From Here to Infirmary

It's been a pretty eventful week.  We met the favorite cousin and her husband in the City last Sunday, even though they weren't feeling so great and we had a really nice catch up dinner with them.  Monday MOTH worked from home as he had pulled something in his shoulder/back and couldn't face the train commute.  I went back to the doctor that day for a skin cancer check and because I still had a headache.  My head hurt so bad on Friday at MOTH's birthday dinner, that I was actually sick in the bathroom...not cool!  I had taken two rounds of codeine pain killers and not even they could kill the headache.  The doctor on Monday said that this was normal and wouldn't even prescribe me real migraine medicine.  He is obviously a dud and I won't be going back to him!  I swear doctor's here act like I'm some hysterical woman when I go in to see them, but I don't think constant nausea, stomach cramps and other issues, vomiting and headaches are normal.

The last week of work flew by and I was trying to soak it all up.  I didn't have any nasty customers or any really difficult situations so that was a nice way to end things on.  I just tried to spend as much time as possible with my team mates and luckily we had a few minutes available time between most calls to be able to chat.

Thursday after work I packed for our trip to Wollongong.  The plan was I'd have my last day of work and be off at 2 and then I'd drive down to Neutral Bay, pick MOTH up around 4-4:30 and we'd head down from there.  I had booked us in to two different hotels (both were booked out for one of the weekend nights) and had looked up activities nearby (blow hole, stand up paddleboarding) as well as a bunch of places that were breakfast and dinner potentials.  I'm sure I've mentioned this previously, but in the 7 years I've lived here, I've still never made it south of Sydney and I was really excited to be heading out of town (a birthday gift to us from my parents).

MOTH got home around 9pm Thursday night and he was complaining because his thumb was infected and really sore.  He had asked me to grab him epsom salt so he could soak it and he did but it didn't provide any relief.  I was getting frustrated as it was now nearly 10:30 and he still hadn't packed or done the dishes.  He decided to cut his finger to try and relieve the pressure but it didn't and nothing came out but blood.  After he stopped bleeding, I told him I'd do the dishes and he started packing.  We finally made it in to bed and for the next hour and a half neither of us slept-MOTH because he was in so much pain that even the sheet brushing against his thumb was excruciating and me because MOTH kept tossing and turning.  He got out of bed and started wandering back and forth through the house.  I suggested he try and soak his finger again.  He said the pain was getting too much to handle so I called this nurse on call hotline and the recommended we go to the ER.  After waiting for about 3 hours (there were hardly any other patients there so don't know what took that long, but anyway) they finally drew some blood to make sure the infection hadn't spread, looked at the finger, gave him a shot of antibiotics and sent us home with a prescription for more antibiotics and some codeine.  I emailed my manager at 6:15am when we finally got home and advised that I would be late for my last day of work and actually needed to take it as a sick day, but I knew my team was doing something for me and I didn't want to miss it.

At a few minutes to 9, I woke up as I heard MOTH go out to our car and come back in.  I called out to him to see what was up.  When he called back to me, I could tell he was in tears and that really freaked me out. He said the codeine was only helping for about an hour and his whole hand felt like he was resting it on a hot plate and the pain was now radiating up towards his elbow.  I didn't want to wait in the ER again so I tried calling some local medical centers to see if they could get him in, they couldn't.  I called his Mom at work and she said go back to the ER and she'd meet us there.  I called my manager and told her I had to miss my last day completely and I started crying and asked her to apologize to my team if they had gone to any effort for me and that I was really sorry I couldn't be there.  She said they'd understand and to just focus on MOTH.

We got to the ER, about a 3 minute drive from our house, and the parking lot was packed and the entrance was swamped with people in suits.  I saw someone holding a sign for one of the local politicians and said to MOTH, "Oh great, so actual patients have to hike a mile to the hospital because some local politicians is here to make an announcement about something."  We did end up having to hike about a half mile away and at the bottom of a hill, luckily MOTH was able to walk it.  We found out it was actual the prime minister who was visiting the hospital and announcing that there were plans to build a new cancer center there.  Had I seen her, I would've recommended to her that she also add a new parking structure to her budget, haha!

