*Jakarta Globe, 5 December 2008

We hear the sirens first and then see the flash of green as they zip past. The paramedics of Ambulance 118 are the heroes of the streets, working around the clock to save lives and lend a tender hand.

7:30 a.m.
Even in the early hours of the morning, the parking lot of Cipto Manungkusumo Hospital, or RSCM, in Central Jakarta is filling up fast.
Five ambulances are parked in front of the children’s wing. “Ambulans Darurat,” or Emergency Ambulance, has been stenciled boldly in red on the front of the forest-green vehicles.
A man with plump cheeks and a short, squared-off beard is inside one of them, checking an oxygen tank.
“We have to go to Manggarai [South Jakarta] to fill up our oxygen tanks,” Dany Widyanto says.
At 26, he’s been a paramedic for four years. An older man with a perpetual smile, dressed in the regulation blue Ambulans 118 uniform and scruffy sneakers, introduces himself as Habibi Dukhri.
“We always travel in teams of two. Dany and I take turns driving,” Habibi says.
Today the two have been paired up for their 12-hour shift, covering Central Jakarta.

8:00 a.m.
At the oxygen-filling station, Dany and Habibi run into Marlinawati Susana and Mutmainah. Known around RSCM as Marlina and Imut, the two women are also attending to their tanks before their shift begins.
“We have to check our equipment every morning because patients are more likely to die from lack of oxygen than delays in [getting to the hospital] caused by traffic jams,” Marlina says, referring to the maddening traffic conditions in the Indonesian capital.
Slender and long-limbed, she has pulled her hair back into a ponytail, accentuating her pale, heavily powdered skin.
Her partner, Imut, wears a jilbab, or headscarf, and no makeup. She lets Marlina do most of the talking.
They have both been with the ambulance unit for more than two years.
“Almost half of our crew are women. There is no difference between us [men and women],” Habibi says.
Marlina says, “People work here because they like a challenge.”
The four of them say their goodbyes and hop back into their ambulances.

8:20 a.m.
Habibi and Dany leave the oxygen station for the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta, where they are expected to “stand by” from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
They are not worried about being late; it is likely they will just be sitting there, waiting.
“In the beginning, I liked the idea of going all around the city,” Habibi says. “And after doing it for a while, I began to really enjoy it. In the hospital, there is a senior-junior system. Here, [as paramedics] we are all equals.”
In the five years that Habibi has been a paramedic, not a single patient has died in his ambulance. “Victims sometimes die when we arrive late on the scene, but never in the ambulance because we always stabilize them before moving them,” Habibi says.
Even in heavy traffic jams?
“The response time for road accidents is often longer due to traffic. Sometimes when we get there, the victim has already been taken away in a bajaj [auto-rickshaw] or taxi,” Habibi says. “We often lose victims that way.”
Ambulance 118 is a national government ambulance service. The service is free for people with welfare cards, as well as road accident victims. For house calls and hospital-to-hospital transfers, there is a flat-rate charge of Rp 200,000 ($17), regardless of mileage. The cost includes all necessary services and supplies.
“People don’t know much about us,” Habibi says. “Sometimes, when there is a road accident, say someone on a bike, they often refuse our help because they think they have to pay.”
Dany is broody and seemingly fed up. But he concedes, with a roguish gleam in his eyes, that he is in his element when on the graveyard shift: from 7:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m.
“The most exciting are the nightclub victims,” he says. “You never know what is going to happen! Someone might be drunk and try to pick a fight with us.
“That is a cause of distress for paramedics because our safety is important. If it is not safe for us, it is better we refrain from treating the victims until backup from police or another unit arrives. Don’t try to be a hero.”

8:40 a.m.
At the traffic circle in Central Jakarta, Habibi relaxes in the back of a police pick-up truck fitted with benches and a canvas roof. He has found a friend: a policeman directing the rush-hour traffic.
“We like to call ourselves street children,” Habibi says with a laugh.

9:58 a.m.
Habibi takes a call and the men get into the ambulance.
“We’re off to the north now. They are out of ambulances in Kelapa Gading because most are them are being used to take welfare card holders to the hospital,” he says. RSCM has only five operational ambulances.
“Before, when we had 15 ambulances, our response time was excellent. At times, three ambulances would converge in one place,” he says. “We aim for good response time.”
Dany sounds the siren and the ambulance sails through a red light. Drivers honk their horns in protest. They still do not know the nature of the emergency.
“We often get crank calls, so our operator will take a call, write down the information, and call the person back at their number,” Habibi explains.
The ambulance veers into the busway lane, which is lawful in an emergency. “Ambulances have priority on the road but people still don’t realize it,” Habibi says.
He rings the operator for the exact location, then reports to Habibi: “We’re standing down. There is another ambulance closer.” They turn back to Menteng, Central Jakarta.

10:45 a.m.
Habibi pulls into a small police post at Suropati Park, Menteng, to use the bathroom. Dany perches himself on a steel bench. His partner returns with milky coffee. “I smoke sometimes. In the field, we can survive all day on just coffee and cigarettes,” Dany says.
“They call us ambulans gaul [cool ambulance drivers] because we are all so young,” he laughs.

