After Long Silence....

Not that LIFE has been quiet. A knitting hiatus for several months, a motorcycle hiatus even longer. However, I'm still a steadfast grandma - softball and soccer supporter. The younger granddaughter's team finally took first place in a recreational softball tournament this summer. I've been living with my daughter and her family since the end of May 2009. Crowded but not bad until yesterday morning. Big scene with older granddaughter, her mom and her stepdad. Have to at least FINISH the Margaret Stove baby booties; won't take long to finish the one and cast on the other, but reading the chart, oh my. M's baby will be huge before I get through the chart. Maybe a quicker knit from a bigger yarn & a Ravelry pattern....And Harwood for my younger granddaughter. Hope to afford some oatmeal Rowan Scottish Tweed Chunky, so I can knit one for my daughter - although I don't think she cares about the cables & bobbles. Why can't I ever keep any of my wages? What's wrong with me???!!! m.

More roommate fall-out

okay, I have no more working vehicles in my possession (but that's not actually the erstwhile roommate's fault). What IS his fault is my lack of a creeper to get underneath cars, and also the absence of TWO Radio Flyer wagons (only one of which was HIS) as well as the absence of any complete tool sets, one of which was an anniversary present from my long-gone ex-husband. Of course, the roommate fellow denies that any of these goods were ever mine, including two floor jacks; I will give him the air compressor. Oddly, my son's motorcycle helmet has come up missing - of course roommate guy disavows any knowledge of this disappearance as well - so the horror continues.

My best friend forever has, once again, blocked all my emails and won't be my friend on myspace. No telling what I've done this time. Hope she gets over it soon, but one never knows with her. I hope her mom is still doing okay and I wish I'd had time to pick her brains as far as custom tailoring is concerned. I have all the supplies, but no practical knowledge. Good thing I have books!

Knitting is going slowly, more slowly than I would like. However, having to use public transportation affords more time for the repetitious pieces (won't try any LACE anytime soon).

Ta-ta for July 31, 2008. Oh, and I need a second job - another $1,000 a month would be quite welcome. And I mourn "Jericho" and the loss of Skeet Ulrich, Brad Beyer, Alicia Coppola, Sprague Grayden, Esai Morales from the weekly television scene, although Brad, Sprague and Esai have upcoming gigs. Brad's been on one of the police procedurals, and I hope there are more of those to come!!!!!

Still Nothing for Bunji Merino

Still looking for patterns or guidelines for that Cherry Tree Hill bunji merino.

Once more: February 17, 2008 at the Los Angeles Comic Book and Sci Fi Convention!

On February 17, 2008 I attended what was billed as the Los Angeles Comic Book and Sci Fi Convention which turned out to be a poorly advertised and poorly attended attended comic book and action figure swap meet.

However, several members of the "Jericho" cast, production staff, and writers were on a panel, with an advance screening of Episode 2.2 before the panel took the stage.

Jon Turteltaub, Sprague Grayden, Kenneth Mitchell (he wears glasses!), Jonathan Steinberg, Steve Scaia, Carol Barbee, Matt Federman, Brad Beyer, Alicia Coppola, Bob Stephenson, Lennie James, Dan Shotz and Karim Zreik (as well as the director for Ep. 2.2) were in attendance. Less than half the seats in the curtained-off area were populated. A fan (whom I met at Jerichon 2007) who lives in Santa Barbara didn't get advance notice and had another obligation. I only knew about the event because of a myspace bulletin from one of the myspace Jericho fans, at the beginning of the week of the event.

As everyone now knows, CBS has axed the show again. Comments abound all over the CBS message boards and in email trees all around the world. I'll miss the show, but I don't think we can resurrect it this time, even on another network.

Continuing Saga of Pain

Okay, so this morning on the bus, I had a narrow "shooting" sensation (almost like a gentle caress, I'd like to think), down the left side of my front thigh muscle...then BAM - an explosion of pain. Unusual for the pain to manifest on the left leg.

