Prodrome turns into fullblown

Well.  That spacy feeling was actually prodrome.  I took sick (weakness and vertigo) around 9 pm and after bringing me a glass of water Cindy went home.   Hell of an evening for her. I staggered to bed.

15 minutes of vertigo accompanied by weird visuals (bright teal and navy blue geometric progressions and I think I would have appreciated them a lot more if the bed hadn’t been jerking around.)

5 minutes of physical symptoms which included feeling like the inside of my head was full of cicadas and that somebody was repeatedly lowering a heavy weight onto my stomach, and weird wobbly noises like the sensation of having water in your ear.

about five minutes of feeling tight in the chest, probably panic from all the weird new sensations.  Breathed through that.

Then I spent about five more minutes getting my head into a position where it wasn’t buzzing, as the buzzing came and went depending on how I rested my head on the pillow.

Then I fell asleep.

It was the weirdest migraine ever, probably triggered by the barometric hops of the last couple of days and relief of pressure from starting my holidays, also I sneezed about a million times yesterday.  I only had 1.5 beers and I suppose that could have contributed but I don’t think so.

I’ve had so many really weird migraines and in fact my neurologist characterized them as atypical that I think that’s what it was.  I also have the weird spacies like I get after an attack.

My grandmother was very subject to vertigo.  Vertigo really sucks.

Those cicadas, though.  Imagine that Peggy’s bowed bass sound is INSIDE your head.  That’s what it was like.  Most extraordinary sensation.

So I am okay, and once more amazed that my brain can completely detach from consensus reality and go on its own little journey!  Also, I got to sell my car.

Various

John Cusack hopes his new movie makes people read more Poe.  Me too.

Got a migraine while driving home last night including two new symptoms – facial numbness and kinaesthetic/proprioceptive hallucinations.  Went straight into a scalding hot tub and recovered enough to make dinner for Jeff, but I held out for pizza when Katie showed up and ordered some.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-04/uobc-pap041112.php  Pride is not necessarily a sin…

Vacation is COMING!

 

a miscellany of news items

So Paul dragged me out of the house for a walk yesterday (I wore my cloak, as it was the perfect weather for it) and while we were walking up Davies Dave the Plumber and his wife tried to run us down in his truck while we cowered in fear.

Uh, no, but I can imagine somebody watching thinking that.  Dave, a devout Sikh and one of the best plumbers and pipefitters in the lower mainland, has a puckish sense of humour.  We chatted for a bit and continued on with our walk, much amused by our ‘near miss’.

When Paul and I first got this house outfitted for a gas stove, Dave did the work.  I came back from my first interview with (previous x 2 company) all bubbly and happy and then I got all sad face because when I asked how the work was coming on and both Paul and Dave with straight faces said “Terrible, it’s not working”, and then when I got testy they burst out laughing.  They had not actually prearranged this little gag so you can see why Paul and Dave were two peas in a pod.  I am thankful to know such good tradesmen, and I particularly thank him for the amazing work he did when the ‘spring’ happened in the back yard at the Augur Inn.

Paul’s on course for six weeks and has weekends off and no nights.  I’m sure he’ll enjoy that.

Jeff is still feeling crappy but he took some small amount of food yesterday.

The idiot ex has quit harassing Katie.

Keith came in to the office on Friday and we played Forbidden Island with the D-man.

I made borscht for the Sasamat soup lunch this morning.  It is FREAKING AWESOME, but I betcha I’m gonna be musical in the office tomorrow.

I have one more load of laundry to do and then all my laundry will be clean.

I told the Worship committee Easter will be my last homily for Beacon, as I am going to have a stressful 2012-13 year at church (I am taking on a much bigger role in terms of governance) and I need to reduce stressors big time.  I think King Jesus is a great topic and I’m going to be going out with a ‘bang’ so to speak.

I have decided that I am going to write a book about customer service.  mOm is going to help me with it.

I took food to Sue on Friday; her knee is ow-ie.  I asked her how the hell she’s going to be in two plays between now and the middle of May and she laughed and said that the roles require her to be in bed for most of the shows.  I thought this was a stupendous coincidence and congratulated her on what appeared to be prescience.

I have pulled so much fur off Margot in the last three days (she’s doing the spring shed) that she’s having existential angst as it appears to her I’ve pulled a Margot-equivalent of fur off her already and she doesn’t understand that she can still be here.

Well, it’s that time again.  I’m doing the coffee in church today so I won’t be upstairs listening to the service.  Tom’s friend is being memorialized this afternoon so no rehearsal for my new song to be performed in church, we’re hoping Monday night now.

If you don’t have a will please write it up now.

Laughing so hard I hurt myself

I just read on about.com (in a column about “The Worst Car You Ever Owned”) “Owning this car was like being married to A Supermodel with a Cocaine Problem.”

The latest round of repairs to Ziva appears to have more or less fixed the running rough on start up issue, and the rad had to be replaced because it was leaking and we have indoor outdoor cats.  This will stop rad fluid from getting into the head gaskets.  Thus the amusement about the above noted comment.

Margot’s blookhy eye is MUCH better, the pus is less, the redness almost entirely absent, although she yowls like a serval when I grab her to put the eyegoop from the vet in her eye.  I need to trim her whiskers again, as they curl back into her eye and I think that’s what caused this last ailment.

