March 31, 2008
ASTHMA FUN AND SLEEP-DEPRIVED CORRESPONDENCES
Hi there, most awesome of Paulina fans! I know that I haven't posted anything in awhile, and I am sorry about that. My life is just too interesting.
To clue you in on what I mean, I have decided to give you a quick recap* of what happened to me recently.
*It should be noted that both the faint of heart and those who don't give a hamster's behind about me and my various medical issues might not want to continue on in this blog. For you ever wise and timid friends, may I recommend my coolest thing for the... um… now. For the rest of you, we continue after these messages, or more accurately, after a picture of something I really want.
This past Monday afternoon, I found myself writing another email to some knitting buddies of mine to "apologize for any inappropriate or dumb things that may have wandered out of my mouth." Unfortunately, these type of emails are not new to me, and are very similar to the ones following my "Sleep-Deprived Correspondences" I have sent out to family and friends – someday, I promise to tell you all about this, since one of these incidences lead to the idea for this blog. But for now, I can pretty much sum them up to drunk-dialing, but with hand-written letters and/or emails – Anyhoo, back to my apology email about this weekend. The following is an excerpt from said email, with only minor changes, such as clarifications of pronouns, so that it makes sense:
But what I really wrote this email for was to apologize for any inappropriate or dumb things that may have wandered out of my mouth. You see, an asthma attack had been slowly and quietly building up this past Sunday evening until around 8 pm, when I thought to myself, hey, I'm having to work pretty hard at breathing right about now, also my limbs are tingly, my fingernailbeds are turning blueish and the only reason I'm thinking this instead of saying it out loud is because I've stopped talking since it makes me even more dizzy.
You see, my asthma attacks are not like those of normal people. Instead, they are on the rarer side, like the rest of my health problems - my dad calls us Nashes the "less than 1 percents" since we tend to get the illnesses, diseases, side effects, and/or adverse reactions that only happen "in rare cases" and to "less than 1 percent" of the population/patients.
In this particular case, I mean that my asthma attacks act really funny, since they are not brought about by exercise (well, not usually, Balboa Park Haunted Trails aside) and usually do not exhibit the normal "wheezing" symptoms until the later stages of the attack, which can take hours, like it did, on Sunday.
Instead of your normal, run-of-the-mill asthma progression, my body slowly builds up an allergic reaction to something inside of it, like in the blood stream, such as a cold, or foreign evil food product. This results in my body very very slowly building up a way more than necessary defense against this allergen, that will eventually produce a very slowly decrease in my ability to extract oxygen from the air and fixate it to my red blood cells.
It really sucks, and more than being dangerous to my health up to the point of life-threatening, but because it is usually accompanied by me performing at even less of the few cans short of a six-pack on which I normally function, and which my awesome friends and family have become accustomed to.
It also makes it harder for me to remember things, such as what I did/said during my oxygen-deprived interaction, which is why I am sending out a blanket apology for anything I may have said or done.
Sorry.
I hope you guys will still want to hang out and knit with me.
Apologetically yours,
Jenny
P.S. In case you were wondering what brought on this attack, it was some bad shrimp enchiladas I had for lunch on Saturday. That's right, following my asthma attack (I am now working on setting up an appointment with the doctor to get a non-expired inhaler) I had a horrible case of food poisoning that lasted right up until my midterm in Biological Anthropology on Monday morning. Yay me.
I hope this helped give you a glimpse in my crazy life. If not, then the very least you should take out of this is, ALWAYS make sure your fast-acting medications are current, and even if they are, BE SURE to get them filled BEFORE they expire. Okey dokey!
Until we speak again, wishing you a wonderful life, moment-by-moment.
-Jenny
January 30, 2008
OUCH
While Paulina may be a super/amazing/blow-your-socks-off singer,* she is not a good friend.
"What a comment from her future personal assistant and, up until last Wednesday night, bestest best friend!" you may be saying to yourself. As you rightly should. I mean, who in their right mind goes around saying such things about their BFF?
However, what I am about to tell you is horrific, selfish, terrible, cruel, and just plain mean.
