a99kitten's Musings

Finally toured the USS Midway on this trip to San Diego. Very, very cool. And the jets are AWESOME!! Theme from Top Gun was playing on my head the whole time :)

Awesome wolf pics from my visit last week!

…it’s not really about the actual convention which I love but San Diego, the people all crammed in and around, etc. As we walked downtown to go to lunch away from the convention center today it was really trashy. And I don’t mean that the area is normally this way because I’ve been down here more than enough times when it’s not Comic Con time to know it’s actually a great downtown area. Much better than the slimy mudhole that most of San Francisco is.

But during Comic Con it has kinda turned into a weird Mardi Gras. Or the older, cheaper end of the Vegas strip. Where there are tons of people handing out tons of crap, too many people who throw that said crap onto the ground, a carny-like atmosphere with people hustling you for pedi-cab rides, to come into their bar, restaurant, etc, ads on everything and everywhere, people aggressively asking if you will sell them your badge, and way, way, way too many people. And these aren’t all convention goers. Just people who come downtown for the party that has now taken over the entire area and not just the convention center and a hotel or 2.

We walked about 15-20 minutes away and it was much quieter down there. But the closer you got to the convention center, the more obnoxious it became. It totally reminded me of the cheaper end of the Vegas strip. I never go down there anymore because it’s simply so annoying and Vegas can be annoying ion a good day. I stick by the Wynn. Although now that they opened the City Center maybe that will help that end out.

But yeah…it screams tacky. And yucky. Nerdy and geeky I take happily. Tacky, slutty, cheap and yucky – you can keep. And this is another reason I will only ever stay in a hotel right next to the convention center. So I can stay in my little bubble and be happy and unaware in it.

Simply put, San Diego has a beautiful downtown area/Gaslamp District. It just gets taken over for 5 days a year. And again, I am not going to blame the actual Con or the average con attendee. These are different sponsors. Different parties. Different crowd. I blame LA actually….

So yesterday, May 1st , not only marked the day of dancing around may poles with flowers in your hair (the OG dirty hippies!), or the stupid union s who high jacked the day to celebrate a massacre and disorder by THEM (jerks) or even the day Osama was gotten rid of. No, it also marked the 4 week mark of my ankle break. Much bigger news – I KNOW!

Anyway – got my check up today. X-ray showed it was still broken. Dammit. Was hoping it was a dream like Bobby taking a shower and coming out and seeing Pamela and that whole dreadful season was a dream…I digress…my doc showed me the break. I saw 2 breaks. He said my break is called a spiral fracture. He said because we are looking at the x-ray straight on, it looks like 2 breaks. He said imagine taking an empty paper towel roll and twisting both ends until it spiraled up. That’s my bone.  Uhh….no…let’s NOT imagine that!

But he said (obviously) not healed yet, but still aligned so that’s great. I asked “should it still hurt this much?” He scoffed. Out loud. Sheesh. He said yes. The soreness, pain, swelling – all normal. Now, if all of a sudden I get a SHARP sudden pain = not good! But achey, uncomfortable pain = all fine. That’s good…I guess. He pressed on my BROKEN fibula and asked if it hurt – YES! WHAT THE HELL? Then pressed on the tibia side – no – didn’t really hurt, just sore. He said yep – all normal. Witch doctor.

I asked how long did he expect till the bone is healed. 6-8 weeks. WHAT? More?! ARGH! I asked when could I exercise, walk the dogs. He scoffed…out loud…again. I said come on – a mile or 2? Not 20. No hills! He said well, in 4 weeks I could try it with my boot on. But I will be hurting. A lot. Sounds fun! :/  He said he’d prefer I wait to do anything like that until I get my next x-ray in 6 weeks. Ugh. But he said I should schedule physical therapy appointments for a couple weeks from now. I don’t want physical therapy appointments – I want dog walking on the beach appointments.

I did get a smaller air cast thingie to wear at night – no more boot to bed!!! YAY!!!! And I can wear it around the house too. Not out and about yet. But progress….

