I wrote said "What is a horrible day for one, might be the best day for another." This doesn't make your worst days unimportant, it's just something to acknowledge.
I saw a quote this week that I wish could be posted on each of our foreheads.
"The things you take for granted, someone else is praying for."
Do the best you can and do it with all you've got. So that when these shitstorm life events happen, we can safely say we did all we could.
Last night I decided to look through some old pictures just for fun. I do this every few months and I find something new each time. Although technology has changed and taken over, I still like to get my pictures PRINTED. Not just sitting on some invisible "drive," on my computer... Or floating around in space. And the same goes for books. I like to physically hold the book and turn the pages. Not just swipe my finger.
Anyway, I decided to look through more pictures tonight. I found my autobiography, which was written my senior year in high school. It is full of (now) hysterical and embarrassing pictures. And it wouldn't be complete without a timeline, life story, and prediction of the future.
Well, lets just say I'm not where I thought I'd be, but I'm exactly where I should be.
I was shocked when I read my prediction, not just because I'm not married, don't have kids, or make all the money in the world, but because I read word for word what I wanted to write my post about.
It reads "The best things in life depend on timing and personality." So, part of this post I've been waiting to write is about how I don't believe in "everything happens for a reason." BUT I believe that the timing of everything happens for a reason. To some of you, you probably think that sounds the same. When people tell you everything happens for a reason it's a way of comforting you and trying to make sense of what has happened.
Working and being surrounded by cancer patients is a huge wake up call. I mean, can you imagine telling them that everything happens for a reason? "It's making you so much stronger," people say. Yes, it does make you stronger, but it also makes you weaker. For those who are lucky enough to survive, they might think you're right. But the ones who don't make it? For their families? I wouldn't dare tell someone their family member lost the battle for a "reason." Yes, I believe in God and I believe He has a plan for everyone. But what He can't control is our health. He is there to guide us and give us faith, but He cannot change physical things about ourselves and the world we live in. That would be pretty awesome if He could, but what lessons would we learn if we were given everything we wanted?
I believe in the timing of everything. Let's take a sequence of bad events. For example.... About 4 years ago my grandma passed away. A month or two later, my uncle was diagnosed with cancer and the diagnosis didn't look good. A few months after that, my grandpa passed away. A few months after that, my uncle with cancer passed away. The week of his service, another uncle wasn't feeling well. He had cancer 10 years before that. He fought like hell that round and made it out on top. But he knew something wasn't right. Cancer was back. How could that be? A year later he passed away. The month he passed away, his daughter was diagnosed with cancer.
So, writing this down in words seems a little insane. And yes, it was insane. BUT the sequence of events makes sense. Not the events itself. Grandma and grandpa passed away first, which saved them the pain of losing their children. The first uncle decided to fight the "C" word so he could buy some time with his loved ones. He chose quantity. The next uncle decided against the treatment because he had already gone through it before, then watched his brother suffer through it. He chose quality over quantity. And lastly, my cousin who was diagnosed when her dad passed away. My gosh. I can't even imagine that happening. I still can't. BUT... She fought it and kicked its ass. She made it out on top.
10 years ago I wrote "The best things in life depend on timing and personality." Today? I would say it again, but add the best AND worst things.
The second part of what I wrote said "What is a horrible day for one, might be the best day for another." This doesn't make your worst days unimportant, it's just something to acknowledge.
I saw a quote this week that I wish could be posted on each of our foreheads.
"The things you take for granted, someone else is praying for."
Do the best you can and do it with all you've got. So that when these shitstorm life events happen, we can safely say we did all we could.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Rude Awakenings
Some of you may have seen the story on my Facebook status last week about the perverted international phone call I received..... 9 times. For those who didn't, here it is.
My phone started ringing and it was an 11 digit phone number, normally I wouldn't answer, but my mom had been in Europe the last few weeks, so I thought maybe it was her.
Unless my mom turned into a perverted Spanish speaking man, it wasn't her. I was trying to ask what he wanted or why he called, but he began making some sick noises, so I hung up. I turned to tell my roommates about it and they said "What if its something with your mom!" But I said I didn't think that's what was going on, but that maybe someone was pranking me.
The next day at 6:00 AM, he called. I answered to hear the same nasty stuff he was saying before, and told him to stop calling. He called again. I answered and said a big F.U. And hung up. He then called 7 MORE TIMES!!! The last time I answered, I rambled off a bunch of horrible things and gave up.
This phone call was really a very sour way to start my day. When I told my sister I said I was worried something happened to mom she told me she had a missed call from her in the middle of the night, with a 2 minute message of background noise. Okay... Then I started to worry again. I called my mom and she was alive and had not kidnapped by some pervert... Big sigh of relief. Since I didn't want to chance of being harassed again, I called Verizon to have them block the number.
Verizon: Was it a telemarketer?
Me: No, it was an 11 digit number, Spanish speaking man... Trying to have phone sex
Verizon: OH! OH MY GOSH I'M SO SORRY!
Me: Yeah, it was pretty creepy.
Verizon: Well, we will block the number, it's a Mexico number. Did you have anyone home who speaks Spanish who could tell him you'll call the cops?
Me: No, but I said a universal saying I am quite sure he understood.
Verizon: HA! Okay, we'll its taken care of, thanks for calling.
Awesome. That was a weird and rude awakening, but it's settled.
Until last night.
As I have mentioned before, I have wacky and wild dreams that can be VERY VIVID. So this morning, before I could get myself to write this post, I text my roommate to ask "Did that really happen last night or was I dreaming? I'm totally serious." And when she wrote back she said "Yes hahaha it really did happen!!!"
SO... Yay for not being crazy.
It was 2:30 AM, I was half asleep/ half dreaming and could swear I heard knocking at the door. I got out of bed, and as weird as this is (mom don't kill me for having candy in the middle of the night) , I grabbed some mike and Ike's and went to go see if someone was in fact knocking (surely I am hearing things). The second I grabbed the mike and Ike's, the doorbell rang, and following that was VERY loud knocking.
I literally threw the mike and Ike's up in the air and all over the floor. I opened my curtains to peek out at who was out there, I saw a red car and a cop car, and two officers. Oh shit. When I headed for the door, I checked through the blinds a second time, to see if they had some weird person with them at the door.
I looked up the stairwell, hoping to God my roommates heard it, too, and were coming down to help me. I saw Kate and she pointed and whisper screamed "It's the cops!!!" While I essentially did the same thing to her.
I opened the door to face the officers.
"Hi there, is "___name____" here?"
"Ummm no..." (Trying to keep my head on straight, while pushing my heart back INSIDE my body. I'm pretty sure they could see it thumping through my pajamas, along with Kate's)
"Okay, sorry to scare and bother you, we're just going by the address we have."
I then started to think a bit more clearly and told the officers the woman they were looking for used to live here, we get her mail from time to time, but we've been here 2 years now.
The (smirking) officers apologized again for the bother and we shut the door. And as I shut the door I told my roommates I couldn't feel my arms. They both dropped to the floor and said they couldn't feel their legs. We all began laughing hysterically. So hard we were all crying and laughing silently. We sat on the floor of the entry way and laughed about the site we must've been for the officers at 2:30 AM. Between the confusion, awful pajamas, deer in headlights look, and clearly trembling girls scared out of their mind, I think we provided them with some laughs as they went on with their duty.
We sat and discussed why we each thought the cops were there and why they might be after the woman who used to live in our condo. All three of us mentioned the smirks on their faces when the three of us piled in the door jam waiting to be questioned. We don't know why the red car was there, maybe undercover? I didn't notice these small details, but my roommates noticed the cop car was from the sheriffs department and one of the men had on a fire department jacket.
I haven't the slightest idea what the heck was going on this morning. But I hoping that rude awakenings don't come in threes.
My phone started ringing and it was an 11 digit phone number, normally I wouldn't answer, but my mom had been in Europe the last few weeks, so I thought maybe it was her.
Unless my mom turned into a perverted Spanish speaking man, it wasn't her. I was trying to ask what he wanted or why he called, but he began making some sick noises, so I hung up. I turned to tell my roommates about it and they said "What if its something with your mom!" But I said I didn't think that's what was going on, but that maybe someone was pranking me.
The next day at 6:00 AM, he called. I answered to hear the same nasty stuff he was saying before, and told him to stop calling. He called again. I answered and said a big F.U. And hung up. He then called 7 MORE TIMES!!! The last time I answered, I rambled off a bunch of horrible things and gave up.
This phone call was really a very sour way to start my day. When I told my sister I said I was worried something happened to mom she told me she had a missed call from her in the middle of the night, with a 2 minute message of background noise. Okay... Then I started to worry again. I called my mom and she was alive and had not kidnapped by some pervert... Big sigh of relief. Since I didn't want to chance of being harassed again, I called Verizon to have them block the number.
Verizon: Was it a telemarketer?
Me: No, it was an 11 digit number, Spanish speaking man... Trying to have phone sex
Verizon: OH! OH MY GOSH I'M SO SORRY!
Me: Yeah, it was pretty creepy.
Verizon: Well, we will block the number, it's a Mexico number. Did you have anyone home who speaks Spanish who could tell him you'll call the cops?
Me: No, but I said a universal saying I am quite sure he understood.
Verizon: HA! Okay, we'll its taken care of, thanks for calling.
Awesome. That was a weird and rude awakening, but it's settled.
Until last night.
As I have mentioned before, I have wacky and wild dreams that can be VERY VIVID. So this morning, before I could get myself to write this post, I text my roommate to ask "Did that really happen last night or was I dreaming? I'm totally serious." And when she wrote back she said "Yes hahaha it really did happen!!!"
SO... Yay for not being crazy.
It was 2:30 AM, I was half asleep/ half dreaming and could swear I heard knocking at the door. I got out of bed, and as weird as this is (mom don't kill me for having candy in the middle of the night) , I grabbed some mike and Ike's and went to go see if someone was in fact knocking (surely I am hearing things). The second I grabbed the mike and Ike's, the doorbell rang, and following that was VERY loud knocking.
I literally threw the mike and Ike's up in the air and all over the floor. I opened my curtains to peek out at who was out there, I saw a red car and a cop car, and two officers. Oh shit. When I headed for the door, I checked through the blinds a second time, to see if they had some weird person with them at the door.
I looked up the stairwell, hoping to God my roommates heard it, too, and were coming down to help me. I saw Kate and she pointed and whisper screamed "It's the cops!!!" While I essentially did the same thing to her.
I opened the door to face the officers.
"Hi there, is "___name____" here?"
"Ummm no..." (Trying to keep my head on straight, while pushing my heart back INSIDE my body. I'm pretty sure they could see it thumping through my pajamas, along with Kate's)
"Okay, sorry to scare and bother you, we're just going by the address we have."
I then started to think a bit more clearly and told the officers the woman they were looking for used to live here, we get her mail from time to time, but we've been here 2 years now.
The (smirking) officers apologized again for the bother and we shut the door. And as I shut the door I told my roommates I couldn't feel my arms. They both dropped to the floor and said they couldn't feel their legs. We all began laughing hysterically. So hard we were all crying and laughing silently. We sat on the floor of the entry way and laughed about the site we must've been for the officers at 2:30 AM. Between the confusion, awful pajamas, deer in headlights look, and clearly trembling girls scared out of their mind, I think we provided them with some laughs as they went on with their duty.
We sat and discussed why we each thought the cops were there and why they might be after the woman who used to live in our condo. All three of us mentioned the smirks on their faces when the three of us piled in the door jam waiting to be questioned. We don't know why the red car was there, maybe undercover? I didn't notice these small details, but my roommates noticed the cop car was from the sheriffs department and one of the men had on a fire department jacket.
I haven't the slightest idea what the heck was going on this morning. But I hoping that rude awakenings don't come in threes.
Friday, September 21, 2012
There's a first for everything... Well, second, too.
Me: It was my first time calling 911.
Sister: It's exciting isn't it? (Coming from the girl who has called 911 too many times to count).
I was driving home from my aunt's house one night this week and was talking to my sister when the chaos began. I was stopped at a red light and saw a kid (well, teenager) come out of nowhere. He was running out from a side street and when I say running, I mean sprinting. He was frantically looking over his shoulder as he ran. My stomach dropped when I saw him and before the light turned green, I saw a cop car whipping around the corner with it's lights on. Suddenly the cop made a stop at the intersection and pulled a u-turn. I started putting it together and realized he was going the wrong way. He had to have been looking for the running kid! All while I'm on the phone with my sister. I was explaining it to her and she said "Well you better hang up." But I stayed on the phone with her and saw the police shine their big light on a kid walking down the street, who matched the stereotype of the kid I saw running. I told my sister "Oh no, they're going after the wrong kid!!! I should go tell them!!" As I said that, I realized it wouldn't be a good idea to start chasing the cops, who were chasing a possible bad guy. And just then, I saw another cop car come flying around the corner with their lights on, too. That's when I hung up and decided I should call 911 and tell them they're after the wrong kid.
I was so anxious, as it was my first... Okay second time calling 911.
When I was probably 5 or 6 years old I called 911 to see what happens. I remember hiding upstairs between my parents' bed and the window, and called 911 on their phone with the squiggly cord. You know what happens when you call 911 and don't say anything? They call back. BUSTED! My parents asked which one of us called and I had no choice but to admit it. When they asked why, all I could say was that I wanted to see what happens.
Back to the story. I call 911 and tell them what I saw and they asked me all sorts of questions about what he looked like, race, height, weight, age, what kind of clothes, a hat, carrying anything, how long ago I saw him. Then she took down my name and number.
As I was being questioned I was thinking back to all of my psychology classes, which are filled with studies about these types of scenarios and what you do and don't remember. So of course, I was second guessing myself the second she asked the question.
