As mentioned in the textLJ post yesterday, the GPS took us on the scenic tour of the northeastern corner of Indiana, including Gary and East Chicago, after we were forcibly booted off I-65 due to construction. We actually got to our hotel during daylight hours, which is unusual for any trip we undertake, and are only a few miles from a park and ride at the far end of the blue line.

I woke up from my nap (didn't get enough sleep Thursday morning, which started everything off on an interesting note) feeling a little green and ended up not wearing the wig, figuring I didn't need to worry about losing it in a toilet if it came to that. (It eventually did come to that on the platform of the brown line while waiting for the train. The trash cans there are NOT designed for that kind of thing. What do the drunks do??) I wore my hair loose and really didn't realize how long it's gotten--99% of the time I have it back in a ponytail or up in a bun or something. I really do need to at least get it trimmed.

So after that I felt okay and we made it to the theater with an hour to spare. From the looks of things the Rocky cast has no preparation space and instead uses the sidewalk in front of the theater?? The theater Ghostbusters in was tiny--less than 100 seats--and the theater is old and still pretty neat. The print wasn't all that fabulous, and the screen brought to mind "Moe's, home of the world's smallest large-screen TV" but that's okay. The audience was a bunch of college students and us. Everyone else was in street clothes but me. The guy behind us kept saying the notable lines a few seconds ahead of the screen and mostly getting them right. Louis got a surprising amount of sympathy every time he locked himself out, and it was just generally fun to have audience reactions to the various moments. (I think Stay-Puft got a round of applause when he appeared.)

However, as we tried not to fall asleep and miss our stops on the way back to the park and ride I concluded that I don't think either movie, even Rocky with its surrounding foofaraw, can entice me to stay up that damn late again tonight. Apparently I'm too old for this shit. If you don't know the performing cast... meh.

On that note I rather expected to wake up feeling "like the floor of a taxi cab," especially after eating our McDonald's breakfast so soon before bed, but apparently I was at least spared that this morning, though granted I got up at 11.

We had some mediocre local pizza--and we overcharged for it--last night for dinner. This is the second time we've been underwhelmed by our Chicago pizza. I did find a site listing the best Neapolitan-style pizza in Chicago, which is kind of ironic. Hoping for pierogies and Filipino and maybe dim sum while we're here.

Something was apparently getting out at Wrigley when we passed by on our way to the Addison stop. What a zoo.

I've only had pagophagia for six years and didn't know it had a more specific name than "ice pica."

I'm a little disappointed that apparently no one understands why iron deficiency translates into a need to eat ice, though. I've found that other crunchy things satisfy the same urge, though, like the white chocolate peppermint Hershey's Kisses.

I also occasionally chew on paperclips...

First double-arm transplant

I didn't even know they could do limbs.

95.6° F? Seriously? At what point does the thermometer start telling me I'm doing it wrong??

My thermometer tells me today that my temperature is 96.5°. Fahrenheit. Wikipedia has an entry for "normal" body temperature... maybe I'm supposed to be in my sleep cycle right now. I've been in a sleep cycle all bloody week.

Trying to work out the track list for a muxtape.

Chinese Friday at work today! I think I'm leaning towards Singapore rice noodles.

I should be paying bills right now but honestly, I'm so tired I don't trust myself with it.

Guess I'll go watch cartoons on YouTube instead.

Okay, the thermometer didn't give me the "low temperature" beep, so I'm going to assume that a temp of 97.3 isn't too incredibly out of the ordinary...

Mostly True Comics: Dating Dr. Venkman

I hadn't thought of that, and see, prettyh, I told you I found him (character AND actor) creepy... heh.

Vaguely related, I found the episode of Wait, Wait--Don't Tell Me!" with Harold Ramis as the Not My Job guest. We must have heard it in reruns a year or two later, though, because the original air date is the birthday I spent out cold on IV Benadryl after a particularly bad reaction to plasma aphoresis.

I'd say "yay Friday" but I have to leave for this year's 4th run on Tuesday and I don't feel at all prepared. Where has the year gone?

I did make a blueberry cake to take to work though.

Often I dress casually on casual Friday, but some weeks I just dress... differently. Today I'm wearing the black top with the crocheted sleeves that I originally bought for Sarah's bachelorette night, my (only pair of) jeans and my black character shoes (which I lost ten minutes searching for this morning). Last year I wore heels a grand total of three times: at the VNS employee recognition dinner, Sarah's bachelorette night, and Sarah's wedding. That's up two times from the several previous years. At bachelorette night I didn't even make it from the parking garage to the restaurant before my ankles started to give out.

I used to wear heels once in a while just for the hell of it--I wore my old pair for a whole day while touristing in New York City my senior year of high school. I paid for it the next few days, but I can't even imagine doing that now. With renal failure comes problems with swelling feet and ankles and I suddenly became very comfort-oriented when it comes to shoes, and even heels intended for stage and dancing aren't "comfortable" by any stretch of the imagination. Apparently my lack of wearing heels has given me the World's Weakest Ankles--my ankles tire out very fast in heels and my feet start to roll out. Roll far enough and you slip off the edge of the heel and your ankle is suddenly bent 90°. It's not good when one leg suddenly is several inches shorter than the other. I spent most of bachelorette night in stocking feet because of it.

So just in case I do end up going to Rocky in the near future, I figure I should try to get my feet and ankles back in fighting trim (do they do the Bunny Hop at Chicago Rocky?), and the easiest way is to wear heels to work once in a while, since I spend the majority of the day sitting down. And if my ankles tire out, I have a pair of slip-on flats under my desk.

I'm out of userpics again. I really should sort through these and archive some that I use, like, never.

