And.... We're Back!!

Today, I left home early. Once again, I was driven to run for the sake of my poor eardrums. They can only take so much Banshee singing. Thus I found myself at the pet shop getting dog food. Yes, I was brave enough to go get dog food again. Anyway, after that, I tootled off to my Physical Therapy appointment. That was actually kinda funny. I've really been keeping up on my exercises and it shows. There haven't been any hand tremors since Friday, and even that was slight, and partially due to me using my hand a lot during a pencil drawing class. This results in me getting some strengthening exercises to go with the ones that do a traction type movement with my neck. I was so happy to be able to do the drawing again, without my hand going bonkers that I brought in some of my art to show him. It really meant a lot to me that he got me back to the point where I could draw again. He was totally floored. LOL! Oh, that was funny.

Afterwards, I wandered over to The Big Salad Shop for lunch. BEST SALADS EVER. I eat lunch there a lot. While I ate lunch I sat on the patio, ate lunch and read a book. It was so nice. Free time has been such a rare thing for me over the years. On the down side, I discovered that my feet really need some sandals. The Halflingers are great during Winter, Spring and Fall... but not so good when the temps hit 95+, which led me up the street to the shoe store where I put a pair of sandals on hold until I get my paycheck. Then I suckered myself into looking at type of bicycle I've been eyeballing for about two years. I have a bike, but its a serious mountain bike with a seat built for the numb-of-ass. My posterior is just a tad more delicate, and the position of the handlebars are awkward. I love the bike, but it's just not built for a ride to the grocery store any back. It's built to take you down mountain sides and up the next with extreme efficiency. Don't get me wrong. It's an awesome bike, but ... not so good for cruising around town.

So, I drooled on a bright red bike at the bike shop, and found out that they have lay away. Really... you have lay away? Oh, man. I got myself out of there before I could get myself in more trouble. The brand name and model of the bike left with me on the back of a business card. On the way home, I passed my Dad and Sister heading down the hill... Which meant I was going home to a house with an abandoned Banshee. ... joy. Upon arriving home, he was indeed crying and carrying on. Being one that has a low tolerance for loud noises, (and I do realize the irony of this) I plugged myself into a pair of earphones, jacked it into my ipod and cranked up the volume. Then proceeded to put together my fish tank. Which I got three years ago at Christmas. I figured it was about time to set it up. Procrastination is one of my specialities.

Chickens On The Porch, Where Art Thou?

Alrighty. If anyone is wondering where Callie is from Chickens On the Porch, she is currently without Internet connection. If everyone is now wondering how I managed to get online if there is no Internet connection, its because I fled the house Saturday after work, and am currently making use of a friends wireless system. With their consent of course. BUT for the near future there may be a small space where there aren't any posts from either of us. Just thought I'd let you know. Never fear. If worse comes to worse, I shall put Mom in the car with my laptop and drive her down to the library where the Internet service is FREE, and on ALL THE TIME. Thus, she may post.

In the meantime, hang in there. We're working on it.

Banshees Really DO Exist!!

They do! They really do! We've all seen them too, because every human has at one point in their lives been one. We know them as 2 year-olds. My nephew for instance is currently in his banshee stage, with a shriek that can, and quite possibly has, peeled the paint off walls. Sorry to say I have no actual proof of this, but believe me. Its the only thing that can possibly explain his ability to push the decibel reading off the scale. Thankfully he comes with a pacifier. If you plunk him in front of the TV and run Kiki's Delivery Service, he's extremely quiet. Until its over, and then... You'd better be quick on the play button. My dog's brick splitting bark sounds so tame now. That's probably a blessing of sorts. I no longer jump out of my skin when she barks right behind my back. She sneaks up behind me and does that, and I'm fairly sure she laughs about it too. Thank god she can't take pictures.

The shrieking aside, my sister's kids are all good. I keep telling myself that the littlest one is just a baby, and I'm being dumb when I climb walls to escape the noise. So far I've not been terribly effective at convincing myself of that. Ah well.

On Monday I had my second physical therapy appointment. It seemed to go well. The PT wants to keep things very simple because that's what seems to be working for me. I have a suspicion that this thing in my neck may never completely leave and I will be doing these little exercises for a long time to come. At the moment though, they are allowing me to function at about 90% of normal. Unless I forget to do them, and then I'm back to a dying fish for a hand. Always fun for parties and attempting to eat spaghetti. OR I've got an odd wimpy feeling to the arm, and slight numbness down the inside of the arm to the wrist. Either or both can happen, and I'm not always in a position to fix it with the exercises. Its a learning process for now, but at least it's working.