I checked all of the newspapers online and haven't seen a thing. Someone I had told said maybe he stole something? But unless it was a painfully slow night for the cops, I don't think they'd send 2 cop cars flying through intersections for a kid whole shoplifted from Safeway.
I've always thought I'd be a good detective, but I could never last through the police training and all that jazz, to crawl my way to a detective position. But if God has been giving me a sign lately, it's to be a detective.
(Kind of joking... Kind of not)
We received a letter from a participant at work, which I won't go into too much detail because frankly I don't think I'm allowed to. But basically a woman .(74). sent a letter about getting arrested last month. If you want the whole story, I'll tell you. Just not all over the Internet.
Yours truly,
Detective
Sister: It's exciting isn't it? (Coming from the girl who has called 911 too many times to count).
I was driving home from my aunt's house one night this week and was talking to my sister when the chaos began. I was stopped at a red light and saw a kid (well, teenager) come out of nowhere. He was running out from a side street and when I say running, I mean sprinting. He was frantically looking over his shoulder as he ran. My stomach dropped when I saw him and before the light turned green, I saw a cop car whipping around the corner with it's lights on. Suddenly the cop made a stop at the intersection and pulled a u-turn. I started putting it together and realized he was going the wrong way. He had to have been looking for the running kid! All while I'm on the phone with my sister. I was explaining it to her and she said "Well you better hang up." But I stayed on the phone with her and saw the police shine their big light on a kid walking down the street, who matched the stereotype of the kid I saw running. I told my sister "Oh no, they're going after the wrong kid!!! I should go tell them!!" As I said that, I realized it wouldn't be a good idea to start chasing the cops, who were chasing a possible bad guy. And just then, I saw another cop car come flying around the corner with their lights on, too. That's when I hung up and decided I should call 911 and tell them they're after the wrong kid.
I was so anxious, as it was my first... Okay second time calling 911.
When I was probably 5 or 6 years old I called 911 to see what happens. I remember hiding upstairs between my parents' bed and the window, and called 911 on their phone with the squiggly cord. You know what happens when you call 911 and don't say anything? They call back. BUSTED! My parents asked which one of us called and I had no choice but to admit it. When they asked why, all I could say was that I wanted to see what happens.
Back to the story. I call 911 and tell them what I saw and they asked me all sorts of questions about what he looked like, race, height, weight, age, what kind of clothes, a hat, carrying anything, how long ago I saw him. Then she took down my name and number.
As I was being questioned I was thinking back to all of my psychology classes, which are filled with studies about these types of scenarios and what you do and don't remember. So of course, I was second guessing myself the second she asked the question.
I checked all of the newspapers online and haven't seen a thing. Someone I had told said maybe he stole something? But unless it was a painfully slow night for the cops, I don't think they'd send 2 cop cars flying through intersections for a kid whole shoplifted from Safeway.
I've always thought I'd be a good detective, but I could never last through the police training and all that jazz, to crawl my way to a detective position. But if God has been giving me a sign lately, it's to be a detective.
(Kind of joking... Kind of not)
We received a letter from a participant at work, which I won't go into too much detail because frankly I don't think I'm allowed to. But basically a woman .(74). sent a letter about getting arrested last month. If you want the whole story, I'll tell you. Just not all over the Internet.
Yours truly,
Detective
Friday, September 7, 2012
*!!!!GASP!!!!* You... Don't... Use... Eye cream?!
During one of my first weeks of commuting on the bus I had the man sitting next to me accuse me of bringing weed on the bus. I remember thinking it was such a hilarious accusation, considering the way I look, the time of day (not that it matters for those who DO smoke), and that I would be going to work with weed in my bag... At a hospital! Anyway, I nabbed one of the last seats on the bus this morning next to a possible cast member to replace the Jersey Shore crew. Hair has plenty of gel, a track jacket on, glowing tan, sunglasses, and a scent not even I could mistake.... Weed! Since he's passed out from his morning hit, I won't get my chance to accuse him of bringing weed on the bus. (Not that I ever would anyway, but it could be fun)
So, I have had a few moments in the last few weeks that have made me feel a little older than I should... Or am. And I know people who are older than me are probably reading this and cackling thinking "She's soooo young," in that way that you're always reminded by those who are older than you. But when I was getting the patient records prepared the other day at work I noticed their birthday was 1996... And to a lot of you that probably seems really young, but unfortunately we see much much younger patients. But I remember thinking oh my gosh this poor kid is so young... How sad! Then I noticed they were 16 years old and I about flipped out of my chair. Kids born in 1996 can drive? When I saw 1996 I obviously didn't calculate how old they were, since I was imagining a 12 year old. It's kind of like seeing those signs in the grocery store that say "Those born this day of 1991 can buy alcohol." Or whatever it says.... And whatever it says is guaranteed to make you stop and think... Wow I'm getting old(er).
When I used to be a nanny and would take the kids on walks, I would get the dirtiest looks from people, which isn't exactly what you would think people would do when they saw cute babies. But I realized they must've thought I was a teen mom, since people still ask me if I've gone to college yet. But yesterday was quite the different story. I went to Nordstrom to get my face lotion and when the clerk asked if she could help me find something, it went downhill... Fast...
Me: I'm just looking for my face lotion... Oh there it is, I'll get this one.
Clerk: Okay and I'm assuming you're here to get your eye cream as well?
Me: Nope, just the lotion. And this _______(present for my niece).
Clerk: *GASP* you don't use eye cream? (She acted as though I told her I didn't use toothpaste). You should really start using eye cream.
Me: Uh no, I think I'm doing fine with just the lotion.
Clerk: It doesn't matter how young you are, you should use one. We have two kinds. One for fine lines and *pause, with a concerning look* one for those dark circles under the eyes. (She may as well have winked at me).
Me: Haha no, I don't want it. Just these two things.
Clerk: Oh, so is this for your daughter?
Me: No, my niece.
Clerk: Oh my, I assumed you must have kids!
Me: Nope, my niece is turning 2. No kids for me.
Clerk: Oh! I really thought this was for your daughter, you know with school starting and all. Here, let me get some samples of the eye creams. You reallllly should start using them.
.............
Seriously? That's your sales pitch? To tell me i look like a worn out, exhausted mother... that I'm not... To get me to buy your eye cream???
When I finally escaped with (a bruised ego), face lotion, a gift, eye cream sample and all... I got stuck walking behind a girl who must've been in high school, wearing what looked like a cut up tank top, worn as a dress, with a black lacey bra fully exposed, and (maybe?) jean shorts. I rolled my eyes and thought there is no way in hell my daughter would ever leave the house looking like that... Mainly because I would never allow those clothes in my house.
Maybe those clerks should spend more time selling actual clothing to these soon-to-be "Pretty Woman," girls instead of selling eye cream to a tired young lady like myself.
So, I have had a few moments in the last few weeks that have made me feel a little older than I should... Or am. And I know people who are older than me are probably reading this and cackling thinking "She's soooo young," in that way that you're always reminded by those who are older than you. But when I was getting the patient records prepared the other day at work I noticed their birthday was 1996... And to a lot of you that probably seems really young, but unfortunately we see much much younger patients. But I remember thinking oh my gosh this poor kid is so young... How sad! Then I noticed they were 16 years old and I about flipped out of my chair. Kids born in 1996 can drive? When I saw 1996 I obviously didn't calculate how old they were, since I was imagining a 12 year old. It's kind of like seeing those signs in the grocery store that say "Those born this day of 1991 can buy alcohol." Or whatever it says.... And whatever it says is guaranteed to make you stop and think... Wow I'm getting old(er).
When I used to be a nanny and would take the kids on walks, I would get the dirtiest looks from people, which isn't exactly what you would think people would do when they saw cute babies. But I realized they must've thought I was a teen mom, since people still ask me if I've gone to college yet. But yesterday was quite the different story. I went to Nordstrom to get my face lotion and when the clerk asked if she could help me find something, it went downhill... Fast...
Me: I'm just looking for my face lotion... Oh there it is, I'll get this one.
Clerk: Okay and I'm assuming you're here to get your eye cream as well?
Me: Nope, just the lotion. And this _______(present for my niece).
Clerk: *GASP* you don't use eye cream? (She acted as though I told her I didn't use toothpaste). You should really start using eye cream.
Me: Uh no, I think I'm doing fine with just the lotion.
Clerk: It doesn't matter how young you are, you should use one. We have two kinds. One for fine lines and *pause, with a concerning look* one for those dark circles under the eyes. (She may as well have winked at me).
Me: Haha no, I don't want it. Just these two things.
Clerk: Oh, so is this for your daughter?
Me: No, my niece.
Clerk: Oh my, I assumed you must have kids!
Me: Nope, my niece is turning 2. No kids for me.
Clerk: Oh! I really thought this was for your daughter, you know with school starting and all. Here, let me get some samples of the eye creams. You reallllly should start using them.
.............
Seriously? That's your sales pitch? To tell me i look like a worn out, exhausted mother... that I'm not... To get me to buy your eye cream???
When I finally escaped with (a bruised ego), face lotion, a gift, eye cream sample and all... I got stuck walking behind a girl who must've been in high school, wearing what looked like a cut up tank top, worn as a dress, with a black lacey bra fully exposed, and (maybe?) jean shorts. I rolled my eyes and thought there is no way in hell my daughter would ever leave the house looking like that... Mainly because I would never allow those clothes in my house.
Maybe those clerks should spend more time selling actual clothing to these soon-to-be "Pretty Woman," girls instead of selling eye cream to a tired young lady like myself.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Animal House
No, not THAT animal house. I'm talking about my childhood house, which my sister now lives in, which I will be calling The Animal House from now on.
Like every little kid, I so desperately wanted a puppy and begged for one every day, if not every waking minute of my childhood. The answer was always "No, we're too busy for a dog," which was true. But as a kid I thought that was the lamest excuse I'd ever heard. That burning desire to get a puppy still haunts me... All the time! But, like my parents had said, I'm just too busy for a puppy... Still!
I would BEG to go to the pet store at the mall. My parents took me there quite a bit. (I don't know why because I would cry every time we had to leave). And every time I would still ask for a pet. How about a puppy? No, Leslie. Okay, fine. No puppy. How about a bunny? No, Leslie. A kitten? No, Leslie we already have 2 cats. A turtle? Okay, you can get a turtle.
WHAT!!!!! A turtle?! THIS is the one they should have said no to! We quickly found out how stinky and gross they are. And their food looks a lot like their poop, so I never knew when I should clean the tank. Let's just say we didn't keep "Bubbles," for long.
We had two cats growing up. Mocha, who was the fattest and grouchiest cat on the planet, who would torture me and wait at the bottom of the stairs to swat my ankles. I would cry at the top of the stairs and call for someone to come get her. I was definitely way too old to be crying about it and I still get made fun of for it today. But I did love my Mocha girl, no matter how mean she was. Truffle was our other cat. She was the tiniest little runt and was the kitten everyone wished for. She never really grew into a full size cat. She also wasn't completely there in the head, but was so darn sweet!
I also had a fish, whose name I don't remember. But he was a blue beta fish. He also didn't last long.... Another animal story where I was too old to be crying about. One day when I went to empty out the dirty water... He fell out into the sink. And went down the disposal. No, it wasn't on, but we all know where this is heading. I immediately started to panic and told my mom and dad to get it out. Neither of their hands could fit down the sink and since I still to this day have arms of a 10 year old, they told me I had to do it. But I couldn't think of reaching down and touching the fish so I started to cry and said I couldn't do it. I don't think anyone cared about the fish, but NO ONE wanted to be the first one to turn on the disposal. (I think I was gone for that... On purpose).
Now for the animals who WEREN'T our pets...
We lived on a lake and one day I was playing in the street (do kids even do that anymore?) and a Canadian goose started walking up to me. The goose didn't look like it was doing that well and was getting way too close to me. I started to walk away from it and it was following me.... Quickly. I had a plastic hockey stick, so I knew I had a backup plan if it tried to attack me. I started walking faster and so did the goose. I started running and so did the goose. Now, I'm fully sprinting home and swinging a hockey stick behind me at the goose. I ran inside and the goose sat at our door pecking. The goose was really sick and was slobbering and snotting all over our glass door. We got it some bread and when he would eat, he would also poop all over our front porch. This was turning into a sad nightmare. We called my parents and they called the humane society or another animal control place to come pick it up.
Flash forward a few years and my mom and I found a tiny white bird in the yard with a broken wing. Since we know nothing about birds, we didn't know if it was a chicken or a dove or something else (I realize chickens and doves don't look alike. And how weird it would be to have either of those appear in our backyard). But it was a very tiny white bird. We put it in a box and we called someone to come rescue the wild animal. Again.
Flash forward to last Saturday and we have another incident on our hands. My sister, brother-in-law and I were sitting around before heading to a wedding when we heard loud chirping noises, followed by tons of branches and dirt falling out of a very large tree. I saw a nest fall out of the tree and immediately assumed it was for baby birds. Me and Calvin went outside to see what was happening. We were cursing the squirrels who we thought knocked the baby birds, but when we got closer we didn't see any birds. The nest was for baby squirrels. We found one in the bark and I found one who had fallen onto the brick fire pit. My eyes filled with tears so fast when I saw this poor little baby who had fallen probably 20 feet out of the tree on to the brick. But it was still breathing!!! I started whining and saying to come save this one. Calvin scooped up one baby with the nest and said no because the other one was dead. "But its still breathing Calvin, look!! (in the saddest whining/crying voice ever)." So he picked it up an put it in the nest, just in time to see another poor baby squirrel fall out of the tree. (insert more tears here)
At this point we have 3 baby squirrels put in their broken nest in hopes of the mama coming to rescue them. We went inside to give the mom some privacy... AKA us watching like hawks to see what happened. And we watched as the mom frantically climbed down the tree, squeaking at the babies and them speaking back. The mama squirrel's tail was whipping so fast, you could sense her fear and urgency. She came down and picked one up in her mouth and flipped it around to check her baby out, then ran off with her. At this point my sister and I were both crying at how sweet it was to watch her rescue her babies. And started wondering why she saved that baby first and would she come back for the others? Or would other squirrels from the squirrel community come save them for her? (I know, we've seen too many Disney movies).
