Charlotte Blues, BBQ & Beer Festival?

My sister Brandi invited me to go out with she & her husband Jim to the Charlotte Blues, BBQ & Beer Festival (not necessarily in that order) where her friend the fabulous Yvonne was tending bar tonight. I am due a yearly night out on the town so I went!

We got into the VIP tent free and got free beer & liquor all night, which for us was 'til about 10 P.M. We had a blast!

That said, if by "beer, blues & bbq" Charlotte means "beer, cheesey middle aged white guy 'blues', and funnel cakes" festival then okay. There was no bbq to be found, while funnel cakes, bratwurst and other Flea Market fare were abundant. The music was well, crappy; I like my blues from cool old black men or atleast Stevie Ray Vaughn or Tab Benoit and the white guys on stage tonight were not even close (naturally).

I'm happy to report that there was beer there! In light of the lack of bathrooms I stuck with Jack & Gingerale which was delish. Bran & Jim both had Michelobe Ultra since they are both so damn healthy.

We ended up at our favorite Diner The Landmark, truly one of the best resturants in town. The Greek chicken was spectacular as usual.

I came home and took off my necklaces to hang in their spot on the rusty rake & thought to take a picture of my pirate treasure for all to enjoy. I feel rich looking at them all lined up there, but in reality there's probably only about $100 worth of jewels; 3 India necklaces-$34, 1 rusty rake head-$5, feeling like a Queen-priceless!

It is way past my bed time and Roxi needs a shower. I'm so tired but she was making laps in the swamp today and smells worse than the fertile mud of The Mighty Mississippi!

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...................................

September 12

Yipee, Saturday! Finally my mood improved yesterday. A thank you to Erin is in order for letting me know I am not alone in a little Tysabri moodiness. The Tysabri people called me yesterday to see how I am doing and I told them about it and of course they said it's not one of the known side effects but people with MS do have mood swings etc...well I'm here to tell her there is something to it!

Anyhow I painted the cuteset 1950s Halloween cat face on top of a large candy container yesterday for ebay! If Ican figure it out I will put a picture of him unfinneshed up here. I'm undecided on how to paint the container itself, the cat is just on the lid.

Today I want to go to the farm for sure, unless they are dove hunting out there and then I don't want Roxi all up in everyboby's grill so I'll stay. I'd love to go on a real nature walk. I'm looking for something to send my cousin Allie; she replied to my facebook post of a picture of a dead beetle necklace I made and had the idea for us to start a nature exchange! I said instead of being pen pals we'll be roadkill pals! I'm looking for feathers, bones, rocks, shells, nests, anything cool that nature has discarded. This is going to be so fun!

I also have to make Mom a b-day cake...chocolate or carrot? I'll have to ask her. She took me to Quizno's for dinner last night mmmm toasty. Then we went to the shoe store and I'm relieved to say they didn't have anything I can't live without. I did discover though that I want some for real cowboy boots. I really want some! I will have to save up and find a bargain somewhere, I don't want gyppy ones.

I slept good last night. That's uncommon lately. It was great!

I made it through yesterday without getting my eyes crossed or anything else:) Whew! And I am almost back down to the original ammount of overweight I was before the three weeks of solumedrol! I'm making slow but steady progress, about a pound a week average. This way I know I'll keep it off. And I still indulge once in a while, like cake tomorrow.

I'm going to get off this evil time sucker and get to it!

Now!

Waahhhh!

Today I kept to myself, I was not fit to be in anyone's company. I'm not going to whine about it so, moving on...
I realise that tomorrow will be the year anniversary of my last relapse. I was riding with Mom in her car and was looking at two of everything so it started with double vision (only 3 hours after a routine Neurologist visit that same day) and things went steadily down hill...Anyhow, here I am a year later so much better off. I've nearly gotten myself entirely out of a bad, short marriage (all but the paperwork). I'm much better off in every way. Although I have a problem with my bad 'tude this week, I am on the very edge of Fall, the weather is cooling off, the green and gaudy colors of summer turning to the crisp and warm jewel tones of Fall! What do I have to bitch about? I got word just now that I am not the only person who gets moody around infusion time after all and that really helps. If I were rich I'd book a house right on the beach a for afew days after and leave straight from Presbyterian Hospital! I would schedule that time to be all alone, just me myself and I and keep my dark cloud away from prying eyes.
But that's not my world, so I just work on enjoying life here at home. Enjoy the season, Fall music (Portishead, Nick Cave, Led Zeppelin...) hot glue and plastic skelletons, glitter and glue, utility knife and hacksaw, paint and brushes.
Tomorrow I go to work and watch the day go off without a hitch. Life is good.

