Come with me and escape

Okay. I’m going to go from not writing much at all in my blog for the last few months, to probably 3 or so posts in one day. Whee. 😉 haha. I was going to put all of this in one post, but I started thinking and even though a lot of it is very entwined together, I’d really rather focus on just specific parts in specific posts, so that nothing gets lost in the shuffle. (And because I’m just completely weird, but we knew that one already.)

So. First post: the good stuff of late. On Oct 24th, I headed up to Canada to visit Emily again. When I got to the airport and checked in, I got offered the chance to upgrade to first class, for a small fee. Since I had used my airline miles to book the flight, it cost me only taxes & processing fees for the trip, so hell yes I jumped at the chance to fly first class up there. Even with that upgrade — it was still considerably cheaper than it would’ve been if I’d bought an economy ticket. Hee! I absolutely loved getting to fly first class. (I’ve flown it once before, but that was on a shorter flight, so I didn’t get the full experience.) It was total pampering the entire flight, as well as a delicious hot meal, salad, dessert… I was absolutely beyond stuffed by the time we landed. And of course there were the hot towels, and bowl of warm nuts, and incredibly attentive flight staff, and one of the flight attendants had a bag of candy & toys that she brought around so we could all trick or treat from it. Haha. I got through customs very quickly as well, since I was one of the first people off the plane. (Second person on, fourth person off. Hee!) And my luggage was also off pretty quickly too.

The trip was wonderful, too. My knees gave me a bit of a problem because it was a good bit cooler there than back home, so it made my arthritis go all nuts, but I still enjoyed myself very much. We went downtown on Thursday, to see Raine Maida (of Our Lady Peace) busking on a street corner, to raise money to help War Child build a school in the Congo. I snapped a few pictures, but they are on the PC at home — I forgot to upload them. So… consider this a place holder for where the pictures will go: *insert place holder here* Haha You can check out the pictures here.

Friday night, we went to see Matthew Good perform at Massey Hall. I wouldn’t consider myself a big Matt fan, but I do enjoy his music. The concert was an acoustic show, and he was absolutely incredible. I was definitely blown away — he sounds amazing live. The show went for almost 2 hours, and it seemed like it was over way too quickly. I could’ve definitely stayed there a few more hours to listen to him sing. I love shows where the artist sounds as good or better live than they do on their CDs.

Saturday & Sunday, Emily and I got in some nice R&R, before I had to head home. :'( I never want to leave when I’m up there. Aside from one thing that I’ll get into in another post, the plane ride home was nice and easy. No first class this time, but I kept myself occupied by playing Sudoku on my DS Lite and we were landing in Dallas before I knew it. I used to dislike Sudoku, but I started it as part of my training on the Brain Age game, and I’m starting to get quite good at it. And maybe a little obsessed with playing it. lol. (So far, my best time to solve a board was just under 3 minutes. YAY!)

Hmmm. More good things for this post… oh yes! I finally picked a license plate I wanted to try for. I couldn’t get the spelling I wanted, so I just added an extra O, and voila it’s mine! I just got my receipt last week to show that it was approved and the plates were ordered, I should be getting the instructions on how to pick it up soon. So, by the end of the month, my plates will read “WHOO R U”. *giggles*

My mom got a letter from immigration on Friday. (She is applying for citizenship, if I haven’t mentioned that before.) They gave her a date, time, and place for her test and interview!! She’ll be taking the test on December 15th. So, mom could end up being a US citizen by year’s end. It’s only taken her 35 years to apply, but… better late that never? hahah.

Okay, that’s all that’s coming to mind for the good stuff, right now. Plus, it’s time for me to get back to work since my lunch break is over. Two more posts to come soon!

You can count on the bad bad weather

I keep meaning to write and meaning to write and I keep getting sidetracked. Gotta love the insanity that is life.

It has been raining here on an almost daily basis for the last couple of months. It’s absolutely insane. I mean, I don’t think we have even broken 100 yet, and that’s highly unusual for Dallas. We’re only just finally getting regular 90 degree days – in a typical summer, those are a daily occurrence for a minimum of a month by now. It’s so freakishly weird. We were in a drought for the last two years, and now in a matter of 6 months we’ve received MORE rainfall than we normally get in an entire year! There have been tons of problems with flooding, and some cities near DFW have declared a state of emergency because of all the flood waters. It truly doesn’t seem like summer at all.

