Atropa Belladonna~ Raven (a.k.a. Nightshade)'s Weblog ~
These are the ARCHIVES of July 2003. For more archives, visit the Archives page. For the current Weblog entries, check the Main page.
Atropa Belladonna| Thurs, July 31, 2003 (10:35am) Last night was a looooong work shift. I think that in the 7 hours I was there, I spent at least 4 in one treatment room or the other (Normally we spend less than a third of our time doing treatments). The rest was spent on phone calls or paperwork. Oh - and a very short break, without which I probably would have fainted from low blood-sugar. I don't like working Wednesdays, ya know... it's my Tierel night, and I'd rather be gaming. But we do have a good doctor on Wednesday evenings, and there are shifts I like a lot less. Like, say... working Thursday evening. I really hate working Thursday evenings. Thurs is LRPS night, and I'd way rather be hanging out at BP's than changing a bandage on someone's backside. But guess what? I get to work tonight, too. Grrrr. I'm gonna be coming to BP's after my shift, though (assuming I'm still capable of driving and not overcome by fatigue). I have loot to bring to various people (yay!) which I picked up at GenCon. Couldn't get stuff for absolutely everyone, but I got most of the things which I'd promised to look for (sorry Davyd - no nubile blondes wrapped in cellophane were available this year. I'll keep my eyes open next time, tho). Wally: I got you something which you didn't ask for, but which leapt out and demanded that I buy it for you. Other people, I got random stuff for... from bumper stickers to buttons, with oddities tossed in between. |
| Wed, July 30, 2003 (9:25am) I want October to be here. Well, maybe not quite yet, but soon. I've got so many cool ideas from playing True Dungeon at GenCon that I want to try. Of course, we still need lots of actors meetings and organizer meetings and dungeon-building before we can possibly run the quest, so I guess its a good thing that we've got a few months to go, yet. But soon. Soon.... |
| Mon, July 28, 2003 (8:05pm) GenCon was great. But still, it's nice to be home. Cool things: When we got to the airport on Wednesday to catch out flight to the Con, we happened to see Trent and Steph and Ray. Steph was apparently seeing the two of them off. They were headed to GenCon, too! So, we were on the same plane with them to Toronto, and then from Toronto to Indianapolis we weren't merely on the same plane, but on seats directly across the aisle from eachother. T'was cool. They also had Monday flights back, so we met up with them at the Indy airport this morning, and travelled on the same flights to Toronto and then Edmonton (not sitting so close to eachother, though). The True Dungeon at GenCon was awesome. It was a gauntlet-style LARP without live combat, where you solve puzzles, answer riddles, search for secret doors and hidden runes, and use a shuffle-board-like combat table for encounters. I'm told (by the organizers of True Dungeon) that I hold the record for the player who went through the most often. Some players did go twice (include the entire group I went with on Saturday - they were the same group I went with on Thursday) but I seem to have been the only person to go three times. I also dropped by after the last run-through on Sat, and helped with take-down, and carrying everything to the van, and clean-up of the rooms after, and then was invited out to the cast party with the rest of the crew. We did lots of good talking and comparing notes, and planning what we'd like to see/do differently in future dungeons. I'm also told that pics will be up on their webpage sometime soon... and one of the actors for the Dungeon took a lot of pics on me during my Friday run-thru. (He told me after that they specifically decided to pick on me 'cuz I'd been a fun player to watch on my Thursday run. Meep.) I won a gaming book at the Anime Give-away. It was a raffle, of sorts... but the raffle tickets were free: You just had to tell them what your favorite anime was in order to get a ticket. Lots of prizes were raffled... more than half the room went away with something cool. I got "HeartQuest: Romantic Roleplaying in the World of Shoujo Manga". I really don't think I'll ever play it, but it's a fascinating read for the cultural references and lists of manga and anime rescources. James and I bought toys. To be specific, we bought Dwarven Forge Master Maze products. They're hand-painted, high-quality resin models for building little Dungeons for your miniatures to explore. I suspect Shades and I will be running some more D&D adventures in the near future. The two of us also had a chance to meet Ken Burnside, hang out with gamers, touch base with Lego guys, have dinner in a revolving restaurant (with no kids!), and generally act like carefree souls again. It was a wonderful, refreshing break. Shades is already talking about going again next year. I might skip out on that to stay home with kids (our youngest will be 4 months old at that point, assuming all goes well)... but the year after, I wouldn't mind making another trip. We'll have to see how things go. Tired now. Gonna try catching some 7th Sea gaming action at Jeff's, and then to bed. |