This time we were called back within 20 minutes of waiting, which was good because I don't know that MOTH could've waited another 3 hours to see someone this time around.  The doctor decided they needed to cut his finger deeper to get to the infection and that they would also put in and keep in an iv port on the back of his hand and over the next few days we'd need to come in everyday to get an iv drip so Wollongong was out.  We were both really disappointed but focused on getting him better.  They gave him a local shot to numb the thumb and a morphine pill, even still his Mom and I heard MOTH screaming from across the hall; poor guy.  Shortly after that, he was feeling much better and said his hand was only slightly throbbing.  We came home and MOTH slept until the next morning, only waking for an hour to eat dinner and check in with his parents.

I did manage to get back in to work on Monday to say good bye to everyone and to clean out my drawer and hand in my swipe key.  I was pretty sad to be leaving, not the job but the people there (and the pay!).  I got lots of hugs and my team wrote the nicest messages on my good bye card.  They also got me a bunch of stylish office supplies I can use at my new job which was really thoughtful of them.

It'll be weird going from a team of 16 people, in an office of about 100 people, to an office of 3-4 other people max, BUT I'm looking forward to it.  I'm nervous and excited and can't wait to see what the role is all about.  I haven't gotten official confirmation, but I'm tentatively due to start this Thursday.  I'm using these few days off to play Nurse D, sleep in, and run errands like getting my work pants hemmed so I look respectable at the new job and sending my passport off to be renewed.  Hopefully nothing more "exciting" happens between now and then.  Wish me luck for Thursday!

Well How Do You Do, I'm the Language Police

I know that I use parenthesis and run on sentences far too often so I'm probably not in the best position to judge other's writing, grammar, punctuation, or pronunciation, but Come On! You guys are killing me! I've heard two different people at work say "pacifically" or "pacifics"....they aren't talking about someone doing something calmly and they aren't talking about two parts of the Pacific Ocean; what they are trying to say is Specifically and Specifics. Whenever I hear it, my hackles rise and I have to bite my tongue to stop myself from correcting them. The worse part is, they won't say it once. They will get on a role and use the word/s in their conversation in every other sentence. That's how I've been able to ascertain I didn't just mishear the word to begin with. They really like to remind me/the customer that they are using the word incorrectly!

Alright, take out your pens and proofread my posting now. Hahaha, oh man, you all must hate me at this point-no new entries to read for nearly a month and then I come on with a quick rant about pronunciation.

My apologies!

I guess I could leave you with a quick run down of what has been going on with me since my houseboat trip:

-My Christmas was not bad. We had a busy day going to different family members' houses and baking, but it didn't feel like Christmas so Nae texted me at 4:15 on real Christmas morning and I got to watch on the webcam as everyone opened their presents back home. My family sent us two different packages filled with some basic necessities we were running low on like Mexican food stuff and underwear (hahaha, we are spoiled! MOTH only wears Old Navy ones now and I only wear American Eagle...tmi??)

-We went nuts at the Boxing Day sale, but with our engagement present gift cards, we ended up getting a lot of stuff without being out of pocket (except for the bed and dryer we bought!)

-I got told my last week of annual leave got rejected so it's kind of thrown a spanner in the works for our trip to CA to wedding plan and visit family and friends, but I'm working on some solutions.

-Nae is leaving at the end of the month for her 2 year trip to South Africa to study sharks and I won't get to see her before she goes...pretty devastated! She has made up for it a little by sending us an 18 month calendar that is all about her that is pretty hilarious though.

-I got tentatively diagnosed with not full blown Celiac Disease but a "sensitivity" to gluten that the doctor thinks is causing all my stomach problems and headaches so I've started a gluten free diet (as of Tuesday) to see if a month of being gluten free cures me.

-We spent New Years with the majority of our friends at a pretty town called Forster about 3 hours north of where we live. We fished, we swam off of sand bars, MOTH Dude caught and then lost a fish, we tooled around on the boat, we watched fireworks, we walked...good times and very, very strange to be sweating on New Year's Eve!

-We've decided to start our trip back to the States with a stop over to Kauai with my parents (MOTH's can't make it due to MOTH Dad needing some intense shoulder surgery that he is hoping will be scheduled finally in April) and I just booked the flights from Kauai to Oakland tonight!

Tonight We're All Still Young at Heart

Image from barringtonriversideretreate.com.au

Saturday morning I woke up with a headache so bad it made my eyes water! I had to suck it up though as we had a 2 and a half hour drive ahead of us to it out to Gloucester, where the Runner and the Smooth Talker were getting married. I was able to find some headache medicine right before we left and that seemed to knock the headache out pretty well.