My friend KD and I went to see Transformers on the 4th. I was kind of expecting a cheesy movie, but it was really amazing. They did a great job with it. It had rained some while we were watching the movie, and on the way out of the theater that created a problem for me. You know the red paint they use for fire lanes? When wet, that stuff can get very slick. One second I was walking and talking, laughing about the movie — the next I had slipped and was falling. Yup, another fall for me; and I landed on the same leg as I did 3 months ago. There were some short concrete poles there, and I grabbed at one as I fell. It didn’t stop me, but it did slow my fall, so my leg didn’t get as badly beat up, but I still had some bruising and knotted muscles, etc. For a day or two after the fall, the arm that I grabbed the pole with to slow my fall was in some serious pain too. I pulled a bunch of muscles on that side of my body from grabbing the pole. Figures, I just can’t stay uninjured for any length of time.

I ended up getting another injection in my tailbone last week. I went to a new doctor this time around, and things went a lot smoother. The best part about it — the injection was done in his office! He has a small surgical room set up to do the injections there. That is a HELL of a lot better than having to do it as day surgery at the hospital!! A lot cheaper too! Another benefit — no anesthesia this time. I was a little nervous about that before the shot, but afterwards I was fine. I really have NO clue why I had to be knocked out for the shot the first time. The injections in my knees are more painful than that! I am having a little bit of pain in the area still though, but in comparison to what it was pre-shot, it’s incredibly minor. I do have a follow-up visit in a few weeks, so I’ll bring up the fact that there’s still minor pain then. It’s not significant enough to worry about trying to get in sooner.

Today, I’m off to the knee doctor. More than likely I’ll be getting injections there as well. I’m kind of hoping I do, since I am going on vacation and need to be able to walk easily.

Last week, I got a jury summons. UGH! They wanted me to report on July 31st, but with that being only 3 days before I leave for vacation, that wouldn’t work. I sent in a request for postponement until after I get back from vacation, so I’ll likely be doing jury duty some time in August. I hope I don’t get picked. Or, if I do get picked, I hope it’s for a cool case. hahah.

God I can’t wait for my vacation to get here. Only 16 more days!! WOOO HOOOO!!!! We’re finally starting to get plans set up better, (my fault there) and it’s starting to sink in that it’s getting close and I’m getting more and more excited. I need to work on my various lists so I can make sure I have everything I need to take with me. I just ordered a couple of books last night for the flights. I’ve already got some Canadian money bought, but I need to buy more. I think we’re going this weekend, because mom needs to buy some too. I’ve had a couple of shopping sprees, buying new clothes & shoes for the trip. And, as stated above, I’ve had tons of doctor visits this month, making sure that I won’t be in pain. Yay!

I have the need to ramble more, but I’m stuck on what to ramble about. So I’ll go and pretend to work some more (already done for the day) until either it’s time for me to leave, or I think of something else to write.

It ain’t the fall that’ll kill you baby, it’s the sudden stop

I know, I know. Most of my entries lately have centered around work (which is getting better right now – YAY!). And the bulk of this entry is likely to be about pain, my other common topic. I really do need to find better things to write about. Of course, I have been a very bad & flaky best friend, and still haven’t written about vacation taken in April, or even finished my vacation recap entry from last year. I need to do that. I know it.

I got to see Serenity on the big screen again over the weekend. Sure, I have the DVD and can watch it whenever — but nothing beats seeing it in the theater. And yup, I’m going to be a total geek and go see Transformers next week.

In just @ 38 days, I’ll be off to Canada again to visit my best friend. Mom is tagging along for a couple of days, she wants to see Toronto, and we’re going to have a great big family trip down to Niagara Falls while she’s there. Then it’ll be just me & Emily getting to run around creating havoc, if we so choose. Haha.

In the meantime, though, I’m looking at another slate of doctor visits. My tailbone is acting up again, driving me insane. (My tailbone is dislocated and arthritic. WHAT FUN! *cough*) When I had my follow up visit for the tendonitis in my arm, the doc gave me a general cortisone injection. That was nice; it even took the pain from my knees & tailbone away for a few weeks, in addition to helping out my arm. Bad part, it’s wearing off and the tailbone pain is worse than ever. I’m having issues even sitting today – I want to be at home in bed and not in this chair at work. Even my chair at home would be nice; it’s more comfortable than this. Only 4 more hours. I’ve got a visit with the orthopedist tomorrow and the pain management doc on Thursday. I’m likely looking at being knocked out again to get another localized cortisone injection. I hope that one lasts longer than 5 months! If that is the doctors suggestion hope that I can get that scheduled ASAP. There’s no way on earth I could sit for 3+ hours on an airplane with this kind of pain. It was just starting to hurt when I was traveling last October and that was uncomfortable. The way I’m hurting now would be a nightmare. Sigh.

I was going to ramble more, but I just can’t sit still and focus well enough to do so. Maybe next time.