| Sat, July 26, 2003 (12:00pm-ish, Indy time) Woohoo! Net-time! These terminals have a ten-minute limit, so today's post may be spliced together a bit. Dunno. Anyways, we're at Gen-Con. The place is crammed full of gamery-goodness. Shades is doing Attack Vector and Lego War demos. I'm wandering the con, getting into mischief, spending money, watching anime, and playing in the True Dungeon (a live D&D-ish Dungeon Crawl). I really like the Dungeon. Signed up for a Thursday slot. Then a Friday slot. Then was up at 6:30 in the morning to wait in line to get a Saturday slot as well. It's worth it. Lots of cool ideas for our Dungeon Quest in October. Kay... there's a line-up behind me waiting for terminals, and the jerk to my right has been monopolizing his terminal for well over half an hour.. I'm gonna log off, and let some other people have a chance. And maybe join in the lynching of the guy next to me, if he doesn't get the hint and do the same. Maybe post more later. Transmission ends. |
| Wed, July 23, 2003 (7:30am) Well, we're off to the airport, to catch flights to Indianapolis, and Gen Con. Seeya later. I'll look for a 'Net connection to post from, but I might not have the time. |
| Tues, July 22, 2003 (3:05pm) Just back from my Dr's appointment. He confirmed what I bloody well knew already. The recent depressive mood swings, my uncharacteristic heat intolerance, the unsettled stomach, and the bone-dead-tired-ness all stem from one thing: I've got a parasite living off me again. Yay parasites. I think we'll call this one Jasen. |
| Tues, July 22, 2003 (10:30am) Yesterday was very productive. A list of things I got done, by - Did water changes on both fishtanks, and scrubbed the glass. - Watered the plants (with the yucky fish-water. Plants like that.) - Went to Van's delicatessen and bought more dropjes. - Arranged a babysitter for my doctor's appointment today - Got a haircut - Cleaned bits of house - Watched the kids for the first half of evening so Shades could work on his Gen-Con stuff - Made supper for Monday night gaming (while watching the kids) - Ran a bit of laundry, so we'd have clean clothes to pack for Gen-Con. - Played 7th Sea (with Lazarus! I've missed gaming with him!) The session was very good. High seas chase scene, Pirate ship battles, bodies bleeding all over the place. Ah... Piratey goodness. A list of things I still have to to before leaving for Gen-Con tomorrow. - Collect garbage (It's garbage day today. Yay. At least the truck rarely comes before noon.) - Fold yesterday's laundry - Put away the laundry so it doesn't develop cobwebs sitting in the basement for the next month or two (like our laundry usually does). - Pick up Reality Deviant so she can watch the kids during my Dr's appointment. (Yay! My kids will be sat on by a reality Deviant!) - Dr's appointment - Pack. Luckily, this is not too difficult. I'm good at packing for short trips. - Collect a list of things people want me to buy/look for at Gen-Con - Finish cleaning the house before my Mom comes on Wednesday morning to watch the kids. - Make a list for my Mom of important numbers and things and routines for the kids, and anything else she might need for watching them in the next week... like medicine schedules, and where to find Kalen's nebulizer. - Change the sheets on the bed. Ug. Gonna be a busy day. Better start collecting garbage. |
| Sun, July 20, 2003 (11:20pm) Ya know, I love it when we have a good shift at work... The kind where just about everything goes right. Where the doctor is in a good mood, and the receptionist is competent, and none of the patients are particularly irritable, or needing us to call an ambulance, or letting their children run up and down the clinic screaming. The kind of a night when we have NO suturing to do, when nobody has any WCB forms for us to fill out, and all the call-backs are done before 6 pm. When you can sit on your butt for a full 10 minutes and chat with the receptionist about the weather, and share a mutual love of thunderstorms. Yeah... this was a good shift to have before getting ready to go on vacation. |
| Sat, July 19, 2003 (11:00pm) We've got a very very cute baby over tonight. I guess Eric & Star thought we didn't do too bad a job taking care of Cassandra a couple weeks ago, so she's here for the weekend. She's a handful, but an adorable one. Gonna go to sleep early tonight, so I have energy to deal with her adorability tomorrow. |
| Fri, July 18, 2003 (4:15pm) Just a quick post to assure people I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I've been busy, and tired, and doing Mom-stuff. Very boring and not blog-worthy, so I just haven't bothered to write. Yesterday was a little more fun, 'cuz we had a horde of Lego people over in the evening and I got out to BP's later, but that's been the highlight of my life, lately. Lookin' forward to next week when Shades and I take off for Gen-Con. Speaking of Shades, he now runs a blog too (so I can go online to find out what he's been up to. Sweet husband, isn't he?). It's linked in the upper left-hand corner with other blogs I read. I've re-organized them a little (again). This time, rather than alphabetical order, or in order of shortest names to longest, or any other bizarre organizational strategy I've used in the past, they are ranked in order of how long they take for my computer to load. Next time I re-organize, it may be according to moon phases. I'm not sure. |
| Tues, July 15, 2003 (11:55pm) Well, I'm back from the dead... er, I mean, Saskatchewan. We got a lot done, working on the cabin.
