OH NO YOU DIDN'T

Last night I was surfing around the web and I was listening to Kirsty MacColl's version of Belle of Belfast City.  I love Kirsty and Michelle always raves about this song and so I finally got to check it out.  It is a raucous blast of a song and of course I love Kirsty even more (RIP).  Well today while thinking about this Irish perfectness of a crazy song I was thinking how nuts Michelle must go when she hears it so I sent her a text. What I wrote was, "was listenting to Belle of Belfast City on youtube last night - you are a nut".  That is not a very clear text and I will admit it.  I knew how unclear I was when I got her response of, "Oh please because it is not a blonde from the 60's or 70's it is not good.  I grew up with that song much like you grew up with 70's light fm... x".  To which I promptly replied, "I wasn't clear - I like the song A LOT & ur a nut cuz I can so picture u being a maniac as it is played!!! LOL - it is a good thing :)"  Then for the rest of the night I could not stop laughing because I accidentally poked the bee's hive.  It is like when you unknowingly scare somebody and after they jump a mile then you die laughing.  I even ended up calling her and just could not stop laughing.  She told me that after a tense black Friday and some continued craziness in her office my message sent her over the edge plus that "those are fighting words" and I "got her Boston up".  I was very happy to see that after all these years, and with all her challenges of late, she still has plenty of fight in her - oh that redheaded spitfire.  You know I am not the speediest car in the race but I do certainly know two things:   I much prefer Michelle on my side and never, never, never jab at the bear with a big mop of red hair and a pink flamingo tattoo.   I totally did not do this story justice - maybe you just had to be there but I am still laughing and still love you lots!

Luck of the Irish

Here is the story I told you that I would tell you about.  On Wednesday night Loren asked me to go out with him for a drink on him so I said ok.  We ended up at this Irish bar her in Esco and it was a rowdy night because of the Thanksgiving holiday.  They had a band playing that was very good but it was kinda loud so we went out back to patio so we could talk since I have not seen him for a while.  As soon as we got out there people started talking to me - sure they were drunk but they were friendly and in a good mood plus you know me, I will speak with just about anyone that speaks to me.  It was a silly night but the kicker was that this ex-marine named Ian from Alabama originally and kinda looked like Jason Statham turned out to be gay and hit on Loren, who is straight.  I died!  So funny.  Loren is a good guy and declined Ian in a polite and respectful manner BUT Loren is a sucky wingman as he totally did not steer Ian my way.  A friendly, handsome, age appropriate, gay man that lives in Esco????  THANKS Loren - ugh.  Although Ian did give me his number later and said we should get together.  I was pleased to take his number as I am looking for similar local friends   He actually contacted me on Saturday to go out but funds are low so I asked about the next Saturday.  He sounded excited so I hope so.

Actually this weekend was the weekend of age appropriate men.  I met up with a guy from online this morning.  It was just a hookup but it went well.  It is good to enjoy at times - I am human and a man after all.    He left with a large smile and he said I will be hearing from him a again.  That would please me but it was just nice to enjoy and be wanted for a little bit.  I don't do that thing often but again I am human.  He did text me later in the day and so that made me smile, again.  

At the end of the day and without having too many plans going in to the Thanksgiving day weekend - I  enjoyed myself.  Dinner at my friend Michael's house was great.  I enjoyed the meal and company very much .  It just turned out to be a lot of surprises each day and I am happy.  Now it is time to get back to work.  I have a lot to do, a lot to fix and a lot to solve but I certainly feel recharged to do so.

Unrelated - isn't the pub kinda cute?  I have been there a couple times and it is ok.  But what I mean though is the picture - I think it came out so awesome.  As you know I recently found my London pictures and so looking at them and now looking at this, it really looks authentic   I am gonna post more London pictures so I will make sure at least one is a pub to see what you think.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wednesday turned into a day full unexpected surprises.  One I posted below and one I will posted here and one I will post in the future.  I did not have plans for Thanksgiving and I was ok with that.  I have cleaning and exercise to do plus a day off is always welcome.  It seemed most people are headed out of town.  My friend Michael that I worked with in Temecula and I still am in touch with often - texted me on Wednesday night.  He asked what I was up to and invited me up for dinner.  I have not seen him in a while or meet his new baby so I accepted.  I used to work with his wife also and have met his family before so it I am pleased.  I am also super thankful for all my blessings and at the top of that list are friends.  Friends are the people in the world who wish to be in your life for no other reason than they enjoy you.  There are a lot of joys and important things is this world but friends have always been one of my most cherished treasures.  I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and enjoys time also with what they cherish the most.