11:00 a.m.
Habibi’s phone rings. “Here we go,” he says. “Standby for a protest? MPR/DPR? Inside or outside the building?” he asks the operator, referring to the People’s Consultative Assembly and the House of Representatives buildings.
“Two units have been called to be on standby for this protest,” he tells Dany. They get in the ambulance and Habibi starts reading his newspaper.

11:20 a.m.
Dany parks in the street outside the legislative complex and walks over to meet Suyitno and Eka, from the Ambulance 118 unit in from Tanjung Duren, West Jakarta.
“The protest has not even started,” Suyitno reports.

11:30 a.m.
A man in uniform approaches the ambulance. A young woman wearing a pink T-shirt is slumped in his arms, her long hair covering her face.
A crowd forms. Within seconds the woman is being given oxygen through a nasal cannula.
“Wake up, Mega,” Dany says, once he has discovered the victim’s name.
Habibi pops around the door with an oxygen mask. “Dany, use this instead.”
Habibi and his colleagues chat with the victim’s father, seemingly unperturbed by the situation. Her husband appears with a plastic cup of tea.
The woman stirs, managing to raise her head just enough to sip the sweet tea.
“How is she?” Suyitno inquires. “Stable,” comes the reply from inside the ambulance.
The woman had followed her father to Jakarta from Ngawi, East Java Province, to support him in his protest to increase the tenure of village administrative leaders.
Although Habibi advises the patient to rest, the husband calls a taxi and they leave.

12:05 p.m.
A man approaches Eka and asks her to check his blood pressure, which she does. It is not long before a Civilian Protection Service officer enters the ambulance. “What is your complaint, sir?” He too is worried about low-blood pressure. Then comes an elderly gentleman with a black cap.
“I have a headache,” he says to Eka, as she dutifully pumps the blood pressure meter.
Habibi makes small talk with the men about the protest.
“If one comes in, the rest follow. They are often looking for headache meds,” explains Habibi, as Suyitno informs the growing crowd of the same thing.
“We don’t supply oral meds,” he tells the people lining up. “We only carry them for emergencies and evacuations.”
Three more men ask Habibi to check their blood pressure. “They will all line up because they think we are offering freebies,” Suyitno says.
“My chest hurts,” one man says.

12:50 p.m.
Eka wants to pray at her post in Tanjung Duren, West Jakarta. Everyone heads there for lunch.

1:00 p.m.
Habibi heads to the upper level of the Tanjung Duren Fire Station with Dany. They meet up with Purwiyanto, the area coordinator for West Jakarta. “We don’t have a post of our own, so we are sharing with the fire department,” Purwiyanto says, as the two paramedics settle on the floor.
Habibi rings headquarters to report on his whereabouts. On TV, actor Gading Marten is trying to find lines on a show called “Missing Lyrics.” Looking on, the paramedics dig into their meals.

2:40 p.m.
“We are picking up a patient from Pelni hospital and bringing him home. We do not know the condition of the patient yet,” Habibi says as they leave the fire department.
Turning onto Jalan S. Parman, they are faced with a traffic jam. “This is Jakarta,” comments Habibi as Dany switches on the siren. Dany looks agitated. “I don’t like jams,” he says. Habibi falls asleep.

3:05 p.m.
“Don’t take a ticket,” Habibi tells Dany as they enter Pelni Hospital in Central Jakarta. Once stationed in front of the emergency doors, Habibi sets up the gurney. Dany rolls it in.
“Straight ahead,” instructs the hospital staff member. The patient’s family greets them. A relative helps Habibi and Dany with the best way to get back home. “Go past Pondok Kopi because it is not too far. The patient has sores on his back,” she says.
In a darkened room with three beds and green pleated curtains, the patient lies on his back: A frail elderly man, covered only with a blanket, he has had a stroke and been at the hospital a week. A nurse dresses him carefully.
Dany and Habibi have their latex gloves on. “Sir, we are going to lift you up slowly, OK?” Habibi says.
They wrap the patient in blankets and lift him onto the gurney. “Does it hurt?” Dany asks. The patient moans, almost inaudibly.

3:20 p.m.
Everyone piles into the ambulance. The patient’s daughter-in-law sits up front. Habibi is with the patient in back. The patient asks Habibi to pull off his Band-Aid saying it pains him. “It hurts from the injection, Pak. This is to prevent bleeding,” Habibi explains.
He starts making small talk. “How old are you, Pak?” he asks. “72.” He gently holds the old man’s hand and takes his blood pressure. “Slowly, Dany,” he says as the road gets bumpy. The patient’s feet peek out of the blue hospital blankets, crusted with sores and cracked skin.
“Sometimes we travel out of town, like to Solo in Central Java when patients want to spend their last days at home,” Habibi says. “Then we would have a mechanic with us, in case the vehicle breaks down.”
The patient asks Habibi to scratch an itch on his left arm. Up front, Dany is trying to find the exit. “There have been coma patients who go home to die. We have to be there when the families pull the plug,” Habibi says.

4:10 p.m.
The ambulance arrives at the patient’s home in Pulo Gebang, East Jakarta. Three dogs roam around the patio; paw prints pepper the floor. Dany and Habibi roll the gurney into the house. With the help of the patient’s relatives, they lift him onto the bed. “Pak, get better soon,” Habibi says before walking back to the car.
He fills out a form with the patient’s details for the relatives to sign.