The kids were remarkably good on the trip. They really enjoy being out at the cabin, and in close proximity to their grandparents. I was also lucky, and they slept for most of the ride home. I, however, have not had enough sleep the last couple days. Gonna go crash now. If I don't post tomorrow, it's 'cuz I'm still recouperating. |
| Sat, July 12, 2003 (9:40pm) Looong shift at work today. Made longer by the fact that I worked an evening shift last night ('til 10:30pm) and had to turn around and get up for a morning shift today. And I didn't get off on time. Bleh. When I got home (looking forward to a nice rest), Shades reminded me that his company barbeque was starting in an hour, in St. Albert. He offered to go alone, and leave me home with the kids. Can't say I really liked the sound of that option, but it might be better than going through the hassle of getting the kids dressed to go out, and looking after them in someone else's back yard. At least I could lie on the couch if I stayed home. But while Shades was getting ready to go, I got a call from work. They said that since there was only one doctor on tomorrow (rather than two0 and we had two nurses scheduled (instead of one), whould I like to have the day off tomorrow? Yes, yes I would. So, knowing that I wouldn't have to be up at 7am tomorrow, I summoned the energy to pack the kids up and take 'em to the Barbeque. I was glad I did. The party was good (way better than you'd expect of your average company barbeque). The food was excellent (huge ribs dripping with sauce, melt-in-your-mouth roast, tasty cheese, non-wilted salad, delicious cake for dessert, free drinks (alcoholic and non-) with free cab-rides home to anyone who wasn't up to driving later. They also had a play structure for kids, and lots of stuff to keep the kids occupied, so Connor and Kalen weren't too much trouble to watch. I stayed 'til after Connor's bedtime, and then took the kids home... leaving Shades to have a couple more drinks with his co-workers and eventually catch one of those cab-rides home. Threw the kids in the bath as soon as we got home. Let 'em watch a bit of video while I checked my email. Now it's time to put the kids to bed. Hopefully they'll sleep in, in the morning. And since I don't have to work tomorrow, maybe I'll be able to head out with my Mom (and the kids) to Saskatchewan tomorrow to do some more work on the cabin. So if I don't post for a couple of days, I'm not dead... just in Saskatchewan. |
| Fri, July 11, 2003 (11:30pm) Feeling better today than yesterday. Ya know, I'm generally not the sort of person to get depressed. In fact, I consider myself an extremely well-balanced person. That is to say: I run a pretty even keel, emotionally. I realize I'm lucky to not suffer any chemical imbalances which lead to mood swings or depression, and that I'm doubly or triply lucky to have such an excellent group of friends, a decent home to live in, a car, a good job, and a significant other who loves me very much (not to mention the kids whose lives revolve around 'Mommy'). I have no right whatsoever to feel depressed. That's what makes it so frustrating when I feel myself being dragged down by emotional exhaustion. I have no right to feel this way. But I do, and I can't find anything, offhand, which is gona make it go away in the short term. In the long term, I know it'll sort itself out - that's why I'm not gonna classify this as real Depression. When you're really, clinically, depressed, it doesn't ever look like it's gonna get better. I know this is transient. But it still sucks to be in the middle of it. Sleep helps, I guess. I always feel a little better after a good rest. A full belly is good, but I don't have much interest in food right now. Having someone to hold and love helps for as long as I'm in his arms, but it makes it feel even more empty when I let go. Stupid hormones. Stupid emotions. Stupid frail human bodies. Maybe I'll feel better when summer's over. At least part of this is due to the insufferable heat. Other matters... well, I'm sure they'll resolve themselves too. In the meanwhile, please forgive me if my emotions leak into my weblog from time to time. I'm really quite okay (or I will be). I just need a place to vent now and then. |
| Thurs, July 10, 2003 (11:40pm) Got off work around 10:30. Not hungry. Not social. Kinda broke. Kinda sick. Life sucks for no particular reason. Didn't wanna go to BP's. So I came home. I now wallow in a puddle of misery. Nice puddle. Good and deep. Wallow, wallow, wallow. Splash. Wallow-wallow. Little droplets of misery cling to my eyelashes. Wallow some more. Think I feel better. Not sure. Will have to sleep on it. |
