O SACRED HEAD SURROUNDED

TODAY IS HOLY SATURDAY

WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS

I'm sitting there fooling around with my iPad and I get an email saying  "CONGRATULATIONS! IT Fundamentals Acceptance." Sometime last month I got an email announcing a free A+ Certification class. I went to the information session, took the placement test and went through the interview process with little hope of getting in as I'm white Catholic, American, able-bodied, heterosexual and speak English as my native language. Wouldn't you know I got in anyway.

The first time I applied I didn't qualify because I wasn't on food stamps. The second and third times I applied too late. The fourth time I got on the waitlist and got in. This was a couple months before the move. I was working three jobs and got sick with what was misdiagnosed as an allergy and turned out to be a raging case of strep throat with a lovely C-Diff. after that. So let's hope the fifth time's a charm.

Ironic that I got my mother's cancer diagnosis on St. Nicholas Day and my acceptance email on Good Friday.

urbanexile@mail.com

Today is Good Friday

urbanexile@mail.com

HEY, HEY

I saved the world today:

 

"ASS SAVED."

"You're welcome."

Lesley-Ann Brandt

SECURE YOURSELF

Discover Card has promoted me from a secured card to an unsecured one. And increased my line of credit from $200 to $2000. Not that I intend to spend that much money but it's good to know someone TRUSTS me with anything again. For the past year or two I've had the feeling people wouldn't trust me to to babysit a goldfish.

MY MONEY CANDLE ARRIVED

SOMETIMES NO MUSIC AT ALL IS BETTER THAN SOME MUSIC.

Whether it's in an Uber, piped into a train station or "entertainers" panhandling in the trains or the train stations.

HOW I'M FEELING

GOT THE RESULTS OF MY CT SCAN

ENT says there's some inflammation (surprise!) and some obstruction (?) as well as a severely deviated septum. Apparently nose jobs grow back. How embarrassing. That accounts for a lot of the pain, nausea and dizziness of the last several months. At least now no one can say it's nerves, accuse me of faking it for attention or say I just need more exercise. Or that I'd feel better if I did some volunteer work, sang in a church choir or dusted the furniture more.

Now the question is what to do about it? Other than medication surgery is probably the only the option. I didn't mean for this to turn into a medical blog.

urbanexile@mail.com

MY MOTHER HAS CANCER

There, I said it.

I found out December 6th, St. Nicholas Day and the anniversary of my first communion. It was only tonight she told me it was ok to tell "anybody." The  main reason? She didn't want it to somehow slip and worry her sister, otherwise known as "St. I___," because of all the suffering Aunt I___ has been through. If my mom had written the Bible there would be an 11th commandment "thou shalt not impose" or "thou shalt not inconvenience." But boy, it's ok for other people to inconvenience us.

So I've been carrying this around for more than three months, not telling anyone except my own doctors because it's medically relevant. The other day Mom asked me to Facebook my cousin and tell her grandmother (Aunt I___) that she was done with her radiation treatment. I balked, saying we don't have that kind of relationship. And I'm not a messenger service. Mom has a phone, let her use it. And a computer, which she never uses.


urbanexile@mail.com

TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING

It snowed:

IT'S LOVELY TO RIDE TO WORK/HOME IN A LEXUS.

Or a Beamer. Or a Mercedes. 

urbanexile@mail.com

TODAY IS THE FEAST OF ST JOSEPH:

A New Prayer to St. Joseph for His Feast: St. Joseph, like Our Lady, has a unique role in our salvation. He has been raised up as the universal patron of the Church and his name has been added to all of the Eucharist Prayers of the Mass. Due to his mission to serve as Jesus’ foster father and to watch over the Church, …

Let's hope this prayer works. None of my other prayers to him worked. We're supposed to pray to him for employment--that didn't work. Some people pray to him to help sell their homes. Apparently that works for some. I prayed to save my condo. It didn't work.

urbanexile@mail.com

LIME SCOOTERS

I've seen the bikes, now the scooters. Thinking of getting the app, although it's no cheaper than a bus or a train, sometimes more expensive. BTW, I do not live in Dallas: http://keranews.org/post/top-stories-limebike-plans-add-electric-scooters-and-bikes-spring

I did order a scooter on Ebay shortly after I moved. It fell literally fell apart (or some bolts came off) the first time I rode it. I got my money back but with postage, handling etc. I only got about ten dollars back. 