4:20 p.m.
Habibi fills out the daily log book and helps Dany with directions back to Central Jakarta. “A GPS system was set up for Jakarta but due to a lack of funds, it was never turned on,” Dany says. “We know our way around Central Jakarta but sometimes we get calls to unfamiliar places and have to ask for directions.”

5:25 p.m.
Back at RSCM, the parking lot is full. Dany manages to find a spot and turns off the engine. Habibi goes to find snacks. “Before we had a post at this hospital, but no more. So we chill in the ambulance,” Dany says.
When Habibi returns with fried snacks, they talk about the rise of new ambulances in Jakarta hospitals.
“What irks me is that some people still think of us as mere drivers. It is to be expected, I guess, with all the fancy new ambulances nowadays being driven by drivers who are not trained paramedics like us,” Habibi says.
“Yet, people only trust us when it comes to big emergencies,” Dany adds. “Because if you compare us with fresh medical grads, they lose out to our experience in the field.”

6:00 pm
Habibi has gone for evening prayers. Two women approach the car.
“Pak, can you take a patient to an old folks’ home on Radio Dalam?” they ask Dany. He asks about the patient’s condition. He is still in the intensive care unit.
Dany calls headquarters to find out if the night-shift paramedics are available.
“Can you not take him yourself?” the woman asks.
“I am sorry, it’s procedure to have two paramedics in the ambulance,” Dany says. “And we recommend moving the patient late at night, when there is less traffic. Tonight, all the patients that have to be transported from RSCM are ‘bad’ ones,” Dany says.
“A ‘bad’ patient does not have all his ABCs [airways, breathing, circulation] in working order. Usually it’s the airway that’s most problematic. Our patient today was a ‘good’ one because he was stable.
“Sometimes hospitals are funny. They call us to take patients away when they are critical or ‘bad’ because they consider it bad luck if they die in the hospital.
It begins to rain. Habibi returns and Asep, the Central Jakarta area coordinator, jumps into the ambulance. “Not going home?” Dany asks him. Asep snorts, “Ha! I am sleeping in the ambulance tonight!”

7:20 p.m.
The rain stops. Habibi and Dany spill out of the ambulance into the wet parking lot and head home.

The first time I woke up Sunday morning, I was thinking maybe I should not drive. I went back to sleep and woke up at 8AM.  Usually night sweats happen early in the night. This time I soaked me and the bed in the morning. I took a shower and was soooooo weak and out of breath, but figured I should go to church.

I had a heck of a time getting in the van. I think it got a foot taller! I made it to Lake Placid and was VERY surprised to see that’s what happened to our snow….they got it. Not a speck of snow here in Bloomingdale. The van is not working well. All that money and it’s in worse shape! The transmission is screwed up. I have to rev the engine to get it to shift up. I am not happy with the mechanic

As soon as I got out of the van I felt worse than I had while driving. This time my dizziness and weakness went right to the pit of my stomach. I spent the whole time there desperately trying not to barf. My face and tongue were doing the fasciculation thing….twitching like crazy and forming a sea of lumps and bumps on my tongue. That feels really weird! My muscles don’t work right when that is going on. My eyes almost shut and this time my mouth and eyes were watering. Oh, sooooo queasy

Just like last time I went to church, it was all I could do to make it to the end of Sacrament Meeting. I burped and hiccuped ALL the way home. Made myself a sausage patty and pancake and slept a few hours. Before I fell asleep, I gave in and turned on my baseboard heater for the first time this season.

Woke up weak and confused. What’s with the confusion now days? It happens more often than not that I can’t remember what day it is or where I am. Creepy.

I can’t remember if I have mentioned my arms. My upper arms have gained a lot of weight in a couple of weeks. They also hurt A LOT. Most nights the pain from my arms and legs makes it hard to sleep. I hope this is all stuff related to myasthenia gravis that will improve with IVIg. To try to describe it, it’s as if my muscles do not have enough strength to do what I ask of them and when I keep trying anyway, it’s as if my muscles are tearing like cheap cheesecloth. Fun, huh?

Geeze! Too hot in here! I wonder what I am used to? With the thermostat on 60 I’m burning up. So…I put it on 50. MG makes me turn into jello when it’s “hot”. With the little ceramic heater I was only warming my feet. At the moment, the whole apartment is warm from just the bedroom baseboard heater.

I’ve been awake and up three times today. Each time I took meds with a banana and some lemonade. That’s my feast for today.

The best part so far is that my leg got skinnier after all that time in bed. The worst part is that my gut distress is even worse than ever. Last time I crawled in bed I was having life-altering chills. My muscles hurt bad from all the shaking/tensing. My arms are the sorest.

I am thankful that today is a rainy day. That means Zeke only wants to go out when he REALLY has to. A nice thing about having a cat is that she likes to sleep at least as much as me

Whenever my leg/foot swells up like last night, the veins pop out in my foot. Yuck. Anybody know why? Is it from the pressure of the swelling?

This is not to be confused with when my foot turns purple. That happens to all my toes and the toe half of my foot. I think it looks kinda cool, and best of all…it DOESN”T hurt to be cold and purple

My upper leg gets veins popping out, too, from swelling. The dent hurts REALLY bad It stings and has sharp pains. Luc kept telling me I had to go to the ER and he was taking me. I told him I’m too big to forcibly move! The fluorescent lights in the ER make me so sick that I have to be feeling like I’m going to die before willingly going.

