25. January 2010 by Bex.

Last week was a little nuts.  I was able to go to Independence and see the old court house where Truman got his start.  They are in the process of fixing it up and it’s not open all the time for the general public.  The old downtown of Independence is really cute; it’s nothing like the outskirts which are just nasty and scary.

I also did my therapy pool workout again on Wednesday and pushed myself a little to go faster and longer.  Unfortunately when I was done I could hardly walk and the next day was laid up on the couch.  I felt like I had the flu and my knees and ankles ached.  So much for the new biologic I’m taking.  Maybe it hasn’t kicked in yet, who knows.

I also went to a local community college and talked to a career counselor.  I don’t think they get too many master’s degree holders coming in to inquire about an associates degree.  I figure I have all of my general classes done and would just need to take the core classes for an associates in criminal justice.  This, aside from animal care, is the only other career path I’m interested in but I can’t be a cop.  I would be interested in working the records department or chain of evidence department.  However I have no criminal justice background so I’m wondering if this will open some doors for me.  And I hope to not have to get another bachelors because a 4 year school is expensive as  hell.  Community colleges are much cheaper.  Johnson County Community College is pretty spiffy for a community college.  Unfortunately the clientele are a bit rough.  I got stuck going the wrong direction in the parking garage and instead of just rolling her eyes at me and giving me room to turn around, this 20-something emo chick rolled down her window and screamed at me.  So what did I do?  I screamed back at her.  Honey, I’m too damn old to be intimidated by you if you are going to show a lack of class and patience.  Suck it.

My next step is to talk to the chair of the department and see what her opinion is.  Jobs aren’t great in this area but nationwide they are good.  I have a feeling once this recession lifts a bit more, counties and cities will get back to full staff.  Plus federal jobs are out there too and I would dig doing something with Homeland Security or INS.  Ya never know.  I just know I will never move up in responsibilities or pay where I am now and that’s probably true for similar jobs elsewhere in the nation.  I want more flexibility in where I can work.

Saturday we planned on going bowling for something different to do but the damn lanes were packed.  So we drove to a pool hall and played a couple of hours.  Apparently the guy playing our table before us was Dave Pearson, some famous speed shooter.  I wouldn’t know a famous pool player from a hole in a wall but there ya go.  Unfortunately the more cheap beer we had, the worse my playing ability.  But since we greatly curtailed alcohol purchases, I am now a light weight.   Cheap date!  I think Ron and I have been kinda waiting around, hoping to get our schedules to work with other couples to hang out with.  But that never seems to come together so we decided just to go on our own.  We had a good time and it was nice to get out of the house.

That’s all the news that’s fit to print for now.  Since I didn’t take any interesting photographs this week, I’ll leave you with crappy tattoos from the friendly world wide web.  Tschus.

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18. January 2010 by Bex.

I’ve never considered myself a hippie, although I do consider myself “different” then a lot of women.  (Maybe “tomboy” is the correct term considering my love of shooting guns and playing video games.)  I like who I am and don’t see a real need to change, except for any unattractive habits that may come up.  I don’t have a problem with hippies or conservatives or anyone else, as long as they aren’t in the extreme on either side of the spectrum.  But I’ve never considered myself a hippie until lately.

I have been changing our diets slowly but surely to a more organic diet.  We cut down on alcohol and caffeine, we are drinking organic milk and when I can afford to buy more organic food, I do.  I also bought a cast iron skillet finally because it will last longer and doesn’t have Teflon or other non-stick chemicals all over it.  As we run out of household cleaners, I’m replacing them with “green” cleaners.  By the way, all this shit is rather pricey.

Due to the popularity of Facebook, I find myself talking to people from home/high school a lot more then I did when I actually went to school with them.  I can’t believe how many people have some kind of autoimmune disease.  These are people my age - early 30’s.  I’m getting pretty frickin’ paranoid that even though some of the shit I have is inherited, that all the chemicals we grow up eating and breathing can’t be helping.  In fact, I wonder if over the generations all the chemicals in our environment aren’t causing some of this.  Anyone heard of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson?  I did a paper on it in grad school when I was studying integrated pest management.  She realized one spring that the birds weren’t singing as much as they normally did each spring.  Basically through her research she discovered that DDT, a popular pesticide, had made it’s way into our ground water and thus into our food chain.  Certain species of birds were dying because their egg shells were so thin that none of the babies were making past the incubation phase.   Her book and all the controversy that it made led to state legislation all over the nation to ban dangerous pesticides.  And how did she die? Breast cancer; the incidence of which has gone up considerably since WWII when more chemicals began to be regularly dumped into the environment.   Reminds me of Marie Curie and radium in some ways.

No one can eliminate his/her exposure to chemicals completely.  But I have to cringe whenever I see commercials for scented candles and oils and sprays that companies want you to spray around your house.  If your house stinks all the time, clean it.  Quit covering up the stank with chemicals for cripe’s sakes.

On that note then, my resolutions to eat better are going well.  We hardly drink anymore (boo!!!!  beer tastes good dammit), I’ve had fried food once and am eating better overall.  Do I feel better?  Not yet.  I have a feeling that eventually I will.

I leave you with some KC fog shots.  It’s been kinda creepy/romantic outside.  I think I’m ready for April but love that we’ve had snow and fog to change things up around here a bit.

Tschus.