But we didn't see her come back for a few minutes and my sister and I began to worry that she only grabbed the one who wasn't touched. So we decide to try and lure her back in by putting food in the nest. We watched a few greedy squirrels steal the food and bypass the babies (apparently they aren't a squirrel community like we had hoped).
We started to get ready for the wedding and agreed that if the babies were still out there, we would bring them somewhere on our way to the wedding to be checked out. And I went out to look and she came back for all 3 of the babies!
I know this story has nothing to do with riding the bus, except for the fact that I'm writing this on the bus :)
It was just too sweet of a story not to share! And a much happier post than my rant on Friday.
Like every little kid, I so desperately wanted a puppy and begged for one every day, if not every waking minute of my childhood. The answer was always "No, we're too busy for a dog," which was true. But as a kid I thought that was the lamest excuse I'd ever heard. That burning desire to get a puppy still haunts me... All the time! But, like my parents had said, I'm just too busy for a puppy... Still!
I would BEG to go to the pet store at the mall. My parents took me there quite a bit. (I don't know why because I would cry every time we had to leave). And every time I would still ask for a pet. How about a puppy? No, Leslie. Okay, fine. No puppy. How about a bunny? No, Leslie. A kitten? No, Leslie we already have 2 cats. A turtle? Okay, you can get a turtle.
WHAT!!!!! A turtle?! THIS is the one they should have said no to! We quickly found out how stinky and gross they are. And their food looks a lot like their poop, so I never knew when I should clean the tank. Let's just say we didn't keep "Bubbles," for long.
We had two cats growing up. Mocha, who was the fattest and grouchiest cat on the planet, who would torture me and wait at the bottom of the stairs to swat my ankles. I would cry at the top of the stairs and call for someone to come get her. I was definitely way too old to be crying about it and I still get made fun of for it today. But I did love my Mocha girl, no matter how mean she was. Truffle was our other cat. She was the tiniest little runt and was the kitten everyone wished for. She never really grew into a full size cat. She also wasn't completely there in the head, but was so darn sweet!
I also had a fish, whose name I don't remember. But he was a blue beta fish. He also didn't last long.... Another animal story where I was too old to be crying about. One day when I went to empty out the dirty water... He fell out into the sink. And went down the disposal. No, it wasn't on, but we all know where this is heading. I immediately started to panic and told my mom and dad to get it out. Neither of their hands could fit down the sink and since I still to this day have arms of a 10 year old, they told me I had to do it. But I couldn't think of reaching down and touching the fish so I started to cry and said I couldn't do it. I don't think anyone cared about the fish, but NO ONE wanted to be the first one to turn on the disposal. (I think I was gone for that... On purpose).
Now for the animals who WEREN'T our pets...
We lived on a lake and one day I was playing in the street (do kids even do that anymore?) and a Canadian goose started walking up to me. The goose didn't look like it was doing that well and was getting way too close to me. I started to walk away from it and it was following me.... Quickly. I had a plastic hockey stick, so I knew I had a backup plan if it tried to attack me. I started walking faster and so did the goose. I started running and so did the goose. Now, I'm fully sprinting home and swinging a hockey stick behind me at the goose. I ran inside and the goose sat at our door pecking. The goose was really sick and was slobbering and snotting all over our glass door. We got it some bread and when he would eat, he would also poop all over our front porch. This was turning into a sad nightmare. We called my parents and they called the humane society or another animal control place to come pick it up.
Flash forward a few years and my mom and I found a tiny white bird in the yard with a broken wing. Since we know nothing about birds, we didn't know if it was a chicken or a dove or something else (I realize chickens and doves don't look alike. And how weird it would be to have either of those appear in our backyard). But it was a very tiny white bird. We put it in a box and we called someone to come rescue the wild animal. Again.
Flash forward to last Saturday and we have another incident on our hands. My sister, brother-in-law and I were sitting around before heading to a wedding when we heard loud chirping noises, followed by tons of branches and dirt falling out of a very large tree. I saw a nest fall out of the tree and immediately assumed it was for baby birds. Me and Calvin went outside to see what was happening. We were cursing the squirrels who we thought knocked the baby birds, but when we got closer we didn't see any birds. The nest was for baby squirrels. We found one in the bark and I found one who had fallen onto the brick fire pit. My eyes filled with tears so fast when I saw this poor little baby who had fallen probably 20 feet out of the tree on to the brick. But it was still breathing!!! I started whining and saying to come save this one. Calvin scooped up one baby with the nest and said no because the other one was dead. "But its still breathing Calvin, look!! (in the saddest whining/crying voice ever)." So he picked it up an put it in the nest, just in time to see another poor baby squirrel fall out of the tree. (insert more tears here)
At this point we have 3 baby squirrels put in their broken nest in hopes of the mama coming to rescue them. We went inside to give the mom some privacy... AKA us watching like hawks to see what happened. And we watched as the mom frantically climbed down the tree, squeaking at the babies and them speaking back. The mama squirrel's tail was whipping so fast, you could sense her fear and urgency. She came down and picked one up in her mouth and flipped it around to check her baby out, then ran off with her. At this point my sister and I were both crying at how sweet it was to watch her rescue her babies. And started wondering why she saved that baby first and would she come back for the others? Or would other squirrels from the squirrel community come save them for her? (I know, we've seen too many Disney movies).
But we didn't see her come back for a few minutes and my sister and I began to worry that she only grabbed the one who wasn't touched. So we decide to try and lure her back in by putting food in the nest. We watched a few greedy squirrels steal the food and bypass the babies (apparently they aren't a squirrel community like we had hoped).
We started to get ready for the wedding and agreed that if the babies were still out there, we would bring them somewhere on our way to the wedding to be checked out. And I went out to look and she came back for all 3 of the babies!
I know this story has nothing to do with riding the bus, except for the fact that I'm writing this on the bus :)
It was just too sweet of a story not to share! And a much happier post than my rant on Friday.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Friday feels a lot like Monday
Let me just start by saying this...
I
hate
everything
about
Seattle
today.
I hate the traffic, I hate the construction, I hate the drivers. Why am I so hateful today? It's 4:47 on Friday... I got on the bus at 4:17. Guess where I am now? About 1 mile from the bus stop outside my work. 30 minutes to travel 1 mile? Awesome.
The bus driver just announced the busses are running about 20 minutes late today... Uhh no shit... I just waited 20 minutes for you. She also just said the freeway is a mess and you should take the train. Oh wait.. I missed it already. Should I take the one 30 minutes later? Let's hope I can make it. I also just arrived to my usual stop to see 3 fire trucks parked out front.... For construction! And starting next week, my bus is changing it's route to run down Eastlake... Which is already a headache without all of the re-routes. How long will it be re-routed you ask? 6 MONTHS!!!
Oh yeah, it's 5 now and I've gone 3 blocks. Still sitting in downtown freakkkkkkking Seattle!
To top it off? I forgot my phone at home today... Brought my iPad but the bus doesn't have wifi, so I played solitaire all morning. And now I'm typing this in my notes.
It's now 5:15 and I made the train (yay for wifi). Me and about 10 other people got off the bus and SPRINTED to catch the train. We all made it! Things are looking up!
But wait... It's now 5:45 and I'm in Auburn....I left Seattle an hour and a half ago.
And I'm too mad to write anything else....
Except a big f-u Seattle
I
hate
everything
about
Seattle
today.
I hate the traffic, I hate the construction, I hate the drivers. Why am I so hateful today? It's 4:47 on Friday... I got on the bus at 4:17. Guess where I am now? About 1 mile from the bus stop outside my work. 30 minutes to travel 1 mile? Awesome.
The bus driver just announced the busses are running about 20 minutes late today... Uhh no shit... I just waited 20 minutes for you. She also just said the freeway is a mess and you should take the train. Oh wait.. I missed it already. Should I take the one 30 minutes later? Let's hope I can make it. I also just arrived to my usual stop to see 3 fire trucks parked out front.... For construction! And starting next week, my bus is changing it's route to run down Eastlake... Which is already a headache without all of the re-routes. How long will it be re-routed you ask? 6 MONTHS!!!
Oh yeah, it's 5 now and I've gone 3 blocks. Still sitting in downtown freakkkkkkking Seattle!
To top it off? I forgot my phone at home today... Brought my iPad but the bus doesn't have wifi, so I played solitaire all morning. And now I'm typing this in my notes.
It's now 5:15 and I made the train (yay for wifi). Me and about 10 other people got off the bus and SPRINTED to catch the train. We all made it! Things are looking up!
But wait... It's now 5:45 and I'm in Auburn....I left Seattle an hour and a half ago.
And I'm too mad to write anything else....
Except a big f-u Seattle
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Follow-Ups
A week ago I drove through the pothole and cracked my tire. Yes, I ripped it. My uncle aka Mr.Car Guy said "Honey that's not possible, you couldn't have cracked your tire, you might have cracked your wheel."
Tires and wheels aren't the same thing? News to me....
He starts asking if I had hubcaps or something else. Again, if something is covering my wheel that means hubcap in my mind. Is it steel or metal? I don't know. Is it front wheel drive or something else? Shit. I don't know! All I know is I have a 2009 black Jetta that unfortunately has scratches along the side and a cracked tire.
To make things easier, my uncle came down to meet me and wait for AAA. I left work at 2 in the afternoon and everyone said "How nice! An afternoon off!" Yeah, we'll 5:15 rolls around and AAA shows up. Thankfully I had my uncle to keep me company and laugh at me for not knowing ANYTHING about my car. I don't even know my license plate for God's sake, I just know the car is mine because of the tattoos I've added from poles and cars.
We decide to get the spare out to speed up the process... And what do ya know! It's a full spare! Wait a minute... What's a full spare? Apparently it's the same exact tire I have on my car. Convenient! But I have yet to buy a spare to replace the thrashed tire in my trunk!
I will be buying one tomorrow. Promise!
Last night I thought of the best birthday present to myself. I'll drive myself to work instead of ride the bus! But at 11:45 last night I remembered I don't have a flipping spare tire... Just in case something happens and this wonderful "full spare," flakes.
My boss has been out of the country for 3 weeks and said to me today, "Did I hear it's your birthday? Do anything special for it?" I told him I went to Canada and he said oh just because? So I told him I ran a half marathon and he, who barely even talks to me or smiles bursts into laughter and said "you're crazy, most people relax on their birthday."
Let me tell you, the weekend in Canada was in no way relaxing.
Lululemon makes fashionable and insanely overpriced yoga clothing, which they should just stick to from now on. They talked a big talk for their first race.
Yes, it was their first race so they didn't exactly know what they were doing. But when you give out shorts instead of race shirts, make sure they don't fit like underwear, aren't white, and you don't run out. Another tip, when you brag about not giving us stale bagels at the end of the race like all of those other races, and excite us with waffles and fruit from 9-1. Don't run out of food by 10:45. You should probably have water stations more than every 3 miles and not run out of cups to drink the water from. Oh yes, the real kicker... Get your course certified. My two friends and I all used different running apps and they all said it was over 13.1 miles.
Let me tell you that being out of shape and running the race anyway sucks. Having your phone cut in your Playlist saying "12 miles," really gets you going. I've been told I'm like a horse when I run, once I see the barn I'm gone. Well, no barn in site when my phone said 13 miles (after hauling ass the last mile). I find one of my friends and we are exchanging swear words about the finish line, since her app said she was past 13.1 miles and NO finish line in sight.
I got so pissed I had to walk part of the last mile and told Caylin to go ahead of me. Then she got pissed and walked, both of us yelling "where the f$!? Is the finish line!!!!" While most races give out bibs to wear, they gave us bracelets to advertise the lululemon gear (that I wasn't wearing). The finish line cameras capture you finishing and you can buy your photos based off your bib #.
The pictures they posted to their website are of girls decked out in frilly lulu gear, smiling ear to ear and jumping for joy. Why wasn't my picture up there? Well I don't think they took any because I looked like I just ran the warrior dash... That went through hell and back.
But ya know what... I finished the race. My distance read 13.99 miles and my time read 2:25 and while that is 13 minutes slower than my last race, I did run an extra .98 miles. I finished My 3rd half marathon, my friend Caylin finished her 2nd half marathon, and my friend Stephanie finished we first half marathon... On her actual birthday!!!! I was one proud, aching, and pissed off friend that day and I wouldn't change a thing!
As for my birthday, I would like to say thanks to everyone who has text, called, facebooked or wished me well in person! I am a lucky girl with the best friends and family I could ever imagine!!
Tires and wheels aren't the same thing? News to me....
He starts asking if I had hubcaps or something else. Again, if something is covering my wheel that means hubcap in my mind. Is it steel or metal? I don't know. Is it front wheel drive or something else? Shit. I don't know! All I know is I have a 2009 black Jetta that unfortunately has scratches along the side and a cracked tire.
To make things easier, my uncle came down to meet me and wait for AAA. I left work at 2 in the afternoon and everyone said "How nice! An afternoon off!" Yeah, we'll 5:15 rolls around and AAA shows up. Thankfully I had my uncle to keep me company and laugh at me for not knowing ANYTHING about my car. I don't even know my license plate for God's sake, I just know the car is mine because of the tattoos I've added from poles and cars.