I blame this on:

a. broken bones
b. too much free time because of broken bones
c. the internet (if Al Gore can claim he invented it, I can blame it for everything!)

BUT…the color is “ballerina pink”. Pretty sure that’s also known as the perfect pink. :) I was torn between 2 bags in this color. But the other was a more casual, larger bag. This is more refined and preppie. This one won :)

pink!

PLUS, Kate Spade is 25% off for their Friends and Family sale right now. AND free shipping. So there’s that.

Last night my leg a LOT. Wow. Worst since the day I actually broke it. I think I was moving around too much between work and home. But I really didn’t move all that much. But I guess even a little bit on a break is a bad idea. When I got home from work I made a quick dinner and basically collapsed on the chair (with the big comfy ottoman which will basically be my spot for the next 4-8 weeks!)

I watched the 2-hour premiere of AMC’s The Killing. Very good. A lot of introducing the characters and the crime. It seems like it is set up like Damages was – a season to tell the story of one crime/case. The actress playing the main cop reminds me of someone and it will me drive me crazy until I figure out who! She and the other cop are a lot meaner to the people they interview than the cops on Law & Order – sheesh.

But so far, I like it and will continue to watch it. AMC has been doing a really good job with their shows. I didn’t like The Walking Dead but it was just too ridiculously gross for me. And of course Mad Men which I am soooo sad won’t be returning until 2012. Ugh. These writers and studios really need to think of their fan base with this negotiating crap. Because a lot of people will just move on. Sopranos did that (delayed a whole year) and that sucked. People have shorter and shorter attentions spans so if you have a hit on your hand, make sure you keep the audience happy and bring it back on time. Oh, and this goes for you too NFL. Grr.

I want to watch The Borgias too. But I don’t subscribe to Showtime so will wait till it’s on DVD I guess. It started this week along with Camelot. I decided against subscribing to Stars just for 1 show. Again, will wait for DVD. They get those things out on DVD so fast anyway. I did record The Kennedys. It got panned by the critics but there are enough likable actors in it, plus the subject matter is fairly well known enough – I’ll check it out. If it’s bad – delete! The funny thing is I’ve read it’s a fairly white-washed version of their story anyway. I guess Hollywood wants us to ignore Joe Sr’s illegals activities and ill-gotten gains, John’s illnesses, injuries and vast pain med use, the rampant cheating by seemingly all male members of the family and the lack of ethics by (at the very least) some members of the family. But those are the things that would make a movie or mini-series so much more interesting! Hollywood sucked up to JFK so much, I think they just can’t stop. But sure – make a movie about Frank Sinatra or mobsters and show them in a bad light – no problem. Skewer Nixon or apparently John McCain in an upcoming movie – not a problem. The Kennedys have a fascinating history – just not always a very good one. But movies should be made about interesting things. Pssh.

The Reagans would be better but I doubt Hollywood could produce anything good about a Republican President – even one of their own! I have a new book about him that I need to read. And he has far more than 1 memorable quote. Waaay more interesting than JFK (but whose family can keep you reading for hours!)

After watching The Killing I went to bed and read some. I’m reading “Wolf Hall” and it’s really good! I started it Monday while waiting endlessly at the doctor’s. But by now my leg will killing me. This boot thing is obnoxious. But better than a real cast (that’s my mantra when I get annoyed by the boot.) While I was watching TV, I loosened it up a bit to breathe. The nurse said keep it tight as much as possible ESPECIALLY while I was moving around but if I was just sitting still watching TV or reading, I could loosen it or take it off for a bit as long as my leg was kept still and elevated. So I did. And it felt marvelous. Sleeping with it is awful. But again, still has to be better than an actual cast. And I want it to heal fast so I need the dang thing on and keeping my ankle bones aligned.

