That Time Again...

it's Carnival season...*sigh*

I've mentioned before that i will never go back home for carnival  - i tear up on Georgia Ave in DC every time i'm there; i teared up a little on the truck in Miami last year - what will i do if i go back home?  Bawl down the place like a baby - that's what (it won't be pretty).

Carnivals up here are NOTHING compared to the real thing.  I can handle going to the parties and being on the trucks here, but there is no way i can survive doing that at home - there is no way!  This year, i'm happy (secretly, selfishly) that only 1 of the crew is heading home.

Now, just because i know that i cannot and will not go home for Carnival doesn't mean that i don't get into the season.  I mentioned in an earlier post that the music is on point this year - just about everyone is batting for six.  The thing is that even if i didn't want to get into the season, i don't think i could help it.  I listen to Red all day long (when i'm not on calls) - i can't work in silence - so music has to be playing.  In fact, during this time, i'm glad i don't have to go to an office because i can listen to it as loud as i want to without having to think of anybody else.

Carnival is the 1 time that i really miss home every year - even if for a fleeting moment.

• The energy
• The happy times
• The lime

2nd to none...

Showing solidarity on the truck :-)

Whoa!

I'm not complaining - I swear i'm not (u all know that i of all people am not)...but 70degrees in FEBRUARY!!??!!!  the world is coming to an end - what the?!?!?!  of course, next week it'll probably snow - such is the weather in Atlanta - steups!! (sorry folks, i have no idea how to translate - it's a teeth sucking noise that we Trinis do)

Anyhoo, I've said before that sometimes i think that insurance is 1 of the biggest ripoffs ever.  But boy am i thankful for it.  My mother is an Executive Agent at Guardian Life and many good things have happened to her since working at Guardian Life and she is doing extremely well there - extremely grateful for that!  Yesterday i got a bill for my last infusion in the mail.  My copay is $40 on the day of and then i normally get a bill for 4.79.  Yesterday when i opened the bill, it was 23.95 - so, of course i needed to understand y it had jumped so much all of a sudden. and i logged onto the insurance co website.

well i discovered that by the time i'd started infusions last year, i'd already met my deductible for the year - hence the low bill (I'd spent so much on my health last year).  Of course i haven't done anything for this year as yet, so i have to meet my deductible before anything insurance kicks in.  Okay, i can live with that.

Then i saw the actual cost of the infusion - 5032 big ones every month!!  EVER GRATEFUL for the INSURANCE!!!!!!  how do sick people without it deal?  I guess they just deal with their ill health???  There was NO way that i could pay $5k monthly; i'd have to do an infusion a  year or something.  Maybe for sick people, insurance is not a the biggest ripoff afterall
:-)

Rhell (Real) Weird

My ankle is 99.9% healed - I have no pain, only if I twist the food inwards (very slight) - and how normal is that???  I have downgraded from the boot to a splint (i've actually had this injury before (2 prior falls!!) and i guess something told me all those years ago to hang on to the splint) so I've been wearing that for the last few days.

Anyhoo, I kid you not, when i had on the boot, all other issues disappeared - everything was normal.  Maybe the man above gave me a break because dealing with the boot and MY normal would have been pressha.

Now, it's off and i'm back to MY normal; i swear i feel like i just want to wear the boot just because - i could alternate feet weekly.

oh well, wha yuh go do?

Uncertainty of Life

life has no guarantees!

As i've gotten older, i really get the meaning of "life has no guarantees" and life's being so uncertain.  is it that when I was younger, I felt so invincible that I never really "got it"?  or is it that i was lucky and in my younger days hadn't had to deal with too many instances of sickness, poor health, death that it never really struck me that nothing is guaranteed in life?  We take so much for granted all the time and in an instant, things can change - at times with no warnings.

My grandmother died last week; she would have been 100 on March 26th.  She was strong and healthy up until 5 days before she died and when things started going downhill, they went very quickly.  No-one wants to see a loved one die, but we can take comfort in the fact that she lived a very long, full life and brought us many, many, many joys during her lifetime.