Perhaps later I will take one of my Vicodins. Tears keep sneaking out because it hurts so much I can feel every muscle in my body tensed up. What a wimp…

Still having gut distress. At this point docs could do a colonoscopy without bothering to clean me out first. Ugh. It HAS to be the Clindamycin.

My leg looks even worse than this Just in the last hour it started swelling up. The dent is a cavern. There are new big lumps and bumps. It itches like crazy. I’m breaking into hives again. I burst into tears and want to hide. I do not want to go back to the ER. The very first time I ever had a real DVT clot in my leg was Thanksgiving day 1984.

My leg hurts really bad….and more by the second. I just got up. My leg is hot and swollen tight all the way up my leg. I moved to the bed and am lying flat. Geeeeeeeeze…it hurts

If I close my eyes will it all go away?

“Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir I have tried in my way to be free.”
- Leonard Cohen -

I figure by now if you have been reading my blog you know some of me. But there are other parts worth knowing about. So here’s a list of stuff worth knowing about me.

1. When I was 19 I tried to form a good old-fashioned Blue Eyed Soul band. Don’t know what Blue Eyed Soul is…Think The Rascals, Righteous Brothers, The Box Tops, The Faces or very early Rod Stewart. White boys with gritty voices singing black boys music. I would have sung, I have a great Blue Eyed Soul voice. I couldn’t find enough enthusiastic musicians who really knew the music. So it never got off the ground.

2. I’ve got a great voice for honky-tonk music too.

3. When I was a kid I’d sit up till the small hours of the night after everyone had passed out and listen to music and to my dad telling me all about his life and who he was. While he was too drunk and too high. Sure it was a crazy thing but it was a father son thing. And I can say I know my dad better than anyone else on this planet.

4. I saw my first dead body at about 10 years old and it never gets easier. And in the case of my father it was one of the hardest things ever. It made a mess of me.

5. I was once a pallbearer for a little baby who was stillborn. That was the hardest.

6.On a lighter note at various times in my life I have been a strict follower of Coronation Street. As a matter of fact it was through Corrie that I met my daughter’s mother.

7. That reminds me. I am a serial monogamist. I have been in long-term monogamous relationships since I was about 16. I just find that security and knowing someone far more interesting and attractive than chasing a new skirt every week.

8. I have been engaged three times, married once and divorced.

9. In my own way I love every one of my exes still. And I never really understood killing that love because it’s no longer right there in front of me. Love when it’s true and real lives forever.

10. I am kind of shy and grumpy in person. Until I am comfortable with you and then I can talk your ears sore. Sometimes I think my stream of consciousness babbling makes people think I am weird or burnt out. But the truth is that I have an anxiety disorder (PTSD) and I am trying to connect my  wires and rhythms to what you are. If this is strange I am sorry, I am socially awkward and probably a little intense and I can only imagine that you are sort of fascinated or afraid of me. I just want to make a connection. I am curmudgeonly and wounded. So I tend to be hard to understand. But mostly I like you. I’m harmless. I just don’t operate with people well.

Hey this was an exercise in self-aggrandizement if ever there was…My little light, gonna let it shine.

Be well, be love

After I wrote last night about coming home some things happened.  Shay was texting me about a stomach pain that was unbearable and after a couple hours it ended up she was taken to the emergency room at 4 am.  Through multiple tests and an MRI they still can’t figure out what is wrong…I visited her and she was miserable.  If only I wasn’t this sick at the same time…I need to be there for her…They are keeping her overnight now and hopefully will know the problem tomorrow morning.

I just want her here.

I ran 3 miles on Thursday. Then I did some lower body:

2 sets of:

- 16 squats (2 10 lb weights)

- 16 static lunges each leg (2 10 lb weights)

- Whatever that thing is where you hold your legs still and upper body— works low back and hamstrings. It’s a really basic name that I can’t think of right now…

I was so sore from this. Apparently, I should be doing more lower body than just running…

Another day sort of blasted by. Maintenance man Dale woke me up at 9:30 AM so he could poke around in my ceiling. He was trying to find where the smoke comes in. I have a dropped ceiling with acoustical panels. Above them is LOTS of insulation. That explains why my upstairs neighbor and I don’t hear much of each other. It also explains why we have cheaper electric bills than others. My across the hall neighbor, Mary Lou, just got her place insulated. Hopefully soon she will also reap the benefits of quiet and less energy use.

My ceiling was done before I moved in because the woman who stomps used to live above me. I am grateful every day that she lives in another apartment now It’s bad enough hearing her slam the doors and stomp up and down the stairs and back and forth in the upstairs hallway! My chair vibrates….my toilet vibrates….my bed vibrates…..my head vibrates….. How can one woman smaller than me make more noise than ALL the other tenants combined? Sigh…..

I sat on the living room couch while Dale explored my ceiling. First I started sneezing, then coughing, then wheezing. He said it was the fine dust in the insulation. I coughed so much that I got worn out. I gave up an hour later, got in bed and put my oxygen on higher than usual so I could breathe. When I woke up at 2 PM I felt a heck of a lot better.

