"Leapi' Lizards!......It's Leap Day......................."

Good Evening;

So... on Monday night Jenn picked me up here after her HG meeting and we stopped at Pepe's http://www.pepes6081.com/ Pizza on Falls Rd. and her friend Shannon bought me a steak sub and fries for my birthday, my one and only present this year. I put the link for their site here because it was a damn good sub and even BETTER fries!
After the ladies were done talking we headed to out to Monkton where I  

spent the night, and Tuesday and Tuesday night, leaving today about 1:30 pm.when Tom dropped me off at the Hunt Valley light rail terminus on his way to taking Devin to her speech therapy appointment.

Other than the ongoing tension between Jenn and her mother-in-law, with Tom siding with Jenn 90% of the time, and to which I am mostly in agreement with them, (but not totally), and which I am doing my damnedest to avoid being cornered and having to listen to passive aggressive open ended statements and ending up in the middle.....things were very slow up there. The grandmonsters were as good as they're ever going to be, so that was a relief. Sleep has still been very uneven and interrupted by both external circumstances, (cat in heat, other cats playing psycho-cat games at night, cats thinking they are freakin' roosters and waking me up in the pre-dawn hours wanting to be fed......it's a testimony to my powers of restraint that there are still 4 indoor cats.......lol!, getting Edward up for school, repeat, repeat, repeat......lol!..falling back asleep and Devin getting up and waking me up to play...Jenn and Tom fussing..etc.), and whatever is causing the chronic and increasingly intense lower back pain, no matter where or what I sleep on. An actual scheduled Doctors appt. on the 23rd of March will allow me to address these issues...and it cannot arrive too soon!

Yesterday I never made it out of the (windowless) basement during the daylight hours, so I missed the lovely weather, and today....wellll, "greys are the new blues", and the damp chill in the air fits right in with my moodiness today also.
I grabbed a couple chicken nuggets from Jenn's freezer, along with 4 slices of bread for lunch, (the other 2 for my peanut butter sammitch later) and a couple of cans of soda. On my walk through over at Whole Foods to heat the chix nuggets in the microwave I wandered past the bakery and snagged a few of the freebie sample cookies. The Foodstamps are dead until the 7th and hopefully I get some cash on the 2nd, (which is mostly already committed to past and future meds payments), so picking are slim for the next few days. I'll visit the Dunkin' Dumpster if it is not raining too hard later tonight.

Well the back hurts from leaning over to type, and I know there was something else I wanted to mention....but....the CRS is kickin' in again, so....

Later.................................Dave

Good Afternoon;

A link to Poverty Insights featuring a commentary by Joel John Roberts of PATH;

http://www.povertyinsights.org/2012/02/27/should-the-town-drunk-get-free-housing/

Later..........................Dave

"Just Another 5 Hours Without Killing Myself And It's All Over Until Next Year..........."

Good Afternoon;

Another birthday nearly over. GOOD! 

From the moment I walked into the gas station at 2 minutes after Midnight to fill my water bottle and use the bathroom and saw the 3 different sets of numbers I pay on Keno appear on the screen...with a 10 times bonus!...and I could not play them because of a negative cash flow....(that's $750.00 just laughing at me)......I knew it was going to be a mediocre 24 hours....at best!

Having to run back to the bathroom 3 more times before 6:00 am......all false alarms, but they did not start out feeling like such.....and not getting any solid sleep time... just confirmed it.

I was up at 6:00 am. on a Sunday morning with nowhere to go and no electricity and no cash, (though I did pick up a handful of breakfast sandwiches and some stale croissants and some dumpster donuts), and I  could not get back to sleep, and it was still too cold to just walk around, left me with little choice....either going inside one of the neighborhood churches for early services...or crawling back into the bag with my own mind for company.....hell of a set of options...lol....but I chose the bag, with an alternate choice of flipping back the covers and hoping to freeze to death if the noises in my head forced me to consider church........no contest, hypothermia wins.

I did fall asleep at some point after 9:30 am and got up at 10:00 am and packed, dressed and out by 10:30 am and over to the Giant to wash up, etc.

Then I caught a couple buses over here to the coffee shop about Noon.

When I got a table and an outlet and got the laptop fired up about 12:30 pm. I had an e-mail waiting from Jenn from earlier this morning, in reply to my e-mail to her asking what her plans were today. She said Tom and Ed had gone to church and could meet me at the Hunt Valley Light Rail at 12:30 pm. to bring me out to Monkton to do wash, shower, etc. As I'm reading it Tom walk in and sees me reading it and asks if I want to come up with them.