After the appointment, I drove home in the little rental. Nice enough little car. In fact it was nice enough to drive right back down the hill later to see a movie. I decided on Prince of Persia, which wasn't a bad film exactly, but it rang hollow. I really didn't give a crap about any of the characters. The action scenes were fine, the dialogue wasn't bad, and FX were top notch. However this whole thing basically falls into the same category as National Treasure. A movie that has everything I love in a film, but totally fails to pull me into it. Everything fell rather flat, like walking into a very clean glass door. You'd like to be inside the party with everyone else, but something is preventing you from getting to it. I'm not saying this was bad film, because for many people I'm sure it was great, but for me... eh. I should've gone to see Killers.

And! I've got my car back! It looks brand new. The place that did the repairs gave me a detail job on the car too. The only thing that was a little screwy is that there was sap all over the car, so they couldn't give it a wax job. Therefore I get to get it further detailed in the near future, and I get to figure out how its getting sap all over it, given it lives in a carport. Odd. Anyway, I've got my car back!! Soooo happy!!!

ACK!! An AWARD!!

I am in an extremely foul mood today. There is no real particular reason for it, just that I wanted peace and quiet and instead my sister and her kids are invading for two weeks. Starting at 6pm or so today. I'm not going to say anything else about it because I start moving from merely agitated to outright angry. As bad as this sounds, I greatly dislike having visitors to the house. That includes relatives. I would be exceedingly happy as a hermit. A CLEAN hermit. With chickens, goats, dogs, and at least two mules. I'd be good.

On a brighter note, somehow I got an award from "Little Messy Missy". Thank you Little Messy Missy. This was the last thing I was ever expecting. I didn't think I wrote enough on this thing to ever gain award attention. Definitely a brighter spot in the day though. So, basically I think the rules go that I thank the person who gave it to me. Done. :)

Then tell everyone 7 things that you probably don't know about me, and given that I don't like talking too much about myself, that should be relatively simple. The last one was that I was supposed to pass this award on... Which could be a problem given that I generally don't read a lot of blogs. So, I will hold onto this until I run across people who meet the criteria.

1. I'm afraid I already gave this away. I harbor a deep need for solitude.

2. I still sleep with a little pink plush elephant.

3. I absolutely abhor dresses and skirts. Give me jeans any day.

4. I have a polished stone collection that I keep in a fish bowl. Every once in a while I take the fish bowl and dump the stones on a table, and then look at them for hours.

5. I don't like chocolate, unless you offer me raisinets. Then I can eat an entire bag. Most people get chocolate cravings... I get cravings for Nori (that's the dried seaweed they use for sushi), and eat them like potato chips. Yes, I know. Weird.

6. I want tons of plants in my room, but I've got a black thumb.

7. My favorite movies are from the 40s and 50s. Hollywood lost something when they hit the mid 60s, and they haven't gotten it back.

Lately I've been watching a lot of Anime online. There are a couple of sites that have some really good quality shows, but you have to take a good look around before you find them. About 3 years ago, I came across one at work called Mushi-Shi, and loved it. There are some Animes that have this wonderful soothing feel to them. You can watch them hundreds of times, and the feeling never really fades. Mushi-Shi was one, and Natsume Yuujinchou (translates to Natsume's Book of Friends) is another which I just found. When I'm really stressed out I find myself going back to it to watch. It has a soft melancholy feel to it at first, but as the show progresses and the main character finds that he's not as alone as he thought, you find yourself smiling by the end of the half hour. If you have ever seen "Spirited Away" then you may like this, but its not quite so action packed. This is much quieter, and built around a kind teen who can see spirits and has never quite fit in with whatever relative he was sent to stay with. When he finds himself with the last people willing to take him in, in the country, he makes a real effort to fit in. You can find this Anime on CrunchyRoll, and other places, but I'd suggest the first because of the quality of the media. You'll have to put up with some obnoxious commercials, but its worth it.

On to the shoulder update. I'm not sure what's going on with my shoulder, and neither is the physical therapist. His conclusion was that this was not run of the mill whiplash, and that he'd need some time to pinpoint the issue. Since he's not sure what's going on, except that whatever is causing it is in my neck, not so much in the shoulder, he could only give me one exercise to do. It helps a LOT. This doesn't cure it, because it always comes back, but it just involves a little traction to the neck, and my hand acts normally, my shoulder doesn't hurt much, and I'm pretty much normal. For a while at least. Which is VERY cool! Now... If I can just get my car back. I'll be happy.

