Drive-By Update... Sort Of
Every time I start to think of making an LJ post, it seems the time and energy I have available to do it doesn't equal the size of the update I need to make. Hence I delay and delay and delay and the amount of stuff that has happened since the previous update just gets larger. I will make an attempt and a swift summation.
Evil Tooth Infection Before the Holidays
A week before we were going out of town, one of my lower molars became infected. On top of it, we were in the middle of ARCTIC BLAST 2008! So my regular dentist was not available because of snow. Long story short, it took me three or four days before I got into see a competent dentist to take a look at me and tell me that I needed a root canal. Luckily he did it right then and there and my agony was finally beginning to subside. Grant was a darling and took great care of me during my suffering. I healed up just in time to rush out a couple of outstanding client deliverables and pack.
No Sleep for the Snowed-In
We stayed up all night before the flight, cleaning house and packing... something we would have done earlier if it hadn't been for the tooth insanity. It started snowing the night before our flight and we were worried about ice and flight cancellations. So we decided to get a cab around 3:30 am and get to the airport 4 hours before our flight. Our flight left right on time without incident.
We Are the Luckiest People Going Out of Town
When we arrive in Vegas, I call the friend who is checking on the cats. An hour and a half after our flight left the airport, the airport closed down and all flights were canceled. Talk about skin of the teeth!
Two Nights in Vegas
We were on our way to visit my grandmother in Nevada (biological grandmother on my mother's side) and decided to take a two night break in Vegas. We stayed in The Orleans hotel and casino, which is our usual... They have fairly nice rooms and often offer little freebies and specials. They are a bit off the strip, so we are usually able to get a good deal. We paid $80 for two nights, left $100 ahead from the casino, and got a free meal. And the casino was like its own little universe... We ate there for most of the time, slept in a lot, and watched a movie at the big movie theater inside. We even played some arcade games and had room service. It was a nice wind-down after all the craziness. We went down to the strip for a couple of hours and had a disappointing sushi dinner, checked out the Paris casino and some of the shopping stuff, then spent the rest of the evening at the hotel, before checking out the next day and getting our rental car for our visit to my grandmother's.
First Christmas with Grandma
We spent four nights in Pahrump with my grandma and left the day after Christmas. You see, my grandmother and I didn't become close until right before my mother passed away. My mother kept family away as much as possible, and it was only during the most desperate years of her life that a coworker of my mother's managed to reconnect me with my grandmother so that we could work together to help my mother with her alcoholism. I have visited my grandmother a couple of times before, but this was the first Christmas we had ever spent together. It was a mostly uneventful trip with lots of casino buffets, weak coffee, cigarette smoke, and television gameshows. We exchanged a few gifts while there and played a lot with her dog. She seemed really happy to have us there, and it is always nice to spend some time with her because I get to know her a little bit better. She gave me some more family history and told me a lot about her own personal family history and the suffering she experienced in her youth. That's a story in and of itself.
Family Reunion in Baltimore
My stepfather's side of the family is huge, and very well-connected. Also, my stepdad is mixed Panamanian and African American, so the family varies across this spectrum. His parents were having their 50th wedding anniversary, which was arranged by one of his two brothers, my Uncle Bryan, the person I am closest to on that side of the family (other than my dad, of course). The ceremony was lovely and I got to meet about 80 people on that side of the family. It was definitely a lot more fun than most white gatherings I've been to, and everyone was really friendly, huggy, and accepting. A lot of line dancing and laughter and sharp outfits. My dad's mother adores me for some reason I can't comprehend and gets very emotional every time she sees me, showing me off to anyone and everyone and hugging me constantly. I can't complain. Grant was also very well-received, everyone loved him and he made friends with my other uncle's wife, who is a really cool lady who I've always enjoyed talking to and hanging with.
The next day we spent the whole day in the hotel watching a "House" marathon on USA and ate sushi that we had purchased from a huge Chinese market the day before.
EDIT: Grant informs me that I should probably clarify that we had actually planned to stay in Baltimore extra days to hang out with family, but that most of the family had left at this point and my uncle was too exhausted from arranging the event to do anything but rest, so we ended up just staying in our room and watching House instead.
Two Nights in D.C.
