Category: Rant/Whine

Ranting and raving and whining and bitching. Oh yes!

Tempting Fate

I didn’t get to to quite the housekeeping goal I dreamed up on Saturday morning. Nor did we see Cloverfield.

Upon arriving at the theater, there was a sign that says, “Camera movement in Cloverfield may cause motion sickness.” And suddenly Brandon was reminded of how much he despises the shaky camera. The Shield and Bourne Ultimatum drove him bonkers. He completely forgot that Cloverfield was mostly “hand held”.

Even with all the reviews we have read, we didn’t even think about that. So, we turned around and came home.

Then the rain came and washed away all of my weekend aspiration. All but going grocery shopping, reorganizing the pantry, catching up on all of my TIVO’ed show, and making dinner.

On Sunday, while the dinner was cooking away in the oven, I worked on the pantry. As I re-stacked my tea collection (which is HUGE), I looked at the box of ginger tea, the savior of my stomach ailments, and thought:

“Huh, I haven’t needed the ginger tea in a while. That’s good!”

And guess what happened this morning?

My stomach hurt inside and to the touch. And then I was throwing up for a good few hours.

Apparently, my dinner didn’t digest well. Actually, more like I didn’t chew my dinner well. I was so excited to eat my own home-cooked meal (Giada’s chicken Osso Bucco) that I pretty much inhaled the meal.  And I ate too much on top of that.

Premonition? Self fulfilling prophecy? Or just plain ol’ Murphy’s Law. Your call.

Naught again!

Still no hot water, kids.

The landlady decided to get rid of this old heater which breaks down every 6 months altogether.  So, water will be shut off tomorrow late morning through evening.  Then we should have water AND hot water after that.

Oh, and I went and got me a flu-like energy sap and achy-all-over-ness.   Called in sick and slept most of the morning and the afternoon.  I mean, I couldn’t move this morning as if I was ran over by a herd of reindeer over Christmas or something.  Am getting spurts of energy alternating with utmost exhaustion though.  But I’m mostly exhausted.

Sounds familiar doesn’t it?  I seem to get this same fever-exhaustion every time I’m coming out of stressful period in life.  Who knew I was stressing over the holidays!

RIP Cool Cat VP

Greg–you know him on here as Cool Cat VP–passed away last night of pancreatic cancer. We were alerted to his conditions a few weeks ago, about as soon as he heard the news himself. It swooped in fast and took him away even faster.

Once again. I. Fucking. Hate. Cancer.

And just last week, the office put together a memory book for him and his wife. I bought a leather-bound album and all of us fill it to the brim with pictures with Greg and without Greg, pictures of our pets and kids, and note cards of messages.

I wrote something like this:

A man who can rock a pink shirt like nobody else’s business. A colleague who always there to listen and who can talk you in and out of doing anything. A friend who never says no to good company even when he would just sip seltzer. The person everyone wish they have the privilege to know and love like we have.

We miss you, Greg. We always will.

Mrs. Hyde

Thursday night, I walked out of my office building toward the intersection as usual. I spotted these two younguns in suits, a girl and a very effeminate boy, walking toward me. They were deeply engaged in some lively conversation. He was talking with his hands and neither one of them were really paying any attention to where they were going.

Seeing that, I started to make my way around them to my right so I could be out of their way. And I hoped that they would come to their senses once other pedestrians got closer to them.

Did I mention that they weren’t paying any attention to where they were going?

So of course, as I circled right, the pair started drifted the same way I was going. Anticipating their veering off course, I kept my path out wider to the right. But because they weren’t paying attention, they kept drifting.

Eventually, we were a few steps away from collision and I ran out of room to avoid them. I even stopped for a second to see if they would notice that I was now trapped between that boy and a newspaper dispenser thing. But nobody paid attention. At this point, there was no time left for me to go anywhere or do anything.

I was going to hit that boy, that was for sure. He was taller than me and probably going to knock me silly.

But why should I let him?

*I* already made my way to the right to avoid this. *I* already paid attention unlike these blathering fools. *I* already made my accommodation.  “This asshole doesn’t deserve nice” was my resolution.

So I channeled Brian Cushing, a USC leading linebacker. I tucked in my arm, lowered my head and shoulders, and braced for impact.

*WHAM!*

My left shoulder hit his arm. I felt his arm weaken at impact. I heard a sound of whatever he was holding in that hand hit the floor. And then this strange voice came roaring out of my throat as I continued on my way.

“Excuse *ME*!”

I kept on walking to the intersection and crossing the street without looking back.

And that felt great.

By the time I sat down to wait for my bus a few minutes later, I started to feel a bit guilty.

My usual logic would be to turn right around and say, “Oh my god! I’m so sorry!” And help the guy with picking his stuff up, and continue to apologize for a bit. Be nice and civil about it, you know.

But that day, it was like any human decency left me. I was pure rage. I was all “Fuck you, asshole”. Why should I be nice to you when you’re a jackass? Why should I continue to be civil and let you mow me over? People take advantage of you because you’re nice. I have been nice and I have been taken advantage of. I have always gotten out of the way. I have always said I’m sorry even if it wasn’t my fault. I have always shut up and let it go.

But that day, I wasn’t having any of it.

It was a “Falling Down” moment for me. Thank god nobody at the bus stop has a baseball bat.

“Where’s your mom?”

Our meeting with the producers for our Big Gala ran late yesterday and therefore I missed my bus.  I bummed a ride with the Producers, husband and wife team who live a few miles from me, and the Video Guy.

Of course, we chat all the way home about this and that and those.  And it came down to where I came from and who all else is back home.

“My dad and my brothers are still in Bangkok,” I said.  And then we launched into another conversation.

But when I said it, it was a strange thing to say.  My dad and my brothers.  I was hoping that the lack of mom mentioned in that would blow over.  But it didn’t.

“So, where is your mom?” the Producer Wife asked eventually.

This marks the first time I had to tell someone, “My mom passed away in August.”

And it was the weirdest thing out of my mouth.

So far, I have only been around people I know.  And people I know already knew.  The new friends I made, El Heffe and Lee, were there when it happened.  And the newest drinking buddies I made at a recent outting need not get into personal stuff.

I realize this is going to be the first of many times I will have to say “My mom passed away in August [this many years ago]” down the road as I meet new people along the way.

Definitely a growing pain all human has to experience sometimes.  But it’s not easy when it’s this fresh.

Recouperation Monday II: Tuesday

Yep. Still home. Still sick. But I do feel better every 2 hours or so.

During this course of the slow blooming cold, I have discovered a few miracle cures.

1. Johnson’s Soothing Vapor Bath. It’ll make you NEVER want to come out of that bath tub again until the whole cold thing passes.

2. Iced Tea, lightly sweetened. Lots of it. Especially POM Pomegranate Lychee Green Tea and my big ol’ pot of jasmine green tea saves the day.

3. Homemade Chicken Soup. I have NEVER been so grateful for that big fat vat of chicken soup I made and froze a few weeks ago.

4. Cheez-It. When all you can taste is salt, this is way better foods than Saltine.