But at around 3am, I woke up to a lot of ouch. I couldn’t really get it in a position where it didn’t hurt. FU ankle. And then after finally falling asleep, I woke up around 4am to Storm doing the “ack, ack” pre-vomiting. So, with this injury, there is no jumping out bed quickly. No sir. But I jumped up as fast as I could onto my other leg and hopped over to the towels to get one down under him before he could throw up. Every since he threw up those peach pits, I stress about him. He doesn’t eat like a vacuum anymore now that his Cushings is all under control but I need to monitor him if he throws up (for his medication too.) He doesn’t very often though. But the “ack, ack” noise is enough to get me up. Not husband of course. Slept through the entire thing. Pretty sure we could have an earthquake and house fire and he’d sleep through it though the both.

Tried going back to sleep but my leg was just ouch. And I was not kind of awake so thinking about a gazillion things I had to get done, and how to get them all done gimp-style. How I was going to manage when husband went out of town. And I was also ridiculously starving! I typically don’t ever wake up in the middle of the night that hungry. And I certainly will never get up and eat anything. But man – my stomach hurt I was so hungry! And felt a but nauseous too. I had water and tried to go back to sleep.

I think I finally fell asleep around 5:30am. And then it felt like coming out of a coma waking up at 6:45am to RUFF! Angelus lets out one RUFF when he wants to be heard. He feels this is enough to get my attention and get me moving :) This of course stimulates Storm into get up mode who will ah-roo until he gets the job done :) Breakfast time it is…

Got them breakfast. Made myself a little coffee and am looking at what a gorgeous morning it outside and hating that I cannot be out walking them in it. Now I know how they felt post-surgery when they weren’t allowed to go play! It blows. Plus a fresh foot of snow is supposed to fall in Tahoe Thursday and Friday. I’m not going up. No way. That will just make me too mopey-face.

Oh well…time to get ready for work. Everything takes like 10x longer to do. Trying to stay off my foot as much as possible while still trying to navigate life is a bit impossible. Plus the doctor said that I can’t keep putting all the extra pressure on my right leg since you don’t want to damage it (by hopping, stairs, etc.) which is funny because this is exactly what happened to Angelus – he tore his ACL in his left leg and the surgeon said, don’t let him move around too much while it heals post-surgery or he will damage his right leg since he will be using it more. Sure enough – less than a year later, his right ACL tore. Doh. So ok, ok, I am trying. But I am like Angelus – I need to get up! Hmm…I think I still have some if his sedatives around…. ;)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110306/pl_nm/us_usa_energy_reserves

There is no good reason to do this. The price of oil isn’t even high as it was in 2008. And a price increase is NOT an emergency. The key line in this story is:

“Higher oil prices could undermine the fragile U.S. economic recovery and politically damage President Barack Obama as he moves toward his 2012 re-election bid.”

The reserves are there to address a REAL emergency. Not for some bozo politician’s re-election concerns.

I just finished the book, The Red Queen, by Philippa Gregory. Before it, I read her other book, The White Queen. And no, it was not about the Hellfire Club :)

To be honest, I have not read too, too much about the War of the Roses (no, not Michael Douglas…) or the Plantagenets. I started most of my English history reading with Henry VIII (after anything Arthurian of course.) And all of the reading I did was purely historical (well, as historically accurate as one can hope it to be since I am a firm believer that history is written by the victor and the loser and it’s up to the readers to see the middle.)

I have to say – I am sucked in. I was recently drawn back into my love of all things English by watching The Tudors. This is a fantastically well-done show on Showtime. This past season was its last and that is very sad. Like all really good shows on TV, it will be off the air while pure crap like Jersey Shore and The Bachelor is on. But I digress…You could also argue that Henry only had so many wives to off :) And they have taken some historical license with battles, members of the court living or dying, etc so I’m sure there was only so much they could do to keep it kinda-sorta historical but also intriguing and believable.

So now that I am watching this final season, knowing more about the stories behind his family, I find myself even more intrigued. Like, his standard (of the House of Tudor) is a red and white rose. Made after the joining of the houses of York and Lancaster. I also brought down an old book from my bookshelf “Kingdoms of Europe” that I have had for years and years, having been enthralled with English and European history since I was a kid (baaaaack when they were great countries and not Socialist messes) and will be pouring through it again now. I even found my old handwritten notes in it. Funny. I seem to have always loved the pink post-it note.