Her funeral was a celebration of her life and not focused on the mourning of her death.  She will always be loved and will be missed by everyone who loved her.

G2's 2011 Walk Challenge

Yup...she's walking 50 miles again - this time in Charleston.

Visit her page below; let's support her again:

G2's Chippin Against MS

P.S. Monday was her birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY G!!!!!

Funny How Things Happen

so...i fell down on Monday, went to the urgent care place and the doc there wanted to give me crutches.  I told him about my situation and my balancing issues and he suggested a boot instead.  I put on the boot and STILL could not walk because i  couldn't put any weight on the ankle.  At that point, i had to get the crutches to use as well as the boot.  Of course the first few steps with the crutches were touch and go, but i very slowly kinda got the hang of it while i was there.  He still didn't really like how i was looking so i left the place with a prescription for a walker, because he thought that it would probably be my best option.

By the time i got home and practised with the crutches some more, i was doing ok.  i stopped using the cane - obviously - and was wearing the boot and using the crutches.  Wouldn't you know it....it seems that all the walking/balancing issues that i normally have are gone.  i swear that if i take off the boot and throw away the crutches RIGHT NOW, i would walk normally - and not my "normal", normal like any other person (normEl, normEl!).  ugh!!  who knew that it would take my falling down the steps for that to happen.

Anyhoo, I can put some weight on the foot now.  If i walk on tippytoe on the right, i feel no pain.  Last nite i started using the cane again because i'll be honest i'm a lil afraid to go out in public (have my infusion tomorrow) with the crutches.  This morning when i woke up, i actually walked around a bit without the boot, so the ankle is healing and i'm on my way to being well again.

My Worst Nightmare

has happened...

just the other day i was talking about the steps in my house.  Yesterday i tumbled down - sorry, catapulted down 1 flight of steps.   (If i do say so myself, i think i would have scored a perfect 10 for my flips - twice) :-) I started at the 4th step and landed on the floor right by my front door (12 steps down) - on my side.  I was alone - actually i was glad that no-one saw because I'm sure it looked worse than it felt and it felt BAD.  After it happened, i composed myself and limped to my desk.

I actually went for a record yesterday, i fell 3X!!!  After the 1st one,  i didn't realize that my ankle was gone and i fell twice again afterward because i just couldn't put any weight on the ankle.   those times i actually did the usual and laughed because i was in so much shock - the 1st one was no laughing matter.

there is GREAT news...it ended extremely well - all i suffered was a sprained ankle; i didn't hit my head, i didn't hurt anywhere else.  in fact i don't even think that i bruised where i landed.  I went to an urgent cars facility and left with a boot and a pair of crutches - so i'm fine - no need for anyone to worry.

Needless to say, i'm working on the middle level as opposed to all the way down this week.

To my Trini Peeps

Okay...(almost) so every year (if u like me) i wonder what the hell they coming with again the following year - as far as soca is concerned.  I have to say tho that last year the only song that i liked from the very 1st time i heard it was "Palance"; everything else had to grow on me.  This year?  i like just about everything - there are few songs that i can do without and only "Advantage" had to grow on me (after 3 listens i was sold on the concept alone).

But SHIT!  Does some of the music have to be so bloody fast?????

Doh get me wrong, i have come to accept the fact that i eh go be wining down to the ground anymore.  The thought/picture of my doing so with a cane and 2 stiff leg is not a sight that even i would want to see, so i does jes be tapping my cane along, tapping meh foot to the music.  I swear that I can barely even do that to some of the music this year!  LOL!!!

i eh go lie...as i get older, i realize that there is absolutely nothing wrong with Groovy Soca and when i see the young 'uns carryin on (like i used to - of course) i jes want to tell them to "relax already - good Lord, settle down!"  Doh get me wrong, I am all for a good time and there is nothing like being on the road for Carnival Monday and Tuesday - in fact if i could i would be front and center, but sheesh!

Quite frankly, left up to me "Wotless" can easily win Road March hands down - no questions asked! :-)