It was a pretty drive and MOTH and I had fun in the car and talked about how it felt like road tripping in America. We were the first to arrive at the cabins we were all going to be staying at for the night and had our pick of the 4 so we chose the one with the best view of the river below. Not long after, our bunk mates The Farmer and Tinkerbell (who hates this pseudonym and whom I still need to think up another one for) arrived and after them came LC, Bob Marley, the Hairdresser, the Soccer Player, Croc, and the Teacher. All the boys hung out on the porch drinking beer and making a trip down to feel the water while us girls took over the main bedroom of our cabin and the Hairdresser very nicely did all of our hair for us. We then got dressed and started to head out for the ceremony. I started to feel a bit headachey again before we left, but figured it was just because I was a little overheated.

The ceremony was at a beautiful hill overlooking the whole valley and town of Gloucester. The Runner teared up as she walked down the aisle and I teared up with her. It was a short and simple ceremony, but by the time it was over, I was starting to feel really sick to my stomach so I told MOTH Dude I needed to go sit in the car in some air conditioning for awhile. Being a good guy, he left the after ceremony drinks, pictures, and canapes to check on me a few times. After a while, the air conditioning just wasn't doing it for me so I stumbled out of our car and very classily got down on my knees in my pretty dress and heels and puked behind a tree. I felt better for a few minutes so I went down and joined our friends again. But then I started to not feel so great again and MOTH offered to take me in to town to try and find some medicine so I wouldn't be sick all night. We made it in to town just as the last grocery store was closing. I explained to them how I had just been sick and could I please run in for some quick medicine. They don't have much variety in grocery stores here like they do in the U.S. but we grabbed whatever we thought might help me. I took some Alka Seltzer that was supposed to be for headaches and upset stomachs. About that time, our friends arrived in town to go to the pub to wait for the reception to start. MOTH got me a gingerale and I sat outside with the girls trying to get some air. I felt bad for MOTH having to keep missing out on the fun so he went inside to play pool with the other boys. Twice I ran out to in front of the pub to try and catch a bit of breeze to make me nausea go away. Finally, (TMI coming up so beware if you're squeamish) I couldn't hold it any longer and I did 3 big heaves in to a planter outside of the pub. I'm sure I just looked like a hot mess and a bad drunk to anyone who saw, but I couldn't help it, nor could I face puking in the pub's bathroom. MOTH came out just as I finished and I started crying. I felt so awful and just wanted to go back to the cabin to lie down. He convinced me to wash my face and grab some fries aka chips to eat and that seemed to do the trick.

It was then time for the reception. It was a fun night with everyone else doing lots of drinking (I was driving, plus nothing sounded worse than drinking on top of having already been sick) and dancing and taking scandalous and funny pictures together.

There was a tiny bit of drama at the end of the night when we went to say good bye to the bride. I told her that I know I'm flakey so it may have seemed that that was what I was doing the weekend before when I missed her bachelorette party, but that I had been sick with other stomach issues. I told her about being sick that night. She didn't seem to believe me and had some issues about our cabins, as well. It was sad to see her upset on her wedding night and upset at me/the other girls(?) specifically because we hadn't actually done anything wrong and it was a shame that people were telling her crappy things about us. I guess you can't be in a group our size without a bit of drama between everyone every once in a while, though. Hopefully she came away believing what we had said, but I'm not sure. I hope to speak to her when she gets back from her honeymoon to reiterate that we didn't say anything negative about her, her bachelorette party, or her choice of accommodation for us-there was just a lot of confusion and third party misinformation.

After the reception, we all headed back to hang out at the cabin and decompress from the night. At the stroke of midnight, we roused the Farmer from his room and sang Happy Birthday to him. The rest of us made it in to bed between 1 and 1:30.

In the morning, we got up waaaaaaay too early (7:30!!) and sat out on the porch again and watched the river. We then made breakfast, packed up, and all headed down to the river where MOTH and the Soccer Player took an unintentional, that turned in to intentional, dip in the river.

I don't think anyone wanted to go and we discussed getting a big house together somewhere at the beach to share sometime soon. We then got in to our separate cars and headed home. Other than being sick and the bit of drama that unfolded, it was a fantastic weekend away!