| Thurs, July 10, 2003 (3:00pm) It's too hot out. Despite my closing the white curtains on all our south-facing windows, the house resembles an oven. I'm looking forward to going to work in a nice, air-conditioned building. To anyone who cares: I'll make it to BP's tonight, but not 'til quite late, 'cuz (as mentioned above) I'm working. I usually get off around 10:30(ish) so I expect I'll show up sometime after 11pm. |
Thurs, July 10, 2003 (11:30am)
Pirate movie last night was excellent. Thank you to the twenty people who all came - we had a remarkable turn-out for our rather last-minute planning. Thanks, especially, to those who came dressed as pirates. We freaked a few mundanes, and confused a few more. Despite some difficulties securing 20 seats all relatively near eachother, I think it went very well. I had as much fun last night as I did pirating in D.C. (and I had a lot of fun in D.C.) Read RealityDeviant's weblog entry for July 10 for a far better write-up on the movie experience.Um.. in other news, I've had 6 emails in the last week from people who mistakenly think I'm Raven Symone, the actress. I've no idea where they got my email addy from (they're all writing to my larp at shades-of-night addy) but it really must stop. One 8-year old actually wrote me saying, "I totally love all your shows. What I wanna know is, can you make me a star. You know like CACHING CACHING BLING BLING BLING. Write me back. I'd so totally die if you replied to my email!" I've also been given young girls' phone numbers and addresses via email. I've felt compelled to respond to those, if only to tell them NOT TO EVER DO THAT AGAIN! Sheesh - some of those kids could get in big trouble. Don't parents monitor their 8-year olds on the computer? One last thing: Anna! I saw your blog request to contact you. I've emailed ya, and haven't seen any replies come my way yet. I also couldn't find any email from you in the last 2 months, not even in my junk-mailbox. When did you last write me? Do you have the correct address? Oh... and BTW.. if you want, you can also email me notes by posting them in the comments section of my survey, and hitting send. That definitely makes it into my mailbox. ------ Afternote: I was letting the kids watch some anime while I typed this, and when I ran out of video, I let them watch the previews on the disk. Connor is absolutely enthralled by the Robotech trailer. It's cute. |
| Wed, July 9, 2003 (1:30pm) Woohoo! Today's the premiere of Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl! It's got Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp and other promising names in it. The Edmonton Movie Guide gives it 7.5 stars out of 10. I've heard great reviews from other people, too, and that the trailers (at least thoe which I've seen) are excellent. Others tell me that the ones I haven't seen are even better. So, in keeping with my original offer (back on May 3, I think) I'm inviting anyone who is interested to come see it with me, tonight. I've already attempted to contact everyone whom I've played Seventh Sea with to come to the flick. Well, almost everyone. I haven't managed to get a hold of Bregon or Slater or Angel. So if any of you lot are reading my blog and want to come, give me a call and I'll buy tickets for you. Speaking of tickets, I s'pose I should give info on which show we're seeing: The 10:10pm showing at Galaxy Theater in Sherwood park. Try to come around 9:30ish, and we can line up and get decent seats, instead of nose-bleeds or neck-craners. Anyone who needs transportation out to Sherwood Park, gimme a call. Anyone who wants to show up at my place earlier in the evening will be given the offer of food (and possible entertainment) before we head out to the theater. Seeya there! |
| Tues, July 8, 2003 (11:20am) Bleh. I'm still alive. Nothing interesting going on in my life. That's a sufficient post for today, I think. Will update blog if status changes. |
| Mon, July 7, 2003 (6:10pm) Yay!! I'm home!!!! I almost wasn't, ya know. There were a few tense moments when it looked like I'd be staying in Toronto for a night or two. But I'm here, and I'm happy. Overall the trip to D.C. was wonderful. I had a great time, and no regret about spending $1000 to hang out with friends in the US for less than 48 hours. It was the kind of foolish jaunt which reassured me that I haven't completely grown up yet. Long live the foolishness of youth! Some amusing tidbits from the trip: When gathering everyone together for our pirate invasion of Washington, Damask's livingroom was full of her friends dressed in all variants for pirate garb. We were waiting for others to show up, still, and co-ordinating with yet more friends on the phone as to where to meet us in Washington. Then the doorbell rang, and Damask opened it to a total stranger dressed in Piare garb. He said, "Arrr?" to which Damask's response was, "Hi... I have no idea who you are, but since you're dressed like a Pirate, you're obviously in the right place. Um... come in?" ...it turns out he was a friend of a friend of Damask's. She had invited