OakMonster’s Den

Seriously.

Friday was a combination of hard work and fun. Nhien and I managed not to hurt ourselves while moving all sorts of boxes of our printed matter around the office and worked up a pretty good appetite. We grabbed Celeste and Pat and headed to Sushi Go 55 and the rest is over there.

We came back just in time for me to throw the office birthday party. With yummy stuff from Delilah Bakery, everyone had a happy afternoon, all hopped up on sugar! I mean, all 6′ 5″ of Canadian Greg scooted over to us on this thing that another coworker used during his recovery from a knee surgery.

Saturday was spectacular! My Adobe Acrobat class is still going at the pace of molasses, but at least there was something new to be learned. However, while I waited for the instructor to explain to the old lady in the front why she had restart her machine or something else, I managed to join the cult of Twitter, did the food blog entry, AND played a few games of Bejeweled on my iGoogle.

Hey, at least I managed my time well. If I’m going to get stuck there, not learning anything while the old folks catch up, I might as well do something productive, right?

Later on that afternoon, we FINALLY got to take Olaina to Las Brisas in Redondo Beach. Back in their high school days, Brandon and Justin would ditch school and drive around for adventures Brandon’s Jeep. It was destiny when the Jeep ran out of gas a few pushes away from Las Brisas. The boys have been eating here whenever they are in the area ever since.

Justin and Olaina were up in the area to hunt for their new place to live. And they found one today in Redondo Beach. Signed, sealed, and delivered! Woohoo!

And for dinner, I made a spectacular dinner without actually having to leave the house for the store: bacon-wrapped cod with caper-shallot sauce with a side of peas and carrots. Oh yes, I am good.

And on Sunday, she rests.

Like, until 10 a.m.

And then it was on like Donkey Kong for the rest of the afternoon, starting with a trip to Fry’s and a pit stop at Fresh & Easy. Then I helped Brandon patched my windshield seals back onto the car. Folks who replaced my windshield in September did a horrific job. A few months after the replacement, the seals around it started to separate. Finally this past week, the one around the top actually popped off in parts. I would be driving down the freeway with this thing flapping about, banging on my roof. The lack of seal also brought on a nasty howling/whistling, depending on literally which way the wind blows. If the homemade cure doesn’t hold, Brandon’s going to take the car back to the folks by his work.

Then again, with the gas price the way it is, he is going to start driving my car to work anyway. Sheesh! $35 for 8 gallon? I damn near cried at the pump! But I digress.

I then started the laundry, including my bedroom curtains which had been pinning them double thickness…which I intended to wash then sew together after dinner…which I pulled out of the dryer and found a tag that said “Dry Clean Only”…and which are now slightly less green and when folded in half and sewn aren’t exactly the same length.

I am an everyday fuckin’ Martha Stewart, I tell ya!

At some point while waiting for the laundry, Brandon went to take a nap. Athena followed me up hung out in our apartment for a good half hour, a new record for her. I couldn’t do anything around the house while she visit because a) sudden movement still scares her and, b) I don’t trust her alone in a room just yet. After all she IS an outdoor cat that wondered in off the street. Who knew what kind of bad habit she had picked up.

But the half hour crawling around the floor after Athena (because getting up suddenly would freak her out a little bit), following this purring, paw-pawing, cute-as-hell black fluff ball of a cat was well worth it.

Pretty much just about anything “busy” I did this weekend is well worth it.

As of today, I am certifiably, clinically proven NOT crazy.

It’s just a part of the grieving process, I was told.

That will be all.

Celeste, Nhien and I ran into The New Guy in the parking lot yesterday. He asked where we were heading off to.

Celeste said, “You want to come with us? We’re going to pho.” [Pronounced: fuh]

TNG just looked at me with an expression I now know as the “I’m not going to go there” look. And of course, I just had to go there on his behalf and for everyone’s entertainment.

“The noodles, TNG. We’re going to get Vietnamese noodles,” I told him.

Celeste and Nhien caught on and started laughing.

“I thought you were going to get hot dogs,” he quizzed.

“But that’s because I want to initiate you to the cult of the bacon wrapped hot dog, dude,” I replied.  “Since you couldn’t go, well, we’re going to get pho instead.”

TNG sighed. “Well, have a good lunch then,” he added, “Next time you ladies are going to pho, I’ll bring the hot dog.”

Yes, we totally adore TNG. He fits right in with our sick and twisted crew.

And when I recount the story to Brandon later last night, Brandon laughed.

“Well, hell!  Who in their right mind can say no to you three going to pho.”

Change your weight into kilos in the U.S., and you’re actually lighter.

Apparently, the cylinder that defines how much one kilogram is has become 50 micrograms lighter.  At least the one in the U.S. is.