Philipa Gregory also wrote The Other Boleyn Girl. I have not read the book ( just bought it as my next one though), but did see and enjoy the movie even though I don’t think Scarlett Johannson was cast correctly in that role. They cast Eric Bana as Henry VIII. I love Eric Bana. Ever since I saw him in Troy (another great period movie IMO) and loved him more than Brad (WHA?) I have seen all of his movies I think. But they made him a very noble and likable king who was just in a bad situation making bad decisions. Yeah. I am thinking this is not historically accurate. But whatever. I will read the book now and see if Hollywood took license with it or if this author is simply more of a Lancasterian and very kind to Henry. Although, even Henry Tudor in The Tudors is very likable. Although you can clearly see how he is son of a bitch and goes kooky sometimes. All that damn in-breeding the royals do…

I will have to say that after reading these 2 books, I am more of a Yorkist. By far. The author does not claim them to be 100% historically accurate or anything but the general facts of the people and places are there and then she takes license with what facts are now known. And the “Red Queen”, Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, is a first class self-serving, jealous bee-yotch dressed up in holy piety. She is called the Red Queen because the House of Lancaster had a red rose as their standard.

The “White Queen” is Elizabeth of York (white because the York standard was a white rose.) The wife of King Edward IV. She is a bit wacky too. And quite selfish. But she is definitely more loving and cares for her family. Her entire family. And wants England to be peaceful and successful. Margaret’s only goal is for her son to be on the throne because she has seen herself as some Joan of Arc type who must serve God like Joan did…but does it by plotting and murdering and getting her son on the throne no matter what as he “deserves” it because she has suffered for it. And even though England is at peace and prosperous and people are happy with King Edward (or later King Richard) on the throne, she doesn’t care. Her son MUST be on the throne no matter what. Clearly a very pious and selfless woman.

I think the author does a good job of writing these 2 very powerful women from a time where women were treated as property. Margaret has to get permission to read books. Nice. Women were only good for birthing sons. And yet, like Guinevere, it seems they control and cause to be so much more.

If you are looking for a good book – start with The White Queen. It’s a bit slow to start, and keeping all of the different people (and their loyalties) straight can be a bit of a challenge but a worthwhile one. And once it gets going, it’s involving. Same with The Red Queen. Starts off a bit slow, but you luckily more familiar with the characters now, but then gets going. They are basically the same (ish) story, from different points of view. And that’s really what history is anyway right?! In my opinion…

This morning on our way home from the beach, the huskies and I were waiting to cross Highway 1. It stresses me out when it’s busy and I always make sure to keep the huskies on tight, short leashes while we are near the road, especially after hearing a story of someone who didn’t :(

We went to the harbor beach today, and not Surfer’s Beach.  We have a standard place to cross Highway 1 for each beach.  As we stood there waiting for traffic to stop/clear I heard a loud CRACKBOOM! I saw a car swerve out of the oncoming northbound lane and go sideways and then saw 2 other cars in the southbound lane swerve and heard BOOM, CRASH! Very, very loud. One of the cars actually jumped up on the sidewalk/trail and was basically now sitting exactly where I would have been with the huskies had we been coming back from Surfer’s beach. Creepy. Didn’t like thinking about that.

Anyway, there was a giant truck behind the 2 cars in the southbound lane and he just drove right around the wreck and kept going. As did ALL of the cars in both lanes. Now, this was not a little fender-bender. There was car carnage all over the road that you could hear being crunched as cars drove around the accident. Like, actual fenders and pieces of cars, not tiny bits of of headlights or something.

2 of the 3 cars were sideways on the 2-lane highway. And not 1 car stopped to see if everyone was alright.  I saw 2 bicyclists stop and talk to the passenger of one of the cars.   The fire station is right across the street so I ran there and told them and they zoomed over they very quickly (they also were pretty cute and liked the huskies! Bonus!)