If I Could, I Would Shrink Myself...And Remove Whatever Makes You Hurt But I am to Weak to be Your Cure

Last Thursday Mom and I got up bright and early and hit the road down to Orange County. I posted on my Facebook that I was going to be in town and got a few well wishes from friends to have fun while I was there and a teasingly angry email from my best guy friend from high asking why he hadn't been informed that I would be around and that we should head out and get a drink together. I hadn't made any solid plans to see friends, though, because the reason we were in town was not a fun one (it never seems to be these days!)- we were there because my Grandma recently found a large lump in her breast that turned out to be cancerous and she was being rushed in to surgery. She had had breast cancer about 8 years ago and on the other side, but this cancer is completely different.

Friday morning we got up and were at the hospital by 7am. Grandma seemed in good spirits considering and went in for surgery at 10:30. The doctor came out when it was done and Mom went over to see him. I thought he would just give her a general debriefing like I had seen other doctors come out and do with other patients' families so I opted to stay with our stuff and hold on to our seats. When Mom got over to the doctor, he directed her in to a small office and closed the door-"Ah, shit" I thought, this can't be good news. And it wasn't. Grandma had made it out of the surgery fine, that was one hurdle, but the bad news was that the cancer had spread in to both lymph nodes they had checked so they had had to remove the other ones and were going to process those to see if the cancer had spread.

Friday afternoon Grandma was pretty groggy, but not in a lot of pain because they had her on the good drugs. When we returned on Saturday morning, Grandma didn't remember that we had been there before and after her surgery the day before and she didn't think she had had the surgery yet, either. She told us that she was very unhappy because if she had had the surgery, she had heard it wasn't her doctor who had performed it, but an associate (which wasn't obviously the case) and she told the case worker who came in to the room to check on her just that (which we then had to correct). She was released Saturday afternoon and went from being in a lot pain and bitchy to being nice, happy Grandma who snuggled on the couch with me (a first in about 10 years since I am not the favorite granddaughter I once was since I am not skinny and Grandma has extreme disdain for anyone who is overweight) when she had taken some vicodin!

We left on Sunday afternoon to head to Cambria where we stayed the night to decompress after such a stressful weekend and Mom and I drove in two separate cars because Grandma decided she didn't want her car anymore and we took it so that Dad could sell it and make sure she got a fair price for it. It's a good thing she decided she didn't "want" to drive anymore because legally she can't. After getting in to two accidents in two consecutive Tuesday nights and taking out a total of 5 parked cars, her license has been revoked and her insurance is dropping her. We were just really fortunate that Grandma didn't hurt herself or anyone else.

If you ask me, this getting old thing doesn't sound like too much fun! I am feeling really badly for my Mom,too, because she is getting all of my Grandma's drama dumped on her. I don't mean to make it sound like we are cold, heartless people-the cancer stuff is a not drama at all and we are concerned for her about that, there is just a TON of other stuff that is drama, plain and simple, and, thus, avoidable that I'm choosing not to air on here that my Mom has to deal with in regards to Grandma all the time and it is definitely taking a toll and wearing Mom down.

We don't know the results of the other lymph nodes they removed yet, but we should know by the weekend so I'm sending some positive energy in to the universe that the cancer hasn't spread and I'd appreciate any positive energy or prayers you could send up for her, too.

Six Days on the Road and Now I'm Going to Make it Home Tonight

Here's a picture of a bear from the rehabilitation center in Oregon. He somehow didn't make it in with my batch of other pictures.

We made it home this afternoon. We drove all day yesterday and passed tons of snow! We had a nice night in San Francisco and we got up this morning to beautiful weather and we got to walk the Golden Gate Bridge from end to end. I'm helping my sister, Nae, and the Camp Counselor do some last minute cleaning on their rental place tomorrow and moving any stuff they still have there to Mom and Dad's so I'll either get the pictures up tomorrow or Monday.

Boyfriend is here for less than a week now and I'm only here for eight more days. I miss all of my friends in Australia, but I really don't want to leave yet. I wish I was going over for like a month or two to visit them and then coming back here...maybe someday??

I Told You I Didn't Want My Picture Taken, You Snapped It Anyway

We're back from the wildlife rehabilitation center (there are a few pictures from it at the end of this set) and Boyfriend is napping so I've had some time to watch the river go by and to look through all the pictures I've snapped on the trip so far. We'll be leaving here in the morning and it looks like we might run in to some rain and snow on our trip back down to San Francisco, fingers crossed that we don't need chains because we don't have any! Hope you enjoy the pictures.

A cold and rainy day in Fort Bragg, CA

The view from our hotel room in the morning...a gorgeous day and a gorgeous view!