I zoomed through another book instead of finishing off the two I'm in the middle of, but I couldn't help it. It was an Ilona Andrews book, and I absolutely LOVE her writing. First book was "Magic Bites" and then she went roaring right through another 3 books. They're so much fun, and I'm constantly cracking up at the images my mind creates from the descriptions. If you want a light read with modern day magic, then this would be for you. They're fun!

After I caught the little Imprezza Speedball, Dad took me out for pizza, and then we went and wandered around Best Buy. I found "The Watcher in the Woods" for $5 roughly, and got it. I hadn't seen it in so long I'd partially forgotten the story, but I remembered liking it. This was one of Disney Studio's oddball creepy movies. Another was "Something Wicked This Way Comes" which is one of my favorite Ray Bradbury books, but the movie adaptation was very well done. Anyway, I finally got to sit down and watch "Watcher in the Woods" today, and it's still good, with probably what is one of the last appearances of Bette Davis before her withdraw from films. Good movie, and I'm glad I got it.

Ah yes... Eat a Cookie!

The Hurricane Named Confusion

At first, there was no help and now, I'm getting so much help its like standing in a hurricane. Information spills like rushing torrents from both sides now, and my poor rattled little brain is having trouble finding solid ground to stand on. I can't even begin to know their motives, let alone whether they even involve me. Insurance companies are supposed to have your back to some degree right? Granted this has not been my experience in every situation I've had to deal with them. In short, I only know what happens when you get screwed over. I am too damned tired to deal with shenanigans this time around. All I want is my car back. Seriously. I LOVE my Honda.

Currently I am driving a little Chevy provided by an insurance company, so I can actually get to work. And Home... another places I need to get to. Its like driving a tiny sedan... It should handle lighter, but it doesn't. Of course I'm biased. I've been driving a light weight little car for a while now. There's a real difference in how they handle, and its weird. I don't know how long its going to take for the Honda to get fixed. Hopefully not that long. I'd really rather not drive the rental more than I need to.

Ah yes, and then there was the doctor's visit. After the accident, my right hand was flopping around like a dying fish, and my left was steady as a rock. I was concerned, and so was the Sheriff who was on scene first. Enough to call for the EMTs. They said I was alright, but I should get checked out. Thus I found myself perched upon the exam table, while my doctor checked my shoulder over, and came to the conclusion that I've got whiplash.. just not in my neck, and its causing fine motor control issues with my right hand. Which means I can drive and do big things, but if I try to hold a pen or pencil, or use a fork/spoon, my hand falls back to doing the palsy maneuver. Writing is sort of a challenge as my hand jerks to a stop instead of flowing smoothly along like usual.

I was just going to concentrate on doing my job this summer. No need to worry about school in the fall, etc. In fact I had signed up for an Art class I'd been wanting to take for a while now because, gee, I've got some free time. Now I'm sort of concerned I won't be able to use the pencil like I usually do when I draw. I'm on anti-inflammatory medication, and am scheduled to do physical therapy to make sure the muscle heals right. My doctor seemed to think this was temporary, and I think so too, as its not doing the wobble all the time now. Just sometimes.

I've had so many experiences over the years that involve everything going down the crapper, that I'm really not even phased by this. So much so that one of my friends couldn't understand why I was so damned cheery about this. Life is too short to get worked up over this stuff. It really is. Its exhausting when you hang on to all that stress, anger, frustration, and fear. All that does is make you feel worse. I'm not saying don't be vigilant about getting things done right, but I'm saying ... let it go.

Eat a cookie. ;)

When Faced with the Choice of a Macaroon or Dog Food...

Just a word of warning to those of you who agonize when faced with very little time, and the choice to be selfish or generous... be selfish. Don't get the dog, dog food. Especially if she's not really in need of another bag for some days yet. These were the things on my mind as I left a little later than I expected to today when I left for work. To macaroon, or not to macaroon. There was only time to stop at one place before getting to work on time. Thus I was faced with a choice. Go to the bakery and get fresh squeezed lemonade and freshly baked moist macaroons, or go get my dog her dog food. Being a good owner, and knowing I'd feel guilty while eating and drinking such items, thereby rendering them imperfect, I went and responsibly got my dog her food.

And was rewarded for this by single-handedly catching a small speeding Subaru Imprezza squarely in my car's trunk. I had no idea that such little cars could reach speeds of Mach 1. There was literally 2 seconds for me to say, ".... oh sh!t..." before the little red speed ball whapped into my back end. Oddly, it was the Imprezza with bigger share of the damage. Its been a long weird day, filled with phone calls to insurance companies, parents, co-workers, the boss, and an auto body shop. Seriously though, I really could have done without my car scrunching experience.