Mary Lou came to visit, then Doug, then Beth and Luc. Heck….easy day. I hang out and the world comes to me

I had a turkey in the oven all afternoon. Mmmmmmm….smelled good I roasted it, de-boned it and filled a gallon ziplock from the meat off a 14 pound turkey. Amazing how little is actually meat. I have the carcass in a big pot, turning into turkey stock. I froze the turkey meat and pan juices for Thanksgiving. My next project is opening up, cooking, then freezing a Hubbard squash before Thanksgiving. I want to have many things done ahead of time. It will be me and Mary Lou….plus Zeke and Aleka.

I am still extra sore all over. I love arthritis….NOT! I think Doug might have infectious arthritis. He was cutting flint when a piece of it did some acrobatics and then impaled itself in his finger joint. His finger swelled up huge….but the weird stuff is that he has a bad rash all over his body and a bunch of joints are all hurting. He is calling it the dinosaur virus since flint is old. Eeeeeeewwwwwww! Anybody have a clue what’s up with his new arthritis, rash and pain? Being a guy, he is even worse at wanting to go to a doc than I am.

My days and nights are all mixed up. I went to bed about 6 this morning and woke up at noon because someone was at my door. Then soon after, my health aide came to help. Not long after she left, the mechanic drove my van here and I drove him back to his shop. Next…to the food shelf. Two guys from my church were there and they followed me home and brought my food in for me!

Mary Lou found me outside, then Beth and Luc came to visit. It was dark out by the time I got to sit down at the computer and try to catch up with things.

This is a new one….not only are my knees swollen, but the side bumps from the inside of my knees swelled up bigger than I have ever seen them. When I walk, they bump together. Owies! Creepy skin and arthritis pain together My neck does not hold up right and the hump on my back is extra swollen and sore. My neck lymphs are swollen, my tongue is swollen. My shoulders are AWFUL!

I have a couple of lab slips for blood tests. The doc is doing CRP and SED rate since I asked him to. He misunderstood WHY I wanted them and wrote it was for myasthenia gravis. It’s for MCTD….mixed connective tissue disease. I think he forgot I have that. My guess is the results will be wicked high. Ouch. IVIg….I long for your healing swirl of plasma!

Neil finally convinced me to post on this thing.

Been to the gym to life (legs and then shoulder/back/arms) two days in a row. You should all be proud of me. Ask Damien what we did.

I’m sore as fuck.

If I’m going to the gym and you aren’t, you should be very ashamed of yourself.

Woo D-Line!

I’ve certainly been busy since the last time I posted something! Where to begin with what I’ve been doing?

Well, for starters, I was given the chance to act in a college film. I was there for 8 hours of filming, and I only acted for about 2 hours at most in it. But, it was fun anyway. I learned that my college does not have digital video cameras. We have the 16mm film cameras (the first design to have a zoom button!). I learned that actors need to find a way to keep themselves entertained between scenes. There is a short period of movement and action, accompanied by long moments of nothing.

An interesting note about this filming experience was that I was nearly arrested. Our director had found ‘the perfect spot’ to film the movie. (I will be saying ‘our’ and ‘we’ because there were about 5 or 6 people working on this film every moment I was there.) So, we all crammed into the pack of gum he calls a car and went off to this dirt lot on a fairly busy road next to a liquor store. (Needless to say, my claustrophobe self was more than happy to get out of the car.) Now, the story has a homeless man in it. So, one of our actors set himself up as a homeless man. We were recording for about an hour before the liquor store owner came out. Man, the owner was seriously P.O.ed. He was angry because we were recording a ‘bum around his establishment.’ Our director told him that his store wasn’t on the film. We couldn’t prove it to the owner because we were using the old 16mm film. He said that we had to prove to him his store wasn’t in the film, or he was going to call the police to arrest us. We didn’t want to get into trouble with the police, and we couldn’t prove to him that his store wasn’t in the film, so we had to leave. It really orally evacuated that we had to move. That dirt lot was an awesome place to shoot, and was better than the place we had to go to film the movie.

I saw Celtic Thunder when they came to San Diego! They were only here for one night, but it was a beautiful night. I fell deeper into love, had my heart broken, and fell in love with them all over again. I’m convinced that only a Celtic Man can pull such emotions from me. I had so much fun. I couldn’t hear properly for a day (due to my own screaming), and my throat was a bit sore from the event for about 5 days after they event. I can’t wait for them to come back to San Diego, though. I just hope that I can get better seats next time!

I also had the chance to see The Lion King in the theatre!  Alright, I had nosebleed seats (what do you expect for $28?), but I still saw it!  I took my aunt with me to the show, as she’s never been in the audience of a theatre, only on stage.  She, for some reason, wasn’t as impressed with everything as I was.  She was expecting the actors to be in more of an animal-looking costume.  We had the chance to go with the Director behind the scenes of The Lion King.  I learned so much information from there.  Apparently, there is 2 of everything for the traveling show.  There were two traveling shows in the USA, and when it became 1 show, that show ended up with both sets of props, costumes, and equipment.  The show I saw had the most South Africans  then any other Lion King show being played in the world.  6.  6 South Africans in the USA Touring Show.  That doesn’t seem like a lot to me, but it appearently takes at least that many to keep everyone in the show on track!  There are about 5 differnt African languages spoken in the show, which I found to be fascinating.  The one spoken the most is Zulu.