And the weather? On Monday, December 10th, chilly, nippy, cold, might have been appropriate. This morning? Wednesday, December 12th? Frigid, biting, bitter, mind-numbing, bone-chilling. Hooray for leggings, Land's End stadium coats and North Torrance Girls Softball League hoodies!

And Long Beach Transit's supposedly GPS-linked signs are a big rip-off (bus showed up on the opposite side of the street, going the opposite direction the sign computer-generated sign indicated), as is Cherry Tree Hill's supposed Orenburg yarn. I bought one hank, but it isn't a hank, really, and it isn't yarn, really, some of it appears to be spun, some of it still needs to be carded, some of it looks like hair from a short-haired black dog, and it's in pieces, not one long, continuous strand - bits and pieces, not useful for shawls or much of anything else. Cherry Tree Hill should be ashamed that its name is associated with such a product. I think I'll tell them!

Now for a complete non sequitur: "She stood at the front of the bus, next to the driver, backlit by the the Texas-ruby-red-grapefruit sunset visible through the windshield..."

And have to cancel emergency chiro appointment for today; at least the pain pills are working to kill the pain and are leaving the higher functions of my brain alone (so far, anyway). And I DID remember to put the new bottle in my bag this morning. Yikes!

that's all for now.

Continuing Saga of Pain

Not to minimize pain suffered by others who are afflicted with truly horrible conditions, my pain is the worst I've ever experienced, mostly because there's no end in sight (as opposed to the process of birthing a child, where one is working towards a goal). Just pain. Pain and pain pills. Endless cycle, with the periods between pain pills filled with the constant and unremitting pain accompanied by slashes and incursions and persistence of other pains. Pains in the middle of the muscles (biceps, biceps femoris, gastrocnemius, forearm, triceps) for no reason whatsoever...I do have an appointment to see a chiropractor in West Los Angeles. He and his staff have helped me before, and I hope this is true now. I tried Rudie's referral, but his chiropractor does not seem to have any desire or ability to treat acute pain such as mine. Her focus is on the spine itself and the restoration of the lordotic curve.

Oh, and the bike DOES have a serious problem. It was just by chance I got it home on Saturday without a problem. I tried to come to work on it this morning, and I couldn't keep it running. It acted like it was out of gas, but Valdi told me the ignition system was failing, and since there WAS gas in it, and the engine tended to stall when, for instance, the turn signal was activated, I do believe it's the ignition (another $500 or $600, but that includes new tires and a major tune-up).

And the truck still needs front tire and a major tune-up itself. And Al needs to be paid for the work he did replacing the once-again defective serpentine belt, the faulty water pump and accompanying belt tensioner, etc.

Chronic and Worsening Pain

Never meant this to be a chronical of despair.

I've had worsening sciatic pain in the right leg (and sometimes, and now more frequently, on the left in the big thigh muscle in front) along with pain in the right shoulder joint which radiates into the biceps. An issue related or not to the shoulder pain is tenderness and radiating pain from the right elbow joint, then some bilateral numbness in my hands, usually at night when I'm trying to go to sleep. I went to my regular doctor in the middle of October and he's prescribed a muscle relaxer and something else (which I haven't filled yet, but will with the next paycheck).

So far the doctor hasn't diagnosed fibromyalgia, and I agree with him. Conservative chiropractic's effect is interesting, and helps a bit, but not enough to relieve the constant discomfort or the sharp pain that makes me want to cry out (or at least grimace frightfully).

I have a session with the local chiropractor's office today, which will be the fourth visit and probably my last at this practitioner's office. The focus has been on my low back, where there's nerve root compression and a possible PARS defect on the right - but except for one session of joint movement for my right shoulder and arm, that area has been pretty much ignored. So there's some lessening of the leg distress (not much but some) and the arm and shoulder pain is that much worse by comparison. Massage is not a modality covered under my insurance or the parameters of her practice, so I'm out of luck. (I can't even afford to fix my bike, much less pay $40 per session for a massage on my right shoulder and arm.)

