WTMI about the last two months

- First I got food poisoning. I didnt go the hospital.
- Then, almost without a break , I got some cold floating around.
- Almost without a break, I got food poisoning AGAIN.

Still, didnt go to the hospital.

- Sinus infection.
- Stomach flu.
- A very nasty west coast influenza strain that had me snorting up green phlegm.

Then it cleared up.

By this time, Im thinking my immune system had been hammered enough.

No, a few nights ago, I woke up with a stiff neck, followed by the cause.

A boil on the back of my neck. A big one that isnt easily seen, but is big and hard and situated just where it can cause me grief, I couldnt turn my neck (Chica gazing HURTS), headaches, neck pain (leaning down to pick up something on my right side causes pain that has me on my knee as if I had a bad back.)

THAT drove me to the hospital, to at least LANCE this motherfucker to relieve the pressure on the back of my neck and spine, and henceforth the pain.

So, to my surprise - I was told the diagnosis.

Diabetes.

My blood sugar reading was at 460. Whoa.. the last time I checked, I was at 166.

The cause of this (apart from the daily donuts)... if youre predisposed, your blood sugar level will skyrocket if you have an infection.

The UC Berkeley pre-med students (I still firmly believe that pre-meds, interns and some residents should be kept FAR away from needles and medicine cabinets) freaked the fuck out. The nurse wanted to put me on an insulin program, full lab workup and followup visits.

This is where I became a Difficult Patient.

Ever so politely, I asked about the pain caused by the boil. You know. THE reason I was there and why I could barely move.

I was breezily told that I would be put on a mild antibiotic treatment, but to focus on the far more serious matter of diabetes. Would clear up in a week.

Ever so politely, I advised that I'd been on my way to the emergency room, before Id made a left turn at the clinic, and I INTENDED to lance the blasted boil MYSELF if they werent about to do it. By any means necessary.

I was NOT concerned about diabetes at that point.

This declaration brought Dr Duffy.

Dr Duffy felt the boil and told me why it would make no sense to burst the boil yet (turn your eyes, kiddies -------- because it wasnt 'ripe' enough to burst, as the point of lancing wasnt to burst the bubble, merely get blood from tissue and not the desired pus AND blood).

All those infections did cause my blood sugar flareup.

And a symptom of diabetes or extremely high blood sugar are.. boils.

More than likely caused by dirty clippers when I went to the barber a week ago.

But that I very very very likely dont have full blown diabetes.

Long story short... I got EXTREMELY strong antibiotics to reduce the boil gradually, Im scheduled for a lab-workup monday to see if I do have diabetes.

Joy.

Thats why I havent felt like writing, even with Tim the Photographer coming to town and paying me a visit the other night.

And Im still in pain.

Im enjoying the weather

Its warm. Heat off the asphalt warm.

Damn, I miss that.

This place is chilly and rainy in the winter.

Mmm.

So Im enjoying it with someone TRYING to teach me "Where is the loo?" in Mandarin.

Hey, being able to ask "Where tha toilette at?" in different languages comes in handy.

"Qing wen tse suo zai na li?"

Ok, I gotta go.. Im being laughed at again for mangling mandarin...

Berkeley Bound and Stuck

Came across an SFscribble post just now:

Friday, October 27, 2000

Today started out lousy, then got beautiful.. so I headed to Berkeley, partly on Helen's recommendation.

Well, I actually always wanted to see Berkeley anyways, famous as the birthplace of most social trends of the last half-century.

Ive always been curious.

JT: "Have you never been to a college town?"
.
Me: "Many. Grew up in one. This is unlike most of them."

Berkeley is technically a suburb of Oakland - although the residents would vigorously deny that, I think.

It sure is different.

Long story short - if I decided to move to the Bay Area, I would readily live THERE.

I can see what attracted free thinkers, the government and People with Money to the area.

I can see why Berkeley is the way it is.

I can see myself living here or nearby.

Not SF, not in the blooming suburbs.. but there.

I liked the vibe.

I was mightily prescient back then, even though I had no intention of moving.. I did know I was coming this way.

Although back then I thought there would be someone with me.

She had other expectations.

Eh.

I wonder what drew me here?

Oh yeah.

The color blue and my dreams.
-------
The truth, tho?

I see profit here.

Specially now.

Along with growth and a smattering of do-good.

