kirkgrove

Well, it seems that to literally add insult to injury, I've gotten some kind of cold. At least I don't have anywhere to be so I can rest.

No, just a ridiculously painful giant bruise/goose egg. It's one of those bruises that hurts even when nothing is touching it. Serves me right for cleaning. :/

As I said in my last text post, I had a fabulous evening yesterday.

The little kitties that are living in the upstairs bathroom because they don't get along with the others (particularly Fluffy) were getting restless, so I allowed them to have a little run upstairs around the landing as a change of scenery and to get them out of my way so I could clean the litterbox (this action illustrates how much I have changed... prior to IOP, there would have been NO WAY IN HELL I would have even contemplated the cat box. However, Mom bought a littermaid recently, and that makes my cleaning up so much easier.). Abby went all the way downstairs and ended up trying to eat the downstairs cats' food. Cole was looking at her like, "Um, Abby? That's our food. I don't think you should be eating it." Max then stepped up and very clearly said something to the effect of, "GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY FOOD." I grabbed her and took her back upstairs to hang out with the other littles. Bob and Meg had a great time exploring the boxes that are unable to be in Sis' room due to size restrictions. Abby started to be very lovey. After about 30 minutes I decided to put them back up. Meg, the scaredy one, ran right in with no problem. Bob seemed pretty okay with going back in, too. Abby, however, was rebelling like crazy. Every time I put her in the room, she somehow turned around and bolted back out of the door before I could close it. I had grabbed her just as she left the room and was preparing to put her back for the third time...

...but she grabbed the carpet with all of her claws and I just couldn't get her up. I was bending over and pulling rather hard. I lost my balance. I would have been fine by just putting my right foot out to catch myself from falling. However, Abby had peed on the floor right where my foot went. My leg went out from under me and I dived very quickly toward the under-sink cabinets. I was moving so fast that I couldn't get my hands out to catch me in time. My the top of my head hit the edge of one of the cabinet doors so hard that I blacked out for a couple of seconds. I came to just before my face hit a pile of litter next to the box. OMG it hurt so much. The only person in the house was Sis, and I knew she was asleep. So I yelled and screamed hoping that my voice would carry enough to wake her and have her come upstairs to help me. It worked. She finally made it upstairs to check on me. By that time, I was getting really dizzy. She got my cell phone and called Mom at work to see what she thought. Mom decided to come home to assess me and decide whether or not I needed to go to the ER. I somehow made it downstairs (mostly by scooting on my butt) so that Sis could watch me and keep me awake while Mom was in transit. I tried to ice my head, but it hurt so much. Seriously, I was at a 10 on my pain scale. The last 10 I had was when I slammed my finger in my heavy car door, breaking it in the process. I was definitely thinking I had at least a concussion, and possibly a minor brain bleed because I started to have a headache that was getting worse and worse with each passing second.

Mom made it home and did a quick neuro exam on me. My pupils were equal and reactive. I had a giant goose egg on my head. My neck was tender and I was afraid that I had herniated a disc in my neck again. So we decided to go to the ER to get a cat scan to make sure I was okay. Unfortunately, I'm uninsured and thus have to use one of the free county-run hospitals. The closest one is a 40 minute drive downtown. I started to have problems speaking and breathing... words were coming more slowly to me than normal, and it was starting to hurt my back and ribs to breathe.

