|
|
|
October 7th, 2008
02:20 pm - Hee! Early trick-or-treating!
| My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul |
|---|
| otherwise_nyc goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as Harjuku girl. | | aquestrian tricks you! You get a piece of paper. | | columbina tricks you! You get a dead frog. | | dailyada tricks you! You get a clothespin. | | ennirol tricks you! You get a rock. | | luckylefty tricks you! You get an eraser. | | lunchboy gives you 10 dark green licorice-flavoured jawbreakers. | | metaphorge gives you 10 light orange cherry-flavoured pieces of taffy. | | miriam1978 gives you 1 orange evil-flavoured pieces of bubblegum. | | nonelvis gives you 2 orange vanilla-flavoured gummy worms. | | orthoepy tricks you! You lose 1 pieces of candy! | | otherwise_nyc ends up with 22 pieces of candy, a piece of paper, a dead frog, a clothespin, a rock, and an eraser. | | Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern. |
I have to say, I'm delighted with all the "tricks" except for the dead frog. Unless maybe it's a tiny, multicolored frog made by Delirium? That would be good, too! I'm easy to please.
|
August 13th, 2008
09:23 pm - Tiny bits of randomness
Mostly I microblog little things on soup.io these days:
http://yarnivore.soup.io/
Feel free to follow me there -- you can plop that into whatever you use for a RSS feed. (I dunno if LJ lets you use it as an RSS reader.)
Cheers!
(PS -- I am generally fine; I continue to have a high background level of crappy health which I'm trying hard to lower; overall life is splendid and showering me with every kind of wealth but money.)
|
February 15th, 2008
12:18 pm - punctuation mark meme
I wouldn't bother to post this, except that, of course, it is completely accurate. I HAVE AN EXCLAMATION MARK TATTOOED ON MY ARM!
*cough*
You Are An Exclamation Point
|
You are a bundle of... well, something.
You're often a bundle of joy, passion, or drama.
You're loud, brash, and outgoing. If you think it, you say it.
Definitely not the quiet type, you really don't keep a lot to yourself.
You're lively and inspiring. People love to be around your energy.
(But they do secretly worry that you'll spill their secrets without even realizing it.)
You excel in: Public speaking
You get along best with: the Dash
|
|
September 11th, 2007
02:47 pm - I think you better quit talking that shit, punk
http://www.yarnivore.com/mt/archives/001920.html
In which I get my rant on about 9/11. If you'd like to comment, do it over there, kthx.
|
June 18th, 2007
12:32 pm - Just don't let the human factor fail to be a factor at all
I wrote a long post over on my non-Lj blog; instead of copying it all here, I'll just post a link: http://www.yarnivore.com/runblog/
I know several people right now dealing with various sorts of depression and/or emotional issues, and so I felt moved to talk about my own efforts to manage similar problems in myself.
|
March 22nd, 2007
11:39 am - The horror.
It's not an emergency this time, but I seem to have another kidney stone. We'll get confirmation today (I had a CT scan yesterday). I noticed funny-colored urine, and at *another* doctor's appointment I had a high blood pressure reading, so I went in to see my super-awesome MD, Dr. Maggie. I have no idea how I would be coping with this kidney malfunctioning with a regular doctor; Maggie has rocked really hard in every conceivable way.
Anyway, the urinalysis showed crystals and blood, so off I went for a CT scan. The crystals are calcium oxalate, which means that I've now been advised to avoid about ten of my favorite foods. Rhubarb! Spinach! Beets and sweet potatoes! Francis and Danny squawked hardest about chocolate, but pffft: I'd happily give up chocolate if it meant I got to keep everything else on the list. At least garlic isn't a culprit. I might just have jumped off a bridge if I got told I couldn't eat garlic.
Have been feeling utter crap, and I kind of assume that my wonky urinary tract is to blame.
----
In other news, I'm trying a new drug for my headaches, which my new neurologist thinks are "hemicrania continua" and not migraines. Indomethacin is the stuff, it's an old, relatively dirty NSAID (it's hard on kidneys and livers, as well as stomachs). I think it's helping, but I could just be trading headaches for tummy aches, so I'm not convinced it's The Answer.
Oh, and I have a cold. And my period. And something I ate disagreed with me.
When do I get my new robobody? Because I am all the hell done with this one.
Current Mood: whiny
|
February 1st, 2007
02:58 pm - Out of my hands
My application to CUNY is in; there's not really anything else I can do about it.
On the down side: Parts of it are getting to them late (although within their grace period), and I didn't give them a real "academic writing" sample because I can't find any papers from 12-15 years ago.
On the bright side: I realized today that my competition is mostly kids just out of school. And I blew away the GRE. And I won a prestigious fellowship the last time I went to grad school. And although I dropped out, I did my previous grad work at Yale. And my essay was pretty good. And the writing samples I gave them are good.