On the school front, I have been working on two group projects, a midterm, and a couple of essays. I think that my group projects are going well. One is going to be a Civic Engagement speech on the Ugandan Children, and the other is 10 minute play for my Theatre class. Our play is going to be a comedy of the LA judge that refused to marry an interracial couple. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s an article about it on CBN News.) I think that my midterm went well – it was in math. I hope that I passed it! I need all the good grades I can get in that class.

I’ll probably be putting the theatre project and play up onto Youtube when I get a copy of them. I’ll post the links/put the video on here when I get the chance to.

Well, now that I’m done telling you all about my life, I’m off to do some school work. Group projects really take all possibilities of having a life away from you.

Brightest Blessings,
Sockgirl

….because there seems to be some contagious temper tantrums around our barn lately.

After hearing about some other boarders “interesting” experiences over the weekend, I found myself thinking how grateful I am that Condor doesn’t really have too many blips on his radar–he just kinda stays the same day in and day out. 

Except for last night.  Last night, halfway through a perfectly decent flat session, he decided that he just did NOT have to walk away from the arena gate, and I chose to force the issue and tell him, YES, you do have to walk away from the gate and wherever else I tell you.  He proceeded to throw a total temper tantrum complete with head-tossing, rein-yanking, backing up….ending with the patented Condor super-trot around the arena at breakneck speed.  WTF?!  I have no idea where that came from, but since I had picked this battle I had to fnish it.  We trotted and trotted and cantered and trotted and cantered and….FINALLY he dropped his head, came out of warp speed and huffed out a big breath.  Great, but because of all the insanity it took me an HOUR and two coolers to get him cool and dry.  Geeez.

The positive out of that mass were a couple of decent canter transitions.  These have ever-so-slowly been improving….like, in miniscule increments.  But, any progress is good progress, right?

Except when things regress…..like my own riding.  My right leg has gone rogue a la Sarah Palin and refuses to be even remotely effective.  I can feel it flopping around and swinging in the breeze when I’m riding, and I lose that stirrup all the time.  To compensate I am putting ALL of my (over)weight in my left stirrup, which results in that leg being stiff and sore after every single ride.  Last night I made a conscious effort to stay more balanced and I came home feeling like I’d been hit by a small but substantial school bus.  Jeebus….you ride 6 days a week and you think you’re getting stronger…..but it’s all a lie!

We jumped on Saturday night and while it felt decent, the videos that Ted so graciously shot for me looked slightly better than shit, so I’m not sure what to make of that.  Will try some more jump schooling tonight and then he’ll have an easy weekend…..we are in a wedding so I highly doubt I’ll be at the barn much.  Actually, I wonder if I’ll go through withdrawal….?

New videos and pics soon….

Sunday I was incredibly sore. Tiger Hill had struck back. It was a good sore, though.

I woke up early to do “Pure and Simple Yoga” before my son woke up. That’s about all I did all day. The  soreness plus a general lack of motivation or energy kept me pretty low key.

I hate feeling like I didn’t accomplish anything… but I was so tired I didn’t really care…

The last time I did any front squats I dumped and failed on a 3 rep attempt with 200 pounds.  Today I rocked that weight and battled it out with 210.  The 210 set was a rough one but I got it done and it felt good to hit a new P.R. where I had failed earlier.

1. 160 x 5
2. 170x 5
3. 180 x 5
4. 190 x 3
5. 200 x 3
6. 210 x 3

After that we did some double-under practice but I had a whole lotta trouble with it tonight.  I had my rare streaks of 10-20 but most of the time I would get around 3-5 and then get jammed up.

I hate making excuses but I had helped a friend move this morning and my back was feeling tweaked.  I think that played a part.  It only made me much more careful about keeping my core and lower back solid during my front squats and honestly, I am not sure if it effected the double-unders at all.  I think I just need to shut the eff up and practice.

It was a good night.

Now to hit the foam roller to my lower back/upper butt and see if that helps.

Alright, this week are mainly songs that will make you dance, dance, dance! And maybe after, you will watch Pulp Fiction. Mmmm Cheeseburger Royale. Enjoy dudes, and watch out! More updates coming, including a mixtape which is pretty much awesome NOT GONNA LIE!

-I am seeing PEACHES ANNNNND AMANDA BLANK TOMORROW AT THE MÉTROPOLIS!!! It is going to be so sick. I’ve waited so long to see her. The day she came to Edmonton, she played at my FAVORITE venue ever, the Starlite Room, but it was also the day before moving out east. So blah. But, her new album, I Feel Cream, is solid solid peaches. Dirty. Raunchy. Gender bending. Back bending. ASS UP! It is only so fitting that Amanda Blank opens up for her. She is also promoting her new album which I happened to review!  Stick around for the review of this show! AND VIDEOS! I can’t wait!

• MP3: Peaches – Mud
  

-My favorite dance duo from Montréal released this single a while ago and it keeps up to the Chromeo standard. Fancy footwork. Cute dog drooly lyrics. Infectious pop synths. The Skream remix of this is SICK. I am currently looking for a good 320 quality of this. HOLLLA!

• MP3: Chromeo – Night By Night
  

-There is barely any info on the dude, but his full name is Ishmael Ledesma. He’s had a great great musical history, touring with the likes of Kool and the Gang, Natalie Cole, Rick James, and more. He was a part of many disco bands in the seventies and eighties. When I first heard this song, I was addicted. It had the Anita Bell-esque disco feel to it. It took me a while to realise that it’s actually a man singing this song. Awesome. Put on your platforms!