We got there, and had a difficult time with the security guard wanting Mom's driver's license to insure he'd get the wheelchair back. Then the stupid bitchy med techs who ran vital signs were such idiots. The triage nurse was even bitchier and totally didn't care that Mom was a nurse. At least I was taken back rather quickly. However, I was taken to the shock trauma unit first (the place where the seriously injured go), which meant Mom couldn't come with me. The attending physician was an idiot, thinking that I had just fainted. I explained that the lost of consciousness was AFTER I fell, not before. Idiot. He then saw the bruise starting to form on the top of my head and felt my neck to which I said a very loud OUCH, and he decided to put me in a cervical collar until they finished the CT and made sure my neck was okay. Then I was dealt with by a resident that was doing her first ER rotation. She had NO IDEA how to put a c-collar on, and thus grabbed the wrong size, didn't pull my hair up first and so trapped it uncomfortably underneath (it was pulling on my scalp which hurt), and then left it too loose for it to do much good. With a head trauma where there's a strong possibility of concussion, the thing you definitely want to do is keep the patient awake. However, the first thing she did was prescribe two vicodin and some nausea med. I thought that was weird, but I didn't seem to get to argue. After the CT, they put me in the main ER area instead of trauma to wait until the radiologist read the films. Mom was allowed to join me. It was awkward as HELL. Each space that is supposed to be for just one person is now supposed to accommodate at least two. Every time a nurse or doctor wanted to get close to a patient, they had to move the other gurneys over. I was stuck flat on my back, staring at the ceiling. The guy to my left was probably 500lbs and in congestive heart failure, among other things. He was on oxygen. However, the oxygen outlet was right above my head. That meant that the tubing draped right over my face. I was incredibly annoyed by this. The nurse was non-existent. So Mom finally kind of stuck it up around some other stuff so it wouldn't be right in my face. After two hours of waiting, the plastic at the back of my collar was poking the back of my head, and actually hurting worse than the place where I hit my head. They wouldn't let me sit up or adjust the collar or anything. I was starting to go mental. I couldn't sleep because I was in a lot of pain and it was very noisy. I started to get incredibly cranky. After my insistence that Mom stop being respectful of the staff while they did other stuff and just ask somebody to help, one of the residents came back with the news that he had looked at the films and he thought everything was okay, but that they couldn't discharge me until the radiologist posted his report. And that was maybe going to take another few hours. I yelled from my position toward the foot of the bed, "FUCK THAT. I WANT TO LEAVE." So Mom started discussing signing me out AMA (against medical advice) so I could finally go home. I yelled that all I wanted was a scrip for some vicodin and to get the hell home. He said he'd go do the paperwork and be back. About 10 minutes later, he came back saying that the report from the radiologist finally came back and everything was good, so I was clear to leave. I pushed for a vicodin scrip (Mom has this hangup that makes her think that it's not okay to ask for pain medication, and so she waits for doctors to suggest it, which never happens). He said no problem and he'd fix up the discharge paperwork. 20 minutes later, the nurse finally came by to help me sit up so I could sign papers to leave. I finally got the collar off. That felt SO GOOD OMG. I was finally able to stand and walk. Mom drove to the pharmacy to get my Rx filled, and then we finally got home. I was so glad to be home. I made it up the stairs and collapsed in bed.

This morning, I woke up with a ridiculously painful headache. The spot where my head hit the cabinet is bright red. I can't pull my hair into a ponytail because it pulls on my scalp. My hip and other places that landed on the bathroom tile are starting to bruise. I'm a mess, but I'm okay. Thinking back on it, the best description of the way I fell is a hip-level football tackle. That rushing forward and down angle.

Sis just asked if I wanted to go to IHOP. Um, NO. 1) My brain hurts. B) I'm dizzy and wouldn't be able to drive. 4) I will NOT deal with Sunday IHOP crowds. So instead, we're ordering Papa John's pizza. Mom hates their pizza, but we figure it's for us, so there's no problem.

Okay. I'm tired of sitting up and typing now. I hope everyone had a better Saturday than mine.

Well, so instead of the long Christmas Day post I was writing, I'm texting a short one: slipped, bashed my head, hospital, I'm ok, don't worry.

Сестрица Мордика, самая тихая и спокойная кошка в доме:

Jos ikinä joutuisit matkustamaan ajassa taaksepäin vahingossa tai ajatuksella, tästä voisi olla hyötyä. Ainakin, jos ei nyt ihan dinosaurusaikaan asti mene.



Posterivinkki poimittu Pinseristä.

I hope everyone has/had a Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah/Happy Kwanzaa/Good Something/Beautiful Solstice/Crazy Saturnalia/etc.

( Long explanation about life right now and my Christmas thus far. )

Скажите, все носители языка на самом деле уехали из России в Израиль-Америку-Германию-Канаду?! «За муж», «что бы», «по долгу»… про пунктуацию уже молчу. Тошнит.