Tomorrow will be fun as well. I get to see the doctor. Again. He can look at my shoulder, which is behaving oddly, and tell me,"Yep. You've strained it. Here, let me throw anti-inflammatory medication at you, and strap you into a sling for two weeks while your muscles recover." Personally, I think this man hates his job, because he smiles too much, and is afflicted with the false cheerfulness you find in an overworked Santa stand-in during the Christmas rush. Its like staring at badly installed veneers. I really need to find a different doctor.

After that, I think Dad and I have to go out to the auto-body shop and talk to them about the car. I'm hoping it won't take long to fix, because frankly, I love my little Honda. I was quite impressed with it. It didn't stall out when it got hit, didn't move forward very much, and kept me pretty damned safe. Strangely, I got hit right outside the Honda dealership I bought it from, and they were so nice. They let me sit in their waiting area while I made all the calls I had to, and checked out my car for me to see if it was safe to drive or not. Which it wasn't. The exhaust assembly is screwed up enough that it might fall off if I drive it.

So, do remember... If you have the choice of getting macaroons or dog food.... GO GET THE COOKIE!!!

FINALLY!!!

It only took me 15 years, but I have managed to get myself an AA degree in Liberal Arts. Most of that time has been used stumbling all over the scholastic chessboard trying to figure out what to focus my attention on. You see, I'm one of these exceedingly disturbed people who would be perfectly happy taking every class I can get my hands on for the rest of my life. Quite honestly I'm wondering if that's possible, because I'd love to have a BA in multiple things. Anthropology, multiple languages, History (and it doesn't matter which. I love it all), and a multitude of other things. I'm still sort of eyeballing Anthropology, or perhaps Archeology as a second choice, but I'm going to go after a BA in Japanese. Took me this long to finally find something that's got my undivided attention... at least for now. Currently I've switched from focusing on school and work, to work and finding a college that has a Japanese language program I like. Not as easy as it sounds.

Since I'm not doing classes all the time now, I've had time to read guilt free! Oh, how I've been reading... and I do apologize for not updating the page as I went, but since I had homework for a dreaded speech class, I was hiding that I was reading too. Silly? Oh yes. But we all have mental quirks, and mine tend to be stranger than average. So, here are the books I read when I shouldn't have been: "On the Edge" by Ilona Andrews, "The Reckoners" by Doranna Durgin (who I thought had quit writing YEARS ago), "Evil Ways" by Justin Gustainis, "Magic in the Shadows" and "Magic on the Storm" by Devon Monk, "Unperfect Souls by Mark del Franco, "Streets of Magic" and "Demon Bound" by Caitlin Kittredge, "Changes" by Jim Butcher, "Fahrenheit 451" Ray Bradbury, "Silver Bourne" by Patricia Briggs and "Tengu: The Mountain Goblin" by John Donohue. I think that does it... I think.... hmm. Okay this list neglects all the Manga series I re-read, and bought... and submerged in to save my sanity this last semester. I hate speech, and I almost literally became someone else in order to deal with it. Sanity saving in the same vein as when I read Piers Anthony's Xanth *trilogy*... hah. I think he's on book 38. But same sort of thing, because back then it was just after a large earthquake, and we were living in a 37 foot motor home in our drive way; our house having been red-tagged. Joyful experience I tell you. Joyful.

Today was sort of a lazy day for me, except for the hour I spent in the dentists chair this morning, where they said,"WOW! You take really good care of your teeth! I barely had to do anything!" This is the part were I beamed from all the praise. Then she said,"Except you'll probably need oral surgery to take care of that pocket near your molar." This is the part where I look like a kicked puppy. "Oh don't worry," she says catching my large fearful eyes,"they'll replace the bone your removed wisdom tooth disintegrated with sterilized pig bone, or cadaver bone." Here's were I stare at the woman in disbelief, while my overly helpful memory provides me with flashbacks to the last time I had surgery in my mouth... which was compounded by the fact that I react badly to certain antibiotics and anti-nausea medication that was prescribed... Lets just say that last June sucked. A lot.

So, in a stupor of resigned panic, I stopped at the local general store and got a nice relaxing horror movie. Yes, I find horror films relaxing. They're so damned predictable. Spooky music, que hero, que companions, que monster/nutcase.... dark setting, blood, gore... loud noises.. more screaming.. etc. No escape. I rented Pandorum, which had a surprisingly good storyline. Well acted, or rather as much as you could expect. I liked it, and would probably watch it again. Sort of like Pitch Black, which I liked as well. In fact I watched that too. Currently, I've switched pace a bit, and am watching a Goofy collection that I bought years ago, but never felt like watching it. It came in a nice silver gift case. I've always liked Goofy.