I weigh in at 105 lbs.  (Yes, I’m officially over 100 lbs.  Shut up.)  = 47,627,198,850 micrograms (47.627198850 kilograms)

If the U.S. kilo is now 999,950 micrograms, then I actually weigh 47,627,196,469 microgram (47.627196469 kilograms)

I’m 2381.359943 micrograms lighter now!

Woohoo!

I know I wasn’t suppose to touch anything in and around my nose.  But Brandon had a look, and based upon his report, I decided to investigate.

Alas!  The Alien In My Nose “hatched”!

I’m just going to leave it at that.

My nose is still red and painful.  But oddly enough, the pressure has lifted and the pain is gone from my cheekbone and is massively reduced on bridge of my nose.

I am on the 4th hour since I last took some Ibuprofen, yet I’m feeling no serious discomfort.

Hot compress, Ibuprofen, antibiotics and time heal a LOT of things!  I’m ALMOST free again!

Appropriately, Brandon is watching Aliens V.S. Predator 2 right now in the living room.  LOL.

Athena popped in for a bite. She spent a good 15 minutes after that getting some love from me and Brandon and exploring our place.

Keep in mind, this is NOT really our cat. Can you imagine what this blog would turn into when we have our own kittens? LOL.

And for the host…

Nutella + Strawberry = Awesome. Wish I could add red wine to these fantastic flavors, but I didn’t think my other dinner guest would agree.

That other guest is the antibiotics…which I was instructed to take with food.

Yes, my darlings. I am back on yet another 10-day course of antibiotics.

The Alien In My Nostril needs to die, you know.

I went to work in the morning with my swollen red nose–now swollen all to the way to the bridge of my nose and I feel pain all the way down my left cheekbone, the redness however stays just over the infected area–just enough time to get a lot of stuff done and to let my colleagues marvel over the redness, the swelling and how ridiculously painful this thing is.

I drove another hour back to see my doctor at 1 p.m., with the parts of the seal around my windshield flapping in the wind, no less; definitely a bad installation job of my replacement windshield in September.  This was earliest I could get in on a Monday which I happily took.  I didn’t even think I could get in on Monday at all.  Someone’s watching out for me a little bit there, I have to say.

Anyways, she said it doesn’t look like staph infection, thank god. Just a nasty, garden variety skin infection. After having had enough of me going “Ow. OW! Ow. OW!” every time she touched the general area around my left nostril, she sent me home with a bottle of antibiotics.  (Freebies, hooray!)  As for the pain, a hot compress for the outside of the nose and continue with Ibuprofen.

No industrial strength pain meds, you asked? Well, my big mouth had to go and tell her I held up okay with Ibuprofen so far. Yeah. DUH! Pain does make you do funny things, like being honest.

Ibuprofen does work for me, but for just for 3 hours. At 15 minutes past that 3 hour mark, I’d start to feel the nose. At 30 past, the pain returns to 80% and if I haven’t taken the pills 15 minutes ago, it’ll be another 15 minutes of 100% pain before it kicks in again. With constant pain in the nose I cannot just ignore like this, it really amazes me how punctual the drug works.

Speaking of 3 hours, mine is coming up. I’m just going to take a couple of Tylenol PM and forget about it for the day.

Remember that the monstrous, super painful nostril zit/infection thing I had while I was in Hawaii? Well, it managed to manifest once again in the other nostril this time while I was sick.

At least now I know it could be a form of staph infection that could go away on its own if your body is strong enough (which mine isn’t at the moment), or it could get worse and infect your sinus and perhaps even your brain.

Oh yeah. Lovely, isn’t it?

I look like a lopsided Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer. My nose is red on the outside of where the infection is on the inside. Although I doubt Rudy’s nose hurts so bad that he wants to shave it off his face with the nearest utensil. I mean, I cough and it hurts my entire head.

Nothing I can do to it really until I see my doctor, which is probably not going to be tomorrow morning. The online suggestions said to soak that in warm water and apply antibacterial cream which may not help all that much but doesn’t hurt. I have to take another half day on Tuesday probably to get this taken care of.

But that’s all the bad of this weekend, really. Because the rest was just fantastic.

First of the good things this weekend is that I picked up my new glasses, Candies frame with the newest Transition lenses. It costs me pretty pennies, but it’s definitely worth it. Once my nose stops lighting the way for Santa, I will definitely take a picture for you guys.

Brandon is very happy about these and I’m sure my dad would be too. Those guys hate my geeky New Balance glasses which was my mom’s favorite. As a matter of fact, that was the last thing we bought together. She picked out those bad boys before she went in for her first chemo. But I digress, as always.