Well, my dirty and change of clean clothes were still in the shed, and I had just gotten settled here and had a sandwich made and waiting to eat, and Michelle had mentioned something about coming by for a drink......and I really did not want to deal with his mother today, so I suggested coming up with Jenn tomorrow after her meeting is over and Starbucks closes, and heading back Tuesday, (and she mentioned even possibly Wednesday...so I'm guessing I may be asked to watch the kids Tuesday night or Wednesday morning).

I sat here for a while and then wrote Michelle an e-mail suggesting that this may not be the best time for us to hang out, as my mood was getting progressively darker, and even though the joy I feel when I see her is wonderful,.....there are times,...like now,...when the letdown after we part is pretty severe. My physical pain today at this point is frustrating enough without voluntarily setting myself up for an emotional kick in the balls....(even we romantic masochists......or is it masochistic romantics?.......draw the line somewhere.....lol!........rip out my still beating heart and step on it yes....but leave the family jewels alone!)

Anyway, thanks to the 3 people who wished me a happy birthday...you know who you are...   ;-)

Later.......................Dave


23,000 hits!.............thanks

"Witchy Woman......"

Good Evening;

Well....it was windy as hell last night and as I was leaving the Giant I got to use one of my favorite 'Wizard Of Oz' based retorts. A woman had left one of her bags at the register and being a nice guy I grabbed it and began to follow her out and give it to her. As I reached the doors she came running back in and blew right past me as I tried to get her attention. When she reached the register the cashier told her I had gone to return it to her, and pointed me out as I was walking back towards her. She grabbed the bag and instead of a thank you she lashed out with "yo!, doan evah touch my sh*t again!" and began to storm out. And in one of those 'perfect storm' moments, a huge gust of wind blew through the entry foyer when both doors happened to be open, scattering papers and bags of chips on display all over the place....and I blurted out, loud enough for everyone in the front of the store to hear and then crack up laughing...."Jeez lady, did somebody drop a house on your sister tonight!?"...no forethought, just a spontaneous comment, but oh did she puff her self up ready to yell and scream and then heard everyone laughing and spun around and literally ran out the door, jumped in her car and proceeded to drive over the curb as she cut the turn too close.....LMFAO!

The rest of the night was nowhere near as fun as I lay in the sleeping bag listening to the wind howl and shake the shed, causing what dust that had accumulated to fall down just as I looked up, and of course, had my mouth open.....lol!!!

It got chilly enough to put the quilt over me, and between that getting tangled and twisted around me, and the zipper getting stuck on the sleeping bag.....I damn near peed my self!.......twice!! trying to get out!

NOTE TO SELF: DO NOT DRINK 2 QUARTS OF WATER TRYING TO AVOID 'DRY MOUTH' WHEN TAKING A DIURETIC/BLOOD PRESSURE COMBINATION BEFORE BEDTIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol!!!!

Closing time.....

Later..........................Dave

P.S. Birthday cash may be delivered to me or left for me at the coffee shop...lol!    ;-)

"In The Crosshairs................."

Good Afternoon;

Here is a link to the Huffington Post;

HoboHunt Game App Lets Players Kill Homeless People

ow.ly

Android users have a controversial new game at their fingertips. HoboHunt awards players for hunting down poor people and virtually killing them.

 

Simply F*ckin' Lovely!

How long until some of the sickos who would play this game go from virtual reality to the 6:00 pm. news?

 

And the smarmy comments from the creator of the app are nauseating.

 

Later...........................Dave

"Medical Tip Of The Day.........."

Good Evening;

Try Seroquel & Xanax & a single glass of wine before reaching for the ice pick!

Just wanted to pass on this remedy for those days when

your imaginary friend's imaginary friends have come to visit 

and not only won't shut up, they won't go home either!

Recommended by the A.P.& P.A.
(Amateur Psychiatric & Pharmacological Association)

Silence Is Golden!

Later..................Dave

"A Mighty Wind....&...Spastic Lizards.........."

Good Afternoon;

Well....I'm sitting here at the library with a head feeling like it's stuffed full of bumblebees.....angry bumblebees! Not a fun feeling! Add in the moderate paranoia and it feels like the aftermath of a weekend coke binge.......without having experienced any of the (dubious) benefits.

Last night I was just falling asleep about 2:15 am. when the leading edge of the cold front swept through, arriving with a sudden burst of short duration but incredibly strong winds. I'm glad I wasn't outside because all the small jagged debris, and some of the larger pieces, littering the parking lot were picked up and flung against the walls of the shed. When I went out side today there were objects embedded in the wood and even more so in the places where the cardboard 'patches' show through.