She Got My Back

I put that last post up about my challenges and when I did, I thought about it a lot.  I am not super depressed by any means.  I was just looking through my current challenges at the good things, which I still have many of.  I feel positive and I know that I am just in down cycle, which I am working on.  Judy sent me a gift - very thoughtful, touching and generous   I really appreciate it - I truly do. She has a lot going on right now and a whole plate full of her own worries.  I was just expressing my feelings.  Judy already has given me so much - I would not have this blog if it was not for her.  This blog means so much to me and says that I was here - good, bad and indifferent - which is important to me.  Every human wants to have it be known they were here and it was important that they were.  She can be silly and make me laugh and she laughs with me but most enjoyable, she laughs at me.  I just was expressing myself and her unexpected and kind gesture made me feel bad for a short moment as that was not my intent but  for a larger moment - which remains with me - it reminded me of my blessings like having good friends that have your back.  I do not want any more gestures, although completely appreciated -- this will pass, it is just a lay over on a wondrous flight.  I am thankful.

Not Really

I used the last of my cash today to stock up on SpaghettiO's to make sure I have food to last to 11.30.  I do not say that for pity - it is what it is.  I had some crappy things happen.  I made some bad decisions.  I am figuring it all out.  The point though is that while at the store I thought at least I can still afford SpagettiO's and I am not at the Ramen Noodle level yet.  It sucks but I am working on resolutions and in the meantime I am figuring it all out.  I will admit it does depress me a bit but there is not an alternative - there is no other choice but to make it through this and make things better again for myself.  I have my health back, I have a comfortable home, I have a job I enjoy and I am working on a plan to make things better for the long run.  Sure I feel a bit stupid for getting into this situation but I know that I always do best under pressure.  In addition - I am living in austerity - how nice does that sound, if you do not think of the meaning of austerity.  And I am building character and adding the story of my life.  Onward to the future!

This is Me

I took this picture also while in London.  It is not really me but it is my future.  An old man all dressed in black and feeding the park life.  It is not a sad future it is a happy one.  It was a super nice day out and I know he is content and enjoying himself.  I want my life to be this peaceful and quiet.  I am sure I can have it be that way, I just need to stop making stupid decisions.  Sometimes I do things and it feels other worldly to me.  I know what I am doing but I don't control myself or more to the point, stop myself.  You only live once so I do my best but right now I am feeling that I am failing.  I wasted this past weekend on bad decisions.  I have the Thanksgiving break coming up so will try to re-group, focus and make something worthwhile out of it - even if it is just cleaning.

WooHoo!!!

Seems I always take two steps forward and one step back.  I got this kidney stone resolved and was lucky to do so but got a very large and unexpected bill from way back.  I could have sworn it was all set - again it was from a while back.  I went searching through my files and believe I found what I need to show this bill is all set.  I will know tomorrow when I call.  However the real point of this post is that I found my pictures from London!  I am sooooooo excited over that!!!  I went to London in October 2006 and cannot believe it was that long ago!  After I got back I lost my camera along with my photo card which contained my pictures from London.  I knew that I had the pictures on a disc somewhere but could not find the disc anywhere and I did look for it recently.  While looking tonight for the paperwork I needed, I found my disc with ALL my pictures from London.  That was such an amazing trip and I will never forget it.  I quickly put all the pictures also on a memory stick as they are easier to store and it gives me back ups of the photos.  Maybe I will go and create one of those hardcover photo albums which as so cool.  In the meantime here are some pictures.  I will post more in later posts.  You can see my style does not change much when it comes to photography.  I hope to get this crazy bill issue resolved tomorrow but if not I am still so excited I found my London pictures.