That's right, Paulina Logan, or as I now call her, The Artist Formerly Known As My Best Friend, refused to give me both of her kidneys! I asked her about it after I found out, via indescribable pain followed by a trip in an ambulance to the ER, that I didn't want my stone-producing kidneys anymore. (Yeah, that's right, BOTH of them. What can I say, I'm an overachiever.)
How selfish can she be? I mean, come on!
And now you're probably asking what lame excuses she gave. Well, let me tell you. She said stuff like:
- "If I give you two of mine, then I won't have any." (Which is so not true, since I would have graciously given my kidneys, stones included, to her as soon as hers were surgically placed in me. Hello! Could I be any more generous?)
- "You don't know what caused the kidney stones, so even if I give you mine, you might get stones again." (Which may technically be correct, since it is pretty rare for a 24-year-old female who is within the normal BMI range AND makes relatively good food choices to get kidney stones…but still!)
- "You can't think that I would give you my kidneys right now, when you don't even know if we're a tissue match." (Details, details!)
You know, some people, hmmph! You just give and you give and you give, but when you ask for two measly kidneys in return, the people you trust just shut you down.
That's all for now. Until next time, remember that there is almost nothing you can do to prevent kidney stones unless you already know you're gonna get them.
Do you have medical horror stories? Wanna share/vent? Have any random questions, medical or other? Email me!
Yours truly,
Jenny B
*If you don't believe me about the socks business, go out to one of Paulina's next shows, on February 9 and 19, at Potter Valley Café (in Potter Valley, big surprise there) and Ace-in-the-Hole Pub in Sebastopol. I would advise wearing either old socks, or those crazy-lace-up-all-the-way-to-your-knees-boots, so you can enjoy the show and not be worrying the whole time about your socks. (Even if you do believe me about the sock business, you can come too, I know I would if I didn't have work and classes the next day…in San Diego!)
December 17, 2007
THE VERY FIRST
Hi All!!!
I know that you all wish you could be Paulina Logan's number one fan.... But I am here to tell you that you can't!!! That position is already taken (by her mom, but I am totally a close second :D).
However, if you like her music (and if you didn't, you would have to be deaf, no wait, it is so awesome and amazing that the deaf would love it if it was played to them in a Mr. Holland's Opus sort of way), and you are looking to fill another five minutes of your day with a quick-witted and wry blog, then this is just the thing for you.
I came up with the idea after reading Meg Cabot's most awesomest blog and then composing a letter to a couple of friends to apologize for my "insomniatic emailing/corresponding" from the night before. I became so enthralled with my newfound style of writing (I'll admit it, I was totally jonesing off of Meg's latest blog) that I ended up spending hours on it.
When I was getting ready to send it, I realized that I was only sending it to two people (although I should be thankful that I didn't have to send it to more because that would mean I informed many people of my craziness, and not just my two closest friends), and this miniscule amount of exposure for such a lot of work was just, well, sad.
So, I emailed Paulina again, singing praise of my writing skills (don't worry, I am totally not full of myself, I was just so amazed that something other than incoherent junk was produced via my hands) as well as voice my desire to have a blog of my own, that people would want to take time out of their days to read and be entertained (hmmm, maybe I am a bit of an egomaniac, I will try to tone that down in the future).
And it was from this that the idea for a blog came about on Paulina's website.
It would be (well, I guess it actually is) my perspective (even if, or especially if, it might be skewed) of Paulina's shows, from talking to Paulina and people who actually attended the shows...did I forget to mention that I am living in San Diego, a good 11 hours south of Paulina.
Also, you will get my view of other musical goings on of my bestest BFF, like her experience writing music, and her upcoming event of recording another amazing album.
But, if you are like me, you don't like constant self-promotion...or third-person-promotion in this case... so I will also be writing about the going-ons of my life as a 24-year-old undergraduate student who is addicted to knitting and crocheting as well as Netflixing TV series, such as Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sports Night, The Simpsons, Bones, Supernatural, and Lost, to name a few.
What I am trying to say is that this will be a fun and entertaining way to stay up to date with what is going on with Paulina's shows, open-mics and albums, as well as what Paulina and/or I think is the coolest thing in the world for the week.
Much love,
Jenny