We decide to get the spare out to speed up the process... And what do ya know! It's a full spare! Wait a minute... What's a full spare? Apparently it's the same exact tire I have on my car. Convenient! But I have yet to buy a spare to replace the thrashed tire in my trunk!
I will be buying one tomorrow. Promise!
Last night I thought of the best birthday present to myself. I'll drive myself to work instead of ride the bus! But at 11:45 last night I remembered I don't have a flipping spare tire... Just in case something happens and this wonderful "full spare," flakes.
My boss has been out of the country for 3 weeks and said to me today, "Did I hear it's your birthday? Do anything special for it?" I told him I went to Canada and he said oh just because? So I told him I ran a half marathon and he, who barely even talks to me or smiles bursts into laughter and said "you're crazy, most people relax on their birthday."
Let me tell you, the weekend in Canada was in no way relaxing.
Lululemon makes fashionable and insanely overpriced yoga clothing, which they should just stick to from now on. They talked a big talk for their first race.
Yes, it was their first race so they didn't exactly know what they were doing. But when you give out shorts instead of race shirts, make sure they don't fit like underwear, aren't white, and you don't run out. Another tip, when you brag about not giving us stale bagels at the end of the race like all of those other races, and excite us with waffles and fruit from 9-1. Don't run out of food by 10:45. You should probably have water stations more than every 3 miles and not run out of cups to drink the water from. Oh yes, the real kicker... Get your course certified. My two friends and I all used different running apps and they all said it was over 13.1 miles.
Let me tell you that being out of shape and running the race anyway sucks. Having your phone cut in your Playlist saying "12 miles," really gets you going. I've been told I'm like a horse when I run, once I see the barn I'm gone. Well, no barn in site when my phone said 13 miles (after hauling ass the last mile). I find one of my friends and we are exchanging swear words about the finish line, since her app said she was past 13.1 miles and NO finish line in sight.
I got so pissed I had to walk part of the last mile and told Caylin to go ahead of me. Then she got pissed and walked, both of us yelling "where the f$!? Is the finish line!!!!" While most races give out bibs to wear, they gave us bracelets to advertise the lululemon gear (that I wasn't wearing). The finish line cameras capture you finishing and you can buy your photos based off your bib #.
The pictures they posted to their website are of girls decked out in frilly lulu gear, smiling ear to ear and jumping for joy. Why wasn't my picture up there? Well I don't think they took any because I looked like I just ran the warrior dash... That went through hell and back.
But ya know what... I finished the race. My distance read 13.99 miles and my time read 2:25 and while that is 13 minutes slower than my last race, I did run an extra .98 miles. I finished My 3rd half marathon, my friend Caylin finished her 2nd half marathon, and my friend Stephanie finished we first half marathon... On her actual birthday!!!! I was one proud, aching, and pissed off friend that day and I wouldn't change a thing!
As for my birthday, I would like to say thanks to everyone who has text, called, facebooked or wished me well in person! I am a lucky girl with the best friends and family I could ever imagine!!
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Someone should take away my license... Part II
Seriously how do I get myself in these situations time and time again?
Before I even opened my eyes this morning the first thing that came out of my mouth was "no!" when my alarm clock went off. Why? Because I'm pretty sure I got about 4 hours of sleep last night... Maybe it's my new meds since I upped the dose? Maybe it's because it's 90 degrees in my house? Either way... I'm a grumpy, tired brat this morning. I contemplated calling in sick... Or at least late. But I didn't.
I was running almost 10 minutes late, which in bussing world, could make you 30 Minutes late. so I parked on the street instead of driving up to the top of the parking garage and guess what happened next? I drove through a ginormous pothole and cracked my tire. It's not flat.. But could very well be by the time I get back to Tacoma after work.
I knew I should've stayed home this morning when I woke up. But instead, I took my badass Jetta off-roading.
Since I was already running late, I hopped on the bus hoping to call AAA. But you have to be present to get roadside assistance. And from what I gathered online, you needed your card, too. Of course I can't find my card. I wait till at least 7:30 to call my mom and ask her if we got new cards. While feeling like a complete asshole for not having my card with me, I felt a little bit better once my mom told me she had my new card (the old one expired in June).
Called AAA and it turns out I don't need my card with me. Just need my member number. Which I will be saving into my phone right this second.
Big lessons learned today...
1. Always carry your AAA card on you (duh)
2. Trust your gut and stay home when you can't see straight you're so tired
3. Don't drive your car when you can't see straight because you're so tired
The day can only get better from here. Right?
Before I even opened my eyes this morning the first thing that came out of my mouth was "no!" when my alarm clock went off. Why? Because I'm pretty sure I got about 4 hours of sleep last night... Maybe it's my new meds since I upped the dose? Maybe it's because it's 90 degrees in my house? Either way... I'm a grumpy, tired brat this morning. I contemplated calling in sick... Or at least late. But I didn't.
I was running almost 10 minutes late, which in bussing world, could make you 30 Minutes late. so I parked on the street instead of driving up to the top of the parking garage and guess what happened next? I drove through a ginormous pothole and cracked my tire. It's not flat.. But could very well be by the time I get back to Tacoma after work.
I knew I should've stayed home this morning when I woke up. But instead, I took my badass Jetta off-roading.
Since I was already running late, I hopped on the bus hoping to call AAA. But you have to be present to get roadside assistance. And from what I gathered online, you needed your card, too. Of course I can't find my card. I wait till at least 7:30 to call my mom and ask her if we got new cards. While feeling like a complete asshole for not having my card with me, I felt a little bit better once my mom told me she had my new card (the old one expired in June).
Called AAA and it turns out I don't need my card with me. Just need my member number. Which I will be saving into my phone right this second.
Big lessons learned today...
1. Always carry your AAA card on you (duh)
2. Trust your gut and stay home when you can't see straight you're so tired
3. Don't drive your car when you can't see straight because you're so tired
The day can only get better from here. Right?
Monday, August 6, 2012
Rated "P" for profanity
You will have to excuse my language for this post because I don't think any symbols would do me any justice. I need real words.
I'm sure I've mentioned the "Free ride zone," before... Where all the crazies hop on the bus for a few blocks? This is where the majority of these weird bussing stories come from.
One day last week I was waiting to get on the bus when a crackhead cut me in line grumbling about "Those crazy mother fuckers on the corner." And when I say crackhead...I mean it. I'm not just using it to be dramatic. This man's eyes were crossed so closely that you could basically just see the whites(reds) of his eyes.
I always sit in the front of the bus because it's a pain in the butt to wait for everyone to unload off the bus AND so that if something illegal or inappropriate happened, I would be close to the driver. For those of you who don't have public transportation experience you may think I'm exaggerating the "illegal and inappropriate," occurrences but oh yes, they happen.
Back to the crackhead... he apparently had the same seat preference as me, so I ended up sitting across from him. He was talking all sorts of nonsense and while I looked straight ahead,
I couldn't help but notice him doing something out of the corner of my eye. Because he was SO sketchy, I glanced over to make sure he wasn't whipping out drugs or a gun (seems to be an awful trend lately) but he was just struggling to put his backpack on (probably because his eyes were so crossed). I looked back to the road when he shot me a nasty look and said "Oh the little bitch has to check and see what I'm doing. You fucking little bitch."
This is where I wish I wasn't so immature and could keep a straight face. But what did I do? Start chuckling. That awful laugh you get in church as a kid (ok.. Still happens to me) where you know you're supposed to be quiet and NOT make a scene. This of course just pissed him off even more and as he got off the bus he just kept repeating "fucking little bitch."
I told this story to my cousin, who is a bussing newbie... (oops, sorry savvy... The bus really is awesome) and she asked "Holy shit! Was it the scariest thing of your life?" It was surprisingly not that scary. I may be out of shape for my race this weekend, but I'm pretty confident I could outrun the cross-eyed crack head.
Speaking of which, what was I thinking signing up for a half marathon for my birthday? Worst present ever. But I'll have two of my best friends running with me and have my mom there at the finish line! Maybe 26 won't be so bad after all :)
I'm sure I've mentioned the "Free ride zone," before... Where all the crazies hop on the bus for a few blocks? This is where the majority of these weird bussing stories come from.
One day last week I was waiting to get on the bus when a crackhead cut me in line grumbling about "Those crazy mother fuckers on the corner." And when I say crackhead...I mean it. I'm not just using it to be dramatic. This man's eyes were crossed so closely that you could basically just see the whites(reds) of his eyes.
I always sit in the front of the bus because it's a pain in the butt to wait for everyone to unload off the bus AND so that if something illegal or inappropriate happened, I would be close to the driver. For those of you who don't have public transportation experience you may think I'm exaggerating the "illegal and inappropriate," occurrences but oh yes, they happen.
Back to the crackhead... he apparently had the same seat preference as me, so I ended up sitting across from him. He was talking all sorts of nonsense and while I looked straight ahead,
I couldn't help but notice him doing something out of the corner of my eye. Because he was SO sketchy, I glanced over to make sure he wasn't whipping out drugs or a gun (seems to be an awful trend lately) but he was just struggling to put his backpack on (probably because his eyes were so crossed). I looked back to the road when he shot me a nasty look and said "Oh the little bitch has to check and see what I'm doing. You fucking little bitch."
This is where I wish I wasn't so immature and could keep a straight face. But what did I do? Start chuckling. That awful laugh you get in church as a kid (ok.. Still happens to me) where you know you're supposed to be quiet and NOT make a scene. This of course just pissed him off even more and as he got off the bus he just kept repeating "fucking little bitch."
I told this story to my cousin, who is a bussing newbie... (oops, sorry savvy... The bus really is awesome) and she asked "Holy shit! Was it the scariest thing of your life?" It was surprisingly not that scary. I may be out of shape for my race this weekend, but I'm pretty confident I could outrun the cross-eyed crack head.
Speaking of which, what was I thinking signing up for a half marathon for my birthday? Worst present ever. But I'll have two of my best friends running with me and have my mom there at the finish line! Maybe 26 won't be so bad after all :)
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
My new revelation
I have noticed before that there is a certain thing about each bus driver that I like and don't like. My newest favorite obsession? Bus drivers that honk. That honk at everyone. It seriously makes me laugh so hard and makes me really like them a lot more. They honk at cars who are in the bus lane... Cars blocking intersections... Pedestrians jay walking... and sometimes birds that are in their lane. Some days you go a whole day of commuting without hearing a single honk. Somedays you hear one honk at every intersection. And while I think it annoys most people, especially those getting honked at, I just can't get enough. I think I like it mainly because bus drivers are in charge. They own the roads, so people really listen and some of these bus drivers can be pretty scary when they want to be. So I love seeing the looks on the faces of the idiots who block the roadway and how much more scared they get each inch closer the driver gets to their impatient car.
As I'm writing this post today, I am standing. Yes, standing the bus ride from Tacoma to Seattle. Why? Because when I arrived to get on my usual bus leaving at 6:40, there were at least 3 bus loads of people ahead of me. Sometimes this means they're running late, sometimes there is a bus down, and sometimes it's just because everyone and their mother decided to take MY bus this morning. I would have had to waited for the 4th bus to come, but I pulled the old trick of running up at the last second to sneak on and stand. In the beginning of my bussing, at least one man would offer their seat to me, but I always said no, because it was my own fault
I wasn't here on time to actually get a seat, so I'm not going to take theirs, but thank you. But now nobody offers their seat to me anymore. It makes me wonder if the grumpy commuter morning face has rubbed off on me and they don't think it's worthy of giving up a seat. This happened last week as well, and I was dying to sit down. I am running a half marathon in less than 2 weeks and I am NOT in the condition I need to be in, or want to be in. So the night before I stood the bus ride last week, I had run 7 awful miles and was a wee bit sore the next morning. So my already shaky tired legs were becoming more and more tired and shaky as the drive went further north. I tried to squat down to relieve some pain, but that just made it hurt worse. If standing hurt, of course wall sits on the bus were going to hurt, too.
Since my narcolepsy post I have had a lot of interesting responses from a lot of people. People who have had sleeping problems for years who haven't figured out what it really is that is wrong with them, some who have tried a ton of different things and still don't see the light at the end of the tunnel, and some who have finally found the right combination of things to get them a good night of sleep. I've had a lot of people tell me that they don't think I have narcolepsy, and all of the sudden everyone I know is a sleep specialist. Trust me, I didn't think I had it either. But having the sleep study doctors diagnose it, pass it along to my sleep doctor who confirmed it, passed it along to me (surprised), and now after doing my own research, I believe it. So many people have said "Oh, I didn't realize you were tired during the day, that's what it says narcolepsy is." Well, when you have a restless night and wake up 3,4,5 times a night, are you tired the next day? Yes! I have been exhausted... For a long time and just thought it was from frequently waking up every night, all night. But as my doctor explained, I plummet into REM sleep, which is the dreaming sleep, where your brain tends to actually be MORE active then, than during the day when you are awake. I'm not sure why, but everyone seems to think REM sleep is the gold sleep, but non-rem sleep is the good sleep that re-boots your brain and body every night. It takes most people on average 90 minutes to get into REM sleep, and they drop down for periods of 10-20 minutes, then back up to Non-REM sleep. Where I was in REM sleep within the first few minutes of falling asleep and stayed in that for longer periods of time. So, since I'm not getting that re-boot every night and my brain is super active all night, my brain is overworked and tired the next day.
