Crazy Eights

I've been tagged by Fermi to list eight facts about myself. I don't remember if I'm supposed to list things you don't know or not, but here goes.

1. I have two fused cervical disks. Back in 2000, I started working for my present company after returning from San Francisco and figured I was young enough to go 3 months without health insurance. Ha ha!! I'm so funny. Not so much. Thankfully, my pain started w/in the first month when I could still sign up for the "pay for yourself mostly insurance." It's really cool to be in a new job when the pain starts because crying at your desk daily is a good way to meet people (not really). For a solid month I couldn't sleep from the pain, so crying at my desk was pretty reasonable, I think. I had my MRI the Wednesday before Labor Day weekend. I got the phone call from my doctor Thursday night around 9:00 saying "Your disk is almost touching your spinal cord. Call this doctor tomorrow for an appt." Needless to say, there were more tears. I cancelled my trip to MA for my friend Rick's wedding as the whole "disk touching your spinal cord" freaked me out. Got an appt. with a neurosurgeon for Tuesday whereupon I scheduled the surgery for the following Monday (aka Mom's b-day - I'm such a fabulous daughter, I moved to SF on her b-day and I scheduled a surgical diskectomy & fusion for her b-day). No wonder she prefers the YS, eh? My surgery was scheduled for 1:30 but didn't happen until 9:30 p.m. I woke up in recovery pain free after my most beloved neurosurgeon (if you need one, let me know, because I highly recommend him) fused C5 & C6 disks.

2. I'm fairly obsessive. The YS has said that it's a good thing I've never tried drugs because she thinks I'd be addicted. I don't agree because the few legal drugs I've tried have done nothing for me (i.e., vicodin, Tylenol 3s, Percoset). She thinks this because since I learned to knit, I knit fairly constantly. I don't think it's an obsessive thing, so much as an excuse to watch TV w/o feeling like a complete slacker. But if I become interested in something I do like to do a lot of research on it. Example: My love of Joy Divison has me reading every book I can find on them. I do the same thing with Mexican history, ancient Egyptian history, Champ Car, Hitchcock, music, mountain climbing, etc.

3. I hate seeing my cats stoned, so they very rarely get catnip. When I moved to SF, I gave Zapata a tranquilizer prescribed by the vet. Tikal couldn't have one because they discovered he had a heart murmur. Seeing Zapata all drugged up just broke my heart. She couldn't jump up on the bed or move well at all. She fell trying to jump on the bed. It was horrible. I have catnip, but Igor and Boris seem to get a little feisty on it and I hate to see them fighting, so although it's in the house, they don't get to indulge very often.

4. I'm a redhead, but not a stereotypical redhead in that I don't have a short fuse. I'm pretty hard to upset/piss off, but once I'm there, oh boy. Look out!

5. I have a B.A. in Economics and International Studies (Spanish, Finance and Latin American studies). I love Latin American history and the language of Spanish, itself, but can you really picture a Kathleen with red hair getting a job using Spanish? Yeah, not so much. For the record, I make an excellent secretary.

6. Speaking of being a secretary, although I'm not one now technically, I type over 90 wpm. I love typing. Probably because I generally like things at which I excel. Don't try me at computer type games, I suck.

7. I have a fairly impressive CD collection, but nothing compared to some people I know. I could count them for you, but have better things to do than that. I would say somewhere between 700 and 1000 CDs. I also have a decent DVD collection, although nothing close to my CD collection. We won't discuss my book collection which rivals the CD collection.

8. I'm the scarf-knitting queen. You want a scarf, you let me know because I knit like a fiend, but only things that are squares or rectangles. I have plans to knit a sweater, but I'm scared of messing it up. And then finishing the knitting part and then finding out that the back doesn't line up properly with then front when I go to "finish" it, i.e, sew it together.

Tigers at Tampa Bay Rays (apparently they've lost the Devil)

The weekend was a bust noise-wise. Not that I'm complaining, trust me. Friday and Saturday were quiet, not because Crave has discovered how to be good neighbors, but because the weather was crappy. Sunday night was good, weather-wise, but I went out dancing, so I have no clue what they did that night. It was way past 2:30 a.m. when I got home. I need to give my neighbors the phone number to the Night Commander's desk of the police department, so when I'm not home (a rarity), they can call and complain.

