An Unfenced Existence

I knew today was going to suck when I woke up to my second alarm (having not even heard the first alarm) and immediately thought, "What day is it?" I was in a fugue state for most of the rest of the day.

The reason? I took Brandon to Urgent Care last night in Falls Church for chest pains, because I (nominally) knew where it was. DC Metro traffic struck again, and it took us almost an hour to get there, despite the fact that we were going in the opposite direction of (most) rush hour traffic. Whoo. Got home late last night and was just bloody tired all day. Felt like I didn't really do any work all day.

They checked him out, did an EKG, took an x-ray, and proclaimed him "fine." The reason for his chest pain? "Slightly higher then normal blood pressure." I don't know about you, but I don't buy it.

I will say this, if you ever need to see a doctor right away and the emergency room is packed? Complain of chest pains. He checked in and a minute later he was taken to the back.

Eight inches of snow and counting. We're expected to get something in the range of 15 to 22 inches before it's all over.

And I'm stuck here with a cold. And very little cold medicine. I slept for twelve hours last night and the cold and the wet make me want to sleep some more, but I think I'll stay up for a bit so my schedule doesn't get completely screwed.

-+-

Last weekend I went down to Williamsburg and Virginia Beach - Williamsburg to sing at Bruton Parish (which was lovely, if fraught with mistakes; I choked on some food two hours before the concert and had a catch in my throat the whole time) and I spent the night at the Lord Paget hotel. Sadly, I had a room next to Becky's and I got to listen to her bitch about everything that went wrong in the concert, bless her heart.

The next day I went over to Flo and Sam's and spent the day with Flo and Karlene. We hung about the apartment watching The West Wing (one of my favorite shows of all times), before we decided to head to the outlets. On the way home from the outlets we stopped at a ginormous Yankee Candle Store and managed to spend quite a bit of time there without actually sniffing their currently available scents. We did, however, take a look at their clearance room, the candy shop, the general store, and the year round winter holiday scene. It was built on the inside to look like a small village - I think it would be a fun place to go whenever it's really crappy outside just to have something bright and cheerful to go to.

After an amazing curry dinner cooked by Flo (which was awesome and delicious) we headed out to Busch Gardens Christmas Town (? - WETH it's called). That was fun, if a bit cold. My parents were there as well but we didn't actually see them while we wandered around. Turns out that in Germany you could buy real Wassail in a very lovely glass mug instead of just hot chocolate in a decent plastic one. Oh well. Very few of the rides were open, but Darkastle (which actually scared me, but it was a lot of fun) and the bumper cars were - something that I've never done before. So on that cold, wintry night I bumped people's cars and had an all around good time smacking the hell out of ten year olds in their vehicles. >:D

(Unfortunately, I did manage to hurt my neck to the point that by Monday I couldn't move my head well enough to drive safely, but still I had to go pick up my ferts and go to the dentist and finish shopping and then Tuesday was work and it was even worse until I remembered that I still had percoset and mega doses of ibuprofen from the root canal so I took some and by Wednesday it was much much better.)

After that we wandered around and saw the sights of the various countries. We watched the awesomely funny Tannenbaum show in Germany (I have no idea why we found it hilarious, but watching the lights on the tree and the surrounding areas was pretty funny). We drank our hot cocoa and listened to a man with an accordion sing Christmas carols, and took the train ride and all around had a good time. The last things we did were a) start a trend of standing on chairs next to the heat lamps and b) eat funnel cake. Sam apparently never had funnel cake before but since I made it to 25 without riding on bumper cars, I do not judge.

After that we went home to watch more TV until it was time for bed. (At which point I got a spectacular nose bleed, and Karlene had me shove q-tips up my nose and then she promptly laughed. Okay, it was pretty funny.) Once that was over, we went to bed, and I slept like the day.

Then Karlene and I drove down to Virginia Beach where we went on this tour of historical houses in the area. Karlene kept mentioning that she had never even knew that most of the houses were there. I didn't either, to be honest, but then I don't know much about Virginia Beach beyond that there's a) a beach, b) friends of mine live there, and c) Busch Gardens isn't too far. Unfortunately by the time were we getting close to done, my stupid digestive system kicked in and I started having a hypoglycemic attack. Flo's admittedly delicious breakfast did not tide me over and we missed lunch due to the tour. :( So, I was a bit cranky (sorry Karlene) by the end. And since some of the houses were privately owned, I didn't feel right taking pictures beyond the outside of the house.

After, I went to check in at my hotel then met with Karlene and Jessie to eat some Greek food. (It was delicious. I love Greek food and we don't have a Greek-only restaurant near me (it's Italian/Greek food), I'd have to go into DC, which just ugh, sometimes.) After an evening of good conversation and food, we all headed our separate ways and I went back to the hotel and watched a special on the wild pig/boar epidemic in the US before crashing hard. Goddamn I love king size beds. A drunk guy tried to get into my room that night and we lost power at some point, but over all it was nice experience.

When I woke up I took a walk along the board walk/beach for about fifteen blocks. My original intent was to go to the Old Coast Guard house, but that didn't open until noon, and I was to be having lunch with Jessie and Karlene, so I didn't get to see it. Oh, well, there's always next time. It was drizzling when I started my walk, and on the way back it was out and out raining, so I got a little soaked. I went back to the hotel to dry off and watch a show about the presidents of the US (when I got home Travis was watching the same special, which made me laugh) before heading out to lunch. If I have one complaint about Virginia Beach it's this - they know that they are at or below sea level in some places, why in God's name are their roads so damn prone to flooding? Shouldn't that have been a consideration when constructing them?

