Birthdays, the flu, musicals, and more.
Wow, I've been away for awhile.
My 37th (ugh) birthday was March 11. I was not happy about it. I felt, and still feel, like I don't really have anything to show for my life. I've achieved nothing, nothing memorable about me, nothing to leave behind when I die someday.
I did have a very nice birthday, though! My best friend Mary's birthday was the day before mine, so we had a shared birthday party at a local bowling alley, with my wifey and my nephews. It was a lot of fun!! My nephews and my sister got me a lot of porcelain dolls, DOCTOR WHO socks, a huge Hello Kitty bag (I'm going to use it for loom knitting supplies), and a Tim Horton's gift card. My friend Mary got me a really nice gardening set. My wifey got me all kinds of things, my favorite two things being a light-up cactus sign and a coffee cup that says "wifey" on it. My ambigu-sweetie gave me money so I could get my haircut. It's still long, but a lot shorter than it was. It's a couple of inches past my shoulders now, with lots of layers. My mom sent me 50 dollars, which I'm going to use to buy large gardening containers, because I don't think anything is going to grow in this extra-shitty soil on this side of town.
The day after my birthday, I went with my sister and my nephews to see the musical SIDE SHOW, which was being presented by the Gallery Players in my city, which is a well-established theatre company run by the Jewish Community Center. It had pretty high production values for being community theatre, and everyone was absolutely amazing in the cast!!! My sister and I have loved SIDE SHOW since we were teenagers and saw Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley singing "Who Will Love Me As I Am" on Rosie O'Donnell's tv show in the 1990s. This local production was modeled on the recent Broadway revival, which had quite a few changes to some of the songs. The only change that we didn't care for was the elimination of "Tunnel of Love," which was changed into "Big Wedding Show." My sister and cried so many damned times throughout the show. Like, full-on sobs. My nephews Josh was sitting between us, and he kept looking back and forth between me: his sobbing aunt, and my sister: his sobbing mom. Haha!
I've really been getting into going to see local theatre productions the past few years. A few years back, a local group did NEXT TO NORMAL at a community rec center. It was a pretty bare-bones set, but the actors were incredible (I had mixed feelings about the actor playing Gabe, though, because he was VERY obviously copying Aaron Tveit's Broadway performance, which can easily be found on YouTube; I adore Aaron Tveit, but I wish the local actor would have brought something of himself to the role, rather than just mimicking Tveit, literally down to the slightest raised eyebrows). Then, a little over a year ago, my sister and I went to see a local production of KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN in a tiny theatre, which had a pretty extravagant set, and was amazing. And, as I said, we also just saw a local production of SIDE SHOW. AND, in June, a local theatre group is going to put on ASPECTS OF LOVE, which we're VERY excited about, because that's another lesser-known musical that my sister and I have loved since we were kids (as adults, it's more obvious just how fucked the plot is, but still).
Then, just after my birthday, I got sick. Running a fever, very achy, headache, runny nose, sore throat, general malaise. It felt a lot like the flu. I had a flu shot last Autumn, but the flu shot is apparently only 35% effective this year. I went to the doctor, and sure enough, I had the flu. I was sick for a little over a week. The doctor put me on Tamiflu, which helped, but dehydrated me to the point that my lips were literally cracked and bleeding.
THEN, before I was recovered from the flu, I developed one of my notorious abscesses on my labia. It healed up on its own, but my immune system was already working overtime, and I already have autoimmune issues, so I ended up having one of my flare-ups. My joints swelled up and were very painful, couldn't wear my rings because my fingers were so swollen, etc. It was quite miserable. Was so tired, but in too much pain to sleep, could barely hold a fork, couldn't brush my hair, etc. I had some old leftover prednisone, so I took that, and the flare-up cleared after a few days.
Luckily for me, I was feeling mostly better by St. Patrick's Day, so I was able to dress up and have some drinks with my wifey.
The day after St. Patrick's Day, we took Nate to an event called Sensitive Bunny at the mall. It was a sensory-friendly event where kids got to have their pictures taken with the Easter Bunny, could get snacks, and do arts and crafts. We got a really cute picture of Nate with the Easter Bunny. Then, we took Nate to play in the play area of the mall. Once he got too overwhelmed and started acting out, we told him it was time to leave. Unfortunately, this caused him to literally run full-speed across the mall. My wifey wasn't able to chase him due to her health issues, so I had to chase him. I heard people laughing, and I keep thinking they were laughing because I was a fat lady running after a kid and failing to catch him. Eventually, Nate stopped and came running to me, and we left. But that took all my spoons for the day, because I was JUST feeling better after the whole flu-abscess-flare trifecta, so I had to spend the rest of the day lying down.
We also went and saw an autism-specific school, to see about enrolling Nate there for kindergarten this Autumn. It was such a nice place, and all the kids looked so happy. They have music therapy and theatre therapy! Nate would also get his speech and occupational therapies there, as well as naturalistic ABA therapy, and regular academics. And they have small class sizes, sensory break rooms, etc. I really hope everything works out so he can go there this Autumn.