Uncle Bryan dropped us off in D.C. after giving us his "30 cent tour" and taking me to his favorite store in Georgetown, "Commander Salamander's". We checked in at our hotel and napped, then did a nighttime walking tour of the capital. We walked through the ice skating rink park, went by the White House, and slipped in for an hour of looking around through the Natural History Museum just before they closed. That night we happened upon an old favorite restaurant of Grant's from South Africa called "Nando's". They had a spicy peri peri chicken that Grant had often raved to me about in the past. We had a delicious three course meal, the highlight of which was the peri peri chicken livers.
The next day we got up a little later than planned, ate the most awesome continental breakfast I have ever seen (they had everything, even biscuits and gravy, eggs, and sausage), then walked to the National Museum of Art. Much to my surprise they allowed photography, so I took as many pictures as I could before my camera battery died. So many great artists, so much beauty. We ended up spending our whole day there, up until closing time.
That night we wandered around Chinatown for a bit and went through some little shops. We were struggling to decide where to eat, so I suggested we just go back to Nando's and get as much nostalgia in as we could before going back home. It was good the second time around, too.
Back Home, New Year's Eve
When we got back home, it was the middle of the day, which was nice, as we usually get back late at night. The cats had put pawprints over every available surface, so we spent the good part of two hours cleaning up after them. There was no snow left when we got back... We had missed as much as 16 inches, according to friends' accounts. We unpacked our bags and got settled in. I took a long nap. Then we got pinged to go to a friend's house for an impromptu New Year's Eve gathering. We decided we'd feel lame staying home on NYE, so we went an hour before midnight and ended up staying and chatting until two. It was a lovely evening.
Four Days Off Before Going Back?
We had two weekdays and a weekend left before needing to go back to work full-steam. I took care of a few things, but mostly rested. You see, we didn't avoid catching a cold during our journey (I think we got it at the reunion, and not on the airplane as one would normally guess). We were both feeling ick, though Grant was developing a cold far worse than mine. We spent much of the time tidying and watching television as we enjoyed a brief return of snow.
Time With Friends, Then Food Poisoning Strikes
Saturday night we joined some friends for dinner at a Korean restaurant, then went to dessert at Pix. Later that evening I exhibited the gross and disgusting symptoms of food poisoning. The next day, so did Grant. It was more than a bit troubling, but luckily it passed relatively quickly.
Sunday night we had the "have to go back" blues. Which turned out to be pointless for Grant, as he was way too sick to go into work the next day. I went into the office for a bit and got a few things done, then worked through the evening. We had dinner at Proper Eats and enjoyed the first healthy meal we had had in days.
More Alarming Sickness, Something New!
The next morning around 4:30am I started having some fairly alarming symptoms that are too gross to go into here that I thought might be an extension of the food poisoning. It turned out not to be that, but it took me until the middle of the day to figure out what was wrong with me. I was in a lot of pain and had terrible nausea for a good while. After being sick in a number of ways, I soaked in the tub for an hour and finally got settled enough to rest. I had to cancel a meeting and a photo shoot because of it. Oddly, I was better enough to work that afternoon. I had been wishing I had less to do that week, and I guess the universe provided in a weird, unpleasant way.
Grant tried to go into work on Wednesday but everyone made him go home because he sounded so terrible. I picked him up and we had a nice breakfast at Ladybug while working.
So I have basically had four health issues in the last month, and Grant has had three, on top of all the other craziness. I hope that's the last of it for a good while. I have been better since yesterday, and Grant finally seems to be showing signs of significant improvement as of tonight.
Back in the Swing and Feeling Better
I'll be honest. Yesterday I was contemplating us picking everything up and moving to South Africa and getting away from it all and being artists and writers at least half time, while living it up on US Dollars and living close to the beach in Capetown. I have a feeling that all of this getting sick has something to do with unrealized goals, and the anxiety due to the fact that I have had little opportunity in the last couple of months to really focus on making progress on those goals. However, finally getting the opportunity to get some work done and knock off some things on my to do list is helping a lot for my morale. I have been finding that the break has helped my productivity and I am more on top of things for now. It's also been nice staying at home and working with Grant here.