There are 4 main characteristics of narcolepsy and it's less than 20% of people who have all 4. Out of the four, have two. One being the almost immediate fall into the REM sleep, Which causes the excessive daytime sleepiness. And two being hallucinating dreams. Now this isn't something I've written about on here, but have told plenty of people stories over the years. I have always walked and talked in my sleep. Am I doing it now? Not sure since I don't have my family telling me the next day how I tried to pull the stereo off the top shelf of my dresser (yes, I did that.) Or sleep walking into my brothers room when we were in high school and when he asked what I was doing, I told him I was sleeping. My last big sleep walking episode was about 2 Christmases ago (that I know of) when I was out at a friends cabin and yes we were drinking, but I went to bed on an air mattress with my friend, and woke up at the bottom of an air mattress between a MARRIED couple I had just met the day before. Embarrassing? Yes, so I snuck back across the room and slept on the floor like it was no big deal. Surely no one would know what I did. But the next morning I heard them saying "I think Leslie or Carolyn slept walked and got in our bed last night." I was MORTIFIED!
Back to the hallucinations. This doesn't happen everyday, or even every week or month, but every couple of months. But I have woken up standing up in my room searching for things. When this happens I have the hardest time differentiating real life with my dreams. So I have to literally talk and walk myself out of it and realize I'm at my house and it's whatever ungodly time in the morning and what I'm "looking for," isn't here. These can be scary and sometimes funny. This may be TMi, but I've also gone to bed in a T-shirt and shorts and woken up in a sports bra and had no idea when I did it. I've also had scarier times where I've thought there was someone in my room or outside my room and been awake, but having such a vivid dream, I've thought it was actually going on.
So that part I hadn't shared with you all, mainly cause it makes me sound absolutely insane and I didn't think they were going to diagnose me with narcolepsy, but that is one big characteristic of narcolepsy.
Turns out, they are finding out more about narcolepsy and have linked it to a deficiency of a certain protein in the brain, which is why they prescribed the stimulant. The stimulant should hopefully activate those sleepy proteins and get my brain more awake during the day, so it can shut off at night.
I started the stimulant Saturday and am supposed to take 1 pill every morning for a week, 2 pills every morning for a week, 3 pills every morning for a week, and 4 pills every morning for a week. Obviously If I feel it working before 4, I can just stick with 1, 2, or 3 every morning. So far I don't feel any different, but will surely keep Y'all posted! :)
Sincerely,
The Narc who loves honking busses
As I'm writing this post today, I am standing. Yes, standing the bus ride from Tacoma to Seattle. Why? Because when I arrived to get on my usual bus leaving at 6:40, there were at least 3 bus loads of people ahead of me. Sometimes this means they're running late, sometimes there is a bus down, and sometimes it's just because everyone and their mother decided to take MY bus this morning. I would have had to waited for the 4th bus to come, but I pulled the old trick of running up at the last second to sneak on and stand. In the beginning of my bussing, at least one man would offer their seat to me, but I always said no, because it was my own fault
I wasn't here on time to actually get a seat, so I'm not going to take theirs, but thank you. But now nobody offers their seat to me anymore. It makes me wonder if the grumpy commuter morning face has rubbed off on me and they don't think it's worthy of giving up a seat. This happened last week as well, and I was dying to sit down. I am running a half marathon in less than 2 weeks and I am NOT in the condition I need to be in, or want to be in. So the night before I stood the bus ride last week, I had run 7 awful miles and was a wee bit sore the next morning. So my already shaky tired legs were becoming more and more tired and shaky as the drive went further north. I tried to squat down to relieve some pain, but that just made it hurt worse. If standing hurt, of course wall sits on the bus were going to hurt, too.
Since my narcolepsy post I have had a lot of interesting responses from a lot of people. People who have had sleeping problems for years who haven't figured out what it really is that is wrong with them, some who have tried a ton of different things and still don't see the light at the end of the tunnel, and some who have finally found the right combination of things to get them a good night of sleep. I've had a lot of people tell me that they don't think I have narcolepsy, and all of the sudden everyone I know is a sleep specialist. Trust me, I didn't think I had it either. But having the sleep study doctors diagnose it, pass it along to my sleep doctor who confirmed it, passed it along to me (surprised), and now after doing my own research, I believe it. So many people have said "Oh, I didn't realize you were tired during the day, that's what it says narcolepsy is." Well, when you have a restless night and wake up 3,4,5 times a night, are you tired the next day? Yes! I have been exhausted... For a long time and just thought it was from frequently waking up every night, all night. But as my doctor explained, I plummet into REM sleep, which is the dreaming sleep, where your brain tends to actually be MORE active then, than during the day when you are awake. I'm not sure why, but everyone seems to think REM sleep is the gold sleep, but non-rem sleep is the good sleep that re-boots your brain and body every night. It takes most people on average 90 minutes to get into REM sleep, and they drop down for periods of 10-20 minutes, then back up to Non-REM sleep. Where I was in REM sleep within the first few minutes of falling asleep and stayed in that for longer periods of time. So, since I'm not getting that re-boot every night and my brain is super active all night, my brain is overworked and tired the next day.
There are 4 main characteristics of narcolepsy and it's less than 20% of people who have all 4. Out of the four, have two. One being the almost immediate fall into the REM sleep, Which causes the excessive daytime sleepiness. And two being hallucinating dreams. Now this isn't something I've written about on here, but have told plenty of people stories over the years. I have always walked and talked in my sleep. Am I doing it now? Not sure since I don't have my family telling me the next day how I tried to pull the stereo off the top shelf of my dresser (yes, I did that.) Or sleep walking into my brothers room when we were in high school and when he asked what I was doing, I told him I was sleeping. My last big sleep walking episode was about 2 Christmases ago (that I know of) when I was out at a friends cabin and yes we were drinking, but I went to bed on an air mattress with my friend, and woke up at the bottom of an air mattress between a MARRIED couple I had just met the day before. Embarrassing? Yes, so I snuck back across the room and slept on the floor like it was no big deal. Surely no one would know what I did. But the next morning I heard them saying "I think Leslie or Carolyn slept walked and got in our bed last night." I was MORTIFIED!
Back to the hallucinations. This doesn't happen everyday, or even every week or month, but every couple of months. But I have woken up standing up in my room searching for things. When this happens I have the hardest time differentiating real life with my dreams. So I have to literally talk and walk myself out of it and realize I'm at my house and it's whatever ungodly time in the morning and what I'm "looking for," isn't here. These can be scary and sometimes funny. This may be TMi, but I've also gone to bed in a T-shirt and shorts and woken up in a sports bra and had no idea when I did it. I've also had scarier times where I've thought there was someone in my room or outside my room and been awake, but having such a vivid dream, I've thought it was actually going on.
So that part I hadn't shared with you all, mainly cause it makes me sound absolutely insane and I didn't think they were going to diagnose me with narcolepsy, but that is one big characteristic of narcolepsy.
Turns out, they are finding out more about narcolepsy and have linked it to a deficiency of a certain protein in the brain, which is why they prescribed the stimulant. The stimulant should hopefully activate those sleepy proteins and get my brain more awake during the day, so it can shut off at night.
I started the stimulant Saturday and am supposed to take 1 pill every morning for a week, 2 pills every morning for a week, 3 pills every morning for a week, and 4 pills every morning for a week. Obviously If I feel it working before 4, I can just stick with 1, 2, or 3 every morning. So far I don't feel any different, but will surely keep Y'all posted! :)
Sincerely,
The Narc who loves honking busses
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
What we've all been waiting for...
So I spoke with my sleep doctor this afternoon for about 20 minutes. I was expecting to NOT find anything out and everyone kept saying don't be so negative. But really... I was being positive, because if I didn't find out anything, then I wouldn't be disappointed. Is it weird that I was so anxious because I wanted to be diagnosed with something? I just wanted to be reassured that I wasn't actually going crazy and I am actually tired all the time. Not that people don't believe me, but because its been going on so long, it's become normal. And not sleeping isn't normal.
The doctor explained they didn't find anything at the night time study, and that I actually slept really well that night, which I documented the next day on my papers. I was embarrassed because honestly... Who sleeps well while getting tests done because they don't sleep well? This girl!
So, the daytime study was a nap every 2 hours for 20 minutes. He said I was clearly very tired because I fell asleep for every nap and actually was able to leave early because I fell asleep every nap. And I fell asleep on average in the FIRST 4 minutes of the nap. I also dreamt during every nap, which many people don't ever get to that state, while I got to it within 20 minutes, for every nap.
He said that according to my results I have narcolepsy. He described the treatment plan for me and said they don't treat narcolepsy, they treat the tiredness you get from narcolepsy. So instead of being prescribed a sleeping aid or something I would be addicted to (like a lot of sleeping aids), he said I can take the prescription whenever I want (mainly in the morning)(I will check on this with the pharmacist).
The medicine is to stimulate the natural chemicals in my brain that make me feel awake. So this prescription does the opposite of what you'd think a person with a sleep disorder would want. This WAKES me up, instead of making me sleep. The theory is if I'm more awake during the day, I will be more tired at night. Because since I dream all night and wake up all night, I don't get good sleep. So this should make me SO awake that I'll be SO tired at night.
I am not scared, overwhelmed, or nervous or anything about the diagnosis. If anything, I am relieved they actually figured it out and I'm not crazy! :)
I pick up my prescription tomorrow, so we shall see how it goes!
So until then... Sweet dreams!
Xoxo
The doctor explained they didn't find anything at the night time study, and that I actually slept really well that night, which I documented the next day on my papers. I was embarrassed because honestly... Who sleeps well while getting tests done because they don't sleep well? This girl!
So, the daytime study was a nap every 2 hours for 20 minutes. He said I was clearly very tired because I fell asleep for every nap and actually was able to leave early because I fell asleep every nap. And I fell asleep on average in the FIRST 4 minutes of the nap. I also dreamt during every nap, which many people don't ever get to that state, while I got to it within 20 minutes, for every nap.
He said that according to my results I have narcolepsy. He described the treatment plan for me and said they don't treat narcolepsy, they treat the tiredness you get from narcolepsy. So instead of being prescribed a sleeping aid or something I would be addicted to (like a lot of sleeping aids), he said I can take the prescription whenever I want (mainly in the morning)(I will check on this with the pharmacist).
The medicine is to stimulate the natural chemicals in my brain that make me feel awake. So this prescription does the opposite of what you'd think a person with a sleep disorder would want. This WAKES me up, instead of making me sleep. The theory is if I'm more awake during the day, I will be more tired at night. Because since I dream all night and wake up all night, I don't get good sleep. So this should make me SO awake that I'll be SO tired at night.
I am not scared, overwhelmed, or nervous or anything about the diagnosis. If anything, I am relieved they actually figured it out and I'm not crazy! :)
I pick up my prescription tomorrow, so we shall see how it goes!
So until then... Sweet dreams!
Xoxo
Monday, July 16, 2012
You Know What They Say....
I can come up with about a million different words of advice or sayings that start with "You know what they say...." But who are "they?"
"You know what they say about men with big feet... big socks!" I get that... but how about men with big feet having big you know what's? Whoever "they," are must have slept with a lot of big foot men to know that it must be true!
Whenever people ask if I'm single and I say yes, the most common thing I hear is "Well, you know what they say... it happens when you least expect it!" Well, "they," must not know I haven't been expecting it for a long time!
It's like if you put "You know what they say," in front of anything, it must be words to live by, it must be valid and it MUST be credible.
I think I'm going to start throwing it out before saying something completely backwards just to see if anyone doubts it. Or asking them who "they," are when they give you the famous first line.
Sorry for not explaining in my sleep study update that I don't know the results right away. I've had a few people ask what the results were. And they told me at my consult that I wouldn't know until 2 weeks AFTER the study was completed. I called today to make my follow up appointment and it turns out it's over the phone. This is a good AND bad thing. Good, because I don't have to miss MORE work. Bad, because do you remember me telling you how I couldn't understand ANYTHING the doctor said? Well, that was face to face... so I'm assuming the German accent will be even more difficult to understand over the phone.
I just have this gut feeling that they wont find ANYTHING wrong with me, so then they will want to put me on the medication he mentioned at my consult appointment. I hadn't really thought much about it because I hate taking medicine, so why would I take it? But if they don't find anything out... what do I do, just not sleep? Or take the medicine? So I started doing some research on the medicine and what is the first line I read? It's given to treat epilepsy! I mean seriously why is this guy convinced I have epilepsy?? But it goes on to explain that lower doses are given to people with a variety of health problems and sleep disorders. Anyway, it's still a lot to consider. But on the plus side, I am almost done taking my vitamin D perscription. I have been taking it for the last 10 weeks because I was wayyyyy below the normal levels. The standard range is 30-80 and mine was a whopping 18. The perscription they gave me is 50,000 units, while most over the counter doses are 5,000 units. I will be going in to get my levels checked in about 2 weeks once I finish the perscription. Also, I have been sleeping a LITTLE bit better than normal, so I am wondering if my vitamin d deficiency had been part of the problem with my sleeping?
Anyway, I will find out soon enough and you know what they say.... good things come to those who wait!
"You know what they say about men with big feet... big socks!" I get that... but how about men with big feet having big you know what's? Whoever "they," are must have slept with a lot of big foot men to know that it must be true!
Whenever people ask if I'm single and I say yes, the most common thing I hear is "Well, you know what they say... it happens when you least expect it!" Well, "they," must not know I haven't been expecting it for a long time!
It's like if you put "You know what they say," in front of anything, it must be words to live by, it must be valid and it MUST be credible.
I think I'm going to start throwing it out before saying something completely backwards just to see if anyone doubts it. Or asking them who "they," are when they give you the famous first line.
Sorry for not explaining in my sleep study update that I don't know the results right away. I've had a few people ask what the results were. And they told me at my consult that I wouldn't know until 2 weeks AFTER the study was completed. I called today to make my follow up appointment and it turns out it's over the phone. This is a good AND bad thing. Good, because I don't have to miss MORE work. Bad, because do you remember me telling you how I couldn't understand ANYTHING the doctor said? Well, that was face to face... so I'm assuming the German accent will be even more difficult to understand over the phone.