• MP3: Ish – Don’t Stop
  

-All I know is that they’re dutch. I guess that says enough. A.K.A. they know How To Party. They have so much knowledge that they christened their recent album with the title, The Art of Partying. The album is Italo-disco meets house. It’s alright…it’s an album that you’d definitely need more help with the first time, like maybe a few beers…shots of Jack’s…some wine perhaps? It doesn’t have the air of say, Modeselektor or Junior Boys, where you can chill out to it at home or dance to it at a house party too! It definitely has tracks that stand out but not many. Enjoy this one, my fave off the album =)

• MP3: Parra Soundsystem – Angel
  

-Six piece band of Indonesian awesomeness. Seven years of playing together produced two eclectic albums, Centralismo and Ports of Lima. You can tell they are influenced very very much by the West yet there is still the Pacific feel behind their tones. Centralismo is apparently one of the TOP FIVE Asian albums worth buying (according to The Times Asia). Plus, the Rolling Stones Indonesia praised PoL as the best album in 2008. And they really really do deserve it. Their music is genius and almost impossible to put into a genre. I felt such a release listening to Sore. Finally something away from all the Stereogum and Pitchfork hyped bands. This is super fresh. Get a glass of wine.

• MP3: Sore – Bogor Biru
  

-AAAAH yes. Another electro-pop duo from Montréal. Haven’t really heard much of their stuff…and I think Omnikrom’s alright, but their collaboration on this is pretty solid.

• MP3: Numéro# ft. Omnikrom – Chewing-Gum Fraise
  

-Vapours is easily one of my top albums of the year. UGH, Nick Thorburn and crew have done it again. the Islands, based out of Montréal (WHAT WHAAAAAAAAAAAT!) create the catchiest indie rock with lyrics to match. I recently saw them at Théâtre Plaza and their magic on stage is no short of one feels while listening to the album. Dressed all in white, armored with silver vests and gold collars, they rocked out in style. I got there a bit late, unfortunately, and I guess they must have played my favorite song of theirs (ahem, below!) in the first fifteen minutes because I didn’t get to hear it. My heart ached a bit because of this…but I think it’s OK. This song, is defs on my top list for the year end and was my soundtrack song for New York while I was there.

• MP3: Islands – No You Don’t
  

I got up this morning, had breakfast and hobbled around a bit. The rain started and I was so tired and dizzy that I crawled back in bed and slept until 2 PM. I might be “awake” now, but I am still tired. I forgot how much a ride to town and back plus some grocery shopping can wipe me out!

My hopes have been dashed. I missed one or two periods and was soooooo hoping for menopause. It’s baaaaaaaack! Harrumph!

I brushed Zeke today and got enough fur to make a cat the size of Aleka. REALLY….I don’t remember him ever shedding this much before. The fur supply seems endless….

Sunset was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! It was raining at a good clip. First the sky turned a surreal yellow, then orange, then purple. It was one of the most totally awesome changes of color I have ever seen in my entire life! It was not just the horizon being colored, it was every single bit of air! The sun was somehow shining without being “out”. Cool

I made three bowls of rice pudding. One down….two to go….

Nap time!

I haven’t gone on a long run in the rain in a long time. Today I broke the streak. I ran eleven miles, hills and cold and all, in rain all the way. This was fine with me. Running in the rain is peaceful, mesmerizing even, and it means I won’t get too hot. Not only did I get in eleven miles but I also hit the 30 mile mark for a week. That also has not happened for a long time. I felt good, although I did run slowly, mentally and physically. But there was one problem.

Once when I ran the Vermont City Marathon in Burlington, it rained. Not the whole time and not all that hard, but it was a wet day, rain on an off. At every aid station volunteers hand out water. At some of them they hand out snacks. On this day some volunteers were handing out Vaseline. They do this on sunny days as well, although I hadn’t really noticed it before. It helps with, well, chafing, if that happens to be a problem. I declined the oily goo. Who needs that stuff, I thought.

At the finish line that day I saw a man with a bloody shirt. He hadn’t cut himself. Nothing so easy. The rain had made his shirt wet and his nipples had rubbed against that wet shirt and there were streaks of blood originating from those two points. He had rubbed his nipples raw. That, I remember thinking, looks painful. The thing is, it has since happened to me. Not nearly to that degree, thank Jehovah, but enough that I had to be careful what I wore for a few days. It happened on a rainy day when I was out running for a long time. Kind of like today…

Look, I’m not proud to admit that I have this particular injury here. I can’t say it is embarrassing, exactly, but it does open one up to the possibility of ridicule. Being a tenderfoot is one thing, but a tendernipple? That can’t look good on a resume.

It isn’t all that bad. I’m just a wee bit sore, and I’ll need to be careful what I wear. No heavy duty work shirts on the old bare torso for me. It goes to show how long I have been out of the habit of running. I didn’t even think of the fact that I might run with a wet shirt for, I don’t know, a couple of hours. Sheesh. I’ve got to learn this stuff all over again? I thought I knew how to learn from my mistakes. Apparently not.