On the whole, I think it's likely that I'll get in. But as I said above, there's nothing more I can do about it! So I will just have to wait a couple months and see what I find out.
It's a relief to have the application finished, I can tell you that!
[ETA: In case anyone doesn't know, I'm applying to the PhD program in sociology, at the Graduate Center at CUNY.]
|
January 23rd, 2007
11:43 am - Good vibrations
Hey y'all!
I am taking the GRE this afternoon, at 1:30, and I would like to harness the awesome power of my f-list -- all of you think REALLY POSITIVE THOUGHTS at me this afternoon, will you?
I will report back later.
----
I have been waiting to post about the cervical dysplasia until I get back the biopsy results -- but preliminary news is Very Good! The lesion wasn't there when my doctor looked. We'll know for certain once we get the cytology results back, though.
[Edited to add: Y'all must have been working some serious voodoo out there! Initial results ARE IN: 750 Verbal, 730 Quantitative! I'll hear about the essay section in a couple weeks.
w00t! Again I say: w00t!
My plan is to go back to grad school in the fall, at CUNY, in sociology, with the goal being to study People Like Us. Which is to say: Geeks, freaks, polyamorists, netizens, all that sort of thing. More as that develops! Application is due Feb 1st, I should hear in, um, I think April? Sometime around then.]
|
January 1st, 2007
05:55 pm - Resolved
Here we go! Some resolutions for 2007. I should note that I have no sense of "I will have failed if I don't do all these things" -- it's nice to have some stuff in mind, though, I think.
First, and most important: Get Francis a red panda.
Boring stuff:
Do more yoga (I LIKE yoga! What is my deal?)
Cook at home more often (although this is partly about socializing, as well as eating better, being less spendy, supporting locally sourced seasonal food -- lots of good not-boring aspects)
Keep apartment tidier (so I don't squawk tediously when someone says they want to come over, not so's it'll be actually sparkly or anything)
Get rid of clothes I don't wear (so I don't wash the same load of laundry thirty times this year while there's a closet full of random shit)
Send invoices promptly
Not precisely fun, but gratifying and sometimes fun:
Consider volunteering with Achilles Track Club
Find more opportunities for direct activism
Fun stuff!:
Have more parties
Have more sex (this may be a challenge, but I am game)
Write the fucking novel, already!
Beat Guitar Hero on medium (and finish Katamari Damacy -- the moon! The moon needs rolling up!)
MAKE MORE THINGS
Relearn one of the languages I used to know pretty well -- not sure whether Italian or French will get the final nod.
Oh, and I would put "achieve enlightenment" on here, but it feels kind of goal-oriented and not so Buddhist to make a RESOLUTION about it. So I'll just sort of keep working in that direction, 'kay?
[Edited to add: I'm probably going to write something on "What I learned from 2006: Or, why I'm not consigning the whole damn year to the shit-can of history," but that'll take a little pondering.]
|
05:38 pm - If you don't know what is wrong with me, then you don't know what you missed
Hey! My friend India tagged me for the "five things most people don't know about me" meme, and of course I went on at ridiculous length. But over in the blog: http://www.yarnivore.com/runblog/
I really would tag everyone, but that would look silly written out one by one. But I *do* want to know five things I don't know about you! All of you! Write something!
|
December 31st, 2006
04:50 am - And if I shed a tear I won't cage it, I won't fear love
Or: bodhisattva-wannabe=me.
I made a long long post over at my regular blog, and instead of copying it over here, I'll just link to it: http://www.yarnivore.com/mt/archives/001739.html
It's about dealing with fear. It felt really calming to work through, so I thought I'd make sure I shared it with my LJ reader-friends as well as my blog-reader friends.
A handful of resolutions are in the offing; I suppose I'll get to those tomorrow. It's been a damn good year, this one -- but that doesn't mean I don't also look forward to 2007.
|
December 30th, 2006
05:27 am - Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
I swear I didn't game the test -- why doesn't it think I'm more slothful than this? But yeah, that's me, whirling around with Paolo and Francesca.
| Greed: | Very Low
| | | Gluttony: | Low
| | | Wrath: | Very Low
| | | Sloth: | Low
| | | Envy: | Very Low
| | | Lust: | Very High
| | | Pride: | Very Low
| |
The Seven Deadly Sins Quiz on 4degreez.com
|
December 25th, 2006
04:39 am - It's Christmastime in the city
A quick update before a longer essay-type post: I am stone-free! Yay!
I had the lithotripsy on Tuesday the 19th, and I am told that the kidney stone was very soft and was completely pulverized by the sound waves. Huzzah! The stent came out at the same time. I was in some fairly minor discomfort due to the stent removal; the lithotripsy discomfort has been intermittent and mostly tolerable.