One of the locally brewed beers that Boyfriend really likes.

I had no idea we had elk anywhere in California!

Where we got out for a 2nd time to look at this river (the Smith) and where when we got back in to the car, I backed over a rock that punctured my oil pan. Had we not pulled over immediately we could've seized the engine on our car, but we were smart enough to pull over. We had to wait an hour and a half for a tow truck (in the dark dark as we were up a ways in to the mountains) and then got stuck in Crescent City, CA for the night at a really sketchy motel, but at least they were able to fix my car quickly and cheaply and we're not still in Crescent City awaiting a new part!

The nicest thing we found in Crescent City: their lighthouse.

What's a girl to do when stuck in a place like Crescent City waiting for her car to get fixed??

Back on the road. Back to pulling over (put this time in paved lots) to check out the Smith River.

I'm really only about a 2 minute walk from my car, but the trees and mountains seem to dwarf it.

One of the grey wolves at the Wildlife Images Rehabilitation Center after her walk.

Eurasian lynx

Try Again

Hello from Oregon! For real this time! We finally made it here yesterday afternoon. I had no internet connection last night so I haven't been able to post all the great pictures we've taken on the trip so far and I'm running out the door now to check out this wild animal rehabilitation center in the area, but hopefully this afternoon I'll have them up.

Have You Ever Had Trouble With Your Automobile

Hello from Oregon! Well...almost. See, we made it to Fort Bragg yesterday afternoon and had a fun afternoon running around in the rain and then a nice dinner at a Japanese food place. We got up to a beautiful view from our room- over a little river and out to the ocean. We had fun on our drive today. We saw starfish, some squirrels, some amazing rivers, and a ton of elk. We were on the home stretch in to Oregon when we decided to pull off the road to check out this beautiful river whose water was almost an emerald color (this was 20 miles from the Oregon border). We got the pictures and got back in the car and I backed the car up and we heard some terrible scraping sounds coming from under the car. We pulled out and back on the the road and I was not happy about the sound, but Boyfriend said "Squeeze my hand, we got out of that fine" It was about then that my oil light came on and started beeping at me. We immediately pulled over and sure enough, oil was steadily gushing from under the car. We were able to a flag down a girl right away who took me in to the closest little town and after an hour and a half, the tow tuck I called finally arrived. We went back out to find the car and poor Boyfriend who had been in the pitch black for over an hour. The tow truck driver dropped us at the repair shop and Mom said there were a couple hotels around that we could stay at...a Hampton Inn which was about a mile away and $99 or a place called the Front St Inn for $55. I said book us the Hampton Inn since I had heard of that one, but not the $55 a night one? It has free Wifi and is on the beach, just like the Hampton Inn. I said "Does it look clean? Do you think it's alright?" because I was wary of anything that cost $55 for the night. She said, "Oh yeah, it says it's got clean rooms and it has gotten good reviews online." So we loaded up with all the stuff from the car we could carry and had a fairly short walk down to the Inn. It looked pretty rundown as we approach, but the front desk guy seemed nice and the office area was clean and smelled good. We got to our room and it was underwhelming. Or overwhelming, but overwhelmingly bad. At least it seems fairly clean. We were less than impressed though when we came out of our room and saw a bunch of sketchy people hanging out on the balcony upstairs and when our door lock didn't work really well. We half expected we would come back from dinner to find all of our stuff in the room gone. Anyway, I guess it'll do for the night and we've got our fingers crossed that they can fix our car tomorrow. Our guess is that it is a busted oil pan (I think that's what it's called), but we may run in to a problem as we are driving a VW Beetle and they may not have one that will work with the car. The nearest VW dealership is a 2 hour drive away so we're in trouble if they have to get the part from there! Keep your fingers crossed for us. I'll update you all tomorrow with what's going on and I'll hopefully post some pictures of what we've seen so far.

Oregon, My Oregon

There has been a 36 hour lull in the rain and yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day. This morning is cold, dull, and grey and the next storm is supposed to hit in the next few hours.

Boyfriend and I are taking off on our road trip tomorrow morning. We will be stopping in Mendocino/Fort Bragg for the night, which is way up in Northern California. On Tuesday, we will head up in to Grants Pass, Oregon, where we will be staying at this funky looking motel on the Rogue River. We plan on cruising through and finding out what Grants Pass has to do and see. There's a wildlife rehabilitation center there that I would like to see and we will be right near Crater Lake, which I think is the deepest lake in the world, so if it's not too snowy we might try and see it. On Thursday we will be taking the mountain route back down to San Francisco and will hopefully see some snow as we go. On Friday morning, we are hoping to get up early and walk the Golden Gate Bridge since we were unable to when we met Bun and Markie in the city last and then we will be home that afternoon. I'm excited to see new sites and for the adventure that always ensues when Boyfriend and I take off to a place we are unfamiliar with.