I don’t plan to run at all tomorrow. I need a day off and it will give me a chance to heal up, if you know what I’m saying. At least I’m not really injured. I feel pretty dang good, actually. I could run tomorrow if that felt like the right thing to do. As it is, I will stay away from my chosen fitness activity for at least one day. And even if I don’t sleep in later than usual, I may just hang out in pajamas well into the morning. I mean, it will be Sunday, right?

Cindy took more out of me than I had considered.  I could feel it settling in when I fell asleep.

Janaki was going to wake up and go to Crossfit Ithaca with me in the morning.  She had just done a few dozen clean & jerks, for the first time, over at Albany Crossfit.  We were both too sore to get out of bed.  With a big paper due on Sunday and half a dozen little things to get done between now and then, I think I made the right decision to grab sleep while I could.

I got in a solid 3 days of working out this week and I will be meeting up with a buddy at Noyes tomorrow morning at 8am to go over some deadlift mechanics.

This isn’t even counting going to the Swamp on Monday night after doing crossfit.  All in all, an active week.

Last night was also, Bring a friend to Crossfit night and I need to write something about that at some point this weekend.  Maybe later today.

I went to bed shortly after 9 PM and sort of slept four hours. I don’t feel good Each time I woke up, I was soaked in sweat. Had to change my clothes. Finally I just gave up on trying to sleep and am sitting up. I ate a couple of cups worth of oyster crackers to try to settle my stomach. It’s not working.

Ever since taking Clindamycin I have been having very different gut distress. Eating 2 1/2 gallons of yogurt has made it tolerable, but something is sooooo not right. I’m afraid I am stuck with the long term consequences of this med It sucks!

The good news is that I have a doc appointment on Monday to discuss my phlebitis and gut problems and getting IVIg.

Fluorescent lights are evil. They make me sick…and the after effects can last for days. The worst is the flailing, falling, contorting, jerky movements that happen to me after exposure. After being in the ER I am sooooo sore! Every joint and muscle feels strained and beat up…STILL

This fairly new movement is the WORST! When I am walking, my head goes way back and then my whole body undulates into what feels like an “S”. It puts everything wicked bad out of whack and consumes vast amounts of my scant energy. Also, the usual body weirdness that happens from going through a doorway is getting much worse. I’d love to see a video of what I look like! It must be scary, because people are grabbing at me more than ever.

Ironically, the skinnier my legs get from the edema going down, the more the lipdodermatosclerosis hurts like heck. It’s always frightening  to look down and see how much more fat has been eaten away on the march up my leg That’s my right leg. The left is the one that got the most recent phlebitis but the right one hurts the most from the initial phlebitis.

This week I have been experiencing dizziness much more debilitating than usual. It gets old. I’m ready to be better now!!!!!!!!!!!

I am soooo wanting to go off on an adventure. That is my healing M.O. for whenever medical issues overwhelm me. So far it has always worked Now…to get that van fixed….

I spent the last 3 days moving heavy furniture.

On Sunday we moved a couch, dresser, rocking chair, and desk to our house from Lova’s house. Where we swapped out our old couch, chair, and desk. Then we had to go to my dad’s house and swap out our old couch with his junk couch. That wasn’t easy either because we had to go through the window. Luckilty Dad’s apartment in Semi-underground. Then we had to try and break up the chair that we took from our house so that we could put it in the truck with my dad’s junk couch. That was an act in and of it self, our old furniture was solid I’ll tell you what.

That was the easy moving.

On monday I met Lou at the Ryder truck rental facility on the south side of Rockford. From there we left and went to Schaumburg to get some office furniture. It wasn’t easy. Cubicle partitions are pretty heavy, especially when they have power strips in the bottom of the partitions. The ones without power are pretty easy, but they all have steel frame construction and the powered ones had steel wall panels covered in insulation and fabric. We filled 12′ of truck with those. The rest of the truck was filled with steel office furniture, such as filiing cabinets. Actually that was all we were able to load up. Other than a 8′x3′ white board. Those things are heavy. We figured that we only had about 1/2 a truck to go and get the next day. I got home at 2 am on Monday night after all was said and done after starting the day at 2 p.m.

Then yesterday I got to Conover Square around 9:15 or so yesterday morning, so that we could unload the truck. It took us until 2 p.m. to get the truck unloaded. Then it was back to Schaumburg for what we thought would be another half of a truck. Boy were we wrong. We packed the truck AGAIN to full capacity! Turns out that there were more little things that we had thought between lights and shelves and bins, and more filing cabinets. All made out of steel. We worked at loading the truck until midnight again. We were supposed to have the truck back to Ryder by midnight. That obviously didn’t happen. We got back to Oregon, I was dropped at my car and I had to go and buy a cappuccino just to make sure that I would stay awake for the 45 minute ride home. I was falling asleep in the truck between Byron and Oregon.

Today, thankfully I didn’t have to go and help unload the truck. Lou was able to enlist the help of someone else for the day. But, if he hadn’t been able to find someone, I would have gone and helped unload the truck without question. Lou is fun to help out, plus it got me out of the house for the last 2 days. I would have gladly gone and done it today too, even as sore and tired as I am. I would have helped Lou out because I know he appreciates the help that I give him with moving those heavy objects.

I’m going to go and crash on the couch now, probably not nap, but put my feet and chillax all day long.