those two friends, and they'd invited this guy, but then were unable to come themselves. So this poor stranger showed up unannounced. He was cool, but his presence brought the number of honorary lesbians to nearly a third of the group. That was okay, the guys were actually pretty tasty, all told. Tessa, one of Damask's friends, had an excellent pirate outfit on. She also had cool earrings - the sort of shinies which pirates would wear. One of her earring particularly caught my attention: it was an irridescent bug, worn on the upper ear, and so delicate and life-like that I at first mistook it for a real bug. I told her it was cool, and she said that yes, she was rather fond of her bug earring. I touched it, and it was surprisingly flexible... at which point I realized it wasn't a piercing-type earring, but a stick-on bug (there was no hole in her ear for a third earring at the top). I complimented her again, and she looked confused. "But my bug is a real earring, and.. wait.. I'm not wearing it today! Aaaaack!" and she violent whacked at her ear, cuasing the bug to scuttle off and land on the floor, where we promptly brough about tis demise. On examination of the corpse, Tessa agreed that it was a very pretty and irridescent bug, and she almost wished she had a real earring like that. Returning from our Pirate outting, we had a bit of a vehicular crisis. That being, we had lost a couple cars to people who chose to go home early, and were still left with 7 people to transport back to Damask's place. So we managed to cram all 7 of us into Damask's little car. And a pair of the guys were rather large. We ended up with Damask (the driver0 sitting comfortably in her own seat, two people sharing the front bucket awkwardly, three people crammed butt-to-butt across the back, and me laying spread outove top of those three, in a cramped and squishy fashion. We drove like this for an hour, across two States, to get back to Damask's place. It was... fun. And sore. The most ah... invigorating part of the whole adventure was getting back home. Damask dropped Riana and I off at the airport on Sunday afternoon so we could catch our flights. Riana's flight was also out of the BWI airport, a mere half hour after mine, so it was actually rather convenient. We hung out for a little while, waiting for planes, and Riana and I got lots of good talking done - which was cool, 'cuz I hadn't seen too much of her on the weekend. (She was actually in D.C. for a Symposium, and was only able to hang out w/ Damask and company between noon and 4 each day, and after 10pm in the evenings... and she had to be up for seminars again first thing in the morning.) Once we parted ways, I go to my departure gate, to discover the plan would be coming in late. The P.A. system announced this fact, and apologized profusely to those 6 passengers who would miss their connecting flights due to the delay. I went to the counter to talk with an Air Canada rep. Yep - my name was on the list of those 6 people. The guy at the counter assured me that it was Air Canada's fault, so they would cover the costs of putting me up in a hotel in Toronto until the next availabble flight to Edmonton... but because the flights were fully booked, it might take 24 or 48 hours befoe they could find me a way home. Aaaaaaaaaaarg! The Air Canada rep hastily reassured me that if all went well, and the turnaround here at the BWi was quick, we might get into the air closer to our regularly scheduled departure time than expected, and with good winds, they might be able to make up the time on the way to TO, and arrive only a few minutes late... in which case I might still be able to make my connecting flightto Edmonton if I moved very quickly, and there weren't long line-ups at customs, and if I took all my luggage as carry-on rather than checking the bags, then I might have a chance. Well, I really, really wanted to make it back to Edmonton that night. While I have nothing against Toronto, I'd been looking forward to the thought of my own bed, and a husband to hug, and kids to kiss on the nose, and a shower and clean clothes, and... and... the thought of being stuck in a foreign city made me want to cry. Well, the turn-around was quick. We got into the air only 20 minutes late. If we made good time, I might catch my 9:20 flight to Edmonton! Alas, the weather sucked, we lost more time on the flight, and we didn't reach Toronto 'til 9:40. The line-ups at customs wre long. The walk from our arrival point to the main aprt of Terminal 2 was long. I was grumpy, I was tired, I was running a head-ache, and I was full of the gloom which only the knowledge of a missed plane can bring. I collected my luggage, and went looking for the Air Canada desk to ask what I should do next. On my way there, I was mis-directed to the connecting baggage desk. They told me I couldn't check my luggage, because the