I had this strange dream about wandering first naked and then partly naked through a hotel/resort complex that appeared to be owned by either Bin Laden or Saddam Hussein. I wonder if this is because now that I've got my economic stimulus I really need to buy new clothes.

Took a Benadryl last night for itchy sinuses and am feeling the effects today. Charles said he's never had a Benadryl hangover. Unfair. I also recently bought some anti-allergy eyedrops because this year one of my main symptoms is runny eyes. I mentioned the allergy shots thing to Dr. Chong yesterday and he agreed yeah, really not a good idea. So I guess I should go see an allergist to see what my options are.

Still working on the protein thing... my dietitian gave me a protein-fortified cookie to try, thinking it might be something I'd actually eat. She also gave me a packet of some kind of chocolate drink mix (it has aspartame in it... hell no) and a couple of cans of dialysis-patient-specific protein drink that I will likely try when hell freezes over.

Yesterday morning started off just fine, driving to work and listening to my happy '80s music, and then as soon as I got to work I was hit with a wave of "I hate my job I hate you all don't talk to me." I love my job, really I do, but some days the vibes get to be too much. I got out of the building for clinic and was somewhat better when I got back.

Oh come on, what fun is a fanfic community that forbids PWP (an acronym I had to look up) and slash in the name of "good taste?" Of course the comm hasn't seen an update in two years so it's all academic anyway, but still. Some people take all the fun out of everything.

We went to PetSmart yesterday, which was really not a good idea because it's kitten season. There were three groups of kittens there. One cage had two grey tabbies who were hand-raised and therefore really imprinted on humans. They didn't like it when we paid attention to other kittens.

And below them was a cage with three kittens: a light grey tabby, a medium-haired black, and a shorthaired black kitten named Petey. Petey was like Rocket as a baby: every time we tried to pet the kittens in the cage above, he climbed up the cage front and cried. "Hey! Pay attention to me!" I hope he gets himself a home soon, because if I come in again and he's still there we could have trouble.

I didn't take a Zyrtec yesterday because I ran out the day before. Apparently Zyrtec does make a difference in my allergies. Blah.

I need to make Charles' belated birthday cake today! I also want to roast a chicken and make hot chicken sandwiches for dinner. And because our bag of cod loins from Sam's thawed thoroughly while we were in Meijer, I have three pounds of cod to use up quickly. Half of that will go into a fish lasagna (no, I swear, it's made with white sauce, it's good) for dinner tomorrow and probably the remainder will be split into thinner pieces to fry or grill. Because of course we just had fish for dinner on Friday.

I also need to get outside to clear enough of the garden to plant all those tomatoes I bought last weekend. This will be made more difficult by the fact that the outdoors is now inimical to me again. Benadryl coma, here I come.

I currently have fourteen pounds of white furry fury in my lap making it difficult to do my exchange.

My allergies have finally kicked in. It seems late for it... maybe the wacky weather had something to do with it. Anyway, my two choices are "allergic and sick" and "drugged out of my head." What's behind Door #3, Monty? I'm considering trying allergy shots, which is saying a lot; but after six years of this dialysis thing I'm not nearly as terrified of the needle idea as I was. Besides, depending on the kind of shot they are, I could give them to myself.

I don't know if it's the Benadryl or what, but my blood pressure is way low and my pulse is way high.

Still not thrilled about being awake--woke up for a bathroom run at 4 (top ten reasons the cycler wouldn't work out...) and was annoyed to find out it was so close to getting-up time. However, the boys are going to be at the annual meeting offsite this morning, so I have to be there.

Now I have two things I need to mail to people. Need to work on that tonight. Also go to bed EARLY tonight.

The Anderson library has new software on their website--it actually requires a PIN now, not just your card number--and when I stopped in yesterday I discovered they have self-service checkouts! How cool! You still have to have a librarian pull your held materials for you, but I suspect they'll eventually go the way of the Marion County library and have a big shelf where you do it yourself. The system is obviously still new because everyone who approached the front desk looked baffled and there were staff members hanging around waiting to help.

Meijer has also added more self-checkouts. The new ones are the kind with the automatic belt and no item limit. I think they're great--anything that lets me avoid human contact is good. :P They still have quite a few human-run checkouts if that's what you prefer, which is good too.

So I now have the next Dresden book to read. Squeee!

I woke up disoriented and it's not getting much better. If I didn't have to finish the stupid newsletter ASAP for this week's payday I'd be calling off. Not enough sleep last night, apparently.

Also, after having been on the same dosage of Epogen for what I think is a couple of years now, my dose has started creeping up to try to keep my hematocrit stable, which doesn't seem like a good sign offhand.

Never thought a dietitian would tell someone that, huh?

So my albumin (measure of protein in the blood) was low after I had that horrible case of the flu at the end of February, but that's to be expected after an illness--your body uses up the protein trying to recover. No problem.

As of my blood draw in April, my protein was still lower than normal. Anne recommended I try protein bars and make sure I'm eating lots of sources of protein (kidney patients tend to lose protein in their urine if they're making any... some places see this as a symptom, not a side effect, and put you on a low protein diet. I don't see that that's doing the patient any favours). No problem--nobody more carnivorous than me.

It was STILL low when they drew my blood this month. Anne told me that ALL the PD patients' protein had "tanked" this month. I find this suspicious--either the lab is fucking something up somewhere, which is definitely not unheard of, or we all have some kind of stealth infection that's somehow sapping our protein, which doesn't seem that far-fetched either given all the press about hospital infections.

So she gave me the name of a protein pill or liquid you can take to try to get the levels back up, which still puts me off somewhat as "cheating." I really need to get my head around the concept that sometimes when you have a chronic illness you can't get things back into the normal range through "normal" means.