There was also a short intense rainfall that seeped through quickly in places where the roof had dried out all the way, enlarging the cracks in those places. The cardboard 'diverters' worked well enough, but need to be replaced and rearranged before another real rainfall.

I slept until 8:50 am. this morning, woke up and took my meds and went back to sleep for another much needed 2 hours, then lay there for another hour dozing in and out. I got up and dressed and headed to the Giant just before Noon because my back was on fire. I would have and felt like, and still feel like, just staying in the shed all day and not having to get up and get on a bus and carrying all my crap around....but not having any electricity, and the lantern & TV batteries needing a charge, and the flashlight batteries low, there was not much choice today.

I'm about to head to the coffee shop and have breakfast, which is the couple slices of lunch meat left over from yesterday...aka.."sweaty meat". I also have a jar of instant coffee, and one of peanut butter and a squeeze bottle of jelly that I spent the last few bucks on to get me through the next 8 days, along with the couple bucks left on the Starbucks card and the 'Dunkin Dumster', if necessary.

There are no plans to go over Jenn's until the 6th &7th of March, so no help there. I'm not that worried about food though, there is always something around, though it may not be the most enjoyable meal.

I'm out of here for now, whether it's paranoia or agoraphobia, or G.A.D., it feels like everyone is staring at me and talking about me whenever I look up. Even though the conscious mind knows it's all crap, the damn deep subconscious 'lizard brain' or Amygdala and the freakin' Myoclonus spasms are in cahoots............lol!

Later..................Dave    

"Whattttttttttttttttt Twittttchhhhh......????????....?????"

Good Evening;

Well my CWS protests must have fallen upon the right cosmic ears! Temperatures near or surpassing 65 degrees.....in February, for multiple days! I am going to be a realist though, Baltimore always gets a nasty spell in March, even if the rest of February slips through easy.

I'm still waiting to hear when my own personal "OCCUPY" movement is coming to an end. It's been almost 3 years and 2 months at the shed now, and I'm hoping I'll find out a fair bit in advance when/what something will be happening with it. I does not look as if anyone else or anymore work has been done on the office building since the demolition dumpsters were removed.

In other news...."myoclonus"....or "full body muscle twitches".

Which may or may not be serious neurologically, but can really f*ck up your day if one occurs when doing things like, oh I don't know......

eating with a fork!.....drinking hot coffee!......shaving! Or sitting at the computer and reaching for a drink!
Even when there is no tragedy about to occur, the damn annoyance of having to constantly backspace while typing is a pain in the assssssssssssssssssss!
When trying to read up on the symptoms and the problems behind them the available information is just too much to sort through, and the range is just too broad. 

(No wonder hypochondria has exploded in recent years)
I just focused on any links or connections with known past or present confirmed issues. I'll let my PCP and Neurologist take over from there, but the research ensures I will be in the loop this time!

As may be assumed, none of this is having a positive reaction to the depressive slide my cycle is on at this point. Neither is the external stressor known as negative cash flow.....lol.

Some how it is apt that as birthday number 56 approaches, (having started in the 56th year of the previous century), I have a total of $0.56 left, and my Food Stamps are down to $1.56, & the Starbucks card has a $10.56 balance........lol!

And as it is now 7:56 pm........

Later.............................Dave

"When Lack Of Sleep Turns The Laptop Into A True 'FaceBook'.................."

Good Evening;

So I'm back from the 'sticks' and about to pack up and head over to the bus stop. I'm sooooo tired. I keep nodding out over the keyboard and waking suddenly with a jerk and an controllable muscle spasm/twitch a second later.
Wonderful.
I is supposed to be very warm the next 10 days or so, I can't wait to lay down and sleep with a minimum covering.

It was a rough couple of nights and early mornings that left me with little rest and extreme tension brought on by having to listen to and watch how my grandson acts out, speaks to, ignores, and attempts to manipulate his parents.

And if they are there I'm out of the discipline loop, it's very frustrating, because he knows better than to try the same crap when I'm alone watching him...or never more than once.

I accomplished zilch on the phone over the past few days, and  I'm going to have to go to the doctor to get an updated current referral form. I don't know if I'm going to get there this week, before my birthday or not. This particular forthcoming natal celebration has me feeling as though I'm drowning in futility. 

Procrastination and depression, they go together like peanut butter and jelly, bacon and eggs, pizza and mayonnaise!

Anyway, gotta run....

Later........................Dave

"There But For The Grace Of God................."

