So mad I could bite someone!

Due to my policy of overbooking myself, I have overbooked myself.

Of course work is insane, and I didn't get a chance to look at my appointment calendar today. Sound check, Mass, meeting, quiz, meeting. I finally came home, changed out of my suit, and relaxed on the couch, only to realize I had blown off an appointment with the oral surgeon that I had made in October.

That was today? I'm so angry I could bite someone. I think I will take my blood pressure right now, just for fun...

151/93. Rowr!

You know, I should be thankful everyday that I have medial insurance. And I am. But frankly, I resent having to take care of medical, financial, or even personal problems when I am slammed at work.

Grrr! I hate missing appointments! I've rescheduled for next month. GRRRRR.

Two more days... two more days until Christmas Break. Obviously, my brain is already on vacation. All I want is to forget about all the obligations for a while, and spend a few weeks at home with my family.

120/80? It's gotta be a mistake

I went into my doctor's appointment today to get a referral to get my bite fixed. They took my blood pressure, and it came back 120/80. Are you kidding?

I peed in a cup and gave the lab some blood before going to 老四川饭店 Lao Sichuan Fandian. I ordered 四川牛肉 "sichuan style beef", and of course 蚂蚁上树 "ants on the tree." My goodness, that food is good. I found the picture of 蚂蚁上树 on Google images; but rest assured, the one I brought home in Styrofoam looks and tastes way better than the one in the picture.

The best part of the whole sichuan experience is the pepper, which is so hot, it's numbing. I swear it's a narcotic.

So I made it through the week, through the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Next week I have quite a week scheduled, but spiritually speaking, I'm already on Christmas break. Tomorrow, the fireplace gets fixed. Sunday is the faculty Christmas fiesta. On Tuesday we're all Mexican; Mass on Thursday, Christmas assembly on Friday. Then I have a few days to myself, before my parents get here.

I'm thinking about going to Ikea right now to get a shoe rack. As long as I'm back in time for Battlestar Galactica tonight. The show is good, you all. Part of the entertainment for me, though, is to read Jacob's really smart recaps on television without pity.

Really, I'm trying to motivate myself into driving to Ikea, because tomorrow it will be packed. But really, all I want to do is sit on my couch, enjoy my central heating, and concentrate on the slow burn of the numbing peppers from my sichuan dinner.

I remember when I used to use this blog to tell stories. Oh well.

The Left and the Right.

So I got a tickley ultrasound today, and found that I have two kidneys, the left and the right. Congratulate me! No stones. The ultrasound technician actually said I had "two nice big kidneys," 14 and 15 cm.

So did crazy, protein spilling kidneys up my blood pressure? Or did my blood pressure make my kidneys start spilling protein? Maybe a biopsy will tell.

Anyway, my blood pressure has responded to the drugs, and now it's normal for the first time in a while. There was a day where my pulse was 100 bpm after a nap as my heart adjusted to it's new lighter work load.

The kidney in the picture isn't mine, by the way. Google images brought it to me.

Too Much Information

So my new meds (I'm not even up to my whole dosage yet, according to the schedule) has kicked in. I just took my bp, no resting, no quiet time, tv on.... 151/91. That is way lower than what I was scoring just a few days ago.

I walked to school today. It's 7:15 and my pedometer has counted over 14,000 steps. Not bad. A normal day for me is usually less than 3000 steps.

It's too hot to cook or do anything else.

Chinese class is fun. It will be even more fun when we stop talking about Chinese, and finally start talking in Chinese. I don't hate my classmates yet!

Perfect summer dinner

181/104? I think I'm putting the cuff on wrong.

As far as I'm concerned, this is the perfect summer dinner. Some grilled meat, some interesting vegetable sticks, steamed rice, a little cup of rich beef broth, and a little bit of fish sauce to make it interesting.

I got this at Saigon Bistro, and the beef is thin strips, rolled around some vegetables, skewered in threes and then grilled.

Acutally, this was even a little fancy; I would have settled for grilled beef on a skewer. Oh, by the way, this set me back $5.50. Dinner!

Tomorrow I bring my car in for it's checkup. The little indicator behind the A/C button has burned out. I wonder if they'll fix that. Luckily, I just got paid, baby.

Lazy Sunday Morning

I slept well last night; went to bed after Weekend Update and then woke up before 9am. I had been dreaming of Battlestar Gallactica (colonists dressed as Storm Troopers were trying to sabotage their ship, which the Cylons had seized) and Ann Arbor (they were building a massive freeway overpass that blocked the sky; it doubled as a massive billboard).