Originally, after I picked up the glasses, Aurora and I were going to a wine and cheese tasting which Brandon offered to be our driver. A few sips of alcohol at the tasting apparently doesn’t interfere with Aurora’s breast feeding, but Aurora’s allergy to dairy does. (It’s the whole passing on the allergy thing.) Why tastes the wine at the wine & cheese event if you can’t have any cheese! But Mommy needs a few hours off anyway so we took her to have a dairy-free lunch and a for a stroll around the mall instead. Good times were had by all.

This morning, I had a hair appointment with Mary Ann in Sierra Madre. I plunked in a big wad of dough for salon quality shampoo and conditioner since my switch to store brand split my hair like never before. Hence, the appointment to trim those suckers off my head. At this length, said Mary Ann (and Shane, the former beauty supply purveyor, too), my hair can’t afford to be on drugstore stuff any more.

Brandon almost fell off the chair when I told him how much the shampoo and conditioner were. But a) these would last a LONG time, and b) it’s the cost of having the long, beautiful Asian hair you love, honey bunny, in addition to living with this.

After Mary Ann beautified me thoroughly–so much so that I ran late to brunch with my girls. Celeste, Eva, Nhien and Amy were all waiting for me. It was HOT out there in the San Gabriel Valley. The restaurant was under a tent with fans blowing every which direction but still HELL of hot. The soju mojito made the heat a lot easier to deal with though.

And of course, what would the Fab Five gathering be without a little bit of a blog-worthy snippet of conversation.

Amy: Hm. I think I’m going to order the Crab Hash.

Nhien: Well, if I get the Dungeness Crab Chile Rellenos, will you share the hash?

Me: You *always* share the hash, sweetie.

Finally, I just now checked my mail and found that I won a print of this really cool photo over at Raven’s blog! “Seventeen” is her husband Mike’s handy work. Much coolness! Raven was one of the artists showing and vending at the Brewery Art Walk last week. Nora and I bought her magnets and couldn’t get the scent of her Tahitian Vanilla bath salt out of our heads.

Anyhoo. I support artsy folks especially stuff I like. So, here list Raven’s online store and also Brandon’s friend Rachael’s store for her artisan jewelry and handmade soaps.

See? Writing about all of these joyous occasions make me totally forget about that alien living in my nostril. Okay, not totally, but at least for a little while…

Southern California weather today is perfect for Songkran.

Blazing hot. And sunny.  A freaky couple of days of summer weather here just in time to go splash somebody and welcome the new year. 

The closest I’m going to get to that is going to be when I wash my car this afternoon.  Hahah.

By the way, check out my Songkran line of clothing.  $1 of your purchase will go to Thai Red Cross.

Good lord.

How could a cold kicked my ass for THREE days!

I did go to work this morning, having felt peachy when I left the house. But then there was the waves of fever that never quite broke. There was higher and lower fever. No break.

I just sat there, staring at my monitor, not registering anything. I believe I got some stuff done and sent some emails. That much I remember. My head hurt, then went numb. Like my brain was floating inside an oven I called my skull. By the time I felt my face flushing, I knew I had to go.

Thank god, my boss let me go home. Thank god, Brandon was available to pick me up from the transit center.

I had lunch and slept all afternoon. Actually, I have been up for about an hour and pondering going back to bed again.

The fever broke a little bit while I napped, I think. But matter not. My face is feeling a bit warm again.

Crap.

And I have Adobe Acrobat class tomorrow morning.

God help me.

That little scratch in my throat knocks me on my butt for two days with headaches, fever, and cough. Go figure.

A lady approached an Army reservist in his camouflage uniform, patted him on the back and said, “Thank you for defending our country.” He replied, “Yes, ma’am.”

How much better you feel when you give in to what your body is calling for.  In my case, it’s the made from scratch chicken soup.  I dragged myself to the store yesterday and forced myself to stay somewhat awake through the afternoon to babysit a giant vat of soup.  Why putting myself through that when my head felt like it’s filled with push pins?  Because NOTHING else sounded good to eat.  I tried having some leftover, but it just grossed me out.  Needless to say, I have been eating said soup every meal since it was done yesterday afternoon and am still craving the same damn thing.

That strange sting that is both painful and pleasurable at the same time when the orange juice hit your sore throat. And the soothing numbness for your throat that comes with ice cream just before the cold makes you cough and lower your body temperature so you start to shiver all over again.

The fresh-squeezed orange juice from Fresh & Easy.  It actually tastes like someone just squeezed it for you.  No sugary addition.

And finally.  Truly a surprise.  This.

Honorable mention for my first photo contest. I didn’t even mind that they didn’t get my name right.  Heh.