My only recourse at this point is to drink lots of water; we'll never know about the composition of the stone, because it was so completely OBLITERATED that there isn't anything to analyze. (I must add that I find this minorly bogus -- I know I analyzed lots of crap in chem class that didn't have any visible chunks in it -- why can't they just spectroscope my urine?) Ah well.
Thanks for all the many many well wishes! I am very happy to have a pain-free Christmas!
|
December 4th, 2006
11:08 pm - I've got your old ID and you're all dressed up like the Cure
[x-posted from blog]
It's me! I'm home! Yay!
Francis did a rather brilliant job of providing updates, so I'm here to give you the final score and the color commentary.
Sunday afternoon I saw a urologist who told me that because the kidney stone was so fucking enormous (or words to that effect), there was no chance in hell I'd pass it on my own, and they'd have to pulverize it. In the meantime, however, my kidney was near exploding, because the stone was blocking my ureter (hence all the WILDLY EXCRUCIATING PAIN OMG). So he felt he should put in a stent to open up the passage.
My first reaction upon hearing this was, "Hmm. That sounds plausible. I wonder what Google has to say about it?" But I was in the ER with NO GOOGLE and had to make a medical decision just using the brain in my head, instead of relying on the lobe of my brain I keep in the ether. I said "Hell yes" and he told me he'd do it at 7pm. The procedure itself was Not So Bad, although I felt a bit shaky just before it -- the sort of shaky with repeating thoughts of "I have just signed a consent form to let them put WHAT? WHERE? Dude!" But it all went just fine.
Afterwards I got my first full night's sleep in several days, even with a catheter and a IV drip -- it was Just That Good to be not in pain and in a real bed. My room-mate tells me (because *her* medical problem and treatments kept her up all night) that not only did I snore (probably because I was heavily drugged and flat on my back) but that I also talked in my sleep. Something about someone who "had no respect". I wish I knew more! The idea of things I say in my sleep *fascinates* me.
This morning was all straightforward; I had a list of things to accomplish before they'd let me out. They removed the catheter, I had breakfast, I peed on my own (yay!), I saw the urologist. And then they gave me some prescriptions and let me go. Wheeeeeee! I have never been so happy to brush my teeth, or take a hot shower, or lie on my own dear couch knitting. Mmmmm.
The lithotripsy is going to be in a couple of weeks, when I get back from a short trip to DC and a longer trip to see my mom. He could have done it on Wednesday, but said that since the stent-insertion is a little traumatic, and lithotripsy is a little traumatic, he'd rather space them out more, and having the stent in for two weeks is not a big deal. I'm not in any kidney-related pain at all anymore, so I'm inclined to agree.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for all the nice notes and calls and everything -- it's made the whole thing a little more bearable to be able to remember that My Team is enormous and loving and wonderful, and the kidney stone is just a little 7mm scrap of mineral. We will vanquish the fucker!
There are many funny human-interest anecdotes I could relate, but I should go lie back down on the couch. Here's one, though. My room-mate, Peggy, was 63, a lifelong Windsor Terrace resident (she lives right around the corner from me). She said very sweet, but slightly strange, things to me all night and morning. "Are you a writer? You have a beautiful vocabulary," is one example. This morning she sat chatting with me about her life, which I drew her out on. Somewhere in there she asked, "So, is that goth? What you do with your hair and that little earring over your eye?" I let her know that I've got my own thing going on, and it doesn't so much have a name. (^_^)
|
05:07 am - The drums march along at the clip of an IV drip
(Cross-posted from Miles of Yarn)
Hello again, everyone -- Rose is still "in hospital", as they say "across the pond", so it continues (albeit not for much longer) to fall to me to bring you updates. She's had the stent put in and is, at the moment, catheterized, so that the incredible amount of saline solution they've been pumping into her will have somewhere to go. Everything seems to have gone perfectly smoothly, and when I left, she had shaken off the anesthesia and was chilling out comfortably with a book on her Palm Pilot.
The catheter comes out in the morning, and then she'll be discharged not long after, and should be home a little before noon tomorrow. The night nurse, Irving, confirmed (or so it sounded) that her lithotripsy appointment (to break up the stone) will be on Wednesday; in most cases that procedure doesn't require an overnight stay, and hopefully that will hold true in Rose's case.