I woke up a little groggy and took my bp; I must have put on the cuff wrong. I made peanut butter toast and took my little bp pills, one pink and one peach. Watched the end of the England/Ecuador match. England won on a penalty kick by David Beckham.

I'm still a little surprised that Beckham is an actual footballer, in actual soccer matches. Here he's known predominantly as a leading metrosexual and the husband of a Spice Girl.

152/95; 68bpm (10 am) I must have put on the cuff wrong.

So now I'm watching Univision, waiting for the Portugal/Nederlands match to start. On their program Rep�blica Deportiva they have reporters covering the parties in Germany outside the stadium. The equatorianos are all happy to be there (not pouting and blaming like USA fans), even though their team didn't advance. Of course there are tons of lantinos dressed as equatorianos, too, reflecting la unidad latina. At least two comments were made about Beckham's hair.

Back in Miami, they've got a bunch of happy equatorianos in the studio, and the two tall, beautiful models dressed in matching stretchy asymmetrical boobslings and some short shorts that remind me of the red stickystick you find in Handisnacks. Both of these women are confident presenters, do simultaneous Spanish/Portuguese interpretation, and like all the women on this channel, they're beautiful and they are more competent talking about soccer than, say, me. But today I think they feel bad for having to be the nakedest ones in the room. They look annoyed.

It's supposed to be record breaking heat today in Seattle. There will be Gay Pride downtown, and the underground Gay Pride up on Broadway (long story, I don't want to get into it). I'm not sure what I'll do for food today.

Hypertension! Don't worry, Mama!

So my phyiscal today, perhaps my first in 10 years, took a long time. All afternoon.

First of all, I wasn't able to take the bus to my appointment today, like I wanted to, because as I was about to leave the house, the kid that I caught trying to break into my house the other day was spotted in the alley by a sharp-eyed neighbor. So I called the police, like they had asked me to. Then I realized I missed my bus, and I had to drive.

That's about when my headache started. But I drove to GHC and found rockstar parking under a tree. So the headache didn't really kick in until my doctor told me I had high blood pressure. Not scary high, but high. No "nicking" where my veins cross my arteries in my retinas, no monster left ventricle pattern in my ekg.

Pain behind my right eye. They gave me a Tylenol.

My doc wanted me to relax, so he turned off the lights and left me alone for a while. Meanwhile, he called the pharmacy and had them send up a bp med so he could see my reaction to it in the office. My bp responded in less than an hour, dropping by 20 points.

Anyway, most of the visit was spent cooling out in the exam room. I looked at a photography book; very relaxing. I text messaged my mama; less relaxing. She went into medical mode, telling me to ask about certain meds and expressing her displeasure. I had to text her that I was supposed to be relaxing, because she was starting to stress me out. In my family we express affection by stressing each other out... and by that measure really do love each other. Well, by any measure.

The other thing my mama wants to talk to me about is refinancing my mortgages, which has in the past been a major cause of stress. I realize now that my parents don't understand, and that mortgage people don't care, about how demanding it is to be a teacher, so I've basically drawn a line in the sand: no talking about mortgages while school is in session. It must be nice to work in an office, to not be constantly looked at (literally), to go home at 5pm and not have to think about work anymore, to take time during the work day to do personal business. It must be nice, but I wouldn't know, because I'm a teacher. I will fax you the form when I have time, dammit, stop pretending it can't wait.

School is not in session now, so now is a good time, but just thinking about past experiences stresses me out.

So when I was finally done at GHC, I walked across the street and got some teriyaki: grilled meat on rice (no sauce) and some kimchee. I stopped at the drug store to buy a home bp monitor. Then I came home, putzed around for a while, and then went to bed at 8pm.

I got up at midnight and discovered a PBS series about teaching languages, which gives me some ideas for next year...

Also, I emailed my jazz guitar teacher; I am wasting my money on jazz guitar lessons. I need to play with a group for a while, get comfortable with the instrument, learn the fretboard, before I go back to jazz guitar lessons. In the meantime, I can take jazz piano lessons, develop my noodle.

Ok, time to post my bp. As I wrote above, I bought a monitor, but I'm sure I'm not putting the cuff on correctly, which my doc warned me about. So for now I'll just tell you the score I got at the doctor's office: 171 over 113. High, but not scary high. The doc wasn't worried about getting it under control.

I'll try again later this morning, after I get cleaned up and take my meds. The monitor kind of freaks me out, with it's motor sound and then the pulse beeping.