PERSONAL NEWS #69
August 13th was Harry Potter movie marathon day at Linda's home in southwestern part of Brooklyn. What an ordeal in getting there via subway. I didn't even make it to her stop. Mon dieu! Normally it takes four subways [ie: G, F, R & N] to get there and total time of just under an hour. On that day it seemed like every subway in Brooklyn was messed up. Plus the weather was so incredibly humid. Disgusting! Sap the energy right out of yah. After delays, changes, switches, 1 1/2 hours and eight subways later I said forget it and called her to pick me up. Fellow Kucitizen Ellen also joined us for the movie marathon and she was already at Linda's. Due to some setbacks we got started abit late on the films. In between watching the films we'd nosh on salad, trail mix, drink lots of water, eat grapes and Chinese food. During the last film it seemed like the three of us napped half the time, plus I was beginning to feel ill. Good reason for us napping abit ... as we finished "Prisoner of Askaban" at 2am [August 14th]. Linda drove me home and I got to bed at 3am.

Despite the late hour, overall we did have fun and talked about a number of things. 1 1/2 hours after going to bed I was up and in the bathroom with early stages of Diarrhea/nausea/cramps. Back to bed and slept soundly until 10am. Then it was back to the bathroom to crap some more. At this point in time I stayed up to have a lite breakfast, shower and dress. Before heading into Manhattan at 11:45am, I was back in the bathroom with final stage of the poopathon. Three subways later, in the sweltering heat, I joined several other LOTR/Tolkien acquaintances [ie: Jackie, Carol, Becca, Syndi, Mike, Fola & Robert] at Café la Fortuna for lunch. How can one think of lunch after being ill half the night? No problemo ... by 2pm I was feeling just fine. Illness had passed and I was in the clear. After noshing on good food and refreshing ourselves with cool liquids, we played LOTRs Trivial Pursuit, which is based on the movie trilogy. It was alot of fun, many laughs and quite a few of the questions are toughies. We played in pairs and I teamed up with Carol. No, our team didn't win, but we came in a close second. While indoors playing the game, outside a nasty thunderstorm raged for over 30 minutes. It helped to clear the humid air and make it abit cooler.

We all split and went our separate ways around 6pm. I headed to my office to do some DoP work and catch up on emails. When I left at 8pm it was raining heavily again. Walked to Port Authority to catch the E train and while waiting observed the "track" situation didn't look good. Looked like the tracks would be flooded, as the water was slowly rising under them. Finally an E train showed up, but unfortunately we only got as far as the Lexington Avenue stop. Had a feeling it wasn't to be my weekend, as far as subways are concerned. Cause after sitting in that station for 30 minutes the PA system announced that all subways going into Queens would be suspended due to flooding. Had been reading "The Progressive" all that time, so put it away to reflect on things. Planned a different course of action ... changed to the downtown 6 train to 14th Street and switched to the L train into Brooklyn. Once above ground and the feel of cooler air revived me, I proceeded to walk home. The rain had stopped for awhile, but in the northwest I saw lots of lightening heading east. Hummmm ... another storm is on the way. I was right and 10 minutes after I got home [10pm] we got a third wave of torrential down pour. What a weekend :-)



[Photo at left is of me and Josee hanging out in Quebec, Canada one year ago today, August 30th.]


On Tuesday, August 16th, I was scheduled for my first ever Mammogram. My Gynecologist had been after me for the last 5 years in getting started with testing, but I kept on putting it off. [As you all know, I am no fan of medical stuff and exams.] I know, I know, I can be such a procrastinator. Anyhow, I came in early that day and worked thru lunch, so I could leave at 2:45pm. Took a taxi to the clinic on Park Avenue, so I wouldn't be late for my appointment. I get there and find out they never had me scheduled! Mon dieu! 20 minutes later after filling out paperwork and much discussion with the staff, I'm squeezed [pardon the pun] in for an appointment. Those of you who've gone thru this procedure know what its like. Those of you who have never experienced it ... hear me out ... IT HURTS LIKE HELL. My poor boobs took about 12 hours before they felt normal again. Damn torture to put a woman through something like that. Good heavens! And once your in the vice grip of the machine they tell you not to move. WHERE THE HELL AM I GOING TO GO YOU SILLY OLE COW?!? Geez! Each boob is X-rayed separately and done twice. Well, they had to X-ray my right one a third time. Sadistic buggers had the nerve to say I moved. Don't know how that was possible without losing a boob. I'm so glad its over, my boobs feel fine and company insurance covers all the costs.