28 days x 12
A friend of mine told me that she heard somewhere that, if you can keep a habit for just 28 days, it will be much easier to keep it from there on out. So the key is to just focus on those 28 days and worry about the forever part later. I have a hard time keeping up new habits, so I liked the concept. I decided to map out goals for new habits to try every month. I had to put at least two or three in each month, because there was a lot I wanted to do, or I wanted to incrementally get more involved with some things. This month Grant and I decided to just try one month without television (except on Sundays, for relaxation). Since we want to get in the habit of exercising and want to do more around the house, and the TV was our biggest timesucker, we figured it would be good to kick off the year by trying to spend our free time more productively, or to at least find other modes of entertainment. It's only been a couple of days, but so far I am really enjoying it. I have actually caught up on some personal tasks, chatted with friends online, kept things a little tidier around the house, and gotten a bit further ahead on work as a result. And of course, here I be, journaling.
The television thing probably won't be permanent, but we needed something extreme to wean us off, as we had become a bit addicted.
I'm also flossing my teeth every day. I have no idea why I avoided doing it for so long "for lack of time". It's funny just how easy and quick it is. Well, tt would be funny, except that new cavity between my teeth isn't laughing.
New Year, Same Old Proclamations
Sometime in November of last year I was doing a lot of exploration of myself and trying to get to the bottom of some of the neuroses that have held me back for so long. My habit of focusing on being noticed over focusing on work that brings me joy, and getting more disciplined and permitting myself that time for myself at the expense of some other things were primary areas of contemplation. Of course, the end of the year was just too damned chaotic for me to make much progress, so I here I am, jumping on the resolutions bandwagon. This year will be about me transforming my own view of myself, and embracing my role as storyteller, however that manifests. I want to have a show of related art pieces ready by the end of May. I want to begin earning money from my artwork, maybe enough to pay for some of the time to make new art. I want to get into a daily writing habit. I want to become dedicated to myself and my creativity in a way I have not done yet. And I've set some achievable goals to get closer to those desires.
It also wouldn't hurt to keep some money coming in through all the financial upheaval. But so far, I think I will be okay.
So that is my update. I have other thoughts stewing about the various themes that became apparent on our trip and the things I got to thinking about, but that's another post for another time.
Here's hoping that this new year is full of achievement, for everyone!
Evil Tooth Infection Before the Holidays
A week before we were going out of town, one of my lower molars became infected. On top of it, we were in the middle of ARCTIC BLAST 2008! So my regular dentist was not available because of snow. Long story short, it took me three or four days before I got into see a competent dentist to take a look at me and tell me that I needed a root canal. Luckily he did it right then and there and my agony was finally beginning to subside. Grant was a darling and took great care of me during my suffering. I healed up just in time to rush out a couple of outstanding client deliverables and pack.
No Sleep for the Snowed-In
We stayed up all night before the flight, cleaning house and packing... something we would have done earlier if it hadn't been for the tooth insanity. It started snowing the night before our flight and we were worried about ice and flight cancellations. So we decided to get a cab around 3:30 am and get to the airport 4 hours before our flight. Our flight left right on time without incident.
We Are the Luckiest People Going Out of Town
When we arrive in Vegas, I call the friend who is checking on the cats. An hour and a half after our flight left the airport, the airport closed down and all flights were canceled. Talk about skin of the teeth!
Two Nights in Vegas
We were on our way to visit my grandmother in Nevada (biological grandmother on my mother's side) and decided to take a two night break in Vegas. We stayed in The Orleans hotel and casino, which is our usual... They have fairly nice rooms and often offer little freebies and specials. They are a bit off the strip, so we are usually able to get a good deal. We paid $80 for two nights, left $100 ahead from the casino, and got a free meal. And the casino was like its own little universe... We ate there for most of the time, slept in a lot, and watched a movie at the big movie theater inside. We even played some arcade games and had room service. It was a nice wind-down after all the craziness. We went down to the strip for a couple of hours and had a disappointing sushi dinner, checked out the Paris casino and some of the shopping stuff, then spent the rest of the evening at the hotel, before checking out the next day and getting our rental car for our visit to my grandmother's.