My sister, Nae, and her friend the Camp Counselor are going to be moving in to the pool house on Saturday so we are going to have a really full house until Boyfriend and I leave! Nae is bringing with her her 2 cats and 2 Australian tree frogs, as well. This should be interesting...

The reason Nae and C.C. are moving in is because one of their roommates decided to move out so they can't afford the rent where they are living now and rather than find a new place to move in to right now, they are going to move in here for a few months, which makes sense for Nae because she just found out she got in to a great white shark research program in South Africa!! I believe she will be there from April-June. I'm very excited for her. Working with great white sharks is her dream and now it seems after some stops and starts and bumps along the way, her dream is coming true! I don't know if any of you guys have been to South Africa or are from there, but if you have any hints/tips/advice about going there, please email me (lilddownunder at gmail dot com) or leave a comment on here with them.

Anyway, I'm bringing my camera and my laptop with me so more than likely I'll be updating the blog from the road. If I find any fun souvenirs along the way, I might even hold a giveaway when I get back!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Image via http://travelcuts.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/mickey_minnie_disneyland.jpg

Sorry I've been M.I.A. again for a few days, but I've been visiting the happiest place on Earth! Boyfriend and I traveled down to Orange County to meet up with some of his friends from Australia who have been staying in Park City, Utah and the husband has been working as a ski instructor. It was a big three days as we drove for 7 hours Monday, saw my Grandpa who had just been admitted to the hospital, then took Boyfriend's friends to dinner at this Mexican food place in Santa Ana that my family has been going to since my parents were teenagers. Tuesday we got up and did Disneyland and California Adventures all day and then hung out with Bun's family that night. It was so nice to be with them all again because I used to spend a lot of time at their houses and it felt like old times and really comforting to just be hanging with them and listening to their funny stories again. Wednesday we got up and the friends met us in Huntington Beach, where we had breakfast at the best local place, Sugar Shack. We then walked down to Jack's, where I used to work, and I actually saw someone who worked there when I did and had been good friends with and we had a good chat and gossip session and I also got to chat with one of the owners and congratulate him on how well the business was doing (they have opened 2 new stores since I've left and there is another one opening later this year). We then walked out on the pier and saw schools of fish, some dolphins, and a sealion. The weather was incredible the whole time we were there: it's the middle of winter and it was about 74 degrees! Watching the surfers and how clean the water looked (for once), I got the biggest urge to be out there surfing with my sister again. I would love to be there for a week in summer to do just that with her...maybe someday. We then took PCH up to Crystal Cove State Beach and Boyfriend and the friends got shakes from the Shake Shack (we seem to have lots of "shacks" around, don't we?) and then it was time for us to take off. Boyfriend had picked out a skateboard earlier in the day so we rushed back to Huntington to pick that up and then we got driving. It took us about 7 hours to get home and we were exhausted when we pulled in at about 10:20 last night. Since then, I've heard the coyotes run past our house late last night and we had a 4.1 earthquake rattle the house this morning. I'm just about to head out with Dad and Boyfriend to the campground to do some "treasure hunting", my first time this whole trip!

E.T.A.: Does anybody else find it creepy when couples take their honeymoon at Disneyland? If while planning our wedding my fiance suggested Disneyland/world/a Disney cruise a big red flag would go off in my head. Honeymoons are for laying on the beach and making sweet, sweet love not walking around in silly mouse ears and getting autographs from Chip and Dale and Princess Jasmine!

Runaway Train

What do you do when someone you care about is making really awful decisions for themselves? Do you step in? When? I am a firm believer in letting people do what they want because they are going to do it anyway. That's not to say that I won't offer an opinion or advice when asked, but I have found it to be true that people are going to do what they want and aren't going to change until they are ready.

This is true for me with my weight. This is true for other people in bad relationships. And now this is true for my Grandpa and his drinking.