The decibel reader meter doohickey is no good against the blasted radio control boats across the street. The thingie only reads noise level, not the high-pitched-ness of the bloody boats. Schneider told me he's made signs so that we can picket them. Apparently the signs read "Go home!" and "Leave us in peace." I figure I better find out if we can do that or if we need a permit. We don't need tickets. I moved into these apartments back in 1989, so we're going on 18 years of this crap and it's only getting worse. Back in the beginning, I only remember them on the weekends. This 7-day a week, all freaking day crap is wearing on all of us. Today I sat outside to decibel check them out and they barely reached 79 which I'm sure isn't loud enough to complain, but as I walked in the front door, I flipped them off. Yeah, I know, it was an exceptionally mature thing to do, but I'm telling you, they SUCK!!!

I learned something important this morning (let's hope I remember). After you apply Icy Hot to the various areas of your body that are sore because you're really too damn old to be out dancing for five straight hours and wipe your hands with a tissue, the best thing to do is THROW THE TISSUE OUT!!! For some reason, I left it on my desk and then went to the restroom to wash my hands. When I got back to my desk, my allergies were acting up, so I grabbed a tissue and blew my nose. Yup, you guessed it. I grabbed the tissue with Icy Hot on it. Talk about clearing out your sinuses. I highly recommend NOT doing that.

Sunday mornings as I get ready for church, I listen to Time Warp on 89X with Christina. Last Sunday she announced that she was going to be spinning at my old bar Memorial weekend Sunday. I called DWD & Miss Anne to see if they were up for it. DWD said it depended on family obligations as he had been out of town on business for almost two weeks straight and he's pretty responsible for his mother and his grandpa. Miss Anne took a few days to get a hold of, but when I did, she had a nasty cold, so I didn't expect her to make it. Sure enough, her cold got worse and DWD was busy with family stuff, so I went alone, knowing that Pamela was definitely going to be there. I got there right at 9:00 as I like to dance on a non-crowded dance floor.

What is it about gay men and dance remixes? Christina's DJ partner is gay and bloody hell, he loves ten minute dance remixes. I friggin' hate them!!! If a song is a three minute song, there is no reason on earth it needs time filled with some lame bassline added to it. To me that does not make it more danceable. In fact, I become bored with the beat and keep wishing for the song to end. Now, mind you, I'm not adverse to dancing to long songs, one of my favorites is This Corrosion by The Sisters of Mercy and it's almost 12 minutes long, but it's not the same beat for five minutes!

Now, if you're a DJ and you're being paid to do an 80s night, it might be nice to have updated your collection. I got there right at 9:00 in order to ask for Atmosphere by Joy Division which the old DJ (a good friend) simply refused to play. He said it was too slow and nobody would dance to it. My argument was always, nobody is going to dance at this hour but me anyway!!! Why not play what I want? But he never did. I figured I'd try this DJ, for all the good it did me. So, I ask and he said, "I only have that on vinyl." *sigh* I sit for a few seconds and then ask for Madame Butterfly by Malcolm McLaren. "I only have that on vinyl." ARGH!!!

He was playing some bloody DePeche Mode remix (mind you, I love DePeche Mode, it's the remix issue), but I went out there and started to dance. The next song was a remix and I'm bored dancing to it, but I'm there to dance. I came up with songs that I thought he might have (Echo & the Bunnymen, Higher Hell or The Cutter, Bauhaus, Love & Rockets, Go! by Tones on Tail, and No Pain, No Slogan). While I'm writing them down, a guy walks up and says "Hey! For old times sake, can you play Swamp Thing?" I nodded and said, "Yes, that'll work." in agreement. Guess what the answer was. Yup, only on vinyl.

Within a few songs, he plays No Pain, No Slogan, so I can't complain too much, right? Christina shows up by 10:00 (not that I knew what she looked like before that night) and starts her set with Isolation by Joy Division, followed by Dominion/Mother Russia by The Sisters of Mercy and then a few more songs. I was dancing my little heart out! Then she blew it with a New Order song. I will dance to crap I hate to save my spot on the dance floor, because, in case you couldn't figure it out, it's all about dancing. I figured out though that I could leave the stage and still get my spot back, so I went over to talk to her. That morning she had talked about the Ian Curtis (lead singer/lyricist of Joy Division) movie that premiered at Cannes last week and I wanted to talk to her about it. I told her about the book I had just finished and she was intrigued enough about it to write the title down.