baggage for flight 371 had already been loaded. I said I know, I missed the flight, so where's the Air Canada desk? They pointed in the right direction, but then added that flight 371 had been delayed. It hadn't left at 9:20 as scheduled. In fact ,they'd only just been cleared for departure. The plane was still there?!?! I grabbed madly at this sliver of hope! The baggage claim desk radio'd ahead to the departure terminal to let them know a passenger was still on her way. They told me to run. So I, with all my baggage in tow, RAN the length of Terminal 2. As I was in sight of departure gate 203, an Air Canada rep shouted at me asking my name, I shouted it back, and they directed me to a (locked) door, whic hthe attended had open by the time I raced up. I dashed down the corrider, shaking it as i went. I got to the plane as they were re-opening the door. I hauled all my luggage on, and thanked God that I had made my flight. My troubles were, alas, not quite over. I had to stow rather large luggage in the overhead bins. I discovered that my seat had been reassigned. I had to sit in one of the only remaining seats - a center seat next to a big fat guy, who grouched at me angrily when I asked him to move so I could sit, and who kicked my carry-on bags out of the way 'cuz they were interfering with where he had stowed his luggage under my seat. He was a jerk the entire rest of the trip, too, acting like it had been my fault the plane was delayed, and he was insulted that they allowed me to sit on the same plane as him. Bastard. The other lady I was sitting next to was nice, though. And the important thing was that I got home. We even made excellent time o nthe flight to Edmonton, and despite leaving Toronto 45 minutes late, got into Edmonton only 3 minutes past our scheduled arrival time. I collected my bags and drove home. James was still up and waiting for me when I got home at 1am. I love him. So I showered, kissed my kids on their little noses, slept in my own bed, and revelled in the fact that I was home. Now I can unpack all my lovely plunder. I picked up things for several people (most of you have been informed of this fact already... except for Bregon. So hey - Bregon - I got ya something. It's probably not what you're expecting, but I hope ya like it). I'm gonna sign off now, 'cuz I gotta make supper before going to Seventh Sea RP at Jeff's tonight. |
| Sun, July 6, 2003 (3:10pm, Maryland Time) Aaaaaaah. Pirate plunder is good. I'll be bringing home much loot (and a sorely abused credit card). Had an excellent time yesterday. Well worth the trip down here. We got together with many of Damasks friends (and someone she didin't know who showed up at her door dressed like a Pirate and saying, "Arrr?") and went into Washington. We launched our first raid on a small Italian restaurant, and were served most excellent food. We took pirate photos. We meandered the streets. We split up (as some pirate found their black leather pants too warm in the 30+ degree heat and wanted to go home) and some of us went to pick up Damask's friend Aleris (who happens to be an absolutely delicious androgyne. Will post photos sometime) and then went shopping. More plunder was acquired. Also lemonade. Mmmmm... black-leather-pant-wearing Pirates like lemonade. We wandered some more. Went back to Damask's place. I made spaghetti (with vegetarian and carnivore sauce options) and then we went to get Riana again (we'd had to drop her off at her conference after lunch). We met up with her gay scottish friend (he's nice) and came back to Damask's place. More stuff happened, but I was too tired to remember most of it. Today we did more shopping, wandering up cool streets, had Chai, and now we're getting ready to pick up Somacrow and go catch a plane or two. Seeya later tody (or tomorrow) everyone! |
| Sat, July 5, 2003 (3:20am, Maryland Time) Got to D.C. just fine (despite a brief worry at the border about my I.D. .. the Birth Certificate I brought along as 'proof of Canadian Citizenship' was in my maiden name, and me photo I.D. is in my married name.) Damask and her current boyfriend Cull picked me up at the airport after about half and hour of us both waiting at the wrong spot... but that was OK 'cuz I got to read a couple more chapters of 'American Gods' by Neil Gaiman. We met up with Riana (aka Somacrow) and with Damask's friend Jalen, and then we went back to Damask's place for supper, and to hang out. Cull cooks good food. We looted through some packing detritus (mostly stuff RavenBlack is leaving behind now that he's off to Australia). We laughed and hung out. The we decided to hit the town, found a great bookstore/cafe, ate well there, failed to meet up with Riana's gay scottish friend, and dropped Riana off at the place she's staying. We drove Jalen home (Jalen's a Mac person!!) and I'm borrowing her connection briefly before we head back to Damask's to crash for the night. Enjoying ourselves thoroughly. Take care, all. |