I just have this gut feeling that they wont find ANYTHING wrong with me, so then they will want to put me on the medication he mentioned at my consult appointment. I hadn't really thought much about it because I hate taking medicine, so why would I take it? But if they don't find anything out... what do I do, just not sleep? Or take the medicine? So I started doing some research on the medicine and what is the first line I read? It's given to treat epilepsy! I mean seriously why is this guy convinced I have epilepsy?? But it goes on to explain that lower doses are given to people with a variety of health problems and sleep disorders. Anyway, it's still a lot to consider. But on the plus side, I am almost done taking my vitamin D perscription. I have been taking it for the last 10 weeks because I was wayyyyy below the normal levels. The standard range is 30-80 and mine was a whopping 18. The perscription they gave me is 50,000 units, while most over the counter doses are 5,000 units. I will be going in to get my levels checked in about 2 weeks once I finish the perscription. Also, I have been sleeping a LITTLE bit better than normal, so I am wondering if my vitamin d deficiency had been part of the problem with my sleeping?
Anyway, I will find out soon enough and you know what they say.... good things come to those who wait!
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Another update:Two naps down and I'm bored
Okay, I'm REALLY bored. It's supposed to be 80 degrees today and I have the day off!
I've taken two test-naps so far today and actually fell asleep for both! I'm pretty shocked. But it wasn't a deep sleep, just one of those where you're kind of asleep, but kind of not, but enough in a sleep that you dream.
Speaking of dreams... this is the real reason I am being annoying and posting two blog posts before 10:30 AM...
The night before the sleep study, I had a dream it was canceled because one of the workers got hurt or sick, I can't remember. I woke up yesterday frantic because I thought it was canceled.
The tech last night kept asking me if I had any good stories or jokes to tell him. He was actually annoying me quite a bit with his jokes and stories, so I told him mine about my dream. He brushed it off and said, "Oh, actually we are down a tech tonight, it's just me, our other tech for tonight threw his back out." I was thinking WHAT!!! I had a premonition, but he just went on to tell me his jokes and stories.
This morning, a new tech came on shift, who is very sweet and not nearly as awkward or uncomfortable as the guy from last night, who by the way, told me about his other jobs and how they pay much more than the one here. Uhh... you do realize there is a camera and intercom in here?Anyway, after each nap, the tech asks me if I had any dreams. I have had dreams for both naps. The first one, my whole family was in the room with me and all I remember is that I snapped at them and said "You do realize I'm supposed to be napping right now, right?"
When she asked me about dreaming or not, I decided I'd try my premonition on her. She literally stopped in her tracks and looked at me with wide eyes. I explained to her that I mentioned it to the tech last night, and she said yeah, well he threw his back out and we actually did have to cancel someone's sleep study for last night! She said, "Well, he has been taking vicodin, so maybe his thoughts were drifting and you picked them up."
Boo-ya... I may be a bad sleeper, but apparently I can tell the future.
I'm hoping for another nap around noon, lunch, and then leaving.
We'll have to see what they say.
I've taken two test-naps so far today and actually fell asleep for both! I'm pretty shocked. But it wasn't a deep sleep, just one of those where you're kind of asleep, but kind of not, but enough in a sleep that you dream.
Speaking of dreams... this is the real reason I am being annoying and posting two blog posts before 10:30 AM...
The night before the sleep study, I had a dream it was canceled because one of the workers got hurt or sick, I can't remember. I woke up yesterday frantic because I thought it was canceled.
The tech last night kept asking me if I had any good stories or jokes to tell him. He was actually annoying me quite a bit with his jokes and stories, so I told him mine about my dream. He brushed it off and said, "Oh, actually we are down a tech tonight, it's just me, our other tech for tonight threw his back out." I was thinking WHAT!!! I had a premonition, but he just went on to tell me his jokes and stories.
This morning, a new tech came on shift, who is very sweet and not nearly as awkward or uncomfortable as the guy from last night, who by the way, told me about his other jobs and how they pay much more than the one here. Uhh... you do realize there is a camera and intercom in here?Anyway, after each nap, the tech asks me if I had any dreams. I have had dreams for both naps. The first one, my whole family was in the room with me and all I remember is that I snapped at them and said "You do realize I'm supposed to be napping right now, right?"
When she asked me about dreaming or not, I decided I'd try my premonition on her. She literally stopped in her tracks and looked at me with wide eyes. I explained to her that I mentioned it to the tech last night, and she said yeah, well he threw his back out and we actually did have to cancel someone's sleep study for last night! She said, "Well, he has been taking vicodin, so maybe his thoughts were drifting and you picked them up."
Boo-ya... I may be a bad sleeper, but apparently I can tell the future.
I'm hoping for another nap around noon, lunch, and then leaving.
We'll have to see what they say.
The Overnight Study: Quick Update
I survived the overnight study! It wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined. I actually feel like I slept better than normal. The tech asked how I slept and what made me feel like I slept better. Well, when I actually sleep decently, I wake up feeling sore in my chest because I wasn't up moving around. Normally I am up 3-4-5 times a night. But last night I was unable to get up and move around because I was hooked up to a bunch of things. And if I had to go to the bathroom, he had to come in and unhook me, then hook me back up. So, I held it.
My room is big and nice, looks a lot like a hospital room, but with a bigger bed. I changed into my pjs right when I got here and then got hooked up to the electrodes. The tech had me try on the sleep apnea machine for what he said would be 15 minutes. About 35 minutes later, he came back in to remove it. He had me try it on because if I met a certain criteria during the night, they would put the mask on me. Let me just tell you, I felt like a drowning elephant wearing this thing. My eyes were watering and the air it blows through your nose literally made me feel like I was swimming under water... Especially since I hardly ever breathe through my nose.
Anyway, there is a camera set up above the bed so he could watch me sleep... CREEPY! I had to go to bed around 9 PM and after he left the room he got on over the intercom and had me do a series of tests. The tests were: blinking 5 times, looking right to left-left to right, moving each foot and hand, etc.
He came in throughout the night to re-wire me I think because I was moving around and they came loose. He also, at one point switched out the tubes that went up my nose an re-taped it to my face. I realized at these moments that I would not make a very good patient, as I hated being vulnerable and having some stranger come in the middle of the night to switch out my equipment for me and give me directions on what I'm supposed to be doing or not doing.
It's now 5:30 AM, I was woken up at 5 to do the series of tests again before he unhooked some of the equipment. He removed the tubes in my nose, the electrodes off my arms and legs, which by the way were glued to my skin, which hurt like a you-know-what when he ripped them off. Thankfully I had shaved legs, but now I feel like I got my arms waxed. I am waiting for the morning crew to come on to let me know if in fact I do have to stay for the day-time test. If they find an issue with you overnight, you get to go home because they know what's wrong. And if they don't know what's wrong, they will keep you. The tech said he doesn't imagine them sending me home this morning.
Today, if I stay, will be a series of naps every 2 hours. I asked what if I can't nap? Being a terrible sleeper, I'm not a napper, which may seem odd because if I was that tired I should nap. But I have never been a napper, I just have too much to do than waste my time napping! He said they aren't looking for if I actually nap, but if I do, how quickly I go into a deep sleep/rem etc.
Here are a few pictures to make you get a better idea of how beautiful this set up is :)
My room is big and nice, looks a lot like a hospital room, but with a bigger bed. I changed into my pjs right when I got here and then got hooked up to the electrodes. The tech had me try on the sleep apnea machine for what he said would be 15 minutes. About 35 minutes later, he came back in to remove it. He had me try it on because if I met a certain criteria during the night, they would put the mask on me. Let me just tell you, I felt like a drowning elephant wearing this thing. My eyes were watering and the air it blows through your nose literally made me feel like I was swimming under water... Especially since I hardly ever breathe through my nose.
Anyway, there is a camera set up above the bed so he could watch me sleep... CREEPY! I had to go to bed around 9 PM and after he left the room he got on over the intercom and had me do a series of tests. The tests were: blinking 5 times, looking right to left-left to right, moving each foot and hand, etc.
He came in throughout the night to re-wire me I think because I was moving around and they came loose. He also, at one point switched out the tubes that went up my nose an re-taped it to my face. I realized at these moments that I would not make a very good patient, as I hated being vulnerable and having some stranger come in the middle of the night to switch out my equipment for me and give me directions on what I'm supposed to be doing or not doing.
It's now 5:30 AM, I was woken up at 5 to do the series of tests again before he unhooked some of the equipment. He removed the tubes in my nose, the electrodes off my arms and legs, which by the way were glued to my skin, which hurt like a you-know-what when he ripped them off. Thankfully I had shaved legs, but now I feel like I got my arms waxed. I am waiting for the morning crew to come on to let me know if in fact I do have to stay for the day-time test. If they find an issue with you overnight, you get to go home because they know what's wrong. And if they don't know what's wrong, they will keep you. The tech said he doesn't imagine them sending me home this morning.
Today, if I stay, will be a series of naps every 2 hours. I asked what if I can't nap? Being a terrible sleeper, I'm not a napper, which may seem odd because if I was that tired I should nap. But I have never been a napper, I just have too much to do than waste my time napping! He said they aren't looking for if I actually nap, but if I do, how quickly I go into a deep sleep/rem etc.
Here are a few pictures to make you get a better idea of how beautiful this set up is :)
Monday, July 9, 2012
'Twas The Night Before The Sleep Study...
When all through the house, Not a creature was stirring... oh wait, Leslie is.
I have mentioned this several times before, but I have to say it again. Everytime the bus rides go smoothly, I think of something to write about in my blog... then that SAME day, something bizarre happens on the bus.
Let me start by saying, my original post was going to be about tomorrow, THE BIG DAY!!! My sleep study! I know I wont sleep well the night of the sleep study, who would? But I also have a feeling I wont be able to sleep tonight either. I have no idea what to expect tomorrow, but what I keep imagining is something like a looney bin. I imagine myself sitting in a room all alone and in white pajamas, hooked up to a ton of machines. I do get to bring my own pajamas and pillow. But what do you wear to a sleep study? They said it needs to be seperates, a top and bottom... DUH! What do you think I'm going to wear? A negligee?? Clearly I'll be wearing a top and bottom... people will be watching me sleep for God's sake!! I will be checking in at 7:30 PM tomorrow and don't really know at what point do they make me go to bed, but I have a feeling I will be bored. As for the next day, I will be by myself all day in that white padded room I'm imagining. I will be packing my pillow, pajamas, books, my laptop, and my camera. I may get so bored I will start live-blogging, so forgive me now.
Now that I've dragged you through my worries about tomorrow, I will get to the crazy bus story.
I hop on the first of two busses home and it's pretty packed. I squeezed in the last spot at the front of the bus, A. because it was open and B. I saw this guy toward the back who hits on me repeatedly on the bus. All of the sudden this woman starts talking and wont shut up. I started watching at her and realized there is something not quite right with her...
I glanced over and saw a woman stand up and move away from the crazy woman. I was thinking this poor woman was probably extremely annoyed of the crazy yapping her ear off. Then she yells "Excuse me bus drive we have a problem back here." And she started saying some man was making threats to the women on the bus. I got uncomfortable thinking she's lost her marbles, until I heard him telling her to be quite and the woman moved from her seat because she wanted to. The bus driver stopped the bus and walked to the back and said to the man "You need to get off the bus or I will call the sherriff." And the man said "Hey man I only have about 10 more stops, let me stay on." The bus driver repeated himself and the threatening man walked up to the crazy woman and flinched at her like he was going to hit her. It was at that moment I realized he really was crazy and making threats. I glared at him as he was walking off the bus, and he looked me right in the eye and said "I'll rip your head off, and I'm coming after you man you better watch your back."
I assumed the threats he was making were sexual, but he was actually making harmful physical threats to this poor woman. She was bright red and obviously embarassed and uncomfortable. The crazy woman who got the man kicked off the bus was quite the individual... so much so, that I had to sneak a picture of her so I can show all of you.
Here she is!
I have mentioned this several times before, but I have to say it again. Everytime the bus rides go smoothly, I think of something to write about in my blog... then that SAME day, something bizarre happens on the bus.
Let me start by saying, my original post was going to be about tomorrow, THE BIG DAY!!! My sleep study! I know I wont sleep well the night of the sleep study, who would? But I also have a feeling I wont be able to sleep tonight either. I have no idea what to expect tomorrow, but what I keep imagining is something like a looney bin. I imagine myself sitting in a room all alone and in white pajamas, hooked up to a ton of machines. I do get to bring my own pajamas and pillow. But what do you wear to a sleep study? They said it needs to be seperates, a top and bottom... DUH! What do you think I'm going to wear? A negligee?? Clearly I'll be wearing a top and bottom... people will be watching me sleep for God's sake!! I will be checking in at 7:30 PM tomorrow and don't really know at what point do they make me go to bed, but I have a feeling I will be bored. As for the next day, I will be by myself all day in that white padded room I'm imagining. I will be packing my pillow, pajamas, books, my laptop, and my camera. I may get so bored I will start live-blogging, so forgive me now.
Now that I've dragged you through my worries about tomorrow, I will get to the crazy bus story.
I hop on the first of two busses home and it's pretty packed. I squeezed in the last spot at the front of the bus, A. because it was open and B. I saw this guy toward the back who hits on me repeatedly on the bus. All of the sudden this woman starts talking and wont shut up. I started watching at her and realized there is something not quite right with her...