Stone and Stent - free Living

No more kidney stones and not more stents - yay!!!  I have a follow up appointment but everything on this topic is going aces.  As if I was not happy enough I then got the above card from Eileen and trust me those are the only stones that I want from here on out.  Eileen is insanely sweet but she is also insanely talented.  Normally she sends her own fantastic images and she always inspires me to keep following my passion.  This card however is from another artist.  He has a website and his stuff is amazing.  I have a more realistic eye and somehow found a muse in Escondido but I am impressed by his work.  I know that this card was perfect and it made me so happy.  If you are interested you can click this link to check out his website:

www.patrickzephyrphoto.com

Summary of Events

So here is the lowdown.  Last Tuesday they put me under and zapped my kidney stones.  The good news is that there were no complications and I am getting better so this will all turn out great.  That is not to say this little episode was not without incident.  I don't know why I cannot just get the common cold like every other normal person.  When I woke up from anesthesia I told the nurse that I had to go to the bathroom.  She was very nice and I know how exceedingly hard her job is but she told me that I did not have to that it was just the stent and from the procedure   I told her no that I really had to.  She said no.  I begged and pleaded until finally she at let me stand and try.  Well I did go and along with going I screamed because of the pain.  It was like I was pissing lava.  She apologized as she could see she was wrong and that I did have to go.  

Later that day I go home and everything was fine unless I had to pee.  I had very little control over this function and am so super glad I do not have rugs.  Each time I went pee the pain was excruciating and completely red with blood.  I got to the point where I would shove a towel in my mouth to muffle the yelling.  The next day there was still pain but it was different.  It was no longer in my penis it was in my kidney.  Each time I went pee it felt like I was being pummeled with kidney punches - hence the yelling continued.

Thursday was much better so I was happy that I could see continual improvement.  The pain was definitely less and not simply because of the meds.  There as also a lot less "clean up on aisle 3".  Come Friday I decided to go to work.  I did not piss myself on Friday at work so I put the day into the "good day" column and was pleased with myself.  Most agreed that not pissing oneself at work is deserved of a good day rating.  I do have a stent though which has a string on it so basically think of a rip cord dangling from my winky.  While at work I did accidentally zip up the string of the stent into my fly and as I turned for the door I quickly realized my error - ouch!  Still a good day.

Monday I go for them to remove the stent.  In this modern day and age I can still explain this "medical" procedure very simply as this:  they are going to hold the string and yank it.  I am already dreading the pain and have picked out a stick to bring with me so that I can bite on it as they yank.  

In case you are wondering what connection the above picture has with this post - well none really.  I just figured I earned something nice in my life after this week.

More Esco Graffiti

I know graffiti is vandalism and illegal but I can hardly say all graffiti is bad since some of it is so artistic.  I am not talking about the crappy tags of street names scribbled on a wall but check this out.  You cannot tell the dimensions of it from the picture alone but it is at least 5 or 6 feet from top to bottom.  It just showed up this week and is an obvious tribute by some friends for some friends that passed away.  Remember that this week was Dia de Los Muertos and that is a day to celebrate those who are no longer with us.  This graffiti is total art - it took premeditated design and execution and delivers a message - even if you do not know who the tribute is for.  I spotted it downtown this weekend and so stopped right away to snap a pic.  I do not know how long it will last before someone paints over it but I hope they do not for a while.  I am not sure which is odder that I get so excited coming across new found art that others think is a eyesore to the city or that I always stop what I am doing to capture it in a picture -- or even better I always have my camera to do so!  Anyway I like sharing my weirdo view of my city and can only image skewered view that those of you have of it based solely on my pictures.

Schedule of Events

On this Tuesday I go into the hospital to have my kidney stone issue resolved.  It is only a day procedure but they need to put me under in order to take care of it.  I am a little worried as no one likes to be put under.  I am sure it will be all fine and I know that I will be so much better off in the long run.  I still worry though - just the normal amount - it is my nature.  I have said it before that I don't like being sick and I get very needy but the doctor said should only take about 3 days and then I will be on my feet again.  I am upset that it will use up the rest of my vacation days as I was trying to save them but I know that is a silly thing to be upset about.  I am much happier that I have the vacation days at all and above all else that I have health insurance - not to mention a job that I like a lot - even with the little pay.  I cannot even truly complain about that because it pays better than no job.  Anyway so I will be kidney stone free and not have any more pain attacks requiring morphine and that thought alone greatly calms my nerves.  I would take pictures cuz I think it would make a great post - My Adventure at the Hospital - but they said not to bring valuables.  And we all know that my camera is my most valuable possession.  Wish me luck :)