Kämppiksellä on synttärit tänään. Se on lähinnä vastaillut Skype-puheluihin ja sitten katseltiin Låt den rätte komma in italiaksi dubattuna :) Oli hassua katsoa se taas, kun viimeksi katsoin sen juurikin vuosi sitten joulukuussa. Nukahdettiin molemmat kesken lehvan, mutta ei kuulemma haitannut, ei kämppis kauheasti tuosta lehvasta innostunut. Liian hidastempoinen, sanoi hän. Itse toivon ainoastaan synttärihurvitteluikseni sitä, että pääsen katsomaan sen hiton Avataren, josta kaikki puhuu nyt! Katerinissa on jopa 3D, olin ihan yllättynyt moisesta :D Se on kuitenkin vaan jokin Hyvinkään kokoinen pläntti.

Jahas, nyt tuli Amarettoa appelsiinimehulla nenän eteen, joten siirryn hörpiskelemään ja seurustelemaan synttärisankarin kanssa ennenkuin kirmaamme Litochoron 'kartsalle' :D

Sitä ennen vielä pikaisesti tuuppaan tuon joka vuotisen perinnekyselyn tänne:

( Vuosi 2009 - Mites meni? )


Jos mennyt kiinnostaa, niin viime vuotinen löytyy täältä.

I've always had a big thing (oh how eloquent for a word nerd) for constrained writing of various kinds, though I haven't indulged in it for a long time ... until now. I'm reading Hunter S. Thompson's Hell's Angels, so I'm feeling a tad eliptical today. Speaking of, I used an exerpt from the book in conjunction with the Oulipo N+ method, using N+9 rather than the (seemingly) usual N+7 (1), and got the following:

California, Labor Day weft ... early, with ochlocracy foie gras still in the Strega, outpatient motor racing wearing chain reaction, shaft and greasy Levis roll out from damp garbology, all-night dinghy and cast-off one-night paddock in Frisco, Hollywood, Berdoo and East Oakland, heading for the Monterey pennon, north of Big Sur ... The Menace is loose again, the Hell's Angels, the hundred-carat headphones, running fast and loud on the early morocco French, low in the saddle soap, nobody smoke ball, jamming crazy through tragacanth and ninety militarism an house church down the center strobe, missing by incision ... like Genghis Khan on an iron man horseleech, a monster steeple with a fiery aoudad, flat out through the eyeglass of a beer parlour canape and up your dawn chorus' legal person with no quartering asked and none given; show the square pianos some class, give em a whiff of those kick offs they'll neer know.

The exerpt in its original state

California, Labor Day weekend ... early, with ocean fog still in the streets, outlaw motorcyclists wearing chains, shades and greasy Levis roll ot from damp garages, all-night diners and cast-off one-night pads in Frisco, Hollywood, Berdoo and East Oakland, heading for the Monterey peninsula, north of Big Sur ... The Menace is loose again, the Hell's Angels, the undred-carat headline, running fast and loud on the early morning freeway, low in the sadde, nobody smiles, jamming crazy through traffic and ninety miles an hour down the center stripe, missing by inches ... like Genghis Khan on an iron horse, a monster steed with a fiery anus, flat out through the eye of a beer can and up your daughter's leg with no quarter asked and none given; show the squares some class, give em a whiff of those kicks they'll neer know.

I tried to do Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken, but there weren't enough nouns in it to make it terribly interesting or amusing.

- - -

1: The N+9 method requires that you replace each noun (2) with the noun nine entries after it in a dictionary (3).

2: I chose not to convert proper nouns except for the title of the post.

3: I used the Concise Oxford Dictionary Tenth Edition.

Heippa, heräsin juuri :D Kämppis vetelee edelleen sikeitä. Kävimme eilen läheisessä Katerinin kylässä hieman baareilemassa, kun oli täällä asuneen italialaisen tytön viimeinen ilta ennenkuin hän lähti takaisin Italiaan. Tykkäsin aivan mielettömästi Katerinista ja tykkään myön Litchorosta! (sen verran, mitä nyt illalla pimeässä näin) Verrattuna Ateenaan, joka on aivan järkyttävä murju, tämä paikka on niin siisti ja nätti :) Ei roskia kaduilla, ei graffiteja seinillä (Ateenassa niitä tosiaan on ihan Joka Seinällä, enkä nyt liioittele! Koko kaupunki tuntuu yhdeltä isolta, rumalta ghetolta :/), ei rumia, likaisia taloja jne. Tuntuu, etten keksi tarpeeksi painokkaita sanoja, joilla kuvata Ateenan kauheutta. Se paikka on mielestäni hirveä.