| Fri, July 4, 2003 (6:50am) What a miserable time of day to wake up at. Urg Anyways, I've gotta catch my flight to Washington D.C. (Well, Baltimore, really... close enough) to enjoy lesbian pirate ninja weekend with Damask and Riana (aka Somacrow) and a few others whom I may or may not have met. Hopefully I can post from Damask's computer. If not, see y'all on Monday. Happy 4th of July, everyone. (Maybe their fireworks will be more impressive than ours were.) |
| Thurs, July 3, 2003 (2:05pm) Gonna go to visit Damask and Riana tomorrow. I'm very excited. I'm also very tired. And I haven't packed yet. Luckily, I can throw everythign I need for the weekend into one carry-on bag (so long asI have my MasterCard with me (grin). I just realized, randomly, that it's LRPS council meeting tonight. Drat. I had plans, but I'll have to change them, 'cuz I need to go to that meeting and offically blather about Dungeon Quest. Besides, Lazarus will be there, and I miss him. I also saw Boris today. He brought me the Orphen DVD boxed set from Toronto. Lookin' forward to watching the pair of disks which I haven't had the chance to rent, yet. I've seen the rest before, but I'll probably watch it all again, anyways. It's good. Accomplishment of the Day: Finished Harry Potter andthe Order of the Phoenix. Good book. Must discuss it with other people who have read it. Maybe even Jeanne, tonight. |
| Wed, July 2, 2003 (3:35pm) My Day. Let me tell you about my day, so far. The kids are sick. Kale has been getting Ventolin & Pulmicort treatments on the nebulizer off and on since we got home from Quad. Didn't give her any yesterday, 'cuz we're out of Pulmicort, and the ventolin we have is both outdated and a little over-dosed (as it's left-overs from one of Star & Eric's foster kids). Connor has been spontaneously shrieking and grabbing his ears. Kale has been wheezing and hacking. Connor has been hacking and rattling. I've been sick, too, coughing and hacking and rattling and wheezing. Probably the same bug they have, though my body is bigger and thus (supposedly) better able to resist it. That is, better able to resist if I'm doing well to start off with, which I'm not. After 2 and a half hours of miserable morning, I decided something had to be done. I summoned what remaining energy I had (and downed two glasses of juice for good measure), got the kids dressed, loaded them into the car, and took 'em to see the doctor. The doctor saw 'em, said they were sick and prescribed medication. Connor, apparently, has an ear infection, and also a bit of lung congestion. Kalen's got a lung infection, and asthma trouble. So now the kids are both on antibiotics, as well as Tylenol to control pain, regardless of fever, plus Kalen has a new prescription for Pulmicort and Ventolin nebules. That was easy. Just as I was geting ready to leave the clinic, my manager caught me and asked to talk. She said we had a client in who was upset that he had to pay for an ambulance. Apparently the last time he'd been in, he had chest pain and we'd sent him to the hospital by ambulance, suspecting a heart attack. He'd been told by the nurse on duty that he wouldn't have to pay for the ambulance, and was very angry when he recived a bill in the mail for ambulance services, later that month. And guess what - I was the nurse who was working that day. What did I know about this? Well... I do remember the guy. Yeah, I told him that Ambulances were covered under Alberta Health Care if the doctor believed that it was a medical necessity. Urk. I was wrong apparently. The government does NOT cover the cost of an ambulance... not even when it's requested by a doctor. There are very, very few situations, I have been made aware, in which Alberta Health Care will cover somethign like that. Well. Shit. So now my manager (having confirmed that a member of our clinic staff gave the gentleman incorrect information) is going to see if head office will cover the guy's bill. She was not pleased with me. S'pose I'm not pleased with myself either. I hate it when I give out incorrect (and expensive) information. During this whole interrogation, I'm juggling two grumpy, whiny, coughing, wheezing kids who are trying to pull stethoscopes off the shelves, throw tissue boxes, scream at the top of their lungs, kick mommy in the belly, and run away. I myself am not feeling so great, either. I want to faint. But I managed to herd the kids out of the clinic. Decided I needed food and fluids. Took 'em to Costco, since we also needed Kleenex. We ate lunch at the food stall there. I juggled grumpy, very tired kids around just a little longer so we could pick up the pictures I'd dropped off for 1-hour developing, and headed for home. No - not for home. We still needed to fill those prescriptions the doctor wrote us. So