Good Evening;

This link is to an extremely moving article by Mark Horvath in the

 "haRdLy NOrMal" blog;

http://hardlynormal.com/blog/2010/03/08/alaska-homeless-as-seen-through-the-eyes-of-a-police-officer/

Later...................Dave

"How Many Angels Can Dance On The Head Of A Pin?.............."

Good Afternoon;

A link:

http://pinterest.com/aspan/ending-homelessness/

Later........................Dave

"Dreamtime Or Screamtime................"

Good Evening;

So....after stopping at the shed "for a minute", about 9:00 pm. last night to drop off my bags and set up the portable digital battery TV for later, I turned it on to check the antenna placement and reception.....I ended up standing there and watching 2 episodes of "The Big Bang Theory" and flipping channels until the battery died........lol.

I went over to the Giant then the gas station and caught the news and weather, (yay! no snow!), and then "Criminal Minds" on the TV there while charging the portable and talking with Daniel and some of the regulars who play the Racetrax and Keno, (I played the dollars worth of change I had found in the payphone....win $2.00 lose $1.00, up and down and over and over again on the same dollar for about 90 minutes/20 games, and breaking even with no $25.00 winner on my numbers all night), and listening to some of the people talk about how "the State of Md. sees what numbers we're playing and manipulates the game"....not realizing that there are 3,800 lottery agents with 4,150 terminals across the state, and even if half are off line...... well 'you do the math'..............lol!

After heading back to the shed I ate a late dinner/early breakfast and watched "Without A Trace", then lay down to sleep. 

Which has been difficult to come by, I keep waking from a flashback nightmare of the events surrounding both the 'near death' hospital visits and stays, from 2005 and the pneumonia and both sets of emergency surgery, and the car accident in 1990 and going 'out' on the chopper and on the ER table. PTSD which I thought was over and done with.........seems I owe my primary physician an apology and a box of chocolates. Yeah, I oughta call Sinai's Outpatient Psych Dept. tomorrow before the referral expires.....and I owe her for another lost wager.

Pretty sure I know what one of the triggers was, (besides all the 'normal' stressors like losing the barely sufficient shelter I have, and the worsening back pain....etc.), a ride in the country with the driver texting and drifting over the center line on narrow, twisty, blind curve roads, that are in 'cuts' below terrain level with the trees and eroded roots seemingly reaching out to grab the passenger side of the vehicle, and looking up just in time to jerk the wheel and drift to the other side again......

.......and 'lather, rinse, repeat'........

I'm going to have to make the call/calls from Jenn's tomorrow, she asked me if I could come up to watch Devin, and get Ed from the school bus, while she accompanies Tom to his doctors appt., the one that has been postponed the last 2 times I went over to monstersit. Since she is going to be here in Mt. Washington for her Monday night meeting, I suggested just going up there tonight to save a whole bunch of extra travel time and mileage and gas usage tomorrow. And saving me some combination of public transit consisting of at least 3 different routes...(of anywhere from 1 type; bus/bus/bus, to 3 types bus;/metro subway/light rail, or any possible combination thereof...lol!). And it reduces the number of trips I'd have to deal with having the possibility of experiencing the things mentioned in the previous paragraph. 

Anyway, I'm going to be up there until Wednesday afternoon when Tom takes Devin to her speech therapy appointment back near where they used to live. I had no idea I'd be going to Monkton at all this morning, and I almost skipped going to the RiteAid to pick up my prescriptions, (and which I have finally gotten all 4 in sync again), but something said, "no, do it anyway, don't wait until you HAVE to on Tuesday", so I got off the bus, headed back up the road, picked them up and caught the next bus down the road. Good thing because I'd have been without my BP meds for 2 days and that's not a good thing right now, with the elevated readings I'm getting.

Don't know why I'm so chatty today, may be the coffee I bought for my 'morning fix'; Cafe Bustelo Instant Espresso Blend, and a bottle of almond extract for that Amaretto taste........zing! The excess of introspective that has my head a-whirl is probably coming from both the flashback episodes and the fact that next Sunday is my birthday....56 y.o. born in 1956.....just seems weird to be this close to 60 and still alive....lol. The general consensus placed their bets at 36............lol.

That's it for now,

Later.............................Dave

"Back From The Boondocks Again............................"

Good Evening;

Well I back to Pikesville and the shed last night from Monkton, by car to the Hunt Valley light rail, down to North Ave. by train, and by bus over to Monkee's to pick up meds for the rest of the month. After talking for 45 minutes or so it was back to the bus, to Hopkins to the subway and by train out to Old. Ct. Station to the bus to the shed. And to the credit of the MTA, only one major f*ckup among the myriad forms of transport, a bus that left the station 18 minutes early...'THE' big no-no of the MTA. Luckily it was reasonably warm for my 47 minute wait for the next bus.