I glanced over and saw a woman stand up and move away from the crazy woman. I was thinking this poor woman was probably extremely annoyed of the crazy yapping her ear off. Then she yells "Excuse me bus drive we have a problem back here." And she started saying some man was making threats to the women on the bus. I got uncomfortable thinking she's lost her marbles, until I heard him telling her to be quite and the woman moved from her seat because she wanted to. The bus driver stopped the bus and walked to the back and said to the man "You need to get off the bus or I will call the sherriff." And the man said "Hey man I only have about 10 more stops, let me stay on." The bus driver repeated himself and the threatening man walked up to the crazy woman and flinched at her like he was going to hit her. It was at that moment I realized he really was crazy and making threats. I glared at him as he was walking off the bus, and he looked me right in the eye and said "I'll rip your head off, and I'm coming after you man you better watch your back."
I assumed the threats he was making were sexual, but he was actually making harmful physical threats to this poor woman. She was bright red and obviously embarassed and uncomfortable. The crazy woman who got the man kicked off the bus was quite the individual... so much so, that I had to sneak a picture of her so I can show all of you.
Here she is!
Monday, June 25, 2012
Bad Kar-Ma
Last week as some of you read, I got my car towed and a parking ticket... for a whopping $175. Oh, and they didn't double charge us, thank God.
$175 in fees really threw a curveball in my trip to New York I was planning.
And as if that wasn't bad enough?
Saturday one of my girl friends from college had her beautiful baby girl and I so happened to be in the area. Overly excited, I pull into the parking garage and take a tight turn... but not quite tight enough.
The sound shocked me, but not as much as the IDIOT park job I failed at. Not knowing what to do, as I have NEVER hit a parked car before, I pulled out and parked in an area where there were NO CARS. Again, I'd never done this before so I dig around trying to find something to write my information down on. Coincidentally, I pull out an old Babies 'R US reciept. I rip off half of it to write down my information. As I go to check out the damage, I glance at the car a second and third and fourth time and realize of all the cars in the parking garage at the hospital... I know this car.
Yeah, you guessed it. I hit MY FRIEND'S CAR!!! Yes, the one who just had the baby 6 hours ago... that one.
I thought okay how am I going to approach this? It went a little something like this...
"Hey Tanner! Congrats!! How is everyone?"
"Thanks, they're good. Thanks for coming."
"Hey, quick question..... is Janae's license plate ________? I think I just hit your car."
Well, yes, I did. Thankfully a LOT of it washed off, but there is still a scratch. And as for my car... well there is a little bit of damage...
And today? The bus? Took me almost 2 hours to get to work because of a flipped flaming car on I-5.
Until next time,
Dying.to.work.from.home
$175 in fees really threw a curveball in my trip to New York I was planning.
And as if that wasn't bad enough?
Saturday one of my girl friends from college had her beautiful baby girl and I so happened to be in the area. Overly excited, I pull into the parking garage and take a tight turn... but not quite tight enough.
The sound shocked me, but not as much as the IDIOT park job I failed at. Not knowing what to do, as I have NEVER hit a parked car before, I pulled out and parked in an area where there were NO CARS. Again, I'd never done this before so I dig around trying to find something to write my information down on. Coincidentally, I pull out an old Babies 'R US reciept. I rip off half of it to write down my information. As I go to check out the damage, I glance at the car a second and third and fourth time and realize of all the cars in the parking garage at the hospital... I know this car.
Yeah, you guessed it. I hit MY FRIEND'S CAR!!! Yes, the one who just had the baby 6 hours ago... that one.
I thought okay how am I going to approach this? It went a little something like this...
"Hey Tanner! Congrats!! How is everyone?"
"Thanks, they're good. Thanks for coming."
"Hey, quick question..... is Janae's license plate ________? I think I just hit your car."
Well, yes, I did. Thankfully a LOT of it washed off, but there is still a scratch. And as for my car... well there is a little bit of damage...
And today? The bus? Took me almost 2 hours to get to work because of a flipped flaming car on I-5.
Until next time,
Dying.to.work.from.home
Friday, June 22, 2012
OMG I hope she doesn't have a gun!
I went to Target tonight to buy a new book because I just finished the raunchy 50 Shades of Grey trilogy and have been bored out of my mind on the bus. I started packing my headphones to at least listen to music to help pass the time. Well, yesterday I had my music turned up pretty loud because I had it on my favorite playlist, so I was zoned out but apparently I didn't have my music turned up loud enough to miss what happened next...
I was sitting in a side-facing seat on the bus with my back to the bus stops when I hear LOUD and clear a woman yelling "GET YOUR ASS BACK OVER HERE!!!!" It turns out there was a woman who was just a few seconds too late to get on the bus. I was shocked when the bus driver stopped and opened up the door... NO one stops to let ANYONE on even a second after the drive off, so why would they when it's a woman yelling at you? Well, let's just say the driver pulled a fast one on her like in this scene right here..... But she pulled this stunt TWICE on the woman....
I have been DYING trying to think of what movie this scene happened in... so when I finally found it, it was even funnier than I remembered. But this was a much more pleasant scene than the one on the bus yesterday. It was more of a scene from one of the Madea's Family Reunion movies, where these two women were full of SASS and ATTITUDE! The woman starts making her way to the back of the bus because at this point it was standing room only. A young man got up to give the woman her seat, but not before she smacked everyone down the aisle with her big butt and oversized bags.
Everyone was snickering because the bus driver pulled a fast one on the woman and then purposefully drove horribly the whole way home in spite of the woman. Again, I was sitting on one of the side facing seats, so when the driver decided she'd rattle everyone and slam on the brakes, I went flying into the lap of the woman next to me. Since I had my headphones on I didn't realize how loud I was talking. I very loudly said "Oh SHIT I'm so sorry... I think she's driving like this on purpose to piss that lady off." And everyone sitting around me was laughing in agreement.
The bus driver did this a few more times and I got a serious case of the giggles. My mom had called me during the madness and I wished so badly I could tell her what was happening but I didn't want to get my ass kicked. So I text her 3 very long text messages explaining the hilarious situation and what she text back to me made me laugh out loud AGAIN, loud enough to hear how obnoxious I was OVER my loud music.
She simply wrote back, "OMG I hope she doens't have a gun!!"
And I wrote back, "Trust me, if she had a gun, she would've used it by now."
I was sitting in a side-facing seat on the bus with my back to the bus stops when I hear LOUD and clear a woman yelling "GET YOUR ASS BACK OVER HERE!!!!" It turns out there was a woman who was just a few seconds too late to get on the bus. I was shocked when the bus driver stopped and opened up the door... NO one stops to let ANYONE on even a second after the drive off, so why would they when it's a woman yelling at you? Well, let's just say the driver pulled a fast one on her like in this scene right here..... But she pulled this stunt TWICE on the woman....
I have been DYING trying to think of what movie this scene happened in... so when I finally found it, it was even funnier than I remembered. But this was a much more pleasant scene than the one on the bus yesterday. It was more of a scene from one of the Madea's Family Reunion movies, where these two women were full of SASS and ATTITUDE! The woman starts making her way to the back of the bus because at this point it was standing room only. A young man got up to give the woman her seat, but not before she smacked everyone down the aisle with her big butt and oversized bags.
Everyone was snickering because the bus driver pulled a fast one on the woman and then purposefully drove horribly the whole way home in spite of the woman. Again, I was sitting on one of the side facing seats, so when the driver decided she'd rattle everyone and slam on the brakes, I went flying into the lap of the woman next to me. Since I had my headphones on I didn't realize how loud I was talking. I very loudly said "Oh SHIT I'm so sorry... I think she's driving like this on purpose to piss that lady off." And everyone sitting around me was laughing in agreement.
The bus driver did this a few more times and I got a serious case of the giggles. My mom had called me during the madness and I wished so badly I could tell her what was happening but I didn't want to get my ass kicked. So I text her 3 very long text messages explaining the hilarious situation and what she text back to me made me laugh out loud AGAIN, loud enough to hear how obnoxious I was OVER my loud music.
She simply wrote back, "OMG I hope she doens't have a gun!!"
And I wrote back, "Trust me, if she had a gun, she would've used it by now."
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Sleep studies and Traffic and Tow trucks... Oh My!
I have been looking forward to this day for almost two months now. I FINALLY had my sleep study consult! I knew I wouldn't get any answers at the consultation, but was excited to be one step closer to (hopefully) finding out what is wrong with me! My appointment was at 8:30, which means I got to sleep in until 7 AM!!! Funny, sleeping in before your sleep study appointment. Well, I was up at 6:30 but I forced myself back to sleep for as long as I could.
I got to my appointment and filled out the bizarre and not so bizarre questions for the nurse before the sleep specialist came in. Some of these questions were like:
On a scale from 0-Never to 5-Very Likely, please rate how you feel in these scenarios:
1. Fall asleep while sitting in the passenger seat of the car for over an hour
2. Watching tv
3. Driving a car
4. Having a conversation
You get the point...
Oh... and they also measured my neck... apparently that's part of the tests for sleep apnea.
Well, the doctor came in and he's German, VERY German. I had a hard time understanding him throughout the appointment. He kept saying "uh huh, yes, ok." But I wasn't even saying anything to him, but that's how he would respond after each comment he made. He said he would send my referral to Seattle for the sleep study, then proceeded to tell me he wants me to do TWO sleep studies and that I will be there for 20 HOURS STRAIGHT. He said I have a lot of symptoms of narcolepsy, which, ever since I saw the movie Deuce Bigalow Male Gigolo, I've known it was a sleep disorder where people just fall asleep out of nowhere. He said that is the main symptom of narcolepsy that I am missing. He also mentioned checking for epilepsy. Now, because of his STRONG GERMAN accent, I needed some clarification and said "Excuse me, did you say epilepsy? (Insert panic mode here)" He said "uh huh, yes, ok." And I said "Okay... and did you say narcolepsy?" He said "uh huh, yes, ok."
I made my appointments to get my studies done in Seattle on July 10th-11th. I have to check in at 7:30 PM on the 10th and get all hooked up to the machines. They glue electrodes to my head/hair, face, chin, legs, and I am to wear a belt around my waist and chest. They also said they may hook me up to the sleep apnea mask at some point in the night. While they are describing all of these devices I am wondering how the HELL am I going to sleep at all? They said they will wake me up between 5AM-7AM and unhook the belts, but keep the electrodes on for the following day. I am supposed to be there until 5 PM. He said they will have me nap every 2 hours, for 20 minutes at a time. I initially thought, how am I supposed to nap all day long? But then I thought... there is NO way I'll get any sleep the night of the study because I will be hooked up to everything, so I'm sure I will appreciate the napping. They said to wear cozy clothes for the day study because I will be sitting there all day long by myself. They have a dvd player and wifi, so it sounds like I will be having a very lazy sleep study day.
A lazy sleep study day sounds quite nice after my afternoon experience today. I kept reminding myself all day DON'T FORGET YOU DROVE TODAY. I could just see myself getting on the bus to go home and getting to the parking garage just to not find my car. Well, today I walked to the street where I parked and there was no car. I walked up and down the street a few times before I called my mom.
Hey mom...
How's it going honey?
Not so good, my car isn't here.
Um like it got stolen? Or towed?
I'm not sure... I paid for parking in a 10 hour spot, I should've been fine...
Well, turns out the spot I parked in is fine UNTIL 3PM-7PM... oh you mean I missed the sign that was placed up the street a block from the 10 Hour parking sign and payment stand? After figuring out where my car was oh so NOT conveniently towed, I ask for the address. The man at the towing company told me it was about half a mile from my work.... Oh and by half a mile you mean 2 and a half? Right...
After arguing with my mom on who will pay the impound fee, I finally won and told her it was my own fault and that I was paying for it. I walk to the bus stop, hop on, get off and walk around for about half an hour trying to find the, again, NOT convenient location of the towing company. I finally get there, pay the $125 fee, get my $47 ticket and I'm on my way. I leave just in time to be stuck in the 6 o'clock traffic starting up at UW and finally ending back home 2 and a half hours after I got off work.
I'm surprised at how calm I stayed THE WHOLE TIME... I almost cried for a split second... but really I was just ROYALLY pissed off and in a rotton mood. I get home and text my mom saying I'm going for a run to blow off some steam, since I missed my hot yoga class. My sister text me to say sorry about the car situation and that my mom paid for the impound fee, so hopefully I didn't get charged, too.
Well, guess what? They charged me. Never mentioned my mom giving them her information to pay for it. They will be getting a phone call tomorrow morning from my sweet sweet mom who still tried to go and pay for my fee without me knowing... who hopefully wont be so sweet if indeed they double charged us.
Have never been more excited to take the bus to work tomorrow morning.
I got to my appointment and filled out the bizarre and not so bizarre questions for the nurse before the sleep specialist came in. Some of these questions were like:
On a scale from 0-Never to 5-Very Likely, please rate how you feel in these scenarios:
1. Fall asleep while sitting in the passenger seat of the car for over an hour
2. Watching tv
3. Driving a car
4. Having a conversation
You get the point...
Oh... and they also measured my neck... apparently that's part of the tests for sleep apnea.
Well, the doctor came in and he's German, VERY German. I had a hard time understanding him throughout the appointment. He kept saying "uh huh, yes, ok." But I wasn't even saying anything to him, but that's how he would respond after each comment he made. He said he would send my referral to Seattle for the sleep study, then proceeded to tell me he wants me to do TWO sleep studies and that I will be there for 20 HOURS STRAIGHT. He said I have a lot of symptoms of narcolepsy, which, ever since I saw the movie Deuce Bigalow Male Gigolo, I've known it was a sleep disorder where people just fall asleep out of nowhere. He said that is the main symptom of narcolepsy that I am missing. He also mentioned checking for epilepsy. Now, because of his STRONG GERMAN accent, I needed some clarification and said "Excuse me, did you say epilepsy? (Insert panic mode here)" He said "uh huh, yes, ok." And I said "Okay... and did you say narcolepsy?" He said "uh huh, yes, ok."