we went to the drug store near our house. Neither kid had had a prescription filled there before, so I got to juggle grumpy, whiney, tired, screaming, wheezing, shouting kids around some more, while trying to make myself heard over their racket, and give the pharmacist their vital statistics. Pharmacy student, actually... and a green one at that. So she had to call the real pharmacist over a couple of times for help with the data entry system. While the kids tore my arms off, and tried to throw vitamins and tubes of cream everywhere. They didn't have the antibiotics I wanted in stock. I had to wait in the store (with kids. see above for general behaviour pattern) for 20 minutes while they got it prepared from scratch. And then they had a problem with the pulmicort nebules Rx as written by the doctor. So they had to call the clinic for a phone verification. That took another 5-10 minutes, after which I finally said, "Look, forget it. I'll just go home and pick it up later." But the pharmacist assured me it was a simple thing - they just needed to clarify whether the dose was .125mg or .250mg. Man - why didn't ya just ask ME? It's .125mg.... I knew that. It's the same thing which was prescribed last time! But because last time I got it filled a a different place, in Edmonton, they didn't have a record of it here on their computers in Sherwood Park. So they gave me the .125mg and told me they'd call if the doctor had meant a different dose (whenever he finally got back to them). I paid for the prescriptions: $97 dollars?!?!?! Arrrrrrrrg! Freaking expensive drugs! Whatever. I bundled the crying, shrieking, rattling, wheezing, miserable, tired, grabby, clingy, horrid little monsters into the car. I drove them home. I threw them into their respective bedrooms. I gave Connor a bottle. I gave Kalen a soother. I put them down for naps. I collapsed on the floor, bemoaning my fate and the state of the world in general. After a good bout of self-pity alternating with self-loathing, I got up, washed my face, had two more glasses of juice, decided to rant on my weblog, and then go to bed. So. I'm going to bed. now. My apologies to the Tierel gamers who were gonna come over tonight for story. I don't think I'm up to it. I'm a wreck, really - and I absolutely need to get some sleep, and some food, and some more sleep. And then go to bed early on top of that. I've got less than 48 hours in which to get better, or I'm not sure I'll be able to handle going to the States this weekend. |
| Tues, July 1, 2003 (2:30pm) Feeling miserable. Since we got back from Quad, I've been just wiped. I have the distinct feeling I over-extended myself. It was hot, I was dehydrating despite drinking several extra glasses of water/juice per day, and although I slept well at night it was not enough to make up for the energy expended during the day. Running after the kids in flippin' hot weather making sure they didn't dehydrate themselves or get heat-stroke was a rather large job. I enjoyed it - don't get me wrong. But I'm paying for it, now. Yesterday I ended up sleeping nearly 2/3rds of the day away. The remainder I wandered around in a daze. I made myself drink a lot of fluid. I ate although I wasn't very hungry. I sat a lot. Anytime I tried reading the Harry Potter book, I couldn't get my eyes to focus. Standing up too quickly made me feel light-headed. I wanted desperately to get away from the heat and the lethargy. So I took the kids to the (air conditioned!) mall, and we played in the fountain, and we had food (and extra juice for me) on the food-court. And while we were indoors, the rainstorm hit. By the time we stepped outside again, the world had gone from stiflingly hot to refreshingly cool. It was wonderful. I had an excellent burst of energy, came home, played with the kids, unpacked some of the Quad camping gear, and then collapsed on Kalen's bed. James found me there, asleep, a couple hours later. He woke me up to let me know Jeff's 7th Sea game would be starting soon, and did I want to go? I managed to collect myself enough to make it over there. We RP'd 9pm til midnight, and then I came home. I went to bed. My muscles informed me this morning that I hadn't shifted position for most of the night, I was so exhausted. Today has been much of the same, but with a little less sleep. (James watched the kids while I rested yesterday. This morning was my turn to reciprocate by geting up with the kids and letting him sleep in.) I've gotten a little bit of reading done in the Harry Potter book, at least. I've tried to make myself eat (with some slight degree of success) and to drink more fluids, but I'm just not in the mood. My stomach is unsettled. My brain is scattered. My fingers are getting tired of typing. Maybe I'll feel a bit better after Sundown. Maybe I'll go to bed early and get some good sleep. Maybe I'll go read more Harry Potter. |