After stopping in the Giant for a refill of my food bag's staples, and a bathroom break, and wandering around to see the week's changes and specials I hit the shed about 10:00 pm. The demolition dumpsters were gone, (and the lot was littered with debris, don't take that shortcut for a while loyal reader, or it's a 50-50 chance of a punctured tire), and still no power. It was really nice to crawl into the sleeping bag pull the quilt up, (and it was barely cold enough to use it), and finally get some sleep, broken into 3 periods because of the intense back pain as I shifted position, but they were 3 solid periods of REM sleep. I sleep better in the shed than at Jenn's, but the shower and laundry facilities will keep me going back out there...unless the tension finally causes blowups between Tom, his mother, and Jenn in multiple vectors, all to the same end, with everyone hating all the others....I stay out of it, but that doesn't stop the open ended leading comments/questions....

Anyway, today was a lazy Sunday at the coffee shop, neither avoiding nor encouraging contact and conversation. I've spent most of the day in a book, (Micro, by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston,..[who completed and polished the manuscript that was found mostly done, after Crichton's death.

Ian who works for Whole Foods, formerly this store and then 3 other stores in D.C. and Virginia, which he opened, stopped in to tell me that he got the position in the new store opening in Hawaii. Very Cool!.....I told him to save me a spot, I'd be out there soon.....lol.

Time to pack up....

Later....................Dave

"Ain't Nothin' Goin' On But The Rent................"

Good Afternoon;

A link to the Huffington Post;

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/16/affordable-rentals_n_1282519.html

Start investing in corrugated cardboard box manufacturers, the next growth industry in America.

Later...........................Dave

"Stress..........= 'When The Body Wants To Choke Some-(one-thing),.......And The Mind Won't Let You'.....'........."

Good Morning;

So.........I've been in Monkton since Wednesday afternoon.

It's been very tense here, for all sorts of reasons......

It's not the funnest visit.

Plus my back hurts, bad,....it has been 9 or 10 years since it has been this bad. And now I'm running a fever and the damn bitch cat took a chunk out of my leg. If she attacks me again I am going to beat her damn head in with a shovel, then use said shovel to bury her in the woods!!!!!!!

Obviously, no sleep either.

I'll be back......???? whenever.

Later..................Dave

"DasV'danya............................................."

Good Evening;

Well plans for today fell through, we talked about Noon, but Michelle hadn't showed up by 6:00 pm. and I knew she had dinner plans for a 'girls night out' so I texted to ask if she wanted a rain check, again just as she was texting me. Turns out she got called to come in for a job interview at very short notice and it was in Canton. Ah well, at least I lost her on Valentines Day to a job not another guy......lol.
Hope springs eternal!

(So...St. Jude & St. Rita patron saints of impossible causes and the lonely....think you could pull a couple strings for a Jewish guy, in the name of ecumenical harmony and cooperation?.......lol!)

Did get on the phone and got a doctor's appointment for March 23rd though, more on that soon.

There are 2 big-ass roll-off demolition dumpsters next to the office building by the shed that are filled to the brim, (as of this morning), these demo folks are going through the interior like a horde of locusts.

 I mention the dumpsters because I just may have stopped a rape from occurring last night on my way back from the gas station. There was a car parked out of sight from the road behind them and when I was walking past with my flashlight a young woman jumped out and ran over and asked to use my phone to call her father and brothers. At the same time a guy took off out the other side and crossed the street like a bat out of hell. About 20 minutes later when her 'family' showed up, (and the word is in 'quotes' for a reason!!!), I thought I was going to have my head blown off. The young woman quickly stepped in and all I heard WAS "NYET, NYET, NYET!!!!!!",..... and the guns disappeared as if they were never there. Turns out it was her car and she and a girlfriend met the girlfriends fiance` and his friend at a local club. When they split up the guy in question may have slipped something into her drink....and well........an interrupted date rape scenario.

I wanted to get as far away as possible so I headed to the Giant and circled back after they all pulled away. Just before I left the father handed me a card with a phone number on it...nothing else, just a phone number... and said if I ever find myself in a "situation" to call that number day or night.
The quotes in this writing are mine, but damn if they were not visible and audible when he thanked me in his heavily accented English.

I hope I never need to use it!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Closing Time

Later.......................Dave

"V-Day.................Part 1............."

Good Morning;

Well, it's been a while since I've opened with THAT greeting....lol!