I made my appointments to get my studies done in Seattle on July 10th-11th. I have to check in at 7:30 PM on the 10th and get all hooked up to the machines. They glue electrodes to my head/hair, face, chin, legs, and I am to wear a belt around my waist and chest. They also said they may hook me up to the sleep apnea mask at some point in the night. While they are describing all of these devices I am wondering how the HELL am I going to sleep at all? They said they will wake me up between 5AM-7AM and unhook the belts, but keep the electrodes on for the following day. I am supposed to be there until 5 PM. He said they will have me nap every 2 hours, for 20 minutes at a time. I initially thought, how am I supposed to nap all day long? But then I thought... there is NO way I'll get any sleep the night of the study because I will be hooked up to everything, so I'm sure I will appreciate the napping. They said to wear cozy clothes for the day study because I will be sitting there all day long by myself. They have a dvd player and wifi, so it sounds like I will be having a very lazy sleep study day.
A lazy sleep study day sounds quite nice after my afternoon experience today. I kept reminding myself all day DON'T FORGET YOU DROVE TODAY. I could just see myself getting on the bus to go home and getting to the parking garage just to not find my car. Well, today I walked to the street where I parked and there was no car. I walked up and down the street a few times before I called my mom.
Hey mom...
How's it going honey?
Not so good, my car isn't here.
Um like it got stolen? Or towed?
I'm not sure... I paid for parking in a 10 hour spot, I should've been fine...
Well, turns out the spot I parked in is fine UNTIL 3PM-7PM... oh you mean I missed the sign that was placed up the street a block from the 10 Hour parking sign and payment stand? After figuring out where my car was oh so NOT conveniently towed, I ask for the address. The man at the towing company told me it was about half a mile from my work.... Oh and by half a mile you mean 2 and a half? Right...
After arguing with my mom on who will pay the impound fee, I finally won and told her it was my own fault and that I was paying for it. I walk to the bus stop, hop on, get off and walk around for about half an hour trying to find the, again, NOT convenient location of the towing company. I finally get there, pay the $125 fee, get my $47 ticket and I'm on my way. I leave just in time to be stuck in the 6 o'clock traffic starting up at UW and finally ending back home 2 and a half hours after I got off work.
I'm surprised at how calm I stayed THE WHOLE TIME... I almost cried for a split second... but really I was just ROYALLY pissed off and in a rotton mood. I get home and text my mom saying I'm going for a run to blow off some steam, since I missed my hot yoga class. My sister text me to say sorry about the car situation and that my mom paid for the impound fee, so hopefully I didn't get charged, too.
Well, guess what? They charged me. Never mentioned my mom giving them her information to pay for it. They will be getting a phone call tomorrow morning from my sweet sweet mom who still tried to go and pay for my fee without me knowing... who hopefully wont be so sweet if indeed they double charged us.
Have never been more excited to take the bus to work tomorrow morning.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Instant Gratification
I have seen this picture floating around pinterest lately and it struck a chord with me. It's a picture of an elderly couple with this quote on it "When asked how they managed to stay together for 65 years, the woman replied "We were born in a time where if something broke, you fixed it.... you didn't throw it away." I got to thinking about our generation again and have been wondering what happened to make it okay to just give up. And it's not just the gen-y-ers, but also the gen-x-ers and the baby boomers.
Most of my friends' parents are still married. In high school when my parents split up, I only had ONE close friend who's parents had been divorced. That was, and still is a rarity. Even out of my college friends, almost all of their parents are still together. However, statistics show otherwise. If you think of our grandparents' generation, they married young and stayed together forever. Sure, we're living longer, but we're also getting married later (if at all), but the divorce rates are still uncomfortably high.
The best advice I have been given about marriage is that if you are married for 40 years, you might have 10 bad years.... it may not be consecutive, but that means you have 30 good years. So many people say they were just "unhappy," in their marriage or relationship and that's why they called it quits. But I can guarantee you that you have been "unhappy," in your life before you were ever married...did you just quit yourself then, too?
We are so obsessed with having instant gratification. In the winter we get pale...which, is normal... but we want to look better and be as tan as we are in the summer... not normal. I used to go tanning, but haven't for about 4 years. It took the combination of seeing my mom's skin cancer spots after they had been treated and realizing I would rather be pale now and have beautiful skin later. We're all scared of aging and looking old... so people get botox to make them look younger and be wrinkle free. Well, turns out, there are studies that are linking botox to BRAIN TUMORS. Is that going to stop people? Probably not, because even though going in a tanning booth CAN GIVE YOU CANCER, people still do it. Just like smoking cigarettes CAN GIVE YOU CANCER, people still smoke them. Texting while driving? CAN KILL YOU or SOMEONE ELSE, but we want to send that dumb text message so badly that we can't wait until we're out of the car?
It's like we have all forgotten our lessons on patience. Good things come to those who wait. We need not to rush things, for good things take TIME. Everyone asks why I'm single and it takes every ounce of me to not ask them why are they being annoying? It's not like I know why... well I do. I'm picky. And I'm picky because if I am going to spend the REST of my life with someone... they're gonna have to be something spectacular.
Most of my friends' parents are still married. In high school when my parents split up, I only had ONE close friend who's parents had been divorced. That was, and still is a rarity. Even out of my college friends, almost all of their parents are still together. However, statistics show otherwise. If you think of our grandparents' generation, they married young and stayed together forever. Sure, we're living longer, but we're also getting married later (if at all), but the divorce rates are still uncomfortably high.
The best advice I have been given about marriage is that if you are married for 40 years, you might have 10 bad years.... it may not be consecutive, but that means you have 30 good years. So many people say they were just "unhappy," in their marriage or relationship and that's why they called it quits. But I can guarantee you that you have been "unhappy," in your life before you were ever married...did you just quit yourself then, too?
We are so obsessed with having instant gratification. In the winter we get pale...which, is normal... but we want to look better and be as tan as we are in the summer... not normal. I used to go tanning, but haven't for about 4 years. It took the combination of seeing my mom's skin cancer spots after they had been treated and realizing I would rather be pale now and have beautiful skin later. We're all scared of aging and looking old... so people get botox to make them look younger and be wrinkle free. Well, turns out, there are studies that are linking botox to BRAIN TUMORS. Is that going to stop people? Probably not, because even though going in a tanning booth CAN GIVE YOU CANCER, people still do it. Just like smoking cigarettes CAN GIVE YOU CANCER, people still smoke them. Texting while driving? CAN KILL YOU or SOMEONE ELSE, but we want to send that dumb text message so badly that we can't wait until we're out of the car?
It's like we have all forgotten our lessons on patience. Good things come to those who wait. We need not to rush things, for good things take TIME. Everyone asks why I'm single and it takes every ounce of me to not ask them why are they being annoying? It's not like I know why... well I do. I'm picky. And I'm picky because if I am going to spend the REST of my life with someone... they're gonna have to be something spectacular.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
The Game of Life
What.A.Week. Lost a friend, gained a niece, reconnected with old friends.
Good news first....I received a phone call from my sister at 2:45 AM on Friday morning, just under 3 hours after her official due date. I was a bit dazed and confused, but quickly drove down to Olympia at 3 in the morning to take over on Gracie duty. Little miss Lyla arrived around 11:30 and she is absolutely PERFECT. Lyla is pretty much a clone of her big sister, but already have completely different temperments. I couldn't be more proud to be an auntie...twice!!
In the last week, I have reconnected with many people I have lost touch with over the years. One week ago today, I got a text message from a friend asking me if I heard our friend Johnie passed away. I immediately responded saying "what." As if she told me and I misheard her, instead, I read her text and misheard her. I was immediately filled with anxiety and confusion. There is no way this can be true. It has to be a mistake. I get on the internet and am reading article after article, all saying the same thing. No one knows what happened. Every article mentioned how Johnie scored the game winning touchdown in his game Saturday night, but found dead on Monday night. If this weren't the Johnie I knew, I would have immediately jumped to conclusions and made all of these accusations of how the whole situation unfolded. But not our Johnie. He was the goofiest, most loving gentle giant.
I'll never forget the first time I met Johnie. One of my best guy friends in high school was heading to UW to play football and he was matched up with his roommate, another football player, who played the same position as my friend Luke. Now, Luke was our "big man on campus," all 6 foot (...maybe...) of him. So when I hear Luke was paired with a player who played the same position, I expected someone somewhat similar. In walks Johnie, who has a good 4 inches on Luke, and a good 50-60 pounds on him. Being so small, Luke was always big to me... so Johnie was like a GIANT to me. But I quickly learned that Johnie was just a big ole teddy bear. Over the 4 years of college, Johnie lived with my high school friends off and on and I got to know him much better than I had expected. During the off-season, the boys would come out to visit at Central and stay the weekend. I do love my guy friends, but boy did they know how to drive me CRAZY.
The day I found out about Johnie, I kept trying to picture his big goofy smile and his replay his giggle over and over again. Nothing could break my sad mood, until I thought of a story I had forgotten about until last Tuesday. After a long weekend of binge drinking (At Central of course), we decided to drive to Yakima to go to the mall. Since I was the only one who woke up sober, I decided I would drive. And since Johnie was by far the biggest, he sat in the front. Tired of being elbowed and talked over and hearing the most inappropriate things, I think Johnie could pick up the fact that I was quickly getting annoyed of my favorite guys. He then starts going through my glove comparments and put on random pieces of jewelry and sunglasses. I gave him a half smile for his effort to make me laugh. Down the windy eastern Washington roads I go, and see out of the corner of my eye, Johnie flying something out of my sunroof. I glance over to see that he had found a box of tampons and opened them up and was flying them out the sunroof like kites. The boys were crying from laughing so hard, while I finally gave in and started laughing uncontrollably.
Johnie was a goof, a fantastic football player, a loving dad of a beautiful daughter, a great friend, and real genuine guy. Anyone that knew him will forever remember him for his shining smile and positive spirit. Johnie is now undoubtedly a shining guardian angel to the parents, sisters, daughter, and friends he left behind.
It shouldn't take these kinds of tragedies to remind us of the important things and people in our lives. If you love someone, tell them. If you want to make a change, make a change. If you're unhappy, BE HAPPY.
Life is too short. Play your cards right.
Good news first....I received a phone call from my sister at 2:45 AM on Friday morning, just under 3 hours after her official due date. I was a bit dazed and confused, but quickly drove down to Olympia at 3 in the morning to take over on Gracie duty. Little miss Lyla arrived around 11:30 and she is absolutely PERFECT. Lyla is pretty much a clone of her big sister, but already have completely different temperments. I couldn't be more proud to be an auntie...twice!!
In the last week, I have reconnected with many people I have lost touch with over the years. One week ago today, I got a text message from a friend asking me if I heard our friend Johnie passed away. I immediately responded saying "what." As if she told me and I misheard her, instead, I read her text and misheard her. I was immediately filled with anxiety and confusion. There is no way this can be true. It has to be a mistake. I get on the internet and am reading article after article, all saying the same thing. No one knows what happened. Every article mentioned how Johnie scored the game winning touchdown in his game Saturday night, but found dead on Monday night. If this weren't the Johnie I knew, I would have immediately jumped to conclusions and made all of these accusations of how the whole situation unfolded. But not our Johnie. He was the goofiest, most loving gentle giant.
I'll never forget the first time I met Johnie. One of my best guy friends in high school was heading to UW to play football and he was matched up with his roommate, another football player, who played the same position as my friend Luke. Now, Luke was our "big man on campus," all 6 foot (...maybe...) of him. So when I hear Luke was paired with a player who played the same position, I expected someone somewhat similar. In walks Johnie, who has a good 4 inches on Luke, and a good 50-60 pounds on him. Being so small, Luke was always big to me... so Johnie was like a GIANT to me. But I quickly learned that Johnie was just a big ole teddy bear. Over the 4 years of college, Johnie lived with my high school friends off and on and I got to know him much better than I had expected. During the off-season, the boys would come out to visit at Central and stay the weekend. I do love my guy friends, but boy did they know how to drive me CRAZY.
The day I found out about Johnie, I kept trying to picture his big goofy smile and his replay his giggle over and over again. Nothing could break my sad mood, until I thought of a story I had forgotten about until last Tuesday. After a long weekend of binge drinking (At Central of course), we decided to drive to Yakima to go to the mall. Since I was the only one who woke up sober, I decided I would drive. And since Johnie was by far the biggest, he sat in the front. Tired of being elbowed and talked over and hearing the most inappropriate things, I think Johnie could pick up the fact that I was quickly getting annoyed of my favorite guys. He then starts going through my glove comparments and put on random pieces of jewelry and sunglasses. I gave him a half smile for his effort to make me laugh. Down the windy eastern Washington roads I go, and see out of the corner of my eye, Johnie flying something out of my sunroof. I glance over to see that he had found a box of tampons and opened them up and was flying them out the sunroof like kites. The boys were crying from laughing so hard, while I finally gave in and started laughing uncontrollably.
Johnie was a goof, a fantastic football player, a loving dad of a beautiful daughter, a great friend, and real genuine guy. Anyone that knew him will forever remember him for his shining smile and positive spirit. Johnie is now undoubtedly a shining guardian angel to the parents, sisters, daughter, and friends he left behind.
It shouldn't take these kinds of tragedies to remind us of the important things and people in our lives. If you love someone, tell them. If you want to make a change, make a change. If you're unhappy, BE HAPPY.
Life is too short. Play your cards right.
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