First Christmas with Grandma
We spent four nights in Pahrump with my grandma and left the day after Christmas. You see, my grandmother and I didn't become close until right before my mother passed away. My mother kept family away as much as possible, and it was only during the most desperate years of her life that a coworker of my mother's managed to reconnect me with my grandmother so that we could work together to help my mother with her alcoholism. I have visited my grandmother a couple of times before, but this was the first Christmas we had ever spent together. It was a mostly uneventful trip with lots of casino buffets, weak coffee, cigarette smoke, and television gameshows. We exchanged a few gifts while there and played a lot with her dog. She seemed really happy to have us there, and it is always nice to spend some time with her because I get to know her a little bit better. She gave me some more family history and told me a lot about her own personal family history and the suffering she experienced in her youth. That's a story in and of itself.
Family Reunion in Baltimore
My stepfather's side of the family is huge, and very well-connected. Also, my stepdad is mixed Panamanian and African American, so the family varies across this spectrum. His parents were having their 50th wedding anniversary, which was arranged by one of his two brothers, my Uncle Bryan, the person I am closest to on that side of the family (other than my dad, of course). The ceremony was lovely and I got to meet about 80 people on that side of the family. It was definitely a lot more fun than most white gatherings I've been to, and everyone was really friendly, huggy, and accepting. A lot of line dancing and laughter and sharp outfits. My dad's mother adores me for some reason I can't comprehend and gets very emotional every time she sees me, showing me off to anyone and everyone and hugging me constantly. I can't complain. Grant was also very well-received, everyone loved him and he made friends with my other uncle's wife, who is a really cool lady who I've always enjoyed talking to and hanging with.
The next day we spent the whole day in the hotel watching a "House" marathon on USA and ate sushi that we had purchased from a huge Chinese market the day before.
EDIT: Grant informs me that I should probably clarify that we had actually planned to stay in Baltimore extra days to hang out with family, but that most of the family had left at this point and my uncle was too exhausted from arranging the event to do anything but rest, so we ended up just staying in our room and watching House instead.
Two Nights in D.C.
Uncle Bryan dropped us off in D.C. after giving us his "30 cent tour" and taking me to his favorite store in Georgetown, "Commander Salamander's". We checked in at our hotel and napped, then did a nighttime walking tour of the capital. We walked through the ice skating rink park, went by the White House, and slipped in for an hour of looking around through the Natural History Museum just before they closed. That night we happened upon an old favorite restaurant of Grant's from South Africa called "Nando's". They had a spicy peri peri chicken that Grant had often raved to me about in the past. We had a delicious three course meal, the highlight of which was the peri peri chicken livers.
The next day we got up a little later than planned, ate the most awesome continental breakfast I have ever seen (they had everything, even biscuits and gravy, eggs, and sausage), then walked to the National Museum of Art. Much to my surprise they allowed photography, so I took as many pictures as I could before my camera battery died. So many great artists, so much beauty. We ended up spending our whole day there, up until closing time.
That night we wandered around Chinatown for a bit and went through some little shops. We were struggling to decide where to eat, so I suggested we just go back to Nando's and get as much nostalgia in as we could before going back home. It was good the second time around, too.
Back Home, New Year's Eve
When we got back home, it was the middle of the day, which was nice, as we usually get back late at night. The cats had put pawprints over every available surface, so we spent the good part of two hours cleaning up after them. There was no snow left when we got back... We had missed as much as 16 inches, according to friends' accounts. We unpacked our bags and got settled in. I took a long nap. Then we got pinged to go to a friend's house for an impromptu New Year's Eve gathering. We decided we'd feel lame staying home on NYE, so we went an hour before midnight and ended up staying and chatting until two. It was a lovely evening.
Four Days Off Before Going Back?
We had two weekdays and a weekend left before needing to go back to work full-steam. I took care of a few things, but mostly rested. You see, we didn't avoid catching a cold during our journey (I think we got it at the reunion, and not on the airplane as one would normally guess). We were both feeling ick, though Grant was developing a cold far worse than mine. We spent much of the time tidying and watching television as we enjoyed a brief return of snow.
Time With Friends, Then Food Poisoning Strikes
Saturday night we joined some friends for dinner at a Korean restaurant, then went to dessert at Pix. Later that evening I exhibited the gross and disgusting symptoms of food poisoning. The next day, so did Grant. It was more than a bit troubling, but luckily it passed relatively quickly.
