BC isn't just a territory in Canada

In an ongoing quest to be more organized (and spend less time packing for trips), I'm creating packing lists for camping and making up a kitchen and misc. stuff boxes. Oh to come back from a trip and not need to put so much crap away!!

I guess this is what happens when you're hopped up on vicodin and a cocktail or 2.

I had 2 new crowns installed today and my mouth feels CROWDED. Is this what happens when your temp. crown falls off over the weekend? I really feel for kids with braces...

Something I realized lately is that people were worried about losing me to cancer. As in they thought I might die.

I figured this out recently at my friend Tom Kennedy's memorial. On the way in, there was a group of BR Rangers doing security and I got quite the hugs and inquiries about my health. Then I went in the warehouse and there was much more of the same. It's an amazing feeling to know how much people care in a very real way. It felt like the memorial was as much a celebration of Tom as it was of ALL of our lives. To have had Tom as a friend was a remarkable gift and the memorial provided an opportunity to feel grateful for him, our community, my health.

By the way, I never EVER thought mine was a losing battle. Not even for a minute.

Carpe diem, y'all.

I'm happy that I don't even think about The Cancer Business every day. So much so that I keep forgetting to make an appt. for a mammogram (due in January). And haven't seen my oncologist in over 6 months.

I'm concerned that I'm becoming a bit of a hypochrondriac, though. It seems like, when I pooh-pooh some little body/health issue, it's an issue. Whenever I go on high alert, it's just aches and pains (and meniscus owie).

At today's dentist appt., I was reminded of my lack of digilance regarding my coumadin and INR level testing and every other practitioner's concerns regarding me bleeding. It's really kinda creepy, actually. I'm already a dental-phobe and here's the mental cartoon image of me bleeding out in the dentist's chair with the caption "But it was only a cleaning!" Really, they won't even clean my teeth until they get my doctor's permission. And they want $85/45 minutes of nitrous. I'm thinking that the valium Rx would be WAY cheaper, if less entertaining.

Now if I could just finish paying off the various reconstruction-related medical bills, I could, well... considerably reduce the amount of paper recycling at my house. I am so blessed to have had insurance. I can't even begin to imagine the alternative. (Especially knowing what is billed vs. what the cost negotiated with insurance vs. what an individual is billed. Frightening.)

So, anyway, here's to moving beyond cancer expenses and on to dental debt. (God, that sounds depressing and, quite honestly, I'm doing pretty damned well.)

I'm FREAKALICIOUS!

http://www.helloquizzy.com/tests/test-to-see-how-much-of-a-freak-are-you-anyways

I am WAY less of a control freak. I don't feel like I have to oversee everything in order for it to be done right. I'd much rather train folks and communicate expectations rather than get all wound up over and over and over ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

I am also really, really fortunate to have incredibly competent folks working with me.

Burning Man is long past, and we're all dust free and have had a chance to tally the books for Mutopia. Unfortunately, the numbers are our favorite color, red. (this means we're up to our lipsticked lips in debt.)

To help alleviate this, (and have some fun), we're throwing a party, Friday, December 5th. We want to see all of our friends and family, so we're starting the night early at 7pm with a cocktail party and gallery show- come have a drink and enjoy stunning images of Mutopia. There will be a silent auction of framed photographs as well as the usual Lotus Girl swag. We will have a raffle with some lovely prizes such as a burning man ticket and tickets to the Edwardian Ball!!

The gallery show will wind down at 10, when we wind up the sound system.
We've got a nice spot in lovely West Oakland, close to Bart, bus lines and with ample parking.
Email info@flaminglotus.com for the address of the event or call the info line day of event 415.963.3555

We'll be turning up the music at 10pm and keeping it going until 6am. Come early, come late, stay later. For music we're pulling in talent from all over the place. Local favorites from Evil Breaks, Space Cowboys and others, and we're bringing in a special treat from Budapest- one of Hungary's best producer/DJs, Fine Cut Bodies. This will be the 4th time we've brought him to SF- and you know that means he'll be providing us with the sickest, most awesome beats you never knew about.