A bunch of old friends showed up and it was a good night. I literally danced from 9:05 to 2:00 a.m. (that included two nasty New Order songs - don't ask me, I have no clue) and a whole lot of great stuff. I've always bitched that it seems that Christina plays the same stuff every Sunday morning which is ridiculous when you realise she's working with the years (1977 to 1990-something), but she did such a great job on Sunday night that I might have to cut her some slack. At the end of the night, she thanked me for the tip on the book and I thanked her for the great dancing.

I just hope my muscles give up their bitching soon, because I haven't slept well the last two nights I'm in such pain. One of these days I will figure out that I'm too old to dance like I used to, but not yet. I might be moaning and groaning all day long, but it was totally worth it.

Angels at Tigers

The past few days have been interesting. As you could imagine, I was just bloody tired from the lack of sleep over the weekend. I called the City on Monday and got a lot of sympathy. I also got the name of the Deputy Director of Recreation for whom I left a message. He called me back at 7:09 p.m. Not hours I want, thank you very much. Anyway, he informed me that Crave had NOT submitted for a special permit to violate the noise ordinance law, but even if they had, the decibel level allowed is 80 (normal is 62-75) which supposedly they hadn't violated during their Cinco de Mayo party which I find really hard to believe. At any rate, working with a bunch of engineers has paid off in that one of them had a decibel level meter reader doohickey and he's brought it in for me. I can't waste to test it out this weekend. I might have to check it against those damned boats, too.

When I got home from the gym on Monday Anna was out cutting the grass and I stopped her and asked if they had been bothered by the noise and she was beside herself by how loud it was as well. While talking to Anna, Jen came home and she also had been bothered by the noise and couldn't believe where it was coming from after I told her. I gave both of them the Deputy Director's phone number.

When I talked to the Deputy Director he gave me the phone number for the Night Commander of the police and said to call the NC the next time it happens and make a fuss and say that if it's not taken care of that I will be calling the Mayor's Office. He said the Mayor will definitely take care of it.

I also found out Monday at the gym from Drew (the man who has created my new workout schedule which is so not fun, but I think works) that Crave had put the speakers on the friggin' roof!! No wonder it was travelling so far. The Deputy Director found that to be interesting information. I talked to Pamela today (and told her that she's never allowed to go to Crave again and give them money) and she said that not only that but they put the DJ table and something else up on the roof and that the fire chief probably wouldn't like that, so I might have additional information. I'm telling you, I'm going after them full bore. There is just no reason to be that inconsiderate. Bastards. I'll keep you posted!!!

I hate Crave!!!

I tried to go to bed an hour ago, but Crave is having some sort of loud ass party. I called the police but was told that they got a special pass on the local noise ordinance, but he'd send someone around. Well, I finally gave up trying to sleep - mind you, this POS bar/restaurant is a good quarter of a mile away from me and it's so fucking loud that if I knew the shit they were playing I could give you the set list. I can tell you that they have played that song where the woman yells, "I've got the power." Or "We've got the power." Since then, it's been pure bass and percussion and needless to say it's pissing me off. I would dearly love to find out where the manager or owner of Crave lives so that tomorrow when they're trying to sleep after working all night and keeping me awake, I could go to their houses and blast some Nine Inch Nails or The Stooges or Skinny Puppy.

I told the police officer "I have to deal with this every Friday and Saturday night until 2:00 a.m. and don't complain, but it's Sunday night and I have to work at 6:00 a.m." He understood, but because the city has chosen to allow them to blast music half the night, the police can't do anything about it. I'm really pleased because I just looked Crave up to call them (yeah, they didn't answer, the fuckers) and this is a series of SEVEN Sunday night parties. I will be finding somewhere else to spend the night those nights, since it seems as if since I've complained they've just gotten louder. The really ridiculous part of this? It's only 40-some degrees out there, so are there really people OUTSIDE in 40 degree weather? I also can't even begin to imagine how bloody loud it must be over there considering how friggin' loud it is in my apt and I'm a quarter of a mile away. BTW, the answer to that question is yes, because I can hear some chick screaming.

Do you think if I showed up in my PJs that anything would change? Yeah, me neither.