Kreikkalaiset myös rakastavat korkeita 30 cm rotvalleja ja rappusia ilman vetoliuskoja. Jalkakäytävät ovat myös usein kunnostamattomia ja kuoppaisia. Voin sanoa, että liikkuminen pitkin Ateenaa kahden matkalaukun kanssa, joiden yhteispaino oli 40 kg, ei ollut mitenkään erityisen mukavaa näissä olosuhteissa. Käsivarsiani vähän jomottaa tänään moisen hyötyliikunnan jäljiltä.

Oma talomme Litochorossa on oikein hieno ulkoapäin ja muutkin talot tässä näyttävät siisteiltä ja huolletuilta. Myös sisältä asunto on mielestäni erittäin viihtyisä, torakat eivät vilistäneet armeijoina vastaan (en ole nähnyt yhtäkään, joten ei niitä nyt niin paljon voi olla täällä, vaikka kämppis niin sanoikin :D), meillä on isot sängyt ja paksut peitot (ainoastaan lisut pikkutyynyt tappavat niskani...), suihkussa on paine ja kuumaa vettä, patterit ovat lämpimät ja täällä on Internet, joka on jaettu vieläpä hubilla kahdelle nettipiuhalle, joten saadaan kumpikin käyttää omia koneita! (tai kämppis käyttää talon jotain ikivanhaa pc-louskua, sillä ei ole omaa läppäriä mukana)

Extrabonuksena meillä on kylppärissä oma pyykinpesukone, joka näyttää vieläpä ihan hyväkuntoiselta ja toimivalta, JES JES JES. Ja parvekkeella näyttäisi olevan pyykinkuivausteline. En uskonut ikinä asioiden olevan näinkin hyvällä tolalla täällä \:D/ Ateenassa törmäsimme sattumalta espanajalaiseen, entiseen EVS-vaihtariin, joka oli aikoinaan majoitettu jonnekin mörskään, jossa ei ollut _mitään_, edes sänkyä tai huonekaluja ja kun se oli kehdannut pyytää mitään sinne tyhjään asuntoon projektiltaan, nämä olivat vauhkoontuneet täysin "You are like a princess, didn't you know, you came here to suffer!" xD Tuosta tuli aika meidän motto sen kuulemisen jälkeen!

Eilen saavuimme iltakymmeneltä vihdoin Litochoroon. Bussimatka Ateenasta Kateriniin kesti 6 tuntia ja siellä jouduimme odottamaan puoli tuntia vaihtobussia. Kävi aika tuuri, sillä kuulimme, että tie Ateenasta tänne on suljettu, koska jossain kanjonissa, missä tie kulkee, oli vyörynyt kiviä ja ihmisiä kuollut. Kuulemma tie on suljettuna 1,5 kuukautta, joten Ateenaan ei pääse muuten kuin lentämällä! Ilmeisesti olimme juuri ehtineet alta pois tai jotain ennenkuin tie suljettiin. Kävi aikas hyvä tuuri :) Meinasimme myös myöhästyä bussistamme Ateenassa, koska menimme aluksi väärälle bussiasemalle ja siellä sanottiin, että teidän pitäisi olla tällä toisella asemalla. Kauheella vauhdilla sitten säntäsimme etsimään sitä toista asemaa, koska meillä oli vain tunti aikaa ennenkuin bussimme lähtisi klo 15 ja seuraava bussi menisi vasta klo 22.00 :P Mielettömällä tuurilla ystävällinen kreikkalaisnainen opasti meidät kävellen metroasemalta sinne bussiasemalle ja onneksi se bussi oli 10 minuuttia myöhässä, mutten emme olisi ehtineet. Ilmeisesti meillä on hyvä karma bussien suhteen :D

I think Gore Vidal is one of the coolest author names ever. Sometimes I think the only reason I read him is because I like saying his name.

I'm so shallow.

Currently indulging in his bestseller Washington D.C.. Thankfully a version that does not need to tell me on the front cover of the novel that it is, in fact, a novel. I always figured that given I'm reading the book, I probably don't need to be told that I've got a novel in my hands.

Слегка задумчивый:

Seminaari alkaa olla lopuillaan. Muut suunnistivat viimeisen illan rientoihin rannalle dokailemaan, meitsi pöngersi vanhan ruhonsa hotellille lepäämään. Nautiskelen Internetistä vielä hetken ja sitten nukkumaan, ei vanha jaksa hulinoida.