Thanks for all your supportive comments!
|
December 3rd, 2006
09:43 pm - Quick update
Francis again, with a brief update. Rose will be having a stent inserted in a couple hours, to relieve the pressure on her kidney, and will have to spend the night at the hospital, but will be discharged in the morning, and then will most likely have the lithotripsy done on Wednesday.
|
11:47 am - This is our emergency
(Cross-posted from Miles of Yarn)
Hello, everyone. Francis here, with an update about the state of the Rose. We spent another night in the ER -- this one didn't have the same bureaucratic hellpit sort of feel that Tuesday night's visit had, but it still took forever for Rose to be seen by a doctor, because apparently there's never really a good night to go to the emergency room -- and, in fact, Rose is still in the process of spending the night there. But I get ahead of myself.
Rose has been having some pretty intense kidney pain over the past couple days, which we and her doctor have been assuming is to do with the post-strep inflammation that was previously diagnosed. She's been on Percocet for the pain, which was helping tremendously, but then this afternoon, while we were at the Brooklyn Museum, the pain went through the roof, and the Percocet didn't help at all. Rose called Dr. Carpenter, who apologetically said, yeah, you need to go to the emergency room, I'm afraid. We called all the car services in the area, none of whom had cars available, and our friend Adam came to the rescue and picked us up at the museum. Mostly my reaction to learning that someone owns a car in New York City is a kind of aghast awe, like, "Whoa, you wrestle cobras for a living? That's intense," but I can see how it comes in handy now and again, and thank goodness some of our friends are willing to bite that bullet.
Anyway, they finally found Rose a room in the ER, and I'm sure she will have many details to relate upon her return about the nice medical student who was very bad at putting in an IV, etc., but the upshot is, they gave her a CAT scan (and -- after much anticipation -- some pain medication that worked) and she's got a rather big kidney stone (7 mm) in her right kidney. This would also account for all the symptoms she's been having, so it seems quite possible that the whole strep thing was a red herring. We'll see.
So she's been admitted to the hospital, and is waiting for a bed to open up so they can move her upstairs from her nook in the emergency room. Until about an hour ago, she and I were both napping uncomfortably in her room, and when we both awoke from our fitful slumbers she firmly sent me on my way to get some sleep that could not be described as "in a swivel chair leaning on a sink". Happily, right before I left, Rose noticed that the reclined chair which she had been having a not-very-comfortable time sleeping in looked like the sort of thing that could be adjusted, and I managed to figure out the controls (having played many Myst games, and thus being very practiced at figuring out mysterious machines that don't come with instructions) and make it be more flat and horizontal, the better to keep her comfortable and able to sleep until they get her to a real bed.
There will be more to report in a little while (I would say "tomorrow morning", but it is already 6:30 a.m.), when Rose sees the urologist. Probably what will happen is that they will do they thing where they break up the kidney stone by shooting sound waves at it. No idea how quickly they'll be able to get the procedure done. Hopefully, Rose will be home in time to write the next update herself. Wish her luck.
|
December 1st, 2006
10:43 pm - I piece by piece replace myself and the steel and circuits will make me whole
[x-posted from blog; the skinny on what I'm sick with is in the entry before this one, there.]
Update!
I was getting better, but now I'm feeling worse. It's the same thing, and my doctor still thinks it's nothing to "worry" about, while at the same time starting me on a diuretic and an antibiotic, and giving me Percocet for pain.
Because, you see, I am in a lot of pain. (Not at the moment -- Percocet, yay!) But last night, and then again just now: WORST PAIN OF MY LIFE. Who knew kidneys could cause so much pain? I mean, I know kidney stones made Montaigne want to die, and I know that people are always getting sucker-kicked in the kidneys in movies. But dude, seriously: You do not want your kidneys fucked up.
Here's the thing. I have trouble asking for people to take care of me when I'm sick, due to all sorts of stuff too wearisome to go into. But even I can tell that NOW IS THE TIME TO ASK.
I would like to be fussed over, please. Send me funny links to things, call, email, IM me if I'm online. I'm sick, and kind of not-so-secretly-worried that this is seriouser than we hope it will be, and even if it is going to resolve soon, it still sucks HORRIBLY. It's scary to feel this bad.
[NB: I think the above is all in coherent English, but I am *stoned* on Percocet right now.]
|
November 23rd, 2006
03:09 pm - Happy Thanksgiving!
Wildly positive post by me at http://www.yarnivore.com/runblog/, giving thanks for a great huge list of stuff.
Love love love --
-- Rose
|
November 17th, 2006
11:12 pm - What a pain in the neck!
Both my cervixes are busted! I found out that my shoulder/neck pain is "cervical radiculopathy" -- a fancy way to say I've got a pinched nerve. Grr. Treatment includes:
PT
wearing a backpack over both shoulders instead of a messenger bag slung across my middle
heat
anti-inflammatories
mousing left instead of right (and I've also changed to a trackball, to make it easier to do)
and keeping up with yoga and other regular exercise
Why do I gotta be middle-aged? Meh! This is all very undignified.
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
otherwise_nyc's journal