7pm Gallery Show and Cocktail Party (Donation before 9.00PM)
10pm-6am Party! $15 door, $10 presales and before 11.pm

Presale Tickets
http://groovetickets.com/ordersystem/groove/eventviewqb.asp?AffilID=93&EventsID=43482&PGname=Evil%20Breaks

Info line for details: 415.963.3555

www.EvilBreaks.com
www.FlamingLotus.com

Line Up:
Fine Cut Bodies- Budapest
(Chi Recordings/Record Records/Moving Target/FineCutBodies.com)

Aaron Jae (Evil Breaks, Space Cowboys) Vs BAM (Evil Breaks) vs MOD (Evil Breaks)
Mozaic (Raindance/Nexus)
Syd Gris (Opel, Opulent Temple)
JD (False Profit)
Robb Green (Shameless)

Ernie Trevino (Space Cowboys)
U9lift (Ben Maybe/House of Lotus/Additech)
Cumulus (Word-of-Mouth/SF)
Lotus Drops (Street Ritual)
Siren (Space Island/SF)

Chillout door area courtesy of Ambient Mafia
MC Boomerang Fidget (Live/Hatfyr)
Seventh Swami (Live/Stilldream)
Redstick Man (FNF)
Peek (Below Zero)
Shane (FNF)
Harken vs Hallucid (The lag/Butterzone)
Drop (Butterzone)

Right now all my energy seems to be going to stressing about $$. Just spent about $700 fixing my brakes then the freaking poorly-designed belly pans start coming off again AND I find out that it's time to replace the timing belt. Well, you don't mess around with the timing belt (ka-ching - $1K) and I can replace the belly pans with a one-piece aluminum guard (no more plastic needing to be replaced every year - ka-ching, $270 rather than the annual $200 for plastic). $220 coming due for car insurance.

I just paid off 2 stupid tickets (my first ever moving violations) and a bunch of parking tickets ($1500 - EEEEK!).

Went in for a crown replacement ($600) and filling. The tooth being filled broke so I need ANOTHER crown ($600 - ka-ching!).

My rent is increasing by $350/month.

I am now pullling money out of my ass. Amazing!! (and none of that pesky, dangerous printing of cash!)

I'll be broke but have all my own teeth and a beautiful smile (and a very cute, fuel efficient and reliable car). And won't need to be bailed out of jail. [I can hear Mom's sigh of relief from across the country]

OK, it's Saturday night. Have fun, kids.

Without a post? How the hell did that happen?

I'm back at work, been doing the round of quarterly and annual exams and Other Stuff that they do when you reach a certain age. Will have my finalfinal bit of stuff on the new breast next month... the nipple tattoo.

Oh yeah, I just turned 50.

Katy is coming for a visit on Wednesday -- Hardly Strictly Bluegrass was the clincher. Robert Plant & Alison Krause on Friday! Yum!

OK, Katy is now fine, I'm better and Janet is still having chills. It's either food poisoning or we managed to get ahold of a 24 hour virus.

Ready to get back to poo jokes because this is NOT funny.

We're just west of 4 corners. Pray that Janet feels better soon...

The plan to get a good night's sleep worked so well that we fell down on the "getting up really early" plan. We got some of the comp. breakfast and headed to Zion Kolub, the northern canyon, then to Zion proper. Such a beautiful place... we did a 2 mile hike then left the park before 5pm so we could get to our hotel near Bryce by 8pm AND have dinner at Thunderbird in Mt. Carmel Junction. This is the joint with the Ho-Made pie. We had to have some of that pie this time and boy did it raise the bar for pie comparison. (Coconut Cream Pie is our yardstick) Perfect crust and filling. YUMYUM! This is now officially a trip dedicated to pie. :-)

It took a while to figure out where the hotel was. We drove all the way to the tip of the park thinking that we were in the lodge inside the park (which was, as it turned out, near the entrance -- we had passed it in the excitement of being there). Stopped and asked for directions and found that it was in Tropic and that we had not passed it by. Finally arrived at the hotel around 9pm and the nice man upgraded us to a log cabin. Yeah! Comfy beds, fridge, microwave and continental breakfast. Folks in Utah are just so nice...