I'd much rather get treated with Michael Vesely and Edana in West Los Angeles, but with no transportation at all, the distance is prohibitive as well as the cost of trying to get there. I know any of my prior treating chiropractors would be more effective than this Long Beach gal. I understand the focus of her practice and philosophy - if I was looking for a gentle, long-term therapy to restore cervical, thoracic and lumbar lordosis, she would definitely be my first choice. But for alleviation of severe and chronic pain? No.....

One-half a Vicodin first thing in the morning is NOT a good sign, nor is its minimal effect on the pain in my upper arm muscle, neck and shoulder.

I've tried piraformis stretches, but they're not having any immediate effect, either.

My complaints about my boss have been colored by this constant haze of pain through which I wade every day. Her antics and idiosyncracies would be slightly more bearable if the assignments required less research time, both internal and external (internet). This aspect of my work has little to do with her, and more with organizational disarray!

Okay, enough rant. Time to change legs for the piraformis stretch now to the left leg.

December 5, 2007

Well, this starts with the evening of December 4th, when I went to my Microsoft Word class after work, but could not sit comfortably because of the sciatic spine pain radiating down the right leg. I called Tonya to pick me up and take me home! I couldn't handle the 1/2 mile walk. How sad it that!

Then, this morning started out great - the bus and driver were right on time, the other passengers friendly (I was knitting, and had some conversation about that) and arrived in Downtown Long Beach just a few minutes after 7 a.m., just a tad too late to catch the Long Beach Transit shuttle to Catalina Landing. I went to the 7-11 on Pine and Broadway, I think it is, got a money order to pay a bit to Valdi on the R65, got a breakfast biscuit (with a free OJ), got my two diet Cokes, and walked back to the shuttle stop. The computerized display indicated I had to wait 20 minutes for the next shuttle, so I started walking - then decided instead to take the shuttle that runs down Pine. I knew it was the "C" line, but didn't stop to think about the route it would take. I knew it went towards the water, and that was generally where I needed to go. The driver was involved in an intense personal conversation with a fellow passenger; I couldn't have asked her a question, even if I had been bold enough to try - once the bus passed the Pike's parking structure and headed towards the Queen Mary on the speedway, I knew I was doomed. Once the shuttle stopped at the endpoint, the driver took a break, and refused to respond when I asked her how long her break would last. Ergo, I ended up arriving 45 minutes later than if I had just walked from 1st and Pine! And that driver was less than courteous. To top it off, once I did get back over the bridge from the Queen Mary and exited the bus, I dropped the ball of yarn and walked for nearly a block before I realized the yarn was unraveling. So I had to walk back, winding up the yarn in a secondary ball. I hope this is the worst that happens today, but since I've gotten one of those "one-sentence/takes me a week to complete assignments" who knows how today will play out?

And I can't remember the name of the performer I'm supposed to check out on YouTube...Ruth Ann? Ruby Ann? Nuts, I've got to call my source.

And I'm cheating (although I'm not clocked in yet, this is the WORK computer). I had to vent....

I have a chiropractic appointment today as well and I can only hope it doesn't take two hours, like the appointment on Monday. It did help, although this chiropractor's methods are different than any other chiropractor with whom I've treated.

The truck, by the way, cost $263 for the new clutch fan and serpentine belt (October 22, 2007), and now $569 (December 1, 2007 and not paid for yet) for the worn-out water pump. I don't think catastrophic auto repair bills are a hardship in the 401k rules, but I have to ask.

And the bike? I have a downpayment money order for Valdi of $100 - still owe another $170; and everything that Mitch Berger had mentioned has now ripened into "needs to be done" including two new tires, new coil, major tune up - to the tune of $800. I can't complain because both the truck and the bike run for years with very, very basic maintenance. It's just the thought that both of them, at the same time, with major failures?

The lesson is in progress. I've bought no new yarn (except for one small lot of Orenburg mohair) for what, a year now? And I'm better at keeping up with the regular bills. Not perfect, but better. Yet, where does all my money go? It's that "latte" factor except it's not lattes! Control, control, mindful saving and spending, mindful saving and spending....

Okay, now that I've taken a half hour out of my already busy day. c'est fait, at least for now.

Diane, help me now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!