Wow, it's only 11:30, just 2.5 more hours of this crap and then I can get two hours of sleep. That'll make me effective and cheery tomorrow. I will be calling the City of Dearborn tomorrow, not that I think it'll do any good, but it's good to get a complaint in. And if necessary, I'll petition the neighbors to call. I can't possibly be the only one being bothered by it.

Tearing

I borrowed this from Heather.

MOST PLAYED SONG IN ITUNES: This is hard actually to judge, because Monday I downloaded a bunch of new CDs that I got and so I took a bunch of stuff off my poor 8 only gig Nano to put my new Voltaire CDs on it. I checked iTunes on my MacBook and it says that Freedom by The Housemartins had been played the most times at 20. That makes no sense to me but okay, I'll go with it.

MOST PLAYED CD: I've been on a Voltaire kick of late, but I think Boo Hoo by Voltaire got played more than The Devil's Bris.

10 SONGS YOU CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF:
1) Atmosphere – Joy Division
2) The Vampire Club - Voltaire
3) Dear God - XTC
4) China – Tori Amos
5) Uncertain Smile – The The
6) Mad World – Tears for Fears
7) Like A Prayer – Bigod 20
8) Swamp Thing – The Chameleons UK
9) Coil Operated Doll – The Dresden Dolls
10) Can't Get Used to Losing You – The English Beat

LAST CD YOU BOUGHT: Um, bought…as in paid for? Or when they arrived? Because I bought four Voltaire CDs (Zombie Prostitute, Live!, Almost Human, Then and Again) from Projekt Records last week, but they arrived on Monday, whereas I went to an honest to goodness CD store (independently owned, thank you very much) on Saturday and bought Grinderman (not in love with it yet), LC & Live from London (which I can't find at allmusic.com, so I'm wondering if I got the title right) by The Durutti Column, and Money for All by Nine Horses (and David Sylvian).

LAST CONCERT: Iggy & The Stooges, BABY!!! Oh, wait, unless we're talking any musical concert, it was the DSO last Friday playing Mahler's Symphony #2: The Resurrection.

LAST SONG YOU HEARD: You're Gone – Del Amitri from Waking Hours

FIRST SONG ON YOUR iPod: …About A Girl – Voltaire from Boo Hoo

Before Monday with the great change of iPod music, it had been Supernaut by 1000 Homo DJs.

LAST SONG ON YOUR iPod: Zombie Prostitute – Voltaire from Zombie Prostitute

TEN CDs YOU COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT:
1) Symphony #5 – Gustav Mahler
2) Symphony #7 – Dmitri Shostakovich
3) Heart & Soul – Joy Division (I totally cheated on this one as it's their boxset.)
4) Press Eject & Give Me The Tape - Bauhaus
5) Floodland – Sisters of Mercy (I need to dance)
6) Gone to Earth – David Sylvian
7) Soundtrack to My Fair Lady (I'd prefer the movie soundtrack, but I have the play)
8) Helmut Lotti Goes Classic II
9) A Million in Prizes – Iggy Pop
10) Total Madness: The Very Best of Madness – Madness
(That was hard! And can you tell I got tired of linking?)

NEXT CD YOU WANT TO BUY: Snow Borne Sorrow by Nine Horses (side project for David Sylvian)

One Vision

I know I'm a little late listing April's reading and movie watching materials, but last week I was pretty much too sick to care. The lists are pretty sparse, I think, and so far, I'm not doing much better in May.

Books

The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald – 163 pages – I wish F. Scott had lived long enough to finish this book because it was kind of sucky that it ended suddenly. I, however, unlike some reviewers at amazon.com, don't fault the book because the author died before he could finish it. It's just that I liked it and would have liked to have read it as his finished vision. Like the other F. Scott books I've read, I would recommend this one.

True Confessions by John Gregory Dunne - 341 pages – This book was interesting, if a tad crude – language-wise. It was ostensibly based on The Black Dahlia murder in LA way back when which was never solved, although Mr. Dunne names the killer. No clue if he actually knew something or was just writing a story. I found the Catholic aspect of this book very interesting, but if you're not Catholic and don't really know much it might not be as interesting. Still, a good true crime story. I found it so interesting that one day at the gym when I was reading it, I didn't even notice that my iPod had stopped.