Sunday night we had the "have to go back" blues. Which turned out to be pointless for Grant, as he was way too sick to go into work the next day. I went into the office for a bit and got a few things done, then worked through the evening. We had dinner at Proper Eats and enjoyed the first healthy meal we had had in days.
More Alarming Sickness, Something New!
The next morning around 4:30am I started having some fairly alarming symptoms that are too gross to go into here that I thought might be an extension of the food poisoning. It turned out not to be that, but it took me until the middle of the day to figure out what was wrong with me. I was in a lot of pain and had terrible nausea for a good while. After being sick in a number of ways, I soaked in the tub for an hour and finally got settled enough to rest. I had to cancel a meeting and a photo shoot because of it. Oddly, I was better enough to work that afternoon. I had been wishing I had less to do that week, and I guess the universe provided in a weird, unpleasant way.
Grant tried to go into work on Wednesday but everyone made him go home because he sounded so terrible. I picked him up and we had a nice breakfast at Ladybug while working.
So I have basically had four health issues in the last month, and Grant has had three, on top of all the other craziness. I hope that's the last of it for a good while. I have been better since yesterday, and Grant finally seems to be showing signs of significant improvement as of tonight.
Back in the Swing and Feeling Better
I'll be honest. Yesterday I was contemplating us picking everything up and moving to South Africa and getting away from it all and being artists and writers at least half time, while living it up on US Dollars and living close to the beach in Capetown. I have a feeling that all of this getting sick has something to do with unrealized goals, and the anxiety due to the fact that I have had little opportunity in the last couple of months to really focus on making progress on those goals. However, finally getting the opportunity to get some work done and knock off some things on my to do list is helping a lot for my morale. I have been finding that the break has helped my productivity and I am more on top of things for now. It's also been nice staying at home and working with Grant here.
28 days x 12
A friend of mine told me that she heard somewhere that, if you can keep a habit for just 28 days, it will be much easier to keep it from there on out. So the key is to just focus on those 28 days and worry about the forever part later. I have a hard time keeping up new habits, so I liked the concept. I decided to map out goals for new habits to try every month. I had to put at least two or three in each month, because there was a lot I wanted to do, or I wanted to incrementally get more involved with some things. This month Grant and I decided to just try one month without television (except on Sundays, for relaxation). Since we want to get in the habit of exercising and want to do more around the house, and the TV was our biggest timesucker, we figured it would be good to kick off the year by trying to spend our free time more productively, or to at least find other modes of entertainment. It's only been a couple of days, but so far I am really enjoying it. I have actually caught up on some personal tasks, chatted with friends online, kept things a little tidier around the house, and gotten a bit further ahead on work as a result. And of course, here I be, journaling.
The television thing probably won't be permanent, but we needed something extreme to wean us off, as we had become a bit addicted.
I'm also flossing my teeth every day. I have no idea why I avoided doing it for so long "for lack of time". It's funny just how easy and quick it is. Well, tt would be funny, except that new cavity between my teeth isn't laughing.
New Year, Same Old Proclamations
Sometime in November of last year I was doing a lot of exploration of myself and trying to get to the bottom of some of the neuroses that have held me back for so long. My habit of focusing on being noticed over focusing on work that brings me joy, and getting more disciplined and permitting myself that time for myself at the expense of some other things were primary areas of contemplation. Of course, the end of the year was just too damned chaotic for me to make much progress, so I here I am, jumping on the resolutions bandwagon. This year will be about me transforming my own view of myself, and embracing my role as storyteller, however that manifests. I want to have a show of related art pieces ready by the end of May. I want to begin earning money from my artwork, maybe enough to pay for some of the time to make new art. I want to get into a daily writing habit. I want to become dedicated to myself and my creativity in a way I have not done yet. And I've set some achievable goals to get closer to those desires.
It also wouldn't hurt to keep some money coming in through all the financial upheaval. But so far, I think I will be okay.
So that is my update. I have other thoughts stewing about the various themes that became apparent on our trip and the things I got to thinking about, but that's another post for another time.
Here's hoping that this new year is full of achievement, for everyone!