I remember several years ago I was driving on Highway 1 through Pacifica during a heavy rainstorm and I saw a small truck skid off and overturn. I pulled over and the lady was crawling out of her truck (which was upside down) and she seemed physically OK but obviously very shaken up. I then realized that no one else stopped. A truck just flipped over and not one other car stopped to see if the person was OK. As she was using my cell to call her husband another car pulled over and the guy said he called 911 and he stayed with us as well. But just 2 people out of countless cars during AM commute stopped to see if another person in obvious need was alright.

What the hell people? I am not the most compassionate person in the world. If you aren’t fluffy, you are pretty much on your own.  But jeez…in situations where someone could be really hurt, of course I stop or do what I can to help.  As I hope someone would stop for me. But I am actually pretty disabused of this idea and don’t look for help from others. I mean you might be late to your stripper pole exercise class, or your meeting at Starbucks with the other dorks.

I swear every time I might start forgetting how horrid most people really are, I get reminded of it.

So Storm is going in for surgery tomorrow. I am taking him at 7:45am. I met with the surgeon this afternoon and he was really nice and knowledgeable and answered all of my questions. He also has a husky mix and really liked Stormy :)

He described how, based on the ultrasound that he reviewed along with the oncologist, the tumor looks like a single focalized mass. He said they go in and try to get the entire mass along with a layer of healthy liver tissue from around it to ensure they get any non-focalized cells. Storm’s tumor is near his gallbladder. So he said if they feel they cannot get the tumor along with a layer of healthy tissue without compromising the gallbladder, they will just take the gallbladder out too. Wha?

He said dogs (and people) can live without it and can even live without up to 75% of their liver. Crazy. So he will see tomorrow. He said besides opening him up and seeing tumors elsewhere, he expected no surprises and it’s quite a cut and dry surgery.

They will need to send it to pathology once it’s out to determine if benign or cancerous. He said that even if it is cancerous, there is great chance that we can just remove it and Storm should be fine and we would just monitor him with blood tests every 6 months for any future tumor growth. He said he sees a dog who every 1.5 years or so has to have a tumor removed but other than that, is totally fine and healthy. He has had 3 removed so far.

The best thing would be if it was benign. Then it just comes out and yay. Storm will have to have tests every 6 months anyway for his Cushings so we will just make sure his enzyme levels are always tested too.

His surgery is around 10am (he is 2nd in the AM lineup) and it should take about 1.5 hours with no complications. They will staple his liver using titanium staples (between that and knee he will set off metal detectors!) and they stay inside him forever. They staple (not stitch) his incisions. Because of his Cushing’s, they want to keep his staples in for 21 days (they can heal slower.) He will need to wear THE CONE if he tries to lick these. Great. He will love that. So it will be a tiring 2-3 weeks for Mom but I am hoping it is as simple and fixable as they describe. Obviously it can change if they open him up and see tumors elsewhere. But this will not happen. We will not allow that.

So, speaking with the surgeon calmed me down a little. Which is good bed-side manner on the surgeon’s part. He loved Storm and was also a 49ers and football fan so that was good :)

I will go back to being stressed tomorrow when I drop him off. And then will stay so until I pick him up Wednesday. And then until I hear back from pathology. But fingers and toes (and paws) are crossed for an easy surgery for Storm and a benign tumor to make it all easier.

Poor Angelus also gets stressed when the kid isn’t around. He didn’t eat his breakfast today and only ate some sliced turkey I gave him this afternoon. But once I picked Storm up, he felt better and ate his dinner no problem (and also requested some more chicken nuggets.) So he will be stressed tomorrow too. Especially at night when Storm isn’t home :(

Storm will be most annoyed and upset by the fact that he has to wake up for a 2nd morning in a row and miss breakfast…wth? he says….

I need more McNuggets...

Stormy is watching the 49ers play Monday Night Football with me after eating the chicken nuggets I bought him on the way home :)