Posted in Blogs, Books, Health | 2 Comments »

11. January 2010 by Bex.

Isn’t that what Mr. Magoo used to say?  Maybe I’m not remembering it right.  I had my eyes dilated today around 9:30 and things are still a bit blurry.  This is what I felt like driving around today:

Yes, I realize I should not have been driving.  I used to really love watching old re-runs of Mr. Magoo.  Maybe I’ll have to do a stitch of him soon.  Yeah………that’s the ticket.

Rowdy is doing as well as Rowdy can be.  No seizures since the initial one but he has messed on the floor.  Considering it was below zero a lot, I don’t blame him.  He’s been hella picky about eating though and that is a pain in the ass.  We are trying different cooked and canned foods.  He likes only the shit that’s really bad for him.  Just like a human I guess.   Unfortunately straying from his diet makes him want more water which makes him have to pee a lot more.  So more accidents.

Life quality is still good though so we will not put him to sleep yet.

This weekend was pretty mellow.  I wanted to stay close to home because I took my second shot for RA.  I didn’t feel any side effects until the next day.   Here is a quick look at how easy it is to administer:

The side effects for me were sweating, hot flashes, racing heart, stuffiness and sinus headache.  Benadryl helps a lot.  I’ll remember that next time.  Hopefully in another month or so I’ll start to feel the positive effects.

Not much else is going on.  The only other thing I can talk about is the weather.  That’s a good sign it is time to end this post.

Tschus!

PS

In finding the following image (in which I see myself and Rowdy)…

…I found a blog which compares the United States with Mr. Magoo.  Only the blogger calls the US, Amerikkka, and says the US is like Magoo in its relations to the Muslim world.  I could explain further but I feel like just linking it will put me on some kind of watch list so I’ll let you read it for yourself.  http://ruminations52.blogspot.com/2007/02/amerikkka-as-mr.html Well, whatever your feeling on our government and its blunders, I am not sure comparing it with the KKK is right.  But whatever.

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3. January 2010 by Bex.

Rowdy seems ok today.  He still won’t eat much and I’m not sure if he’s pooping either.  A healthy dump is a sign of good things so that’s what I’m looking for.  At this point we’d be fine even if he did it in the house.  I’ll talk to the vet tomorrow and see if we need to come in for an exam.  Hopefully he will be ok.  I hate crying and feel like I’ve done enough lately.  Crying really doesn’t help a sinus infection either.

We spent a good deal of last night cooking and drinking and playing Beatles Rock Band.  Thankfully Ron doesn’t mind my attempt at singing.  He’s good at the guitar part and I can at least hit most of the pitches so it was fun.  I grew up on The Beatles but I just never realized how fucked up the lyrics got towards the late ’60’s.  You don’t really appreciate how drugged up they were until you try to sing the lyrics.  Fun stuff.

The graphics are good too because there is a lot of detail given to their instruments.  They also really nailed the various looks that the band went through over the years.

Video games are a great distraction as well as a nice stress relief.  Unless you are playing Mario on the Wii.  We still can’t get past that last castle.  Fucking Bowser.  I can’t imagine trying to play with more then two people at once.

So it’s a new year and for some reason people are sometimes compelled to make resolutions or reevaluate life.  I’m not so silly as to think just because we started this year off with a canine crisis that my whole year is destined to be shitty.  Quite honestly last year was really hard and not that great overall, but we got through it without taking things out on each other.  Ron’s been absolutely supportive and wonderful through all the ups and downs.  No matter how shitty it all gets, he is always the one constant and happy thing in my life.

I have come to some conclusions though; some lessons learned.  I’m going to stop trying to explain to people what the hell is wrong with me and why I can’t do everything they ask of me.  I can’t make someone understand and I’m no longer going to try.  I just don’t give a crap anymore what they think or don’t understand.  It’s too much energy.  This blog is my main vent and it’s free so I’ll just put it all here.  Lucky you!!!!  (I do promise, however, that not all blogs will be a bitch-fest.  There is more to life out there, somewhere.)

I’ve also concluded that I can’t sit and feel sorry for myself unless I know I’ve tried everything to help myself.  So I’ve looked into my conditions a bit more and most people agree that dietary changes can help with some symptoms.  I can add more veggies and fruit and organic animal products to my life.  But I’ll have to limit fun things like fried foods, sweets and alcohol.  Boo, hiss.  Meh.  I’m going to stay out of smokey places as much as possible as well.  I’m also going back to swimming and water therapy because if I do it 2-3 times a week, I’m going to at least have some physical stress relief.  It’s finding that balance between doing too much and too little that is so damn tricky.  Plus, there is a hot tub there I can use.  You just don’t know what fun is until you’ve sat in a hot tub with a bunch of old people at the community center.  Hawt.   Me and my tattoos… and lots of old people.  Just picture that in your mind for a second…  And when I’ve figured out the pattern to follow for that, I’ll try yoga.  Why not?  If it was horrible for you, would it be so popular?  Don’t answer that.  The thought of colonics just popped in my mind.  (Seriously people, you don’t have years worth of shit built up in your guts.  You just don’t.)  And finally, I need to rid myself of one of my stressors and that is my job.  I love what I do but, well I can’t get into it much here.  Something in my career life needs to change for the better.

I leave you with an image I found doing one of my Google image searches.  It just makes me giggle….a lot.   Enjoy.

Tschus.

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