I am coughing, sneezing, wheezing and I feel like I’ve broken a rib.  Everybody in the house has been sick with a cold; feline and primate cheerfully shedding virus all over each other.

Music 2night with Cindy, possibly Paul too, who knows.  I think I’ll stick with playing, because all that comes out when I actually sing is a hideous croaking noise.

Sunday I go corrupt the minds of our youth.  Yes, I am participating in youth RE and talking about “My Life So Far.”

Katie here

Katie and I got to gab for about three hours last night, and it was AWESOME.  She’s really a remarkable person; when she talks about the elders in the care facility she works at her voice is full of such joy and tenderness and humour that it just gives me the shivers.

She’s finally gotten her hours back, as her nemesis quit or was fired, we’re not sure, and so she’s looking forward to getting her own apartment.  And not.  We talked about that for a good long while.

 

http://www.uni-mainz.de/eng/15114.php <—- article on training to manage tinnitus.

Any day I don’t have to scrape or defog the car is a good one / Resolution list

Katie’s coworkers reacted to her new boots (she WORE THEM AT WORK for the last half of the shift, they is that comfy) with a gratifying display of jealousy, appreciation and WTF that her mOm would spend that much money on her.

Wednesday, probably, I go have dins with my old beau from the bike shop.  Looking forward to catching up with him.  It didn’t work out between us (he has a sweetie in Seattle, where have I heard THAT before) but I still appreciate him for his complete and blithe disregard for whatever is fashionable in favour of what he likes.

Check this out.  Laughed my ass off.  http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/horoscoped/  It is a wordcloud of all the words in 22000 horoscopes, with A COMPLETELY GENERIC horoscope at the end.  So much for augury…..

Per the tarot reading which said I have so many, I have prepared my new years resolutions. Being ten in number, as recommended.

Remember to bring cans, rice and pasta for the food bank at least 3 out of 4 Food Bank Sundays.  I keep forgetting and it really feels bad.

Prep for taking on the duties of a Secretary at Beacon (I expect to be acclaimed, and still no Treasurer, bah).  Since this involves a lovely long lunch with Carol and Sue on my dime, I can’t imagine this one taking too long to tick off.

Lose 20 pounds by this time next year.  Awk, oh well.

Attend at least one Humanist meeting, even though there are two regular attendees whose smooth and seemingly impenetrable pomposity I would like to test a laser on.  Oh Allegra you are really doing them a favour aren’t you.

Attend at least one Lunch Bunch meeting.  It means I have to be on vacation or take a day off, but I have an evol plan for that.  It means connecting with some of the church elders, whom we do not have with us forever.  Their wisdom and humour is the reason I keep going back to church and yet I never socialize with them.  Wrongo me bucko, as they say.

Go to one open mic per month, except in January.  I plan to map out the ones closest to the house thanks to http://www.openmicvancouver.com/

Gather up all my homilies for publication.  Yeah, I know.  I will self-publish but it’s easy to do for cheap and I’m enjoying the notion of my mother having something to send her strict Christian relatives.

Monetize the web site.  Yes, start selling shit or advertising.  Seeing as how I will have to stop linking all over the web thanks to SOPA, I might as well start covering costs, cheap as they are.

Track the amount of time I spend watching TV (this, not the weight loss, is the real asskicker).

Get good or at least fun at making hats for cats and steampunk jewelry.  Cindy says she will tutah me.  Might even be a revenue stream, who knows.  It won’t be until I’ve recovered the $100 I’ve spent on supplies – I am keeping track.

And there you have it.  2012 will be all about connecting and creativity.  And hopefully some relief for my poor tubby knees.

Up at 2:45 this morning

This early rising business MUST stop.  So I guess it’s time for a roundup.

Adult onset diabetes foreshadowing in rising level of 5 proteins.  Link here.

Lots of lawsuits won’t necessarily help your case.  Righthaven screwed up, but fair use rights have been protected.

A very commonly used contemporary chart about radiation exposure, which I only link to on the off chance one of my readers hasn’t seen it yet.  Here.

The “serpent storm” on Saturn.  via Nasa/Cassini.

The assault of the Repulsigans on women’s rights continues.  Honestly, though, the “Harper Government” would do the same thing if they thought they could get away with it; fortunately the Bloc Québecois would have a collective seizure if they tried to pass something like this.

The assault of the Repulsigans against anybody who dislikes factory farming continues.  In what universe is it illegal to take a picture of a farm? (link removed for security reasons).

From chipper, an ad for what she termed a ‘proofreader’s delight’.

Also from chipper, some lovely ‘supermoon’ pix from England.

I have no idea how church went yesterday, I was in the kitchen helping Peggy with coffee. Gave Carol a ride home and picked up some frozen fruit so I can make fruit toppings for pancakes a bit at a time.

 

Research Stephen O’Rahilly sez…

“To be blunt, in today’s society it’s definitely not ok to be racist or sexist and it’s increasingly not ok to be ageist which is all to the good — but it still seems to be quite ok to be fattist even, and perhaps especially, in highly educated circles. This isn’t helping us with the serious science that will help provide some answers.”