But what do you do when the person's awful decisions are putting them on a quick path toward death? That's where we are at with my Grandpa right now. We decided to step in because while it's crappy he's doing this to himself, it is also really affecting my Grandma and Uncle and my Mom. Plus, he is endangering other people because he boozes all day long then gets in the car to go out for drives! It's sad that he is killing himself, but it will be really unforgiveable if he kills someone when he is out on the road drunk. As unbelieveable as it may sound and as much as my Grandma hates my Grandpa's drinking, she defends his driving and says he is a really good driver. On the other hand, she can't explain how one of their afternoon drives turned in to them getting lost in L.A. for over 4 hours last week.

So anyway, that was the main point of our trip down to Orange County over the past 3 days. Grandpa knows the consequences of his drinking and doesn't want to change so we can't do anything about it, but my Grandma really appreciated our visit and that my Mom was there to help with things she thought needed to be done for their household. Mom was even able to get a home nurse in to assess their situation and hopefully get them the help they need to make life easier around the house. Mom also spoke to the nurse about the drinking and driving issue and she said she would speak to his main doctor who would contact the DMV to get his license revoked.

Although my Grandpa was a bit angry that we were there and didn't really want to talk to us the first two days we dropped in to visit, yesterday he seemed back to his old self. It was nice to sit and chat with him for awhile and I'm glad he came around to us being there as it is a much nicer memory to have of him than one of him ignoring us.

It's a really hard situation to be in. I feel bad for him, I feel bad for my Grandma, and I feel bad for my Mom and Uncle. There is no good end to this and I realize and accept that. I wish things could be different, but you can't change things and you certainly can't change people. Rather than think about my Grandpa as he is today, I am going to choose to think of him and what he was like when we were younger-the man who taught us how to fish and who used to take me and Nae down to this really cool beach in San Diego to look for moonstones.

I Wonder What They're Doing (In Sydney Today)

Yesterday Boyfriend had a meeting with a recruitment agency down in Sydney and asked if I'd come down for the ride with him. I said sure and got excited because only the week before I had gotten a coupon for 30% off of lunch at Tony Roma's down near Darling Harbour (I think the area is technically called the King St. Warf area?) so we decided he'd do the meeting and then we'd go eat some ribs. Once his meeting was done we had about a 10 minute walk up to King's Cross Station and stopped at a convenience store to see if they had any Reese's products. They did and we got a standard back of peanut butter cups (i.e. 2 cups) for nearly $3! I couldn't believe it! While we were in the area, we decided we might as well stop in at Gomez y Guerrero and pick up another pack of tortillas in case we weren't back in the area for awhile. Then we hopped on a train to Town Hall to walk down to the restaurant.

I don't really eat red meat or pork, but when I was back home at Christmas time, my Mom and Nae made ribs one night and it smelled so good that I decided to try a bite. That bite turned in to 3 or 4 and I've had a craving for ribs ever since! Figuring I shouldn't push my luck too far with my stomach not being used to meat, I ordered the half slab of baby backs (in my Dad's opinion the only ribs worth getting and I certainly like how they taste) with french fries on the side. Boyfriend went for the full slab and while he techinically only got 3 ribs more than me, his were all a lot bigger and meatier than mine. He got his with mash potato and the cole slaw. The sides were all just "Meh"- the french fries were undercooked and cold, the mash doesn't come with any gravy or anything and is fairly bland, and I'm not a coleslaw person anyway, but their's looked pretty watery. But we weren't there for the sides, we were there for the ribs, and they were AMAZING! Haha! It was a really good lunch and if you're a local, I'd say to definitely sign up for the Tony Roma's website because you'll immediately get a coupon for a buy one get one 50% off meal and then quarterly they send out emails with good deals, like the coupon I got last week for 30% off lunch or 15% off dinner, Monday-Thursday.

Rather than walking back up George Street and just passed stores and businesses, I suggested that we go for a walk along Darling Harbour since it eventually ends down near China Town and a short walk from where we needed to get back to-Central Station. What a great idea that turned out to be! It was a beautiful and sunny day, with just enough heat to make walking comfortable. I always have to run to the side of the walk and peer into the water and yesterday the view was gorgeous-you could see down all the way to the bottom-probably 10-15 feet in some spots! We saw some fish and it was just pretty to see the seaweed swaying on the pier pilings underwater. There were also a bunch of tiny jellyfish swimming around and they looked so neat doing their funny, undulating little swim that they do. They were clear and seemed to be glowing from even far depths from just the little sunlight they could pick up from down there. Further down on the walk, the water was still clear below but on top there was lots of gunk. I thought maybe someone had chucked over the side or had let their bilge out, but as we saw more and more of it, I'm thinking it was an algae bloom. It was red and red algae blooms are neat because at night, if disturbed, they glow, but aren't cool as well because they are a neurotoxin to animals like dolphins.