Thursday we got a wild hair and decided to do the mule ride to the base of Bryce Canyon, a 2 hr. trip, so we could see more of the sights. It's an amazing place and sometime, I'd love to see it at sunrise. It was much colder than expected, largely due to the wind, so we drove back to Ruby's General Store to find some warmer pants for me and gloves for Janet (I had my work gloves). We had a great guide named, ahem, John Henry. I even managed to mount with minimal assistance!! No push on the butt needed. Hehheh. It was amazing being down in the canyon and seeing the hoodoos up close. Such an amazingly beautiful place, words just do not do justice to the splendor.

Today we are waiting for Katy to feel better. She's been up all night with what appears to be food poisoning. Can't figure out what could have caused it, though. We'd eaten the exact same things yesterday, the lone exception being her bleu cheese dressing at dinner. (we shared the sub-par pie)

Hopefully the worst has passed... I walked down to the store and got her a coke and she's sleeping now.

Looks like we're heading to Mesa Verde next. Unless we decide differently once we are on the road. :-)

...Mutiny averted. Apparently camping is not my travel companions' cup o' tea (i.e. I'm used to sleeping on a Thermarest in my mummy bag when it's cold outside). We will be staying in cheap hotels from here on out. Cedar City, UT - $40 for room with wireless, cable (including HBO), heated pool and spa. And laundry room. Katy is scratching her hausfrau itch by doing laundry while we watch SNL reruns.

Day 1 - Oakland to Benton Springs, CA via Lake Tahoe & Carson City to 395
Day 2 - Benton Springs, CA to Cedar City, UT via Tonopah, NV

Tomorrow we're up early and headed to Zion National Park then spending 2 nights at Bryce Canyon NP.

Got the splints out today and I have to say that I can now breathe through my nose with more confidence and style. I can BREATHE!!! Through BOTH SIDES!!

Wow. Brilliant. Who knew? ;-)

Well, the surgery went well. Now I keep feeling like I want to blow my nose. I'm really stuffed up... WITH PACKING!! Thank goodness this stuff is coming out tomorrow because sleep, when you can only breathe from your mouth, is weird. Feels like I have a crust on the back of my throat along with the worst case of cottonmouth EVER!

When I was in the pre-op area, I ran into the surgeon that did my mastectomy & who I became quite fond of (she did her fellowship at MD Anderson and is a fan of Goode Company BBQ). She pulled me into a dressing room so she could check out my reconstruction and was impressed. Said that Dr. Lee has a good eye for symetry and that he did a great job. She is also a big fan of my ENT surgeon -- that's great to hear when you're about to go under his knife. :-)

And I KEPT hearing good things about Dr. K from nurses, techs... too bad his office staff is notsogood. My surgery started later than they had told me. They neglected to tell me of the change. And there have been other issues; outgoing messages promising a call-back within 24 hours when she was actually out of town, appointments being changed because of their mistake...

Am glad to have this over with and will be even more glad tomorrow morning when I will be able to breathe through my nose. Word.

If you're in the SF Bayarea you need to head to Cafe du Nord tomorrow for the Asylum Street Spankers.

http://sfweekly.com/search/events.php?oid=962040

A group of twelve of us saw them last night at Don Quixote's in Felton and, well, it rocked. Hysterically funny, musically terrific, all-in-all grrrrrrrreat!

You will all love the song "Rag Time Man." heehee

Tomorrow is my "Three's a Charm" surgery day. I had 2 repair surgeries ('77 & '79) previously that didn't seem to take. My previous surgeon was a hack.

I already liked my new ENT and his reputation keeps going upupup; he's gotten props from my oncologist and the CT tech and others. Chalk one more win up for my All-Star Medical Team!

Stage 2 of my reconstruction is set for June 2. Dr. Lee was alarmed to hear about my PE so that's why the surgery isn't until June. He's asked to get a note (heh!!) from my GP so they can monitor my INR closely. He said "safety first!" (and of course, smartass me responds "safety third!") and mentioned my mom a few times. He's a good egg, that Dr. Lee.

