Een’s Neighborhood

ah, man, I've missed my little ibook-- chris got it working again just last night and then was off to work super-early this morning, so here I lie, having my old type-in-bed time once more. an indeterminate brain is confronted by the opportunity...

honestly, I've felt a bit adrift without the tether of words composed here-- facebook brings something else entirely-- reconnections, semi-connections, a superficial sort of webbing, but webbing nonetheless-- it's brought me back into some form of contact with more than one lost friend, for which I'm enormously grateful-- but the writing medium is altogether different, requiring by custom if not strict technical limitiation (as twitter) a tendency of hyper-abbreviation. this tenor is most surely the coin of the realm more generally, but as an expressive form it does little for real mulling through-- my milieu. yes, I know, it isn't as if vox (or for that matter wordpress, blogger or, heck, my trusty paper journal) has gone away, only myself that has elected to neglect the form-- the medium itself remains available throughout my various distractions.

and to what do these distractions amount? little coherent cumulatively, I fear. there's me, always inclining to weigh and measure. recently here and there been torturing myself for no good reason with google searches for people I no longer need any connection with-- wretched, idle hands. I know better. well, at least the killing curiosity is soon exhausted with lack of any relevance, but it's a waste of energy. and other wastes as well-- time and self spent merely watching video, tuning out, dialling down the day. then there's been some good reading (margaret atwood-- and attending her gorgeous many-voiced book launch event downtown on friday). a weekend full of sleep, fighting off one of the many seasonal bugs flying around. glorious golden autumn days. car repairs etcetera.

adrift. diffuse. in need of locating a likely thread to stitch it all into some sense.

one thing tho: we've begun to plan weddinging for 2010-- in our own idiosyncratic way, with sites of celebration in chicago and northern michigan-- we've started sketching it out for ourselves, what's wanted, what's not wanted, how to accommodate the needs versus desires of those we love, how to make something authentic and real and delicious and right for ourselves, to relinquish any mar from the past's damaged expectations-- to begin anew, rightly and brilliantly, for ourselves. 

Cathy1

One of the nicest people I know is Cathleen McLain. I went to her birthday party this year, and people who have known her for month or decades all said the same things: "This is how you helped me out Cathy, this is how you supported me, this is what a great artist you are" Oh yes, they also said she was a crazy woman in the nicest possible kind of crazy, which is even better as far as I'm concerned. :P

Someone was very not nice to Cathy today. That offends me, especially as she took time out of a day when she was tired and busy to help me out. She's helped me out in so many ways - introducing me to the best shows in the state, paying my way for some of them as I got established living in a new place, and getting me into some very good shows at the last minute last year. She's bailed me out financially when I got into a bad space, and gave me groceries this week because I'm struggling a little in this transition time between the two jobs, and after the furlough I had to have last month in my current job.

Cathy2

Apart from everything else, she just makes the most gorgeous art. I love her paintings, and I swear I'll own some of her jewelry one day, just as soon as I get promoted into a better paying position at my new job.

For the moment though, the best thanks I can think of is to show you her amazing work. You should head off to her etsy shop and see what she has around. If you are in Connecticut, we'll both be at Open Studio at the Hartford ArtSpace November 14 and 15.

Especially check out her wonderful pins with the converter to change them into a pendant. They are just awesome!!!!

So if you're a pretty nice person, and ever had someone be unjustifiably horrid to you, take your revenge right now. Support the wonderful, generous, fantastic artist (and beautiful friend) - and buy some of Cathy's jewelry, or just leave a comment here telling her how great she is (she drops by this blog, she'll see it). :D

McLain Jewelry

so I may not 100% love my job every single day, but by golly it's nice having a puppy to snorgle in the afternoon sunshine.

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110509_4

Some people vote the same way every time: Rs for Rs, Ds for Ds. Then you have the wildcards.  The wave. The pendulum. The moody middle swayed by who knows what -- "Dancing with the Stars" perhaps or McDonald's dollar menu? Who knows... I don't... Ask the people at Pew.

Anyhow, if I had to venture a guess, I would bet that some fussy pendulum-riders were already skittish about health care reform (i.e. they fear change -- they can't love the outrageous health care bills that are bankrupting them and their families) and they got a few too many e-mail forwards from wackadoo friends about Obama trying to take over private businesses (I guess we should just funnel tax payer money to big business to save them and not takeover?) and then the White House got pissy about Fox News and then somebody got too meddlesome in gubernatorial elections (when there's a country to be running) and there are a fair number of folks throughout the country who arent sure about whether that dude in the White House is Muslim/born in the U.S. -and/or- just they're just plain racist/ignorant/fill-in-the-blank and there you have it...

[extended run-on sentence for your reading pleasure... I hope it helps someone's superiority complex. Maybe I should make this post public to infuriate the masses. You're welcome.]

If you say something to someone - something that you feel the need to express about your feelings and what you need from them - and you know that they will probably express great hurt at both what you express and what you intend to do, who is responsible for their pain?

...at work today:

103009_halloween

in honor of halloween ghoulies everywhere:

I've been having a few health issues lately. Nothing serious I suspect, but enough to seek medical attention. I had an appointment last week with some lab tests, another one today and another tomorrow. Three different doctors in the same (giant) medical group, a medical group with a good reputation. But as far as I can tell they don't deserve it. Tomorrow will tell with the third doctor, a specialist, but the first two doctors I've seen have seemed rushed, disengaged and generally on auto-pilot. Like the pilots who missed the airport at Minneapolis/St. Paul International.

Today's doc wrote me a prescription for an anti-inflammatory when I told her I was taking 2-4 Advil per day for joint pain. I asked her why it would be better to take the prescribed meds than what I was doing. Her answer was something about it being more convenient for me to just take one pill that lasted all day. Convenience wasn't an issue for me, but uh...okay.

Take This And Call Me...Wait, What Did you Say?

I filled the prescription at the pharmacy, but before taking anything, I do what I always do, read the warning label. Whoa, this was some powerful stuff! After reading what Walgreen's had to say about it, I went to the Internet for more. On WebMd there was a big warning at the top of the page, not in the fine print.

This drug may infrequently cause serious (rarely fatal) bleeding from the stomach or intestines. Also, related drugs rarely have caused blood clots to form, resulting in heart attacks and strokes. This medication might also rarely cause similar problems. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about the benefits and risks of treatment, as well as other possible medication choices.

If you notice any of the following rare but very serious side effects, stop taking and seek immediate medical attention: black stools, persistent stomach/abdominal pain, vomit that looks like coffee grounds, chest pain, weakness on one side of the body, sudden vision changes, slurred speech.

On other sites there were more reasons to suspect that this was probably not the drug for me. I'm not sure what she was thinking or if she was thinking actually.

I'll just stick with the morning dose of two Advil. And see what the doctor tomorrow has to say, assuming I can get more than 15 minutes of his time and undivided attention.  

got myself good with hothot cooking oil splashed from the pan last night (dumb dumb dumb)-- lucky to have a fella around who's good in unpleasant medical situations (and who can also finish the cooking-- seared pork chops with a mushroom, onion, pear, white wine, and membrillo (quince) tequila deglaze-- delicious)-- but, vain girl that I am, I reeeally wanted to call in ugly to work this morning. wah.