Hiukan pohdiskelen, miten kauan kämppikseni tulee jaksamaan... Se on 10 vuotta nuorempi, ei mitään kiinnostusta luontoon/biologiaan ja tuntuu, että se on nyt jo aikas leipääntynyt olemaan jossain kyläpahasessa, jossa ei ole mitään. En tajua, miksi ihmiset änkeävät noihin pikku paikkoihin ja sitten itkevät viikon päästä, "kun ei siellä ole mitään". No, öö. Se on joku 5000 asukkaan vuoristokylä, mitä oikein odotit!?!? Muutenkin kämppis valittaa kaipaavansa nuorta seuraa, kun "siellä on vaan pelkkiä vanhuksia". Joopa joo, kävipä hyvä mäihä saada minut kämppikseksi, olen 3 vuotta vanhempi kuin se meidän projektinjohtaja :D

Kämppis tuli Kreikkaan, koska on lukenut koulussa jotain vanhaa kreikkaa ("old Greek") ja valitsi tuon projektin aika umpimähkään tyyliin "Noh, en ole koskaan tehnyt mitään luontoon liittyvää. Voishan sitä kokeilla." Itse olen raihnainen vanhus, jota ei erityisemmin kiinnosta matkustaa 100 km jonnekin suurkaupunkiin vaan päästäkseni diskoon, eikä oikeastaan edes siihen isompaan lähikylään, joten nähtäväksi jää, lähteekö kämppis takaisin himaan jo ennen kevättä, kun musta ei taida olla nuorisoseuraksi, en jaksa dokailla ja pilettää :P Tykkään vaan möllöttää himassa, opiskella kieliä, nettailla ja elellä rauhallisesti.

Lisärasitteena toimii vielä sekin, että kämppis ei puhu kovin hyvää englantia ja tuntuu olevan tosi usein ihan pihalla, kun puhun ja se sanoikin olevansa turhautunut, kun ei osaa ilmaista itseään englanniksi tarpeeksi hyvin ja kun on vaikeuksia tajuta muiden ihmisten puhetta. Tähän asti sillä on ollut italialaisia kämppiksiä siellä asunnossa, joten saa nähdä, miten käy, kun se jää nyt täysin kaksisteen minun kanssani sinne kyläpahaseen ja minähän kun en osaa italiaa. Tosin oli puhetta, että voidaan opetella ristiin hieman suomea ja italiaa tässä samalla :)

Asunnossa on kuulemma lämmitin ja kuumaa vettä pitäisi tulla suihkusta, jee! Tosin paikka on täynnä torakoita ja jotain mustia öttiäisiä, ei osannut sanoa englanniksi niiden nimeä, mutta ei ainakaan mitään, jotka puree ihmisiä. Saan oikeasti kohtauksen, jos ne kiipeilee jossain sängyssä! Toivottavasti pysyvät lattialla, YÖK. Olin myös ymmärtänyt, että minulla on oma huone, mutta jaammekin yhden huoneen kaksisteen. Saa nähdä, miten alkaa hermot kirenemään viulunkielten lailla noin likeisessä yhteisasumisessa, jossa omaa reviiritilaa ja pakopaikkaa ei ole laisinkaan. Onneksi kämppis vaikuttaa ihmiseltä, jonka kanssa tulee kohtuullisen helposti toimeen.

Ei kai tässä muuta. Toivottavasti saan päiviteltyä sieltä Litochorostakin jotain tänne.

Way back when, during the dark and somewhat shameful Tiny Talent Time (*) era, a gradeschool friend (whose name I recall but which I will keep secret in order to preserve her dignity) and I gave serious thought to crafting an act to share on this televised purveyor of dubious youthful skill.

I believe we even had some sort of majorette-style costuming in mind, involving sequins and a headdress.

Our act? We thought we were going to train her cat to do tricks - like jumping from chair to chair through a hoop.

---

* For those not in the know, Tiny Talent Time was a Canadian TV programme hitting its heyday during the 1970s, that showcased children of varying ages indulging in a myriad of performing arts.

On second thought, all that site-finding is kind of a pain in the ass, so I will share all my finds via my del.icio.us page. Less pretty, but a lot easier.