The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece by Edward Dolnick – 252 pages – I found this book truly fascinating. It was the story about finding Edvard Munch's The Scream and the men from Scotland Yard who played a pivotal role in getting it back. The book also talks about other masterpieces that have been stolen over the years and how they're still missing. One reason for this, according to the author, is because the police find it hard to get upset about a painting (or sculpture or whatever) worth millions stolen from some rich person. The brief biography of Edvard Munch in the book makes me want to search out books on him. He seemed to be a tortured soul – evidenced by The Scream, which he actually painted more than once.

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore & David Lloyd – 286 pages – I had bought this book when the movie came out, because I wanted to read the book before seeing the movie, but like many books I buy it took me some time to get to it, obviously (unlike the previous two books listed which I just got and read right away). I hadn't realised it was a graphic novel when I bought it, but being an old fan of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series that didn't turn me off. (If you haven't read the Sandman books, I highly highly recommend them – along with anything else written by Mr. Gaiman.) I enjoyed this book, maybe because I like the idea of an anti-hero taking on a totalitarian government and undermining it. I should be getting the movie in the next couple of days and since Saturday is supposed to be 54F (today it's supposed to be in the 80s – I wish our weather would be nice for weekends and crappy on weekdays – if we have to have crappy days), I might be watching it this weekend.

That's it for the books. My favorite book for the month was The Rescue Artist, although I did like all four. On to my movie watching.

Movies

This list is really short because I spent most of the month watching: Stargate SG-1: Season 6.

4/14 - The Philadelphia Story (TCM) – 100% - Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart – Do you really need to know more? I absolutely adore this movie and only saw it for the first time a few years ago. I was flipping channels and found it on TCM and that was it. I had to watch it again. Katherine Hepburn plays a socialite on the eve of her marriage to a man not from the upper crust who worked his way to a position of authority in her father's company. Her ex-husband (Cary Grant) shows up that day with a reporter (Jimmy Stewart) and a female photographer. There's a precocious younger sister (who is not cloying), a philandering father, a drunk uncle and the mother trying to hold it all together. If you have never seen this movie, do yourself a favor (and don't NOT watch it because it's in black-and-white) and put it in your Netflix queue.

4/14 - The Great Gatsby (N) – 53% - I actually have to agree with the critics on this one. The book was so much better, as is so often the case, is it not? I love Robert Redford, but he did not work as Jay Gatsby for me. It is beautifully shot, how could it not be? Mia Farrow was perfect as Daisy. I didn't think Bruce Dern was going to work as Daisy's husband because I pictured him as a bigger man, but he played the boor pretty darn well. And Sam Waterston was brilliant as Nick. It followed the book pretty faithfully, but I guess this is an example of how one actor (even if an excellent actor like Robert Redford) can be totally wrong for a role or simply not give it the right feel. The costumes are alone are worth the time it took watching it, I'd have say. Gorgeous!

4/16 - The Mystery of Picasso (N) – 80% - Picasso is one of my favorite artists – I have a thing for Spanish artists – so this movie was a natural for me. There's next to no dialogue and absolutely no plot. French director Henri-Georges Clouzot (Diabolique, The Wages of Fear) came up with this idea of essentially watching Picasso paint. He filmed it from the back side of the canvas using specially prepared canvasses and inks, so the paintings aren't blocked at all by the painter himself. All the paintings were destroyed after the film by Picasso himself because he wanted them only to exist for the film. If you have no interest in Picasso or the process by which a painting is created – at least by one of the greatest surrealists ever – then this movie will probably not be your cup of tea. I found it absolutely fascinating.

4/16 - Guernica (N) – This was part of The Mystery of Picasso DVD. I don't think I paid as much attention to it as I should have, but since I love that particular painting, I kind of wish I still had the DVD so I could watch it again. I saw what I think was a copy of the original at a Picasso exhibit I saw in SF. I couldn’t get anywhere near the damn thing or a good view with all the people there. That sucked. I need to get to Spain.

4/25 - In the Eyes of a Stranger (N) – I confess that I only put this movie in my Netflix queue because it starred Richard Dean Anderson. The movie sucked, essentially, but Richard Dean was as hot as ever, so it was worth it. Sad, yes, I know, but there ya go.

It's not hard picking a favorite movie from the month as I watched so few! The winner is The Philadelphia Story. WATCH IT!!! You'll love it, and if you don't, don't tell me because I'll be so sad. ;-)

Prednisone sucks.