I remembered that their was a Starbucks before you start walking in to China Town and got a craving just to go in to the place. Boyfriend said let's go pick something up so I got an ice tea and he got a Grande 4 espresso shot carmel macchiato...I think I'd have a heart attack! Then we continued on our walk and came across a mother duck with 9-10 little, fluffy babies swimming with her. I have been looking for ducks with chicks for the past couple of weeks, hoping I'd see some and know that spring was finally, nearly here and now I've seen them! They were so cute and darted across the water so quickly. You can see one little one has the cutest, tiniest wake behind it.

Directly behind the ducks was a huge ferris wheel, with completely closed in buckets. We contemplated going on it, but figured we should get going to our train, plus they set it up kind of dumb, the buckets face in towards the city, when I think they should've faced them so when you are at the top you are looking straight out over the Harbour. Oh well, it was still really big and

would be a fun ride.

After that stop, we figured we should hustle to the train and the gods were on our side because we made it on to an express train with about 4 minutes to spare! All in all it was an awesome day out in the City. Boyfriend has a couple of meetings next week with companies and other recruiters and I said, Ok, I'll come with you on Tuesday and we'll hit up our favorite spot Malaya, then Wednesday we can go back for Flying Fajita Sisters, then Thursday...Boyfriend just laughed and said let's wait til he technically has a job and money to spend...sensible that one!

Brothers Brand New

(Even though we are sisters.) I used to be a shitty sister. I don’t think I was ever truly evil or awful or anything, but I wasn’t a good sister. Or I wasn’t a good role model. My sister thought I was lame, and I was, the way I acted with the loser exboyfriend. I always considered her one of my best friends, but she didn’t ever really feel the same. She didn’t respect me and I can see why, I was at a low point in my life and I was pathetic at times.
Nae and I took a road trip down to see our grandparents and old neighbors, who are also like an aunt/cousins to us, just before I flew back here. This was like the closest I’ve felt to my sister in a long time. Actually, the whole time I was back was. She seemed so happy and accepting of me and our family. Not that we were suddenly without fault, but she decided to love us no matter what and when it got boring/irritating she had the option of peacing out and going back to her own place. Our road trip was fun, we just talked and laughed and sang. I respect her opinion and her advice on things that go on in my life. The 5 through the farmland is a pretty boring drive, but we flew along. We were dancing up a storm in our seats to this mix tape (mix CD doesn’t sound as cool) I had made for the surf shop years ago of all classic rock songs. The truckers must have loved it when we passed them dancing and singing so loudly!
My sister has her own group of really great girlfriends where she lives, they are like her second family. She said she had to create a new one when she moved up there as she was all alone. I feel like today, maybe even if she still wouldn’t call me one of her best friends, she would call me a good friend and stuff in the past is just in the past now. I could be totally wrong? Haha. Sorry this post is just me rambling and doesn't really flow. I was just thinking about her and this is what came out. Whatever she and I have right now, I love it and I love her. Heaps Smoochies ;)

Road Trippin'

We were back home for a day before S and I hit the road again. This time I wanted to take S on a drive through Big Sur and down to San Simeon/Cambria. I remember going there as a child a few times and loving it. The drive along the highway took way longer than I thought cause we were stopping like every mile to take a picture of the gorgeous views, plus we left way later than we thought we were going to, so we didn’t get in to town until dark. We hit up this really cool family restaurant for dinner and then S had never been to a proper diner and he wanted a cup of coffee so we found a place and we sat at the counter and he had coffee and a piece of pie just like you always see them do in the old movies. Then we went back and had a view drinks at the bar next to our hotel. S has been getting in to Scotch lately so he wanted to try some new mixers with them. We went to Hearst Castle the next day. I had been before, I thought it was gaudy, but S really enjoyed it so that was worth it. We then went and saw the elephant seals and their babies at a nearby beach. There were also some stellar or harbor seals on the beach, too. It was pretty gross because an elephant seal had died on the beach and as we were standing there all these turkey vultures flew in and started pecking at it. S and I then drove home and got in a big fight about our future, yay! Let me tell you: tear filled eyes and windy roads do not mix!