What I didnt anticipate was...

Here, you EARN it.

Starving artist schtick

"... Obstacles make you creative."
- Ho Chi Minh

Shit, I must be a one helluva artist then...
---------
A minor freakout, Im having.

I have some of my images on a hard drive. Make that two.

Theyre dead, dead, dead.

Images from most of 2000 and 2003. Gone.

Gah.

Recovery wont be quick or easy, particularly when I dont have a place or the equipment to retrieve the images.

My images from 2001. On a dead laptop in Florida. Gah.

Wait, I realize.. I visited the EasyEverything Internet Cafe in Times Square alla tha time in 2001, right?

Right.

Didnt I upload most of my images off the cameras to my server?

Yes.

Yes!

And I didnt delete them, either.

Whoo.

*(after further checking, theyre all after Sept. 2001. Ah well. Better this than nothing.)

Man, this starving artist biz is stressful.
---------

Preparing for the show.

Printer..

Got the printer off craigslist. Cheep.

Get laptop working.

The laptop parts arent working, natch. BUT a bus driver offered to lend me one of her laptops for a few days for me to process the images...

I'll take the help wherever I can get it.

Paper. Expensive..

Wait, Craigslist. Of COURSE there'd be someone selling Epson paper. Kewl.

*breathe*

Ok, ok.. now..

Let me worry about the mounting and matting and framing later.
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Today's horrorscope

It may at times appear as if too many things are going wrong in the world, but if you think about it, you will realize that in the greater scheme of things, none of these things matter.

There is a plan and a design to your existence and if you look for it today, you will catch a tantalizing glimpse of the bigger picture.

Yeah, I do know this, although it takes a great deal of .. acceptance... to appreciate this.

I am where I am supposed to be, and Im doing what Im supposed to do.. is my mantra.

Even tho Id much rather be at the helm of a VW GTI breaking many, many speed laws on some backroad right now. :-)

The Bridge and Tunnel Set

Most folk who have never lived in the Bay Area think two things, I reckon..

- That there is very little beyond the city of San Francisco, the cities of Oakland and San Jose being somewhere *waves hand vaguely* out there somewhere, in the area.

- The Golden Gate Bridge is the busiest bridge in the area, the others amusing sidebars.

Mm, no.

San Francisco is like Manhattan, small, crowded and incredibly diverse. Surrounded by large, diverse and vibrant communities.

The silver-hued Bay Bridge is THE most important bridge in the Bay Area, fuck the Golden Gate.

Cuz its the busiest, natch. Being the most direct link between Oakland, the East Bay and San Francisco.

Im tempted to call Oakland and the East Bay, the New Jersey of the Bay Area - but ACTUALLY, now that Ive gotten to know the place a little better.. I would call it the BROOKLYN of the Bay Area.

That is no insult.

Although its more like Brooklyn with bigger hills behind it.

With less people.

In any case, tho.. for our purposes of stereotyping, lets say - its sorta like Jersey, with bigger hills than the Palisades and Rockland COunty.

Cuz there is this tunnel that connects Oakland and the East Bay to San Francisco.

Which brings us to the comparison of the Bridge and Tunnel set.

Its not a kind term.

If you live in Jersey, you now belong to the B&T set.. you live on the wrong side of the water. Youre a lesser class of peeps.

To get to Oz, you have to cross the Bridges or go thru the tunnels.

The same phenomena occurs here in the Bay Area.

You live in the East Bay, you are of the B&T set.

On both coasts, people strive heartily to get to the *quotey fingers* Right Side, paying exorbitant prices if need be.

I practice reverse snobbery. Id rather be where uppity folk dont wanna.

And I dont wanna spend 4 figure rent.

But now, Im kinda thinking I wouldnt mind living in The City for a bit.

No, no. For the pictures, man.

The mother of all statement retractions.

There was a time, sistah cyn, when you were of the firm opinion that you didnt wanna have a kid.

We're not gonna change history here.

You wrote loads about that conviction.

Vehement you were.

Being all independent Virgo femme an' shytte.

Now look atcha. :-)

Sweet.

Hehehe, wait until she flexes on the scorpionic tip and starts ruling the household.

Heheh, you think YOURE stubborn.

That lidle girl knows all about power.

Heehee. :-D
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Might even change my Virgoan mind on the subject....

*cough*

Like hell. :-)