I'm at the library after getting up and out of the shed before 8:30 am. I've been trying to roll out before the demolition crew gets there but it end up with me stepping out as they are pulling in....a little earlier for both of us each day.

It's warm again...YAY!!!, and the sky seems extraordinarily bright even though it is grey with wisps of cloud and a few clear patches of washed out blue. For some reason I am in a good mood, above and beyond where I should be, especially with the external pressures right now. Flat broke, in debt, the S.S.I. claim back to square 1, about to be without the minimal but familiar shelter of the shed...et. al. Could it be that I'm experiencing a 'manic' swing in the depressive cycle? I'm not familiar with 'Manic-depressive/bi-polar' symptoms as much as straight depression. It's not just a case of the WTF's, I'm too happy for that.

Part of that happiness is the re-entry into my life in a big way of my friend Michelle, bringing with it equal parts of Hope and Confusion........lol.

Gotta run, time's up, back soon,

Later......................Dave

"Molasses Monday................."

Good Evening;

Well nothing really to write about today that is all that exciting, which is a good thing because the wifi/internet is slow as molasses here at Starbucks today & tonight, and so have I been all day.

The cold is still cold, and my hands are again a cracked and in places slightly infected mess, the interior demolition crew is really tearing through the office building next to the shed, and the few workers II tried to approach about the circuit breakers for the outside security lights don't seem to speak enough English to comprehend, & the search for new lodging continues, with nothing yet on the horizon.

Falling asleep at the key board, I'm going to pack up and try to catch the 8:04 pm. bus and go crash out early.

Later.............................Dave

"Synchronicity.....................................Again!........."

Good Evening;

Okay, you know it's coming so I'll just get it over with now;

COLD WEATHER SUCKS!!!!!!

Last night leaving Jenn's with the windchill in single digits and gusts of wind reaching 40 mph and shimmying the car into the other lane of traffic was no fun. Typical of my luck/timing that even though it snowed the day and night I slept over with Rachel babysitting the grandmonsters it was warmer than the night I go back in the shed. The damn combination lock got water in the mechanism and the shackle and froze up, so I had to beat on it to get it to spin and again to get it to open. Thinking it would help I went back into Jenn's car to get warm and put the lock on top of the defrosters....which melted the water in the 'innards' but did not evaporate enough of it, so I had an even harder time getting it open when I came back from the Giant.....sheeesh!

Today it is just closed but not locked with the dial semi-frozen in place.....and I have a hammer conveniently stashed close by if I cannot just Yank it open.

Well as I said, Rachel and I were over Jenn's. We met her and Devin at the Hunt Valley Light Rail and stopped at the H.V. Giant before heading to her place. Rachel and Devin had a bit of 'girly time' together before Edward got home from school. After that I had to regularly step in as referee as each one wanted to monopolize Rachel. But for the most part they played well together. My sleep pattern was skewed again thanks to Mama Cat being back in heat, did you know that if a cat does NOT get herself some action while in heat, 3 to 14 days later she again "comes into season" as some of the articles put it......ladies count yourself lucky, 28 days beats all hell out of 3.....lol! 

Last night cold as it was, once I got in the sleeping bag and under the quilt I was nice and warm....except when the bladder sid visit the bottle...OR ELSE!......LOL!

Today, (Sunday), I had a wild experience and another one of those little synchronistic events that have flowed through my inter-personal relationships with some of the people with whom I have made unusually strong emotional/spiritual connections.
Last Monday Michelle and I were discussing my old therapist to whom I had referred her, and with whom she also 'clicked' (to keep it simple), and we each left that part of the conversation with statements to the effect of "I wonder how to get hold of her, I could really stand to talk with her again, on a professional basis".

So I'm walking out of Whole Foods today back to the Starbucks and pass a woman who looks familiar, but my feet are working faster than my 'swiss cheese memory' due to the bitter cold, and I am almost inside the coffee shop when I turn and call out, "M*** S*****", and she turns and likewise it take a second as I see her look of polite confusion, then see her eyes light up in recognition. We stood outside for a minute, then retreated from the cold into the coffee shop and must have talked for more than hour. So now I have her new contact info, just at a point where I'm looking for Mental Health assistance.........coincidence....yeah right.

Gotta pack up and bundle up for the bus....

Later..................Dave

P.S. Forgot to mention that on Friday before catching the train to H.V. I ran into the other Michelle in my life, the professor from MICA, and we had a nice 45 minutes of talk too.

D.

"Nice Ice............"

Good Evening;

Well the Ice show was a blast, and the Ice storm was a bust!

