Luck, vw!

It snowed here yesterday. At first I was a little peeved, what with being so sick of snow and it's March already, dagnabit. But, it was such a pretty snow. One of those where the flakes stick together so they come down like big lacy doilies that drape themselves over your head. I felt quite decorated in the time it took me to get from the car to the stairwell. It's renewed the layer of snow outside and it really looks quite pretty. And not enought to be a real nuisance. I think I can live with it for a few more days.

From Traverse City, huh? Hey, maybe it's P-C who almost had a new republican boyfriend!

I don't think so. Traverse City is the gay captial of the Midwest. Second in gay population to Key West, FL. I'm willing to bet it's pretty darn blue in voting habits.

Susan, much ~ma to your dad and your family. One way that heart damage can cause strokes is that if the rhythm is irregular, the blood can pool in a chamber of the heart long enough to form clots that, when the heart beats again, are sent out into the bloodstream.

I just called the hospital, and my Aunt Brenda was there--by training she's a nurse, and before she retired she was a fairly important administrative type at that very hospital, so she knows her stuff, and doctors know better than to be evasive around her. Anyway, that's exactly what she described. One of the scans/tests they ran on his heart showed that the damaged part isn't moving properly (I promise this sounded more medical and logical when she explained it, but I can't remember the terms she used), so they think that's causing the clots.

I also spoke to Dad, and he's in good spirits. He seems a tiny bit out of it, though. He didn't recognize my voice immediately, but I'm choosing to blame the phone for that, since different phones, especially cheap ones, can change tone quality, and he's quite a bit hard of hearing. (Family trait--mine's a bit subpar already, and I'm 40+ years younger than he is.) Also, he thought Dylan must be at work, which meant his days of the week are a bit scrambled, but the same thing happened to me when I was in the hospital having Annabel. You lose a lot of your cues in that environment.

Anyway, they're running a test on Monday that hopefully will determine once and for all that it's the heart damage rather than cancer. And it's the kind of test where they know and analyze the results right away, which is always good.

I'm so thoroughly convinced it's not cancer after talking to Aunt Brenda that I'm not worried about that part. I figure this is a treatable thing, and we'll go on. But I still hate these reminders that my parents are in their 70's, and mortality is a looming cloud rather than a distant shadow. I just hope they both live long enough and stay of sound mind long enough for Annabel to be able to remember them.

Susan, glad to hear the news on your dad is sounding positive.

If it's still bad when you get home, though, I would probably call the emergency number or try to find an animal ER.

I'm back from my test, obviously. Toby is still limping and holding his paw in the air, but he's moving around now. He got up to see me when I came in the door and that's a good sign, too. Also, my neighbor carried him down the stairs (he's too big for me right now) so he could pee and brought him back in. I think I'll hold off on the ER for now since he seems to have perked up some.

I am en-caffeinating myself, and hoping it will actually wake me up. I have stuff to do today, dang it. I slept kind of badly, partly b/c my nose kept getting stuffed up and I would wake up because I couldn't, you know, *breathe,* and partly b/c my dreams were annoying. One dream I had involved me posting a long rant to LJ about how broke I was right now, including my credit card balance and credit available, along with how much I have in my bank account right now. (The funny -- or sad -- part is that the amounts were correct. I think I need to stop obsessing about my finances.)

Need to take a walk today, and then I'm volunteering at the big-ass wine festival downtown. The "Grand Tasting" is tonight -- 150 wineries, with 600 wines that a person could taste, if such a thing were possible. The tasting is $60, which is actually reasonable for that much wine (as well as lots of finger food, small dessert-y things, and lots of coffee), AND half of that goes to charity. However, if a person volunteers to work a 2-hour shift (handing out glasses, checking IDs, etc.), that person can taste wine to her heart's content during the remainder of the time, all for $0.

The tricksy part for me this year is that my shift is the second half of the evening, which means I can taste wine for about an hour *before* my shift. That means I REALLY need to exercise moderation and not get shitfaced, because I don't think the organizers would appreciate me showing up to work my shift if I can't even stand up.

I know, exercising moderation in tasting wine shouldn't be difficult for an adult. And that's true, if you're not me. But faced with all that (mostly) good wine, my id kicks in and says "Want!!! Want!!! All of it!!! ALL OF IT!!!!"

I know, exercising moderation in tasting wine shouldn't be difficult for an adult. And that's true, if you're not me. But faced with all that (mostly) good wine, my id kicks in and says "Want!!! Want!!! All of it!!! ALL OF IT!!!!"

Dude, me too.

Mine is the laziest ass of them all, but I'm OK with that. What I've done today: woken up, eaten breakfast (Tom made steelcut oatmeal, YUM), sipped coffee, sat my laziest ass on the couch and watched The Phantom Gourmet, HGTV, and the Food Network. Somehow this has gotten our appetites going so Tom is currently making egg drop soup and TJ's pork pot stickers.

We are also watching the weather outside with some amusement, because it's just going from nothing to rain to big wet flakes, and not sticking, so it's different every time we look a the sky.

I am still in my pajamas.

I find the best way to moderate in that kind of environment is to a pick a type of wine and tast only wones of that type. plus stick to tasteing rules - not drinking rules. and eat. you want to find wines you really want to and can buy.

good luck and have fun.

The laziness of my ass begins officially....now.

Had a good morning at the Inn...but still...working on the weekend...ew.

Now, I have the rest of the day, tomorrow and Monday ahead of me.

First order of business? NAP!! wootitoot.

Then a big Bartleby-walk and wanton laziness before heading out to the DC film festival. Good-times.

All varieties of ~ma and brackets to all and sundry who need/want them. I'll see all y'all Bitches in my dreams.

I find the best way to moderate in that kind of environment is to a pick a type of wine and tast only wones of that type. plus stick to tasteing rules - not drinking rules. and eat. you want to find wines you really want to and can buy.

Oh, yeah. I *am* going to behave, I swear. I only have an hour to taste wine, so I'm going to scope out the wines that I *really* want to try, and I'll just sip (and then possibly even spit), instead of actually, you know, DRINKING the full amount they pour.

And I plan to have a nice big dinner before I leave to go down there.

What food is best for soaking up booze in your tummy? Breads?

From Traverse City, huh? Hey, maybe it's P-C who almost had a new republican boyfriend!

Gay capital of the Midwest.

Hee. I'll cop to knowing nothing whatsoever about Traverse City, besides the name which has always sounded vaguely western to me. OTOH, the cruising theory just got a little more solid. So to speak.