My 37th (ugh) birthday was March 11. I was not happy about it. I felt, and still feel, like I don't really have anything to show for my life. I've achieved nothing, nothing memorable about me, nothing to leave behind when I die someday.
I did have a very nice birthday, though! My best friend Mary's birthday was the day before mine, so we had a shared birthday party at a local bowling alley, with my wifey and my nephews. It was a lot of fun!! My nephews and my sister got me a lot of porcelain dolls, DOCTOR WHO socks, a huge Hello Kitty bag (I'm going to use it for loom knitting supplies), and a Tim Horton's gift card. My friend Mary got me a really nice gardening set. My wifey got me all kinds of things, my favorite two things being a light-up cactus sign and a coffee cup that says "wifey" on it. My ambigu-sweetie gave me money so I could get my haircut. It's still long, but a lot shorter than it was. It's a couple of inches past my shoulders now, with lots of layers. My mom sent me 50 dollars, which I'm going to use to buy large gardening containers, because I don't think anything is going to grow in this extra-shitty soil on this side of town.
The day after my birthday, I went with my sister and my nephews to see the musical SIDE SHOW, which was being presented by the Gallery Players in my city, which is a well-established theatre company run by the Jewish Community Center. It had pretty high production values for being community theatre, and everyone was absolutely amazing in the cast!!! My sister and I have loved SIDE SHOW since we were teenagers and saw Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley singing "Who Will Love Me As I Am" on Rosie O'Donnell's tv show in the 1990s. This local production was modeled on the recent Broadway revival, which had quite a few changes to some of the songs. The only change that we didn't care for was the elimination of "Tunnel of Love," which was changed into "Big Wedding Show." My sister and cried so many damned times throughout the show. Like, full-on sobs. My nephews Josh was sitting between us, and he kept looking back and forth between me: his sobbing aunt, and my sister: his sobbing mom. Haha!
I've really been getting into going to see local theatre productions the past few years. A few years back, a local group did NEXT TO NORMAL at a community rec center. It was a pretty bare-bones set, but the actors were incredible (I had mixed feelings about the actor playing Gabe, though, because he was VERY obviously copying Aaron Tveit's Broadway performance, which can easily be found on YouTube; I adore Aaron Tveit, but I wish the local actor would have brought something of himself to the role, rather than just mimicking Tveit, literally down to the slightest raised eyebrows). Then, a little over a year ago, my sister and I went to see a local production of KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN in a tiny theatre, which had a pretty extravagant set, and was amazing. And, as I said, we also just saw a local production of SIDE SHOW. AND, in June, a local theatre group is going to put on ASPECTS OF LOVE, which we're VERY excited about, because that's another lesser-known musical that my sister and I have loved since we were kids (as adults, it's more obvious just how fucked the plot is, but still).
Then, just after my birthday, I got sick. Running a fever, very achy, headache, runny nose, sore throat, general malaise. It felt a lot like the flu. I had a flu shot last Autumn, but the flu shot is apparently only 35% effective this year. I went to the doctor, and sure enough, I had the flu. I was sick for a little over a week. The doctor put me on Tamiflu, which helped, but dehydrated me to the point that my lips were literally cracked and bleeding.
THEN, before I was recovered from the flu, I developed one of my notorious abscesses on my labia. It healed up on its own, but my immune system was already working overtime, and I already have autoimmune issues, so I ended up having one of my flare-ups. My joints swelled up and were very painful, couldn't wear my rings because my fingers were so swollen, etc. It was quite miserable. Was so tired, but in too much pain to sleep, could barely hold a fork, couldn't brush my hair, etc. I had some old leftover prednisone, so I took that, and the flare-up cleared after a few days.
Luckily for me, I was feeling mostly better by St. Patrick's Day, so I was able to dress up and have some drinks with my wifey.
The day after St. Patrick's Day, we took Nate to an event called Sensitive Bunny at the mall. It was a sensory-friendly event where kids got to have their pictures taken with the Easter Bunny, could get snacks, and do arts and crafts. We got a really cute picture of Nate with the Easter Bunny. Then, we took Nate to play in the play area of the mall. Once he got too overwhelmed and started acting out, we told him it was time to leave. Unfortunately, this caused him to literally run full-speed across the mall. My wifey wasn't able to chase him due to her health issues, so I had to chase him. I heard people laughing, and I keep thinking they were laughing because I was a fat lady running after a kid and failing to catch him. Eventually, Nate stopped and came running to me, and we left. But that took all my spoons for the day, because I was JUST feeling better after the whole flu-abscess-flare trifecta, so I had to spend the rest of the day lying down.
We also went and saw an autism-specific school, to see about enrolling Nate there for kindergarten this Autumn. It was such a nice place, and all the kids looked so happy. They have music therapy and theatre therapy! Nate would also get his speech and occupational therapies there, as well as naturalistic ABA therapy, and regular academics. And they have small class sizes, sensory break rooms, etc. I really hope everything works out so he can go there this Autumn.