After a delightful lunch it was time to head home. Man, I wish I could see them more often. I need to make an effort to get down there at least once year. Maybe that'll be a life resolution, or something.

-+-

When I got to work on Tuesday, big developments happened in the office - Mark had quit, so we shuffled our desks around. I got his old desk, but I'm not sure if I want to keep it because I don't get as much work done back there. But it's nice to not have people walking behind me all the time (I hate that). We also had won a new contract, and I was one of the people who is included on that contract. My one substantive contribution was not to use the red folders (we're processing case work for the Wounded Warriors and instead use purple (i.e. purple hearts). The red would've been too gauche.

I've noticed that I've been more...upbeat lately. I smile more. I laugh more. I'm more creative. I don't tend to think "my life sucks" as much. (I'm actually at the "my life could be better, but right now it's not so bad" stage) I don't take things so seriously anymore. Nothing has really changed. I'm not entirely sure why that might be, but I'm just gonna roll with the punches. In fact, that's really what changed - I'm rolling with the punches much better than I used to. Finally, a light at the end of the tunnel.

I have two new friends on my friends list. I have no idea who they are. I have no idea why they added me. I can't actually read their journal entries. They both speak RUSSIAN. (Erm. I'm assuming it's Russian, I'm not actually sure.) In any case, I'm highly amused by this.

I'd put their entries through Babel-Fish but I really can't expend the effort.

I don't know how many of you follow my drama with allergies, but I have one more to add to the list. Since I'm having trouble remembering them all, I need to write them down. So things that I am allergic to are as follows:

Food
Mint
Eggs
Artificial Sweetener
Tomatoes (according to the allergist, I've never had a reaction to them...)
Shellfish
Some ingredient in dark colas (probably the color)

Animals
Dustmites
Cockroaches
Ferrets

Misc.
Sunlight

Please note that these are not in any sort of order as I'm way more allergic to shellfish than I am to tomatoes. Also the different categories produce a different allergic response. The food category, since it is ingested, produces the more life threatening swelling of the lips, mouth, throat (in that order), followed by hives on the arms and swelling of the legs. The animals can produce those if found in large quantities/long exposure to, but are more likely to aggravate my atopic eczema and dyshidrotic eczema. The sunlight allergy just produces a small papular extremely itchy rash on the exposed areas (arms, neck, chest, legs, etc.).

The eggs I just learned about last night from the damn cole slaw. It is also what prompted me to make a list so I know to avoid them in the future.

I know some of you might find it a little ridiculous, but I'm a huge Meat Loaf fan. And I'm not talking about the thing your mother ruins on a semi-monthly basis. Well, my mother doesn't. Her meatloaf is delicious. Especially topped with Worcestershire sauce. Mmm.

I'm talking about the singer Meat Loaf, with Steinmann. (Steinman? Steimann? Does anyone ever really remember the guy on the piano?) Which is crazy because the music was considered old before I was even born. But there's something about his vocals against Jim Steinman's awesome song writing abilities that makes me so happy.

It's also crazy because I only have three of his albums (Bat out of Hell, Dead Ringer for Love, and Bat out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose), and that my love for his music was based entirely on Bat out of Hell. And I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That). (Has anyone figured out what he won't do? I sure haven't.)

ANYWAY- the point of this story is that I have a raging metaphorical hardon for Meat Loaf's music and that it can sometimes be a little embarrassing. And that the albums I do have I play a lot and can listen to them over and over and over again. Not only do I listen to them a lot, but I sing along with them every single time.

It's very surreal drive in to Chorale practice singing along with Meat Loaf, go into Chorale and sing Schubert's Mass in G, and then go out and start caterwauling to Paradise By the Dashboard Light on the way home. Very, very surreal. And a lot of fun. I love the look on the other Chorale members when I bust out with "Ain't no doubt about it/we were doubly blessed/cuz we were barely seventeen and barely dressed..."

That's not the embarrassing thing. The embarrassing thing happened today as I got out of the car once I got home from work. I was currently listening to and singing along with More than You Deserve and as I climbed out of the car belting out "Why don't you take some more, it's what you came for/And don't mind me, I won't throw you no curves/C'mon and have yourself a ball with my good woman/Won't you take some more boy, it's more than you deserve?"

And there sits the next door neighbor's son *coughjailbaitcough* fiddling with some sort of dune buggy thing, staring at me like I've lost my mind. Which I have, but that so isn't the point. The point is that when I spotted him, I cut off mid-lyric and squeaked. And turned red. But the real embarrassing thing was this high-pitched SQUEAK that came out of my mouth like I'm some sort of rodent. GAH.

Then he said, "Very good." and clapped a little.

Wish I had the presence of mind to just laugh it off with, "Thank you, thank you, I'm here all week. Literally." I just fled instead.

Note to self: Do not scratch legs then wear dark wash Grane jeans without Benadryl.

On a much happier note, I'm buying a new car!! And it's going to be actually a new car, not a new-to-me car! Well...it'll be a 2007 Mazda3 (in purple! squee!), so not exactly new new. But, y'know, new. I'm really excited.


Of course, once I get the damn car that's when the ferrets will decide to be seriously sick and totally wipe out my savings.

But! NEW CAR!

Mwahahahah! House warming gift acquired! :D :D :D

Thank GOD for the Sugarloaf Festival. *nods*