We had a nice time last night with really good seats, (at the 1/2 price opening night discount!), first row of the Middle Concourse, on the railing at the walkway, end 2 seats, Center Ice. The show was nice but we've seen more spectacular ones from the same Disney organization. Also the ice seemed to be soft and was giving some of the skaters trouble.

 Rachel enjoyed it and of course we were together, so as always it was worth it.

The roofers are dismantling and removing the old 'chiller' A/C unit from the roof of the office building next to the shed, as evidenced by the big-ass piece of piping in the parking lot last night when I got back and the dumptruck full of scrap left overnight. Since my intestinal system is now seemingly calibrated to a 6:00 am. "up and out" wake up call, and I really don't fall solidly back asleep when I return from the Giant, I have been packed and out of the shed shortly before they have arrived in the morning, and have had no more contact.

Tomorrow Rachel and I are meeting Jenn and Devin at the Hunt Valley Light Rail and heading back to her place in Monkton. This gives Rachel and Devin some 'girl/princess' time together before Edward gets home from school. We are spending the night and 'monstersitting' Friday night and again Saturday morning for Jenn and Tom, and coming back in town some time lare Saturday afternoon.

I now have to pack up and head to Monkee's and work out money and meds for the rest of the month. Things are all screwed up because of refill dates getting skewed.

If the wifi is working in Monkton I'll see you tomorrow....

Later..................Dave

"Will We Leave The Inside Ice Show To Find That Mother Nature Has Put On One Of Her Own?....................."

Good Afternoon;

(Although it looks like evening.)

Well....it's a nasty day out there, falling temperatures, low grey clouds, fog in spots, a mix of schizophrenic precipitation...snow flurries, sleet, rain...in varying capacities, order, and strength, and the forecast is for the worst of everything to mix it up at about freezing road temps. just about rush hour. In other words, a typical Baltimore winter day....lol.

Monday I was supposed to meet Monkey to get some bupes for the month, but she was incommunicado for some reason, which meant using an alternate back up source that was again also only able to secure the film and not the tablets, and of course the cost was higher as was the fee to the source. Which has screwed up the already screwed up budget.

Another example of lousy timing is the fact that LAST night I was at Jenn's to babysit, and tonight I'm taking Rachel to the Disney on Ice show at the Arena. We're going on the Light Rail at least so that is a plus, with the stop right at the auditorium. Hopefully the overhead wires won't ice up while we're at the show and the MTA has to organize what they call a bus bridge..aka a 'shuttle service'....(remember the State Fair fiasco this summer?).

So Monday and Tuesday there were roofers working on the office building adjoining the shed. Monday I was out before they arrived  but Tuesday I was just leaving when they pulled up and were unloading their ladders. One of the guys asked me as I was locking the chain on the shed door if I had access to the office.....I looked at him and said "I wish!", and we both laughed.

 Tuesday was also the day the stomach/bowel issues returned with a sudden case of...."oh sh*t!....gotta get to the Giant, they better have the doors unlocked on time" at 5:58 am!.....and then another sudden urge again at 7:35 am.....[stock tip....buy whoever is making Immodium AD....now!...lol.] And then the nice fresh HOT cup of coffee I made a little later separated itself from the lid and confirmed that the local gravity was still working...and certain laws of physics relating to moving and immovable objects, and fluid dynamics!

I went to Hunt Valley to meet Jenn and rode back to the house, ate, watched the kids, and finally got to shower and put laundry in. I did not get to sleep up at Jenn's until almost 5:00 am. through a combination of a real slower washing machine, real low water pressure, and falling into a half spaced out-half comatose state while sitting on the couch waiting to put the clothes in the dryer.....so I'm exhausted and nodding out now over the keyboard.

It's time to pack up and meet Rachel at the Light Rail....after a couple quad espressos!

Later.............................Dave 

"The Purrrrrfect Storm

Good Afternoon;

So.....Call me the "Cat Whisperer", A woman came into the Starbucks distraught that her cat, who NEVER jumps out of her car, chose today and here to do so. She had been looking for a good while without luck under all the neighboring parked cars and checking under her seats and under the hood and in the trunk. She was about to leave and go home and print up some 'missing cat' posters with picture and contact info. I stepped out side and looked around and tried to picture where I would go if I was a terrified lost cat, and based on experience with my Daughter's cats getting out, headed back toward the bushes and ornamental grasses growing in a bed up against the building.....and...There She Was! The poor kitty was just lying in the grass not moving except for her little heart beating at a disco pulse. I picked her and she offered no resistance and pressed against my chest and curled up. The woman was just pulling away after backing out of the parking space when I caught her eye and she jumped out of the car, barely getting it in park, with the engine running and the door wide open. When I gave her the kitty she was crying and thanking me, and told me " oh, you are definitely getting into heaven for this".......lol! (Well, I can use all the character references I can get, to counter balance some of the less savory deeds committed way back when...............lol!) She pulled off, releasing the traffic backlog she had caused and I walked back inside all warm and fuzzy feeling...on the inside...lol.