Today is St Patrick's Day

Sometimes the rescuers need rescuing.

urbanexile@mail.com

Quit telling me to be positive!

IT'S NOT THE BOOZE TALKING

My last drink was Ash Wednesday. It's physical pain, low blood sugar, temperatures in the 30's, sleep deprivation, living in a dark basement, being repeatedly smacked down and not having had a day off since January.

SOME SON OF A BITCH HAS EITHER GOT AHOLD OF MY CREDIT CARD OR MY CREDIT CARD NUMBERS AND CHARGED ALMOST 3000 DOLLARS.

Asshole.

urbanexile@mail.com

LAST WEEKEND WE HAD A NOR'EASTER WITH SUPPOSEDLY UP TO 80 MPH WINDS

I found out the friend of a friend lost his home. He had insurance which will pay for it--he thinks he will just completely re-build. Sometimes it's better that way.

FINALLY CATCHING UP

It was more than five months ago that I started this blog and it hasn't worked out as I'd expected. Got thrown some curve balls--people getting sick, dying, myself included (getting sick, not dying). I had signed up for a Microsoft Office course that bottomed out less than 24 hours before it was supposed to start. I've been hurt--I realize at some times I was too sensitive and I was being unrealistic. And I hurt people, too, for which I'm sorry.

At the end of November I started feeling tired. It was my day off so I just stayed home, even though I would rather have gone out. Next day I called in sick and Bossman asked if I could just drink some more fluids and come in. The day (night) after that I got out of bed and felt so sick and dizzy I went back to bed, even though there were free sandwiches at work. My mouth hurt, too, which I put down to getting overzealous with the toothbrush. The next morning I made it to work and to the urgent care center and got a prescription for Augmentin, which knocked out the infection.

Fast forward to the Friday before Christmas. The pain started coming back so I went back to the urgent care center and got a script for Z-pak, which is not the best thing for abscessed teeth. The pain got worse and worse. By Christmas Eve I was so miserable I was screaming at people. Christmas Day the pain was down to the bone, temperatures were down in the thirties and the wind was blowing. December 26th my dentist couldn't see me so I went to the ER where they gave me another prescription for Augmentin. Got the tooth pulled two days later and had a couple teeth filled, one of which was a really deep filling and hurt for a while--it's still giving me pain. For the past several years a couple doctors, including the one who took out my gall bladder,  have suggested I see an ENT so I went to one of them, too, to rule out any other cause of pain, nausea, fatigue etc. He scheduled a CT scan for March 2, which had to wait until the 15th, probably due to the Nor'easter.

Despite my bitching and moaning I was trying to be positive about the whole thing but it got tough. Some days it's tough to get out of bed, shower, shampoo and put on clean clothes, let alone make myself up and do my hair nicely. I don't like the place where I'm living and I want to move but I am scared--scared I will end up in a worse situation and scared of more rejection.

THE PEOPLE AT THE NEIGHBOURHOOD STARBUCKS ARE NICE.

Both the staff and clientele. And when Starbucks mails me a challenge I take them up on it. Because that's one of few challenges I can meet.

urbanexile@mail.com

LITTLE KINDNESSES EVERYWHERE

I was chatting with S about her stag and doe party last fall. She says I was so kind--I made a contribution even though I wasn't invited (it was in Canada). It was such an awful time I don't even remember it but I'm glad I did.

DAS EXPERIMENT

I am conducting an experiment. For one week I am trying to be as sweet as possible to all my Uber drivers and give them all five star ratings no matter how bad or good they are and see whether my rating go up or down. Without tipping. And that's the first phase. And in the next phases I will gradually start tipping more.