frustrated

I spent about an hour last night and at least two this morning trying to figure this out. I can't get my blog to come up in a Google search so it looks like I have the Ultimate Private Blog and can say whatever the Hell I want, consequences be damned!
I tried everything my pea brain can come up with and still...nothin'! I swear I don't even know how I get by in this world. Of course trying to get any help on the web is like looking for the Holy Grail.
I will just carry on and not care that something is seriously wrong with either me or my blog. I'm used to not "getting it"....

Infusion Day #10

I've decided to begin a blog tonight as a way for me to keep up with things. Also because I love to write. I find myself getting the blues for a few days following my infusions and I don't know why. Depression is not one of the listed side effects of Tysabri and the few people I've talked to who are on it don't get this way. So probably it's unrelated, or I'm just being dramatic and whiney. Either way, I just want to ramble and this way nobody has to litsen!

I went to Presby today for my 10th Tysabri infusion and it went fine. I take the best naps in the oncology center; just like I would have at school if I had been allowed. They are like school-quality naps. There's lots of white noise, machines beeping, people shuffling around, they play a short part of "rock a bye baby" on the speakers whenever a baby is born, it's all very soothing. Except for the damn TV! They have it on soap operas the entire time, most people seem to watch them. I always take a chair in the corner right behind the TV, put on my sleep mask, set up my mp3 and get ready for a good nap. I'm a pro.
I sleep very well in there because the atmosphere is similar to sitting in class, but better because it's not school. I love the sounds of the oncology center (God help me I know I'm a total sick-o) It all makes for great nap atmosphere, or "napmosphere"!
I actually already wrote about 400 words on the next topic but briefly lost my Internet connection and thus all so much poetry disappeared into the black hole of failed Internet. But am I mad? Nope. Like everything else I accept that there was a reason for this shitty "coincidence" and I may never understand it. So what do I do?
Start over.
As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by the Tech-Gods, there are two ways I can go into a state of complete peace; both are spontaneous and done "intuitively."
The first is referred to as the "teacher writing on the page phenomenon". My sister is the only other person I know of who gets it. Remember sitting in class during a test? The room is quiet, the only sounds are student's pencils on paper, the occasional cough, maybe the fan of the overhead projector, you know the usual white noise of a classroom. Everyone is quietly working. You raise your hand for the teacher to come to your desk and help you with one of the problems, she comes and stands next to you leaning over so you can whisper back and forth. At some point she scratches something on your test booklet or notebook paper to help you better understand whatever it is, and all these little sounds in the stillness of the room conspire to put me in an absolute trance; thus The Teacher Writing on the Page Phenomenon. At that point it is all I can do to stay awake! It's all I can do to even pay attention to what the Hell the teacher is so graciously explaining to me. How many times would I have made a deal with the Devil to just be able to fall asleep? If any sleeping pill could do that to me I wouldn't be an insomniac. Since it always happened during test time I never got to simply crash in these fleeting moments; I was a poor student but never a rude one.
The second spontanious coma-like state is The Good Stare. I imagine many more people than just my sister and I go into this one, my Dad too for starters. Although I can will myself into this state, like so many things in life it's best enjoyed when it unfolds naturally. It can be anytime, anywhere; sitting behind the wheel at a red light, hanging out with a group of friends, with family at the dinner table, whatever. All of a sudden I get the deer caught in the headlights look, eyes like saucers and I stay still as a statue. I hear evrything around me and see whatever is right in front of me, but my eyes are focused on some arbitrary point far off, and the words just scroll accross my mind meaningless. I become the Observer. After studying on how to meditate and finding that state ever ellusive, it dawned on me one day that I've been meditating all my life! I just never thought about it, and isn't that the whole point to meditation, to not think? I become aware of my surroundings with all my senses, but on a higher level of consciousness. It is sheer bliss. Somebody always ends up repeating my name and God help me waiving their hand in front of my face. Surely if they knew how peaceful it feels they'd shut the Hell up. Surely. As a kid I spent countless hours in either of these states when I was supposed to be learning. Fourth grade was particularly horrid and I never did memorize all the multiplication tables but hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do right?
For now that's all for The World According To Dusti. I'm ready to fall into a self induced coma now that I will call sleep.
Goodnight.