So, Stage 2... he'll be correcting a couple of spots - one on my reduction side, another on the cleavage, dealing with some keloid tissue (scars) and liposuction on the chest above my new breast to contour the shape to match the left. Oh! And how could I forget the New Nipple?? I'm getting a nipple!

Can you tell my brain is doing better, too?

Ruth came over again and rocked it. She inspires me to get even more done when she's not over here cracking the whip!

The only boxes left in the living room are ones to go to charity. Yeah!

I bought 6 clear bins from Ikea ($1.25 each!) and put them in a line so I can go through crap and either toss or immediately put in the appropriate stacking bin (small footprint!)

I set up the office in the (not-being-used-as) laundry room. Just need a stool so I can actually work in there.

My bedroom no longer has boxes or piles o' crap. Even cleared off the top of my dresser!

All kitchen counters clean, glasses and stemware moved to other cabinet.

What I still need to do:

hang pics/art in bedroom & living room
table in kitchen (need to find or make something to go between fridge & stove)
organize camping stuff (kitchen box, first aid kit, Burning Man-specific, etc)

Ruth came over yesterday to help me go through some clothes & better organize my bedroom. End result?

- bin o'stuff emptied
- clothing hung
- closet organized
- clean linens folded
- more clothing added to clothing exchange bins (I'm up to 3 big bins!)
- winter clothing stored
- slightly too small clothing moved to hall closet
- pretty scarves hung on a couple of hangers so I remember to wear them!
- all-black-wardrobe eradication project moved forward

Then...
- pictures hung in living room
- rug finally down in LR
- bookshelf relocated to jaunty angle in corner (makes room look much more open)
- dining table placed at jaunty angle
- stove cleaned
- more than 1/2 of stuff in laundry room put away
- several boxes of crap emptied of said crap
- started big box for Goodwill or other charity

Wow. Today I will empty the box that's been sitting by the front door. I promise. It's amazing how the presence can light a fire under the ass. Especially when it's a take-charge gal like Root. :-)

I swear, every time I inhale I can feel tiny particles of Yellow Stuff. Scotch broom, esp.

1. Small rag rugs from Ikea go anywhere. They're like $3 (2X3?), you might have to dig for your color density scheme but it's worth it. I have one in my bathroom, in front of the kitchen sink, next to my bed, over the ottoman. Each one is so different and completely warmed up the space. And feels good under the feet!!

2. Moisturize in the bath. If you're lazy/forgetful like me, getting the moisturizer on during the bath is optimal. Damp/wet skin means you use less and it's more effective. I usually use Lush's King of Skin ( http://usa.lush.com/cgi-bin/lushdb/2176?expand=Skincare ) . Amazing stuff. Just rub on your body. Doesn't take much. Has fresh banana and avocado so a relatively short shelf life and MAN does your skin feel terrific!

3. Trader Joe's Chicken Mango sausage. 7gm of fat and GREAT FLAVOR. I'm researching the lower fat sausages and will report back. Bound and determined to find every yummy sausage that's under 9 gm fat and tastes amazing.

4. Comedy is a brilliant way to start your weekend.

5. Live music and quality time with good friends is THE BEST.

6. Work out! Doesn't have to be the gym... can be a walk (including baby in stroller), dancing, hike, biking to ladies' night with a few gals, walking over to Lakeshore for coffee, you name it. Also lovelovelove my YMCA!!

7. Stop. Take a bath. Tell the brainnoise to take a break. Take your time. There's no hurry. Re-fucking-LAX!

And, about moi...

8. I'm turning 50 this year and want to throw a party for the first time in a LONG time (and not just because it's my BD). Looking for others with big BDs in the fall. Let's combine forces and create a LEGEND!

9. I think the new meds are working. Keeping my fingers crossed. But, 1 week in, I'm feeling more solid, good and hopeful than I've felt in over a year. Wow. Please let it not be another schwing... PLEASE.

I WAS born in the year of the Dog!!