Later...........................Dave

Good Evening;

This story from Poland has echoes of a similar situation in New York City with it's miles of underground tunnels, abandoned sub-sub basements, old subway stations, etc.........:

http://news.yahoo.com/homeless-underground-survive-deep-freeze-132921932.html

The few similar underground spaces in Baltimore are either patrolled, access blocked, susceptible to flooding and/or leakage, too well known as party spots, as yet undiscovered, or already claimed and occupied. 

But I'm always looking and snooping.

Later...........................Dave

"This Is The Week That Was.................."

Good Afternoon;

Well....haven't posted since Wednesday, haven't written since Monday, so this is just a 'check in and let you know I'm still alive' post.

Tuesday afternoon I met Jenn at the Hunt Valley Light Rail terminus and she picked me up and we went back to her place in Monkton. I watched the grandmonsters that night while they were out and in the morning Devin, while Ed was in school and Jenn went with Tom to his doctor's appt. Around 1:30 pm. Tom dropped me of at the Light Rail on his way to Devin's weekly speech therapy appt. Wednesday the 1st was also Edward's 7th birthday, so he was in a really good mood in the morning....for a change....lol. He usually does not respond well to the whole 'get up, get dressed, get breakfast, get out of the house before the bus gets here' routine......lol.

I took the train down here to Mt. Washington and spent the rest of the day and evening at the coffee shop. It has been and still is a generally "Greta Garbo" week....(as in her famously misquoted statement..."I vant to be left alone"....), ........lol! Not exactly isolation, (though if I still had electricity in the shed......), or avoidance, more of a 'hi, how ya doin', great to see ya, now...."buh-bye"....', kind of thing.

EXCEPTION:...As I was in the middle of typing an E-mail to Michelle my phone rings and it is her inviting me to come out for a drink or three with her that evening. Well it was the 1st and my financial situation was only slightly better than that of Greece...as I had bus fare for the next day, so I sadly declined. I told her I would be here at the Starbucks until close, if she was going to out and about, and her company was not only welcomed but desired. There was no response to that, but 45 minutes later she walked in the door, hugged me and we sat with our heads together and talked for hours.  :-)

Yesterday, Thursday, I received the little bit of monthly cash I get and attempted to get a resupply on the buprenorphine, only to find that my source will not be getting hers renewed until the 6th or the 8th......lovely.

I was put in contact with a friend of hers and  met her to get some to cover the gap, but not only was it less than required, it was in the form of the sublingual 'meltaway strip', which only comes in the 8 mg. dosage and is a real pain to cut into quarters for the 2 mg. dosage I use. I was also not real pleased to have to go where I had to to meet her at her apt. to get it.

Oh well, better than the alternative.....either of them!!!!!!!

Today I woke up at 5:00 am and had to run to the gas station to use the bathroom, and again at 9:00 am. to the Giant, but after a couple doses of generic Immodium things seem to have settled down. On Wednesday when I got back here from Jenn's things got nasty too, and it was over to the Giant and then the gas station and back to the Giant at 6:00am. That was when I bought and first used the Immodium, which stopped the problem, after 2 doses as directed. By Noon everything 'felt' back to normal and I was able to put some needed fluids and electrolytes in my body, and some solid food, which did not spur any negative reaction, a bit later on.....I thought I was done with it for a while......NOT!

It's back to the doctor next week to get checked for an ulcer(s) some where in the gastro-intestinal tract, and possibly one particular parasite that though rare will cause the same symptoms. The extremely 'sour stomach' in particular is way worse than anything I've experienced before, and the intensity, though hard to quantify, is beyond what anyone I've talked to about it has heard of,

except for one intern specializing in "oncologic enterology", who says chemo-therapy causes similar symptoms....but unless somebody is spiking my coffee with ProMACE/cytaBOM or MTX/6-MP/VP I don't think that is the problem in this case.......lol.

Anyway I really don't feel like writing...lol...so...

Later........................Dave

Good Afternoon;

 Homelessness is not just an American problem;

Homeless hard hit as death toll from severe cold spell in eastern Europe...

ow.ly

Later.....................Dave