I'm sitting at home on my couch right now (love my MacBook) when I'm supposed to be at the Tigers game cheering them on to their fourth straight win and sweep of the Orioles (fingers crossed), but no! My stupid bronchitis is back and bad enough that I went to the doctor on Monday and finally agreed to take the hated and despised prednisone even though I hate looking like Jason Giambi. I even got a steroid shot in my gluteus maximus to help things along. Fucker hurt, not when the nurse gave me the shot. Didn't hurt at all, but within 30 seconds my right cheek was making me cry, if I weren't an adult who doesn't generally cry in public over a little thing like a shot.

Doctor also gave me a prescription for an antiobitic, as expected. Yesterday I noticed that my face was red and thought it was a little odd, but didn't really put two and two together. Then last night when I went to bed I noticed my heart was just pounding out of my chest and generally felt like shit. This morning all seemed fine, so off to work I went wearing my lucky Detroit Tigers t-shirt (it's so cute and I get tons of compliments every time I wear it - all the women want one) and carrying my bag with my Tigers chucks, jeans and just in case, my Tigers scarf. Stuff I wouldn't need, sadly.

I noticed when I went to the Ladies room that my face was a bit red. A few people mentioned to me that my face was red, and since I'm a redhead and hadn't been in the sun, this is unusual. I had a meeting at 8:30 and while in there noticed that my heart rate seemed a bit elevated. While sitting there listening to a jackass discussing stuff he should have discussed in his one-on-one instead of wasting four other people's time, I took my pulse. It was 100bpm which didn't make me happy. I kept waiting for Jackass to stop talking, so I could call the doctor. I should have probably just walked out as I was getting nothing out of the meeting at that point, but I'm just too damned polite. Although Jackass did get glared at, and I might have sighed a little bit when he started his third topic. Friggin' idiot.

When I got to my desk I immediately called the doctor and left a message. I thought I would hear back quickly since 100bpm is a tad high. A few more people commented on the color of my face and although I was working I just felt worse and worse. (Todd Jones just got the save on three straight outs in the ninth! Wooohoo! My Tigers got the sweep!)

I was supposed to be at Building A (my beloved old building where I didn't have bronchitis for four straight months) at 11:00 to carpool to lunch at Hockeytown before heading to the game, but instead I called my doctor again and got through to his nurse who said Come on in right away. I called the woman in Building A and said that I was not going. By this point I'm genuinely scared and was near tears (it's okay to cry if you feel like you're dying, even though you know you're not). I closed up my desk and stopped to tell a supervisor that I was heading to the doctor. She immediately offered to drive me, but I said, "No, it's 40 minutes away. I can drive." Then I passed another co-worker who took one look at me and said, "You're even redder than you were." I made it to the doctor's office in less than 30 minutes (40 minutes is when there's construction or bad traffic - I was lucky) and other than the Southfield I didn't speed at all.

They took me in right away, weighed me (gained 7 lbs. since Monday - damned steroids) and took my blood pressure (140/82 - which is very high for me). Doctor came in and asked questions and said, "It's the prednisone." "That's what I thought." He took my bp twice more and it dropped a little - bottom number made it to 74. He told me to stop taking the steroids immediately. I didn't need to be told twice. He also said to take a break from the antibiotics until at least tomorrow, depending on how I feel. I had told him when I got there that I was supposed to be at the baseball game - he's a big Tigers fan too. In fact, when I saw him on Monday, his first words were, "Did you see Your Brandon's home run yesterday?" Oh yeah! Walk-off home run for My Brandon. That's either an indication that I see my doctor too much or he just has a good memory - or both.

Anyway, when taking my bp the first time he asked, "Are you still planning on going to the game?" "No, I feel too awful. Should I go to the game?" "No, I was going to tell you not to go." ;-( He did say that he owes me a baseball game, though. He told me to go home and lay low for the day. He gave me a note for work to get out of the rest of the day and told me not to go tomorrow if I don't feel well then.

My face isn't as red, but my heart is still pounding a bit, although I am feeling better, at least in that regard. I'm still hacking up a lung which is better than feeling like I'm dying. The doctor did make a note not to give me prednisone anymore, although I'm sure I would have remembered.

If you haven't read my last post, please do so, it's a tad more important than reading about me bitching about my presnisone side effect issues.